As we return to Kinzul’s domain amidst the Mountain of Solace, there are individuals in her retinue that view us with jaws agape. There are murmurs about there being not a scratch upon us as we brazenly stride into an Ancient’s domain after having slain one of hers, and driven off her ally. That part isn’t exactly true, but Teuila hides her pain well. We’re certainly about to shake up the status quo around here, but that makes me wonder if it isn’t us that might be the spark, the catalyst for the coming apocalypse from this region.
I have to put that thought out of mind. Kinzul and Lil indicated that they’d soon be waging open war against the forces of Terrorzin to depose him. Our being here doesn’t change that fact. I’m hoping that it actually aids matters to be honest. If Kinzul’s Order has to wage war, against draconic forces amassing to tear the world apart, then who better to be at her side than the Shellcracker Adventuring Party? After all, it’s not like the five of us aren’t used to staring down the barrel of one apocalypse or another at this point. Six if you count Mat, but I doubt we’ll ever see him again. If we do, I imagine it’d be in some grief-stricken madness where he came after me to attempt to get vengeance on me for perceived slights.
At the thought of my brother, the man that seems to hate me most in all the worlds, my shoulders slump and my chin rests against my chest as my head sags low. I stifle a sob and try to keep my breathing even, while Teuila and I march through the territory around the M’ah’ruke obelisk, towards Kinzul’s “prison.”
Kinzul is of course awaiting us, and I catch her doting on Lil from around several corners with my thermal and silent sonar senses. She truly has adopted him, and loves him. I blink back tears of joy for my best and oldest friend. I’m so proud of him, for him. Luni is playing a soft melody that seems solely for Lucky’s benefit, as he lazes about beside where she kneels. Kinzul’s awareness of us is immediate as we’re about to turn the corner, though my senses extend around corners, and I’ve been aware of her for a bit longer. I can’t hide my sly smile as she is very obviously, and pointedly, not doting on Lil as we turn the corner.
Lady Kinzul addresses us as we enter, “It seems Lil’s faith in you was not misplaced. That must have been remarkably efficient. You couldn’t have more than gotten to the obelisk and turned around, to return in such a short time. Yet I sense Yisstendahl’s dragonforce within you. You are alight with life, brighter and stronger than when you left. Yet you do return. Does that mean you’ve made your choice? Do you accept my offer, my request?”
Lil looks confused as he glances between Kinzul and me, so I try to answer as formally as possible, “I have, I do Lady Kinzul. If you’ll have us, we would join your faction and aid you in deposing the tyrant Terrorzin, at the side of our beloved family.” Under my breath, I ponder, jokingly, accidentally aloud, “I wonder if we should call her Mother, or Aunty.”
Luni’s music stops as if a record meets a scratch, and her hands clasp over her mouth as her gaze shoots towards Kinzul, and Teuila bites her lips as her cheeks puff with held-back laughter. It has been a while since my train of thought speaking itself aloud has bit me in the ass. I guess I was due for it at some point or another. I inwardly groan as I bite my own lips while trying to breathe through my nose to maintain a straight face.
I can’t tell if the faint crimson that rises and spreads itself across Kinzul’s visage, beneath the onyx of her scales, is a flush of fury, or embarrassment. The way that her brow furrows, I’m quite afraid it may be the former, though the latter may not be any better. My fears are dispelled, as a melodious rumble becomes a soft yet thunderous chuckle that sends vibrations straight through me to my very core. The tension in Luni and Teuila’s shoulders drops loose as they both give in to their own laughter, while Lil just shrugs obliviously, as if of course Lil’s buddy Reggie would get to call his mom by a relative nickname.
Lil quips, “Probably Aunty Rej, because we’re not exactly brother and sibling, we’re more like, like, like just family. I told Mom, erm, Mother that you’d be okay, but I kinda didn’t expect you both to come back better than when you left. You gotta tell me about what new powers you’ve been finding pal. I’m mega curious, mega mega mega curious.”
I scratch the back of my head while blushing, and as much as I want to reunite with the Triple L Squad, I have to address the elephant in the room, or, um, rather, the draconic ruler in the room. I address our Lady, “Lady Kinzul, should I take it that we could consider this an official strategy meeting, in which we disclose to you the assets and powers we have, that will be at your disposal? If we could beg of your time that is, while we simultaneously catch up.”
