15-3. Permission

Earth beckoned.

The second Elijah completed the Circle of Victory, he felt an undeniable pull towards his home planet. Suddenly, all the worries he’d kept pent up for the past couple of years resurfaced. He wondered how Carmen was doing. Miguel. Eli and Hope. Nerthus, Nara, and all the other members of the grove.

Sure, he had a good idea. After all, it only took a subtle shift of focus for him to feel everything on his island. He could even sense the areas around his other trees, though to a slightly lesser degree. The same was true of Ironshore, but that was like looking into someone else’s house.

Either way, it just wasn’t the same as going there and speaking to the people he cared about. And now that he had the means of easy return right in front of him, he wanted nothing more than to just use Root Nexus to teleport back to the Hartwood Grove.

But he didn’t.

Not least because he wasn’t finished in the Empire of Scale. He’d also made a promise he very much intended to keep.

So, once he was satisfied that the Circle of Victory had stabilized, Elijah and Mano headed back to the palace. They made the journey on foot, mostly because Mano’s dragon form was the size of a small moon – at least according to what Sara had told him. Elijah found it difficult to wrap his thoughts around such a thing.

As they crossed the threshold between light and dark, Elijah glanced out into space. There, he saw a massive celestial body looming in the heavens. Without Esik’s atmosphere to mitigate its vibrancy, the plumes of colorful gases and exploding ethera were so much more impactful than they’d appeared from the planet’s surface.

“Is he making progress?” Elijah asked, striding purposefully next to Mano. The disturbance wasn’t a nebula or quasar or any other natural phenomenon. Rather, it had been born when Rijh es Gialle had transcended. When Elijah had found him, the dragon Druid had been living a life of self-imposed exile that had lasted for thousands of years. Perhaps longer. And he’d been on the edge of surrendering his sapience for a wilder existence as a wyrm.

Elijah still wasn’t certain why Rijh had chosen to transcend. Was it something Elijah had done? Or was it just time? He suspected he wouldn’t soon receive an answer to that question.

The big dragon followed Elijah’s attention, then said, “I don’t know. The time it takes to transcend depends on the individual. My transcendence took nearly ten thousand years.”

“Must’ve been a lot of energy.”

Mano gave an involuntary snort, but he quickly reigned it in. “Yes. That’s what it was.”

Elijah didn’t believe that for a second, but Mano’s vanity required him to pretend otherwise. The big dragon didn’t believe his own lie, either.

The two continued their trek in silence, eventually reaching the palace. Stepping out of the desolate nothingness and into the carefully cultivated manor grounds was a striking transition, and Elijah nearly stumbled when he hit the dense wall of vitality.

“They fixed it,” Mano said. “Good.”

Elijah looked away in embarrassment. Using Root Nexus had caused Kirlissa quite a few problems. Thankfully, she had plenty of money and some talented people to fix the issues he’d created. The ethereal density was a little lower than normal, but he suspected it would be back to its baseline sooner rather than later.

He just hoped it hadn’t cost too much, even if he knew his adopted mother could more than afford it.

The pair passed the arrival rings and the twin statues guarding the path to the palace before making their way inside. The few other times Elijah had visited had been in the company of huge crowds. Without them, the place seemed oddly empty.

It wasn’t.

The palace functioned as the core of Kirlissa’s economic kingdom. From there, she could decide the fates of not only the entire Empire’s economy, but other kingdoms as well. She could just as easily sponsor one faction’s rise while deciding to engineer another’s total destruction – all without lifting a single weapon.

It was a terrifying degree of power that she rightfully employed sparingly. Instead, she spent most of her time supporting the Empire and fueling its eternal war against the abyss as well as the hated vespirans. More than once, the wasp-people had faced extinction, but they only needed a few survivors to power their rise from the ashes.

Like an insectile phoenix given the form of an entire civilization, they always came back. Sometimes, more powerful than ever before. And though they’d tried – oh, how they had tried – even the dragons couldn’t wipe them out.

Their continued attempts to destroy the entire race cost quite a lot of money, and Kirlissa was more than happy to contribute her powers to lubricate the economic engine of the Empire of Scale.

The evidence of all that effort became more obvious as they entered the palace to find a hive of activity to rival any government building. Probably even more intense, considering the poor reputation of governmental bureaucracy and Kirlissa’s penchant for treating her employees very, very well. Both in terms of resources used for progress as well as monetary recompense.

The whole thing clearly made Mano uncomfortable, so he quickly broke off, heading elsewhere as he said something about Elijah being safe in the palace. That left Elijah alone for the time being. In the middle of a crowded palace, no less.

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It made him just as uncomfortable as his adopted brother. So, it wasn’t long before he found his way to the suite Kirlissa had assigned him. Once there, he took the liberty to shower, take care of some basic grooming, and then take advantage of the hot spring in the center of the bathroom.

Elijah had no idea where the practically boiling water came from, but it was suffused with so much vital energy that it became a low-level healing tonic. Within a few minutes of sinking into that hot water, he dozed off, only to awaken to a high-pitched scream some indeterminate time later.

Elijah bolted upright to see a short figure dashing from the bathroom.

Judging by the golden hair and compact body, he knew the culprit. All mystery faded a second later when Sara screamed, “What is it with you and being naked?!”

Elijah climbed from the spring, then took his time drying off. “I was in the bathroom. That’s where nudity is supposed to happen!”

“Gross,” she called from the other room.

“Weren’t you the one ripping my shirt to show me off like some –”

“Not important!”

Elijah rolled his eyes, though he did feel a twist in his stomach at that memory. It was the first time he’d met Kaela, the night he’d fallen for her. Sure, that was based almost entirely on aesthetics – with a bit of power thrown in for good measure – but it was the foundation of what had come later. Of what had been ruined by Skahan.

