Johnson was sitting at the U-shaped table in the conference room of the Coalitions headquarters. The sandy walls and oceanic carpet floor were the same as always as the big window behind him illuminated the day with the sun shining over him. He was a handsome, six-plus-foot man who held no cheer for the bright sunny day. Sweat ran down his slight chin and strong cheekbones and onto his white shirt top and grey pants as his deep green eyes took in the report in front of him.

To his right was Alton, a chubby man with too big a nose and a bowl cut of brown hair in a grey robe that helped keep in some of the warmth on the winter day. His brown eyes took in a copy of that report with Marvin’s dark green eyes having a similar horror in them. Johnson’s old military buddy was on his left. He wore a deep green coat over a white shirt and black pants, though the wide array of casual and formal attire donned by the three men didn’t change the fact that they were all bound by the same words on their pages, though, not as wholly as the older man between the bend of the U-shaped table.

He was older with a flabby jowl and a white combover that was accentuated by a tight blue coat and white undershirt. His brown eyes, rather than terror, held a determination one might see in the eyes of a starving predator that had its jaws in a meal that others have shown an interest in. Even so, the pale, wrinkly skin along his neck and jaw had some traces of sweat, and his eyes weren’t focused on any person in the room.

“- with a quick jaunt out of those daft healers house, we could secure a scion healer in quick haste to remedy-“ Mclain’s drawl ambled on without end as all Johnson heard was this yawning white noise as he ran a hand through his smooth black hair flecked with bits of grey.

The news about the events of the quad mage had come in a single letter at first before avalanching all at once. When Johnson first heard of Harold’s rough treatment of the Keltons, he moved to put a stop to it. It was a clear breach of their civil rights, but it was an action taken by the committee and Central Enforcement, who proceeded to raise objections and stall him. In truth, Johnson knew there was nothing he could have done. When the first hastily scrawled letter arrived telling of Eli’s return, Johnson felt a sting of annoyance at Harold being vindicated. That was until a few minutes later when more letters came.

They were odd reports of an attack on the town.

It took time to sift through the rumors and half scrawled letters before it was determined what had actually happened with an official report from the local law. The quad mage had snapped and murdered the Central Enforcement and the Flood’s Wrath members, down to the last man and woman. In broad daylight while in full view of the whole town.

The anger at this injustice was palpable when news first broke. A small crowd of fresh widows and orphans demonstrated outside the building howling for justice, rain or snow be damned. When it became common knowledge that the local law, mages, and citizens did nothing and sat back as the hope of humanity committed one of the worst atrocities in Coalition history, the anger moved indoors amongst the staff and officials. Murder was one thing, but that those back wood, tree humpers with almost no mana to their lands, had treated the whole thing like a sport had irked the coastal people's sense of pride at the bumpkin's lack of consideration for their betters. Of course, none would dare to suggest any punishment that would impede Eli’s ability to sire. A concern the latest, now highly classified, report had rendered irrelevant.

On the bottom was some half-forgotten mention of the events with Annie and Jeff. While his heart broke at the news, in that way only a fathers could for a son, Johnson soldiered on to do his duty for the good of humanity. For it was by putting low the concerns of one’s family, friends, and even one’s well-being, that the whole of humanity prospered.

A sentiment Eli clearly did not share.

The old man's spiel meandered on, and on. It was a desperate attempt to mend the catastrophic mess his committee had made, and Johnson had no intention of letting him slip out of the noose he had fashioned for himself.

“- with our spies in-“

“He’s gone feral.” Johnson proclaimed, drawing all eyes to him. “Not even a month, right Alton?” Johnson asked the portly fellow with puckered lips. All he got back was a stunned look, but he just turned back to the object of his scorn. “Not even a full month and you have totally lost control of him.”

Mclain swallowed and got a sour face as his small nose curled with disdain.

“He is detained. When we have acquired a healing scion from that Central Continents house, we will be-“

Johnson put up a finger, wagging it at him like an errant child.

“What is the purpose of your committee, Mclain?” The president asked as he put the finger forward on the desk.

Mclain bit his lip for a second before letting loose a breath and drawling as only a lawyer could.

