"You have nothing to apologize for, future daughter-in-law," she said with a bright smile, causing Ysevel to blush a little. "Ten years later, and the thought still makes you blush? Ooooh, to be young again," Mom said playfully.
"You're not that old, Siraye," Ysevel replied with a chortle. "The fuck I'm not. I've got at least three centuries on you," Mom said, blowing a raspberry.
"Riiiight, of course," Ysevel nodded sardonically, prompting me to chuckle at the exchange. "I've missed this, you know?" I said lightly between laughs. "What do you mean?" Ysevel asked. "I mean, all this talk of dragons and potentially realm-ending events gets exhausting after a while," I said with an exaggerated sigh. "It's just nice to know there are still things we can laugh about. Simple things, you know?" I continued, prompting the two of them to nod in agreement.
"You're absolutely right. It almost reminds me of the time when Athar let slip that he'd seen Devyr's true face to Kalia," Ysevel chuckled, recalling the look of fear in his eyes. "Oh, yeah! Although the look on Kalia's face when Devyr asked to come along to the Gramm Isles was priceless as well," I chuckled, though Mom was staring at us in mild confusion.
"Sorry, what's all this about? I thought Kalia and Devyr always looked like that," she said with a blank stare. "No, not always. It took us years to convince her to show her true face to us," Ysevel replied. "Whaaaat?" Mom asked with genuine surprise.
"To them, showing their true face is a sign that they see you as either a lover or a part of their family, though the latter isn't any sort of guarantee, either," I added, but instead of a look of shock, Mom's look of surprise contorted into a shit-eating grin.
"Looks like we might be having a triple-wedding then," she said, causing both Ysevel and I to blush, neither of us knowing what she was talking about. "What? You didn't think Bernar would be dumb enough to let Leona slip away, did you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"N-No, it's just…" I trailed off, but Mom waved dismissively. "If you think anyone in Coltend is going to challenge her decision after what she pulled in Harut, you're horribly mistaken," she chuckled, prompting us to do the same, but with a much heavier weight of anxiety behind it.
Ysevel looked up at the sky and laughed softly to herself. "Gods, can you imagine Bernar at a wedding, let alone their first dance? Wait, does he even remember the lessons we gave him?" she chuckled, forcing the mental image into my head.
"Was that part of what he was doing in Caegwen? Ohohohooo, I'm never letting him live that down," I smiled wickedly, getting a laugh out of the two of them.
"Well, there's still a lot left to do before that happens," Mom began, bringing the conversation back to a more tangible level quickly. "You're right," I said, feeling reality settle in quickly. "We have to save Ed. I just hope we can find a way to make that happen," I added with a nod.
Mom and Ysevel looked at me with a mixture of pride and encouragement that they knew I needed. "Don't worry, my love. We'll bring him back. You did promise, after all," Ysevel said, reaching out and gripping my hand tightly. "You're right, I did," I nodded, knowing she'd heard my silent promise from earlier.
Mom, however, put a hand on her chin pensively, and I could feel a slight sense of worry bleeding through our connection. "I know you're both smart enough to know that our victory on the Isles was only the beginning, but there is something I'm curious about," she began, prompting us to pay her our full attention.
I already knew what she was going to say, since the same question was burning in my mind as well.
"Why hasn't he revealed himself fully?" I asked for her, getting a nod in response. "Precisely. If he's powerful enough to possess a body to that degree, then what's been holding him back all this time? Why hasn't he made an appearance now that he knows there are more Wraithborn?" she asked, adding more substance to my question.
The three of us considered the possibilities for a few moments, but there was only one answer we could come to collectively. "It's because he can't," Ryfon's voice came from the doorway, having already caught our entire conversation prior to revealing his presence and answering what we had already guessed at.
"Grandfather," Ysevel rose and gave him a warm hug, causing him to smile warmly as he patted the top of her head. "You three were correct in your assessment from earlier, but there's a bit more to it than that," he added, gesturing for Ysevel to return to her seat while he moved to lean his elbows on the railing behind him.
"You see, Mideia is far more cunning than you might think," he began, regarding us seriously for a moment. "He knows that he could reveal himself if he wanted to, but put yourself in his position for a moment and consider this: would you willingly expose yourself to those who have spent a thousand years hunting you?" he asked, his question reminding me a lot of how Taegin used to teach us in Codrean.
"I definitely wouldn't, but the fact that he possessed Balgrim, Meliss, and Ed must mean there was some trace of him left behind, right?" I replied, but instead of giving me a nod, Ryfon shook his head. "Unfortunately, we would have done that already if we had a way of doing that without alerting his allies, most of whom are almost as terrifying as he is," he replied gravely.
"Are there others like him?" I asked, causing Ryfon to scoff. "Mideia has had thousands of years to build his list of allies, many of whom we still don't know who or what they are," he lifted a hand to suggest a shrug.
"In all honesty, there may be a handful out there who are even more terrifying than he is. After all, he's held firm control over countless realms from the shadows, and we'd be doing ourselves no favors by thinking he was able to do that alone," he suggested, pushing off the railing and moving toward us. "Then what do we do?" Ysevel asked in a tone that suggested she was hopeful we could beat him.
As he dropped to a knee, I realized that even then, he was still about a head taller than I was sitting down. "The return of the Wraithborn is nothing short of historic, and while the others and I understand the immense pressure this puts on you all, we will need your help if we're going to deal a meaningful blow to his machinations," Ryfon said, his tone carrying a weight that forced me to swallow dryly.
"But right now…" he trailed off, pausing for a moment to consider his next words. Seeing the worried look on his face, Ysevel leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"Haaaa, forgive this old dragon, will you? It's been so long since we've had any semblance of hope," he smiled tiredly, as if the thousandyears he'd spent alone in the cave were finally catching up to him.
"Don't worry, Ryfon. We'll take care of things on our end," Bernar chimed in from the doorway. "You're here, too? What is this? A repeat of earlier this morning?" I asked jokingly, getting a chuckle out of him as he walked over to me.
"Hey, shit-bird, I'm a Wraithborn, too, remember? I've been listening in this entire time, so don't act all surprised to see me," he said, giving me a light flick on the forehead. "Hey!" I said, shoving his hand away and rubbing the spot he'd flicked. "You're welcome. Anyway, Mom was filling me in this entire time, but I think I might know someone who can help. Or, at the very least, he'll know someone who can," he continued, entirely ignoring the raised eyebrow from Ryfon.
I felt a sudden tug on my core that immediately reminded me of the one I'd felt in the Gramm Isles. "I-It wa-..." I stammered, suddenly realizing the source of that tug. "Yes, it was me, Thoma," Ryfon said idly, though his eyes were still fixed on my older brother. "You've met someone I'd never expected to be alive after all this time. I just can't believe I didn't recognize him when I looked into your core the first time," he said cryptically.
Bernar took a moment to understand what he meant by that, but the immediate pulse of our connection to Ryfon filled in a lot of the details we seemed to be missing from Bernar's time in Harut.
Our eyes collectively widened at the realization.