"Uh, don't we need her?", Callum asked Rayla, quietly, looking after the leaving Sirta.
"You do not", came a deep but friendly growl from the dragon on the right, "My name is Triton. I know you and the common tongue. Queen Raszagal does not ordinarily speak to tiny visitors herself, draconic or otherwise. You have been granted an exception. At this moment, she is recovering from a spell of sleep. Please give her another moment to collect herself. We had thought we were ready for you, but", the dragon snorted, a bit of blue fire lighting up the inside of his maw, "my craft appears to be too well honed."
Callum bowed and Rayla was quick to mimic him.
"Triton, Lord of the Sea. We met your Interpreter Anzha. She let us know about your moderate stance. I am very glad to see you here."
"Moderate!", the dragon seemed to chuckle, a loud, cascading growl escaping his open mouth. "An amusing interpretation of a stance against genocide!"
The word made both Callum and Rayla bristle and Callum was about to ask him more about it but the sky dragon lowed, opening her eyes.
"You may address the Queen of Dragons, now", Triton said.
"Your majesty. Thank you for receiving us", Callum said, bending even further than before.
A booming voice, much like her dead mate's, shook the cave.
"No. Thank you for returning purpose to my life", she carefully bent her head to rub her nose against the dragon whelp who was vanishingly tiny compared to her. Zym was beside himself with joy.
"After my mates' death and his abduction, I had no hope left in me, no motive for life. When Legate Runaan's message found me, I had resigned myself to dying. The fact that a ribbon was missing then kept me alive. I needed justice. But then this. Anzha told us about you. My dragon brothers and sisters did not. It's betrayal the likes of which I would quash with talons and thunder if I had the energy. Sol Regem almost succeeded in his violent coup; So when it failed I assume he resolved to lesser means..."
The queen scoffed, "Politics!"
The sky dragon shifted her position. It was then that Callum noticed how boney she was. It looked as though grief had very similar effects on humans, dragons and elves alike.
She then closed her eyes, and said, "Ironically, much politicking on my part is in order to restore a full grip on the world I abandoned."
"I understand that sort of grief well myself. I only very recently heard of… m-my brother Ezran's p-passing", Callum said, the effort of holding his composure evident in the whitening of his knuckles, "All I can do is ask your forgiveness, Majesty."
"You have it, and more. Is there anything you require?", Raszagal said, her eyes still closed.
"Now that Azymondias is where he belongs, we're hoping you'll help us prevent a war between Xadia and the Pentarchy."
"Prevent it?", Triton said sadly, "It is in full swing, as far as Xadia at large is concerned. The Auxilia is in the process of mustering more forces than ever."
"Can't we do anything to make them reconsider?"
"Triton and I may plead with them. That's quite it", Raszagal said, huffing, "Even a human returning the Prince could not be expe-"
Triton and her stared at Azymondias who seemed to squawk in a somewhat ordered fashion.
Silence replaced his noises and the dragons exchanged looks. Callum thought they seemed vaguely confused.
"The prince has just informed us of his broken bond with… one Ezran", Trion said, full of sadness, "A human interpreting for a dragon? My, my. I preach coexistence and few listen. This would have halted much discussion."
Raszagal tilted her head to look at Callum, intensely. "I know this might seem a little crass, coming from me, but you have my condolences for your brother's untimely passing. Do you know how it happened?"
Rayla stepped forward. "My Queen, I'm hopin' you'll let me speak for the… king… about this."
Callum shot her a thankful look, quietly adding, "I would prefer this as well, Majesty"
"I appreciate his trouble with the subject, so you may speak for him."
Taking a deep breath, Rayla fought her renewing grief and roaring anxiety, "King Ezran w-was murdered, Excellence. Killed by the h-human mage who took your m-mate from us. He admitted to doin' it. He also used his ashes to attack the border. All that we k-now from a letter we g-got three days ago, s-sent by the Queen of Duren. I s-still have it."
"Well, it appears to me that we now have even more motivation to cooperate", the Queen said grimly, "I've heard the reports about the slaughter at the Breach through Senator Rasha, the chief interpreter for Sol Regem. A terrible affront to my mate's memory. However, I will admit I am gleeful at the my would-be killer's frustration. Two armies, refusing to kill each other. A debacle for one as conceited and warlike as he", the Queen laughed gruffly.
"So you knew that they were not fighting?", Callum asked, confused.
"Of course. I apologise for being selfish, Excellence, I was not willing to allow true peace unless I was sent another red ribbon to pay for Azymondias' blood. Once I knew that he was alive and returning in your hands, I started working to repair my rage-fuelled mistakes. It won't be easy to convince the Assembly to consider peace. Speaking of hard fought battles. Sicarius?", the Queen's massive head swiveled to face Rayla.
"Yes, Excellence?"
"I know Anzha breached this with you. Your court martial. Do you wish to stand trial or shall we… whisk you away, across the Breach? I know self-exile in a hostile land might seem just as appealing as a prison sentence, but you have the choice. Either way, you have my support"
"Why does she have to stand at all? Would his return not clear her?", Callum argued, shoving a hand in Zym's direction.
"As I said, she has my eternal gratitude. However, I cannot forgive a wrong that was committed against someone else, namely the Auxilia. This soldier swore an oath to follow orders and violated it to follow her conscience. I thank her deeply for doing it - but it would set a terrible precedent for me to forcefully allow her to skip due process. The covenant between dragons and elves is built on rules we must follow, lest we risk the Republic's collapse. For all they've done, my brethren have omitted information, not broken any laws. Their actions are personally hurtful and unethical but not exactly illegal."
Callum looked at his girlfriend and she looked back, an expression of worry etched into her features.
