Chapter Two: Homeward

Callum had to admit, the Moon Nexus wasn't as grand in the daytime. The place was pleasant enough with fascinating images around every corner and lovely scenery wherever one looked, but he supposed it made sense that the true majesty of the place would be dependent on moonlight. Last night, just coming off of a full moon, the lake had been breathtaking. He'd almost wished Rayla was with him, and they could have spent the night at the beautiful Moon Nexus. She had chosen to stay at the Storm Spire to keep the queen company, but Zym was with him for this trip.

He was on his way to Katolis to see Ezran. The news he had for him, of Callum's ascension to a full sky mage, was too important for a letter. The Moon Nexus was a pitstop along the way, where he could also return Phoe-phoe to Lujanne. Zym and Phoe-phoe continued to play, with the moon mage keeping careful watch over them. Callum moved to stand beside her.

"It looks like you'll need to bring Zym back to play every once in a while. Phoe-phoe is always quite a handful during this stage." Lujanne told him before she looked at him and smiled. "If I hadn't seen those mage wings myself, I wouldn't have believed it. I would like to apologize for my words before, Callum. Even if it seemed almost silly at the time, I had no right to dismiss you like that."

"It's okay." Callum said, his grin dropping when he saw a troubled look appear on her face.

"May I assume that you seek to master all six primal sources?" Lujanne asked, now looking unusually serious. Callum looked at her, startled enough to forget about her clear discomfort at her own question.

"Master of all six." Callum whispered. He'd heard it before, he knew it was possible and truth be told, he liked the idea. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out his cube. He could imagine how beautiful it would look with all six runes lit up at once. The moon rune was shining brightly despite the daylight. Lujanne's eyes widened.

"The Key of Aaravos." she said with something that could have been wonder or horror. "How…Where did you find it?"

"It's been in my family for generations." Callum told her. "I don't know where it came from or how we got a hold of it." Lujanne looked at him seriously. It seemed that she had been sidetracked from whatever else she was going to say, perhaps a warning, once this cube was revealed to her.

"Callum, you need to keep that key with you at all times. If this key were to fall into the wrong hands, it could spell trouble for Xadia and the humans alike. Does anyone else know about this?"

This intrigued Callum because he had been trying to gather information about this Aaravos figure since the letter had been opened. Occasionally, Callum went with Ibis to his home in Aviana, or until recently ventured to Lux Aurea to see his aunt who had elected to stay for a few months to help the then newly crowned queen before returning home. During visits to these or one of the smaller eleven towns, Callum would ask around about Aaravos, and either get shocked looks or said elf would walk away without a word. There had even been a case in which a mother had covered her child's ears upon the utterance of the name and looked at Callum as if he'd said a dirty word. Any books Callum came across seemed to go entirely black when talking about Aaravos, so all Callum had been able to absorb had been pictures. Rayla had only limited knowledge of him, saying that Aaravos was a dark stain on elven history and had mostly been reduced to a shadowy figure whispered about in nightly children's stories as a dark being who would steal bad little elf children from their beds and deliver them to humans to be used in dark magic. If you didn't do as you were told, eat everything on your plate or keep your grades up, Aaravos would come in the night and snatch you away.

So, apart from his sinister image, Callum had only one new bit of knowledge about him; he was a powerful elven archmage who once owned Callum's cube, but his fellow elves seemed to regard him as a malevolent figure and were either too ashamed or too fearful to talk about him. He figured, than, that he would get nothing out of Lujanne that he hadn't already heard from Janai or Ibis; namely that all he needed to know was that Aaravos was a dangerous being and he shouldn't start digging around for answers that someone had buried for a reason.

"I don't think anyone else knows the details." Callum said. "Ezran and Rayla know I have it, but I don't think they realize what it is. The only reason I even know what it's called is because of a letter from my stepdad. I guess I'll have to tell Ez when he gets older and Rayla deserves to know." Lujanne let out a heavy sigh. Callum decided he didn't like seeing her like this, he preferred her more friendly, more kind mood.

"I'd be glad to teach you moon magic." she told him before her face darkened further. "But be warned, Callum, archmages have gone crazy with the immense power of all arcanums. All together, it is every bit as seductive and easily corruptible as dark magic. Rare as archmages are, rarer still is the archmage that manages to hold on to themselves."

"I'll swear any oaths you want." Callum said, meaning it in spite of his eager tone. He calmed down. "If I do become an archmage, I won't go crazy with it. I'm not worth any more or less than anyone else, and I won't lose sight of that."

"We can only wait and see, but I do have faith in you." Lujanne said, her kind - almost loving - smile returning to her face, emphasizing her point with a hand on his shoulder. "As long as you promise to be careful, we can begin whenever you'd like."

"I'll let you know in a month. First, I need to see Ezran and after that I need to try and convince Rayla to let me do this. I don't think she likes you." Callum said, and Lujanne's familial smile became more of a playful grin as she dropped her hand from his shoulder.

"I shall await your decision." She said and developed an even more mischievous look in her eyes. "Oh, and if you can convince Rayla to come back with you, I do rather miss our talks."

