by Virlyce
“…You’re not going to say she’s 150% Floofykins like Stella did when Vur couldn’t figure out math, right?” Alice asked.
“No! Vur’s son is a boar, Snuffles, but Snuffles was imprinted by Vur to become part dragon,” Tafel said. “So he’s a dragonboar, I guess.”
“Right,” Alice said. “Do you have any, uh, real children?”
“Hey. It’s not like Snuffles isn’t real,” Tafel said with a scowl.
“Alright,” Alice said and rolled her eyes. “Did you give birth to anything yet?”
“No!” Tafel said, her face turning red. “I’m still young! There’s still so many things I want to do before I get bogged down by children.”
“Like making a sword grow wings?” Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. “Speaking of which, where is it? I haven’t seen that weird sword of yours in a while.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tafel said. “I’m refining it right now with the tears of a hundred people in despair. At least, I think the elves are in despair. If they’re not and it doesn’t work, I’ll be pretty miffed. It took forever to make them all cry.” She tilted her head. “Huh, I guess commissioning someone to find fairy tears makes sense now.”
Alice stared at Tafel before shaking her head. “So you really think you’ll be able to talk your way out of this mess with the phoenix matriarch? I don’t think she’d be very forgiving considering the undead have probably captured nearly half the elven population.”
Tafel glanced at the phoenix in her lap, who had finished drinking the lava. Its eyes were closed, and its head was tucked under its wing. Well, it tried to tuck its head under its wing, but only about half of it was covered. Its body was too round. “I think it’ll be possible,” Tafel said with a nod. “I mean, even if it doesn’t work, I can teleport us out of danger. Ah, I wish Vur was here though. He might be able to subdue it.”
“Subdue the phoenix matriarch?” Alice asked. “I know Vur’s strong, but aren’t you thinking a bit too highly of him? Even the dragons chose to leave the phoenixes alone when they first came to the continent.”
Tafel shrugged. “Vur can do anything, even things he shouldn’t do,” she said. “I don’t think he was ever taught the meaning of impossible.”
***
“What’s wrong, honey?” Kondra’s mate asked, nuzzling her side with his wing as he turned his head towards her, shifting some dirt on the ground in the process. He blinked at his mate and tilted his head to the side. Usually, she slept like a log, but recently she had been tossing and turning every few days.
“It’s him!” Kondra said, glaring at Grimmy, whose snores rattled the rocks on the ground. “How am I supposed to sleep comfortably with a dragon of darkness living in my house!?”
“Hush!” Leila said from Grimmy’s side. “You’ll wake him. What if you ruin his information gathering?”
“I don’t care!” Kondra roared. Her tail slammed against the ground, causing Grimmy to snort a few times. A couple of seconds later, his snoring resumed at a volume even louder than before. “How long is this freeloader staying here? How long will it be until I no longer have to worry about being murdered in my sleep? Do you see these?” She pointed underneath her eyes. “I’m starting to grow bags. It doesn’t even make any sense!”
Grimmy’s snores stopped as his mouth stretched open into a wide yawn. He smacked his lips a few times before rolling over onto his back, splaying his limbs to the sides. Once again, the earth shook as his snores rang throughout the cavern.
Kondra’s eyes bulged at the sight, and her irises glowed with a white light. Leila walked in front of Grimmy and plopped herself down to block him from her mother’s gaze. “You were always nagging me about bringing home a mate, and now that I do, you try to smite him with holy magic? Maybe this is why Luke never told you about the girl he’s seeing.”
“Leila!” Luke’s voice shouted from his cavern. “How could you!?”
“Luke’s seeing a girl?” Kondra asked and drew her head back. “What? How?”
“Secret,” Leila said. “He told me not to tell you.”
“Then why’d you tell her!?” Luke asked as he crawled out of his cavern. He glanced at his mother and hung his head.
“What are siblings for if not to tattle on each other?” Leila asked with a smile. “And you’re my scapegoat.” Before Luke could respond, Leila winked at him. “So how far have you gotten? Did you make any babies yet?”
