“You two had better not be about to fight in my fucking house,” Leon growled as the Grand Druid and Sunlit Emperor continued to stare at each other, the tension between the two getting thicker and thicker.

Sunlit chuckled. “Oh, you have nothing to fear from me, young Leon. I was not cursed with a woman’s fickleness.”

“You just don’t know when to shut your mouth, do you?” the Grand Druid spat, though Leon noted both her and the Sunlit Emperor’s auras had ceased intensifying. “There is nothing that could possibly convince me to leave my grandson-in-law with a man who demands he be arrested and dragged south in chains.”

“No one said anything about dragging,” Sunlit Emperor cheekily replied.

His attempt at humor was lost on the Grand Druid, who glared back at him with nothing less than undisguised contempt. Sunlit seemed to soak it up, though, standing proudly in the heat of the Grand Druid’s anger.

Sensing another opportunity to cut in and possibly avoid any physical or magical confrontation, Leon quickly asked, “Why have you come back? Was your business left unfinished?”

“You could say that,” Sunlit said. “Though, I’d prefer not to talk with the hag present.”

“And I’d prefer if you went home, but we’re all going to be making sacrifices today,” the Grand Druid replied.

Sunlit chuckled again while Leon asserted himself a little more, stepping partially between them. “What business do you have, then?” Leon asked. “You don’t have any guards or attendants with you, so how important is whatever this is?” When he finished, he glanced at Gaius and jerked his head toward the villa. Gaius seemed to get the idea and made for the villa, though he looked more than a little reluctant to leave Leon on his own with a pair of tenth-tier mages.

Leon doubted the Grand Druid’s intention to harm him, though, and he could see that her entourage was already rushing toward them while Valeria was nearing the Lord Protector’s chambers.

“What took place earlier was a performance,” Sunlit said. “It was a play designed to placate some of the more hawkish of my advisors. Tell me, was it convincing?” Sunlit gave Leon a friendly, almost brotherly smile, acting as if they were in on a private joke.

Leon, however, shrugged noncommittally while the Grand Druid said, “Take your theatrics elsewhere.”

“I’ll take them where they’re needed,” Sunlit growled. “If you’re not going to be a productive member of this conversation, then remove yourself. A conversation between men is hardly a place for you, anyway.”

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” the Grand Druid growled as her aura began to rise again.

“If you’re not here for a ‘performance’,” Leon interjected, “what is your business?”

“I just wanted to extend to you a more formal invitation,” Sunlit said. “While I’m… less concerned about you, those in my Empire are much harder to convince. Unfortunately, as powerful as I am, there are political realities that even I can’t ignore. If you don’t come with me, then Heaven’s Eye could see certain sanctions levied against them, and who knows what else might happen? But if you were to grace my Empire with your presence for however long it took my people to grow comfortable with you, then I would make sure that your stay was as comfortable as it possibly could be.”

Further inside the villa, Leon saw that Gaius was running about rallying Leon’s retainers, while Valeria had been let into the Lord Protector’s chambers with one of Anastasios’ ninth-tier guards.

“It sounds like you want my grandson-in-law to be your pet,” the Grand Druid observed.

“He won’t be your grandson-in-law for much longer,” Sunlit declared. He glanced back at Leon with a sorrowful look. “It pains me to separate a man from one of his women, but I really must insist. This marriage of yours to the Princess Cassandra is causing far too much strife. This could lead to war between Empires, something that hasn’t happened in tens of thousands of years! Do the sensible things and come back to my Empire with me!”

“That isn’t happening,” the Grand Druid declared.

“You accuse me of much, hag, yet here you are, stomping all over young Leon’s autonomy! I care not for your—”

Much like the Grand Druid’s entrance, an aura exploded out from the Lord Protector’s chambers, and he soon came flying out through a balcony, finding them in one instant and appearing next to the Grand Druid in the next.

“What is this?” he demanded, any trace of levity that might be found in his demeanor under normal conditions gone.

“Look at this, Leon,” Sunlit said sarcastically. “You should take comfort in knowing that you’re so popular.”

Leon smiled quite bitterly. Gaius had largely rallied the retinue and they were moving toward the closest wing of the villa they could. In addition, Leon could see that his Tribal vassals had apparently been notified, and Sar, Exallos, and the rest of their delegation were on high alert in their wing of the villa.

He had quite a bit of force on his side, but he doubted Sunlit was going to let this go. What he’d revealed to the Director was too momentous to just let him go about his business. Leon guessed that he knew his more formal threats earlier weren’t going to do much, and so had taken it upon himself to come here again and try a friendly approach.

Not that that was going to work.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Leon declared with finality. “This is my home. Heaven’s Eye is where I belong. Cassandra is my wife. None of this is changing just to make some paper pushers down south more comfortable.”

“Well said, my boy!” the Lord Protector boomed as he moved to stand at Leon’s shoulder, his significant height and build providing Leon quite a bit of support.

“My Cassie would castrate you if you tried to leave, anyway,” the Grand Druid quipped as she moved to stand at Leon’s other shoulder.

