“Are you sure this is wise?” Marcus asked as Leon led him and a small complement of Tempest Knights through the halls of his palace on their way to Leon’s private arkpad, where Silver Spear awaited.
“What? Heading back to the Bull Kingdom?” Leon asked with a wry grin. “Haven’t we been over this enough in the past few days?”
“Not that,” Marcus quickly replied. “I get that you wanted to postpone the tour of the Ten Tribes until you got back; what I’m more concerned about is how you’re going to get all of the stone giants back with us.”
Leon’s lips thinned. Marcus was right to worry, he had to admit; it was going to be risky. But he had full faith in the stone giants, especially after so many died for him in the Bull Kingdom’s civil war.
He was going to pull as many as who wanted to join him into his soul realm as he could and transport them back to Stormhollow. Along the way, he’d be using some of the inert golems Nestor had built to see if they could actually inhabit the frames. If they could, then Leon felt their aid would be of immense value, as if golems were on the table, then he felt that they might be able to inhabit arks, too, obviating the need for Leon to manufacture wisps himself that could operate the aircraft.
“We have two months before the Grave Warden arrives,” Leon said, and not for the first time. “I want to get them south as quickly as possible. The faster we can do that, the faster we can integrate them into the Kingdom.”
Leon cringed slightly as he finished his sentence—he was starting to come around to Iron-Striker’s assertion that his Kingdom needed a name.
“I’m sure there are other ways we could go about that, though,” Marcus protested. “Sending more arks, arranging local leaders to have the giants move over land…”
Leon halted just before heading outside onto the arkpad. He glared back at the Tempest Knights and jerked his head, wordlessly telling them to head out before him. To their credit, not a single one of them balked at leaving him alone with Marcus in the atrium.
Once they were alone, Leon seriously whispered, “Do you have a problem with the giants?”
“No I don’t,” Marcus easily replied. “If it weren’t for you and them, Alcander and I probably wouldn’t have survived Octavius’ play for the throne. You rescued us, and we fought alongside the giants in that last battle. I don’t have anything against them, really…”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming,” Leon said, his patience waning slightly.
Marcus grimaced and said, “House Aeneas has held the March of Aventino for centuries. When the stone giants attempted to raid the Bull Kingdom, we were one of the biggest barriers they faced. I like to think that I know the stone giants fairly well…”
“And you think I’m placing too much trust in them?” Leon asked.
“I’m saying that taking anything like the stone giants into your soul realm is an immense risk!” Marcus responded. “If you ask me to, I will fight and bleed and die and kill alongside the giants, just as I did before! If you were considering pulling anyone or anything else like this into your soul realm, I would put up the same protests!”
Leon stared at Marcus for a long moment, Marcus’ sharp blue eyes not wavering in the slightest. With a sigh, Leon responded, “Don’t forget I have a bunch of library golems already in my soul realm. And a demon. And a Thunderbird. And a me in magic body form. If a bunch of fifth or sixth-tier stone giants tried anything down there, they’d not get far.”
Marcus frowned slightly, then slightly lowered his head in acquiescence. “I’ve lodged my protests,” he said. “I’ll follow your lead.”
Leon smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Never shy away from giving me your opinion,” Leon said. “My decision is firm today, but it may not be in the future, and I’ll need honest perspectives.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Marcus replied as Leon led them out onto the arkpad.
Not too far away, the rest of Leon’s family, retinue, and a host of Tempest Knights were waiting. Nestor wasn’t accompanying them as Leon had sent him to the Raven Tribe to aid them with the arks that the Director had brought and those that Leon had seized from the Sunlit Empire. Leon would be stopping by Raiginn along the way to pick him and Penelope up to take them back to Occulara. The tau and all of his ministers and Tribal elders would also be staying behind, though they could all get in contact with him with comm lotuses if they needed to. Likewise, Tikos was staying behind to work on what it called ‘a project secret!’
“I think we’re a bit late,” Leon said with a cheeky grin as he, Marcus, and those few knights he’d sent out ahead of them hurried over to board Silver Spear.
Everyone turned to greet him, and Elise jokingly said, “You’re late, husband!”
“Yeah?” Leon laughed as he slid past her and made for the ramp into the waiting ark. “Now I’m waiting on all of you! Let’s go, people!”
With a lack of ceremony that Leon found just delightful, he led his people into Silver Spear.
As everyone filed into the destroyer’s waiting area, Leon called out, “You people ready to head north?”
“Hells yeah, boss!” Alix excitedly shouted.
“Abso-fuckin-lutely!” Alcander agreed, the two commanders of the Tempest Knights leaving the order—aside from those joining the journey north—in the hands of its seniormost Captain while they were gone. Accompanying Alcander was his wife, Sofia, who seemed just as excited as he was, though she was restraining herself a bit and allowing him to express all of that excitement.
“I’m ready,” Gaius said in a much quieter tone, though the shallow smile he wore betrayed his eagerness.
“I’m good to go,” Anna neutrally stated, and her sister nodded right beside her. Eirene, Anna’s girlfriend, anxiously smiled next to her.