“You’re a devil,” Luke said with a scowl. “No wonder why Grimmy’s your mate. Black-hearted people suit each other so well.”
“What? I’m an angel,” Grimmy said as he rolled over and yawned. His eyes glinted as he smiled at Luke. “But someone who deceives their loving mother….”
Kondra snorted and glared at Luke. Leila grinned and tugged on Grimmy’s wing, and the duo crept away from the poor scapegoat, leaving Kondra’s vision. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Kondra asked. “When are you going to bring her home? I know. You don’t want me to see her, huh? Is she a darkness dragon too? Is that it?”
“No!” Luke said and shook his head. “That’s not it.” He bit his lower lip and glanced at his dad, but his dad just hummed to himself while poking a green sprout growing from the ground. “It’s just....”
“Just what?” Kondra asked.
Luke looked at Leila with tears in his eyes. He frowned and lowered his head to look up at her. Leila shook her head and smiled without saying a word, causing her brother to sigh. “Um, it’s because, uh, she’s very shy,” Luke said to Kondra. “And I just met her twenty years ago! We barely know each other.”
Kondra furrowed her brow. “Twenty years isn’t too short of a time.” She glanced at her mate. “How long did it take us to get together?”
“A few years. I don’t remember the exact amount,” Leila’s father said.
“You don’t remember?” Kondra asked, raising an eyebrow.
Leila’s father’s expression twisted. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Grimmy whispered to Leila, “Is it just me, or is your mother a huge bi—”
Leila cut him off by clamping her claw on his snout. “That’s just how she is, and I love her for being herself.”
“Loved her so much you flew to a different continent,” Luke muttered.
Kondra turned her attention back onto Luke. “And what about Leo? Is he seeing a girl too? Is that why he’s taking so long to come back from the assembly? And where did Lulu go? Don’t tell me all of you are seeing people without telling me.”
“Is someone talking about me?” a voice asked. A silver dragon lumbered into the cavern from the entrance and tilted his head at the scene. Luke looked like he had just been whipped. His father also looked like he had just been whipped. His mother looked like she had just whipped two dragons. And Grimmy and Leila were eating Lulu’s snacks in the corner of the cavern.
“Welcome home, Leo,” Leila said and smiled at her younger brother. “Mom found out about Luke’s girlfriend.”
“Oh…,” Leo said, drawing the word out. “I see. I guess I’ll be back later? Bye.” He turned around, took a step, and was promptly dragged back into the cavern by Kondra’s claws.
“And what have you been doing?” Kondra asked, depositing Leo next to Luke. “Didn’t the assembly end a while ago?”
“The weather was really nice, so I took a nap before coming back home,” Leo said while distancing himself from his brother. “I’m not like Luke, Mom. I would never go out behind your back, leaving behind a magical imprint to fool you, and sneak out to see a girl living in the ocean.”
“I’m being bullied,” Luke said and hung his head, covering his eyes with his paws. “I’m an adult, Mom. I should be able to see whoever I want.”
Kondra snorted. “Can you stop my meteor?”
Luke sighed and muttered, “No.”
“Then you’re still a child,” Kondra said with a nod. “And children need to be chaperoned on dates.”
“I don’t need to be c
haperoned!” Luke said and pouted.
“That’s what everyone says, and then they have a litter of bawling children running around before they know it,” Kondra said. “I want to see this lady friend of yours before you go out to see her again.”
“I thought she wanted grandkids,” Grimmy whispered to Leila. “Why’s she being so contradictory now?”
“She wants grandkids she approves of,” Leila whispered back. “Which is why you should hurry up and finish the righteous quest she gave you.”
Grimmy snorted. “I don’t need her approval.”
“But I want our child growing up in a loving family,” Leila said and nuzzled his neck. “That includes knowing her grandmother and grandfather.”
“But your mother’s a loon!” Grimmy shouted. He cleared his throat as Kondra turned her head to look at them. “I said, ‘Oh look, a balloon.’” He pointed a claw towards the transparent ceiling. The other dragons raised their heads, but all they saw was the clear night sky. Grimmy clicked his tongue, drawing their attentions back onto himself. “Darn, you just missed it.”
