Ares was drowning under the glare of his wife, the Queen of Rivea, and perhaps the most frightening person within it. Many would assume that the King or the Consul would be the strongest, but Rori was tempered lightly, and Ares, for all his strength and powers, did not enjoy the wrath of the Queen.

His forehead was a fountain of sweat, his heart a worn drum, his fingers cubes of ice. His smile was grey, like a rainy day.

“So uh… I’ll take that as a no?” Ares said quietly.

Lana ground her teeth ahead of him and Ares winced. The sound was barely audible, but his enhanced hearing could hear it as clear as day. Lana did not make any other sound for some time, save her gentle breaths, much gentler than they should have been considering what Ares had come to her with.

She did not say anything, but she did bring Runar up. Runar smiled as she saw her father and then reached over, squirming and giggling before then bouncing up and down, before finally starting to slap Ares. Ares reached over and then slid his fingers around Lana’s forearms.

“Come now, Lana, you aren’t so mean you’d have our daughter attack me…” Ares frowned.

“You aren’t so foolish to ask me for such a matter after all that’s happened.”

“I think we both know I am that foolish after all that’s happened…” Ares raised his brows up at Lana, who couldn’t help but agree with such a matter, though it did hurt Ares to think that Lana thought such a thing. He was a rather unreliable King, but even less reliable of a husband it seemed.

“I know…” Ares said. “I know I shouldn’t ask but… the Bitan did tell me to head east for some reason, and now that apparently there’s something to cure me.” Ares pulled back and showed her the black gash that remained painted like tar on Ares’ stomach. “I need to go.”

“You do not need to,” Lana said. “Emerli will be able to reduce it.”

“Emerli can reduce it, but she can’t get rid of it. I need some help, some more… divine, or powerful, or whatever help.” His fingers trailed up her arms. “Though that can wait,” Ares admitted. “I’m more worried about the leftovers of the rhinofolk, the boarfolk and the buffalofolk.”

Lana narrowed her eyes. “Why are you worried for them?”

“I’m not sure every single one of them wanted to fight, it seemed as though the rhino guy was the one to force them into it. I’m not sure what their story is, but I’d like to at least find that out and…”

“And?”

“If they need help, we could offer it to them.”

“We are not in the position to help.” Lana brought Runar up, who slapped Ares’ head.

“Well that’s the point,” Ares said. “We can increase Rivea’s population. We’ll offer those that wish to be saved, the option to be saved, and then they’ll go through the process of assimilation.”

Lana did not stir from his words. Her glare only increased with each passing moment and Ares began to sweat.

“There may be others like you.”

“Like me?” Lana asked.

“You know…”

“Yes?” Lana tilted her head back, as if waiting to see whether or not she should heatbutt Ares. Runar took it as a sign to go to town with her headbutts, to the point Ares needed to hold onto her head to stop her.

“Runar, relax…” Ares kissed her forehead and then looked up at his wife. “Pregnant. With child. You know?”

Lana narrowed her eyes. “I know how you feel about such things…” she said quietly. “Are you serious about this matter?”

Ares nodded. “I’ll go and bring everyone here, expand Rivea. I won’t even leave to head east just yet, I’ll have everyone become situated.”

“How many people do you require to head east?” Lana eventually asked.

“I don’t know… I’ll have to check when it gets closer to the time. I don’t want to leave Rivea as undefended as it was before, I want to make sure everyone is situated properly.” Ares rubbed his forehead.

Lana relented with Runar, pulling Runar back. She reached up and then pet Ares’ head, though he wasn’t sure how he should feel about it. She pulled his head to her chest, now Runar and Ares could both enjoy the feeling of her bosom.

Ares wrapped his arms around her and then looked up at her. He pulled her in for a quick kiss and they embraced one another tenderly, though Ares paid keen attention to not do much more since Runar was around.

They relaxed with one another for a long while. Ares rubbed a hand along her side and then looked up into her eyes.

“I’m a pretty shit King, aren’t I?” he said.

“You are doing the best you can, my sweet. That is all we can ask of you.”

“It isn’t good enough.”

Lana pulled him to her bosom to shut him up, and being swallowed by the pillowy mounds, Ares couldn’t help but shut up.

