Chapter 2: Living Two Lives

Lana belongs to her owner: AdmiralCole22

After the conversation with Chief Benja, Tarloc walked towards the centerpiece of Heart. He let his magic wash over himself as he entered the complex, the community's peaceful trading and personal relations gave a lot of positive emotions, meaning his magic filled him with a good feeling. Ah yes, that was another one of his magic's qualities. Oftentimes, when he was actively sensing emotions, other people's emotions could influence his own personality. Thankfully, Heart was always a positive influence, except today apparently.

"Get out of here! My products are for people who deserve them! Not a thief!" a feminine voice yelled. Another voice yelled back, a male this time, but he couldn't decipher what he said because he was overwhelmed with the two sources of animosity. Humans always seemed more inclined towards hostility rather than cooperation and peace. He walked over, hoping he could resolve the issue.

"Just because my tribe did something horrible over a decade ago does not make me a thief!" A male yelled at a female shopkeeper. The man was tall, thin, and had a beard. His blue eyes stared into the woman's gray eyes. She was normal looking, average height, but her azure ear piercings were the most striking pieces. On the table lay an assortment of earrings and bracelets, all made, it seemed, by hand. That's not to say it was low quality. He was actually impressed by the woman's handiwork, but compliments aside, clearly they were not going to talk things out like rational people.

"Pardon me, what appears to be the issue here?" Tarloc asked the two after excusing his way through the small crowd of people that had gathered, and been disturbed by, the argument. The two arguers looked over, assuming that Tarloc had been a human and was trying to break them up. Their aggressive looks quickly dampened though, as they held up the usual hand sign of respect.

"There is no problem, Divine Dragon. Only that this shopkeeper is refusing me a purchase that was promised to me!" the man yelled in the direction of the shopkeeper.

"Don't lie! Your request was delivered by a man from Heart! How do I know that you aren't trying to steal the product from an honest and good spirited customer! I need verification!'' The obvious hostility was nearly overloading Tarloc's senses. A burning fire in his heart surged through his veins. His jaw tensed and his teeth ground together. He tried to fight the overwhelming surge of anger, but his split personality absorbed this extreme emotion, shifting. The two arguing humans stopped at the sound of a low growl emanating from his throat.

"Stop this meaningless quarrel ... .NOW.", he growled in a dangerous calm. His horn glowed an ominous blue, different from the warm and welcoming hue that he had used on Benja. His anger froze the two humans in place, and he searched deep into the man's emotions. Between the fear from being at the receiving end of a dragon's anger, there was a large amount of indignation from him. He clearly knew that this was his order, and he was furious. He turned to the shopkeeper to confirm his suspicions, and yes, the shopkeeper's indignation and fury were baseless in who he was, they based themselves on what tribe they came from. Generalist emotions were a lot less sharp than emotions targeted at specific people.

"He is the right one. Give him what he paid for." Tarloc's voice was so icy and cold, that the shopkeeper slid the desired item over to the edge of the wooden table. The man very slowly grabbed it, keeping both eyes on Tarloc's bared teeth. He slipped said item, which was a beautiful bracelet embedded with emeralds in the shape of a dragon. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the man turned out of sight. He then refocused on the shopkeeper.

"Do not discriminate based on a person's background. You agreed to the deal. Follow through. Dishonesty is detestable." Tarloc gave one last growl of intimidation, before leaving with a flick of his tail. The crowd parted easily, but they made an active effort to avoid him, not wanting to interact with a recently angered dragon.

"Well that went well…not…" He muttered to himself. Emotions only last for a scientific total of 90 seconds for humans, but dragons had a wider kaleidoscope of emotional reactions, able to change emotions quicker and more fluently. Instead, it was every 15 seconds that their emotions reset. Without the open hostility, and surrounded by more mundane emotions of the Heart center, his personality shifted. He thought to himself, "What the hell was that? Nice going idiot…". He felt a brief moment of panic, as he usually did when other people's emotions controlled him. He had to take a moment, breathing in and out in a rhythm.