Kinzul grins, and chides Lil as she responds to me, “You my son could learn a thing or two about propriety and formality from your beloved Reggie. Yes child, you may do exactly that, and I welcome you gladly into our ranks, within the Order of the Onyx Dawn. I will formally appoint you positions once you’ve properly introduced yourselves and your talents. I find these meetings go more smoothly when we’re all seated comfortably. Join me in the den, all of you.”
I nod, quick to acquiesce and follow Kinzul. Lil sticks his tongue out at me, and I’m sure he’s thinking I’m a suck-up, but I don’t want to do anything that might get in the way of the relationship he’d formed. I’m on my best behavior, because Lil’s happiness is important to me, more than I can express. I walk next to him and nudge his shoulder with the side of my head, so he rests his head on mine, giving in, admitting that we’re okay, that the love of our friendship has lasted the test of time.
Kinzul manages to astound me, and I wish I could stop my brain before Teuila overhears my upcoming train of thought. Before my very eyes, Lil’s mother begins to transform. In an undeniably smooth transition, Kinzul assumes the shape of a human woman, her scales shimmering and shifting all the while.
As the transformation completes, I gasp in awe at the sight before me. Where the dragon once stood, now stands a woman of unparalleled beauty. Her skin is as black as coal, but glimmers with an otherworldly sheen, as if lit from within by a thousand stars. Her hair is as dark as the night sky, flowing in sleek waves down her back. She is tall and statuesque, her figure lithe and athletic, with a regal bearing that commands respect and admiration. Her eyes, piercing and intense, are as deeply onyx as the scales that now adorn her clothes, rather than her flesh, and they hold within them a fierce intelligence and strength.
But what’s truly remarkable are the way her scales have become silken garments that adorn her body, shimmering with the same black iridescence they had in her draconic form. The delicate fabric is intricately woven with strands of dragon-scale, making her look like a creature of legend and myth. The fabric hangs and clings to the statuesque, beautiful frame of Kinzul’s human form, in a manner that accentuates all the beauty of each part of her physique. I gulp, knowing that Teuila has heard my entire thought train, and she’s fighting back a desire to tease me telepathically, and fighting off laughter.
Lil comments, “Jeeze Rej, you catch a cold or something? You’re redder than me.”
Teuila snorts as she bursts out laughing, and even Luni titters, because I’m fairly certain she knows exactly what thought process I had as I witnessed the majestic transformation. Through a strained, fought-for facial expression, I respond lamely, “Just, um, admiring things Lil.”
Lil’s face contorts as he looks me over and asks, “Huh?” His gaze glances back and forth between me and his mother, and he says, “Oh, oh! Ew, Rej!” Then quickly under his breath, Lil hisses a whisper to add, “That’s my mom you’re ogling!”
I facepalm with more ferocity than I intended, filling the air with the sound as it rings out a resounding slap. Can I please faint, or just die of embarrassment. I wasn’t ogling, my inner narration just describes what I view, and Kinzul is a majestic work of art. It’s not like my inner narration hasn’t found Lil or Luni beautiful, or many, many other people across several universes. Hell, Ka’thuul was awe-inspiringly gorgeous for a powerful reptile, but I know I’ll have to watch my back around her.
Teuila’s telepathic avatar snorts and continues laughing as she mutters, “Only you Air, only you. Hell, your thought train is all over the place.”
Blushing, I nod in agreement. My thought train really is all over the place. The tunnel structure opens up into a den that is furnished in finery. In a word? It’s plush. It’s not opulent, or garish, but every bit of decor seems to have been strategically picked to grant an overall serene picture of peace and beauty. Lines and contours of the edges of pillows, and trims of cushions all flow in harmony. The patterned carvings in the legs of the table seem to follow naturally from the crimson carpet that paves the floor. I catch my breath, admiring yet more beauty that I’m lucky to have been graced with, and honored to experience.
Kinzul announces, “Please, be seated, My General, My Daughter-to-be, you know your positions. Newcomers, please, make yourselves comfortable, and Lucky, keep your paws off the furniture.”
I gasp at the implications as Lil and Luni sit on Kinzul’s right and left side respectively. My heart hammers rapidly, and flutters sickly in my stomach. Did I do wrong in sharing a kiss with Luni? Are she and Lil going to enter some sort of monogamous marriage? I’d never want to hurt Lil, never ever, and I know Lu wouldn’t either, so I’m unsure how to parse the implied arrangement. I gulp and try to hide my shock and confusion as I fight to slow my pulse, and my breathing.
