The color looked as if it had been drained out of Reese’s face. Before them stood a tall man with a strong jaw and hair perfectly wafted to the side. He was incredibly handsome while looking like he would destroy your will to live in several short, agonizing moments.

“Reese,” is all the man said.

It looked as if the formerly sure of himself man Kaden knew had become a whimpering child. His shoulders dropped, his head lowered. Whatever dynamic the two had with one another, it was entirely different from anyone else’s. There was far more about Reese than he knew.

“I didn’t expect you’d be here today.”

“I didn’t expect to be here today.”

Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for something to happen between the two. Nortu inserted himself between them with his hand outstretched. The three of them let out their breath as Reese has his distraction.

“Lord Manderby, we honored by your visit. We thank you for sending your men here to help after the attack.” His eyes cut to Reese as he tried to step around them. “Their help will be of great use to help rebuild what had been damaged.”

Lord Manderby gave a curt nod, then refocused on his son. “We will talk more soon. I expect you need to finish your duties of the event first.”

Rees straightened his posture, swallowed hard, and nodded. He put his hand on Nortu’s shoulder and silently led him back in the direction they had originally been heading. Nortu let him pull him away and Kaden watched as the Lord’s entire expression changed when he greeted another person away from them.

Sayori gave him a confused motion, but Kaden had less understanding of what happened than she did. He didn’t even know who lord Manderby was or why they were even important. Sayori had once called him a prince. Had they just met a king?

Nortu continued to lead them through the hall and around the tables. They was a long table set up at the end. He indicated that one side would be for the ambassadors and the other for them. They were the important ones today, so they got center seating. Kaden didn’t know how he felt about being the center of attention like this. He thought he was only going to have to be in the front at the ceremony; he didn’t think he’d have to parade around like that.

Nortu left them alone and they awkwardly sat down at the table. None of them saying anything as they soaked in their surrounding. Evonne was the first to break the silence. “Your dad seemed… nice.”

“He’s not.”

Sayori and Kaden shared a look before he tried to add, “Sayori said you’re like a prince. Does that make him a King?”

“Kind of.” He let out a sigh and said, “we don’t have kings and queens like in some of your lands. We have reigning lords. They have a council and they discuss and decide things for our land. My father is one of them. Some nations call them kings even though they aren’t that exactly.”

Sayori laughed and said, “I’m going to start referring to you as our princeling, then.”

“Please don’t.” He rolled his eyes.

They joked and prodded him a few times, and his demeanor started to relax again. It was clear to Kaden that his relationship with his father had a lot more tension than he was ready to explain. With how long it was between when he received his magical blessing and when he met his dragon, he wondered what was going on over in the wind community.

They received food not too much longer after that and a revolving door of people kept interrupting them and thanking them for how they saved so many on the Night of Fallen Wings. Their food had gone cold before any of them were able to finish it. Kaden hoped it wasn’t always going to be like this as they traveled.

“It’s not always like this,” Meinor repeated his thoughts as he strolled up to their table. “You four just caused quite a stir in your short time. Usually it’s just a ceremony. They say congrats on becoming dragon riders, now please go visit everyone. None of this posturing and surely never a grand meal like this. You lot should feel lucky.”

Sayori was twirling the last bit of pasta on her fork. “Yeah, I feel super lucky eating cold food because the traveling merchant what’s-his-name needed to tell me I get a discount from his shop that sells earrings.”

“Could be worse,” he laughed. “Half these people could be dead if you lot hadn’t started peeling those serpents off the wall like you had. They have every right to feel thankful and you might get some nice jewelry out of it.”

She looked a little bashful and finished filling her face with the last of her meal. Evonne bowed her head and said, “thank you for helping us out as you have here, Meinor. I look forward to seeing you again when we return from our pilgrimage.”

This took him off guard as he blushed and mumbled out a garbled response. He bowed and gave a swift exit after that. Sayori laughed and leaned over the table to look down at Evonne. “I think you just caused that man to develop a crush.”

Her face went beat red and her eyes fell to her lap as the laughed at his reaction. Kaden was having a great time with the four of them now that they weren’t having to worry about a possible threat. If their whole journey was to be like this, he would have a great time.

The words of the matriarch echoed in his mind, disrupting his happiness. The water is tainted. Do not trust the lords. There was a well of anxiety that was pooling in his stomach when he thought about his return to his nation. They hadn’t shown him incorrectly so far. They were bound to be correct with whatever it was they were trying to tell him about the water nation.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He had a hard time believing that the ambassador was somehow working so independently on his own. It was too high of a position with too many connections for him to only be working for himself and the serpents. With the missing dragons, he worried that they already had a foothold in his lands and the rest of the water mages didn’t even know it.

He was lost in thoughts when the tall figure approached their table. Kaden’s eyes drifted lazily to the newest well wisher when he felt a cold chill run over him as their gaze connected. Icy blue eyes stared back at him under loose, dark strands.

Malfor’s voice cut through, breaking their contact. “I’d like to introduce you to Lord Labare, one of our most proud lords in the fire nation.”

Evonne bowed her head deeply and did not raise it again. Kaden looked to his companions and they gave their own bow, but did rise again. He awkwardly made his own bow of his head before meeting the man’s gaze again.

In a deep voice, he said, “Our people thank you for what you did here. We look forward to hosting you in our own realm when your pilgrimage allows. I am here to personally invite you to our coliseum for some dragon games.”