“To oversee the circumstances surrounding the quad mages' lack of siring and to correct it with all possible haste.”

“Right,” Johnson said as he pulled his finger over the table with a condescending smile that made Mclain turn red. “Correcting the situation. Not fucking the situation into the dirt. Not making the quad mage an enemy and turning him into a half-mad beast. You were tasked with the first and yet all you’ve done is the second and third. There’s failure, then there’s this absolute, unfathomable mess that makes the word failure look rather mundane.”

Mclain flared his nostrils as he puckered his lips and stuck out a finger.

“It appears I am in familial company then. All this time and you’ve let that dual-element miscreant get away with shagging his wet nurse and making no actual children. The little perv probably rubbed off on my prize.”

Johnson kept the red out of his face and leaned back with a stuckout chin, his strong cheekbones having the skin pull up as he put on a wolfish smile.

“Well… at least my lad still has a dick.”

Johnson let that statement hang there for a second as Mclain faltered under the verbal beating. After the second passed, Johnson coughed and leaned forward as he assumed the more stately appearance he was always known for.

“Thank you so much for your time, esteemed member of congress. We will be in touch when you are needed. Dismissed.”

Mclain took particular offense at the casual dismissal but looking around he found no allies in Marvin or Alton. Turning around with a sulky air, he went out the far door and slammed it behind him. Johnson scooted the chair back and held his hands on the table as he stared at the ocean carpet. His mind fumbled for an answer to the mess he had found his nation in and the only one that came to him wasn’t much better than giving up and handing him over to the Rodring kingdom. But as seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to several more minutes, Johnson finally pulled himself up with a defeated sigh. Pulling his chair back up to the table, he slapped his hands on the wood and gave one more sigh before giving in.

“I’m an idiot,” He declared. This prompted raised eyebrows from the two other men though they neither denied nor approved the accusation. “My boys have been there from the beginning. I talked with them till near nighttime alone and they told me, time and time again, going after the goat woman was a bad idea. Jeff was more adamant than Andrew and it’s more apparent now that his situation was closer to Eli’s than I would have thought.

Still, they’re good lads and I pushed aside their advice for the sake of national unity. But if there had ever been a time where I should have been thinking as a father instead of a president, it would have been then. Damn me.

Bah! When you’ve broken an egg, musing on how to fix it does no good. We must face where we are, not where we could have been. I want a missive to the queen Verness, done under the highest levels of secrecy, informing her of the situation and our willingness to share his bounty in exchange for the services of a healing scion.”

The other two men balked at the statement.

“Including his true status?” Marvin asked nervously, running a hand over his slightly greying hair. A quick look passed between them, as those thorny thoughts came back.

Johnson strummed his fingers for a moment, tired of the constant revelations. That bit of news was a nasty piece of work when the initial shock wore off. Sure, curiosity about what the familiar looked was an idle thought to the few in power who had access to such secrets. But those with magic had a much more perturbing view.

How quickly someone moved from crafter to caster, then on to scion if the fates were kind, varied a lot from individual to individual. Based on magical resource intake and the person's innate talent for developing the mana pathways to expand their use of magic, it could take a lot longer or shorter based on such factors. Eli’s trajectory, however, was more like leaping up a cliff as opposed to taking the trail along the side.

The mundane had no sense for such things and those without magic who knew the secret were content to have another impossibility added to the pile of the obscene that was Eli. Magically gifted men and women, however, knew enough about magical growth through years of personal experience and observance to get a general sense of what was… an acceptable trajectory of power for moving from crafter to caster, then to scion. Eli’s trajectory was anything but acceptable and this piece of knowledge threw off his whole story. Getting to scion status was… possible under the most generous interpretation of his circumstances, but getting there and materializing the familiar? That took a lot more than one or even five trolls could give, even if consumed down to the last bit of gristle.

It was like finding a chest full of gold and going on to buy a small kingdom. The gift of fortune was great, but not great enough to purchase such extravagance. Never enough. Eli’s story about eating a troll and becoming a caster was in tatters but the few people with the knowledge to poke holes in it had to keep their mouths shut until the fact became public knowledge.

Johnson sighed again before shaking his head.