"Hey…Mr Dragon?" a voice came from below his face. He looked, and a little girl came walking out of the bustling streets from the small circle around him.

"Hel…hello there." Tarloc was actually relieved. His horn glowed, letting himself be filled from this little girl's happiness and awe at himself. He giggled as it only increased as the girl saw his horn glow.

"Cool glowy horn!" the girl said. She couldn't be older than 6, yet she walked up to him with no apprehension. She hugged his leg and said, "So fluffy!".

Tarloc snickered. After what he had gone through a few minutes previously, this was just what the doctor ordered. He then heard someone calling for someone else. There was motherly concern in their voice.

"Kinja! Kinja! Where are you?" the feminine voice shouted.

"Well, little one, I think your mother is calling for you…" Tarloc said to the girl, Kinja, and she looked up.

"Ok. Thanks, Mr. Dragon!" the girl said, then wandered back towards the voice. Soon enough, he saw her reunite with her mom, and he saw her point to Tarloc. The mother saw him, and he gave a polite wave of his hand. She bowed down in response as the girl, who was hoisted on her shoulder, gave a wave. Tarloc smiled as the woman left with Kinja. He continued walking. Soon, he came to a restaurant. The store owners were happy to give him a meal free of charge. A pork meal, supersized of course since he was a dragon. He thanked the owners and said their food was great, which they were very thankful for. He then saw with some humor that they put up a sign over their pork option saying "Dragon Approved". He figured he'd let the humans have that sign. It was a good meal.

Suddenly, people started running towards the docks. Some event seemed to be taking place. Tarloc thought it might be interesting to follow. He saw a large boat make its way slowly to the docks. He recognized a few of the dragons that helped pull it into the docks. The currents had become a bit choppy, so he thought they might have just called in a bit of help at first, until he saw exactly who had been helping. Praneedatu and Jagandatu. His mouth admittedly opened in shock that the boat, despite its size, coincidentally had 2 of the most famous dragons to help pull it into shore.

"Hey! Tarloc!" a voice said, and Tarloc recognized this voice. Lana was a human mercenary from Fang that he had met around the same time that he had met Pengu for the first time, "What a coincidence I would find you here!". She seemed especially happy about something, and Tarloc would quickly find out why. Chieftess Virana herself was walking out of the boat, and Princess Namaari was right behind her. Such an important visitor, no wonder the entire crowd was talking amongst themselves. Jagan and Pranee flanked the 2 members of Fang Royalty, and proceeded towards the palace of Heart. Tarloc followed, and Lana was right next to him.

"What is going on?" Tarloc was keeping his magic off, knowing that the heightened emotions were dangerous for his split personality.

"You will find out soon enoouughhh." Lana teased. Tarloc rolled his eyes good naturedly as the procession reached the palace. The guards gave a bow of respect to the dragons and let the procession pass, knowing it must be important if it was flanked by 3 dragons.

Chief Benja looked pleasantly surprised by Virana and Namaari's appearance. Virana had aged over the years. Her youth was no longer as apparent as it once was, and her face showed it. Her skin was a bit more rough and wrinkled. Namaari, on the other hand, looked like a warrior in her prime. Much like Raya, she had grown taller and her muscles, while still lean, were larger. They both wore formal attire, which Tarloc noted Namaari looked distinctly uncomfortable in.

"Greetings, Chief Benja, it has been a while since we last met face to face." Virana gave a respectful nod of her head to the Chief of Heart.

"All in good will, Chief Virana. I am pleasantly surprised. Had I known you were coming, I would have had a meal prepared."

"Your surprise is justified. I personally wasn't aware we would be here either when I woke this morning. I intended to go to Talon, but a storm was forecast by the people and I didn't want to waste my preparations, so I decided to come to the next place on my list," Virana responded.

"Very well. What is it you came to do on this fine day?" Benja responded.

"I am so proud to inform you that in four weeks' time, my daughter, Princess Namaari will be taking my place as Chieftess of Fang."

