When Leon walked into the throne room of the Sacred Golden Empire’s Imperial Palace, he did so much as he did about a month before: flanked on both sides first by Elise, Maia, and Valeria, and then by several Imperial guards. Unlike the last time he was here, however, the massive courtyard surrounded by trees was nearly empty, driving home just how big it was without people to fill it. More than that, they clearly weren’t readying for a feast to celebrate a religious holiday, leaving the entire area looking strangely eerie.

The small river on the other side of the throne room still flowed, though, and the stone throne on its high platform was empty. The Empress and a handful of additional guards—including two who were of the ninth-tier who stared daggers at Leon and Maia from the moment they were escorted in—were at the foot of the throne’s stairs, though.

The Empress was dressed in typical sumptuous Evergolden style, so Leon could assume that this wasn’t an informal event. However, as soon as they walked in, the Empress began walking forward, and as it had the previous time, the enchanted stream parted around her, with not a single drop of water daring to sully her vestments.

“Welcome,” she greeted warmly. “Welcome. Please, come on in.”

As she welcomed them in, she nodded to the guards who’d escorted them in, and they bowed deeply and left, leaving Leon’s small party alone with the Empress and her guards.

“Your Majesty,” Leon said, bowing only as low as he needed to in order to not seem disrespectful of the Empress in her own throne room. His lovers at his side the same.

“No need for formalities today, Leon Raime,” the Empress said. “Please, come with me, I was hoping I could speak with you for a while.”

“Of course.” The Empress began walking down another path through the forest within the massive chamber formed by the Imperial palace-tree’s intertwined branches and thick canopy of leaves, and Leon followed closely.

As he did, though, he did his best to keep his head on a subtle swivel, constantly on the lookout for the man that he was certain would be here until the moment he entered the throne room and saw that he wasn’t: Anastasios, Lord Protector of the Ilian Empire.

It seemed he wasn’t subtle enough, as the Empress asked him, “Looking for something? Or someone?” Her tone was teasing, and while she’d hit the nail on the head, he wasn’t quite sure she was talking about Anastasios.

“I just find it a little strange, is all,” Leon replied. “I figured there’d be more people around. This is your Imperial Palace, isn’t it? The center of your Imperial government…”

“Most of the day-to-day business happens elsewhere within our palace complex,” the Empress helpfully explained. “Our throne room is seldom used, actually. Maybe only three or four times per month.”

“Huh,” Leon grunted in surprise, drawing several disgusted looks from the guards around them for his lack of formality. He just ignored them.

The Empress led them to the same meeting room that the Grand Druid had led him to the last time he was here, telling him that what they were going to discuss was going to be private. His guard went up a little bit, but that Elise, Maia, and Valeria were brought with encouraged him.

The guards were left outside as the Empress escorted them into the private meeting room. Leon found this just a little strange, but the Empress herself was a ninth-tier mage, and when he walked in, he found that the Grand Druid herself was waiting at the opposite end of the table, the crown of Nestor’s sister Penthesilea glittering on her head. She grinned like a fisherman who’d just hauled a fat fish out of the sea as Leon walked in.

Leon did his best not to seem unnerved at her demeanor, but it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. However, his eyes did drift to her crown, and a muted sense of indignation helped him on that front.

“Welcome back to our Empire, Leon Raime,” the Grand Druid drawled, before giving similar greetings to Leon’s ladies.

“It’s good to be back,” Leon politely, though not quite truthfully replied. “I’ve always loved the wilderness, and have to admit that the overly artificial urban zones of Ilion don’t even have half the appeal of Evergold.”

The Grand Druid smiled again, though this time her expression seemed much more natural.

Before anyone could say anything more, someone else walked in just as Leon and his party were taking their seats: Cassandra, still without her right arm, which her golden dress seemed almost designed to show off. Her shoulder was wrapped in bandages, though, so her maiming, while almost painfully obvious, was also hidden from view.

“Apologies for being late,” Cassandra said as she hurried over to sit with her mother and grandmother.

“Cassandra,” the Empress said affectionately, throwing Leon a quick look of concern as she did, “it’s best if you return to the healers and ensure that your restoration goes well…”

“I’m not going to miss this,” Cassandra defiantly replied. “I took part in this expedition, and I want to be a part of providing a report on how it went!”

“How it went is pretty obvious,” the Grand Druid said as she used her magic power to levitate Cassandra into the air, much to the Princess’ shock, and carried her closer to her grandmother. As the Grand Druid set the Princess down, the older woman gently brushed against Cassandra’s armless shoulder. “Are you in any pain?”

“Mother,” the Empress said chidingly, “perhaps now isn’t the time for this? Business and—”

“This is the perfect time for it,” the Grand Druid almost snapped. “Leon Raime, do you have any problems with me showing my granddaughter some affection?”

Leon thinly smiled at being put on the spot, and quickly replied, “None at all. Please, don’t mind me.”

He supposed the Empress was concerned with ‘their side’ showing weakness in front of him, but he was there when Cassandra had lost her arm, so it wasn’t like this was a surprise. In fact, the only thing he was surprised about was that Cassandra hadn’t yet been healed; he’d assumed that in the hours since their return to Evergold, then the Princess would’ve already had her arm restored.