Eventually she let him free and Ares sighed. “Alright… I’ll speak with Rori and the others to see how many I should take to check on the southern lands and it’s state…”

Lana nodded her head and let Ares be. Ares kissed her and then Runar’s forehead. “I’ll see you soon, my little star.” He brushed through Runar’s hair and she tried to headbutt him.

Ares stepped out into the evening air. Rori was about already, eating a bit of bread off to one side. When the bearman saw Ares, he nodded and then stood up.

“Ares-kin, a moment?”

Ares nodded his head and then followed Rori about, with their four bodyguards surrounding them.

“What do you need?” Ares asked.

“I have heard from Torak-kin of your desire to head down to the southlands,” he said.

“Oh! Great, that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Rori nodded for Ares to continue, who was trying to think about what to say.

“Uh, yeah, right… well I was thinking about heading southward to check on the state of the people.”

“You intend to bring them to Rivea?”

“That’s the goal.”

“After all that’s happened?” Rori asked, his face stone cold, but the tone of the voice did imply that it didn’t seem to be a great idea.

“Well they’re going to need help. I’d like to at least check on them. Even if we did get to war, I’m going to check on them and see if they need some help and see if any would be willing to come and join Rivea, though they’ll be going through the process of becoming Rivean.” Ares tried to gauge Rori’s look, but Rori was as stone cold as ever. This guy, honestly…

“Very well.”

“Right… so I was thinking about maybe taking only a handful of people.”

“A handful?” Rori asked.

“Like… two people?”

“Yourself and two others?”

“Yeah.”

“I would suggest otherwise.” Rori’s voice was stone cold, which was quite scary.

“Right… uh… four others?”

“Who are you wishing to take?” Rori asked, his eyes piercing through Ares like a pair of spears.

“Me, Torak, Saykkera.”

Rori’s eyes fell away for a moment, as if he was gauging the power levels of the people involved, before he looked back up at Ares. “Who else?”

Ares stared at Rori for some time. Who else could he take? He was trying to think about who could come with him before he caught the eye of the Roaring Trident beside him. “Orndu.”

Rori looked towards the Roaring Trident Captain that stood beside Ares. The Roaring Tridents had been designed to protect Ares, so it did make sense. He probably should have taken one with him before when he went westward, but that was his mistake. Rori remained staring at Ares as Ares continued to think. Who else could he take? He needed to take at least people that would leave Rori and Lana at ease. Then he caught the scales of the Reptai nearby.

“Zika,” Ares said with his chest raised.

Rori nodded his head. “Very well,” the bearman said as he then paused for another moment. “You will take Heria as well.”

“Heria?” Ares furrowed his brows.

“It would give me peace of mind if you would.”

Ares thought about it long and hard. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Heria to come along, but at the same time… Heria was the Major, and as such she led quite a large portion of the army, especially the horse archers. Even Yinyin’s people were…

“What about Yinyin instead?” Ares asked.

Rori shook his head. “Heria. I will take charge of the army whilst you leave.”

Ares wasn’t sure how he felt about that. That would set a precedent that if the ruler were to leave and there was no one left to guide the army, it would turn to the Consul, which could lead to some issues in the future… although who better?

“I’ll leave the army in your hands, then…” Ares said. He was thinking about whether to ask Lana to look after the army too, but he decided against it. Lana had enough on her plate for the moment and he didn’t want her to stress about anything at all.

“I will ask that you take the Bitan as well.”

Ares furrowed his brows. “Ezak? Why?”

“I believe you need to spend more time with him, for he is a young man in a strange place at the moment.”

Ares nodded his head. “Alright then, fine…” He still wasn’t sure why Ezak would come along, but Rori probably had his reasons.

“Then I will speak with Ark and Vol about the matter of taking charge of the army.”

“Alright… tomorrow morning over breakfast I’ll let everyone know about the matter then.”

“I would suggest you speak with all those involved,” Rori asked politely.

“Alright, will do.” Ares nodded and then left with his pair of Roaring Tridents. He turned to face Orndu. “Sorry about throwing your name out there, Orndu.”

“It is an honour, Ares-kin.” Orndu bowed his head.

Ares smiled. “Alright, let’s go grab the others then.”