Callum grinned, walked a respectable distance away from her and spread his arms out. Zym, perhaps sensing it was time to go, bounded up to him and climbed onto his shoulders. He spoke the incantation, the runes on his arms lighting up, and Lujanne watched in wonder as his mage wings appeared and he took off. The moon mage continued to watch him as his form became smaller and smaller in the sky, her smile dropping.

"Keep an open mind, Callum." She warned quietly. "There's no telling when reality will fall to delusion."

In flight, Callum looked down at the earth below him. Familiar places zoomed by; the foot of the cursed caldera, the snowy village, snowy mountain, and the icy lake, which bore the scars of holes and cracks. He looked at Zym as he flew over the lake; the little dragon was more interested in the snow falling around them, oblivious to how those cracks in the lake below had nearly been his doom. Callum pressed on, relishing the warm front that washed over him as they left the chilly air. The large river was easily spotted, and he followed it to the winter lodge.

Feeling the flying take its toll, Callum landed before the lodge. It was small compared to the Storm Spire, secluded and familiar; as good a place as any for a small break. His mage wings retracted, and he stretched his arms out as the muscles relaxed. Zym hopped down from his shoulders and began sniffing around excitedly, probably catching his and Ezran's scents all over the place. Callum looked around. Aside from the missing boat and the arrow in the tree, the place looked the same as always. Huh. Callum could have sworn that there had been a braid on that arrow. Weird, but probably not important as he picked Zym up and carried him into the lodge, shutting the door behind him. If anyone came around this time, Callum would prefer not to be disturbed.

The lodge was quiet. As Callum had observed once, there was nothing to do at the winter lodge in summer, so he dozed off for maybe twenty or thirty minutes before the image of the Key of Aaravos jolted him awake. When he awoke, he resisted the urge to dig it out of his bag and look at it, if only because he'd contemplate the things Lujanne had said another day, once he got back to the Storm Spire. Surely Queen Zubeia would be a wiser council than Lujanne. Callum did respect her as a mage and he was eager to learn from her, but it was also easy to see where Rayla's lack of patience with her came from.

Callum let out a heavy sigh as he got up from the couch and gave himself a nice, comfortable stretch. Within the hour, he'd be back at the palace, and he would reveal everything to the others. "C'mon, Zym. Ez is just a few miles away." The dragonling gave a happy chirp and jumped back on to Callum's shoulder as he left the lodge.

Things were equally still at the Storm Spire. Rayla was sitting on a step in the main room, staring at the spot where Viren had once imprisoned her with the ice spell. Callum had left three days ago for Katolis, so it figured that she would suffer a nightmare while he was gone.

She had been imprisoned in the ice again, and this time Bait couldn't come to her rescue. She had been stuck in that ice until Viren had returned with the horrifying image of a still, limp baby dragon under his arm. Rayla's ears were filled with a ring that stopped her from hearing what the dark mage said as she beheld the precious Dragon Prince; the sweet creature she, Callum and Ezran had worked so hard to keep alive in hopes of righting a wrong, now silent, unmoving and lifeless. The next sensation she felt had been fire. An all-consuming, overwhelming pain coursing through her veins and overtaking her mind. She could barely register her own screaming. She had woken up in a cold sweat with a pounding heart and a face wet from tears. It had taken a few horrible minutes to remember where she was.

She could still hear him.

'It will be a pleasure to add another Moonshadow elf to my collection.'

Collection? Of Moonshadow elves? What did he mean? Why was she suddenly remembering after all this time? And why did she feel that pit of dread in her stomach when she thought of it? All she knew was that seeing that little pouch had made her feel like throwing up. She felt the vibrations in the ground from the queen's movements before any of her other senses picked her up. Rayla didn't move as the massive dragon settled down near her.

"What troubles you, young one?" she asked in a voice that seemed far too patient and kind for her formidable appearance.

"Just a nightmare last night." Rayla said distantly, her eyes still focused on the spot. "It was pure luck that we managed to save Zym. If just one thing had happened differently than –"

"There, there." the queen soothed. "It was just a dream. We are in the waking world, where miracles can truly happen." Rayla didn't seem to respond.

"Have you made the choice of whether or not the Dragonguard is going to be reassembled?" the elf asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I am still unsure." Queen Zubeia confessed, choosing to humor her only current guard in her silent request to drop the subject. "Twice now, the guard has failed to protect their king; first with the old archdragon Sol Regem and again with my dear Avizandum."

"They saved your son, though." Rayla's voice was wistful and soft.

"Yes." Zubeia nodded. "Lain and Tiadrin. Two of the most courageous and dependable elves I have met from any Dragonguard. It disheartened me to find them gone along with my egg. A part of me simply couldn't reconcile the rumors of their abandonment with the brave elves I knew them to be."