The blood drained out of Kaden as the vision of a sandy coliseum flashed before his eyes. There he was, holding a bloodied sword standing in the sands of a coliseum. The air sucked out of his lungs as he was brought back to reality. All of them were staring at him. The man gave him a perplexed look. Reese must have recognized that something was wrong and said a response of appreciation and thanks.

They departed, and Evonne finally brought her head back up. Sayori was nudging Kaden, asking him what the hell happened. All he could do was mutter the word “vision” and they all let out an annoyed sigh before having to compose themselves for another few visitors.

Reese leaned back between one of the visits and said, “we’ll talk about it later, but we will talk about it.”

“Talk about what, son?”

Kaden watched as Reese froze in place before slowly pulling himself back to look at his father now standing in front of them. There were several seconds of empty air between them. As if shaken out of his stupor, Reese’s posture straightened again and he gave a polite smile.

“Ah, my lord. We were just discussing opinions over dragon flying techniques.”

His father returned him with a cold stare, letting that obviously fabricated answer hang between them before saying. “I am most pleased with what you have done here with the serpents. I can finally be proud of you for something you’ve done.”

Kaden saw Reese’s eyebrow raise, but he didn’t say anything.

“I am not pleased that you were threatening the ambassador with his job.”

“I wasn’t—”

“How dare you disgrace our house like that?”

Sayori opened her mouth to defend him, but lord Manderby put his hand out, hushing her before she could even say anything.

“You will not behave this way on your pilgrimage. You are so fortunate that you are being honored for your good deeds today and not punished for your behavior. If I hear one more negative thing about you and how you make us look bad, you will not be welcomed home. Do not embarrass me.”

“Yes, sir.”

He nodded to the rest of them and turned away. Sayori put her arms on the table, resting against her elbows and said, “your dad’s a dick.”

Reese let out a deflated laugh and merely said, “Yeah. Yeah, he can be.”

Evonne had her hand on his shoulder, reassuring him when Remni walked up to them. Kaden nodded. “Ambassador. I hope everything is going well.”

She raised an eyebrow herself at him and said, “Well, I was coming to let you know the plan for your pilgrimage.”

Reese’s gaze was still on his father’s as the lord walked around the hall. He nodded without looking at her and said, “what plan is that?”

“Well, we are sending you to the water realm first. You all know this. Unfortunately, our water mage,” she motioned to Kaden with an apologetic look on her face. “Is not the most knowledgeable of his craft. Normally he would take you on a tour of his home temple and you would learn more about their culture that way, but Kaden here has only been a mage for a brief time, so it won’t quite work that way.”

Kaden couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed at what she was saying. Everyone else had known how to use their magic well before they even went on their pilgrimage. He wondered why it took Reese so long to even go on one if he had had magic for so long first. He didn’t know the how quickly they sent normal mages off, so he was unsure of the protocol.

“So, after you go to greet the king, as all pilgrims do, you will then have to tour multiple temples. We’ve sent word of this ahead so they will find appropriate instructors to assist you all when the time comes.”

“Wait, so Kaden won’t be hosting us?” Sayori mused. “And here I thought I’d get to meet his farming family.”

Reese snickered and said, “so when we get there, will someone in their high court direct us where to go first?”

She nodded and said, “yes. You’ll be directed by the water nation to go where directed. Please do not cause any issues with this method of pilgrimage. You all know things are wildly influx, so this is the best we can do at the moment.”

“What about when we’re done there?” Asked Evonne.

Remni smiled and said, “we’re working on that. It should take you all some time to greet their major temples. We’re discussing on where you second visit should take place. If we can time it right, you lot might be able to hit two different games!”

Kaden gritted his teeth again. The dragon games. After so many years of fighting, these types of mock battles and shows of skills were created to keep the people competitive in a healthy way, or so they said. At his original trial in the council room, he recalled Malfor and Kartok bickering over technology used by the serpents that had only been used in the games thus far. He was curious to see what they truly entailed.

Reese perked up at this mention. “Two different games? Really?”

A new competitive side of Remni was showing. “Of course, we Earth nation will obviously take the crown in both. We’ve got several just about to ramp up. The gladiatorial games over in the fire nation are really getting going and the grand battle is to be hosted by the wind nation this year. If we can get you lot through things, you may be able to use this pilgrimage as an excuse to see both of them in person! That doesn’t happen to most mages! If anything, it’s one or the other! You lot should count yourselves lucky!”

He wondered what they were even about. Kartok’s hand went on her shoulder and he laughed, saying, “the earth nation winning the grand battle? Please, since when? You’ve lost five years in a row now.”

Her eyes furrowed. “Only because you lot cheat.”

“That’s a serious accusation, Remni.”

She laughed and said, “We Earth mages don’t need contraptions to win. I suggest you lot try to win this year without all the pretty bells and whistles.”

“That just goes against what makes us winners, ambassador.” He winked at Kaden and said, “this year we have a secret weapon.”

“A secret weapon?”

He laughed and turned away. “Just keep guessing. You’ll never expect it!”

She shook her head back at him as he walked away. Turning back to them, she said, “it’ll be good fun and you’ll get to see all the different expert fighters at them. I think you all could learn a lot.”

Sayori was nodding along. “Absolutely. Go team Earth!”

Remni scrunched her nose up and smiled. “Thank you for everything you did while you were here, and I hope your pilgrimage is less eventful. Be careful in the lands of the water. I don’t foresee them being happy after they receive… the news.”

Kaden sighed. “No, I don’t think they will be.”