"Since you're so concerned with me setting you on fire, here." Summer said, pointing at me. My skin started heating up, then it stopped. "There, now you are resistant to fire."
"Oh.. thank you. You'd think I would have been already, since my birth Father is Pyreleos, the Merciful Flame, but I was not." I said.
"I am not getting into that. That is a mess." Summer said.
"I feel like that is an understatement." I agreed.
Without much more to say, Ymir mentioned about releasing their pent up energies into the Shadowfell. I was going to say they should do it in the fire plane, but they all agreed to it and started doing so, showing Uncle and I the massive tornado that resulted from it on the orb.
Then Spring sat smiling in the center of his zone with it lighting up green. With that I took out the final give for them. The ball that they can play with eachother with. It was enchanted to not freeze or burn, as well as change color based on the temperature it is. I explained it to them before Uncle and I got Ashtar to take her home.
Uncle got us down from the table, and we went out the door, where Ashtar was waiting. I made the glyph to Dueling Rivers, to take her back. Once we were through, and at her house, Ashtar and I split the dragon remains, she kept a majority of the meats, but had me take pretty much all of the scales and such.
Vials of dragon blood, teeth, certain bones, horns, breath pouches, wings, and scales. She kept enough scales to have armor made for herself, a belt for Gregor, and a cloak for Tilton. The cloak would be a legendary item that helped with flight. It intrigued me a whole lot. I would have to have a couple made.
I did tell her she could keep more of it, which was refused. Then I offered uncle to have weapons made for him. My eyes lit up, "Uncle, let's go introduce you to Cassae!"
Excitedly, I took Uncle's hand, heading towards the Cassae's workshop. On the way there, Dad had contacted me, asking where we are. Subconsciously, I began to turn in the direction of the capital. Confused, I asked, "Why?" But I saw the tree growing. It was thinner, a quarter of the width around than it had been before, but nearly as tall.
I was shocked, my mouth popping open from the surprise. "U-uncle!" I said, alarmed and surprised, releasing his hand to point at the Capital, "That's, oh no.. Is our home still there?! Jasper!!"
"Because there was a massive earthquake, and then a humongous tree sprouted from the ground." Dad said.
"Glyph, Isarial. We need to get home now." Uncle said.
Rather than respond to Dad, I started making the glyph to our home, hoping the stupid tree hadn't gone through it. "Damned Denoirs. Uncle, Dad's checking on us."
"We will see them soon enough. They had better be safe." Uncle said.
I had to fix two mistakes, but managed to get the glyph up and going. As soon as it was activated, we went through. From initial glance around everything seemed to be ok, but I followed Uncle out the front door. This is where we found my Dad. I placed my hand against his leg, looking towards the Denoirs estate. Much to my relief, the tree was much, much thinner at this distance, and really only broke through half of Denoirs mansion.
"Well, if it isn't the consequence of stupid." I commented looking at it.
"What has happened?" Dad asked without looking at me.
"Denoir was working with a Shadow Knight to take over this continent and give himself more authority under the new regime." I said. "To be frank, I hadn't realized he had started that all the way back to now..."
"Hoh, then it sounds like the Denoirs have left another mess to clean up." Dad said.
"The tree is sort of my fault." I said.
"And how, pray tell, is the tree your fault?" Dad asked.
"Well, more so theirs than mine, but the Seasons did release their pent up energy in the Shadowfell, which resulted in the tree." I said. "I really hadn't known they'd made the portal already.. And I'll also say I was going to ask them to release their energy in the fire plane."
"Then I wouldn't say this was your fault." Dad said.
"But we released the Seasons from their skeletons." I said. "Oh, the season's are going to be changing again for the first time in three hundred years."
"I feel you could have told me something about that far in advance." Dad said.
"I did. I said multiple times that I was going to bring back the seasons in the future." I said.
"In the future and I'm doing it today are very different." Dad said.
"It wasn't today that I said I was gonna do it in the future." I pointed out.
"Child." He sighed.