Despite his platitudes, the Grand Druid didn’t spend too much longer doting on Cassandra, and soon enough, they got to the point of their meeting.

“What happened out there?” the Grand Druid asked Leon. It was a refreshingly blunt question, and he answered with only as much detail as he thought appropriate.

He started first with their journey north, with Cassandra eagerly jumping in for part of it. Then, the two alternated telling the story of their expedition from their perspectives, and the Grand Druid made sure to pause every now and then to get Elise, Valeria, and Maia’s perspectives. Maia was the only one who didn’t readily respond, which the Empress seemed insulted by, but the Grand Druid shrugged off.

At this point, knowing that there wasn’t anything at all to be salvaged from the research facility anymore, and knowing that the tree sprites were more than willing to defend themselves with their magic, Leon didn’t hold much back in his explanation. Besides, he figured if he wasn’t upfront about this expedition, Cassandra would be, so he might as well get his own story out there first. His only real concern was what the Grand Druid, the only tenth-tier mage in the entire Sacred Golden Empire, might do upon learning of the tree sprite commune living within her Empire.

“… Interesting,” the Grand Druid said as he finished his explanation up through his first meeting with the ninth-tier tree sprite. “I had no idea such a creature lived within the forest; I’d assumed it was just the usual predators preventing us from venturing further in…”

She didn’t sound particularly hostile, which Leon took to be an encouraging sign.

The Grand Druid continued, “Did this tree sprite seem at all inclined to making any alliances, in your estimation?” She asked the entire room, but her gaze was focused only on Leon and Cassandra.

“Not at all,” Leon answered. “Those sprites just want to be left alone. I can’t imagine anyone entering their forest would be welcomed at all.”

“What about those with those runes you made?” the Empress asked. “Those ‘truth’ and ‘open’ runes? Wouldn’t any more of those work?”

“Why are you asking?” Leon bluntly wondered, drawing a look of muted anger from the Empress and a quick pinch of warning to his arm from Elise. Ignoring both, he asked, “Are you looking to invade the forest to try and run those tree sprites out of your Empire?”

“They represent a clear threat—” the Empress began, but the Grand Druid cut her off.

“We’re not looking to try and exterminate any tree sprites, Leon. All we want to know is if we can make an alliance with them. A mutual support treaty, at the very least. Tree sprites are known to have great skill in nature magic, and we’d be more than willing to learn from them. If they’re not that willing to work with us, then we have no problems leaving them be. It’s not like the Prota Forest has some great resource that we’re in desperate need of, anyway.”

“I’d argue against invading the forest, too,” Cassandra said, any traces of the arrogant attitude that she’d shown off only a month before nowhere to be seen. “They clearly have the support of something powerful, given the level of enchantments they showed off. I mean, those ancient runes in the branches of that ninth-tier sprite’s tree show that it has quite a bit of power it never called down upon us…”

Leon grimly nodded. He agreed with Cassandra’s statement wholeheartedly.

“Leon,” the Grand Druid said, drawing his attention back to her. “Is there anything left in that forest other than the sprites?”

“No,” Leon immediately replied, recognizing the look on her face; she was done with the report and was far more interested in the results at this point.

“So, in other words,” the Empress said, “you’re the only one that gained anything from this whole endeavor? What was the point of allowing you access to the forest in the first place, then?”

“Now, now,” the Grand Druid responded with an admonishing look, “let’s not get too worked up over who’s bringing what back. Here, have something sweet, keep yourself calm.” The tenth-tier mage waved her hand and some kind of roll drenched in sparkling golden sauce appeared in front of the Empress, who looked about as willing to eat it as she might a live snake.

“Leon,” Cassandra said as the Empress turned to glare at her mother, who grinned back rather provocatively. Leon looked to the Princess, who continued, “Come with me, I’d like to have a few words. Ladies Elise, Valeria, and Naiad should come, too.”

“We’re not done,” the Empress insisted.

“No, let them go,” the Grand Druid said. “We have a few things to go over, ourselves, before we’re ready to hear the results of this expedition.”

Leon could see the rising tension growing between the two, and he and his lovers followed Cassandra out the door about as quickly as they could.

Once they’d left the meeting room, everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief, and Cassandra led them further down the path toward a small square surrounded by trees not far away. It was similar to the meeting room, though instead of a stone table surrounded by thick enchanted hedges, the place was mostly open, with only a few stone benches around the perimeter. Along the way, Leon noted that they were followed by one of the Empress’ ninth-tier guards, though he couldn’t say it was unwarranted with them heading off alone with the Princess.

Cassandra immediately sat down on one of the benches and sighed with obvious fatigue.

“Are you doing all right, Your Highness?” Elise asked.

“She’s fine,” Valeria replied in Cassandra’s stead. The Princess glared at her, but Valeria smiled challengingly back. “We’ve sparred enough that I can see the difference between pain and exhaustion. You’re just tired, you’re not in much pain.”

“I’d punch you if you weren’t right,” Cassandra grunted. To Elise, she replied, “I’m doing fine. Our healers here are very good at their jobs and made sure that I was well taken care of. If the arm wasn’t gone I’d almost swear that nothing was wrong.”

