At dinner that night Tate was reunited with his father and brother. His father had greeted him with a smile and a simple shake of his hand. "Welcome back son."
Dian had practically lifted him off his feet with his hug. He didn't say anything at first just put his little brother, who was bigger than he was, down on his feet and grinned at him.
"Ah-It's good to see you." He finally said.
Tate smiled back at him. "It's good to see you too."
They sat down to dinner and simply enjoyed each other's company. He looked around at his family. He couldn't help but smile as he watched and listened to them. They asked him endless questions about the details of the last five years.
"I'd like to meet, Aliya. Do you think you could arrange that?" His mother asked his father.
His father nodded. "I will ask the Emperor to get her a special pass from the Academy."
Lady Kira nodded in satisfaction. She looked back at Tate. "I want to get to know this girl, you've made her sound wonderful."
Tate nodded. "She's a good child. It would mean a lot to me if you took an interest in her mother since she has no mother of her own."
She looked down and smiled. "Of course, dear, anything you want."
Dian looked at Tate and asked the big question. "So what are your plans now that you are back? Do you have your own idea or has the Emperor already given you a position?"
Tate's smile faded and he had no idea how to answer that question.
His father spoke up. "I believe it is the Emperor's intention to give Tate a position as an Advisor at the Academy."
Tate felt his heart stop in his chest. Just hearing those words made him feel empty and caged. He tried to force the smile back on his face. He looked at his father trying to mask his feelings. "If that is the Emperor's wish it would be an honor."
Lord Delmont was pleased by his son's words. "I'm certain he will summon you sometime tomorrow to discuss your future, so be ready.
After dinner was over the cozy family atmosphere was broken up. His mother and father wished them good night. He and Dian went into the same sitting room they had used the day their mother was so angry about his impending departure.
A fire was quickly lit and Tate requested that the servants not light the candles. The room was soon dark and warm. The brothers sat opposite each other, both reclining in their respective chairs, their bodies angled towards the flames.
"Tell me about you," Tate asked after they were good and settled. "I want to know how you have been these years. Have you received a promotion yet?"
Dian shook his head. "As terrible as it is to say I'm waiting for someone to die. I've gone as far as I can until there is a vacant judge's seat. However, I'm in no rush and I like where I am. I get to argue the case before the people, I've always liked that the best."
Tate nodded. "You've always been the champion of justice. I'm proud that you are my brother you know. Even when I was in the Corps I was proud to tell the others that the 'White Lion' was my brother. They were always very impressed."
Dian about choked. "How did you know that nickname?"
"I just heard it somewhere," Tate said vaguely.
Dian grumbled. "I thought I'd gotten my friends to stop saying that, it's embarrassing."
"It suits you, the 'White Lion' of justice."
They were silent for a while. Dian was actually quite touched. His little brother hardly spoke of his time when he was in the Academy and then away in the war. It warmed his heart to know that Tate had thought of him and spoken of him. Dian was very regretful of their past. When they were children they were very close. Dian had started drifting away from his little brother in search of more mature playmates when Tate hatched Aquana. After that there were no more opportunities to play with his little brother, to tease him, to just be with him.
The little boy who used to cling to his leg crying when he fell down and scraped his palms had been sent off. The next time Dian had seen him his brother was a different person. He wasn't sure how it was possible to make a child of six so hardened but that was what had happened. On the first break Tate was allowed to come home, he'd barely spoken to anyone. His little dragonling had tried to bite Dian if he came close to Tate.
Tate, who used to follow him everyone had sat by himself looking out windows and up at the sky. Dian had been angry for a long time and blamed Tate for the change. He'd stopped trying to speak to him when he came home, he hadn't written him any letters.
When he was shipped off to the war, no words could describe the terror that had gripped Dian's chest. He had been in his final year of the Royal Academy when he'd gotten the news. It was on that day he discovered that he still loved his little brother very much and all that resentment turned to regret. He'd vowed then and there that the next time he saw Tate he would apologize for his coldness in the past and make an effort to be a better big brother. That Tate had bragged about him to his colleagues even though Dian was still not speaking to him or writing to him at that time made him feel very bittersweet.