"Mom and Jasper are ok, then?" I asked.
"Yes, everyone is safe." Dad said.
I let put a sigh of relief, then we heard announcements from the Kings Guard, they were ordering an immediate lock down, and for everyone to get in their houses until further notice.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to take a look tomorrow. I don't feel like antagonizing the King's Guards at the moment." Dad said.
"They are heading to Denoirs." I noted, going inside with Dad and Uncle.
"By the sounds of it, that's where they should be headed. But I do expect a knock at some point. I usually get blamed for whatever happens to the Denoirs." Dad said.
"I can give the account of why and how it happened." I offered.
"If it becomes necessary, we will give them such an account." Dad said.
I nodded. "Dad, do you know about Snilloc's Snowball Swarm?"
"Um, yes. It throws very fierce snowballs." Dad said.
"Oh. Wanna see something crazy?" I asked.
"I just saw a tree sprout out of the capitals ground, but sure. How much crazier can my day get?" Dad said.
I took the fall crown out of my bag and said, "Put this on. It's my favorite thing."
"Alright." He said, taking the crown of red and gold leaves and twigs, and putting it on. He took it back off, handing it back to me, "That is a lot of information."
"Right? It covers five miles outside of town." I told him, "And differentiates between Undead, Fey, Celestial, Fiend and living creatures."
"Indeed. And there is quite a mix in this city." Dad said.
"Yep. It was very helpful during the fight against the undead." I told him.
"I would imagine such a power would be handy in a lot of situations." Dad said.
"Yeah, and Summer made me resistant to fire." I told him.
"It made you resistant to fire? Just.. how resistant?" Dad asked.
"I dunno. Haven't tested it, but he said he'd do so because I am afraid of him setting me on fire." I half shrugged.
"Were you afraid of him setting you on fire? And why would he want to set you on fire?" Dad asked.
"Do you really need to ask that last part?" Uncle asked.
"I love you, too, Uncle." I said. "I wasn't afraid, but I was weary that it would happen. He'd tried to before."
Dirthin laughed a little and tussle my hair.
"Let's just be glad he didn't do that." Dad said.
"Summer wanted to be in primary control and set everything on fire. He took the Realm from Ymir for a while. That's why it's a desert." I explained.
"Sounds like a pleasant fellow." Dad said.
"I am sorry I didn't warn you that the tree thing could happen, Dad." I said.
"If you thought it at all prevalent, you would have mentioned it. It just goes to show it was a truly unknown event." Dad said.
I nodded we headed to his office, since that's where Snow and Jasper were. Snow helped me up onto the couch next to her, and I snuggled up to her, dozing while the adults discussed what'd happened. I woke to a hissed, "Are you serious?!" From Snow.
"Because I was told to help the boy do what he wanted to do, so I did?" Uncle replied.
"That is indeed what you were asked to do, but I was hoping you'd do it in a way that he wouldn't be in danger. That was the purpose." Dad said.
Uncle shrugged, "I did as I was asked. The kid's fine. And stronger for it, apparently. And it's not like I let him help me fight the dragons."
"I got a second dragon to attack Uncle while he fought a different one." I said.
Dad looked at me, "Well, welcome back to the rest of reality."
"I only asked Uncle if he wanted to fight dragons because he was bored. And it let me restart the seasons." I said.
"I was used." Uncle said feigning offense.
I rolled my eyes and said, "You had a lot of fun and sweets. After the first three dragons, Ashtar watched me on the lower floor. I was only in danger when the black dragon's undead servants joined in."
"Undead servants, hm?" Dad asked.
"I may have left that part out." Uncle said.
"It was fine, only three of the vampires came. Or maybe only three were in his servitude?" I wondered. "I used a grenade to kill the zombies, then I went to get the green dragon. One vampire followed me, the other two went for Uncle. I tricked the green dragon into attacking the vampire, it chomped him in half, and then enraged it into going after the black dragon. Then I waited for Uncle to come up, after feeding the vampire a granade."
