Yet now I believe that both of my parents’ names would be an ill omen.” Thrud replied.
“My father was a great King. A genius mage who created Body Sculpting and saved countless lives as a healer, yet he also caused the death of too many people, including himself.
“My mother spent her late life on the run like a criminal and in the end, she died of heartbreak. I don’t want my child to suffer from either of those fates.”
“Our child.” Jormun said. “And I agree. Any other option?”
“Well, then I would like to give him your name-”
“No way. I spent over half of my life as a prisoner just to be enslaved. Neither of my names is worth passing.” Jormun cut her short.
“Then I have no ideas.” Thrud sighed. “The Headmaster brought us together, but naming our child like him makes me want to puke. Sevenus is just a monster.”
“Agreed.” Jormun said, making Hystar want to add him to the hit list, just to discover that the Emerald Dragon was covered by Arthan’s orders as well.
“Then what about Valeron? He’s the first of his kind, maybe even the future King of the Griffon Kingdom. If we want to raise a happy man who will achieve everything that he sets out to do, Valeron is the most fitting name I can think of.”
“Valeron, the First King. Again.” Thrud chuckled as color and strength returned to her body thanks to her vortex sucking the surrounding world energy in. “I like it.”
Then, the baby started to cry, shapeshifting and clawing non-stop no matter what Jormun did in the attempt to calm Valeron down.
“Dude, you might be powerful, but you sure are dumb.” Iata said while taking the baby off the Emerald Dragon’s hands.
She wrapped the baby with a warm cloth to stop Valeron’s movements and then gave him back to Thrud who held him close to her bosom. The crying instantly stopped and Jormun felt like a mindless brute.
“The first thing about babies that my mother taught me is that they spend months in a warm and dim place, listening to the same music over and over again. Once they are born, the world is too bright, cold, and noisy for them.” The Scorpicore had veiled Valeron’s eyes with a bit of darkness.
“That explains the cloth and your spell.” Jormun said. “What music are you talking about?”
“The beating of his mother’s heart.” Iata said, pointing at the little Valeron shapeshifting into his more comfortable human form and falling asleep.
***
Blood Desert, lunchtime.
“Thank you very much, Grandma.” Lith said while cutting the oddest-looking steak he had ever seen and inwardly praying that it would taste good. “I haven’t sleep so well ever since Mirim died.”
“You are welcome, my child. Now eat to your heart’s content or your Tiamat form will never develop completely.” Salaark said with a smile.
After visiting her palace and becoming familiar with his new environment, Lith and Solus had started working on the Davross until they had become too tired to do anything but sleep.
Salaark’s Creation Magic allowed them to try all of their enchantments in order of increasing difficulty and complexity without any risk. Either they succeeded or failed, the Guardian would restore the four ingots in their possession to their original state before they started anew.
“Thanks, Grandmommy! Your place is super cool!” The kids said in unison. “We can go back home to play with our friends and then return here in an instant. We can move with the sun and play all day!”
Aran and Leria had quickly grasped how time zones worked, exploiting them to not miss anything from their old routine and going to sleep much later than usual.
“Don’t think that you’ll be able to do that for long.” Elina said while filling their glasses with water to keep them hydrated. “Soon you will feel tired like the rest of us.”
“Is it always this hot here?” Raaz asked, taking the words out of everyone’s mind.
Aside from Lith and Tista who were naturally resistant to heat, the others had been sweating bullets ever since the sun had risen. The palace was actually cooler than the outside.
The Overlord had enchanted the cloth of her tent so that it would store all of the heat during the day, making its inside the same temperature of a cave where the sun never shone. During the night, it would slowly release the accumulated warmth, keeping the temperature steady.
This way, those who moved in and out of the palace wouldn’t experience a wide temperature range and not get ill.
“No, usually it’s hotter.” Salaark chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. The first days after a big change are always the worst.”
Lith discovered that the steak actually tasted very good and that he liked the foreign spices that seasoned the meal. Seeing him put even a hot sauce on the steak made his family sweat harder.
“Grandma, I know that you are a Guardian and everything, but is it really possible for you to keep people from rebelling?” Tista asked. “I mean, you’re but one person and you can’t be everywhere at the same time.”
“No, it’s not.” Salaark replied. “No matter how peaceful a country is, no matter if you give people free healthcare and education, somewhere there will always be someone who wants more.
“The kind of people who think they know better and yet have no idea how hard it is to just maintain peace between the members of the same tribe, let alone between different tribes.”
“Then how did you avoid a civil war?” Lith asked. “According to the history books that I’ve read in the Kingdom, ever since you rose to power the only conflicts that took place in the Desert were those against foreign invaders.”
“Your books are correct.” She nodded. “The Desert is too rich in magical resources and natural treasures to not be under the constant threat of forces that aim to instigate my subjects and sow discord.
“One of my constant problems is that both the so-called free countries and businessmen from the Empire and the Kingdom offer their help to wannabe revolutionaries in exchange for treasures.
“There are too many mines and too many mana geysers to keep an eye on all of them, even with the help of my children.” Salaark sighed.
“Then how do you keep the Desert at peace?” Raaz said while pointing at the kids to make sure that the conversation would remain family-friendly.
“First, I always take into account and allow small level smuggling from my deposits.” She said, making Lith spit his food out.
“What? Why?”
“Because traitors always start small, Featherling.” She replied. “I let them grow confident with each heist they pull, checking who reports them, who pretends to not notice, and who actively helps them.
“Everyone is honest until they have the opportunity to commit a crime and get away with it. You should know this best.”
Even though vague, the mention of Lith’s many wrongdoings against the Griffon Kingdom’s best interests in favor of his own made him blush in embarrassment, but only because he didn’t want to offer a bad role model to the kids.
