Leaving Mt. Wind Dance ended up being an uneventful affair. After his encounter with Elena, Darian returned to his house where he found his friends waiting for him. Stella had entertained them in his stead. Three mortal servants accompanied his friends. Lucius didn't bring any, but Vera brought Bella and Cassandra.
Darian felt awkward around Cassandra. His encounter with her last night had been confusing, to say the least. Her actions baffled him. One minute she was crying in his arms, the next she demanded that he kiss her. In the end, he attributed it to distress at having a fight with her man, and ending her relationship with him.
Cassandra must have felt the same way, because she avoided eye contact with him.
The third servant, however, surprised Darian. It was Wyatt, his father's manservant. When Darian questioned him, Wyatt just gave him a smile and said that he wouldn't be left behind again. Darian decided not to argue with him. His father could deal with it. Besides, Darian had thought about bringing the manservant along. He just forgot about making it happen.
Thankfully, they didn't have to carry much. Lucius and Vera both had holding bags, which made transporting everyone's luggage much easier to deal with. They even volunteered to carry the servants' luggage, which wasn't much of a sacrifice. However, from the way the servants reacted, it was a big deal.
After that, they all left Mt. Wind Dance. Stella waved them goodbye. For the sake of the mortals, they took a pair of carriages to Hunter's Rest, one for the cultivators and one for the mortals, using drivers employed by Clan Wind Dance. It wasn't much faster than walking, going by mortal speeds at least, but it was more comfortable. While Darian and his friends could have gone ahead, Darian himself needed to be with everyone to guide them to his secret realm. He found it less of a hassle than going on ahead, and then coming back to Hunter's Rest to find the servants again.
The journey itself was uneventful. A few minutes after leaving Valeheart, however, Darian exited the carriage. He found it too stifling, and he needed to clear his head. A lot of things had happened in the past few days, and he wanted some time to think it through. His friends agreed to this with enthusiasm. It didn't take him long to figure out why. The carriages provided a lot of privacy for them to…trade pointers with each other.
Because of their late start, they didn't reach Hunter's Rest before nightfall. Instead of stopping at one of the villages along the way, they decided to camp next to the main road for the night. When they found a suitable campsite, they set up the camp. Well, the servants did most of the work.
Wyatt, in particular, knew what he was doing. It turned out that he was an accomplished outdoorsman, and had prepared for the possibility of spending the night outside. Darian decided to learn what he could from his father's manservant. His own outdoors skills were lacking, and he wanted to remedy that. Wyatt was more than happy to teach him.
After camp was set up, Darian watched as Lucius set up a formation to obscure and protect their campsite. While his friend wasn't a master at formations, he knew the basics. Lucius used formation flags, which were tools that allowed a cultivator to set up temporary formations. While they would never be as powerful as a permanent formation, they had the advantage of being portable.
Darian had read about them, but had never seen them at work before. He watched as Lucius tossed out the formation flags, planting them in seemingly random locations. Out of curiosity, Darian asked about how formations worked. This resulted in a lecture that made Darian's head spin, with Vera chiming in from time to time.
Studying and using formations was more complicated than he had realized. It involved complex mathematical formulae that took into account the local geography, the formation's runes, the materials used to make those runes, and even the time of day. The position of the sun, moon, and stars played an important part, somehow. He understood a fraction of his friends' lecture, and he realized just how much he didn't know. Perhaps Astra had a point.
"Why bother with the formations?" Darian had asked after the lecture. "We're in Silverwood Vale, and we're right next to the main road. It's safe here."
"Always set up some basic protections when traveling, no matter how safe you think you are," Lucius had replied, a serious look on his face. "It's a habit that might just save your life."
Darian took his friend's warning to heart, and made a mental note to learn the basics of formations. He was beginning to realize that cultivation wasn't always about fighting, and having utility outside of combat could prove useful.
Their group arrived at Hunter's Rest a little before noon of the next day. The others wanted to explore the village, since they had never been there before, and take a little break before moving on to the last leg of their journey. Darian decided to check in on the Ryleys, the family he had met when looking for a dire monster to hunt.
Gregory Ryley still hadn't returned. The young hunter was still out on the job he had told Darian about, which was guarding a rich merchant who wanted to go hunting in the Silverwood. Darian chatted with Gregory's parents, and even said hello to Snow Ryley, the little sister. She was excited to see the "magic man" again. He checked her over, to ensure that she didn't have any of the signs of spirit energy intolerance, which he had read up on back on Mt. Wind Dance. Elliot's words from before had left him worried. Thankfully, she was fine.
