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“That’s…” Leon hesitantly began as he stopped in place and looked around him.

He and Tikos were in a large grove of trees that he’d set up specifically for thunder wood production, and it had similar protection to the apple orchard where the Hesperidic Apples were grown. It wasn’t an overly large plot of land, but it was more than enough for Tikos to grow a few hundred oak trees without being disturbed.

“Working on communication better,” Tikos said, its voice continuing to resonate from the trees all around Leon. “Implanting into trees amber; hoping to communications powers increase.”

“I see,” Leon responded. “That’s… well, unprepared, it caught me a little off-guard, but I can see how that might be useful. Can it be used with your comm lotuses?”

“Was mine of question, too,” Tikos answered. It set aside what it was doing to approach Leon, leaving a large oak tree half-covered in vines, five glowing lotuses visible along its large central trunk instead of the one that they usually used. “None much to say; limited range and other usefuls lacking. But… opportunity new presented…”

“What kind of opportunity?” Leon asked, intrigued.

“When amber implanting, had new thoughts: growing potential from trees into gems as I grow amber.”

Leon cocked an eyebrow in delight. For the most part, it was gemstones that were used in enchanting; diamonds could amplify the power of magic flowing through them while other gems could store huge amounts of power relative to their size and quality. Other, more ‘natural’ gems like pearls and amber were of more limited use, but could, in a pinch, work if no other gems were available. Having a way to ‘grow’ his own gemstones could be an incredibly effective way to produce valuable resources that were needed in enormous quantities.

“Whatever you need to look into this, I’ll make it available,” Leon said. “If we can store magic power without needing massive crystals or gems… that could revolutionize how we source our enchanting materials…”

“Other possibilities, too,” Tikos said. “Growing magic like seeds, not just growing amber.”

Leon’s other eyebrow shot up. “So… wait, explain what you mean.”

Tikos’ leafy head rustled, and a sweet smell filled the air. “Like Hesperidic Apples, the trees take in magic power surroundings from, and turn into apples.” The rustling of Tikos’ leaves intensified, as did the sweet, calming scent it emanated. “Might induce capabilities such in other trees, for other purposes.”

Leon stared at the tree sprite in disbelief. He knew that using plants to grow magical fruit was hardly new—all edible plants had at least some magic in them, after all. However, growing a plant to specifically concentrate magic power into its fruit was an advance of nature magic that had, so far, eluded the people of Aeterna. Even the Sacred Golden Empire, the unchallenged masters of nature magic in the human world, couldn’t do it. The only plants that could do such a thing were Hesperidic Apple trees, and those were rare products of nature, only domestically grown in Leon’s orchard and the cities of the Menomonee Valley. And it was only thanks to Tikos that Leon’s trees were as productive as they were; if he didn’t have the tree sprite, he could expect perhaps one apple from his trees every few centuries.

“You think it might be possible to make other plants produce fruit like Hesperidic Apples?” Leon asked.

“Might produce fruit storing magic power,” Tikos clarified. “Hesperidic Apples one sort only. Other kinds of power-storing fruits possible.”

“Yeah…” Leon whispered. He stared at Tikos and began nodding his head. “Yeah… we’re going to make this happen. This is happening. Whatever it takes.”

“Gratitude much,” Tikos replied.

“Well…” Leon said. “I guess this means everything’s going all right, then?”

“Complaints are none,” Tikos replied. “Much helping the people who want lotuses. They have indicated advances are made.”

“That’s great.” Leon sat down on a large root poking out of the earth and looked at the tree wreathed in vines and Tikos’ lotuses. “Advances in communication techniques are always welcome. What are you doing over there?”

“Thought to prepare earlier tree for thunder wood,” Tikos explained. “Experiments have proven… early. Results none to speak of.” A slight bitter stench filled the air for a moment before quickly vanishing, which Leon associated with the tree sprite’s frustration. It was quite an unpleasant smell, and the tree sprite, acutely aware of that, tried to limit how often it expressed itself in such ways. That Tikos lost control for even a moment showed just how frustrated it was with its current experiments. Leon supposed he ought not to expect any advances in thunder wood production for a while.

Leon frowned slightly but was otherwise unperturbed. “Most experiments don’t go well. In fact, most experiments are done just to rule them out.”

“As have I realized.”

“This is still… I’d be happy to see what kind of advances have been made with the comm lotuses…”

“They are for you waiting,” Tikos said.

“Then I’ll grab them after this. Before that, though, I was curious about how willing you might be to leave this area and relocate to Kataigida in the south. I’m King there, now, and would rather have it be my base of operations. You are utterly invaluable to me, as both friend and retainer, and I’d like for you to come with.”

Sweetness filled the air again, bringing a smile back to Leon’s lips. “Would like that much very,” Tikos said. “Experiencing the world is why I left the First Growth. I would see more of it, like to.”

“Great. However, I am a bit concerned about the various things we’re growing back here; the Hesperidic Apple trees, the oak trees intended for thunder wood production, and everything that Elise and Helen have been growing in our fields…”

“Transport those shouldn’t be hard,” Tikos said. “I can do this. Move these into my soul realm can do, but can’t hold them for too long.”

