Del Bar, Two weeks after the war's end

"You think something happened to them?" Leif asks Claudia as he sat across from her on the porch, struggling to peel the potato and not cut his hand in the process. "Your mama has been staring at the pathway leading to the house for a long time."

"I'm sure they're fine, it takes time traveling from place to place, especially somewhere as far as Xadia." The older teen assures him. "Right now they've probably barely managed to cross into Del Bar and are on their way here."

"I sure hope so, I really wanna see Soren again."

"I know, me too."

It had been a few days since they received Soren's letter, and Claudia never thought she'd ever see her own grandfather collapse on the ground and break down crying like that before after they had read aloud the contents. She was just so glad her brother and their family were alright, along with the soldiers who decided to desert to stand with Duren and the deserting Katolians. Though she wasn't sure what Aric was going to do when he finds out that nearly the entire army save for the deserters were turned to mindless stone monsters.

"When he gets home, do we need to tell him about what Aric was doing?" Leif asks as he dropped his newly peeled potato into the large bucket before grabbing a new one to start peeling it. "I don't want Soren to get thrown in jail for punching my big brother, even if he deserves it."

"He's gonna find out eventually, either someone ends up telling him or he actually sees Aric storming here demanding we hand you over." Claudia says with a shrug. "We can't keep this from him or the family who had no idea about it, but we can try to keep him from getting locked up and keep him from trying to punch your brother and uncle in the face."

"They're coming!" They hear someone yell from the trees. "Our soldiers are back!"

Lissa, who had been sitting near Claudia and Leif, immediately leapt off her chair and bolted down the stairs of the house. Leif immediately abandons his potato peeling to run after her, running ahead and giving a loud whoop.

"Soren! Soren!" The little prince yells when he sees the older teen, just dismounting from his horse to crash into his legs. "You're back! And alive!"

"With some barely healing ribs!" Soren laughs as he bends a bit to try and pry Leif off. "What are you doing here so far from the castle?"

"Long story, tell ya later." Leif responds as he latches to his leg. "Did you see elves? Were they nice? Oh did you see a unicorn or a griffon? Aric says those don't exist anymore but I think he's lying, 'cause those are too tough to kill!"

"Well I am curious to know what you are doing so far from home. And to answer your question, I -"

"SOREN!" The two look up to see Lissa and Claudia racing towards them.

"Oh my baby!" Lissa cries as she rushes forward, tackling her son into a hug. "Oh my god you're okay!"

"Ma! Ma your hands!" Soren yelps as he tries to balance himself when his sister tackled him into a hug as well. "Three people on one barely healing soldier is not safe!"

"Who cares?" Claudia laughs. "You're back and that's what matters!"

"Aw so no hug for your favorite cousin?" Bjorn asks jokingly.

"Go get buried in a snowbank!"

"Love you too Claudia!"

"I'm gonna get your aunt to cook you a whole pot of clam chowder, you look so skinny!" Lissa gasps when they release Soren. "How much of your rations have you been eating?"

"The amount I'm supposed to from the rations?" Soren admits. "But I am a bit hungry -"

"Talia! Start cooking the clam chowder! My poor boy is starving!"

"Ma!"

"Nice to see you getting so fussy over him." Elda laughs as she approaches them and carefully hugs her cousin. "So, what trouble has that tantrum throwing prince caused now? I see his brother is here."

"We'll explain inside." Claudia assures her. "Come on, we'll get you all something to eat. Who wants granas famous horse biscuits and Del Bar styled hot chocolate?"

---

"I leave Del Bar for this long and this happens in Aric's first month into being a king?! What was he even thinking?!" Soren exclaims before slamming his mug down on the dinner table, causing some of its contents to spill, but he doesn't even care. "I'm surprised that idiot hasn't run the kingdom into the ground yet! What does he even want his little brother around for if he doesn't care about him?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Claudia says with a shrug. "But I've been hearing people actually talk about it, about half of the capitol knows Leif fled to our home because of his brother. And lately there has been gossip that the war a good chunk of the army was sent to fight was pointless, there have been talks of an uprising of sorts."

"People know about what happened with Leif?"

"Well he comes with me and Magnus to the market to buy food, I've only had one person ask and the next time we went everyone seems to know and tell us we did the right thing."

"Good! We have some people on our side who support this!"

"We should still be cautious about this, we don't know who supports Aric and will try to take Leif back." Sigrid points out as she grabs a napkin to clean up the chocolate spill before grabbing another to wipe the crumbs off Soren's face. "Now that you and the others are home, we'll have to make adjustments to the guard schedule. You've shot a crossbow before, right Soren?"

"Crossbow isn't really my style, I'm more of a sword and up close combat kind of guy." Her cousin says as he tries swatting her hand away. "You can stop wiping my face now!"

"Oh on an unrelated topic, Soren's got himself a girlfriend." Bjorn says from the other side of the table before grabbing another biscuit and grins. "Who would have thought our goof would have landed himself a lover."

"Girlfriend?" Claudia and Lissa ask in surprise and Soren glares at his cousin.

