The Storm King

The Grand Druid escorted them to Cassandra’s old room ostensibly to join in helping them settle into Evergold for the few days they would be there, but as soon as the door closed behind them, Leon and the Grand Druid put on more serious expressions and headed to Cassandra’s most private sitting room.

With a great sigh, the Grand Druid slid into one of the plush seats in the small, heavily-warded room. “Theeeere,” she whispered. After a moment, she turned her red eyes toward Leon and quipped, “At the rate you’re gaining power, Leon, you may never experience old age. That is something to celebrate. I may be tenth-tier, but sometimes I feel like I’m one step away from the Ashen Fields.”

“Yes, though often I wish it weren’t so. My bones ache, I tire far too easily, and when I wake from my ever-more-frequent naps, it can take half an hour for my blurry vision to sharpen. If I’m to enter the Ashen Fields anyway, then I’d rather not suffer long before reaching them.”

Leon almost argued, but his words caught in his throat. The Grand Druid was still strong if her aura was anything to go by, but aches and pains accumulated over a lifetas long as hers had been had to be deep.

Finding his voice again after a silent moment, Leon asked, “Is there nothing your healers can do to alleviate that pain?”

“Not even the best healers can stave off death forever, Leon,” the Grand Druid replied with a sad smile.

Leon grimly smiled. “I suppose we’re going to have to ensure that you get smore Hesperidic Apples. Or, perhaps sambrosia?”

Leon quickly filled her in on what Helen and Tikos were going to collaborate on, and she looked more and more intrigued with every word.

“That’s… something to think about, isn’t it?” she said when he’d finished.

“I meant it when I offered for you and the Lord Protector to join us in the Nexus,” Leon replied. “I wouldn’t make the offer only to let you two die of old age—unless that’s what you want. And, as I understand it, once a mage achieves Apotheosis, their body undergoes a reverse aging process until it reaches its physical peak.”

“Heh. That would be fun. But we’re not here to talk about my wrinkly ass, are we? You toldthat you wanted to talk about my other granddaughter.”

Leon nodded, taking note that if the Grand Druid already knew what he was going to talk about, then she didn’t let it show.

So, cutting straight to the chase, Leon said, “Andromache is terrified of Cassie. Whether it’s conscious or not, I believe that Andromache sees Cassie less as a sister and more as a threat to her position as heir.”

Finishing, Leon said, “I know that Cassie doesn’t covet the title of Sacred Golden Empress. I doubt she would’ve agreed to marryif she did. But… the fact that Andromache even suspects it might be possible is fostering nothing but resentment between them. I would like to make peace between them, if possible, but I’m not sure I can do that.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s all in the past, dear boy.” The Grand Druid waved her hand as if she were brushing the matter aside. “I will talk to my daughter and see about having Andromache permanently returned to Evergold. I will spend more twith her and see what I can do about this. I love her, Cassie, and their brother to death, and… I see that I’ve failed in my duty to ensure harmony between them.”

“I’ve seen what siblings will do if they have no love lost between them and see each other as a threat,” Leon stated. “I don’t think this will turn out quite so badly as I’ve seen it, but I’d rather my children by Cassie and Andromache’s kids don’t have any kind of animosity between them.”

The Grand Druid’s frown immediately turned upward until she looked like the cat that ate the canary. “Oh? Are you two finally trying?”

Leon half smiled, half grimaced. “As much as we can. It’s… At our tiers and with the power in my blood, having children is going to be a difficult process. We haven’t even been trying that long and it’s already kind of demoralizing.”

The Grand Druid reached over and patted his hand on the armrest. “Best not to overthink it, Leon. It’ll happen in its own time, so long as you both remain as attracted to each other as you seem. Why, I was hardly restrained in my passions early in my life, and yet my daughter is an only child. Even my grandchildren number only three, and the tbetween each one’s birth is measured in decades.”

Still, something must have shown on his face as the Grand Druid’s hand squeezed his again, and she said, “I could have sliterature brought to you? To help with any deficiencies?”

“It’s natural to worry, especially for a man in your position. But you two will givegreat-grandchildren one day, I’m sure of it.”

“Yes,” the Grand Druid agreed. “Keeper has been here for a few days, now, with a tiny contingent. He’s rarely ever left Sentinel land for so long, especially without any apparent purpose. But he’d been here, meditating up in the canopy waiting for you since his arrival.”

“Has he… I don’t know, let anything slip in that time? Anything I could possibly use?”

“That’s terrible, what an awful pun,” the Grand Druid sarcastically stated.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Leon shrugged. “Cassie will be fine for a while, I think. She’s been excited the past few days to reach out to sold friends and acquaintances. And when this thing with Keeper is done, I think we may need to speak again—or at least, the Empress and I, about potential tourism and visitation. Not on a large scale, mind you, but enough that Cassie doesn’t have to cso far just to see old friends.”

“That… might be workable,” the Grand Druid said with a thoughtful look. “If we get an embassy down in your capital—Stormhollow, was it?—then it’ll be even easier.”

“Done,” Leon stated.

And with that, after sharing a few more pleasantries, Leon and the Grand Druid rose from their seats and made their way into the canopy of the palace-tree, stopping only to speak with Cassandra about where they were going.

---

As he had the first tLeon had been there, he found the canopy of the palace-tree to be quite a marvel. The palace-tree was a gargantuan thing, and its branches extended a long way, growing thick enough that earth and stone could be brought up to fill in any gaps, allowing the canopy to turn into something of a hollow dome. Smaller branches of the palace-tree shot up from this transported earth like trees unto themselves, while countless stone paths meandered past ponds, pavilions, fields of flowers, and hedgerows artistically grown to provide plenty of private spaces within the canopy—one of which was the throne ‘room’ for the Sacred Golden Empress.