Sunlit’s grin thinned. “Think this over, Leon. This will be my last diplomatic plea: come with me to my Empire. If you do not, there will be consequences.”

“My mind is made up,” Leon replied. “I will not be ‘visiting’ your Empire. I thank you for your invitation, though.”

Sunlit’s grin turned almost predatory, and Leon could see no small amount of rage burning in his eyes.

“Very well, then,” he said as he took leave of the ground. He slowly flew upwards, inches at a time, showing no more magic than what that required, but the Lord Protector and Grand Druid both subtly braced while Leon primed his villa’s defenses. However, Sunlit did nothing more than slowly accelerate upward. When he reached about thirty feet, he glared down at Leon and said, “Remember this refusal. Everything that comes next will be on your head.”

His aura spiked and for a moment, Leon thought he was going to attack them. Sunlit’s eyes flitted from Leon to the Lord Protector, then to the Grand Druid, and then back to Leon, his glare becoming more hateful with every passing moment.

And with that, he turned and sped off back into the city proper.

Leon stood there for several seconds as the incredible tension built up in his body slowly left him.

“Our forces need to move more quickly,” the Lord Protector declared.

“Agreed,” the Grand Druid said. “We’re going to increase our levels of coordination. If nothing else, the Sunlit army is quite competent.”

The two tenth-tier mages began to turn toward the villa when Leon said, “Wait!”

Both paused and looked at him, mild surprise crossing their expressions.

“Come with me,” Leon growled as he stalked toward the villa. “It’ll only take a moment.”

Both tenth-tier mages glanced at each other with some confusion, then followed him.

Leon entered the villa, silently ordered his retainers to start packing everything they needed as soon as they could, repeated the instructions to his family, and then hurried toward the Tribal delegation, the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid on his heels.

Upon entering, Leon was confronted by Sar and Exallos, all the Tribesmen in their main room bowing to him as he entered.

“What’s going on, Your Majesty?” Exallos politely but insistently inquired as he bowed at the waist.

Sar said nothing, but his eyes lingered on the Grand Druid and Lord Protector as they entered behind Leon.

Leon waited for the door to close behind them before saying, “We all agree that we’re here to negotiate an initial peace agreement, don’t we?”

Sar and Exallos shared some hesitant looks with Anastasios and the Grand Druid before all four tacitly agreed with Leon.

“Good. Then let’s agree on this right now with all of us here. Fuck the negotiations right now, we can bitch and moan about the past when this becomes more official. Right now, what matters is that we commit to not killing each other. So let’s do that. Commit to not killing each other.”

“Leon, this—” the Lord Protector began, but Leon cut him off.

“This doesn’t need to be more complicated than it needs to be!” Leon insisted. “We have the Sunlit Emperor making threats, and I have a sudden and powerful urge to get back to the Ten Tribes to prepare for our war to increase in intensity!”

Everyone in the room looked more and more anxious and serious as Leon continued, though he didn’t let that stop him.

“I’m not giving the Sunlit Emperor what he wants, but I’m also not going to just sit around idly while everyone else fights each other to try and seize control of me! So let’s make fucking peace! Right here and now! Yes or no?!”

Leon glared alternatively at the two tenth-tier mages and then at his ninth-tier Tribesmen, though he focused mostly on the former.

“We follow your lead, Your Majesty,” Sar said.

“We will abide by whatever peace terms Your Majesty specifies,” Exallos quietly stated.

Leon gave them a grateful look, then turned fully toward his Imperial guests and stared them down.

The Lord Protector and Grand Druid turned from him to each other. While their auras were opaque to Leon’s magic senses, he could feel the subtle ripples that suggested they were silently communicating with each other. So he reinforced his patience and waited.

“Leon,” the Grand Druid said after a long moment, “this is a complicated issue.” Leon made to interrupt but fell silent when the Grand Druid held up her hand. “As you know, neither of us are our respective Empires’ monarchs. But that doesn’t mean we don’t hold great sway within the Empires. If it is peace that you want, then it’s peace we’ll deliver.”

“Or, more accurately, a truce,” the Lord Protector clarified. The barest of smiles broke out onto his otherwise deadly serious countenance. “As you said, we have quite a bit more ‘bitching and moaning’ to do to get past old grievances. But for now, we will put all of our considerable diplomatic muscle into turning our militaries away from the Ten Tribes and toward the Sunlit Empire.”

Leon grinned and held out his hand. The Lord Protector clasped his wrist, and when Leon did the same for the Grand Druid, she instead pulled him into a tight, though brief, hug.

“Let us consider our truce in effect as of immediately,” the Lord Protector said. “For now, what are you going to do? You intend to leave Occulara?”

“Yes,” Leon replied as he gave Sar and Exallos meaningful looks. “We’re returning to Kataigida. This place is too vulnerable, and we have the truce we came here for. It’s time to head back home to see to our duties there and prepare for any pushes the Sunlit Emperor makes in the Veins of Vigilance.”

“The Sunlit Emperor will have greater concerns than you, my dear.” The Grand Druid ended her statement with a vicious grin.