“No. We shouldn’t give up our cards so…freely. If negotiations go badly, we’ll pull them in with that bait. They’re desperate now that they’ve lost the sea battle to the Mist pirates and we need to use that if we’re going to have any kind of leverage in these negotiations. Perhaps they will render us some aid with the invaders during the exchange.” Johnson finished with a pointed nod to Alton.

The portly man nodded, swaying his bowl cut of brown hair before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

“I think we can work out a deal as far as economic exchanges go. The typical food and leather shipments to the Rodring kingdom have been held up in this scuffle for Eli. I’ll have far more leverage than I would have otherwise. But…Um. What about the military? What will they have to say?”

“Nothing good.” Marvin cut in with both his arms also crossed. “Giving up Eli to them, in any capacity, will be throwing away our rightful future.”

Johnson huffed as he leaned forward.

“That future is gone. All the healing scions are on the Central Continent and we need one more than air or sunlight right now. Like it or not, it’s our and Rodring’s future now.”

They argued back and forth for what felt like hours. Marvin insisted that the kidnapping of one such scion was the preferred method, a plan provided by Mclain. But Johnson knew better. Their spy's resources weren’t there, and it would take months to embed any assets into that house of healers. Moving too slowly would mean Eli’s… condition would be exposed. Right now, they had a good bargaining posture and kidnapping attempts on healers would lead to certain questions.

Things were as good as they were going to get and hashing out a deal with the Rodring kingdom right now would mean they wouldn’t be left with scraps at the negotiating table. If their ever-strained trading partner figured out Eli was essentially useless to the Coalition now, Johnson was skeptical his nation would even be granted every fifth or sixth mating.

It continued on and on for several hours until night fell. The argument continued into the next day. The three heads of government devoted all their time and resources to figuring out what to do about the mess they found themselves in while keeping the truth of their circumstance in as few ears as possible.

The argument looked like it was going to continue into the next day before fate decided now was the time to drop the hammer.

Johnson was walking into the U-shaped headquarters of the Coalition, coming out of a carriage that he had taken to a local restaurant when a mighty wind sent his black jacket, pants, and slightly blue shirt into a twirl. As it did for the guards and the few messenger boys passing by over the stone road.

“Johnson!” A voice called over the wind. It carried with a force like a tornado as bits of dirt and hats flew upward with the gale. “We have business.”

It was then that Johnson realized it was female in tone.

Rushing inside, he went through the tall wooden double doors as guards moved about. The sand-colored walls and flowing carpet with a river and scenes of animals were the same as always. What was different and what drew his eyes, was the far windows that drew a curious crowd to them. They were the size of doors and had replaced the open floor plan the building had weeks prior. A vision of grass blotted out the sky they usually held.

Johnson’s eyes struggled to understand what had churned up the lawn when he noticed flecks of white. A moment later he saw the telltale rise and fall of breathing along the span of what he now knew to be ribs. Turning to his left and right, he saw the length of the thing stretched on in both directions for as far as he could see. When a detachment of guards came up behind him to drag him to safety, the voice went out again.

“Johnson! Ignoring a guest like this is rather rude.”

“Indeed,” A reedy voice intoned behind him.

Johnson felt a sense of dread when he turned around. Sure enough, there was the ambassador from the Rodring kingdom. He was a tall, thin man with a bald cap and flowing grey hair. His long nose sat perched between two brown eyes shining in triumph. The purple coat, pants, and gold embroidered white shirt showed the official colors of his nation and its wealth.

“What game of intimidation is this?” Johnson demanded.

“None!” The ambassador said with hands meekly raised, “Merely a mutual co-signer coming for a tribunal session with the Coalition, the City, the Bodding kingdom, and my great people.”

Johnson paled but a light thud beyond the windows drew his gaze as more guards arrived. The mass of what was now obviously fur moved back to reveal a dragon, though its long whiskers and lack of wings undid some of the association as it sniffed around some bushes to the right with wide, red eyes. What was more intriguing was its apparent master who now stood in front of the glass. She was a taller woman with near-white hair and a sharp nose. Her green and amber flecked eyes took in everyone like they were insects that had drawn her into a moment of curiosity. Though the long spear strapped across her white scale armors back left no doubt to her combat ability. It was a long piece of silvery metal with fine leather straps laced with green and gold. The craftsmanship continued with her armor, which had a fine mesh of white scales and looked like proper leather armor on the top and flowed out into loose pants below.