And perhaps even Cyran, though Elijah couldn’t be certain about that. The two were awfully chummy, though. It didn’t take a leap of logic to come to the conclusion that Cyran at least knew what was going to happen.

Besides, Elijah didn’t need any of that to hate the dragon he’d beaten in the final round of the Tournament of the First Fang. Cyran had hurt Sara, and that was more than enough to earn Elijah’s eternal disdain.

Those thoughts rushed through his mind as he hastily dried himself off, then donned a pair of pants and a loose shirt pulled from his Arcane Loop. When he exited the bathroom, he found Sara draped over one of the chairs in his sitting room. Or sprawled, perhaps.

“Very ladylike,” Elijah said, sitting in another one of the chairs.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Did you do it?” she asked. “You know that mother is extremely upset with you. Without my deft intervention, she might have done something truly regrettable. I think that earns a reward.”

“I already told you I was going to take you with me. You just have to clear it with Kirlissa.”

Technically, she was his mother as well. At least by draconic law. But Elijah already had a mother. Sure, she’d died decades ago, but it still felt like an insult to her memory to refer to anyone else by that moniker. Maybe he’d get over that reticence in time, but he doubted it.

At least Kirlissa hadn’t made mention of it, indicating that she understood the discomfort.

“For my reward –”

“Didn’t say I was going to give you a reward. I don’t even believe you did anything.”

She let out a long-suffering sigh. “I have spent every waking moment lobbying in your favor, brother dearest. I have cajoled and negotiated, coddled and flattered. I have –”

“What do you want?” Elijah asked, interrupting her before she could truly get going.

“Well, I haven’t actually gotten her permission yet. She said I could go, but that was months ago. And when she said it, she made a point that I couldn’t make the trip until I finished the Academy,” she pointed out.

“Which is?”

“Next year. But!” she exclaimed, thrusting a finger into the air. “I am at the top of my class in just about everything.”

“Just about?”

“Not in, you know, conduct. But that doesn’t count. Nobody expects a real dragon to follow all the rules.”

“Sure, sure. Obviously,” Elijah deadpanned.

“See? You get it. So does Mano, the big oaf. My point is that I’m way ahead of the curve, right? Why can’t I just go now? You know, get some real world experience.”

“You got kidnapped last time you wanted some real world experience.”

“I’m a different person now. Far more worldly. Less prone to naivete.”

“Sara –”

“Plus, it’s your world, right? Nobody messes with you there.”

“That’s patently untrue,” Elijah countered. He’d had to slaughter multiple cities’ worth of people because everyone very much wanted to mess with him. Or his people.

“But you always get them back! Let’s say the worst happens, right? I get dragon-napped? Well, you can just save me again!” she explained, practically leaping from her chair. How she managed to wrangle her limbs in the process, Elijah didn’t know. Soon enough, she was kneeling in front of him, her hands clasped tightly together. “Please? Just go talk to her, okay? She’ll say yes. She has to. You won the tournament and everything! And she made so much money off of it. Plus, she gave those Vael idiots a good slap. Through you, of course.”

“Not the Caelwyns?”

She shook her head. “Minor clan. The Vaels are the real threat. Skahan was kind of an outcast. His family had already fallen out of favor with the rest of the clan, or he’d have never been second to Cyran. But the Caelwyns are…I don’t know…not vassals, per se. But lesser allies, maybe? Something like that. Subordinate, for sure, though.”

Elijah shook his head. He had no interest in draconic politics, but it seemed that if he chose to stay, he would be forced to acclimate. Either way, he still had to take the trip to She’evoth to collect his rewards from the tournament, both from the Fourth Treasury and the chance to cultivate in the presence of the First Fang itself.

Both were opportunities he just couldn’t refuse.

“So?” Sara asked.

“What?”

“You are so absentminded. Are you going to ask her to take me with you?”

“No need,” came Kirlissa’s voice.

“No. Come on in. No need to knock,” Elijah muttered. “Nobody else does.”

“It is my palace. I come and go as I please,” she stated evenly.

Elijah shrugged. “Don’t be upset when you get a traumatizing eyeful, then.” He turned to Sara. “You either, by the way.”

Kirlissa laughed. “So refreshing.”

“So annoying,” Sara pouted.

Elijah just shook his head. “You were obviously eavesdropping, so, what’s the answer?” he asked Kirlissa.

“Of course she can go, provided that she treats it as an educational journey, rather than an excuse to avoid her lessons.”

“I will!” Sara screeched, throwing her arms around her mother. Kirlissa bore it stoically, though she couldn’t keep a small smile from turning up the corners of her mouth.

“In addition, I would implore you to return within a year,” Kirlissa said.

“What happens in a year?”

“You will be taking a caravan to She’evoth,” she answered. “That is when it departs. If you do not believe you can keep this schedule, then I would prefer that you remained here.”

“No, I can make that work. Provided the trip back doesn’t take too long, I mean.”

“I have looked at your little connection,” she explained. “Quite an interesting spell. Very powerful and wholly unexpected, even with your background. It created a much more direct route to Earth than the winding paths of the World Tree’s teleportation system. I believe it will get you there in a third of the time. A week. Perhaps a little longer.”

“Damn.”

Sara punched him.

“What?”

“Language.”

“Damn isn’t a swear.”

“It totally is.”

Kirlissa laughed again, but when Elijah glanced in her direction, she was gone. Only the sound of tinkling coins remained to echo through the suite.

“We should leave tomorrow,” Sara declared. “I’m already packed and everything.”

Elijah wanted to disagree, but after only a moment, he decided that she was right. After saying so, he told Sara, “We’re leaving first thing in the morning. So, you’d better be ready.”

“I will be!”