Teuila and I sit in a loveseat, together, hand-in-hand. Teuila pays no mind to decorum, and she lounges across my lap, with her left arm draped over the back of the chair, while her right hand holds mine. I flash a weak smile Kinzul’s way and gulp, hoping that she doesn’t expect Teuila to maintain any sort of level of propriety while within the Order of the Onyx Dawn, or anywhere else for that matter.
Teuila’s avatar grumps, “Hey, I heard that!”
My mental avatar bites down hard on its lips to try to maintain a straight face. Teuila’s avatar gripes, “I’ll have you know I can be as prim and proper and ladylike as anyone else if I wanted to. I just don’t want to. Nyeh.”
Teuila’s playful attitude about it all keeps my heart soaring with joy at being surrounded by the people I love, at a time when they can be themselves. Still, Te is being ridiculous, simply ridiculous, and I barely, and I mean barely, manage to keep my laughter limited to my mindscape in response to Teuila’s antics and exclamations. Teuila’s avatar then grins almost maliciously as it tackles mine, and we go rolling about the idyllic hill of our shared mindscape, trading tackles and pins, giggling all the while. We land at the bottom of the hill with a whumpf, and laugh until we sigh contentedly, letting our telepathic avatars rest entangled together.
Kinzul drums her fingers impatiently on the soft arm of her chair as her gaze dances between Teuila and myself. I gulp, wondering if she might be psychic, perhaps able to spy on our mindscape. No, no I don’t think that’s the case. She’d have never had a turncoat in her midst if that were the case. She’s simply observant enough, and intuitive enough to realize we both checked out from reality for a few seconds.
Kinzul coughs for attention when she notices me noticing her noticing us. I blink at the stupidity and redundancy of my own inner monologue, and nearly end up facepalming in meatspace. I barely manage to avoid making that same mistake again, one I’d made in front of an angered Keeley Johnston at least once.
Kinzul starts, “If you could provide some sort of summary of the level of your abilities, and some technical details on the specifics, that would be marvelous. However, please be at ease. As pleased as I am to have another to aid our cause that can maintain proprietous affectations, you are all beloved to My General, my son, and his beloved. That makes us family. To see my family grow, after my clutch, and children, had been stolen from me, time and time again, well, I’ll just say thank you for joining us.”
I pause, stunned, as I realize why Kinzul adopted Lil. Terrorzin remanded, or stole, or murdered her clutches of eggs throughout her lifetime. I wonder how pure the motives of the Order of the Onyx Dawn are, but hell, I can still get behind vengeance for family no problem. I blink back tears that are a mix of appreciation, empathy, and rage. Trying to gather my thoughts in order to respond, I dig out my list that I’d been keeping since around the time we met Tiktik.
While I dig, Teuila offers up, “So, I go by The Valkyrie, and that’s sort of what my powers are modeled after. Warrior woman dropping out of the sky, wielding a spear. I don’t ride a pegasus or harvest souls or anything weird like that, but I pack a mean punch, like the one I used to shatter that meteor earlier. I— may need to have my hand looked at. I’ve got a few spears, one is tipped with two fangs, and grants me senses like Reggie’s, out to about thirty feet. One fang can draw vitality out of things, the other has some acidic toxin left in it, that I haven’t used all of it up yet. Another polearm is a cool babe named Essie, or Requiem, the Silent Song. She makes things nice and quiet, literally silencing things she slices. Another one, well, it’s apparently kinda famous. Gae Buidhe—.”
Kinzul, who had already been blinking, taken aback a bit in surprise at hearing that Teuila shattered a meteor with a punch, interrupts Teuila as she virtually demands, “You’ve the legendary Gae Buidhe!? Show me, this instant!”
Teuila snarks under her breath, “Lady, you don’t know the half of it,” while drawing Gae Buidhe, and allowing it to assume its natural size, for only a few moments, before she carefully stuffs it away shrunken into a sheathe again. Kinzul’s reaction startled Lil and Luni, and I take it they’ve never seen her so excited before, because I can picture her mind racing with new plans. I sense Kinzul’s keen intellect devising ways to put Teuila, or Gae Buidhe to use, and I’m hoping that she won’t go overboard. For all I know, there may be prophecies dealing with Gae Buidhe. Based on what Jarrah Bettergrove, my mentor said, there are three other artifacts to be wielded by someone in a prophecy, four total, counting Gae Buidhe. I don’t care about prophecies as much as Teuila though. If Kinzul endangers Teuila, I won’t be able to forgive her.