The silence that followed that monumental statement was so unbearably silent, that Tarloc could swear he heard the clanking of plates from a few rooms over. After attuning to the smallest of sounds, Chief Benja's clap seemed like a clap of thunder. Slowly, Benja started to applaud Namaari, who flushed in embarrassment and looked away. Suddenly, the doors to the room slammed open. Raya came in with Sisu, and she looked like she had some words to say with her dad, but froze at the sight of Namaari, and vice versa. They then ran at each other, and the old friends embraced.

"Namaari," Raya said. She had most likely not seen Namaari for a long time. They had both been occupied with getting the nuances of their tribes ingrained in their mind, so there wasn't really time for any of them to meet up again.

"Raya. I'm so glad you're here. So what's going on, 'Dragon Nerd'?" Namaari said playfully with a noticeable glance at Sisu, who was of course smiling from seeing the two friends reunite.

"Not much, 'Princess Undercut'," Raya said in the same joking manner.

"Well, that nickname isn't gonna stick for much longer, Raya." Namaari laughed as they pulled away from each other.

Raya, though initially confused by that statement, eventually realized what she was implying, and considering the huge change that she was currently undergoing, there was quite a bit of irony where that was involved.

"Let me guess, you are being made Chieftess, too?" Raya asked.

Namaari smiled, "Yes! I have been waiting my whole life for…wait, you mean to tell me that YOU are being made chieftess as well?" Namaari only realized the entirety of what Raya had said halfway through speaking.

Raya laughed. "Yeah, in just a few weeks, I am being made Chieftess Raya of Heart," she said her title in a mock, posh voice that made Benja chuckle a little bit.

Namaari was interested. "Same as me. Cheiftess Namaari of Fang. I bet you will be all up in making sure every fact about dragons is known in the curriculum of schools." Virana tensed as she heard that phrase. Though Raya knew it was not an insult, Virana saw it slightly differently. A wave of stress flowed over her, which Tarloc could sense passively.

"Namaari! Do not insult a future Chieftess, especially from a tribe which we have a rocky history with." Ah, now that made sense. Virana didn't want her daughter to come off as immature or impulsive and wanted her daughter to be at her best for their tribe. After the whole Druun issue had come to an end, there were many cries from the tribes to have Namaari put on trial for stealing the gem and killing Sisu.

However, Virana had then publicly claimed to take responsibility for her daughter's actions. She admitted that it was only on her orders that Namaari had befriended Raya to steal the gem and took the crossbow to capture Sisu and the gem pieces for Fang. It was at this point in making said speech that the dragons had sent Sisu and her family to calm the situation. Sisu had made quite an imprint on the people by saying that she, who had every right to have been more angry at Namaari and her mother than anyone, forgave them for everything. The cries for them to pay for their crimes had died out, and the matter had been resolved, give or take a few lingering traces of anti-Fang sentiment. Virana had taken them all for her daughter, and Tarloc could do nothing but admire her for taking all that hatred for the sake of her daughter and tribe's future.

"Yes mother, my mistake." Namaari responded, bowing her head.

"Now, Virana, it is quite alright. They are friends, and no harm was intended," Benja said. The mood seemed to calm a little bit.

"Yes, well, I would like to thank you for greeting us so cordially. I think we shall stay for dinner. Do you have somewhere we might stay until then?"

"Of course. Raya will show you to your rooms. I will alert my chefs to start making a feast for us all. Let all of Kumandra rejoice in the rise of two new Chieftesses," Benja proclaimed.

Virana nodded in thanks. Then, she and Namaari followed Raya out of sight, and Tarloc was sure that he could see a mischievous glint in Raya and Namaari's eyes. He chuckled. This place was simply incredible. He then recoiled so much, he nearly fell over. A strange scent assaulted his nostrils. It felt…odd. It was emotion, and yet, not? It seemed to have come on a draft, it was so very wrong. He reached out with his senses, and yet, he couldn't find the source. That was indeed very concerning. No scent or emotion was this brief, neither did they come from literally nowhere. He did know one thing, both personalities were not liking it whatsoever. It didn't fuel any of his personalities.