Leon and the Grand Druid didn’t head there when they emerged from the largest bough of the palace-tree, but toward one of the more private pavilions—a small stone square surrounded by thick heavily warded hedges, with a pond on the far side filled with colorful fish. In the center of the pavilion was a circular stone table with three high-backed chairs made of what seemed to be roughly hewn wood, but Leon knew them to be quite comfortable.

The Keeper, however, wasn’t using any of these chairs, choosing to instead sit on a boulder by the pond, his eyes closed, legs crossed, and arms folded across his chest. Once Leon and the Grand Druid entered the pavilion, however, his completely white eyes almost immediately snapped open.

“Leon Raime,” he gravely stated, “you have arrived.”

“And you waited for me,” Leon replied. “I think we both might be equally surprised.”

“I extended the invitation; I am committed to honoring it.”

“Forgiveif that’s… hard to believe. Seems quite the turnaround for you, given how you’ve acted towardin the past.”

Keeper rose from the boulder in one smooth motion, and Leon tensed for a moment before he noted that Keeper’s aura remained calm and free of killing intent.

“Men like the Sunlit Emperor, who you supported?” Leon shot back.

Keeper closed his eyes for a moment, and the Grand Druid took the moment of silence to jump in.

The Grand Druid then sat in the nearest chair, while Leon stared at Keeper for a few seconds longer before doing likewise. Keeper remained standing the longest, but a few seconds after Leon sat down, he flexed his fingers and brought his boulder rolling over to the stone table, whereupon he sat back down on it, his back ramrod straight.

“Let’s lay everything out neatly so that we all understand our place,” the Grand Druid said once everyone had taken their seats. “I am here only as a mediator and will claim no decision-making authority over your meeting. I only wish to keep you civil, in case you two were incapable of doing so on your own.”

Leon grinned and bit back a retort about how many times he’d tried to kill the Keeper in contrast to how many times Keeper had tried to kill him. Keeper, meanwhile, remained just as silent but looked even more undisturbed by the Grand Druid’s words than Leon was.

“So, as the party who extended the invitation, Keeper of Memory, why don’t you share with us the reason for reaching out?”

Keeper smoothly replied, “King Leon Raexpressed interest in exploring the undisturbed palaces of his ancestors. I am willing to negotiate in good faith to allow that to happen.”

Leon almost couldn’t believe his ears. It was one thing to read it, even if in a handwritten letter, but another thing entirely to hear the man state his invitation aloud. Still, he kept control over himself. This was why he was here at all.

“And you, Leon?” the Grand Druid continued.

“I am also here to negotiate in good faith regarding the repatriation of my Clan’s property,” he said.

“Then let’s start there,” the Grand Druid said. “One has only invited the other to ‘explore the undisturbed palaces of his ancestors’, while the other speaks of ‘repatriation of his Clan’s property’. Let’s reconcile these two.”

“And if such weapons and destructive means were found?” Keeper pointedly asked.

“I seek the knowledge of my Clan, whether that be in books or any other form. Wisp maintenance tools, equipment for refining Titanstone or any other advanced material. That sort of thing.”

“It sounds like you would like to take everything that isn’t nailed down,” Keeper observed.

“What if I were to find you taking anything at all to be unpalatable?”

“I would be disappointed.”

Leon said no more, not giving any concessions about his desire to explore the palaces anyway.

“You demand much, and offer little,” Keeper said.

“I want peace on this plane, for no more blood to be shed over this conflict than already has been.”

“And that is why I extended this invitation at all. What guarantee do I have that you won’t turn around and attack the mainland once you get what you want?”

Leon resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I have a marriage alliance with one Empire and a nonaggression pact with two others. If the Pegasi States were to calm down and request agreements of their own, I would sign nonaggression pacts with them, too, and make efforts to open up trade.”

“How valuable is trade if your goal is to leave this plane?”

“So you’d rather we not trade at all, even if it’s only temporary? Would you rather we just exist on Kataigida and never venture beyond the misty veil? Just leave everyone else alone?”

Just as unapologetically as Leon had replied to him earlier, Keeper simply said, “Yes.”

“Then what guarantee of peace would you prefer, if paper and ink are so fragile? If my word is not enough?”

Keeper sighed. “Your word is enough, Leon Raime. I do not want to reopen old wounds. I just want peace, though I yet doubt any such peace will last.”

“Is that what this invitation was supposed to be, then? A bribe for peace?”

“An offering,” Keeper stated. “A starting point for us to begin discussions. To get to know each other better, and possibly find scommon ground.”

“That sounds like a wonderful compromise!” the Grand Druid exclaimed. “What do you say, Keeper?”

The Keeper contemplated the offer for a moment that stretched almost to a minute, but neither Leon nor the Grand Druid interrupted his thoughts.

“Our renegotiation will happen at a tof my choosing,” the Keeper stated. “Until then, you may take nothing.”

“Deal,” Leon said.

“Then you have my permission to journey to Memoria at your earliest convenience,” Keeper said as he rose from his boulder and, a moment later, pulled the large stone into his soul realm. Leon almost burst out laughing at the sight of the man so concerned with the rock that he was carrying it around with him, but he supposed there might’ve been shidden enchantment in the thing that made it valuable.

“Send word ahead,” Keeper continued. “I will be in touch about how to do so.”

Without another word, Keeper strode right out of the pavilion, leaving Leon and the Grand Druid there alone.

“So?” the Grand Druid asked. “Not what you wanted, I think, but was it enough?”

Leon quietly laughed and grinned. “It’s enough. For now. It’s enough.”