"Hoh, maybe your Uncle isn't the best option in guarding.. your safety that is." Dad sighed.
"To be fair, if I had remembered the Black dragon had undead servants, Uncle would have been a lot more careful." I said.
"And he's probably right." Uncle said.
"I doubt it." Dad said.
"Why was this either of your thought process? Isarial, your arm is broken." Snow said.
I took a breath, "I think anything I say or don't say will only make you more annoyed, Mom."
"I suppose we should just be glad he came home safely." Dad said.
"I would like both of you to be more considerate before doing something like that next time." Snow scolded us. "Dirthin, you are amazingly strong, and you've made damn sure you will be. However you aren't infallible. Isarial, you're just a tiny little boy. You're extremely vulnerable and breakable."
"I suppose I should be more careful with the boy. I will try to be." Uncle said.
"Yes, Mom. I understand. Even if I prepared myself for the situation that I am easily harmed, and I need to be more careful." I said, chagrined.
Snow seemed to relax some. "Thank you, both."
"I believe it's about time that we all go get some food. It's been a busy day.. some busier than others." Dad said.
With that decided, we went to go have dinner. "Ashtar made tea for Uncle and I. It helped ease my shoulders ache." I said.
"She didn't happen to mention what kind of tea it was, did she?" Dad asked.
"No, she just said it may help with pain." I said. "But I can ask. I probably should have already."
"It would be a good idea to find out what she actually gave you that helped." Dad said.
Snow hummed lightly, "She said horsetail-the herb, Arnica and Comfrey. With some nettle and outstanding for taste."
"We can transfer that over to the cooks and see if we can't get a batch going." Dad said.
"Mm, she said she'll send a mixed bag over since it helped some." Snow said.
"Well, that will certainly be beneficial." Dad said.
A pouch appeared on the dinner table before Snow. "That was faster than I expected." Snow said.
"Gregor probably had a scroll." I said.
I ended up telling them about the Seasons, the gifts I gave them, and what was given in return. And why Ashtar was brought into the mix, as well as what she harvested from the dragons, and the little she kept for herself.
"Yeah, she was probably bored." Dirthin said.
"When she's bored, she gets into some kind of trouble or harassed Gregor." I commented. "She just helps if she's asked to, or sees someone who needs help."
Conversation flowed on for some time, even after we'd finished eating. Even Jasper joined in with various baby sounds. It made us all laugh. Snow is a very good mom, always attentive, but she was also a good mom to me. I never felt lesser than her son in her affections, and that was apparently a difficult feat to accomplish with a newborn.
After a bit, I got put down for bed before Jasper was. Which turned out to be the best for me, because I quickly fell asleep. In the morning, I had breakfast with my family and then went to Dueling Rivers with Joshua to fetch Cassae. Who had a Tilton with her.
"Have you heard about the present Ashtar is going to give you, Tilton?" I asked.
"No, I haven't. Which means it's a surprise gift." Tilton grouched.
"Ah. Well, I won't spoil it for her." I said. "Are you ready to travel home for a short time?"
"Yes. I am ready. I just want to pick up a few more things I've made." She said. "What happened to your arm, though?"
"Mm. I do not have wings, my attempt at flight was short lived." I said. Seeing her alarmed expression, I told the truth, "Nah, I got kidnapped and dropped from the sky. My friend barely survived, and I had a nasty concussion, broken shoulder and forearm. As it turns out, the target on my head got much larger."
"Have these would be kidnappers been taken care of? I can't imagine your parents would let that go." Tilton said.
"No, I've been grounded as a result, er, grounded in this case means restricted activities and movements, enforced by parental caring and overprotectiveness." I explained to Cassae. "Dad hasn't released the grounding, so this is my last trip out without Uncle, and after yesterday, may just be last trip out."
"I dare not ask." Tilton said.
"I'm sure you've seen the tree in the Capital... it came up from the Shadowfell in Denoirs house." I told him.
"I can only imagine the destruction that was wrought on the realm itself." Tilton said.