"Young Master Darian," Brian Ryley, the father, said as Darian was about to leave. "Could you do us a favor? Over the past few days, hunters have reported strange noises and flashing lights coming from a certain part of the Silverwood. While nothing bad has happened yet, a lot of people are nervous that it might be a dire monster, or worse, a spirit beast. The village was about to send word to Mt. Wind Dance about it. Would you look into it instead?"
Darian frowned at the thought of a potential threat in the area. He had begun to view the area around his secret realm as his responsibility.
"We're not asking you to do it for free," Brian said in a rush. "We're willing to compensate you for the trouble."
Why was he…? Oh, right.
"Don't worry about it," Darian said. "I'll look into it. You don't have to pay me. Where are the noises and lights coming from?"
Brian gave him a grateful look, and pointed in the direction of Darian's secret realm.
"The hunters said that they're coming from an area a few miles in that direction."
"I see," Darian said with a grimace.
He had a feeling that he knew what, or rather who, was responsible. There were only so many possibilities after all.
After that, Darian reunited with the others, who had finished with their exploration of Hunter's Rest. They sent the carriages back to Valeheart, before they all headed towards Darian's secret realm. That was when they ran into a little trouble. While Darian, his friends, and Wyatt had no problem traversing through the Silverwood, Bella and Cassandra were another matter. Both were used to more civilized surroundings.
Rather than slow down, or risk injury to the servants, Darian solved the problem by picking up Cassandra and carrying her in his arms.
"Young Master Darian!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
The others all stared at him.
"It'll be faster this way," he said to her, shrugging. "It's not like you're heavy."
Cassandra didn't respond to that, and looked away with a grimace. She didn't object, so he didn't put her down.
After a moment, Lucius decided to follow his lead. Before he could pick up Bella, however, Vera beat him to it. She gave Lucius a look that Darian had no trouble deciphering.
It looked like she didn't want Lucius touching other women.
Darian found it a little comical to see his friend pick up a woman of similar size with little effort on her part.
"Young Mistress," Bella said, her face white. "This isn't necessary. I can walk on my own just fine."
"Be that as it may," Vera said, with a wry smile. "Darian is right. It'll be faster this way."
There were no more objections after that, and their group continued on their way, with Darian in the lead. Cassandra continued to look away from him. There was an air of despair about her.
"Are you feeling better?" Darian asked her, pitching his voice low.
Since they were out in the open, it was the best he could do under the circumstances. Lucius and Vera could hear him no doubt, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. He would have waited until they had actual privacy to ask after her, but the miserable way she looked tugged on his heart strings. The girl practically radiated hopelessness. A sympathetic ear might help.
Even though they had only had two actual conversations, and he had been drunk for one of them, Darian was beginning to view the girl as a friend. He didn't like it when his friends were sad.
"I am feeling fine, Young Master Darian," Cassandra murmured, still looking away from him.
"I don't believe that for a second."
"Regardless, that is my answer to your question."
Her voice had such a bleakness to it. Cassandra must have really loved this Reggie.
"Listen," Darian muttered. "I don't have much experience with what you're going through. Romance has never been a priority for me." Or it hadn't until recently at least. His mind flashed back to his kisses with Elena. "That said, I think it'll work out for the best. Reggie was an ass. You deserved better." He smiled, though she still looked away from him. "Everything will work out in the end."
Cassandra stiffened at that, before looking at him. A strange intensity filled her eyes. Hope warred with desperation. She looked at Darian as if he were her one and only lifeline amidst a stormy sea. It took him aback.
"You promise?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Do you promise that everything will work out for me, no matter what happens?"
Caught off guard, Darian took a moment before responding.
"I don't think I can promise something like that. However, I can promise to help you in whatever way I can."
This seemed to be the answer she was looking for, because Cassandra relaxed and nodded.
"Thank you, Young Master Darian."
"You two seem rather cozy with each other," Bella said in a snide voice, her tone implying something salacious. "I wonder how that happened."
Darian stopped and turned around. He gave Bella a hard look. She turned white at this and faced away from him. Vera, who still held her handmaiden, raised an eyebrow at him. She nodded in Cassandra's direction.
