When Valerius woke up, he could not tell if there was any part of his body that did not hurt. One of his legs was covered in rubble, and when he tried to move it, he made little progress - and suffered even worse pain for it. His left shoulder felt dislocated, and his right arm was lightly burned for some reason,

Using his right arm, he gritted his teeth and yanked on his leg. This freed the appendage but caused him to scream out in pain. The air was smoky, and as he inhaled after the scream, the ash caused him to cough. Pain wracked his body with each cough, the sign of broken ribs.

Still, the shock he was in deadened the pain enough for him to climb to a standing position and look around him through the hazy, hot air.

It was the palace, he recognized that much, and his mind vaguely remembered Akahtar's head crashing through the palace roof. He supposed that he had escaped the same fate as his father, somehow, but Valerius could not remember what he had done. He vaguely remembered rushing for the door servants used to get in and out of the throne room, but nothing else. Valerius's mind was a haze.

Thus, when he limped around a ruined door frame, into the space that had once been the palaces large ballroom, and he saw Azara a standing beside a dragon head, he thought that it was a vision.

She was standing, ever looking like a goddess, partially naked beside the dragon's head. She had a tattered banner that had once been hung outside, haphazardly wrapped around her like a bath towel. One of her hands was outstretched towards the creature's head, in a scene that Valerius was sure had to be made up by his mind because it looked almost too heavenly and perfect to be true. A mage, standing beside the body of her fallen foe - her a beautiful maiden, and the beautiful creature she had killed appeared to be unharmed and yet dead. It was the stuff of paintings, not reality.

As such, these aspects of it began to fade. Valerius realized that tears were streaming down her face, which was solemn with sorrow rather than reverence or judgment. She was shaking all over, her hand tentatively touching the scales of the dragon as if she were touching something more valuable than the most precious of jewels.

She noticed Valerius and looked towards him. Her golden eyes felt like blazing fire, and she spoke.

"Well, Valerius, you have your slain dragon, and I have become ever more lonely," she said, her tone so regretful it made Valerius feel an ache in his heart. The way she spoke to him, however, felt like the way one might talk to themselves. It was as if he was an apparition she was talking through.

With that ache, came a realization. He recalled, with an abruptness that made his jaw drop, a story about dragons that could look like humans, which his father had once told him many years ago when Valerius could barely walk. It was not a story that he had even remembered up until that point, blocked out because of the young age at which age he had been told it, and because of its connection to his father. Still, it was a memory that his mind had chosen to access, now that he had seen Azara look so sorrowful about her triumph, and heard her words.

It all made sense, and weekly fell to his good knee, wincing in pain as the other lightly impacted the ground.

"You're..." he began, but he could not finish the sentence. He was too dumbstruck, and this was not helped when a group of people suddenly appeared out of a torrent of lilac flames nearby. They numbered seven, but Valerius only recognized one - Irinia.

As these newcomers appeared, Azara adjusted the banner covering her, to better keep her decency, and was jostled midway through doing this as a woman with brownish blonde har rushed from the group to hug her. The woman clung to Azara and looked like she was about to cry. The newcomer was so short compared to Azara that as she hugged Azara, her face was almost buried into the Azara's ample bosom.

"Oh, stars, you're alright. I thought for sure you'd be hurt much worse. It looks terrible - if it weren't for Astra, I was about to intervene. Oh this is lovely, I've missed up so much, its good to see you." she rambled out, and then added comments. "I never should have asked you to do this, we should have just had you stay home, even though I knew something like this was going to happen eventually I just-"

At first, Azara reacted almost like a parent would to a sudden display of affection from their child - awkward and unsure how to respond. Valerius realized that she was stunned, overtaken by the emotional shock. Then, she returned the hug, and her sorrow was lifted. Azara's stature diminished as she fell to her knees on the ground, and Ezmeralda followed her, sitting with her daughter a moment.

It seemed almost ridiculous to Valerius that this amazon of a woman, nearly as tall as himself, was becoming comforted by the relatively short woman who had appeared. Just as he had deduced what Azara was in a moment of revelation a few moments earlier, however, he realized who the woman comforting her was.

Ezmeralda Elefthera.

He began to limp toward them, more questions than he could count swirling through his head, and emotions he couldn't cope with building up inside of him.

"Val! Are you alright?" he heard Irinia cry, and for a moment, he was stopped in his march towards Ezmeralda and Azara. Irinia was running towards him, looking scared and worried. She was always worried, he thought, worried for him. He wished he wasn't a burden on her and hoped he could find a way to ease her anxieties and worries. The visage of her frightened face nevertheless brought him comfort.

