The day after the incident between the Princess of the Dragon Clan and the Wu Di, Lorne found himself sitting in his home with the Clan Chief, his parents, his grandfather and the Princess of the Dragon Clan. The Princess also brought two unarmed officers with her.
It seemed Lorne hadn't thought through his sudden appearance at the Wu Di Clan. His parents' identity had been more or less figured out by the Princess. The Clan Chief was present to protect the Ying family just in case this Dragon Princess tried anything.
Ironically, the whole reason the Princess wanted to meet with the Ying family was she hoped they could arrange a meeting with the Clan Chief for her. Funnily enough, arranging a meeting with the Ying family automatically gave her a meeting with the Wu Di Clan Chief.
The Ying family sat awkwardly in their living room with their 'retinue' standing behind them; while the Princess sat in front of the Yings with her retinue behind her.
Lorne could tell this meeting was going nowhere fast. Why did they send this princess? She's not very good at being an ambassador. Lorne figured he could help out the situation by playing the role of a child.
"So, you're the daughter of the Dragon Emperor," Lorne suddenly said.
Lorne's comment seemed to wake the Princess who look at him and smiled.
"Yes, I am, and you're Ying Xiong. That's a curious name for a dragon," the Princess said in a genuinely friendly way.
"Why's that curious?" Lorne asked.
"Doesn't Xiong mean bear? But you're a Dragon, not a bear. You should have been named Long, right?" The princess asked.
"I have a bear brother named Xiong. I always thought to call a Bear, 'bear' was a bit strange. Calling a Dragon a bear or a bear a Dragon isn't strange because it means there's something you admire about the other person. If I'm called 'bear,' then perhaps it's because my parents liked something about bears," Lorne said. He then turned to look at his parents.
"Father, is there something you like about bears that made you call me, Xiong?" Lorne asked.
Lorne's father laughed and nodded his head.
"Indeed, I wanted you to be like a brother I had who was a bear. He had the best qualities of bears. He was loyal, strong, and not afraid to love others. He was like most of the bears I've met. I wanted you to share those qualities, so I called you Xiong. Plus, when you came, flying out of your egg and punched me across the room it was like a powerful bear waking up from his nap with a mighty roar!" Lorne's father said with a laugh.
Hearing this, everyone in the room laughed. Everyone except for the Wu Di Clan Chief. He just observed the Princess. The Princess was aware of the Clan Chief scrutinizing her but decided to ignore it for now.
"May I know how the two of you met?" the Princess asked Lorne's parents.
"He saved my life," Lorne's mom said.
"I was exploring outside of the Clan grounds as part of my coming of age ceremony. I ran into a True Lord realm Fire Snake. It suddenly attacked me and broke a couple of my life preserving treasures. Just when I thought it would kill me, this crazy Dragon guy rushes out and punches it in the jaw. It had absolutely zero effect other than to make the Fire Snake angry." Lorne's Mom looked at her husband tenderly with a smiling gaze and continued.
"He brought up a shield the Fire Snake immediately melted after it rammed my husband. It knocked him several hundred feet away. It knocked him into a hollow tree. He fell unconscious. That gave me a chance to escape. The snake rushed after him but couldn't find him.
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Then Dad showed up." She pointed to the man on her other side, "...and killed the snake. He even made a pair of shoes from it and gave them to my husband." Lorne's Mom laughed.
"Of course, we couldn't just leave him there unconscious in that tree after he saved my life. My father built a little house. This little house and we nursed him back to health. We fell in love, much to my father's dismay!" Lorne's mother laughed again as did everyone else except for the Clan Chief.
"How romantic!" the Princess exclaimed.
"I hope to meet my future husband like that," the Princess said with a twinkle in her eye. For the first time, the Clan Chief had a small smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Princess, perhaps you can tell us what you hoped to accomplish here," the Clan Chief said.
"I already accomplished that." She laughed. "I wanted to ask the Yings to help me meet with you. I didn't expect you would show up at our meeting. You must really care about them!" the Princess said.