Dian had not been able to know that the next time he'd see his brother it would be in a situation where it was unknown if he would ever wake up. Dian had learned a valuable lesson. He made the decision to care for his brother deeply but not attach himself too closely. This had proved to be the right choice for him when Tate was again sent away from them. This time there had not even been the option of writing to him. Dian had sent him off with the sincerest of well wishes and hopes but expecting nothing in return.
He could have all the positive feelings towards Tate he wanted. He could selfishly love him all by himself, it did not require a close relationship in reality, and that's why knowing Tate thought of him from time to time made him very happy.
"Oh, I'm also courting Jillian Torrence"
Tate sat up in surprise. "Really?"
Dian nodded. "Yes-um I know you were her good friend, I hope this doesn't upset you."
Tate waved his hand. "Of course not, I never thought of her that way. I'm happy for you both. I'd love to have her as a sister-in-law."
Dian grinned. "It's not to that point yet, but I could see it happening soon"
Tate grinned, the shadow playing over his face. "I'll look forward to it."
Dain looked at him. "What about the girl, Aliya right?"
Tate shook his head. "Never, I don't think that way about her at all. She's...like a sister to me. I care about her a lot but in that way." He shuddered. "It's a little repulsive actually."
Dian nodded. "I understand, I'm with Mother, I'd like to meet her. Any little sister of yours is a little sister of mine after all."
Tate grinned. "Thank you for thinking that way. She's a wonderful girl. I hope she's making friends. She had lots of friends in the servants of the castle we lived in but she had to leave them all behind. She deserves friends and family, I want all of those things for her."
"I'm sure they will come in time. You said at dinner that she's a very accomplished Dragon Rider and that her dragon is exceptional as well."
Tate nodded, a fond look on his face. "They may even surpass Aquana and myself."
Dian was surprised to hear him say this. "That's high praise indeed." Tate was long hailed as a prodigy, if it had to do with dragons Tate was an expert from day one. Dian had heard stories all his life of masters coming to Tate when he was still a child for advice or recommendations on everything from flying practices to healing their dragons.
Tate knew it too, he didn't put himself out there as the expert but it was simply the facts. Dain was scared to ask the next question he had, but in the privacy they shared in this moment he couldn't help but ask. "Are you going to be okay, being an advisor?"
Tate sighed loudly, his head dropping back until he was looking up at the darkness above him. "I can't answer that question."
"Why not?" Dian pushed.
"Because the answer can only be one thing, even if that is not the real answer. My mind, body, and abilities belong to the Empire. I will do what the Emperor wishes, his wishes are my wishes." Empty were the words and even emptier the tone in which they were said.
Dian looked at him. "I know I shouldn't say this and I know how we've been raised. I'm lucky in that I found what I liked early in life and it was an acceptable route to take for a son of Lord Delmont. You-you had a life you loved that you can't go back to. Don't you think you've given the Empire enough?"
Tate sat up and shushed him. "Someone might overhear you." He hissed frantically looking at the door.
Dian sat up too, facing him. "I don't care. For once I'm going to say the truth. You. Have. Done. Enough. You need to find something that makes you happy now whatever that may be. You should just do what you want."
Tate looked at him with a sadness that Dian would never understand. "You don't understand, Dian. What would I do? I don't know what to do?"
"You don't want anything, really?" Dian said unconvinced.
"Well...there is one thing I want to do."
"What is it?"
Tate didn't answer, he looked away.
"Fine, don't tell me, but whatever it is just go do it."
Tate took a deep breath. "I'm going to try. I have to talk to the Emperor first."
Dian sighed at his hardheadedness. "Fine, fine, do what you feel is right, but I'm telling you. You are almost twenty-four years old it's time you found something you wanted to do with your life."