Chapter Forty-three: Setting It Right
Mira didn't know what it was about this morning, but she felt strangely bold. Amaya had already left on that patrol thing like she always did before sunup and Soren had gone to live with Zephyr a week ago. His room was now empty. This left her with Callum, Rayla and Ezran for the morning, and it seemed that everyone was still asleep.
Mira snuck out the door. The air was getting warmer and the snow was gone. She knew she wasn't supposed to leave the house without someone with her, and maybe that's why she had this uneasy feeling, like she'd be in trouble if she got caught. In the past weeks, all she had needed to do was grab the escort of her choosing and tug them to the door if she wanted to go outside, and they had always complied and seemed happy about it, but how would they feel about this?
She put those thoughts out of her mind and focused on what she had come out here for. Yesterday, she had been with Rayla and Callum, watching Callum train in different magics from dawn to dusk. All week, it was all they seemed to do; Ezran had told her that, if not for Amaya keeping an eye on that sort of thing, Callum would probably forget to eat. She didn't know what all the training was about, maybe it had something to do with all the dragons that have been coming to and from the Storm Spire lately. Still, her mind drifted back to a strange stone something she had glimpsed in the distance; something too far away to see clearly. That's what she was going to check out, even if everyone was still asleep. It was easy to make her way to the road outside the village, she'd been able to memorize it with how often they ended up going that way lately.
"Hey," Mira was startled less by the sudden word than she was by the hands that picked her up and lifted her off the ground. She looked behind her to see her captor. It was Callum, and thankfully he didn't seem upset by the smile and raised eyebrow he was giving her. "where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"
They were on the edge of the village, with the landscape sprawling out in front of them. The woods were off to the side, where Callum had been training none-stop for days. Even from here, the massive stone was visible. Mira pointed to the stone that couldn't be less then two or three miles away. By the way Callum's expression changed from gentle to a look she didn't have the word for, he definitely saw it, but the look worried her. He didn't look happy. What if Callum just carried her home and told her not to go out by herself again? For some reason, an anxious feeling bubbled in her stomach. Mira remembered yelling from her father; just the anger and loudness, but not his face or the name he screamed. The little elf had had a name once, one given to her by her parents, but like them, it slipped away from her on that day and was gradually replaced with her new identity as Mira. Not that she really minded, she liked being Mira, now living in a peaceful village with lots of people who all loved her. She was only slightly bothered about how each day, she remembered less and less of her old home; she couldn't even recall their faces anymore.
Mira was relived when Callum didn't yell, and she happily noted that he never yelled. Instead, he set her down on her feet. "Lead the way, than." Mira smiled proudly, grabbed Callum's hand and if he hadn't been going so slow, she would have been running, now all the more eager to see the big stone. The strange thing was, the further she and Callum went, the less it mattered to her about her old life, but her hand grew tighter in his when she realized that, sooner or later, this might just be a fading memory, too. She didn't want to think about it.
Callum didn't know what to think of her eagerness. What would he say to her? It was such a dark stain on the history of both humans and dragons. Would Mira even be able to comprehend while still so small? Before long, they made it to a huge, looming figure, only slightly larger than the Dragon Queen, with the gruesome sights of large pieces broken off – part of an arm here, a wing there – trailing behind the stone creature. An outstretched claw reached out in the direction they'd come, toward the spire, and the structure was now becoming covered in moss in some places.
Thunderfall.
The structure was so tall, and Mira leaned back so far to be able to see it, she nearly fell over. Callum laughed to himself at her bumbling, and feeling less then dignified, Mira pouted and glared up at him as if to ask what was so funny. "Here, see if this helps." He told her, picking her up and placing her on his shoulders. Mira swayed a bit in this unfamiliar placement, Callum offering a small security by holding her by the ankles. Soon, she was able to steady herself by latching onto his head, despite his lack of horns to hold on to.
From her new vantage point, Mira was able to get a better look at this rather scary image, for the first time recognizing the shape as a massive dragon. She'd never even heard the story of King Avizandum before, and now she was faced with his remains.
"It's called Thunderfall." Callum explained, his eyes drawn to the spear in the late king's heart, his mother's spear. Callum remembered how, while telling him the horrible news, Harrow had gone out of his way to pretend he didn't blame anyone – not even the Dragon King himself – for what had happened Sarai, telling him that these things just happened sometimes. A few months before they'd met Rayla, he'd overheard Viren and his stepfather talking and realized that the man had lied to him; he hated the Dragon King, acting as though Sarai's death was somehow a calculated act of cruelty, for which the dragon deserved to pay. It had almost felt like a betrayal.
Now as a young adult, Callum was also able to look back and realize that this had attributed to the distance that had plagued his relationship with the only father he'd ever known. Callum still loved the man with his whole being, but in the end that relationship had taught him what not to do even more than what to do. He might not be Mira's father, nor would whoever she would eventually end up placed with be, – Huh. Why did that idea cause a spark of discomfort in him? – but that didn't mean she didn't need a father figure right now. This reflection seemed to warn Callum to choose his words carefully, though it wasn't a hard choice to make; being upfront about omitting some details was better than outright lying.
