Baul didn't know where things had gone so badly. He was too busy trying to keep Lia and Teddy from going too close to the two very angry female dragons going at it. In his defense, while he had known Melody was on an easy quest near the royal vacation villa, he hadn't expected her to bring the children with her.

Melody was being extra snarly towards Queen Maleficia, which confused Baul greatly. At least, until he began to notice something that had him kicking himself. She was being extra protective of her stomach, and he mentally calculated how long it had been since that last camping trip with Lilia and the others.

To be fair, if he had known she was pregnant he would have suggested that the Queen approach her outside of a quest. Having the children with her had only made Melody far more territorial, particularly with her condition.

Lia was extremely upset, seeing his mother fight seriously in front of him. It was stimulating him in all the worst ways, mostly out of a desire to protect his beloved mother.

Baul was already having a tough time keeping hold of the youngest child, as Lia had been spitting small bits of fire for the past twenty minutes since the fighting had ramped up.

He could feel the magic building up in Lia and Teddy, and there was very little he could do to soothe them because there was no way in hell either would consent to getting out of eyesight of their mother.

Seeing Melody slammed to the ground by the Queen, both children had enough. He was already wincing, because the way she landed would almost guarantee a broken arm at the very least. She had made a point to land on her side, rather than her stomach.

Lia had enough, and let out a loud cry of distress...before the familiar feeling of a Draconia undergoing their first shift came over him. Baul quickly went to adjust his hold again, but that only allowed Teddy to bolt towards the downed Melody.

You could imagine Baul's surprise when Teddy suddenly went to all fours...and shifted into a small wolf cub for extra speed. His shock gave Lia the opening he needed to shift as well, except his wings were too new for him to fly properly so Baul was able to catch him. A few quick strides allowed him to catch up to Teddy, and scoop the cub up.

Melody let out a pained hiss, then noticed the distress her children were under.

Maleficia's claw was on her throat before she could even attempt to get up, her growl making it clear she expected submission.

Melody only relented when Baul quickly delivered her two children to her. She wouldn't start another fight with them so close and in the line of fire.

Maleficia looked down...and her eyes widened in open confusion and shock at the sight of a small hatchling that was clearly of her bloodline in Baul's arms. Lia's presence in his newly awakened dragon form allowed the two females to cool off enough to shift back.

Melody did her best to hide the fact she had a clearly broken arm from her children.

Maleficia was not in a good mood, but was also very confused. She had come to confirm if Melody really was descended from her youngest brother...only to find a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to her dead daughter, with a child that was clearly the son of her former general and a dragon form that was a dead ringer for her beloved Meleanor.

It did not help that the young female had fought exactly as Meleanor did, right down to the lightning, and had the same scarring on her scales.

Baul just looked exhausted.

"General Baul, what is the meaning of this?" she demanded.

Baul looked to Melody for help. Melody rolled her eyes, but threw him a bone.

"Hello, mother," she said in the ancient tongue.

She easily pulled off a black headband Baul hadn't known she wore, revealing two very familiar black horns.

Maleficia looked like she had been slapped silly. It was almost hilarious, if not for the massive fight they just had. Lia was still trying to take comfort in his mother, as he had never seen her fight before and was completely high strung. Teddy was no better, but had shifted back at least.

This...was going to be one hell of an awkward reunion.

An hour later

Maleficia had a headache.

"You reincarnated twenty years ago and never thought to tell me?"

"It's not like a human could send a message to Castle Blackthorn, and I woke up in the other realm," said Melody. At least her arm wasn't hurting anymore.

Lia and Teddy had calmed down since they relocated and had assured themselves that their mother was fine. Lia was currently napping in his dragon form on his mother's lap. He was still upset over what had happened earlier and refused to leave her side.

"The council is going to need proof it's you," commented Maleficia. "Plus there's the matter of succession."

"There's no issue. Malleus takes over as planned," said Melody flatly. "Lia would be the back-up of course, and I would rather let Teddy decide what he wants to do with his life."

She suspected he might just move to Sunset Savanna, as he had become fast friends with the young prince Cheka. The two of them had become thick as thieves over the computer.

Melody knew why too. Cheka was the heir to an entire kingdom, which meant the odds of making friends who weren't after the power, influence or money he would inherit later were pretty low. Plenty of kids would cozy up to him, either out of greed or because their parents made them, but few would reach the status of 'trusted friend'.

Teddy did not care about any of that. All he cared about was the fact that Cheka was his age and was fun to play with. Sure, he was the heir to the Black family, but his first thought wouldn't be to better the family's name among royalty. He was more interested in making friends.

"As for proof..." said Melody. She got up and adjusted Lia so that he was wrapped around her neck like an odd scarf. She walked over to a nearby bookcase and pulled off a book. Closer inspection revealed what looked like a very dry tome on inspecting ancient grains and other food.