"Three hundred years of pent up Seasonal energy had been released. Resulted in quite the hurricane." I half shrugged.
"Well, let's hope it landed where it needed to." Tilton said.
I couldn't say anything, I'd watched the pandemonium unfold in the orb, heard the screams of pain and terror, and hadn't cared. "Are you going with us?" I asked Tilton.
"I don't believe I have any business going to Cassae's home." Tilton said.
"Suit yourself." I replied. "I'll certainly not allow her to be looked down upon."
"Well, Teacher, would you like me to go?" Tilton asked her. "If it would make your time there easier.."
"I like your company." Cassae said, "You can accompany us, though it may be a little cold for your taste."
"That is alright. I will return home and fetch a jacket. I will return momentarily." Tilton said.
Cassae smiled at him, and we waited for Tilton to go home and come back. While waiting, I Mind Linked to Joshua and said, 'It's a little cute how easy it was to manipulate him just now. Don't worry about the time, I'll just be more aggressive and allow no negotiation.'
'Eh, if you think that'll speed this along, works for me.' Joshua replied.
'I already have what I wanted from them. I've warned them, and I've offered help.' I said, 'So I don't really care what happens to them.'
'There you go, let their problems be their problems. They probably won't some around until someone gets eaten.' Joshua said.
'Probably. I anticipate drama with her arranged fiancé.' I told him, 'That's why I invited Tilton along.'
'Oh, you sly devil.' He said.
I chuckled, as Tilton arrived back to us with a coat. "Welcome back. Ready?"
"As I suppose I'll ever be." Tilton replied.
I made the glyph in her workshop, and took us all to her hometown. She led us on foot to her Father's shop, where he was. Once we entered, her father briefly touched a stone, whispered, and Cassae stiffened.
I touched her leg briefly, "'Is there a problem?'"
"'Varis wanted to know when she came back.'" He said.
"'Fascinating.'" I said sarcastically. "'Anyways, should I speak to you or the Elder's?'"
"'The Elder's will not speak to you because you are flightless.'" He replied bluntly.
"'Cool. I'll leave your people to their doom, then.'" I replied evenly.
"'What's the situation here?'" Tilton asked.
"'Half their population is going to be wiped out in the next few years due to Dragons hunting them. It's why they fled to the Divine realm and why they are considered a myth. Chromatic dragons are about to find them and begin picking them off. I offered to help them relocate.'" I explained.
"'And your Elder's will not speak to us because we do not have wings? Or because we are flightless in general.'" Tilton asked.
Cassae looked a little ashamed, as her father answered, "'Both.'"
Tilton reached into his bag, clearly a bag of holding, he pulled out two rings, then looked at Cassae. "'How offensive is it for someone to pretend to have wings?'"
"'The elders are often strict in all things..'" Cassae said.
The door opened, and an armored man came inside behind us, followed by an older man and woman. "'Ara, you have come back.'"
Tilton slipped the rings on, but did nothing else, observing the situation. Cassae said, "'No, I am only picking up some things.'"
"'You should not be leaving.'" The older man said, "'It is not appropriate.'"
Mentally, I told Cassae, 'Tilton and I have your back. Nothing will happen to you, I swear it.'
Cassae looked at me briefly, then said, "'I am going to reside in Dueling Rivers, so the only person's opinion pertaining to my actions that matters is Tilton's. In addition to that, I run Isarial's forge.'"
"'You are still a child.'" The woman protested.
"'The only reason why I am not considered an adult by everyone is that Father has long refused to declare my mastery of the forge to be fact.'" Cassae responded.
Her father started to say something, but I said, "'Think carefully about what you show to lesser people or outsiders.'"
"'... This is a conversation to privately.'" Her father said firmly.
"'I have no intentions of discussing anything further. My decision is that I am going to live in Duelinf Rivers and use the skills I have developed for seventy years.'" Cassae said firmly.
"'And our engagement? I have no intention of leaving our home.'" The young man, Varis, said.
"'It is something decided between our families, not us. You do not need to move, and we do not need to wed.'" Cassae responded.