"I'm not sure if you're ready to hear the story just yet," Callum told her carefully, "all you need to know right now is that this is what comes from hatred. King Avizandum wasn't completely innocent, but he still didn't deserve this." Callum felt Mira bunching his hair up in her small fists, and her posture shift uneasily. "It's okay, Mira. The man who did this is gone. He can't hurt anyone anymore." Guilt and unease panged in Callum's heart as he continued to look between the spear and the outstretched claw. At that moment, he realized it; he didn't even know who he was talking about, King Harrow or Viren. Of course, Viren was the obvious culprit, having set the stage for the tragedy and then had been the one to insist on revenge when Harrow was content to leave the past in the past, despite his own feelings on the matter. But Harrow was the one who actually did the deed, the one with the blood on his hands, the one who allowed himself to be swayed by some well-chosen words to kill a fellow father, ensuring that he would never see his son at all. "And if something like this does happen again, we won't let anyone hurt you."
"There you two are." came Rayla's almost relieved-sounding voice as she came down the path to meet them. Her steps slowed, then stopped, as she looked mournfully up at the frozen remains of King Avizandum, ruler of the Xadia she'd grown up in. From what Rayla had told Callum and Ezran over the years, the Dragon King sounded like he and their father, under vastly different circumstances, could have gotten along famously as hey faced many of the same problems. Both in truth had the power to end the war once and for all at any time, but both were almost afraid to do it; afraid of being seen as weak by one another as well as their own people, and of whatever changes the end of the war would bring about. And so, they had willingly kept the cycle of revenge going, and it had ended in both of their deaths. Rayla broke her gaze away, turning back to Callum. "Callum, Queen Zubeia needs to see us at once."
There was quite the crowd in the queen's chambers, possibly about the same size as the crowd that she had been greeted with as she awoke to meet her son for the first time. Callum, flanked by Rayla and Ezran as he had been on that night, allowed his eyes to dart around to pick out familiar faces. Around him were the current Dragonguard, Ibis, Kaiya, Jinku, Braise, another Sunfire elf who had replaced Amer named Amical, and Malin and Lykis had returned from the Moon Nexus. Amaya, Gren, Corvis, Soren and Lain were also standing at attention, looking just as proud and focused as the Dragonguard. Other than that, Queen Janai, a trio of her most elite solders, Zephyr and Wendell were also present.
"I'm sure you all know why you are here." the Dragon Queen said. Wrapped safely in her tail were Zym and Kimaare, who were for once being quiet and still as they seemed to read the mood of the chambers; this wasn't the time for play. "We've known Aaravos is back for some time now." This statement was met with visible steeling from the elves and only the briefest flashes of conflict in the eyes of the humans, neither of which the queen minded. "He has been going around Xadia, siphoning magic to regain his mastery as an archmage, after having been stripped of it following his imprisonment. The final primal source, sky, will be something he can only acquire at the pinnacle of the Storm Spire, during a thunderstorm. Now that spring has arrived, such a storm could be any day now."
A murmur of alarm broke out among various pairs, which were quickly silenced. "Calm yourselves, all of you. Ibis has called his son, Wendell, who is a healer, here until the threat has passed. For now, Wendell will be staying with his sister in Novus, as will Azymondias and Kimaare. It is too dangerous to have them at the spire, and so they will be in Novus, out of harm's way, until further notice.
"Finally," the queen continued, "defenses around the spire will be increased. I have asked Lykis and Malin to return from their posts at the Moon Nexus, and Queen Janai of the Sunfire elves has offered her assistance as well. We have reason to believe a former Dragonguard, Amer of the Sunfire elves, is in league with Aaravos. If this is true, then Amer is to be treated like any other enemy and given no mercy."
Amaya and Janai, standing close together, exchanged an unsure look; even now Janai couldn't really wrap her mind around that part. Honestly, the siblings had rarely gotten along even as children, which had made it easy for Janai to exile her brother and it probably wouldn't end her world to put him out of his misery, but it just didn't make sense. Amer had always been a coward in the face of something he couldn't haughtily turn his nose up at and taunt from the safety of his position, but she never imagined he could be either this malicious or just plain stupid. The queen took the general's hand, looking for some sort of reassurance.
Callum and the others had returned home, minus Ezran who had stayed behind to speak to Queen Zubeia in private. Callum could imagine this was about appointing a regent, something their father hadn't had the foresight to do for Ezran. Hopefully, nothing would happen to Queen Zubeia, but if it did, neither Zym nor Kimaare were anywhere near old enough to take on the responsibilities of rulership. A regent, someone to take up the throne and watch over the little ones as they grew, was sorely needed if the worst was in store.
Bait grumbled, pretending to be annoyed as the two frisky baby dragons seemed to have chosen him as the center of whatever game they were now playing. Rather than with Zephyr, Wendell would be taking Soren's old room for the time being, and the bigger house offered more room for Zym and Kimaare to run or fly around for a while.
