“Why should I resent Protheus? He is but a misguided child who got brainwashed by his ‘mother’.
“As for the surviving Generals, they have lost everything already. They have no home, their families would kill them on sight, and they are going to be prisoners inside Leegaain’s biomes until he decides otherwise.
“This is hardly a happy ending for them and even if it was, I don’t care anymore. If they are good with Valeron and if once they are free they have truly changed, they can do whatever they want with their lives.
“If they try anything funny, however, I’m going to kill them for good. There’s no point being angry on a maybe.”
Then, Lith told the others about the handmaidens and how they and the surviving Generals had taken care of Valeron the Second.
“If not for them, he would probably grow up to be a second Balkor and honestly, I couldn’t blame him for it. Also, watch this.” Lith tickled Valeron under the chin, triggering a metamorphosis.
The onesie he was wearing turned into a cute version of Arthan’s Armor and the toy he always carried around shapeshifted into an edgeless very small Arthan’s Sword.
“Good gods!” Orion shuddered at their sight. “Have you tried to take a look at their enchantments?”
“No. I gave my word to the Guardians that I would not.” Lith shook his head. “I’m taking care of Valeron because Jormun asked me to and because it’s the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, I would give it a shot if I was just stealing Thrud’s secrets.
“The problem is that Arthan stole those secrets from Tyris and he caused the death of Valeron the First. I think she has already lost enough. Even if I was a piece of work big enough to not care about that, Tyris has already done a lot for Kami and Elysia and she might do more in the future.
“What kind of idiot would I be to make an enemy of a Guardian and risk that she withdraws her vow to protect my daughter?” Lith asked.
The last part hit Orion hard, his curiosity as a Forgemaster waning like fog under the sun as the pain for Phloria’s death made his body tense up.
“An idiot who deserves to die.” He replied soberly.
For a moment, Orion had considered studying the Arthan Set on the quiet whenever he interacted with Valeron the Second. As he saw it, Thrud’s offspring didn’t bear his mother’s crimes but the small Bahamut still owed Orion a blood debt.
The problem was that if Tyris noticed his attempts, she might not share Orion’s perspective. After all, not only was the baby innocent, but also the Guardian’s direct grandson.
The Mad Queen’s experiments had made her body into what a direct descendant of Tyris and Valeron the First would have been had they chosen to retain their Griffon life force.
The Madness had made Thrud into Valeron the First’s half-blood and her son carried a quarter of the First King’s blood.
‘I would take the chance if this was just about me but if I get caught, it would be Jirni and our child to pay for my foolishness. She won’t survive the conflict with the Gernoff without me and if both of us are dead…’ Orion thought while looking at Valeron the Second.
The soon-to-be-born youngest of the Ernas would suffer the same fate as the baby boy if everything went south.
Meanwhile, a few wagons ahead, Kelia had finished her meal and was bored out of her skull. She had spent the last few hours practicing Accumulation while Dusk taught her about the subjects of the fifth year of academy.
Thanks to the Horseman’s help she had skipped years twice so if everything went according to plan, she would graduate at sixteen.
One year earlier compared to those who had followed the full five years of academy in order to master magic from its basics but two years later compared to people like Lith who had solely attended the last two years in order to learn specializations.
‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’ Dusk pointed out. ‘You joined at thirteen with close to no practice of magic whereas Verhen enrolled at twelve with about eight years of magical experience.
‘If you too enrolled at twelve, you would have graduated at fifteen, only one year late compared to him. Considering that before meeting me you couldn’t light a matchstick, it’s an impressive achievement.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Kelia yawned in rhythm with her breathing technique, Sun Flare. ‘Even if I tried to enroll right after we met, with my weak core and my lack of magical knowledge, I would have been rejected.’
She stood up and after explaining her intentions to her compartment mates she walked toward the door.
‘I love magic, but without books or the opportunity to put your lessons into practice, after a while everything becomes hazy and boring.’ She said via the mind link. ‘Let’s see how hard the tertiary mission that Milea assigned to us is.’
Kelia had already tried to use her breathing technique to study the power core of the Wayfinder, but to no avail. Even with Dusk’s expertise, the world energy could only go this far.
Even if she were to crack the cloaking arrays, the only thing she could study from her own wagon was the arrays surrounding it and the energy flow fueling them. They had both proven to be interesting but they didn’t give the Horseman any insight about the workings of the power core behind them.
She walked with her hand stuck to the wall, pretending to use it to keep her balance when the Wayfinder occasionally jolted due to a particularly tall wave but she was actually following the arrays back to their source.
‘Interesting.’ She thought. ‘I expected the power core to be at the front of the train, to pull it forward. Instead, it seems to be located in the center.’
‘Where I expected it to be.’ Dusk replied pointedly. ‘It’s the only way to distribute the enchantments evenly and fuel them with the same amount of energy. Otherwise there would be a delay between the activation of the arrays in the front and the back car.’
‘You are right. Sorry if I have just six months of experience as a Forgemaster and I have no idea what a power core even looks like.’ Kelia’s thoughts oozed sarcasm. ‘It’s easy to be a know-it-all after sitting on your thumbs for centuries.
‘I’m in my mid-teens and I’ve spent most of my life struggling for survival.’
‘Arrogant brat! When I was your age…’ The bickering continued all the way in until they reached the Kingdom’s sector and Lith’s carriage at that.
Sharing one body and one mind meant getting on each other’s nerves a lot. Their quarrels were so frequent that they considered them akin to a hobby.
‘Seems that our second and third objectives just crossed paths.’ She knocked on the door. ‘We can see if Solus is in the mood for a lesson, befriend Verhen, and maybe even take a few glances at the Wayfinder’s power core.
‘Many birds with one stone.’