"Later," Darian mouthed to her.
He turned back around and they continued on their way.
***
"I thought you said that the entrance to your secret realm was inside an earthen mound," Lucius said, dumbstruck.
He stared at the sight ahead of them.
"It was when I left less than a week ago," Darian replied.
He also stared ahead, dumbstruck by what he saw.
The mound that had contained the entrance to his secret realm was gone. In its place was a circular raised platform made of black marble. Darian didn't know how large it was, but he guessed that it was wider than his house back on Mt. Wind Dance.
Six black marble pillars surrounded the platform, each equidistant from the others. Runes and symbols were carved into the pillars, connected by lines that formed intricate patterns. There were also these little holes within the pillars. Inside the holes were blue spirit crystals that glowed with power.
A wide ramp led to the top of the platform. The area surrounding the platform had been cleared away for hundreds of feet, replaced by a layer of fine white sand. The sand provided a sharp contrast to the black platform.
It all looked so out of place, it was as if something, or someone, had scooped out some ruin located in a desert and placed it here in the Silverwood. Darian wondered if that was what actually had happened, because he almost couldn't believe that anyone could build something like this in less than a week.
That said, when cultivators were involved, who knew what was possible?
Darian and his friends stood at the edge of the clearing, just before the border where the forest met the white sand, and stared at the platform. He placed Cassandra down on the ground. Vera did the same with Bella. For several long moments, no one said a thing.
"Well," Darian said, breaking the silence. "There's no point in waiting around. Follow me."
With that, he stepped onto the sand. He half expected something to happen the moment he did, but nothing happened. He walked across the sand, which felt strange to him since he wasn't used to it, and headed towards the platform. A moment later, everyone followed him.
When he reached the platform and walked up the ramp, he saw that there was an intricate formation carved into the surface of the platform, the likes of which Darian had never seen before. It was somewhat reminiscent of the formation that had led to his secret realm, but on a much grander scale. It was like comparing a child's attempt at painting to an artistic masterpiece. The difference between the two was just that vast.
His friends each sucked in a breath when they saw the formation. Cassandra did as well.
"It seems as if Astra was busy in my absence," Darian said, studying the formation. "Or her clones were at least."
Laughter rang out from all around them. His friends snapped into combat stances, with Lucius pulling out a sword from his holding bag and Vera pulling out a whip from hers. Darian reacted by folding his arms across the chest. He had recognized the laughter.
"You have a keen eye, young Darian," a voice called out from all around. It was Astra.
A figure dropped from the sky and landed in the middle of the platform. However, to Darian's surprise, it wasn't Astra. Rather, it wasn't Astra as he had seen her before. Her aura felt the same, which she didn't conceal this time, but she looked human.
Astra's human form was that of an athletic young woman a few years Darian's senior, with dusky skin, as well as long and dark curly hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. While her facial features were somewhat feline, she otherwise looked like a normal human. The only hints that this was Astra, other than her aura, was the black diamond that dotted her forehead, and her cat eyes that burned white hot.
Astra wore an outfit similar to his. She wore a red cloth with a gold trim around her chest, providing the barest hint of modesty, as well as a pair of red trousers and a pair of black boots.
What stood out the most to Darian, however, was how similar her features reminded him of his. While they didn't look like twins, they did look like they belonged to the same family. It was uncanny.
"Auntie?" he asked in an astounded voice.
"Of course," the young woman that was Astra said. "Who did you expect?" She spread her arms out wide. "What do you think? I've been waiting for a special occasion to reveal my human form to you."
Darian blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"You looked like my older sister."
Astra appeared right in front of him, as if teleporting, and flicked his forehead.
"Brat," she said. "If you're going to say something like that, you should say I look like your aunt. Then again, I don't blame you for making that mistake, given my beautiful and youthful appearance."
As with her feline form, Astra remained floating in the air as she crossed her legs and sat. A shuffling from beside him reminded Darian that they weren't alone.
"Where are my manners?" he said. Darian gestured to Astra. "Everyone, this is my Auntie Astra." He gestured to his friends. "Auntie, these are my friends and a few of our mortal servants."
Lucius and Vera put away their weapons, before everyone bowed to Astra.
"Greetings Cultivator Astra," Lucius and Vera said at the same time.
The servants remained silent.