"Tarloc, you okay?" he heard a voice ask. He then realized that he was on the floor…odd. He didn't remember falling over, nor having made any conscious effort to fall over. Had he blacked out? No…he remembered everything clearly. He had simply blinked, started to use his magic, and had apparently fallen over. He blinked a few more times to clear his vision. Lana was standing over him, and Sisu had a paw on his forehead, apparently feeling for any sort of fever or affliction.

"Yeah…" Ugh, was that his voice? It sounded dry as fallen leaves. He cleared his throat a few times, both to reaffirm what was happening and to get his voice back to normal. "Yeah, Lana, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."

Sisu looked quite concerned. "Buddy, your forehead wasn't hot, it was completely cold. Like, stone cold. I don't know of any diseases that can do that to a dragon."

Lana spoke up. "I saw him recoil and try to use his magic before he fell over. Maybe he was disoriented when he tried to use his magic, and that was the result?"

Pranee decided to add her opinion. "His ability IS rather anomalous…no offense intended, Tarloc."

"None taken."

"So what I think happened was that your ability must have been triggered by something. Your ability works passively from what I understand, so you must have sensed something strange. You then tried to enhance it to see what it was, and the resulting feeling caused you to fall," Pranee theorized.

In all honesty, Tarloc thought that was a pretty solid theory. It certainly would explain a lot of things, but it didn't explain why he could sense it with his magic. It wasn't a pure emotion. His magic explicitly targeted emotions, nothing else. At least, that was what everyone, including himself, understood about his power.

He was then distracted by the clashing of blades, but there was no hostility coming from where he was hearing them. Curious, he, Sisu, and Lana walked over to a small open section. Namaari had changed out of her formal attire and was now clashing blades with Raya. Her dual blades moved with all the ferocity of a dragon, but Raya's whip sword flowed just like the tides of the mightiest river.

"I'm assuming this is a sparring match and not an actual fight to the death?" Tarloc asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," Raya said as she locked blades with Namaari's pincer movement. This brief distraction gave Namaari an opportunity to shift her stance so that Raya's force was swung off to the side, doing a full twist, Raya was sent to the right as Namaari came at her stumbling opponent's back. Raya twisted in the air, curling up for a roll which she used to her advantage. Planting her feet as she came out of the roll, she caught Namaari's attack as it came towards her. She caught it on the hilt of her sword, the blade an inch from her hand. The defense had also apparently been the finishing move, as the blade rested to Namaari's chest, and Raya had the hand on the button that would jettison it to its whip form. Every advantage belonged to Raya here, and Namaari dropped her swords in surrender.

"Alright, dep la. You win this round," Namaari conceded.

"Yes! I win!" Raya said, apparently gleeful at her win.

"Dare I ask what you two were fighting over?" Sisu asked innocently.

"We were fighting over who gets to sit on your right side at dinner tonight," Namaari explained.

Sisu looked incredibly confused at this. To be frank, Tarloc was, too, though he could detect an undercurrent of humor in their sentences. "I have two sides, remember? You can sit on either one of them."

Raya seemed to find this incredibly funny, and all of her mirth was causing Tarloc to be quite giddy himself, randomly chuckling to himself. "Remember what happened last time you ate over? And the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that..." Raya trailed off, and Tarloc realized that Sisu was distinctly embarrassed about something.

"Sisu, what exactly are they talking about?" Tarloc asked, much like a child having discovered a secret stash of cookies, giddy with excitement.

"Umm, it's nothing! Nothing really!" Sisu was clearly trying to hide something.

"Alllriiggghtt…." Tarloc trailed off, dropping the issue, for all of 5 seconds before immediately turning to Raya and asking the same question to which Sisu made a funny noise so hilarious that Tarloc burst out laughing. It was sort of a "Marreeep!".

After calming down from the noise, Raya answered, still chuckling, "Sisu cannot resist this soup we always make, and every time she tries it, she asks for more, and more, until she faints over, crashing down on the person next to her. And it is always on the left side. So Namaari here is gonna be crushed by Sisu Soup-Snorter over here." Sisu was turning a bit red as Tarloc chuckled.

