The Ballad Of A Semi-Benevolent Dragon

Interlude 2: The Mirror

Kagami watched her lover and daughter act like idiots and couldn't help but smile.

"Agh!" Elerion clutched at his stomach in dramatic fashion and toppled to the ground. "I am defeated!"

Hikari cackled and struck a pose atop his downed form, stick held aloft, and lone fox tail wagging happily. "Hah! You're not match for me, daddy!"

Alas, her daughter had not accounted for his ruthless cunning. Snickering, he twisted and got to his feet, holding her upside down by her ankles as she flailed away at him with her stick. Her flailing achieved precisely nothing. What rudimentary magical reinforcement she could use on her stick had no hope of overcoming her father's natural durability.

"Treachery!" she cried. "You surrendered!"

"Did I?" Elerion smirked. "I only said I was defeated. I never said I surrendered. Always make sure you obtain a formal and public declaration of surrender."

Hikari's eyes narrowed. "I will remember this... father."

Elerion reeled back as if struck. "Father? What happened to calling me daddy?"

"Treacherous people don't get to be called daddy."

Elerion put her back down and clutched at his chest. "Your wounds strike more deeply than any weapon." He covered his face with his hands. "Even I, the High King, cannot help but weep at your cruelty."

Hikari scoffed. "You're just faking, daddy."

He moved his hands and smirked. "You're calling me daddy again!"

"..." Hikari made a face, and Kagami could tell that she was very seriously considering kicking her father in the shin. Only the knowledge that she'd probably break her foot doing it kept her from lashing out. "No wonder Uncle Marcus says you're a schemer, daddy."

"I only scheme when I have to. But your Uncle Marcus? He schemes because it's fun." Elerion patted her on the head, and her fox ears twitched until he paused to give them a fond scratch. "You know, we were supposed to go fishing at the lake until you decided to ambush me."

"It's practice." Hikari nodded sagely. "Uncle Doomwing says that because I'm tiny and weak, trying to fight people directly would be a bad idea."

"Well, he's not wrong," Elerion said as they continued their short walk to the shores of the lake. "But you have to realise that compared to Doomwing, just about everyone is tiny and weak."

"Not Aunt Dreamsong. She said she could totally beat him in a fight." Hikari abandoned walking in favour of climbing Elerion like a tree and riding on his shoulders. More than once Kagami had wondered why their daughter didn't do that to her more often, but Hikari had very patiently explained that Kagami was an awful tree and an even worse horse. Elerion, however, was an excellent tree and an even better horse. Kagami hadn't been sure whether to be amused or annoyed by that. Then again, Elerion has much taller than her, and his shoulders were far broader.

"Don't tell your Uncle Doomwing she said that," Elerion said. "Otherwise, he might actually fight her just to see if she can."

Kagami reached over to catch the ribbon that had fallen out of Hikari's hair. While her daughter had her piercing green eyes, her hair, tail, and fox ears were the same golden shade as her Elerion's hair. Hikari was a bundle of energy, but she also liked to keep her hair long, which meant this ribbon was only the most recent in a long line of ribbons that had been lost or mangled in the line of duty.

"Mommy," Hikari asked. "Who do you think would win in a fight between Uncle Doomwing and Aunt Dreamsong?"

"If the fight were to take place in the dreaming world or in their minds, I suspect your aunt would win. However, your uncle would win if the battle took place in the physical world. I suppose it depends on whether or not he has developed magic that can keep the fight in the physical world. Knowing him, he probably has several spells or even runes specifically for that."

"Doomwing never did like to be underprepared," Elerion said, chuckling. His gaze went to the water ahead of them. "Now remember what we all agreed to beforehand."

"No magic while fishing," Hikari said dutifully. "Because you know you'll lose if we allow it."

"Yes, dear," Kagami teased. "You are skilled in a great many things, but fishing isn't one of them."

Elerion made a face. "You two are just like Doomwing. He's all 'magic exists to be used', so of course there's nothing wrong with using lightning to electrocute the fish in a lake or using his nova dragon powers to just pull all the fish out of the lake. You want to know the worst bit? During my training, he would never share any of the food he caught with me. He'd eat it in front of me and say that it was motivation for me to do better."

"It worked, didn't it?" Kagami asked.

"Yes, because I didn't want to starve." Elerion huffed. "You know, I even tried poisoning him once. He threw me into a pit full of monsters as punishment, not because I tried to poison him but because he found the attempt offensively awful. As in, he was insulted that I believe such weak poison would have any effect on him."

"In fairness," Kagami pointed out. "Most people would be happy to avoid being eaten there."

"Bah. If Doomwing was going to eat me, he'd have done it when I first showed up. It didn't take me very long to realise that, at the very least, he found training me amusing."

"What a mature attitude for a child to have. You would have been... twelve or so when this happened, right?" Kagami asked.

He nodded. "It was either get eaten by some up-jumped drake or approach him for training. At least if he ate me, I'd be eaten by a legend."

They stopped by the edge of the lake, and one of the royal guards approached with three fishing rods.

"I trust they have all been tested for magic," Elerion said.

The guardsman saluted crisply. "Yes, Your Majesty. They are free of any magic."

"What a suspicious man I've fallen in love with," Kagami drawled. "Do you really think I would go so far as to secretly enchant my fishing rod beforehand?"

He gave her a flat stare. "I love you, Kagami, but you absolutely would do that." He eased their daughter off his shoulders and gave her a grin. "As would you, Hikari."