"Greetings Cultivators Lucius and Vera," Astra said, propping her head up with her palm. "And mortal servants. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
The others stood up straight. Vera stepped forward, taking the initiative.
"We are pleased to meet you as well, Cultivator Astra" Vera said. "Darian had told us much about you, but his words did you no justice. You are more beautiful than I had imagined." She turned to Darian. "Why didn't you tell us about your auntie's beauty, Darian?"
"Yeah, Darian," Astra called out. "Why didn't you tell your friends about my beauty?"
Darian crossed his arms and didn't respond right away, unsure whether to feel chagrined or amused by Vera's antics. He knew that she had wanted to meet Astra and Ellen because the two liked to tease him. He just didn't think Vera would start from the moment she met one of them.
"And deprive them of the opportunity to witness your beauty unmarred by any preconceived notions?" Darian asked, his tone as dry as the sand around them. "Perish the thought."
"Brat," Astra called him, though she smiled as she did so.
Darian gestured to the platform.
"Auntie," he said. "What is all this?"
"It's a surprise I had planned since before you left," Astra explained. "I knew that you were going to bring guests, so I figured I'd improve some things while you were gone. What do you think? This is much better than the pile of dirt you had before."
Lucius crouched down and ran his hand across the black marble. He froze for a moment.
"This is Heaven Scorned Marble," he said in an awed voice. "I've read about it, but I've never seen it before."
Where had he read about it? The clan library never mentioned any "Heaven Scorned Marble". Darian looked at Astra for explanation.
"It's a material that can sometimes be found in areas where aspiring Immortals had attempted their tribulation, whether or not they succeeded. I had some lying around, so I decided to make use of it."
"Lying around?!" Vera exclaimed. "You can buy half of Crescent Moon City with this much Heaven Scorned Marble! It's impossible to find any in the Myriad Rivers region."
Even the mortal servants looked awed by this, Cassandra in particular. Actually, she looked like she was about to vomit.
Darian looked down at the black marble, or the Heaven Scorned Marble. Maybe his senses were skewed, because it looked and felt like regular marble to him.
"What's so special about it?" he asked, glancing at his friends.
"It's one of the best materials for building formations," Lucius said in a strangled voice. "Any formation carved into Heaven Scorned Marble will be enhanced, and will never degrade. Any clan, sect, or school would pay a fortune to have this." He gave Darian a serious look. "You can never let anyone else know. People would try to take this from you, by force if necessary, and you don't have the strength to defend it just yet."
The air around them heated up, and they all turned to Astra. Her playful demeanor had disappeared, replaced by killing intent.
"They can try," Astra said, her voice felt like claws running down Darian's back. "It won't end well for them, not while I'm here." The killing intent disappeared and she grinned at Darian. "Besides, I carved enough obfuscation and defensive formations into this thing that no one below the Nascent Soul stage will be able to come close to this place without your permission. When I give gifts, I make sure to do so properly."
Darian was both alarmed by her thoughtfulness, and touched. While she might tease him, Astra had consistently helped him ever since they met. He would have to do the same for her, when he had the chance. Not because he felt indebted to her, though he was, but because he wanted to.
"Thank you," he said with complete sincerity. He then cleared his throat. "Now then, shall we get going?"
Everyone nodded, though the others looked a little alarmed. Darian guessed that they weren't used to the aura of a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage. To be fair, Darian wasn't either. However, he was used to Astra.
They all gathered on top of the platform. Astra activated it and the blue spirit crystals flared to life. Darian felt the familiar sensation of entering his secret realm, and arrived a few moments later. Everyone looked a little wobbly, the mortal servants in particular. Cassandra fared better than the other two.
"Is everyone all right?" he asked.
They all said yes, even Bella and Wyatt, despite their pale looks. Darian figured it would be a good idea to get everyone settled in and rested. He led them across the stone bridge leading from the teleportation formation. His friends gasped when they caught sight of the estate. Ellen and Elliot awaited them on the other side of the bridge.
"Greetings, honored guests," they both said, bowing.
Lucius and Vera nodded to the snake twins, while the mortal servants returned the bow. That's when Darian ran into a small problem. When it came to introducing two parties that were strangers to each other, the etiquette was to introduce the stronger party to the weaker one first. However, Ellen and Elliot were his servants, and were lower in status.
Eh, who cared? They were all his friends. Besides, Lucius and Elliot had already met.