She moved to hug him as well, but he put out his right hand to ward her off.

"Hold on," he said. "I think I have broken ribs, it'll hurt if you hug me hard."

She froze and nodded. "Alright, I'll check you're wounds."

He paused and let her, as she diligently looked over his body. It clearly caused her even more concern.

"Stars help me." she murmured. "I think your leg may be broken too, and your shoulder..."

She suddenly and forcefully grabbed his shoulder and popped it back into place. It caused him immense pain, and his legs collapsed from beneath him. To his surprise, he was caught, not by Irinia but by a young man. The boy had black hair and green eyes. He resembled Lady Elefthera.

"Prince Valerius?" the young man asked.

Valerius took another moment to recover from his pain, then nodded. "Yes, and you?"

"My name is Andreas, Andreas Elefthera," he said.

"Irinia, also Moss," Irinia said, as she attended to Valerius, making sure she had actually helped his shoulder.

Andreas raised an eyebrow at her, then shrugged. "And I am also known by Thunder."

Valerius nodded, remembering that the Eleftherans were Veyorn descended. He had no time for pleasantries; however, he had demands to make. So he made a feeble attempt to stand, but he could not. The numbness of his body caused by shock was wearing off, and the pain in his leg was excruciating.

So Irinia and Andreas helped him. To his surprise, Irinia felt strong, and as he leaned on her while walking towards Ezmeralda and Azara, he felt secure and safe - not emotions he had associated with Irinia in the past. It was the opposite, in fact, he always felt like he had been the solid, stubborn rock with his ambitions and his goals.

As he approached Azara and Ezmeralda, Valerius noted another newcomer join the two women. This person he recognized as Azara's sister, or at least as Azara had described her. She did not initially join Azara and Ezmeralda's hug-and-talk and stood off to the side from it. Azara gave her an annoyed ook, however, and then pulled her in.

They seemed to be talking almost flippantly while the city was burning in the distance all around. Ezmeralda was saying words of comfort and not talking about the battle or Ursulam alone. In fact, as Valerius got closer and he could hear the details of the conversation, Ezmeralda was apparently relating to Azara some farming project she'd started back in Aruslan. She had also planted a little garden, which she had begun to experiment with growing things in. Azara was listening intently as if she had forgotten all about what had just happened.

"What is this?!" Valerius demanded, yelling the words as he drew close. he pointed an accusing finger at Azara. "What are you?! Was this some plan all along, to steal the throne or this country?! What sort of conniving-"

"Valerius, this isn't the time," Irinia said, her tone firm and commanding. Valerius, however, intent upon his task and what he wanted to do, continued regardless of her warning.

"What have you done? What is this horror? The city is burning!" he said. Then he pointed at Ezmeralda. "Is this your doing?"

Azara recoiled and turned away from Valerius in shame, without giving an answer. She looked defeated. Ezmeralda, however, scowled and then stood up.

"Yes. It is my doing, and yes, I have come to take this country," she said, her small stature suddenly becoming quite intimidating. She stood straight and spoke with a commanding tone and presence. It caused Valerius to pause for a moment.

"And to do that, you have sent my kingdom into chaos by way of magic and mythic beasts. And now what will you do, kill me? You should know that it won't be enough. There is still an army out there with leaders and men of heart - they will fight you even if I am gone." Valerius responded. He glared a woman, as anger and adrenaline built inside of him. It overwhelmed his pain. Then, he turned his gaze towards Azara. "And you! You deceitful whore! You tricked us all along, didn't you? You're one of those monsters, aren't you?!"

Ezmeralda stepped in front of Azara fire in her eyes that cowed Valerius. The runes traced themselves onto the very rubble of the palace that was all around. Wood, stone, and smoke coalesced into figures that looked vaguely human, before shifting into something else. From little fires nearby, people of flame and embers appeared. Some of the golems gathered behind Ezmeralda and her daughters, others made threatening moves towards Valerius, closing in around all gathered.

"You shall speak to her with respect, you bastard child," she said, "or I will kill you, and your no longer existent army will be able to do nothing to save you."

Valerius was about to speak up again, but before he could, Irinia did.

"Val, stop," she commanded. "I knew, Valerius, about Azara. I knew about this woman, as well. So this problem is mine, and I will handle it."

He was stunned by her tone and her commands and felt almost helpless and silly as she lowered him to the ground to lay down, then stood to her full height and spoke like a woman of much higher birth than she was.