Maleficia had never read this particular tome, and it was likely this was the first time it had been touched outside of regular dusting.

So you could imagine her disbelief when Melody smirked and opened up the tome to reveal several hand-written pages in all too familiar writing.

Maleficia looked at the innocent seeming book in shock, recognizing her daughter's handwriting, and realized there were a few scales hidden in the pages, likely left there after molting while she was writing it.

Maleficia skimmed the contents, before she sighed in exasperation.

"How many?" she asked.

"How many what?" asked Baul confused.

"How many of these have you written?" she said to Melody with a Look.

"Lilia has possession of book three of fifteen," said Melody smugly. "I was in the process of writing sixteen when that fool Henrick showed up to challenge me."

Baul glanced at the book...and his face turned beet red. He had almost completely forgotten that Meleanor was a notorious, but discreet pervert. The book the queen had in her hands was a written journal of Melanor's more raunchy dreams for future reference.

Poor Lord Raverne had barely survived the Princess' heat the first time it happened, and would be bedridden from recovery for a week straight after they were mated.

Princess Melanor had to tone it down after several reprimands from her mother and the council. It was to some relief when she was relocated to Castle Wild Rose until an heir was born, because she was very public. She had fortunately become more broody than horny once she became pregnant, but it was still a trying time for her poor guards.

Come to think of it, Lilia had gotten the worst of that time.

Melody easily rattled off a list of titles and where they were located. Baul wrote them down.

If they were there, that would effectively prove Melody was in fact Meleanor, as she had never once stepped foot in Castle Blackthorn.

"Does Lilia know?" asked Melody.

"As far as the former general knows, you are the descendant of my younger brother," said Maleficia smirking.

"I very well might be," admitted Melody. "He did go missing in the other realm, and faeries were a bit more active there a few hundred years ago. It would explain why my eyes are the same shade of green despite being born to human parents."

For that matter, they never did find her uncle's body. It was possible he was hiding in another faerie's territory this entire time.

A few days later...

Melody had the most bemused expression on her face.

"So the queen ordered my rank to be bumped up to SS after our meeting?" she asked.

"I don't know how you pulled it off, but the Queen was rather firm about it," said the guild master.

Most adventurers barely received an A-rank during their lifetime. S, for the faeries.

SS was the highest rank one could receive, and meant that she had unrestricted access to the entirety of Briar Valley, including areas that required royal approval. It was basically a seal of approval from the Queen herself, which was nearly impossible to get as she never left the castle.

Melody was deeply amused, as she had managed to reach S-rank shortly before Lia's excursion to Night Raven.

It also made her the highest active member of the guild.

Ginny and Hermione were currently B-rank, but were swiftly about to reach A rank.

Plus side, this meant she could visit the vacation home with the children anytime she liked without having to deal with pesky permissions.

Cater had the great fortune to be present when Lilia got a message from Sebek's grandfather back in Briar Valley. Kalim was nattering on about something or another, and it was all background noise to Cater at this point.

So you could imagine both of their surprise when Lilia suddenly sputtered, almost choking on his drink when he read the text.

"What is it?" asked Kalim, concerned.

"Queen Maleficia has confirmed Melody is in fact related to her through her lost younger brother," said Lilia. "Which means she's technically Malleus' cousin, and that Liatris is royalty by default."

He was sure Melanor was laughing at him in the afterlife, falling for one of her cousins.

Baul sent another message, which had Lilia wincing slightly.

"Oh boy, what else?" asked Cater.

"The queen expects me to legitimize Liatris at the first available opportunity," said Lilia. Which he had planned to do anyway, but now it had a sense of major urgency.

"So you and Melody?" said Kalim. "Any idea where you're going to host it?"

"Well the official hand-fasting will be hosted in Briar Valley. The queen would have my head otherwise," said Lilia. "The honeymoon is up in the air. I wasn't expecting this to happen."

"Wonder how Malleus will react to having more family?"

"He was over the moon because the boys already call him 'Big brother Mal'," said Lilia with a laugh. "Especially after Lia started breathing fire."

There was another message, this time from Melody. Lilia choked again, before he started cooing.

Cater and Kalim looked over his shoulder at an absolutely adorable wolf cub curling up next to what looked like a winged lizard.

"What's that?" asked Kalim.

"Teddy and Lia. Teddy is the wolf cub, and Lia is the dragon hatchling...which is probably how the queen confirmed their lineage... Dragons born to her bloodline have very specific traits as hatchlings, and Lia could pass for a smaller version of what Malleus looked like back then."

Malleus was beyond thrilled when he saw the picture of a dragonet version of Lia. He had always wanted siblings, or at least cousins to spoil and now that had become reality. Yuna however had taken one look at the picture before casting a glance at Malleus and blushing slightly.

Lilia had wanted to cackle, as it was clear that relationship was well on the way of becoming reality. They hadn't gone past making out, but it was the closest Malleus had ever come to courting anyone.