Elysia sent Lith a message via the Dragon scales as well, asking her father to bring her close to Valeron. She grabbed one of the baby boy’s hands and wrapped him with her wings, making him cry harder.
“Why is he crying, Uncle?” Lenart asked. “Is he hurt?”
“No, he is happy. Happy and scared of losing his new family like he lost his old one.” Lith replied.
The children already knew a doctored version of Valeron’s adoption and after meeting him, they considered the baby boy one of the Verhens no less than Elysia or Shargein.
They stood up and got closer to Valeron, speaking softly and reassuring him everything would be well. Alas, the infant understood their tone, not their words. He kept crying and clinging to Elysia and Lith tighter to be reassured by their Dragon scales.
Then, Lith’s and Elysia’s Tiamat bodies resonated and the tower enhanced the effect. A short pulse of mana temporarily awakened the dormant bloodline in the triplets, covering them in colored scales.
They experienced Valeron’s suffering while he felt their sincerity and stopped crying.
“I want my Mom.” Falco started to cry, suddenly afraid that Rena might have disappeared like Thrud.
“And Dad!” Teryon joined him, quickly followed by Lenart.
“One moment.” Lith called Rena and Senton on their amulets.
“Can’t you just Warp them here, please?” Lenart begged.
“No. Have I ever told you the story of the kidnapping of Grampa?”
What followed was a short animation not about the Hogums capturing and torturing Raaz but about the time Solus had summoned him to the tower without consulting him first.
Bad luck had him being Warped away from the bathroom while relieving his bowels.
The anatomical details were removed but the vision was enough to dispel the sadness in the room and replace it with hilarity.
‘Not that story again!’ Solus blushed in embarrassment from behind the door.
‘Wait, are you telling me that really happened?’ Kamila had gone from being moved by Valeron’s reaction, to worried about the triplets, to laughing her ass off at Solus’ expense.
‘Sadly, yes. It happened while I was arguing with Tista and we Warped Dad to have him settle who was right.’
“From that day, unless there’s an emergency, we always ask permission one of our own before Warping them.” Lith explained and the kids barely registered his words. “Also, I need you to promise me to keep this a secret.”
He pointed at their scales, obtaining their full attention.
“If Aran and Leria learn they missed this, they’ll never let me hear the end of this.”
“But they are in the Desert for school now.” Lenart tilted his head in confusion.
“Just trust me.” Rena and Senton answered the call and agreed to be transported to the lab.
After explaining to them why their children were covered in Dragon scales and the reason for the call, it took Senton and Rena a while to calm the triplets down.
‘I should be there too. Valeron needs me.’ Kamila said, trying to muster the courage to step inside.
‘Yeah, and how do you explain that you know everything? We are still eavesdropping, you know?’ Solus snorted.
‘Point taken.’
“This place looks amazing, little brother. What were you guys doing here?” Rena was sitting on the floor holding Falco, Senton held Teryon, and Lenart was between them, with one arm of each of his parents around his shoulders.
“This is our cave of wonders, where I tell the kids the stories of Mogar and the Verhens.” Lith said. “I was about to tell them about how Kami and I met.”
“Go on.” Rena was curious how he could spin it in a way that wouldn’t scare the children.
In this version of the story, instead of saving abused slaves from their captors, Lith protected farmers from a criminal gang before anyone could get hurt. Then, he reported the situation to Kamila who came to rebuke him because of the damage the village had suffered.
Her looks and voice were spot on, especially her mean, lecturing tone that she used with him when she was still his handler and had to fix one of his messes. Of course, his faults were redacted, making him a valiant hero and her a budget-loving bureaucrat.
‘I’m going to kill him!’ Kamila said in outrage as Rena and Senton laughed while the kids booed Kamila, even Elysia.
‘It’s just a story. He can’t tell them about the slavers or the many secrets he had to keep from you at the time.’ Solus tried to calm Kamila down.
“Uncle Lith, if Aunt Kami was so mean, why did you ask her out?” Falco asked.
“Because I could see that deep, deep, deep down she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.” Lith replied. “Also, you Kami is a great and wise woman.”
‘Nice save, jackass.’ Kamila grunted.
“Every time we argue, it only takes a bit of patience and understanding from both sides for her to admit that I’m always right.” His words received a unanimous heartfelt applause, even though the adults were laughing their asses off.
‘Okay, I stand corrected.’ Solus said. ‘I hold Lith down while you beat the crap out of him.’
***
Essagor Arch Duchy, Vastor Household, at the same time.
After Zogar Vastor’s noble status had been elevated to Arch Duke, the highest title a noble of the Kingdom could achieve, his fief had yet to stop expanding. Smaller nobles from nearby regions petitioned for their territories to be annexed to Essagor, in the hope of receiving one of the new Warp Gates.
Medium-sized and large cities applied respectively for Gates and new infrastructures. Along with the noble title, Archmage Vastor had been also granted a large amount of money that he could use at his sole discretion.
It was enough gold to make any man live like a king for the rest of his life and several generations after him, but if used to cover the expenses of dozens of cities it wasn’t that much.
Vastor had to choose wisely where to invest them so that with the return profits he could take care of the rest of his territory.
There was a big difference between a Duchy and an Arch Duchy and lots of infrastructures needed to be built or renovated to bring Vastor’s fief on par with those of his peers.
New Gates meant new trade routes that needed bigger and safer roads. Law enforcement had to hire new people to inspect the goods that entered the city and prevent smuggling. More money and the sudden influx of new citizens to Essagor also meant more crimes but luckily there was more than enough budget for that.
Despite the seemingly unending flow of documents that waited for Zinya’s approval, she couldn’t stop humming as she Warped back from the Verhen Mansion.
‘Elisya, Valeron, Surin, and Solkar are so cute.’ She thought with a large smile on her face. ‘They brighten my day every time I see them. I don’t get why people bother Marth so much. Hybrid babies are still babies.’
She had yet to give Vastor a biological child and helping her friends to take care of their babies helped Zinya to fill the void that ravaged her heart.