“Then, you’re tired because…?” Elise whispered, nodding back toward the meeting room.

“My mother and grandmother have rarely seen eye-to-eye,” Cassandra explained without too much obvious concern. “I’ve grown used to it, but they usually get on the same page before they meet with someone together. Honestly, I’m surprised you had to see them disagree like that.”

“It was hardly much of a disagreement,” Leon said. He shrugged and added, “Not like I’m going to judge them; I don’t much care what page they’re on so long as they’re not trying to worm their way into my business.”

“That’s exactly what they’re trying to do,” Cassandra responded.

“Yeah, yeah, I thought so,” Leon groaned. “It sounded like your mother expected something of value to be both found, and then turned over to her from all of this. Care to explain?”

“You never would’ve gotten far in this Empire without our consent,” Cassandra elucidated. “Given your lineage, I can’t imagine at all that you expected we’d just let you walk around without our eyes always on you.”

“I didn’t,” Leon admitted. “That was part of the reason why I accepted you acting as escort.”

“Mm. Thanks for that.” Cassandra averted her eyes for a moment and appeared to unconsciously rub her armless shoulder again. “It was good to get out of civilization for a while, even with how things ended. But anyway, my mother was under the impression that I was going to take at least a part of whatever you found for the Empire. Since you basically only brought back a tree sprite, it’s not like I can do that, can I?”

Leon smiled and nodded, grateful that he hadn’t brought up the lightning-infused wood or the research facility’s power crystal.

“So,” Cassandra continued, “it should go without too much explanation that my mother is rather unsatisfied with how this went. I’d like to think much of that was because of my injury, but in truth, I’m not so sure…”

Leon shared an awkward look with Elise, and both silently agreed not to dig too deeply into that admission.

“My grandmother is less concerned,” Cassandra said.

“Why’s that?” Elise asked.

Valeria answered with something approximating an amused grin. “She wants Leon to join this Empire. And preferably marry the Princess at the same time.”

“Right,” Elise responded. “Then, whatever Leon found would also de facto belong to the Sacred Golden Empire…”

Cassandra shrugged as Elise turned in her direction. “I won’t lie and say that I’m not a little irked you don’t want to marry me,” she said to Leon. “It’s nice to feel desired, you know?”

Leon smiled and mirrored her shrug.

“But,” the Princess said, “I suppose being your friend is good enough. I want to thank you, Leon Raime. And all the rest of you.”

“What for?” Leon asked.

“For helping me to get my priorities straight,” Cassandra explained. “Despite how I’ve ended up, after doing some reflecting, I realized that I don’t much regret my own participation in this expedition. My feelings about losing so many of my people are… different, to say the least, but that’s something I have to deal with on my own. But going out on an adventure… well that was something I’ve been craving for a long time! And thanks to all of you, I was able to finally dip my toes into the adventuring lake. And I want more.”

“More?” Elise asked as a self-deprecating smile spread across her face. “I have to admit that I’m quite done with adventuring for a while. This kind of excitement doesn’t quite agree with me…”

“It’s not for everyone,” Leon said comfortingly.

“But it is for me,” Cassandra responded. “I’ve decided to do some digging and look into the civilizations that were here before your Clan arrived, Leon. Maybe I can find something no one else has before, just like you found in the Serpentine Isles.”

Leon grimaced. “Be careful about stuff that old… There’re a lot of dark things hidden on this plane.”

“I’ll be as ready as I can be,” Cassandra said. “For now, I think it’s best if I follow my mother’s instructions and concentrate on my healing, but after that, I’ll be heading back out. I’m not just going to sit around the palace mindlessly training anymore!”

Leon smiled in appreciation of her new attitude, but it was Valeria who responded first. “Just make sure you’re more careful about the lives of those follow you.”

Cassandra’s demeanor darkened. “I’m not going to make those mistakes again,” she declared. “I can’t… I won’t lead my own people to their deaths like that again. I was… I was wrong to do that in the first place. It was exhilarating, but it wasn’t a game, and nine women who followed me into that forest had to be carried out, their spirits gone to the Ashen Fields. No more of my people will follow them because of me.”

A brief silence settled over everyone as Cassandra’s words echoed in their ears, punctuated only when Valeria said, “Good. They’re putting their lives in your hands. Now you know how delicate they can be, and how much trust they’re putting in you. Don’t let them down again.”

Cassandra nodded.

No one spoke for several more seconds, until the ninth-tier guard keeping an eye on them poked her head into the courtyard.

“Her Majesty has gone back to the throne room, Your Highness, and requests your presence.”

“Why?” Cassandra barked, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

“It seems that Lord Protector Anastasios has arrived,” the guard replied.

Cassandra nodded, then said to Leon, “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Leon Raime. Will you be staying in the city for a while?”

Leon opened his mouth to answer, but the guard quickly cut in, “The Lord Protector has requested Leon Raime join you, as well.”

Leon froze a moment. It seemed he was going to get that meeting with Anastasios today, but the Sacred Golden Empress, and probably the Grand Druid would be there, too.