Chapter Ten:

Don't Come Around Here No More

The day came and went, and Dalejin and Leona were no closer to finding their son than they were earlier. The goblin inhabitants either refused to help them, or had no idea what the couple was raving about.

Frustrated the pair took to roaming the streets in search of anything could be relevant to Tristan. This turned out to be a daunting task; the city was huge and labyrinthine. The streets had a tendency to turn on themselves. Getting lost was common place among visitors.

Dalejin just noticed that they had circled a certain bar three times already. "Damnit! This is leading nowhere," He shouted wishing that the goblins could be more helpful, or at least direct them to a map.

He sorely wanted to kill all the beasties and get it over with, but he couldn't. If word got out that a wizard ventured into their territory and slaughtered an inhabitant; a political crisis would ensue. Gringotts would close its doors; all the money in the wizarding world would be lost. Most importantly, they would never see their son alive again.

Dalejin looked over at Leona. She was hot and tired from walking all day but made no complaints. She was determined to keep going. He decided that it would be in both of their best interests to sit down for a moment to have a drink.

"Leona, come here," he said deviating from the streets into an alleyway. Leona followed him quickly hoping that he had found something.

"What did you find?" she breathed, kneeling down next to him.

"Nothing, I think now's a good time to take a break, don't you?" He asked taking Leona's bag. He opened the drawstring and reached in. He pulled out two water bottles; he took one for himself and tossed the other to Leona.

She caught it, but she couldn't help but stare at him with confused eyes. "I'm sorry; did you just say that you wanted to take a break?" She said in a higher voice than normal.

"Yes, Leona I did. We are both tired. This search is getting us nowhere, fast. We need to rest and to think up a more solid plan of action," he said taking a drink from his bottle.

Leo's eyes flamed. She couldn't bring herself to look at Dalejin for risk of further infuriation. She took her water bottle and splashed him with it. She stood up wanting to smack him. "Our son is missing, and you want to rest? How can you even live with yourself? This is all your fault!" Leona shoved her hands on her hips dangerously.

Dalejin shot up resisting the urge to backhand her as she had almost done. "Oh that's rich coming from the woman whom refused to let me teach my son how to defend himself. If anything; this is your fault, like it normally is,"

"Well maybe I didn't want my son getting killed once he got involved in the idiotic activities of his father!" Leona shouted back, pulling her wand out and pressed it into his sternum.

"At least my 'activities' yield results. At least my men respected me, which is more than I can say about the students you allegedly teach!" Dalejin hissed back.

Leona couldn't stand the sight of him anymore, this time she did slap him and hard. His head twisted to the side, and there was a large red mark where her hand had made contact. Dalejin made no attempt to retaliate physically. He lowered his eyes to her; in anger, and in shame.

"At least I don't kill people and lie about it," she said after the moment had passed. "At least when I go on a business trip I tell you that I am leaving and when I am coming back. I'm sick to death of you running away whenever it pleases you." Leona paused to stow her wand, to regain her composure and to cross her arms. "When I get back from finding Tristan, I want you and your belongings out of my house," she said in a nearly rational voice. "I never want to see you, again." Leona added, her voice quavered, threatening to cry.

Dalejin said nothing in his defense. He swiftly walked away. He pulled his hood up, not daring to make eye contact with her.

In a flash his world once again came crashing down on him. He didn't know how, but once again fate conspired against him. At least when his career as Serpent's Fire came to a halt he had Leona. Years later Tristan filled his thoughts as well. Over the course of the day he lost everything he held dear. His son didn't want him, his wife despised him.

i "I hate you! You're to worst father, EVER!"/i

Tears began to form in his eyes. Before the first one fell to the ground Dalejin apparated from sight.

Leona watched Dalejin leave. She held her stomach in sickness. "How can he not care?" She shouted in agony falling to her knees. How could Dalejin leave her so readily? Tristan was missing how could-

"-Oh come now, you know why!" Said a nasty voice in Leo's head, "you pushed him away. It wasn't that hard -you were holding him back. You did what any smart woman would have done ages ago," the voice snickered mischievously

"That's not true!" Leona shouted back; hastily grabbing her things and running blindly into the street. She was knocked to the ground when she accidentally ran into a strange looking man.

He was as large as a troll, with musculature reminiscent of professional wrestlers, yet his skull looked un-human. He smiled a toothy grin at Leona; she quickly jumped up and began to walk the other way, furiously wiping tears from her eyes.

From the other side of the street a goblin nodded at the giant beast, and he sped off towards Leona. Before she had time to react she was clubbed in the head by the monster, and fell limply to the ground. The beast laughed much like an ogre as he picked up his victim and tossed her over his shoulder. He nodded back to the goblin and headed away from the city.