Anshu and Red barely responded, with Anshu simply giving Leon a courteous smile before Leon silently allowed him to head to the bridge. Leon could hardly blame them; they weren’t from the Bull Kingdom, though Silver Spear was at least going to stop off in the Empires along the way.
“I’m ready!” Anzu cried out, his words matching Gaius’, but his enthusiasm couldn’t have been more different.
“As am I,” Elise said as she lovingly took Leon’s arm. “It’ll be good to see my mother and Uncle Ajax again without having to rely on comm stones or lotuses.”
“And Evergold!” Cassandra exclaimed as she took Leon’s other arm. “I’ll have to give the ‘Grave Warden’ a good beating for giving us so little time to savor our time back in the greatest city on Aeterna!”
“I think there are some who would disagree with you on that,” Valeria replied with a light grin.
“That’s fine,” Cassandra shot back with a much smugger grin. “I’m not afraid of disagreements; Queens always win those.”
[Not with Empresses,] Maia proudly stated as she gave Cassandra a pointed look, their ninth-tier auras momentarily intertwining and coiling around each other, vying for dominance.
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And then the Evergolden Princess backed down, separating herself from Leon and allowing the river nymph Empress, even if only by technicality, to take Leon’s arm.
[I’m excited to go home,] she said. [Had we more time, I might even introduce you to my mother.]
[I think I would’ve liked that,] Leon replied. [We’ll find the time to do that whenever Ambrose’s horse shit is well and done with.]
Maia gave him a radiant smile in response. Leon knew she was going to head back to Saron, the city her mother lived in, while he was busy with the stone giants and a quick jaunt back to the Bull Kingdom. He truly wished he could accompany her, but their time limit simply didn’t permit it.
Sounds enchantments in the destroyer’s relatively small atrium activated and Anshu declared from the bridge, “We’re ready to head out on your command, Your Majesty!”
“Very good!” Leon responded. “Anshu! Take us out!”
And with that command, Silver Spear took off from the arkpad, turned north, and rocketed away from Stormhollow, to return in less than a month.
---
Leon couldn’t help but smile in glee as Silver Spear entered Occulara’s airspace only four days after leaving Kataigida. Leon had permitted Anshu to push the ark’s limits a little bit, and without other arks accompanying them to slow them down, they made incredible time. Leon doubted any other ark on the plane could catch up with them if they really needed to get somewhere, let alone get through Silver Spear’s defenses.
They were fortunate not just in how quickly they reached Occulara but also in the fact that they didn’t run into any problems along the way. After leaving Raiginn, they turned westward, flying over the Argonaut Sea and into the northern Pegasi States. From there, they continued west until reaching the Scorched Fields, and only then turning northward, bypassing the Sunlit Empire completely as they made for the Ilian Empire. Not once were they challenged along their journey, by man or beast.
But he didn’t think about that as the light of the sun met the golden towers of this familiar city.
Kataigida was now his permanent residence, but he’d lived in Occulara for nearly half his life, and to be back in the city was comforting in a homely way. It wasn’t quite on par with returning to the Forest of Black and White—which Leon realized as soon as the thought came to him that he’d actually lived in for slightly less time than he’d lived in Occulara—but he didn’t think anything could compare to the place he’d lived in with his father so long ago.
His villa on the outskirts of the city was still there, still maintained by most of the household that Leon and Elise had built up over the years, though the fields that had once grown the plants and herbs that Elise and Helen had used were now fallow. Those fields were going to be turned into extensive gardens, though for the moment, they remained little more than grass, so he thought nothing of landing Silver Spear down there.
His household was there to greet him, as were many of the most important officials in the city. Leon was a little surprised that he didn’t see any Ilian officials there as well, though as he stepped out into the sun, he felt a slight pulse of magic that he identified as coming from the Lord Protector, who he realized was present in the city. The Grand Druid didn’t make her presence known, so he assumed she at least was absent. It seemed that Anastasios wasn’t going to welcome him quite yet, which Leon was fairly grateful for. He had his hands full with the others who were there, anyway…
Out in front were Emilie, Elise’s mother, and Jordan, Elise’s father and Emilie’s first husband. Emilie was still serving as the Chief of Acquisitions for Heaven’s Eye, but she looked like nothing more than a mother and mother-in-law eager to see her family returning after a long time away.
Leon had barely gotten to the bottom of the ramp with Elise on his arm before Emilie raced forward and threw her arms around them both.
“Oh! It’s so good to see you two again!” she gushed. “My baby’s back in my arms!”
“Mother,” Elise gently but firmly said, “it’s good to see you too. Now please let us go, we’re holding everyone else up.”
Emilie seemed like she wasn’t going to comply even with the rest of Leon’s retainers stacking up behind them until Jordan rested a hand on her shoulder. Elise’s father addressed her rather than his wife, though, saying, “So wonderful to see you again, Butterfly.”
In contrast to the reception she gave Emilie, Elise disentangled herself from Leon and threw her arms around her father, all concerns about the holdup behind them apparently forgotten.