"Lady Elefthera. You were not invited here."

Ezmeralda shrugged. "No, I wasn't. My daughter didn't invite me, and though I imagine I know why, I came anyway because I thought it would be fun?"

Irinia looked around. "Fun? This chaos is fun for you?"

Ezmeralda nodded and smirked. "The wonder of life its tumult, peace, and war. Famine and Plenty. Rain, snow, cloud, or sunshine. Of course, this is fun."

"I do not share that sentiment," Irinia replied. "That aside, I repeat, you are not supposed to be here. Leave."

For a brief second, Ezmeralda seemed angered by the demand, Valerius worried that she was about to kill Irinia for it, but then her demeanor calmed, and she spoke with an even tone.

"I will not, you have a problem that needs solving."

Irinia tilted her head ever so slightly. "And that would be, Lady Elefthera?"

"You have a scatted army, a burning capital, and a prince that has just committed regicide. You also have a bunch of people that just saw two dragons smashing up the capital. So who is in charge now? Who wins?" Ezmeralda asked. She smiled in a way that made Valerius blood boil. It was mischief mixed with arrogance, lie ka trickster who knew that they had fooled you.

Irinia was not fazed by the remarks, though, and kept her demeanor. "While I understand that those are problems, I do not see how you wish to solve them, or how you, yourself, will get around them if you intend to take this country for yourself."

Ezmeralda rolled her eyes. "Well, you see, I don't intend to take the country for myself, and then solve those problems, I intend to take this country by solving those problems. You see, your - highness, is it? Are you his queen, or fiance? Nobility? I'll admit I'm not terribly fond of titles myself so if-"

"Moss," Irinia said. "This is a matter of pacts and our people. Therefore, Dawn, you must answer my question."

Ezmeralda smiled and sighed. The smile was almost endearing. Like she appreciated that she was speaking with one of her own but was unwilling to voice that. "Well, Moss, what I am doing is holding the kingdom hostage. I can solve those problems - for you, or for this prince, but at the price of my demands."

"Do you intend to turn me into a puppet?" Valerius asked, angrily.

"No, now shut up, you yapping dog, the adults are talking."

"You shall not speak to my king in that way," Irinia replied, scolding Ezmeralda.

The archmage seemed amused by the comment and shrugged. "He called my daughter whore, my respect for him is nonexistent."

"How shall you solve our problems?" Irinia said, her face betraying nothing of fear, panic, or worry. There was only confidence there. Valerius wondered where she had gained such confidence. He realized that over the past few months, she had grown, but this was more than he had ever expected of her. "How shall you enforce our victory here, in the chaos that has swept the capital? How shall you explain to the people, the dragons which fought over their capital?"

Ezmeralda smirked. "Oh, so you see, a mage of the Iginis Evigan accompanied Valerius to confront his father. Awakened by the strife of this civil war, two dragons decided to assault the capital - or we can just change it to one if Azara likes - and destroy the line of Drefreigis. I imagine that isn't too far from the truth if I had my guess anyway. Azara will have to tell me the whole story later. However, the point is that your father and yourself decided to confront the dragon together, and aided by the mage of the Iginis Evigan, you killed it. Thus, you are the rightful king of Ursulam, the rift between enemies was closed in the battle against an ancient foe, and then other mages of the Ignis Evigan appeared and saved your city from burning."

The last line of her unconvincing story finally cracked Irinia's bearing, and her eyes widened. She looked out at the burning city, ignited by Azara and Akahtar's battle.

"You could do that? Stop all of these fires?"

"Of course," Ezmeralda replied. "That's why I brought Varu. You've probably not heard of him, but he's that short fellow over there."

She pointed, and Irinia looked. Two Sukarrans were standing near Serenity. She had noticed the first one, Fawsu, but when they had initially been teleported, she was not aware of the second. He was a diminutive figure and was practically hiding behind Fawsu, shy.

"He is a very special mage," Ezmeralda said. "He can call the rains or alter the tides. Putting out a fire like this would not be hard at all."

"And the story?" Irinia asked, "how shall you get anyone to believe it? Azara fought the other dragon, I'm sure we were not the only ones with a vantage point."

Ezmeralda shrugged. One of the golems, made of rock, walked up to her. It held a sword in its rocky fist - which Valerius recognized as his own. She took it from the golem and then strode over to Akahtar's corpse.

Wit ha careful movement and a bit of effort, she slipped the sword up under one of the dragon's scales and then rammed it home into the head of the beast. The sword looked almost comically small by comparison to the monster's head, but it was feasible that the blow would be lethal.

