.
Ryuu was too surprised to respond for several heartbeats, as were Chiara and Dilorè. The rest had either held onto their fairy aplomb and hid their shock, or Oberon had already told them.
“Your Majesty,” I warned quietly, “I did not bring him here for punishment, and my kingdom still needs him.”
Ryuu had recovered by then. He insisted, “I don’t remember causing the death of any fairy.”
“Her name,” Oberon replied, ignoring my protest, “was Tiana. She was my youngest granddaughter, not even an adult yet.”
The looks of puzzlement I received included Anare, revealing that she, at least, had been in the ‘held onto her aplomb’ category. So Amana had already known, huh…
“What are you talking about?” Ryuu blustered. “Tiana is right here!”
“Lagan,” Mother interrupted, “I have already censured Mr. Kowa for this. He may not know the details, but he has received a considerable portion of my ire.”
“This is about the dragon?” Ryuu asked, sending Mother a baffled look. “Tiana was hurt, but she beat it!”
From what I had heard, Ryuu had previously been telling people the dragon slaying had been a team effort. Which wasn’t entirely wrong; he flushed the dragon out of its lair in the first place, and he delivered the killing blow on it, although Arken says that I had already mortally wounded it and Ryuu’s act was merely a mercy blow. But, somewhere along the way, it seemed he had accepted that I took it down?
Oberon drained his sake cup, then indicated with gestures for me to go to my seat. I gave him another bow, rose out of seiza and went to my sitting cushion on the left side of Amana. I sat, then smiled at the mortal serving girl (a pretty dwarf girl) who immediately placed a sake cup before me and filled it.
Dilorè, seated to my left, shot me a questioning look.
I sent to her, If the King doesn’t explain it, I will.
She sent back, You’d better!
Oberon gave a slight nod of acknowledgment to Anare as she poured him another cup. He picked it up and contemplated it.
“As I understand the story, my granddaughter ended up in the maw of the beast. Whether her body fortification was insufficient or the dragon was simply that strong, I don’t know, but when his jaws closed, she perished.”
I had described the fight to him in detail during my last visit. That was also how he knew it had started with Ryuu’s plan gone awry.
Ryuu turned his glare at me, but it was more baffled than angry. He just didn’t understand, but there was no reason that he would understand. Oberon’s way of telling him was just not constructive, and I didn’t like it. I decided to take control of the explanation.
“Mr. Kowa, I have already explained to you that, in a previous life, I lived in the Elder Age of this world, and I was myself an Elder. Shortly before my death, I gave birth to His Majesty, which means I was Tiana’s great-grandmother.”
Ryuu’s eyes darkened slightly, but he nodded. Perhaps, despite all that had happened, he hadn’t quite accepted that part as real.
“When Tiana perished in the dragon’s mouth, her soul obeyed the law of Heaven and moved on to its next destination. Determining that her role was still needed, a celestial being revived her body and summoned the soul of her ancestor– that would be me– to replace her.”
I saw no reason to include the part about how she had only been born to give birth to an Elder body for me to return to. I still hadn’t forgiven Oranos for that, even if Eurybia claimed it had been an accident that her body formed a soul of its own before I could be directed into it. It just seemed so unfair to her.
I would tell him that we were from the same hometown another time. It wasn’t the place for it, here.
“So, now you understand,” Oberon declared, his eyes turning dark again. “I last saw my granddaughter when she was three months old, and now, because of your foolish actions, I shall never meet her again.”
“Lagan,” I told him, still worried about where this was going. “My king and my country still need this man.”
His eyes flicked toward me, then one corner of his lip curled. “So I’ve heard. But, as excellent as Little Deharè’s skills as a mage are, the man she summoned this time is hardly the man your kingdom needs.”
I almost let out a surprised laugh upon hearing Mother being referred to in a diminutive fashion like that. It expresses affection for younger relatives and friends in Fairy society, as well as Dorian– I assume the Dorians got it from their fairy neighbors– but Mother is multiple millennia old. I’m not sure exactly how old, but she previously knew Durandal, so she had to have at least been born before he became a Cursed Blade.
Turning his glare back to Ryuu, Oberon declared, “Each time the demon lord revived, I’ve met the hero who stood against him. I’ve also met the heroes who faced the great plague of dragons, the tyranny of the Sea King, the Rise of the False Continent, the Invasion of the Otherworlders… I’ve met with summoned heroes, demigods, and Heaven-sent champions. What I see in front of me now is barely a strong warrior, and nothing like the heroes of legend.”
Ryuu looked down, his brow bunching up.
I grew angry. Dammit, stop, Oberon! His spirit is already broken almost beyond repair!
That wasn’t a [Hidden Voice] transmission, just my heartfelt, frustrated thoughts.
Instead, I said, “With all due respect, Lagan, you are mistaken.”
Ryuu looked up in surprise at me. The look I returned to him wasn’t a reassuring smile, just a flat stare.
I explained, “When I first met Mr. Kowa, he could barely lift a regulation arming sword. A month later, he could fight with a greatsword at least three times heavier than a normal greatsword. Summoning magic enhances each summoned person differently. In Mr. Kowa’s case, it enhanced his ability to improve. If you had seen the pathetic weakling Mother summoned, you would be astonished at the difference.”