“You’re leaving us holding the bag, but that’s fine,” the Lord Protector said with a matching expression. “Sunlit will have too many problems on his northern border to worry about the south. Do what you need to do. Just stay in touch, my boy.”

Leon nodded, and their impromptu negotiation came to an end. The Lord Protector and the Grand Druid turned and left the room, each having to update their instructions to their respective Empires.

Leon and his people, however, had a ton of work of their own to do, and not much time to do it in.

---

The Sunlit Emperor furiously paced in his palace, glaring to the south in the direction of Leon’s villa.

It was right there, the key to unlocking the power buried in his blood, so long buried in his lineage. He could practically reach out and touch it, but his duplicitous and contemptible counterparts in the west and north were there keeping him from making the move he so desperately needed to.

But that was fine, at least for now. So long as Leon remained in the city, there was time. The Sunlit Emperor knew he was smart—smarter than any of the other tenth-tier mages on the plane, at any rate. He’d figure out a way to either convince Leon to leave, or he’d get the boy back to Thunderhaven by other means. He just had to wait for the right opening.

In the past day since he twice visited Leon’s villa, however, no such opportunity had presented itself. The villa seemed a hive of activity, but so far, Leon hadn’t gone far enough from the other two cocksuckers for Sunlit to make a move.

A knock came at his door. Sunlit immediately scowled and resisted the urge to break it down and strangle whoever was on the other side. He didn’t take his eyes off the villa, but he called over his shoulder, “Enter!”

One of the several young maids in his chambers, her eyes downcast and demeanor meek, curtsied deeply and went to open the door.

“Your Imperial Majesty!” one of his newer advisors declared as he took a couple hesitant steps into Sunlit’s chambers, his eyes tightly shut so that he wouldn’t lay them upon any of Sunlit’s women—not that Sunlit had any of his women out; he was far too preoccupied even to slake his lusts.

“Speak,” Sunlit demanded, otherwise not even acknowledging the man’s presence.

“Our informants tell us that the Director visited Leon Raime only a few hours ago,” the advisor said.

“I noticed,” Sunlit growled. “He left soon after.”

“Leon Raime’s servants have also been moving around the city,” the advisor continued, his voice wavering slightly as he relayed what Sunlit was already assuming was bad news. “Based on what they’re doing and who they’re visiting, we believe that Leon Raime may be intending to flee the city at the first opportunity.”

Sunlit grinned. A moment later, his grin deepened into an unabashed smile. And then that smile turned into a wide baring of his teeth as he glared at Leon’s villa miles away.

“Good…” he whispered. “Good… Try to run, little Leon, you’ll only find yourself running right to me…”

The advisor trembled fiercely, as if he were expecting the headsman’s ax to appear out of nowhere and fall upon his neck, but instead, Sunlit spun around and gave him new orders.

“Prepare the arks to leave at a moment’s notice! Double those watching Leon Raime’s villa! If he so much as farts when he shits, I want to hear about it! If he tries to leave this city, I want us to be there waiting for him!”

The advisor bowed again and departed, breathing a noticeable sigh of relief as he left Sunlit’s chambers with his life.

Sunlit, however, stared back at Leon’s villa with ever-increasing fervor. This was his opportunity, he could sense it…

---

Leon glanced around at everyone he’d prepared.

Over two days, he’d metaphorically cracked the whip and gotten his people to pack as quickly as they could. All of his household furniture that Elise wanted to bring along was in Leon’s soul realm, all the materials they needed for Elise and Helen’s alchemical fields were prepared and spread out between them, and the Director was given de facto authority over the villa until Leon’s return.

Leon’s retainers were likewise ready, with all of their needed possessions in their soul realm. The oaks prepared for thunder wood and the Hesperidic Apple Trees, which Leon was far more interested in, were safely packed away in Tikos’ soul realm. It wouldn’t be too hard to reestablish the orchard and copse once they made it to Kataigida.

Nestor had worked with Leon to scoop up all of his tools and supplies in both his workshop and Helen’s workshop. The dead man hadn’t been too keen on being hurried, but Leon made sure he moved quickly, and they’d gotten it done. Now, Nestor stood with them, ready to board their ark with his large cat at his side.

Of Leon’s retainers, there were a couple additions. Cassandra had gotten permission from the Grand Druid to bring back a dozen of her personal guards with her. Alcander, meanwhile, had Sofie, his wife with him, ready to follow Leon back to the Sky Devil’s Hell.

Along with Leon’s family and retainers stood Valentina and half a dozen of Leon’s best and most trusted researchers from Heaven’s Eye. These were only those he considered of vital importance. There were other researchers he would’ve loved to recruit, but he couldn’t do so under such time constraints.

And with them stood Leon’s Tribal delegation. They hadn’t had to scramble to pack as everyone else had, but Leon had still worked hard to get them ready to go in time. They had the peace agreement with them, the simple document drawn up when Exallos and Sar discretely met with the Lord Protector and Grand Druid again and put their truce into writing.

And so, flanked by his Tempest Knights, Leon led the way back into the Tribal ark. It was much sooner than expected, but it was time to head back to Kataigida.

And, more than likely, prepare for a more active war with the Sunlit Empire.