The following evening, now pronounced just about well enough to leave his bed by Eleni, Liam found himself standing by the great double doors in the antechamber leading to the throne room of King Jonathan of Tortall. He pulled the collar of his velvet emerald-green tunic into place and stepped up to the herald. The man's eyes widened as Liam gave him his name and title. He'd waited this late to arrive so that he knew that everyone else, or at least, all the important nobles, would be in the ball already.

"Liam Ironarm," the herald announced loudly to the assembled nobility, "Immortal Dragon Master of Shang!"

The hall fell silent, and the gathered nobles turned as one to face the doors, gathering instinctively along the thin red carpet leading up to the throne. They were all curious as to who this man was, many of them were remembering the last Dragon of Shang to grace their halls.

Liam, standing motionless for a moment in the centre of the doorway, could see Alan, his brother, and Faleron in the crowd, grinning broadly at all the excitement. He gulped, took a deep breath and began the long walk to the throne with a slow stride which he had learned at the Yamani court. Given his present status, he was very lucky he'd been such an apt study.

He stopped at the bottom of the three steps up to where King Jonathan was sitting and saluted smartly, impeccably in the Shang style. Then he stood there, looking at him, leader to leader, just as his grandfather had told him should. This - supposedly - was to establish his status as an equal, but a guest. Liam himself didn't have a clue if it was having the desired effect, but knew that Myles of Olau was an old hand at court procedures.

"Welcome to our court, Liam Ironarm," the king said gravely, meeting the purple eyes raised to him unflinchingly, with a directness few dared faced with such strangeness. He was smiling, proud perhaps, at being the first court that the new Shang master was visiting. "It is an honour to have you with us. I believe your parents and brothers are over by the windows."

Liam inclined his head respectfully and melted into the crowd. Now he remembered - King Jonathan was a close friend of his parents, and he'd no doubt guessed the identity of his young guest - it was hardly difficult. It also explained the sparkle in his piercing blue eyes.

He could feel his hands shaking as he walked through a crowd that parted to let him past. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His thoughts were buzzing around uncontrollably in his head. What if his mother disapproved of his choice of name, or his father was upset at the lack of correspondence over the years? Alan grabbed him by the arm, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, don't look so worried, little brother. You look more worried about seeing all of us again than facing those bandits! You'll be fine. Come on, over here, they're waiting for you."

He led Liam gently over to a window seat, where another young red headed man was talking earnestly to their parents. All three seemed engrossed in the conversation. Liam hung back, not wanting to interrupt, but Alan, blunt as he always seemed to be, propelled him directly into the middle of the small circle.

"Hello everyone, I never knew you'd stirred yourself from the University for a mere ball Thom! Sorry I didn't see you earlier, but I was out with Sir Faleron, we had a few errands to run. This is Liam, but be careful with him, because the little idiot was in a fight, and didn't bind his wounds properly - he was only up against thirty or so bandits."

Liam flushed and his family smiled indulgently, perhaps remembering times when they had done the same.

"Welcome back, lad," George said, hugging him tightly. Liam responded awkwardly.

"Liam Ironarm?" his mother said, seeming to approve. "You did it for him, didn't you? It's what he would have wanted, I'm sure. If only Alianne were back, this family would be all together for perhaps the first time. . . Its good to have you at last."

Liam smiled, basking in their approval, and began to relax. He was back, he was accepted and he'd done well, with his whole life stretching out ahead of him. He would stay here for a while, then, as the Shang warriors do, he'd move on to the next place that needed his skills.

A/N: Okay, that was it, the final chapter. No matter what you say, that was the end. I've tried in the past to write sequels, and find that they don't work unless I'd already thought about them, in which case I wouldn't have to be writing this. . . I give up. Anyway, if someone else wants to have a go at one, feel free, just ask me first. Now you've reached the end, please review and tell me what you thought about it. If you haven't read my other stuff, there are two other Tortall fanfics that I've written and you could check out if you liked this. Thanks for all your reviews and support.

BlueGryphon