After a moment of scanning each other's faces, she turned to the queen.
"I'll stand."
The queen seemed surprised. "You would risk it? In this climate?"
"I need to clear my name. I want to see home again, Excellence, without havin' to worry about people comin' after me. I don't want to live with this brand mark."
"Very well. I will have you arrested once you are ready to go."
"I'll go with her", Callum said, brashly.
The dragons now seemed positively dumbstruck.
"That would be extraordinarily foolish, Excellence! The mood is extremely hostile to humans and while your support might lend her credence with some Arbiters, your life would very much be at stake in the capital. Would you not rather return home to assume your vacant throne? She is a Xadian soldier, let Xadia take care of her", Triton said.
A small smile spread on Callum's face. "It seems your interpreter omitted an important detail about us."
Confidently, he stepped next to Rayla, who gave him a worried look, then stiffened and flushed as he leaned in to kiss her, passionately.
"Ahh!", she went, "Callum! Really?! You could've just told 'em!"
Triton exploded with guttural laughter as the Dragon Queen looked on with an obvious expression of incredulity.
"Next to her is where I'll stand or fall", Callum's gaze was pinned to her violet eyes. "I've nothing to go home to, otherwise."
A moment of silence followed, only interrupted by Triton's halting laughter as he wrestled for air.
"Well, it's not hard for me to imagine your feelings", Raszagal said, eventually, "Love appears to be another universal, just as grief. Fine then, I will have you dress as the foreign dignitary you are and send you along with her to Tir- to Vel-", she exhaled noisily, giving the expression of a groan or sigh, "Curses, Rayla, which do you prefer?"
"Uh… Veltis-Tiram, Excellency?"
"So it is. Sirta and her honor guard will be with you, to warrant your safe passage. It's time I made myself heard again amongst these traitors, and this appears to be a good opportunity."
For a moment, it seemed like this was the end of their conversation, but then Callum spoke up.
"Triton, you spoke of Genocide?"
The dragon faced him. "The orders given by the hardliners in the general staff are such. It's untenable. Erase any human thing, they write. It's a trick of language, but a lazy one."
Rayla and Callum exchanged terrified glances, then the crown prince breathed, "You're saying the Xadian army is going to kill every single human?!"
"It is the last I've heard. Maybe things have changed. Amusingly, had the orders been less drastic, we might actually see fighting at the border. From what I gathered from Anzha, the Legates there are rather uncomfortable with their instructions."
"Understandable given that they are elves, not dragons", Queen Raszagal added, "This order carries the mark of our brethren, Triton. They equated my mate to a deity when he lived. Seeing him struck down was quite the shock to them, as well. I loved him, but he was no god. They now worry that if humans are capable of destroying him, they will eventually wipe us all out. Be that for reasons of dark magic or simply fear of forces they neither understand nor control. It's the issue that Sol Regem is basing his current political power on and a worry I share, to a degree."
"What can we do to show you our good faith?", Callum asked, then coughed for a moment, "I'm sorry, I am recovering from sickness."
"Oh, likewise. As to your point, you will need to find the man who did the deed, the dark mage Viren. We can establish him as a perpetrator of crimes in both our federations easily. Give him to Xadian justice. That would be a long-term measure to assure the dragons of your earnestness. Obviously, dark magic itself is problematic, but most of us understand how impossible it would be for you to simply nix its use with no replacement."
Callum lifted his finger and drew Aspiro. "I think we might have a solution here."
"Oh, a very good point. Anzha did not omit this aspect of your meeting but it is nonetheless a pleasure to see your ability in perso- Lord Triton, please tell me you did not just inhale your own saliva."
The ocean dragon made a gurgling noise, then his head snapped from side to side until a rasping breath escaped his maw.
"- I did, Exc-ellence, apolog-ies! O-h the raw excit-ement!"
An uncontrollable smirk spread across Rayla's face.
Then, Raszagal continued, "In the short term, we need to force them to withdraw their support for war. On this, I don't think we'll be able to pull all the dragons to our side either way. There is simply no convincing Sol Regem - who wishes me dead - and I have my doubts about Queen Selendis and King Zeratul, the arch dragons of the moon."
The Queen directed her attention to Zym, nuzzling him as he brushed up against her massive head.
"However, in my view, it's possible to break their majority, now that I have motive to return to the political stage. Currently, our side consists of Triton, his Queen Galene and myself. I still need to convince my own fraction of delegates, obviously they are still furious about my mate's murder. Our natural opponents are the three aforementioned royals. They currently have the support of the arch dragons of earth, Queen Gaia and Lord Karmanor. If we can convince the latter as well as the sky, earth and ocean fractions to change their minds, their majority will be broken."
"Thank you for your support", Callum said. To Rayla it sounded like he was relieved but close to tears.
"Make no mistake, King Callum. I'm still of the opinion that humans are dangerous. Your people killed my mate. Your people stole my son. But, I cannot ignore that you returned him with a message of reconciliation while my own inner circle conspired against me, I assume on Sol Regem's behest. He's waiting for me to die, to take my throne since he was too weak to take it from me in fair combat!"
Raszagal huffed for emphasis, then continued, "In the meantime they were not willing to even consider making peace. So cowardly are they that they would chose the convenience of destroying an entire people over argument and reason. You've shown tremendous good faith, living through what I expect to have been a less than pleasant journey from the border. So thank you. Thank you for returning the light of my life, whole and healthy. Thank you for giving me a reason to live and to seek peace."
Callum bowed and Rayla once more imitated him.
"You may go", Raszagal said, "I'll have Sirta prepare an entourage for our next difficult task."
She looked them over, growling with a bit of dismay, "And garments, fit to impress"