"Bjorn, just because Soren talked to a girl for more than ten minutes doesn't make her his girlfriend." Sigrid scoffs as she stops trying to wipe his face. "A new friend, but not a girlfriend."

"Thank you!" Soren exclaims as he threw his hands up in exasperation. "She's just a friend and an ally, nothing else. Yeah I ended up spending a lot of time around her and I think she's pretty cool, but that doesn't make her my girlfriend or something!"

"Then, why are your cheeks looking a bit rosy?" Claudia asks, poking one cheek and grins. "Ooh I think someone might have a crush!"

"No! Mom, make her stop!"

"Claudia stop making fun of you brother, whether he has a crush on this girl that's his business. There's nothing wrong with having admiration for someone."

"Again, thank you!" Soren groans and buries his face in his arms. "Can we please change the subject? Like, now?"

"Alright, here's here's subject change: what is Xadia like?" Ulf says from the head of the table, giving the rest of the other family members the all too familiar glare Soren had seen him give that could probably make Aric shut up. "What are the elves you met like? Were any hostile or friendly towards you?"

"Yeah tell about the elves and unicorns!" Leif exclaims from his spot next to Soren. "Did you see star elves?"

"No, but I did get to fight alongside a lot of Sunfire elves, including their new queen." Soren says with a grin. "They had these big ornate shields that create a barrier when locked together and when they're all slammed down at the same time it can knock heavy opponents back pretty far! And their queen could do this thing where she starts glowing funny and becomes super strong and powerful, she even was able to take on prince Kasef!"

"I was wondering what happened to the brat." Ulf mutters and his frown softens. "I knew his father, he was very close to Florian, and a very kind young man with such a heavy responsibility on his shoulders becoming king when he wasn't even twenty. I do hope none of his other heirs are anything like their older brother."

"Prince Salim is a pretty timid kid compared to his brother, the younger princesses are also the opposite. One of them kept rattling off snake facts to me last time her family visited Del Bar and her older brother looked sick to his stomach the whole time." Sigrid laughs. "Who would have thought the toughest older brother had a fear of snakes?"

"Who wouldn't?" Bjorn asks. "They're just so...creepy. like with their beady eyes and their little tongues, I'm so glad we don't have those in Del Bar."

"I've seen hognose snakes in the warmer seasons towards the outer areas of Del Bar where it's not too cold and it's a bit warmer than usual." Ulf says with a shrug. "Found one as long as my leg and it kept staring at me funny."

"Gross." The older teen mutters before Soren clears his throat to continue. "Go on need, rattle off whatever else you found out about in Xadia."

"I was going to say that councilwoman Opeli told me that we were free to come to Katolis and get rid of everything in my father's office. "Soren says before sticking his tongue out at his cousin. "She would have done it herself, but apparently there may be some old things of ours there that Viren never tossed out and didn't want to destroy anything of value to us."

"Ah I see she's been promoted a few times." Lissa chuckled with a fond smile. "I remember when she was still working under the councilman who worked for Harrow's father, a really sweet and hardworking girl who hated seeing people disobey the law. Do you want to go to Katolis to retrieve anything from there we forgot to take years ago?"

"Not really, I don't think I forgot anything of importance there." Claudia says with a small shrug. "But it'd be nice to see Callum and Ezran again, so maybe if Soren goes I could go with him."

"Oh he's going, he has a girlfriend to see." Bjorn teases and Soren's face goes bright red. "Oh wow you look like a blonde tomato!"

"Can I go too? I wanna see her!" Leif asks excitedly, his sparkling in excitement. "Please Soren please?"

"I'm going to my room!" Soren yells, shoving his chair back and bolting from the table. "Wake me up when it's dinnertime!"

-----

Evenere, Royal Gardens

Watching Ophelia play among his wife's prized roses with Fluffy napping nearby made Silas miss Fareeda even more now that she was truly gone forever. He had hopes, very high hopes that his wife somehow managed to survive the fall, but it seemed like the ancients believed it was her time to leave them. Now here he was, regent of a small swamp kingdom separated from the other kingdoms until his young daughter was old enough to be queen. Some of the council members told him it'd be best to start the little princess on her royal studies as soon as possible, and since Fareeda died they had been pushing for it more and more.

"Your new queen is still a child, at least let her enjoy her childhood while it lasts before you place such heavy burdens and responsibilities on her shoulders!" Silas had shouted angrily before forcing everyone out of the throne room. Ophelia was lucky, unlike the other royal children she was the only one with a parent still alive and well to carry the responsibility of ruling a kingdom, but unlike those children he didn't think she was ready to rule on her own and make such important choices yet. Then again, neither Anya, Ezran, Kasef or even the Del Barian royals were ready for this responsibility to be given to them so young.

"Daddy! I'm hungry, can we go back in for snacks?" Ophelia asks as she rushes over to the bench where Silas sat. "Also I think Fluffy needs a bath, she stinks!"

"She had a bath yesterday little lily, Fluffy can't be bathing as often as we do, it'll mess with her scales." The regent chuckles as he ruffles his daughter's dark red hair. "We'll just have the servants clear her pool and add fresh clean water to it, alright?"

