12.1 Heiassa

General Summary

Day 110

After gathering some elvish goods to bring back to the Keep, we descend into the archives and simply...slip through the gate, emerging in the quiet underground chamber back at Lone Mountain Keep. The room is empty and untouched - no one else would enter it without me. Strangely, there is no small pile of letters waiting at the gate. I wonder if both sides missed our appointment this last moon.   We emerge, blinking, into the daylight outside the Keep. The town has grown considerably since we left - there are new buildings that rise several storeys high, and signs of a few hundred people. Trael’s mission must have been very successful.   Two children stare at us, looking startled. They bow, awkwardly, before one elbows the other, who runs to grab a horn and sound it. Evidently they have been briefed on how to alert the village that we’ve returned. They stand somewhat nervously in silence while we wait, until I ask their names (Kaeva and Naru) and their stories. They’ve been here for a few weeks and they like it here - Trael brought them and they’re happier here than where they were before. I don’t press any further; that’s the best answer I could hope for and I’m happy to hear it.   After a few minutes, Rosalia and Linai come running towards us and I hug her tightly. We start getting our new community members (Petra, Raelli, Camellia) settled down while they tell us about Trael’s success and the growing village.   Then, I hear something I’ve only heard in the dreaming - enormous leathery wings flapping in the distance. My heart skips; this could be either really, really bad or really, really good. Judging from Rosalia’s lack of concern, I know that Tira must have joined them...hopefully with a powerful ally.   She leads us to a wider open space, just as an enormous dragon descends into what I now realize is a landing ground. He is stunningly powerful - pewter silver scales and 40 metres from nose to the tip of his tail.   But leaping down from his back and crashing into me with a breathless gasp is Tira. And alongside that breathless gasp of relief and joy is my name - the same gentle exhale and sigh of happiness I hear everytime long-lost people find one another. Morning, and now Heiassa. How many other elves have two heart names at once?   Pulling back, she introduces me to her companion. His name is Haze, and he speaks courteously before lifting off to give us some time alone. Tira retrieves some things from a light harness around his chest and gives me a familiar blade. It is young, but it is mine. Daybreaker.     The family retires to my tower, where Tira has been for only a few days. The ‘war room’ is more of a dining room, with a table to sit at and low chairs, but it is fine for an evening of conversation and catching up.   The war front isn’t moving but the fighting has grown more intense. Something has stirred in the Collective. There’s a desperation and lack of organization - seems like somethings have changed within the Collective that we don’t fully understand. Last I heard, we were seeing new tactics that we didn’t expect from the Collective. It feels like their priorities have shifted to places they’ve previously ignored or bypassed.   Tira has been speaking to the Kindred and persuading them that to be neutral is to accept fate. In the last war, they avoided getting involved. This time, some of them are willing to take our side. The Kindred are mostly large, winged humanoids which diverged from true dragons millenia ago. Only a few true dragons remain (Haze is one of them), and many of them are young, though many also remember a time well before the Barrier.   The Kindred as a whole are organized into nine clans, each with their own mountain peak. They consider themselves close to the stars, so the more powerful clans are higher up. When a clan challenges another, they might end up moving from one peak to another as their status changes. A Council of representatives from all clans decided that they would not act as one in our war, but clans may do as they wish. Three of the lesser clans have joined us, including Haze’s.   Haze allowed Tira to cross the Barrier, though it also took a powerful circle of weather wizards to help open a path for them. True dragons can cross the Barrier with help.   But like Lyssa, Tira has sworn her own oaths to a new people. She and Haze have been bonded together as partners, and she expects that their lives are now entangled such that she will live as long as he, and if one dies, so will the other. In a way, this makes him part of our family now, but he doesn’t have the cultural understanding of what that means.   As the evening deepens, we relax more into exchanging stories of how we all found one another. Alder is stiff at first, and lightens up as Tira berates him for his formality.   “She’s smiling. She’s laughing. I thought we’d lost her and you all brought her back,”   The night devolves further into laughter, teasing, and many felt balls being tossed around. The family is finally converging. In this moment at least, all is well.