"Lucius and Vera," he said, gesturing to the snake twins. "These are my servants and retainers, Ellen and Elliot." He gestured to his friends. "Ellen and Elliot, my friends and their mortal servants."
"A pleasure," Ellen said after straightening up. She wore a warm and welcoming expression. "If you follow me, I will lead you to your rooms. After you are settled in, we will have refreshments available in the dining room."
"If you would like to walk around instead," Elliot said, speaking up next. "I can guide those interested in a tour of the estate."
Darian glanced at his friends. Lucius looked around with eager eyes, while Vera studied the estate. She tapped a finger to her lips.
"You should name this place, Darian," she said. "It's your own little fiefdom. You keep calling it your secret realm or your estate, but that lacks flare. This place deserves a name of some kind."
Darian raised an eyebrow at her.
"Ooh, I like you," Astra said. "I think we'll get along well, Cultivator Vera."
Vera grinned at her.
"She does have a point," Lucius said, stroking his chin. "You should name it, if only to make it truly yours."
Darian coughed. They had a good point. He hadn't considered it like that.
"Maybe later," he said. "Follow Ellen and Elliot to your rooms. I'll join you later."
"You aren't coming with us?" Vera asked. "I'm a little famished after our journey, short as it was."
Darian shook his head.
"No. I need to talk with my father about something."
His friends nodded in understanding. They all followed the snake twins, while Darian went in search of his father.
***
Darian found his father in the same spot where they had their last serious conversation, the one where Darian had questioned whether he was a monster or not. If he kept having serious conversations in this one place, he would have to name it instead of calling it "that spot".
The Speaking Ledge? Conversation Corner? Darian's Place For Serious Discussions?
Damn it. His friends had him thinking of names, and now he couldn't stop. He wanted to name everything in his estate that didn't already have one. This was the opposite problem that Master Nova had, where she had left a lot of the techniques she had created unnamed. He supposed he was lucky that she had named The Nine Gates of Destruction and the Fists of the Mortal Flame.
His father sat at…Sunset View, Darian was going to call it that because it was a great place to watch the sunset. It was just past noon now, but it still had a great view. His father sat at Sunset View, with a pot of tea and two cups by his side. He seemed to be waiting for Darian.
Darian joined his father. Without a word, his father poured them both cups of steaming hot tea and they sat there drinking in silence. Neither one spoke for several minutes.
"Astra informed me that your grandparents told you the truth about Immortal Nova," Darian's father said, breaking the silence.
"They did," Darian confirmed. "Why didn't you ever tell me? I can understand why Grandfather Darin kept silent. It was part of the deal to save your life. I even understand why Grandmother Astoria remained quiet as well, despite her objections to the arrangement. She was commanded by both our Patriarch and our Honored Ancestors. What I don't understand is why you didn't say anything."
Darian felt a familiar pulsing in his chest as his anger grew. He would have to ask Astra about it. It had never happened before, but after his fight with Zayne, he always felt the pulsing, the drumming, whenever he became angry enough. At first, he had dismissed it. However, it had happened enough that he knew something strange was going on.
That was for later, however. Right now, he needed to talk with his father.
"You knew how much I wanted to know about my mother, how much I wanted even the tiniest bit of information about her, yet you remained quiet. All these years, you never gave me the smallest hint about her." Darian gestured to the secret realm around them. "Even after all this, you never said a word. Why? Why didn't you tell me that Master Nova was my mother?"
Darian glared at his father.
"So it's understandable that my parents remained silent, since they were ordered by our Honored Ancestors but I don't get the same courtesy?" Darren said in a dry voice. "That's quite the double standard, my son."
"It's different," Darian said with a scowl. "Grandfather and Grandmother are still strangers to me. You are not. You're my father. You raised me. You and Stella."
Darian felt a stab in his heart as he realized that both of his parental figures, one of whom was actually his mother pretending to be someone else, had lied to him his entire life.
"I couldn't, Darian," his father said with a sigh. "I wanted to, believe me. I did want to tell you. However, I couldn't."
He set his tea cup down and tapped his temple.