Jordan, however, didn’t forget, and he pulled his wife and daughter away from the ramp while nodding respectfully to Leon. Leon nodded back, though he refrained from accompanying them. He had a more serious reunion to handle.
Valeria came forward, her back stiff and a carefully-schooled expression of neutrality on her face. She lightly took Leon’s arm and gently pulled Leon further away from the ark and to the large group of people waiting for them not too far away.
Narses the White and his family was there, all waiting for Sofia, Narses’ niece. Many others not affiliated with Leon’s household staff were there, too, including Talal, who was the Chief of Magical Research and Development in all but name. Leon remained the Chief on paper, but that was a mere formality when the Director had sworn himself to Leon’s cause. Many more Heaven’s Eye officials were there to welcome Leon, the Director, and Penelope back to the city, but Leon’s eyes didn’t linger on any of them.
Instead, his eyes landed upon the silver-haired fifth-tier mage he could sense in the back of the group, doing his best to make himself look unassuming. His aura was far stronger than the last time Leon had seen him, indicating the Hesperidic Apple Leon had given him had done wonders for his health. His eyes tracked Valeria all the way from the ramp and to the group, and though he kept his cool, Leon could see his hands twitching slightly in eagerness.
Leon spared as many greetings as politeness demanded for those waiting for him, but he still pushed himself through the crowd to reach Justin, allowing the Director behind him to handle most of the glad-handing.
“My little girl,” Justin proudly said as he reached out for Valeria, who released Leon’s arm to hug her father.
Leon remained a bit more distant, his eyes stinging and a lump forming in his throat as he watched Valeria and her father reunite.
When the two separated, Valeria looked like the sun itself had taken up residence in her smile, while Justin’s warm expression turned colder and less confident as his eyes landed upon Leon.
“Leon,” Justin stated. “It’s good to see you return. It’s been a while.”
“It has,” Leon neutrally agreed. “You’re looking well.”
Justin’s frosty look cracked a little as Valeria said, “How have you been, Dad? Your aura feels much stronger than before!”
“Yes,” Justin said as a bit of warmth returned to his face with Valeria’s enthusiasm. “That apple you gave me really helped. I haven’t felt this strong in a very long time. I’m actually starting to believe that I’ll recover my power before I die.”
“Dad!” Valeria sharply rebuked. “I don’t want to hear such talk again! We’re going to save Mother together! I’ll hear no more about death in this family!”
Justin sheepishly grinned. He glanced at Leon and said, “How can I argue with that?”
“If you ever find out a way, let me know,” Leon responded, his tone a little stiff and stilted.
Valeria pouted for about half a second, which Leon knew was about her usual tolerance for expressing emotion in public, before reaching out and pinching his arm.
Leon briefly considered reacting in an exaggeratedly defensive manner, but with Justin there, he couldn’t help but refrain.
“Anyway,” he awkwardly said, “I’ll see you… both later?”
Valeria gave him a sad smile before agreeing, and then leading her father off somewhere they could catch up without being surrounded by people.
Leon watched them leave, his thoughts twisting into knots. Fortunately, he wasn’t given much time to land on any thought in particular before he heard his name being called out. When he turned, he found Talal approaching him.
“Apologies for interrupting,” the Samarid said.
“It’s fine,” Leon replied with a wave of his hand. “Something the matter?”
“Just some business,” Talal explained. “I was hoping you could come around your offices later so that we can go over a few things…”
Leon smiled and nodded as Talal went into some detail regarding their planned collaboration between the Ravens and Heaven’s Eye’s Magical Research and Development branch. There wasn’t much for Leon to do, he found; merely giving Talal the go-ahead he needed to do certain things. He wasn’t that worried about it, though, since the Director would also be around to keep an eye on things.
Once Talal finished speaking and left to chat with the Director a bit, Leon found himself being left alone. A few people were giving him looks like they wanted to talk but didn’t want to approach him, while most of those Leon would’ve rather spoken with were busy with their families. He started to feel just a little bit alone standing on the edge of the crowd until he felt two familiar pairs of arms find him.
“You’re looking broody,” Cassandra whispered into his ear, while from the other person Leon received no words, only feelings rippling through his soul realm.
His blond Princess and dusky-skinned river nymph had come at just the right time.
“How rude,” Leon joked, “to disturb a man when he’s brooding. Have you no manners?”
“None at all,” Cassandra said with a wide smile. “I was talking with M—with Naiad, and she had a brilliant idea: why don’t we head inside to her favorite pool and relax? It’s been a long four days and I’m ready to relax until tomorrow.”
Leon grinned. “That sounds like a fantastic plan to me.”
Without further ado, Leon let his ladies steer him inside. They were only staying in Occulara for a day or so, and everyone else made plans to fill that time, so he just allowed himself to relax and not worry about them as he walked through the halls of his old home.
‘Still feels more home than Kataigida,’ he idly mused. He pondered that thought until Cassandra and Maia finally got him to Maia’s favorite pool in the villa, after which they quite effectively seized his attention.