"'She will be well taken care of in Dueling Rivers. She has already made a place for herself.'" Tilton said.
"'Ground creatures can stay out of Aril-tel-quessir business.'" Varis said, turning towards Tilton, frowning.
Tilton briefly touched a simple iron ring, then said, "'I try to honor the ideals of the races whose homes I visit, but I feel it difficult when the ideals impede someone's growth like this. I will also not tolerate pointless prattling of a pedantic peon.'" He touched the ring again. "'Now you can accept the course in life she has chosen, or continue to lament your loss of such a master. Either way, you will need to accept you've been dumped.'"
Varis opened his mouth, but his father spoke over him, firmly stated that it needed to be a discussion away from unrelated parties. Cassae's father agreed, and they seemed to think Cassae would go with them. Which is when I stepped in again.
"'Ara, fetch up what you needed to. I don't have the patience to tolerate children that are decades to centuries older than myself.'" I said. Truthfully, the cold was hurting a lot more than I'd anticipated. I looked at her father. "'Should minds be changed in the future, contact me. However, if any of you harass Ara, I will move the heavens to avenge her.'"
Cassae followed my words. Varis was still trying to stare Tilton down, and Tilton was giving him a look as if he'd never seen anything dumber. Once Cassae had what she needed, we escorted her to her home, where she fetched the remainder of her things. While I was making the glyph again, some elderly Avarial approached.
Cassae grew anxious, but I ignored them. Once I'd finished the glyph, I glanced at the elders who'd approached, and saw Joshua and Tilton ready. I only recognized Tilton's ready stance from the doppelganger incident, to others, he may look only mildly interested in the situation, if that.
"Are we ready to go?" I asked, rudely using Common.
"I believe our welcome has run out." Tilton said.
"We were welcomed?" I asked, activating the glyph.
"No." Cassae said.
"Go through first." I told Cassae. Which she complied with. I looked at the winged Elves, "If you change your minds in the future, you are welcome to reach out to me. However, I will no longer look favorably on the transaction."
They started to speak, but I went through the portal. I didn't care what they had to say. Joshua and Tilton followed. I closed it immediately, scuffing it out. "I'm sorry that didn't go well, Cassae." I said.
"I did not expect it to." She said, but I did see the slight sadness in her eyes.
"I did mean what I said." Tilton said, looking at her.
She gave a small smile and said, "I have found that you do not blither or natter. I trust you to mean your words."
"I'm glad you think so highly of me." Tilton said.
With my curfew nearly up, I went to spent time with my Mom and Simon. Simon was upset over my broken arm, Haril and Mom told me about their wedding plans. They'd decided to just marry with a couple of witnesses. I chatted with them a little more before returning home earlier than the curfew by about ten minutes.
"They tried to make trouble, Dad. And refused to hear me because I don't have wings." I told my Dad.
"Then you've done what you can. Time will tell if they decided to change their ways." Dad said.
I went up do him, and I was gonna climb into his lap, but with out use of both arms, that'd be difficult and painful to do. While I was staring and trying to figure out how to do what I wanted, Dad asked, "Yes?" I hesitated, a little embarrassed, but Dad picked me up. He settled me in his lap, "Is this what you were after?"
I looked up at him embarrassed and said, "I guess it would have been fine to just ask."
"Yes, it would have been fine." Dad said.
I leaned back against him, "I was just gonna climb up, but I realized that'd be really difficult to do. So I was trying to figure out how to do it."
"Well, apparently staring at me will about do it." Dad said.
"... I guess I am kinda like a cat." I said.
"In what way?" Dad asked.
"Well, I was told a lot that I was like a cat when I was in the other reality. I've seen cats stare at people until they get what they want." I told him.
"Well, then yes. You would make an excellent cat." Dad said.
"It's ironic, because you like me, but don't like cats." I commented.
"You are my son, of course I like you. You're just enough different from a cat." Dad said.