Rayla looked away, ashamed. She hadn't just told herself that they were dead; for a while, she had tried to force herself to believe it. Runaan had quickly put a stop to it and forced her to face her parents' cowardice. Even then, she couldn't bring herself to hate them. It was only anger and betrayal she felt, but not hatred. It had never truly been out of hatred, but out of love; when she claimed they were dead, she wasn't envisioning them being butchered like fish. She could only picture them going out in a blaze of glory, fighting to the end like the heroes she'd always seen them as. All this was entirely private, of course, as her fellow elves would never have understood. It was only because of her stupid, noble mage that she knew the truth, and had been the one to tell the queen about it. Even so, did she really have so little faith in her parents? What kind of daughter did that make her?

"I feel like I've known you for years, Rayla." the queen told her, getting her attention. "In times of peace, before the dark mage arrived, they would regale me with tales of their bold, kind-hearted, mischievous daughter. Lain in particular seemed to enjoy bragging about you, which between you and me, I think annoyed some of the other elves. When my egg arrived, they vowed to protect it as fiercely as they would protect you. And because of that, I have my son back. I suppose I owe you more than any of the others."

Rayla's heart swelled with a mixture of love and lingering shame. Her parents had talked about her? Bragged about her? She knew they thought about her with the letters they had sent every year on her birthday, but enough to annoy the other elves on the guard? Was she really their inspiration for the lengths they went to in the protection of the egg? And she had still repaid them by disowning them, regarless of her innermost feelings.

A sudden burst of determination overtook her. Her parents were the sole reason the Dragon Prince lived. If anyone didn't deserve to be disgraced in the way they were, it was them. She owed them far too much to be a part of that bandwagon any longer.

"Your Majesty, I would like to request a day of leave. How fast can you get another dragon here?" Rayla asked.

"They're never far." Queen Zubeia said. "What were you planning to do?" Rayla gave her a look of determination.

"Correct a mistake."

Callum had a look of pure joy as the palace came into view. It seemed so much longer than the year it had been since he'd seen his old home. He flew over the wall separating the city from the woods and saw people below him staring and watching in wonder. He smiled widely when the amazed gasps of several people reached his ears.

"What in the world?"

"Is that Prince Callum?"

"Look, a dragon!"

Callum somehow ignored the crowd that had gathered to watch him, as well as the wave to nostalgia that washed over him at the familiar sights, sounds and smells, as he landed at the palace gates. His wings disappeared into his arms, causing a fresh cluster of gasps from the crowd. Zym remained on his shoulder and gave a chirp, looking back at the stunned townsfolk with a big, friendly smile.

He entered the open gates and walked through as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The weird looks didn't stop from the guards who were on break, though Callum wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had been gone for so long and came home so suddenly, or the baby dragon hanging off of him and looking like he'd jump off and bound up to anyone like a puppy at any moment.

He ended up doing just that, and Callum watched as he gave a great leap and tackled a very surprised Soren to the ground. Callum laughed as he walked up to them, noting that Soren hadn't changed much at all.

"What the? Zym? How'd you get here? And what have you been eating?" Soren grunted as he sat up and held Zym away from his hair, which the little guy had become very interested in.

"Zym!" Callum called and went over to them, pulling the baby dragon off of Soren.

"Callum?" Soren asked as he got up and brushed himself off before looking the kid over. There was now little height difference between the two, and apart from that Callum had gained some mucle on his arms, probably as a result of all that flying. Other than that, he just didn't look so...kiddish anymore. "What are you doing here? I thought you were back at the spire training with that sky elf."

"Skywing elf, Soren." Callum corrected and drew himself up proudly. "And not anymore. You are looking at a full-fledged sky mage."

"No. Way." Soren said dramatically with wide eyes. "A human mage? Well, I mean a mage that uses real magic, not the dark stuff."

"I'm here to tell Ezran. I thought this was more of an in-person visit, not just something to put in a letter." Callum said and Soren led him and Zym into the castle. Behind them were a gathering of stunned guards all wondering the same thing; had they heard that right?

The boys talked like old friends as they walked down the corridor to the throne room.

"So, is it just the two of you this time?" Soren asked, and his eyes darted around in a sort of playful weariness. "No Moonshadow elves are gonna come out of the walls and ambush me with wooden swords?"

Callum smiled and shook his head. "That was one time. And anyway, Rayla's back at the Storm Spire. Someone needed to keep Queen Zubeia company while we were gone, especially now that Ibis left."

"Ibis?" Soren questioned.

"My mentor, you remember." said Callum. "He needed to get back to his family in Aviana. He says I'm a prodigy, it usually takes two or three years to learn all those spells, and I had everything mastered in a year and three months. It also turns out sky magic is one of the hardest to learn to start with."

"You're sounding pretty cocky." Soren observed. "If you want, we could go out to the courtyard like old times and I can knock you down a couple of pegs."

"Okay, okay, I get it; no more bragging." Callum said fondly, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

The boys fell into silence again, and Callum looked around. Despite how much had changed, everything looked the same as it had the night he left. If not for the baby dragon on his shoulder – which seemed to be the little guy's new favorite place as of about seven months ago – the fact that his little brother was on the throne in place of his stepfather, and his refreshing lack of insecurities and uncertainty, it would be just like old times.

Author's Notes: I can't be the only one who thinks Callum's second arcanum would be the moon. He's already demonstrated an understanding of the arcanum and has successfully performed moon magic. Review.