Ion Cáel May 23th,20XX

I’d almost had a heart attack when I returned yesternight and saw Aies laying unconscious on the bed.

My heart had almost stopped when I heard the tower fall from the impact of a royal fairy attacking it.

My liver ached when I saw a giant Fluttermoth follow closely behind the royal and join her in causing havoc in the witches' capital.

My head hurt when I saw the emperor that was supposed to have gone to rest and my old man turn up on my doorstep.

So, by the time I stepped outside and saw the goblins I’d brought with me siding with half of the witches in the middle of a civil war, I was less than surprised.

I quietly stepped back into the hideout and took a seat in the corner.

Aies quietly grunted as he tossed and turned in his unconscious state and kept getting tangled by the yards of alternating silver and gold hair that surrounded him. The human had tried to trim it at first, but eventually got tired and focused on keeping it away from his mouth and nose.

“Ion.”

“Your highness. Grandfather.”

I hastily beat back the mental smackdown I’d just received and stood at attention. My old man was as annoying as usual but I didn’t know how to treat the emperor. He was technically my grand-uncle but I didn’t want to speak casually to him and risk having my horn ripped off. It had just barely grown in and I wanted to keep it at the length it was at.

“Don’t bother with formalities right now. Where is my great-grandson.”

He waved off my greetings with a dismissive hand, and upon laying eyes on Aies, who had stopped the whimpering and now had a focused expression on his face, dismissed my existence as well.

“Votric, Come help me hold him still.”

I had never seen my grandfather interact with anyone more powerful than he was, or anyone at all, except for myself, and my dad before he had gone into rest, so it was trippy to see him not fight the monarch over the condescending tone he addressed him with. In fact, more than not fighting him, I was even more shocked to see him heeding orders like a subordinate.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, seeing the most powerful person I knew bowing their head to someone else and I struggled to accept it more than I should have.

I somehow found my way back to my corner and resolved to stay there until they could collect my cousin and leave me to complete my mission.

It was probably quite foolish to retain hope of declaring it as a success, but I wasn’t going to give up until My grandfather came to drag me home.

Speaking of which.

I got up and slipped out of the hideout, unwilling to take the risk of being dragged home because I was within eyesight. I wouldn’t put it past him to take me back home on the grounds of it being more convenient than waiting until my mission was finished.

Aside from failing the mission, seeing me getting dragged home by the scruff wouldn’t do me any favours with my crew. I’d probably have to go through all of them and beat them back into shape which would be more embarrassing than it would be useful.

I made a quick plan to get out, locate the rest of my crew, and try my best to take advantage of this coup that was going on. The mission was to figure out what Rubella was getting up too and report back home, or even better to eliminate her from leadership. Whatever plan Rubella had in mind had probably fallen apart by now so the only victory I could aim for was to try and take her captive, and if that wasn’t possible, then to kill her.

She would be a tricky opponent and I might not even be able to take her on my own, but I’d rather get badly hurt trying than not try at all and face my grandfather’s ribbing for the next decade.

The actual graduation mission was to make a large scale Bet and win but I hadn’t even had the time to rope Sparrow into making one with me. If I had time, that was something I needed to do but I wouldn't obsess over it. There were too many powerful people around for me to worry about finding one to rope into making a stupid bet with me.

No sooner than the heavy door swung shut behind me and I travelled a mere four feet from it did I run into another extremely troubling situation.

“I’ve no grudge against goblins, but I won’t be kind if you make me ask more than once where my grandson is.”

Blood rushed to my head as I was held up by my feet and bound by blindingly bright golden ropes.

Ah, this was why I hated fairies.

The golden fairy flew in place as she waited and although she bore a gentle expression, I could see an intense rage through its cracks. It didn’t take more than a closer look at her face to put together what, or who she was and why she had strung me up like cheap hunting bait.

“Ahh. Looks like I’m about to ask twice-“

“Calm down for a second lady. You’re looking for Aies, right? You said he was your grandson?”

She lowered the ten 'me' sized balls of energy and slightly deactivated them from their volatile state. I hadn’t even seen when she had made them, but I knew I wouldn’t have survived being hit with one of them, never mind being barraged with all ten of them.

“Aies? Oh, wasn’t that the wretched name his father gave him? Lead me to where he is, child. I know he’s close but I’d rather not risk hurting him while I rip this place apart.”

It was only now that I realized just how unfair the world could be. While I had to struggle to compete with my peers as a fellow purebred goblin, could barely leave the lair because of an overprotective grandfather and risked death if he decided he was too angry with me to save me; Someone like Aies got to have two juggernauts of parents, got to go galivanting around hostile territories like it was a picnic and only had to wait patiently for the respective rulers of the Fairies and goblins to come to rip the place to pieces while saving him.

Really, really unfair.

“Well, I guess you’d know him as Cai. If you let me down I’ll take you to him. I’m his cousin."

By now I’d completely abandoned my original plan and led her back to the place I’d just escaped, already anticipating how to dodge my grandfather's attack for bringing a fairy royal back. As if I’d had any choice in the matter.

“Ah, Come to think of it you do resemble a certain annoying goblin I used to know. Quickly, lead the way. If my grandson suffers because you wasted my time, I can’t promise I'll be able to keep my patience.”

And again with the overly hostile threats.

I was his cousin too, in the loosest definition of the word anyway. Of course, I wanted him to be okay. And I had only known him for like three days, most of which he was unconscious for; even if I wanted to dislike him I didn’t really have the grounds to do so.

I purposefully ignored the glares of my grandfather and the emperor as I led the old fairy into the room and went back to my corner. This time I turned around to face the wall and took to studying the walls.

The last five times I’d gone outside hadn’t been very pleasant, I wasn’t quite feeling up to going for a sixth.

Behind me, I could feel the thick tension that the three powerful figures emitted.

“Theodulus.. and I’ll assume you’re Votric”

“Heloise.”

Ahh, what the hell.

I got back up and slipped out of the room for what I hoped was the last time. It wasn’t like I’d suddenly changed my mind and thought whatever was waiting for me out there would be fun, but I knew it'd be better than staying there and risking catching any area damage from those juggernaut's fight.

Well, they would probably hold back because of the human in the room, but probably was a little less comforting than I would like.

This time I’d taken the river route, and came out soaking wet and cold.

Not to say I resented Aies for coming to the Witch lands or anything, but it didn’t have to be during my mission did it?

Haa.

I let out a final exhale, wrung out my clothes the best I could and blurred away. There was still a lot to do.