“Is there something wrong, Un Prosa?” Pras asked, showing no sign of emotion.
Was there something wrong? Yes, there was. Legon was to lead one of the Great Elvin Houses and he didn’t even know the language. “I’m a little nervous, you could say.”
Pras smiled but didn’t say anything. Legon liked Pras well enough. He was friendly, but unlike Sydin, Pras wasn’t all that helpful and almost never showed emotion. Legon stopped playing with his clothes and walked to the door and into the hall. After a moment, Sasha came out, looking as uncomfortable as he did. Her white dress flowed more than normal Elvin wear. White was the color that head’s of house wore for momentous events like today. In fact, the white robes that he wore now would be a standard article of clothing for him. Sasha was wearing something similar, though hers only seemed to accent the dress.
They made their way to the deck of the Lux, which was pulling into a slip in the harbor. Like Manton, Seeon rose from the water in a graceful hill. Legon cast his gaze over the city and his breath caught.
He knew that the city would be grown from trees, but the diversity of it staggered him, and the color. He was prepared for Seeon to just look like a forest, but it didn’t, the buildings were organic looking in the extreme, but many were large and towered several hundred feet in the air. But the thing that caught his eye the most was the flowers. All of the buildings had flowers growing on them. Every color in the rainbow was represented, but the dominant theme was the house colors. In front of him, on the side of the hill, was the crest of house Evindass grown in flowers. The crest spanned dozens, if not over a hundred buildings. Bands of white and purple ran across all sides of the harbor, which the entire city had coordinated for his and Sasha’s homecoming. His eyes focused on the flowers, and with a slight chill he realized that many were lavender roses.
Sasha spoke in his head. “Do you think this is what our dreams mean, or is it just a coincidence?”
“I don’t know. There is virtually ever other type of flower here and they are all in house colors.”
His uneasiness over the flowers soon evaporated as he continued to take in the city and the thousands of flags and banners that wafted in the air. Their guard took their places around Legon and Sasha and they made their way off the ship.
As Legon stepped on the pier, there was an explosion of sound as the city cheered and chanted. His current guard moved out of the way to let the house guard take their places. They moved protectively around him and Sasha.
* * * * *
Sasha couldn’t help but be amazed at the sights before her. Never in all her life had she imagined something like Seeon. The Lux was unreal to her, but it was nothing compared to the city and all its trees and flowers. Everything around her seemed to pulse with life. She knew that up to this point their guard was temporary soldiers that consisted of an assortment of the best fighting units from the Dome, all loyal to Evindass. Now she was under the protection of the house guard. The entirety of her personal guard fought in the War of Generations and none was under a class five magic user. She was even assigned one ascended class seven. They wore heavy looking overcoats that were the deepest purple with fenrra sprouting at their backs and fenna at their sides. They were rather severe looking, and if she was being honest with herself, they were all together terrifying, even the women.
They made their way up a long cobbled road. The city grew around her and she marveled as Elves hung out of windows high above to see the new heads of house. Every now and then one of the dragons that flew with the Lux would pass overhead. She didn’t understand all of the security. They were in the capital, there were none here that would hurt them, she thought. In truth, she was having a bit of a hard time taking everything in. With the house guard so close to her, they were all taller than she was and she couldn’t see over them. She thought about hopping a bit to see over them, but decided better of it. She connected with Legon to look at the world through his eyes, but he was just as crowded in as she was.
She noticed the presence of another’s mind in his. “ISE!” she shouted over the connection. “How are you? Did your jump go well? Why didn’t you come to meet us at the dock?”
She felt Iselin’s emotions across the link telling her to hold up. “Whoa there Sash, one at a time.” Ise’s thoughts were happy. “In order; first, I am good. Just getting some things at the house taken care of before dinner tonight. Second, my jump went fine. Pretty standard, really. And lastly, your homecoming is more for the people than you and I. Didn’t want to get in the way of the house guard.”
Legon spoke. “How would you get in their way? They don’t talk much do they?”