The sun was beginning to set when Ezran finally got home. He barely broke stride as he joined the others for dinner and confirmed Callum's suspicions about the talk of a regent. Zephyr and Soren had also elected to stay for dinner, partly for Zephyr and Wendell to catch up, and partly to give an update on the baby, which was apparently needed after only a week if Soren was to be believed.
It was lucky they didn't own many fragile, breakable things, at least that they kept out in the open, because a young child plus two baby dragons, one a sky dragon, meant that after dinner there were many hyper feet going from room to room. At least Mira was able to be swooped up by Rayla when she was getting too rowdy.
"I have an idea." she stated, partly to the girl and partly to Callum. "How about Callum shows you some of his drawings? He's an artist, you know." This seemed to do its job of calming Mira down. Well, she was still clearly hyper, but at least she wasn't running around anymore as she followed Callum upstairs to her and Rayla's room. In the meantime, Rayla and Wendell set to work chasing the two dragon-shaped balls of boundless energy around downstairs. Callum left for a moment and came back with the sketchbook she's seen him meticulously drawing in many times before. They sat together on her bed.
Mira was amazed by the life-like drawings. She'd never seen anything like it, she'd never thought to take a peek at the book. Some were of people she didn't know, but she recognized some of the faces; Callum himself, Rayla, Ezran, Amaya, Soren. Than there was a human couple that showed up every so often, strangely often with Callum and Ezran present, the man looking like an older Ezran, dressed in fine robs and wearing an unfamiliar crown, and the woman looking like a softer version of Amaya and wearing a smaller crown. She was very pretty, Mira thought. Every so often, there were notes about magic, runes and things like that. In more recent pages, Mira saw herself, playing with those sticky little fuzzballs from the forest, pouting, playing with Kimaare, sleeping in Rayla's arms.
When Callum turned the next page, it was blank. Mira tilted her head in confusion until Callum offered her the little charcoal pencil that came with the book. "Do you want to try?"
Like so many things, Mira couldn't remember the last picture she'd drawn, but she took the pencil. There was no way she could do anything as beautiful as any of Callum's drawings, it almost felt like anything she could scribble down would just be wasting a page, but it was obviously something he cared about and wanted to see. She couldn't let him down, and she'd also gotten better with pencils since she started her work with Amaya.
Callum smiled as he watched her go to work. The smile only grew when he tried to sneak a peek at her drawing, and she pulled the book away and hunched over it so he couldn't see. Callum laughed. For someone who had been so timid about taking the pencil, she sure all of a sudden cared about her drawing.
"Hey, guys." Callum looked up to see Rayla standing in the doorway. Mira was still focusing on her drawing. "It's time for little ones do be tucked in."
Callum was surprised, but looking out the window, the sun was already nearly gone. He guessed it was still early in the season, but the acknowledgement of the time seemed to trigger an immediate reaction, with Mira now yawning and rubbing her eyes.
The drawing was over soon after, and she handed the book off to Callum, not pausing in her movements to crawl under her covers and pull her shadowpaw to her. Callum and Rayla's hearts warmed as they looked at the drawing.
It was the three of them. Just crude little stick figures, but by the scarf on one of the two bigger figures and the horns on the other, and the smaller figure between them, also with horns and a little scribble that might have been the stuffed animal in hand, they were easily recognizable. The three of them were incased together in a circle. Callum and Rayla smiled and looked over to the now sleeping child. The two stood up, Callum gently collecting his book and pencil and Rayla slowly walking to the head of the bed and kneeling down. A swell of love overwhelmed Callum, and he smiled when he watched Rayla kiss Mira on the forehead. Something about this picture was just unspeakably beautiful to him. Her smile grew and she pulled her stuffed toy closer to her.
When Callum and Rayla started to leave, Soren was in the doorway. Callum was about to tell him not to start saying things, but then he saw the older man's face. It was much more tender than teasing, and he was looking from the two of them to the little girl sleeping in the bed. The glimmer in his eyes said it plainly; he couldn't wait to be able to have moments like that with Zephyr and their own son or daughter. Suddenly, Soren's smile fell, and his eyes lost their glimmer. He looked at Callum and Rayla with determination.
"I'll be better than him, I swear." came Soren's soft words; they were right outside the room of a sleeping child, after all. "I'll be a better father than he could ever dream of being."
Callum and Rayla looked at each other with pity, silently slipped out of the room and closed the door so gently, there was no sound made to disturb the sleeping occupant. No sooner was Rayla's hand off the doorknob than she and Callum were each swept up in an arm and lifted off of the floor is a constricting hug. This didn't happen to her nearly as often as it did to Callum as Soren knew very well that she disliked the chokeholds he called hugs, but one look at the intense face that held so many raw emotions at once – anger, love, resolve, desperation – and she found herself allowing it, just this once.
Author's Notes: So, some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that the story is reaching its climax; we'll be done before we hit fifty chapters. That's also why we're getting all the sweet stuff (well, most of it) out of the way now. Kind of a bummer, huh? The good news is that we've seen our last filler chapter because I've got the last bunch drafted out already. Hopefully, I can stick the landing. Fair warning, though, heartbreak is afoot in the next chapter. Amical is French for 'friendly', in contrast to Amer. Review.