“What kind of time frame are we talking about?” Leon asked.

“Few weeks, no more.”

“That’s quite doable. We’ll be staying in Occulara for a good few weeks, so I’ll let you know when we’re coming due to leave.”

Tikos nodded and bowed slightly, letting a more mellow smell of sweetness fill the air. Leon then changed the subject to focus on the experiments that Tikos had been attempting that hadn’t yet worked out. Though he didn’t understand nature magic enough to follow along all that well, he still enjoyed spending time with the most reclusive of all his retainers.

---

“So,” Leon began as he sat down with Exallos and Sar, “how did the first day go?”

Sar sighed, while Exallos slightly frowned and said, “As expected. We’ve been at war for so long that we’ve only just begun airing our grievances.”

“And it’s not just the war,” Sar grumbled.

“For the past eighty-thousand years,” Exallos elaborated, “the bar—Imperials—have been interdicting every ship that has come out of Kataigida’s misty veil. This alone has caused as much, if not more, death and hardship for our people than when our war turns hot.”

“How far through our long list of grievances did you get, then?” Leon asked.

“We managed to bring up about the past two thousand years,” Exallos said. “The massacres at Sacrum Bellum in the Shield, when one of our outnumbered garrisons attempted to surrender about thirteen-hundred years ago and were rewarded by being buried alive, was a particular sticking point.”

“And they mostly complained about the Sword and the Jaguar’s sacking of Argos,” Sar spat.

“Was it just complaining, or were there any demands or conditions associated with these things that might impact the peace negotiations?” Leon wasn’t too interested in bringing the two groups together just for them to bitch about old atrocities for ten weeks and get nothing done. He knew that everyone had blood on their hands, but the only way forward was for both sides to mutually agree to cease hostilities.

However, he also knew that everyone had lost someone or something in the forever war that the Ten Tribes and the Imperials had been waging, and it had all started when his Clan invaded the plane eighty thousand years ago. There was a lot of bad blood, and without Anastasios and the Grand Druid being on his side, he doubted peace would even be possible at this point. Everyone had lost someone or something in this war.

Hells, as far as he knew, even Anastasios had lost much in the last flare-up of hostilities. Thankfully, he valued peace and Apotheosis more than gaining long-delayed revenge.

“What were your impressions?” Leon asked.

“They… weren’t thrilled about the job they were given,” Exallos hesitantly stated. “They were professional, but at the rate this is being stretched, we’re not going to be done for a long time.”

“A temporary truce that gets renewed when needed for the duration of our talks would help,” Sar said. “Not the tacit understanding that we have now, either; we need something in writing and publicly endorsed by their leaders.”

“Something so public would go against the spirit of these negotiations,” Leon countered. “This is not being done with the knowledge or consent of the Sentinels or Sunlit Empire. Either of them getting wind of this…”

Sar sighed again. “Then expect this to take a long time. There are many grievances that we’re going to be working through.”

“That’s fine,” Leon replied. “Peace will be more easily achieved if we acknowledge our past and try to move on.”

“Getting snagged on old wounds can cause them to be reopened,” Sar warned.

Leon leaned back in his chair, mulling the problem over. “I can tolerate a few days of this, but no more. Do your best to shift conversation away from old wounds. Feel free to imply—though don’t directly state—that I’m considering putting the Sword on the table for negotiations if things proceed at a quicker pace. If this gets dragged out for more than a few days, I’ll talk to the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid and see if we can’t get this moving in a more productive direction.”

“During these few days…” Exallos began, leaning forward while a sly grin began to pull at his lips, “there are a few ‘old wounds’ we could tease. For the past few millennia, our war has only flowed when they attacked us; seizing the Sword and sacking Argos and the cities of the Shield was the first time we’ve restarted hostilities in nearly five thousand years. We can try and use this angle to prove our peaceful intentions.”

“And bring the Sword into play then…” Sar thoughtfully added.

“Good, I like it,” Leon said. Then, as a sign he was moving on, he leaned forward again and conjured a few black boxes small enough to fit in anyone’s hand. The front surface of each box was covered in an array of runes, and while it wasn’t visible, contained within the boxes were singular lotus petals.

These were the new comm lotus amplifiers, requiring fewer raw materials, yet were more powerful than the previous versions. At this point, the only thing standing between comm lotuses being more useful than comm stones was the bottleneck of production of the lotuses themselves, as Tikos was still the only one who could produce them. Fortunately, it wasn’t that hard for it to produce them in a reasonable quantity, but they’d still need to find some way to grow the lotuses without Tikos if they wanted to grow them in quantities that Leon’s Kingdom as a whole could use.

“These are for both of you. I’ll show you how to use them, and with them, you can stay in constant contact with Kataigida.”

Sar and Exallos both eagerly leaned forward as Leon used one of the boxes to show them how to use theirs. The hand-held boxes, despite being smaller and using less magic power, could only project a smaller light screen than the previous version, but Leon honestly liked this better. Made them subtler, and he’d already directed the team focusing on comm lotus development to try and figure out some way for communication without the screen at all to be possible, such as by amplifying the darkness magic that he could use to silently speak with his retainers.