Sasha sensed Iselin’s uneasiness. “They are a little severe, yes, but don’t be too hard on them. They let your father go off on his own, and we saw how well that worked out. The guard considered it a failure on their part. They feel it was their responsibility to follow your father, even if he didn’t want them to.”
Sasha understood now. Evindass had lost two heads of house in the last thirty years. The first were Legon’s grandfather and grandmother. Their deaths were not due to any sinister deed. Legon’s grandmother became ill and when she passed away, so had her husband. Unlike the human world, inheritances were passed down to the youngest child, unless specified, so Legon’s father became the next head of house. But it wasn’t more than few years before he too died. All of this made Evindass unstable, an unknown in the Pawdin Empire. Sasha and Legon would have to work hard to ensure society that the house was strong and ready for the future.
Sasha wasn’t paying strict attention anymore. She couldn’t see anything anyway. She thought they came to an open area because she couldn’t see buildings overhead anymore. She looked forward and up the hill in front of her. She gasped. It wasn’t a hill but rather a building, five or six stories tall and extremely long. Its sides were draped in ivy and flowers. They approached a double door, at the top of which she could only see over the heads of her guard. The door opened outward and she knew that she was home.
* * * * *
Legon walked into a room high in the palace that was now his home. He was dazed thus far with the day. In the room waiting for him were two Elves that walked up to him and Sasha. One had long sandy hair and green eyes the same shade as Legon’s, and to Legon’s amazement purple flecks that were the same shade and color of Legon’s magic.
He introduced himself. “Hello Legon, I am Tenick and this is my wife,” he said, pointing to the bronze haired woman next to him. Legon picked up right away that Tenick did not call Legon ‘Un Prosa,’ which meant that he was family.
“Hello Tenick, it’s nice to meet you. This is my sister, Sasha,” he said pointing to Sasha.
Tenick smiled. “And my niece now as well. I am your uncle, the next youngest to your father,” Tenick explained. Tenick looked Legon over. “You have his eyes and her hair.”
“You are ascended?” Legon asked.
“Yes, a class seven like your father. Magic runs strong in our family, though our magic’s color being the same is a coincidence, I think.”
“Oh, I was wondering that… are you sure you don’t want to run the house?” Legon said without thinking.
Tenick laughed. “That was unexpected, but then you are your mother’s son. No Legon, I have absolutely no desire to run the house. It has been a fear of mine for many years now.”
Legon could read on his face that he was telling the truth. It was a relief to Tenick to not have to take care of the house. “I am sorry, Tenick, I know nothing of our family. I would like to get to know them, but only if that’s what they want…” he trailed off. He wouldn’t have thought it, but Legon was nervous that his Elvin family wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He’d never met them and he was from a human mother.
Tenick’s face darkened for a moment. “Legon, never think that we do not want you or Sasha in our lives. We loved your father, my brother, and your mother deeply. I can tell you that every member of the family has prayed to the white dragon every night in earnest for your safe return, and yours too Sasha. Indeed, we were worried that it would be you that did not want to meet us.”
Tenick looked at Sasha. “Had we known what life you lived, we would have stopped at nothing to bring you home to us. You are just as much a part of this family as Legon.”
Legon looked at Sasha, feeling her emotions, seeing her eyes well up. “Really? But you don’t even know me, and you wanted me here?”
Tenick’s wife stepped forward, taking Sasha’s hand. “You are family. We didn’t need to know you to love you,” she said.
Legon looked back to Tenick, who looked like he wanted to say more, but instead his eyes went out of focus. “I am sorry, we will talk more. I was hoping for more time with you today, but you need to address the rest of the house,” he said.
“Ok, I guess let’s get this over with,” Legon said.
The door to the room opened and Legon’s advisors, along with Sydin and Iselin, entered. Elves drew back curtains along the wall opening the room up to a small terrace. Legon stepped outside with Tenick next to him as a mob of Elves below cheered.