Looking back to Oberon, I explained, “He continued to get stronger, and his other abilities continued to improve, throughout the time I traveled with him. He made many poor decisions, leading to many problems and causing us all kinds of trouble.”
I gave Ryuu another look, and added, “But I’m sure he has the valor of a hero. He has never turned away from danger.”
Ryuu looked a little perplexed, probably because I’ve always treated him coldly, as did the original Tiana. I doubt he expected me to ever praise him, however much I had just qualified it.
Oberon raised his chin, “Then how is it that slaying the archdemon fell to you?”
“Opportunity and happenstance,” I stated. “Mr. Kowa and his companions created that opportunity. But, you do have a point. If the summoning magic is helping him grow, and he was able to flush a dragon from its lair on his own two months ago, then he should have been more effective against an archdemon now. That’s why I’ve decided to take over his training.”
Mother glanced at her father, who was saying nothing, then asked, “So you are saying you can make him the hero he was supposed to be?”
I pressed my lips together, considering the woman. If she had truly taken him to task over Tiana’s death, and she hadn’t held back, then I suspected that she was the culprit. He might just be lucky to still be alive.
She didn’t deliver the final blows. I did that myself, just like I did with Dilorè. Watching me fight the archdemon had driven the last nails into those coffins. And I suspected that the process had begun with Ryuu’s encounter with Diurhimath in Carael. But she was the reason he was no longer the same no-holds-barred battle maniac he had been while Tiana was in his party. He had developed overcaution and self-doubt just at the moment when he needed to be charging forward harder and growing more.
“I can,” I declared. “Your Majesty, I would ask you to leave him to me, and allow me to deal with his faults my way.”
“This…” he pursed his lips, looking dissatisfied, then grumbled, “I wished to vent my anger longer.”
“I prefer that you leave correcting him to me, Lagan,” I repeated. “I’m taking him to my mountain for that purpose.”
The Fairy King’s eyebrow shot up. “To Mount Ciddan?”
“Is that what it’s called now?” I asked. “It was just ‘Senhion’s Mountain’ in my day. But why does that name sound familiar?”
Amana answered, “Feraen probably told you to meet her there, when she challenged you. It’s where most fairy duels in this region happen.”
“They use my mountain?” I asked, baffled.
Mother laughed and declared, “It’s probably your own doing. In Ancient Fairy, we called it ‘Xi-tsan’, because it’s ‘bad ground’ because nothing can grow there. The word became ‘Ciddan’ in Dorian. One cannot destroy the landscape no matter how hard the attack, so it’s perfect dueling grounds. I assume it was some magic of your doing.”
I nodded. “It’s probably the mountain defenses. Although the ‘nothing can grow there’ part must be a malfunction.”
“Why do you need to go there?” Mother wondered.
“It’s where I trained my Servants, in the old days.”
And Little Jia had kept everything just the way it was, back then. I had already made arrangements with her when I went to retrieve Amelia and Brigitte, so by now she would even have the entrance open again.
“It’s dangerous to touch the ground there,” Oberon noted.
“Not for me,” I declared. “I’ve already discussed it with my…”
I frowned, lost for a word. I had no noun in Ostish to describe her.
“Mountain spirit?” Lady Molore suggested. “Strangely powerful spirits always guard the places where Elders once dwelled. It’s always been believed that the fell nature of Mount Ciddan was due to one.”
“That’s a good word for her, yes.” I smiled my thanks. “I’ll call her that. My real problem is reaching Mount Ciddan. Will the spell over this land allow us to travel there?”
Oberon answered, “If you leave through the port of entry, and as long as you travel only in the dark and follow the proper path, then it would not be a problem. But I intend to grant you the seal of a favored princess, so you shall be able to pass at any time. You will be able to guide whomever you choose wherever you need.”
I heard Amana and Anare making sounds of surprise under their breath. Was this something more than they had?
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I answered, bowing my head.
“You will need it to return from Pendor after you help Little Deharè with her problem anyway,” he added.
“What problem?” I asked, immediately growing wary.
“In my absence, my underlings have met a particular difficulty on the front line,” Mother answered. “They are holding against it, but they need support in order to break the stalemate.”
“But,” Oberon continued after her, “Deharè must stay here to solve the mystery of the blind knights. My wife has been unable to diagnose Lâsin and Mára, so there is no reason to assume she can do any different with the new cases. She needs Deharè’s magic to unravel the puzzle. The escaped archfiend may return with new help, so the matter is critically urgent. We must understand this blindness before other fairies catch it. We can’t spare her to go home and take care of her business.”
Hearing Oberon considering the situation like a mortal king was a bit surprising. Although fairy knights are happy to sell their swords to anyone willing to pay their exorbitant fees, Faerie as a whole normally remains uninvolved in warfare and alliances. It seemed that he couldn’t ignore how demons had tricked Feraen and Lilhàn into fighting for them.
“And so…” I prompted, although I had already figured out what I was going to hear next.
“Tiana,” Mother said in her ‘being patient’ voice, “You are the first daughter of the duchy. When I am unavailable, it is your duty to go in my place.”