"Ah, so Raya, may I sit on your right side then? I have something to discuss with you tonight," Tarloc asked, trying to shake the giddiness off of himself, not fully succeeding, but well enough to ask.

"Sure. I am sure that the chefs are hard at work already."

A few hours later, the chefs had indeed created a truly massive feast for the visiting dignitaries and the dragons. Tarloc chuckled as the soup was passed out, and Sisu eyed it obviously. Raya chuckled as Chief Benja raised to give a small speech before the feast could commence.

"I would like to say a few words before we dine tonight. Before our wondrous dragons, who grace us by sitting here at our table alongside us, I would like to raise a toast to the future Chieftesses of their tribes, Namaari of Fang and Raya of Heart." The dragons each gave a nice bit of applause, and even Sisu looked up from her bowl of soup to applaud her best friends. "Now, I would also say this. Though they both come from different regions, different peoples, and different tribes, nobody could say that they aren't the very best of friends. These two princesses are not just the future of their tribes, but of all of Kumandra. With them, I find hope that we can reunite as Kumandra once more. I raise this toast for Kumandra, and hope that they will live to see our peoples unite as one. To Kumandra!"

"To Kumandra!" The dragons even joined in and raised special ceremonial goblets that did not hold alcohol or any special drink, merely to join in on the toast. Of course Sisu was focusing on the soup in front of her, and when she figured it out, she missed the goblet and held up a..piece of bread.

The table had a nice good laugh at that and started to eat. Sisu obviously started to consume the soup at a very fast pace. Tarloc laughed and took a bit of pork and started to eat. Raya was glancing over at Namaari, who looked ever more nervous as Sisu continued to eat more and more. Raya laughed at her expression and turned to Tarloc.

"You said you wanted to speak with me?" Raya asked Tarloc curiously.

"Yes, and it is about something I think may affect me negatively. Have you noticed anything new? Anything wrong? Something that shouldn't belong?" Tarloc asked.

"Is this a test from my dad or is this something legitimate?" Raya asked cautiously.

Tarloc shook his head. "No, it is not from your father. If it was, it would have come from him personally."

Raya shook her head after a moment of thought. "No, I do not believe so. Is it something related to dragons?"

Tarloc did not respond for a second, chewing on a piece of steak in thought. He felt it crumble under his jaws, the taste of it, the texture of the char, all making him focus. "Not yet, I don't think. There was a very odd scent. Just after you left, my magic caught some sort of foreign presence. It felt like an emotion, yet it was grounded in a physical object. I know you might not know of something like this, but it was worth it in my eyes to check with you."

Raya's conflict showed in her eyes. "No, I am sorry, Tarloc. I don't know anything about it. I am sorry that I can't do more."

"Raya, don't say that. You ran around the continent for 6 years trying to bring Sisu back. You deserve a rest. You've done enough. Let someone else worry about it." He gently patted her on the head, which calmed her down a bit. She didn't like being clueless, but she did know that this was something far beyond her ken.

As the feast went on, Sisu began wobbling in her seat, and Namaari began constantly looking back and forth between her own meal and Sisu so much that she inevitably missed her mouth with her food and smudged her cheek, which Raya found quite amusing.

"Alright, I think everyone has had enough for tonight," Benja said as the Dragons were finishing up. "Thank you all for com-"

He was interrupted as a loud crash signified exactly what Raya had predicted. Sisu was laying off to her left side, unconscious with Namaari trapped under her head. Raya got a good deal of humor out of this, and Namaari begrudgingly found it kind of funny, as well. As they were tidying up, Virana asked that they not leave just yet.

"While I did inform you that I came here because of Talon's unfortunate situation, there is a matter of much more importance that decreed that we travel here instead of another Tribe." she said after the chef's had cleared the table. The dragons felt obligated to stay, out of politeness.

"Really? I thought nothing meant more to you than your daughter's announcement to become the next Chieftess of Fang," Benja said, confused but willing to accommodate her.

Virana continued, now looking rather grave, "A few weeks ago, a man was stabbed in his own home. He is alive, for those who are wondering."