The little girl cackled unashamedly. "Uncle Doomwing says he'll teach me a really hard to detect spell for attracting fish."

"Is that so?" Elerion scowled. "He never taught me anything like that."

"He said you'd say that, and he wanted me to tell you that he never taught you because you're awful at anything that isn't enhancement magic." Hikari giggled. "Also, he wants me to win, so he can see you suffer."

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"..." Elerion rolled his eyes. "And he wonders why I don't invite him drinking but I'll take Marcus."

"It could also be due to the fact that he's gigantic and would flatten the place you're drinking in."

"That too."

The fishing trip concluded with Kagami's effortless victory and Elerion's despair. Her living legend of a lover had managed to catch a grand total of one fish. Hikari had brought in two although both had been smaller than Elerion's lone fish. Kagami, however, had brought in four fish, all of decent size. They had cooked and eaten their fish on the shores of the lake, and there was a wonderful cosiness to it that made Kagami wish she could spend more time doing things like this with the people she loved and less time ruling her people.

Alas, the Fith Age had shown that when left to their own devices, the kitsune had a tendency to make... unfortunate decisions.

In typical fashion, Hikari had eaten well and then promptly fallen asleep. Elerion was carrying her on his back as they returned to the palace. As they walked back, she could tell the exact moment he set aside Elerion the father and once more took up the mantle of Elerion the High King.

His back straightened, his eyes shone, and despite the grey in his hair, he moved with the vigour of a man in the very prime of his life. This was Elerion the Valiant, the High King who had unified more than a dozen kingdoms beneath his rule and had brought peace and prosperity to millions of people. It was also a mantle he had to wear now that they were no longer alone and were instead moving through the streets toward the palace with the royal guard clearing a path for them.

The people looked at him in awe and reverence. In their eyes, he was a living legend, a man who had survived the training of a primordial dragon and had used that training to slay a lesser dragon while still a teenager. He had won battle after battle and had proven himself against all manner of foes from dragons and hydras to vampires, werewolves, and sea monsters. As long as he lived, his people were absolutely certain that all would be well, that the peace and prosperity he had brought would continue.

But that was the thing.

For all his strengths, Elerion was still only human. His great power meant he would live longer than most men, but he would be fortunate indeed to see more than a century. His people were worried about what would happen when he passed, and they were right to be concerned. To unify his kingdoms, Elerion had taken multiple wives. Each of those wives had given him several children, which meant there were multiple people with claims to the throne he sat upon.

Of course, Elerion was no fool. He had codified the laws of succession and had publicly proclaimed Altarius, the eldest son of his first wife, as his successor. The plan was to have his other children occupy positions similar to dukes and have them govern their own kingdoms, albeit under the overall rule of Altarius himself whose kingdom was currently the largest and strongest of those that Elerion ruled. But Kagami knew how easily such intentions could be swept aside. Her mother had perished at the end of the Fifth Age, and Kagami had been her official successor.

Yet she had still been forced to fight a long and bloody battle against her siblings for rule over the kitsune. It had been a battle they could ill afford, and if not for Dreamsong's support and aid, Kagami wasn't sure she would have survived, never mind won, the battle over the succession. She feared that the moment Elerion died, a similar battle would erupt with his various children warring amongst each other for rule over the kingdoms.

Kagami had no intention of getting Hikari involved in that conflict, but that didn't mean Hikari would be able to stay out of it. Hikari was only a child now, but she was Kagami's daughter, and Kagami ruled the kitsune. Should Hikari wish, she could call upon a force equal to or greater than any of her half-siblings. To make matters more complicated, Hikari genuinely liked most of her half-siblings. If they went to war with each other... her daughter's kind heart would break.

Kagami had already informed the various factions that she had every intention of upholding Elerion's desires and backing Altarius as the next High King. She had known the young man and his mother for years now, and she was on good terms with both. There was no great romantic love between the High Queen and Elerion, but the two of them greatly respected each other and viewed each other as trustworthy friends. They matched each other well, with the High Queen handling matters at court while Elerion acted more freely. More than once, Kagami had used her own... resources to aid the High Queen, and there was a firm understanding between them that in exchange for Kagami backing Altarius, Altarius would see to it that there would always be a place for Hikari and the kitsune in the lands Elerion ruled.

Of course, that support had also made her enemies amongst the other would-be successors and their families. They viewed her as a threat, and she had no doubt that they would take more direct action once Elerion passed. But she would be ready for them, and she would make sure that Hikari was ready too. Her daughter was young, yes, but in time, she would grow stronger than any human could ever be. Kagami could feel it. Hikari was not her only child, simply the youngest, but she had the potential to surpass her other children.

If only the politics amongst the kitsune wasn't even worse than amongst the humans. As cut-throat as it could be in Elerion's court, there was a reason that Kagami rarely brought Hikari back to the kitsune homeland, and even then, she entrusted her daughter's care to Dreamsong when she couldn't see to her personally.

"You are worrying again," Elerion said quietly. "And I can tell what you're worrying about." His lips twitched. "You worry too much."

"Perhaps you don't worry enough."

"The matter of the succession has been settled, and I've also spoken to Marcus and Doomwing about it. They have agreed to enforce it. I doubt anyone wants to fight Marcus, and I know for a fact that absolutely nobody is going to pick a fight with Doomwing."

"I just..." Kagami sighed. "I worry." She looked at their daughter who was snoring away on Elerion's back. "If only people could just... get along. That would be great, wouldn't it?"

"It would be, yes." Elerion chuckled. "But people are people. Unless you make them, I doubt that'll ever happen."