"Others may have seen their battle, but far more would have been running in terror, or confused about what was actually occurring because they did not have the vantage point of the hill we were standing on. Perhaps we say it was a trick of Azara's, to get the dragons to fight one another. Details can be worked out later." Ezmeralda said. "The point is that it can be done. The country could be relatively united, your little bastard prince could be king, and we could all live happily ever after."

"And your demands?" Irinia asked. Her face became solemn. It was clear to Valerius that she was beginning to see Ezmeralda's side of things, Valerus hated to admit it, but he was too. There was no way his people would follow him if they knew the truth about what had just occurred, not to mention that he was also still a little confused about exactly what had happened. His father's words echoed in his mind - that there were forces higher than him or any average human at work.

"An alliance. Protection, for Aruslan, that is all. As you know, we've become overt with our demands for independence from the Aerician crown. The king will someday send troops, I know that. Everyone does. When that army comes, I want to be protected."

"Protection??!? You have her!? Is she not one of those beasts, a dragon? Is that not what she truly is?"" Valerius interjected, pointing at Azara with his one mobile arm from where he lay. Then he looked at Astra and felt his heart sink. There were two of them, he realized.

Ezmeralda sighed and looked down at him with disdain. "I would be insulted, but I am too tired of your yammering to care much about your words anymore. Azara is not my weapon, nor is she my servant. Azara is my daughter. She does favors for me, every now and then, like being an ambassador here. However, that is all, and I will not rely on her - especially not against the Magi. You brought this on yourself when you asked me to aid you. So think of this less as a threat, less about me holding the country hostage, and instead - think of it as me giving you an out from the situation you brought upon yourselves."

Irinia scowled at Ezmeralda but did not speak. Valerius found himself at a loss for words as well. He considered other options, other ideas, but realized, to his chagrin - he was entirely at the mercy of Ezmeralda. She could do what she pleased now, so taking her offer would at least be more beneficial than not doing so.

"Azara, what do you say?" Irinia asked.

Azara was silent, her face still turned away from the discussion. She seemed ashamed, scared, sad, and, most of all, unwilling to participate in the negotiations.

After a period of silence, Irinia sighed and then spoke. "Very well, then, you have at least my agreement. Now, you must receive my king's, if he deigns to give it."

Ezmeralda nodded. "Good. Well then, dog?"

Valerius gritted his teeth, then spoke his ascent. "Very well. If you help us to fix this mess, to rebuild this place, secure law and order in this city while I consolidate my hold on the kingdom, and propagate your lies to appease the people, then I will give you the alliance you seek."

"And the Veyorn lands. My people will be free od Ursulam and be protected," she said.

"Yes, they will be. Our people will be."

Ezmeralda's mouth formed into an "O" and she looked back at Azara. "Now I think I see how they gained your sympathies, I was curious about that since he is such a -"

She smiled and then sighed, looking back to address Valerius and Irinia. "Very well, Moss and -"

"River." Valerius eeked out, feeling his chest ache as he breathed and spoke words.

"River. I Dawn, promise the aid your request, in return the Veyron territories south of the River Mirth, and a pact of protection between Aruslan and Aericia."

They returned the promise, using their ceremonial names as was the practice of their people, to speak those names when making binding pacts and promises.

Then the mages, particularly Serenity and Ezmeralda, tended to Valerius wounds. At the same time, the young man who Ezmeralda had pointed out - Varu -called the rains from the sky and the water up from the ground and into the city, quenching fires. The small group of troops who Ezmeralda ahd brought with her began helping to return law and order to the chaotic city. The gathered up the fractured remains of Valerius' army, and even the few pieces of the king's army, which remained, and they began to help in the task of helping the injured. Then, they started burying the dead - both the soldiers that had died on the battlefield and the civilians that ahd died in Azara and Akahtars battle.

From the small group of mages that had overheard their discussion, and from Ezmeralda, Azara, Irinia, and Valerius themselves, the rumor was soon spread. The king and the prince allied in death, and slew a dragon who wished to destroy all of Ursulam. The two enemies were now friends, and the war would be over. With almost all other heirs dead, Valerius would be king. He had the best claim to the throne.

The very day of the battle's end, Ezmeralda's golems would bury Akahtar in a tomb built out of the palace's rubble. Then, she sealed it with an enchantment that would keep out those seeking to unearth the beast. There would be no detailed examination of the dragon's corpse. Anything that anyone would ever know would be that Valerius had stabbed the creature in the head, killing it.