"I had figured that the Avarial wouldn't take the help, but I wouldn't have minded being wrong. It just means if they reach out for my help in the future that I'll do so to my own benefit rather than theirs." I said.
"Sounds like the reasonable way to go about it. You put out a helping hand, they smacked it away." Dad said.
I nodded. Thinking deeply about what to do next. "You know, Dad, you spent almost two years teaching me a lot of handy things. Like reading and math and such. In your opinion,, why did you do so personally?"
"I suppose trust issues." Dad said.
"I know it didn't happen this time, but I'll never forget you laying in the floor with me, showing me different maps and teaching me about them." I said.
"I must admit, I'm a bit jealous that I didn't get to make that memory." Dad said.
"Sorry." I said.
He hugged me, much to my surprise, "It's alright. I have been making plenty of memories."
"You have a nice family, Dad. You'll have many good memories, and I'll be the main one to make you worry." I said, returning the affection.
"I have a wonderful family full of trouble makers. It's everything I can do to keep it together." Dad said.
I smiled, knowing his youngest son will be the real trouble maker. I was looking forward to my siblings being old enough to fuss with. Jasper was just two months old still. Then Vincent would be born in three years. So, I guessed Vincent and the twins would be born the same year. We had lunch together with our family, and later dinner.
The next day, I focused on designing the engines to every minute detail I could think of. Further helped by seeing the original blue print for the things. Then I had to figure out what it would power. I thought of carts, and how simple they were. Then I though of an exercise machine Eluvian and I had brain stormed.
You sort of take steps on this machine, and you can adjust the pressure of those steps to make it harder to make the wheel spin. We called it a Fan Stepper. It had handle bars to help with stability. With this thought in mind, I started designing a new sort of vehicle for the motor. Then I began tweaking some things about the initial design.
What if it could run on energy? And it stored said energy and generated it while running? With the ideas in my head, I started brainstorming each option I had, went through several drafts. This went on for a week before I was satisfied with the schematics I had drawn up.
As soon as the finishing touches were completed, I went to my Dad with them. "Daaad! Here!" I said, offering them to him.
He took them, and looked them over. "So this is motorized.. half of a wagon? And what are these?"
"Well, those are handle bars. It's how you'd steer it. It's a motorcycle." I said. "It requires balance to keep upright while in motion. These is different engine and motor designs, and this is a system to use with the motor to store energy." I explained the way it would work in depth.
"Well, Isarial, I believe you have some fine ideas right here." Dad said.
"Then do you want the rights to make and distribute it?" I asked.
"I am deeply interested in that, but we will work out a contract for it where you will be paid royalties. It is your idea and your plans." Dad said.
"If that's what you want to do, Dad. I think this engine would be best for small to midsized boars. This motor would be good for making a rowboat sized vessel into a speed boat. And I think this would be better for a ship, a steam engine." I said, pointing out the different ones.
"I think we'll have to get you with some of our engineers." Dad said.
"I think I did a pretty good job of illustrating how it needed to be built to work efficiently.. It would be interesting to see what a professional thought of it." I said.
"Yes, you've made a perfectly clear picture." Dad said. "I think I know just the professionals we can go talk to."
"Alright. I should probably work on a more user friendly vehicle than the motorcycle.. I just thought Uncle and I would like it best." I told Dad.
"Yes, I could definitely see your Uncle riding one of these." Dad agreed.
"Honestly, I think Mom would like it, too." I admitted.
"Eh, you're mother's a bit iffy, but possibly I'd say." Dad said.
"Maybe you and Mom could ride it together sometime once the bugs are worked out, because I am sure there will be bugs." I said.
"More than likely. There are with all new designs." Dad said. "Do you have any inkling on how fast this thing will be able to travel?"
"Between thirty and ninety miles per hour depending on size of engine, motor and vehicle." I said.
"This would revolutionize travel." Dad said.
"Yeah, even the undefeatable Onyx can only run forty-five miles an hour. And it's supposed to be the fastest mount possible." I pointed out.
"Yes, it'd put the poor thing out of business." Dad replied.