Kondra’s gaze lingered on Grimmy before facing Leo again. “And what happened during the assembly? Did anything change?” Her brow furrowed. “I’m not only uneasy because of Leila’s mate. I feel like something’s changing in the outside world. Did something happen to my church?”
“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Leo said and waved his paw dismissively. “Nothing’s changed. The world’s great. There was a tiny scuffle between the dwarves and the fairies at the assembly, but other than that, everything’s fine. Your church is fine. The dwarves aren’t overly aggressive. The phoenix matriarch’s being the phoenix matriarch. The humans are being humans. The penguins still haven’t frozen to death. Everything’s fine.”
“The more you reassure me, the greater my unease grows,” Kondra said with a frown. “I’m going outside to check on my church.”
“No!” everyone except Grimmy and Kondra shouted at the same time.
Kondra flinched and looked around. Her mate cleared his throat and wet his lips with his tongue. “Don’t you trust Leo, honey?” he asked in a soft voice like he was trying to coax a kitten. “If he says everything’s fine, then there’s no need to doubt him, right?”
“Yeah, Mom,” Luke said. “Why’d you send Leo to the assembly if you weren’t going to believe his report anyway? You have to learn to trust your children more often. Besides, Lulu’s outside right now. If there’s anything wrong with the church, she’ll definitely fix it or report it to you if she can’t.”
“Yeah,” Leo said with a nod, his head bobbing up and down. “Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not right to assign someone responsibilities and then not trust them,” Leila said, chiming in as well. “You should stay here and relax. Look at all the hard work you’ve done for the continent already. The land’s at peace because of you and your righteous teachings. You deserve a break. Even the most hardworking man worked six days and rested on the seventh.”
“Which man was this?” Grimmy asked.
“Mm, legends about a different world told by a famous bard,” Leila said. “You probably haven’t heard about it.”
Grimmy tilted his head. “Oh.”
Kondra bit her lower lip. “Why does it seem like all of you don’t want me to go outside?” Her gaze swept over the dragons, all of them avoiding it.
“Why do you feel that way?” Leila asked, clearing her throat and smiling at her mother. “Are you sure it’s not just in your imagination? We all care about you a lot, and no one wants to see you overworked. Think about it, when was the last time you’ve taken a break from all the quests you assign? Not even a few months ago, you handed out two whole quests.”
Kondra’s gaze softened as she nodded. “You’re right,” she said and lowered herself to the ground, burying her paws underneath her body. “I deserve a break. If anything does happen to the church, Lulu will take care of it. You’re all right.”
The dragons collectively exhaled as Kondra leaned on her mate and closed her eyes. Soft snores rang through the air as the muscles in the dragon matriarch’s face slackened. Leo and Luke high-fived each other while Leila gave them a thumbs up. “Disaster averted,” Kondra’s mate said as he wrapped his wing around Kondra. “Nice one, Leila. You get the most holy dragon appreciation points this time around.”
Grimmy blinked a few times, his gaze shifting amongst the silver dragons. The atmosphere was a lot lighter than before with smiles painting all of the dragons’ faces. “I don’t understand,” Grimmy said and nudged Leila. “What just happened?”
“Mom can be … a bit hard to please,” Leila said, glancing at her sleeping mother. For someone so worried about being murdered in her sleep just a few minutes ago, she was as tranquil as a baby. “She gets really worked up and follows a narrow train of thought, but you can redirect that thought to a more peaceful one and all the pressure disappears.”
“But why don’t you want her outside?” Grimmy asked after he was sure Leila wasn’t going to say anything else. “What disaster would’ve happened?”
“Mom likes micromanaging things,” Luke said from across the cavern. “If things don’t go exactly her way…, mm, yeah.”
“She burned down a village for not being vegetarian,” Leo said. “She didn’t kill anyone though—just destroyed their houses.”
“She may or may not have forced a kingdom to relocate because they littered,” Leila said with a nod.