"When Immortal Nova first came to our clan with her deal, your grandmother and I objected. However, your grandfather and the rest of the clan council wanted to accept. Even our Honored Ancestors became involved. When I saw how things would turn out, I pretended to agree with them. In truth, I had planned to tell you everything when you reached the right age." He grimaced. "However, one of our Honored Ancestors realized my plan and put a seal on me. That seal prevented me from mentioning the truth to you. No matter how hard I tried, the words could never leave my lips. The seal lifted the moment I found out that you knew the truth. That's why we can speak freely about it now."
Darian stared at his father.
"I pushed against the seal as much as I could," Darren continued. "However, if I pushed too hard, it resulted in a kind of backlash that would leave me in a fugue state."
"Wait a moment," Darian said, interrupting his father. "That's what caused all those episodes of yours? I thought that had been a result of your injury, or the medicine you took to heal it."
He remembered back to all the times his father had fallen into a listless state, unaware of the world around him. It broke his heart to see his father like that.
Darren thought about it for a moment.
"It was, in an indirect manner I suppose," he said with a shrug. "When you came to me with the news that you had become Immortal Nova's disciple, I knew it would be a matter of time before you found out the truth." He wore a chagrined expression. "I tried to speed things up by telling Cultivator Astra what I knew, but she remained silent. She wanted you to focus on your training first, though I believe she would have told you eventually, if no one else had."
Darian nodded. His auntie had said the same thing to him as well.
After that, they both fell silent. Darian tried to process what his father had just told him, while his father focused on his own thoughts. The pulsing and the drumming within Darian's chest had died down by this point.
"Why do you think they went that far?" Darian asked after a while. "Master Nova and our Honored Ancestors, I mean. They were all so focused on keeping the truth from me, from my mother's identity to the seal on my spirit root, that they were willing to put a seal on you to prevent you from telling me the truth. Why?"
His father didn't respond right away.
"Immortal Nova had specific plans for your upbringing," he said after a while. "This involved raising you in what she considered the right environment. Our Honored Ancestors must have agreed with her plans, and the reasoning behind them, because they made sure those plans were enforced."
"But what was the point?" Darian asked, frustrated. "To make me suffer? That's what Grandmother Astoria said. That was the reason why my spirit root was sealed, and why I was ostracized by our clan. Is that the right environment Master Nova meant? If so, why? Why was it the right environment? What did she hope to accomplish?"
Darren took a moment before replying.
"Cultivator Astra will have more insight into that than me," he said. "She knows Immortal Nova better than I do." He gave Darian a wry smile. "Your mother and I didn't talk much in the one night we spent together."
That's when Darian realized that his parents had only come together for the purpose of conceiving him. His father spoke about Immortal Nova as if she were a stranger, and not the mother of his child. There had been no love or emotion involved at all. It had just been a cold and clinical arrangement.
This disturbed him.
At the same time, Darian realized that his father had suffered as well, thanks to Master Nova's machinations, maybe more so than Darian himself. It was hard to compare. Still, his heart went out to his father.
"I suspect that it has to do with you being an Immortal's child," Darren continued. "You were born with more power than most. It's easy for that kind of power to twist and corrupt you, if you're not careful. Ask Cultivator Astra about it. She's had more experience with the children of Immortals than me." He paused, as if about to say something else, but then shook his head. "No, that's enough for now. You should focus on your training first. We can discuss the rest later."
Darian took a moment to really think about what it meant to be an Immortal's child. It was difficult. Thanks to his upbringing, as well as his training, he knew that his view on what was and what wasn't normal was skewed. Even for a cultivator, Darian suspected that he was strange.
He would have to ask Astra about that. The list of things he needed to discuss with his auntie kept growing longer and longer. The Flamebound Gauntlets, the pulsing, Master Nova's intentions. It was enough to give him a headache.
He decided to worry about it later. Right now, he would rather focus on his father.
"I'm sorry," Darian said. "About everything you went through because of…Well, because of me. I-…"
"Don't," his father said, interrupting him. He spoke with such vehemence, that it caught Darian by surprise. "Don't apologize for being born. You aren't at fault here. While everything that happened was unpleasant, to say the least, I regret none of it." He looked at Darian. "If I had to go through all that again, I would, because it brought you into my life. You are my son, and I love you. While it hasn't always been easy, and I have failed you in many ways, being your father has been one of the greatest joys of my life."
Darian's eyes stung, and he felt a lump in his throat. He looked away, so his father wouldn't see the tears in his eyes.
"I love you too, Father."
After that, there wasn't anything else to say. The two of them drank the rest of the tea in silence.