Tenick walked up to the rail of the terrace and a little crystal the size and shape of a marble hovered right in front of his mouth. Legon looked out at the crowd, seeing larger crystals levitate. The clear marble in front of Tenick’s mouth glowed blue, as did the crystals in the crowd.
As Tenick looked around, the crystal stayed perfectly with his lips, and as he spoke his voice was carried to the crystals in the audience and amplified. “Hello loyal followers of House Evindass. Today it is my great honor and privilege to introduce my nephew, Legon.” There were deafening cheers. “We are happy to have him and Sasha home where they belong. Legon will be addressing us shortly.” Tenick spoke for a while about the history of the house and where it was going, then the crystal by his mouth went clear again and moved to hover in front of Legon as he walked up to the rail.
His mouth and throat were beyond dry. He felt spells meant to keep him from throwing up draining power from him. But he also felt the minds of his entire advisory staff, Sasha and Iselin along with those of Tenick and his wife. All sent him calming thoughts.
The crystal glowed blue. Legon spoke in the language of the Elves to his people for the first time, but no sound came out when he opened his mouth. He swallowed back thick saliva and tried again. “Good afternoon,” he said and Elves applauded. “Thank you, th…that is very kind.” Did he just stutter? “…it is an honor to be amongst you…” he couldn’t remember what came next. Sasha spoke the words in his mind. “I look forward to leading this house… I have… come from… a land far different than our own… one where freedom, does… does not exist.” He swallowed again. The audience made no sound. “This house has seen… man… many trials over the last few—years.” He recited a script for fear from the Jezeer in his mind. “But we will over…come, these t… trials.” The fear scripts were doing nothing for him. “Thank you again for allowing me to be your leader and y… your servant. It is an honor.” And the crystal stopped glowing.
The gathered Elves cheered, just as they had before. Legon stepped back in the palace, feeling his heart slow down. Tenick was back at his side and Legon looked to him “Do you think I messed everything up?”
Tenick smiled. “You heard them cheer, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but Elves are polite…”
Tenick chuckled. “Yes, we are. Everyone in the Empire knows where you have been and knows that you have no grasp of our language or culture. They also know that you have never had to speak to a nation before. That you didn’t pass out was enough for them.”
Legon wasn’t sure he felt better. “Well, at least it was just some of the people of Seeon, I guess.”
Everyone in the room except Sasha looked down and guilty. “What, all of Seeon?” Legon asked.
Sydin looked up. “We knew you were terrified to talk to the few hundred Elves outside, so to keep you from worrying, we didn’t tell you that your address was broadcasted to the entire Pawdin Empire…”
Legon felt blood drain from his face as emotions ran in his head. Finally, he laughed and laughed hard. Everyone looked at him like he’d gone mad. “Well, in most situations you can laugh or cry. I pick laugh, and at any rate, I guess the bar has been set pretty low for me. I shouldn’t have too hard of a time improving.”
* * * * *
Arkin passed unchecked through the gates of Salez. He hadn’t run into any problems on his trip north. People were fleeing the southern lands in droves and he was able to blend in with the crowds. He knew this was due to the increase in activity along the border. People from all over were scared. For some they were fearful of the resistance and others feared their own country, but for either reason people moved north, away from the friction. Rumors about raiding parties deep within the Cona Lands were already spreading. Arkin knew these were units like Barnin’s, and he hoped the kid would be able to keep his head on his shoulders. No one noticed it yet, but the Elves had stepped up their presence along the border too. He wondered how long it would take the Iumenta to start diverting dragons to the south.
Does it matter?
He asked himself. No, it didn’t matter. He had more than enough to do, and it was time to get busy.
The sun was down and he was having a hard time finding his way to the meeting spot, but he managed. He made his way up to a large house with a slightly gray exterior. He chuckled. Monson wasn’t without a sense of humor, so Arkin shouldn’t be surprised to find that the Gray family lived in a gray house. He walked up to the door and knocked. The rough wooden door creaked open, spilling light into the narrow street. A balding man with a friendly smile looked him over.