“She once separated two families, putting them on different ends of the continent, because their scions were holding hands before marriage,” Luke said. “I saw it happen.” He glared at Leila. “How could you sell me out like that?”
Leila stuck her tongue out. “If you don’t like it, get stronger and leave,” she said. “It’s just a meteor. My nephew’s not even two decades old, and he stopped Nova’s.”
“Novasthiurm?” Leila’s father asked, raising his head. “He woke up?”
“Less than a year ago,” Leila said with a nod.
“Ah, I missed that old fellow,” Leila’s father said, a faraway look appearing on his face as he stared at the sky. He sighed and glanced at Kondra, whose body was rising up and down in time with her breaths. “It’s a shame they don’t get along at all. She’ll probably attack him or his lineage on sight.”
24
“Lady Persephone,” an elf said as he ran inside a hollow tree trunk. Though the inside of the tree was empty and the sky could be seen by raising one’s head, it was still alive and well, green light softly pulsing through its bark. A table made of smooth roots wriggled in the center of the trunk, and there was a red-headed elf sitting on a cushion made of leaves beside it. She wore a robe made of red feathers, traces of flames dancing around her. “There’s a serious problem.”
“A problem, Sir Thatcher?” the red-headed elf asked as she tilted her head up, away from the book in her lap. “Another philosophical question or confounding problem about biology?”
“Err, no,” Thatcher said and scratched his head. “Though I’d love to hear your opinion on these strange birds I found, there’s an even more serious issue at hand.” The elf’s face turned grim, his brown eyes narrowing. He adjusted the sleeves of his green robe before taking in a deep breath. “The forest is being invaded.”
Persephone blinked, waiting for more. When it was clear Thatcher wasn’t going to say anything else, she tilted her head to the side. “Making me guess? Then are the locusts at it again? I thought we introduced the frogs to take care of them, no?”
“So you really aren’t omniscient,” Thatcher said and exhaled. “The rumors were wrong after all.” A bitter smile appeared on the elf’s face before he shook his head. “We’re being invaded by the dwarves”—his voice lowered to the point where Persephone had to strain her ears to hear him—“and the undead.”
“Pardon?” Persephone asked. “Can you speak up? Why are you trying to turn such a wonderful, sunny day into a
dreary one by acting like you’re imparting the worst kind of news to me? Even if the news is terrible, you must deliver it in a cheerful, upbeat manner.”
Thatcher’s brow furrowed. “Even so, sometimes there are cases where a dreary manner must be adopted to successfully convey the weight of the matter. For example, let’s say my neighbor’s mother died and I have to be the one to tell her. How can I possibly notify her in a cheerful, upbeat manner without crushing her?”
“Like this,” Persephone said and cleared her throat. “Today’s such a momentous day; another soul has returned to Gaea. Your mother.” She nodded. “See, that’s not so hard, is it? Now try telling me the news again.”
Thatcher’s expression darkened. “Wonderful news, our home, the forest, is currently entertaining uninvited guests,” he said in a voice that was dryer than sand. “From the east, the dwarves are adopting our culture by removing families from their homes and transporting them to the dwarven capital. From the west, skeletons are roaming the lands, removing all the pests and nasty critters in their path.” He took in a deep breath. “Along with our people! There’s no way I can spin an undead invasion into something cheerful and upbeat!”
Persephone sighed. “This is why you weren’t nominated to be on the council,” she said. “The outlook you have on life is so depressing and pessimistic. Look at things from the bright”—her brow furrowed as her gaze snapped towards Thatcher—“did you say undead?”
Thatcher nodded.
“I apologize,” Persephone said, lowering her head. “Sometimes, I think too much about the words I have to say next that I’m not really listening to other people. A legion of undead are invading, oh dear. That really is a serious problem.” She scratched her head. “How can I spin it in a positive way to notify the council without alarming them?”
“If you’ll excuse my bluntness,” Thatcher said, taking in another deep breath, “this is something we need to be alarmed about. The phoenix matriarch is still preoccupied from hatching her young not too long ago, and trying to make the situation seem lighter than it actually is will have terrible effects.”