"Okay! But I still want snacks!"

"Alright, head back in. I'll catch up, just don't start without me."

Ophelia beamed and gave him a peck on the cheek before rushing out of the garden, leaving Silas alone with just Fluffy for company. The alligator lifts her head from the grass to look at him and gives a bellow, an unamused look in her eyes.

"I know, I know, I'm not doing her any favors with shielding her from these new queenly duties." The regent sighs as he hangs his head. He hears shuffling and feels a scaly snout bump his hand, causing him to look up a bit to find Fluffy resting her chin on the top of his boots and letting out a croaking noise. "You wouldn't understand, you're not raising an eight year old child - you hardly want to be around your hatchlings."

Fluffy gives an unamused snort before lifting herself so her chin was resting on his knee and gives another bellow. Good grief he was going mad, he was carrying on a conversation with an alligator for ancient's sake! Then again it was better than sulking in his room, he did have appearances to keep and keep Ophelia from worrying about him. But what good was he doing by coddling his child? Was he doing the right thing? Maybe the other younger rulers could help her out?

"Your majesty?" Silas turns to see one of the councilman Marsh walking through the door of the garden and stop several feet from the bench, eying Fluffy warily. "We still have no good results in trying to fix the soldiers infected with that dark magic."

"Still nothing?" Silas asks as he gets up and walks over to the man. "Haven't you tried bleeding the magic out of them? Or something?"

"We don't have any dark mages in our kingdom, and if we did I highly doubt they'd be able to reverse the effects of this magic." Mash says with a shake of his head. "I'm no expert in magic, but this seems like advanced magic that only someone as skilled, if not more skilled than Viren can fix."

Silas bit his lip and looked to a bush of summer lilacs where a small pretty yellow and green butterfly was sitting. Was there really no way to reverse this magic? Had he unknowingly ruined the lives of the soldiers he sent to war to avenge his wife? This was his fault, he had to fix this, but how? Viren was apparently dead, his son and apprentice were missing as well, and not even the most skilled dark mage in all five kingdoms could fix this.

Fareeda forgive me, I thought I was doing the right thing, but I made things worse. He thinks bitterly as he turns away from the bish, feeling tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. What can I even do to make things right? How do I fix this?

He then feels something small touch his hand and looks at it to find the butterfly from earlier resting on it, sitting so still save for the small flutter from its wings. Wait a moment, Viren had more than one child didn't he? If memory served him right, he remembered Florian talking about them once at a party. Perhaps one of them was trained in the art of dark magic by Viren?

"Marsh, as regent of Evenere I have the power to summon the other leaders for a Pentarchy meeting, right?" Silas asks as he carefully lifts his hand as the butterfly begins to crawl around.

"Y-yes your majesty, you have the power as your daughter's regent." The councilman responds with a nod. "Should I send word to the other kings and queen to alert them?"

"I'll do it myself, once they send word back I will need to get some things packed. In fact, send word to the Sunfire elf kingdom as well and ask their monarch to come, I'm sure they could lend us a hand in trying to reverse this magic."

"Should we send word for a dark mage as well? I heard in Neolandia there's a few powerful ones who are somewhat second best to Viren."

"No, I want you to send word to Del Bar and tell king Aric to bring general Lissa's children to the meeting, we will need their help with this."

---

Somewhere in Xadia

Desmond could hardly believe his eyes when he noticed his father's corpse was breathing again, and moments later he awoke with a scream before falling back on the folded cape he had laid under his head earlier like a pillow.

"It worked! You're alive!" The teen gasps as he rushed forward to help his father sit up and carefully cradled him. "Oh thank the ancients, it worked!"

"Desmond?" Viren whispers weakly as he sucks in a pained breath. "Where...did...did I survive the fall?"

"No, you didn't." Desmond responds, his eyes wandering to the dented and bloodied crown lying several feet away. "I...I did what I had to do to save you. Please don't be angry!"

"Angry?" Viren asks in surprise and gasps before reaching up to touch his son's head. "Your hair..."

"Yeah, that's a small price to pay." The young mage says as his father runs his fingers through the new strands of pale silver hair. "I'm sorry, but I didn't-"

"You don't have to apologize, I would have done the same." Viren sighs as his hand drops. "But...where..." He makes a gesture to his ear.

"You're creepy little bug friend? A few days ago he crawled over there and spun himself a cocoon." Desmond points to the large glowing silk object in the corner and shudders. "He's changing."

He notices his father gulp nervously before carefully adjust him to hug him tightly. He feels Viren hug back, clinging to him like he was never going to let go. At least he wasn't angry at him for this.

"Your brother...he betrayed us." Viren says quietly. "I never thought he'd do that. His mother turned him against me."

"We don't need him, or that sister I never met." Desmond assures him. "It's just us and the creepy bug thing, and a few soldiers who managed to escape and are hiding with us. What are we going to do with them?"

Viren looks to him, unsure what to say before looking at the cocoon. "We'll have to wait for him to come out. Aaravos will know exactly what to do."