There was a flash of water as the wood frame around the window in front of her creaked ominously before falling to the ground. It was thick and instead of smashing everywhere; it only sent a few long cracks through the glass. She was a fair beauty, but there was an undercurrent of danger in her movements as the cracks creaked ominously with each step of her fine white boots over them. From the folds of her armors torso, she pulled out a piece of paper as she came closer.

“I am Lola,” She proclaimed with a slight smile that pulled along her smooth cheekbones. “I bring a proclamation of judgment in the matter of Eli the quad mage. A meeting of powers will convene to discuss the circumstances around his position and the men Andrew and Jeff.”

Johnson’s throat went dry. These proclamations were little more than executions orders. Typically used on criminals that managed to draw attention from the law of multiple countries, it was as good as delivering his children’s heads on a platter.

“What is the meaning of this?” Johnson demanded with a reddening face.

Lola sniffed dismissively as she looked around the wide building.

“The future of my husband has been tampered with by barn animals and incompetent bureaucrats. As the exemplar of magic, at least for women everywhere, I have finally found a man whose seed is worth bearing, and the mess this backwoods hovel of a nation made of him has… frustrated me so.”

The dragon in the background gave a low growl of agreement that shook the very bones of all who heard it.

‘Exemplar of magic?’ Johnson thought to himself, wracking his brain for where that faintly remembered phrase came from.

When his mind finally remembered where he heard it from, Johnson went a little pale.

Lola had to be the legendary mage of repute from the City. She was said to have three elements, though such an impossibility often only led to his dismissal of the rumors surrounding her. Now that she was here, he quickly went over the other whispers he heard from diplomats at various functions. Never hurt in battle, top marks in all her classes, and people swarmed over her for just a scrap of her attention with never a bad word said but by the most bitter and jealous women. Two of which were the ugly queen Verness and the fairy queen who was a close friend to the Rodring queen, though the name of her escaped him.

“What concern are my boys in this mess?” Johnson demanded.

Lola let out a breath, but it was the Rodring ambassador who spoke up as he moved to stand beside her.

“They were heavily involved with the quad mage from the very beginning, and we have word that Jeff has been quite an influence on the quad mage’s siring habits. It was felt that looking at both brothers would produce the most complete picture for the three most powerful nations of the world.” He finished with a smug smile.

The pieces all fell into place for Johnson then.

With their defeat at sea, the Rodring kingdom knew they were going to be cut off from the wonder of the age. So, they decided to split him with the City and Bodding kingdom. Dragging Jeff and Andrew into this just provided a little bit of personal intimidation.

The president drew himself to full height and did a gracious nod to Lola.

“We will have many aspects of this to discuss. Not the least of which will be how to transport him.”

They both raised an eyebrow at that, but Lola was quicker with her question.

“Why is his transport such a concern?” She demanded with a hint of irritation.

Johnson puckered his lips and did a casual turn of his head up to the ceiling before turning back to them.

“It appears the human mind may not be meant to hold all four base elements and the dual elements. He went quite mad and slaughtered an entire association along with a large contingent of Central Enforcement members and troops. He’s being held in an artificial mana dead zone for now but getting a carriage of moving a mage prisoner will take a good while. Unless you think to move him with just the two of you.”

“An entire association?” The ambassador asked breathlessly as his wrinkly skin went even paler.

Lola, on the other hand, seemed more peeved than anything. It was a long moment as the three stood there with an ever-growing crowd of spectators. Finally, Lola irritably huffed before nodding.

“Fine. But know this, when he arrives, I will be the first to receive him.” She said with her green and amber flecked eyes casting around the room to look menacingly at any woman present.

Johnson nodded before pointing towards a conference room to work out the details of the arrangement. As the shaken ambassador and the curious warrior from so far away shuffled into the room, Johnson steeled himself to do whatever he had to do to protect his sons.