The team wasn’t entirely confident such a thing was possible, but they’d already done such good work so far that he’d expressed nothing but confidence in their abilities. Still, they made sure to do their utmost to temper his expectations.

His meeting with the elders ended soon after teaching them how to use their lotus boxes—his researchers were still trying to come up with a better name for them. Leon was confident that, especially with the ability to easily interface with the elders back in Stormhollow that they’d be able to make some progress in the next few weeks, if not days.

An initial peace offering that they could start arguing down if nothing else.

As for him, he had other people to talk to…

---

“So,” Leon hesitantly began, “how are you liking this project so far? I know you don’t especially enjoy working on blood magic…”

“It’s actually been quite mentally stimulating,” the former vampire Valentina stated. “I’ve always enjoyed working with strange magic, and Inherited Bloodlines have scratched at that itch, I’m somewhat surprised to say.”

“How would you like to work with more bloodlines?” Leon asked, his eyes narrowing and a sly smile spreading across his face.

Valentina gave him a skeptical look. “Do you happen to have access to additional bloodlines we might be able to include in our tests?”

“A couple more, aye,” Leon replied. “It might require a… change in scenery to gain access to them, though…”

Valentina gave him a searching look. “What kind of change in scenery are you talking about?”

“We can discuss the specifics later, but for now, I’d like you to consider the possibility of leaving Occulara and the Ilian Empire entirely to continue the research you’ve been doing on this subject. This might take an open mind, and I don’t want to lay any undue burden on you if you aren’t even willing to—”

“I’ll go where the research takes me,” Valentina quickly interjected.

Leon stared at her, his mouth still open with the words he was about to say dying in his throat. For a moment he mimicked a fish before blinking and saying, “Well, that settles that, doesn’t it? How far, exactly, would you be willing to take this research?”

Valentina fixed him in a steely-eyed glare. “I gave myself to a vampire for knowledge. I’ll go as far as I have to without making that kind of mistake again.”

Leon quietly grinned at her before turning his eyes back to what she’d been showing him: a large room filled with a dozen enchanters and blood magic experts working with the few samples Leon had given them and surrounded by testing equipment and enchanting tools. Arcane notes filled massive blackboards all along the walls of the room, leaving only the door and the glass separating him from the room uncovered.

This was what several hundred million silver could buy to fill a secret research lab, and from the results delivered to him thus far, he considered every silver to be quite well spent.

“I’ve gotten access to Sky Devil materials,” Leon finally said. “I have access to their island. Don’t ask me how. If you wanted, I could move you and any of your team that wants to accompany you to Sky Devil territory where you could greatly expand your research into Inherited Bloodlines. What do you think?”

“Yes,” Valentina declared without hesitation. “Absolutely, yes!”

Leon sighed in muted relief and leaned against the glass wall—thankfully, it was one-way so the researchers wouldn’t be able to look up and see them. He gave her the same spiel he gave Tikos about their departure, and she agreed to wait and get those on her team that she trusted ready to leave.

“… Other than that, have you any updates to share with me?” Leon asked, intending that to be the end of their meeting, figuring that if Valentina had anything to share, she would’ve excitedly done so before agreeing to follow Leon into the private observation room.

“There is… something,” Valentina said with much obvious trepidation. “It… concerns the bloodline samples you gave us to experiment upon.”

Leon’s countenance turned quite serious. “What about them?”

Valentina looked past him and into the research room, not answering him immediately. When she spoke, she did so with deadly seriousness. “We’ve known… for quite some time, actually… that there is a second bloodline in there. It’s been… resisting us.”

Leon’s attitude turned severe. “’Resisting you’ how?”

Valentina scowled. “Maybe ‘resisting’ isn’t the right word; it implies some level of consciousness that I’m not convinced is at play. However, it’s led some of my team to theorize that, in those rarest of cases where someone is born with two bloodlines, one of them is ‘dominant’, and the other becomes somehow, ‘recessive’. I’m not quite convinced of that; the data doesn’t quite back that up since both bloodlines are clearly present in the blood and don’t appear to be resisting each other. Instead, it’s almost as if, when magic is passed through the sample, that magic will stimulate one bloodline more than the other.”

“Do you know why?” Leon already had a guess: the Great Black Dragon’s suppression. He thought he’d broken that when he gained conscious control over the black fire he’d inherited, but he wondered if his least favorite Ancestor was still interfering with his power and blood.

“We’re still working on a few theories,” Valentina stated. “There are some possible avenues we might be able to pursue to bring these two bloodlines into… ‘equilibrium’ isn’t the right word, but it’s also the least wrong word I can use.”

“Keep me informed of your progress,” Leon growled. He was going to make this a top priority.

“Of course,” Valentina replied. She gave him a strange look, and he was immediately convinced she knew that it was his blood in those samples. Not that he was about to answer any unasked questions, though. She didn’t need to know precisely where that blood came from to deliver results, after all.

However, once she was on Kataigida, he supposed he could be more open if she so desired.

‘Just another reason to get as many indispensable people to Kataigida as I can…’ he thought. And Valentina was hardly the last person he needed to visit…