A collective sigh of relief was given, as they were all thankful that Virana wasn't about to tell them about a murder story. But then Tarloc felt it again….that sensation. It penetrated his mind, and felt so wrong... He forcibly stopped his magic from detecting it, but it was very hard to do. He couldn't do this all the time, but if he was in a crowded room, he would concentrate on not feeling emotions. He was so busy focusing, he was confused when everyone was looking at him.

"Tarloc, this is the second time you have reacted to something unknown tonight," Lana observed.

"I know, but I cannot place where it is coming from." Tarloc sighed.

Virana looked incredibly upset for some reason, "I believe that Tarloc might be reacting to the object of tonight's discussion. My guards are bringing in said person that I spoke of a few moments ago."

Tarloc was confused. First of all, Virana had brought a recently attacked man with her to Heart, and she expected he, of all dragons, might know something about it? He expanded his senses, like standing so still, you can feel the air in your hair. He felt 4 people marching in formation, their firmness and loyalty tinged the air like the scent of coming rain. Yet, despite this, he heard 5 pairs of footsteps. Was someone tapping their foot?

It ended up not being what Tarloc had been expecting, in a way that definitely creeped him were, indeed, five people that came in. Four walked in a square formation, each bearing the mark that designated them as warriors and guards of Fang. In the middle was a man, well into his fifties. He had a receding hairline, and his brown hair had started turning gray with age. But the most disturbing thing in his physical appearance was his eyes. They looked…dead. They still looked around the room, taking in everything, but there was no excitement. No twinkle behind his eyes, no excited gazing back and forth, not even a widening of awe at so many dragons gathered together under one roof.

"Chieftess Virana, if I may ask, why do I need to be here?" the man asked. Benja looked concerned. The man spoke as if talking to an equal. He showed no respect, but no derision. He was talking, and that was it. There was no heart in his voice.

Tarloc on the other hand was confused, because this man…was nearly invisible. Not to his physical eyes, of course. He was quite easy to see. However, when he reached out with his senses to try to figure out why he had only been able to sense four, he was stunned when his senses picked up absolutely nothing from the man. Sure, he had encountered mental shields that concealed emotions before, but those often required stress and concentration. The man was at ease, speaking casually. He had never encountered something so absolute. It was like ramming your head against a metal plate. It was a nearly fruitless endeavor. The man also felt different than any other mental shield. Instead of feeling the prickly feeling of concealment and fear that said emotion would come out, this man felt like a hole, an empty void.

"Yes, Kuvo, it is quite necessary. You will be back at home before you know it," Virana responded to his inquiry. She then turned back to the rest of the gathered people at the table. "This man was injured in the incident I mentioned. We found him only a few minutes after it happened, and he was left with a knife in his abdomen. Ever since, he has been like this. We believe something supernatural might be the cause of it. I believe I know what that is."

Tarloc then froze as she slipped something onto the table, and that damned scent invaded his nostrils again, nearly overloading them. He forced his eyes to trace the object's form. It had a simple wood and leather grip, but the rest of the…knife as it appeared to be…was anything but. It was an ornate silver blade with a bit of dried blood on its tip. It clashed horribly with the beautiful amethysts inlaid every inch or so in the blade. It almost looked like a sacrificial dagger. The hilt had something in the middle, something that Tarloc could sense immediately. It was an emerald, somehow inlaid inside it was a perfectly spherical ruby. Tarloc's magic almost forced him to physically recoil, but his mind knew now what was causing it. He took a sniff, and desperately tried to identify what on Kumandra he was scenting, but he figured it out. This blade was built to hurt, it was built to harm, to annihilate.

It was the scent of pure, unfiltered violence.

I'm HERE! I'M ALIVE!

Honestly, motivation was lacking for this chapter. Filler is hard to do. Who the hell knew?

A/N: Originally this was going to be a sequel to AdmiralCole22's "No Greater Disaster", but after some discussion, they are more or less AU's of each other, holding the same characters, just under different circumstances and stories.

BTW, if you are going to send OC's in to potentially influence the story, Imma need an actual account or at least a Discord Username for me to converse with you, otherwise it isn't gonna happen.