Zakary passed between the statues of his ancestors with purpose, normally he would spend a moment in the courtyard before moving on to the Temple Palace however today he had a task he wished to complete swiftly.
He easily pushed the large doors aside and moved passed one of the kings servants without so much as a word, he pushed aside the library door and stood before his son. Zak dropped the documents on the desk in front of the current king without saying a word, the man slowly lowered his book to the table and peered at the documents. In bold letters on the cover of the form read the words CONSENT TO ADOPTION, the king suddenly sat up straight, "Are you serious father!" he exclaimed.
"The boy is the future of the Kanara family" Zak said in a serious tone, "Yes but to adopt him is to make him a royal, an equal to my own daughter!" the king yelled disdainfully. "I wanted him under our control, but as a servant, at best force one of the other nobles to adopt him, you want to make him my brother!" the king continued his tirade, "Never! I won't have it I'll never accept common swine as family!" "You'll put your seal to the form or I'll find another" Zak retorted leveling a dangerous glare in his son's direction, "I didn't raise you to treat the common folk in such a way!" he said angrily.
"I'll never place my seal to such a disgraceful document!" the king shouted at his father, "If you do find another I'll see you declared mentally incompetent" he screamed loud enough to bring a guard to the room.
Zakary hated the fact that he now had to involve the Inquisitorum, he thought his son better than this, the forms made no mention of Divine ability and stated the reasoning behind the adoption to be that of shaping the future of a great talent. Of course they may be suspicious he doubted they wouldn't look beyond the fact that Zak wanted what could be a great warrior to bear his family name, his son after all would never bring him that honor.
There was some questioning by the Grand Inquisitor but overall he put his seal to the documents, the man knew this would infuriate the king after all. Zakary knew that unfortunately Dayn would face some scrutiny he may have otherwise avoided by taking this path but was confident the boy would be able to remain invisible to the immoral organization.
True to his word the king attempted to have his father removed from the Paladius on grounds of mental deterioration, the Inquisitorum refused to acknowledge such unfounded accusations and pushed the adoption through.
Dayn had taken his training further in Zak's absence and even occasionally hunted the underground caverns with Ziri when time allowed, he visited Siari on occasion as she no longer had time to travel to Sartann. She had begun training in the Mekanarus with a focus on golem craft, the work was fascinating but well beyond Dayn's understanding, they wove magical scripts into natural materials while also using gears and wires. He did however recognize what they were using as what they called Arcane Cores, they cut the crystals that had disgusted Zak into perfect orbs, they were placed into settings made of silver and platinum that had magical runes carved in them. Needless to say Sieri had little time to spend with him anymore so he spent more time exploring the Underealm, he eventually mapped out a path underground that made for a quicker route between Sartann and Gizmorock.
Dayn casually walked the familiar path to Sartann after spending a few short hours with Sieri, he was passing by the great mushroom forest where he had met her when he heard some noise up ahead. "That'll learn ye to mess with ol Agni, oh some of yer mates be wantin a thrashin, me mother as a better swing then ye an she walks wit a cane."
Dayn hurried ahead and came across Agni facing down a group of three orcs, one of the beasts was on the ground bleeding from several cuts but the other two were moving in aggressively forcing the old dwarf to take the defensive.
Dayn drew his longsword and moved in to help. "Aye Dayn good o ye to join me, but I coulda andled these doaties meself," One of the orcs moved to intercept Dayn bringing his axe down in an overhead chop. Dayn caught the blade in the weapons hilt and pushed forward with all his strength driving the pommel into the beasts chest knocking the wind out of it, as it backed away Dayn drove a kick into the creatures knee.
The monster swung his axe around wildly trying to keep Dayn away, he managed to connect with the flat of the blade on Dayn's shoulder before an overhead slash drove the axe head to the floor, Dayn followed through by driving his swords point through the beasts chest.
"Well done lad" Agni said having finished off his opponent already, "Dumb brute didn't ave a chance, ye're progressing well," Dayn bowed his head "Thank you, I did get hit though" he replied rubbing his shoulder. "Ah just rub some spit on it, ye'll be fine" the old dwarf responded.
They returned to the town to be greeted by an entourage led by Zak, "Its time to go" the elder paladin said, Dayn was confused, he had heard nothing of the adoption, Father Archibald approached him.
"My son, Zakary here was kind enough to officially adopt you, you'll be living with him at the Temple Paladius in Kanyra this day forward" Dayn was shocked, he didn't know whether he should be happy or sad.
He had been adopted into the royal family of the country however he wouldn't be able to see Ziri or Sieri whenever he wanted anymore, "Can I say goodbye to my friends?" Dayn asked.
"We're on a schedule" one of the inquisitors stated, "We've seen enough of this wretched town of late" the man said derisively, Dayn couldn't help but notice Dana was with them and hadn't stopped scowling at him since he had left the mines. It was clear to him that although he was part of the royal family now he clearly wasn't part of the ruling family, not that he had ever wanted such a position.