The Clan Chief was surprised for a moment but decided it made sense. Who knew she got what she wanted just because he didn't trust her with the Yings.
"Since you have me here, what did you want to say?" the Chief asked.
"I'll be blunt. What would it take for us to come together like the Yings? How can we restore ourselves in the eyes of the Wu Di Clan so we, the Dragon Empire, can become friends or at least allies with your Clan?”
"I don't know. Nothing. We don't trust you!" the Clan chief said.
"You don't have to trust us. We hope to earn your trust over time. Perhaps we could work together though?" the Princess asked.
"Princess, why did your Dragon Empire try to wipe out my Wu Di Clan?" the Chief asked.
The Princess was hesitant to answer because she knew the answer and it wasn't good. However, she couldn't avoid the truth, not if she wanted to demonstrate their sincerity to the Wu Di clan.
"The Dragon Clan felt threatened by the Wu Di Clan. The Dragon Clan and the Wu Di clan used to be rivals. We fought a war against each other to see who the supreme Clan would be, and the Wu Di Clan lost. My great-grandfather was worried the Wu Di clan would grow strong again and try to extinguish our Dragon Clan, so he decided to pull your Clan up by the roots," the Princess said.
"How do you expect us to work with someone who tried to pull us up by the roots? Your Dragon Clan ran rampant over the universe and subjugated this universe before moving on to others! You set up a vile Empire that brings misery and death to all who cross you. Your clan wants power, and it will always see our clan as opposition to their bid for power. How can the Dragon Clan ever let us go?" the Clan Chief asked.
"I think you're being unfair Clan Chief. Someone had to take control of this universe. Before my great-grandfather took over, this universe was mad with chaos! Someone had to take responsibility. My great-grandfather didn't want to start an Empire, but when he looked at all of the sufferings what could he do? The Wu Di Clan never tried to aid others. They only cared about themselves!
“Look at this world you live on. How many years have you lived here? A half-a-million years, or longer? How many times has the Wu Di Clan ever reached out to help their neighbors overcome the tribulations they faced. The Beast Forest Elders repeatedly defended this world from the Divine Kill Sect, that sect of bandits who only sought to kill to fill their pockets. The Dragon Clan itself can't solve every crisis. We need worlds to stand up for themselves as best they can.
“The Weak Beast Clan stood against that evil sect and won. Not just for themselves but for everyone on this planet. How many times did the Wu Di Clan help? Never! You're right, my Dragon Empire are certainly guilty of going too far, but when has the Wu Di Clan ever gone beyond doing nothing? The Wu Di Clan only cares about itself. Isn't that true?" the Princess yelled. The Princess was no longer going to play the regretful lamb. She was truly angry.
The Clan Chief looked sullen, contemplating the words of the Dragon Emperor's daughter. She was right, all they ever did was hide from the world in their hidden holy land. When had they shown they deserved to be in this world?
"Now, you're not being fair to the Wu Di Clan, Princess," Lorne said.
"The Wu Di Clan was afraid for its survival. The Dragon Clan was hunting them and if word got back to the Dragon Clan the Wu Di Clan was found on a planet, by your own words, you admit the Dragon Clan would have killed them. Pulled up the roots, as you said. How can the Wu Di Clan save others when they can't save themselves?" Lorne asked.
"On my old world of Earth, there are flying machines called planes. People took them all over the world, but sometimes these planes would fail and crash. At the beginning of every flight, the crew taught people how to help themselves survive emergencies.
One part of helping themselves survive is at times they may not be able to breathe so special masks came from the ceiling. If they put the masks on they could breathe. Mothers were told before they put a mask on their child, they must put one on themselves. Why? Because you can't save someone else until you can save yourself.
Now you're trying to tell the Wu Di Clan they should be ashamed because they never tried to save their neighbors? How could they save their neighbors when a sword was at their throat?" Lorne asked.