No, baby girl. Im not your mom. Solus said.

Mama! Valeron and Elysia countered.

Yes, Im your mom. Sort of. Solus fe a headache rising. But Im just one of Driphas many aunties. Jirni is her mom. Im-

Mama! Dripha answered to her name.

Dead. Solus continued. Jirni is going to kill me.

***

Meanwhile, away from earshot and a few minutes earlier, the Ernas family was taking a stroll along the coastline.

They had shapeshifted their clothes into ample desert robes that they had shortened to knee-lenh to dip their feet into the water.

Im sorry, but I have to pee. Between the walk and the sound of the surf, Quylla could only endure for so long.

Again? Orion was flabbergasted. This is Gunyin all over again. You too couldnt stay five minutes without a bathroom. Isnt that right, son?

Sure. Orions oldest cleared his throat in embarrassment. When I was five and determined to become the best tea brewer in the Kingdom, though.

Gods, I still remember that. Tulion laughed. You drank cups of different kinds of tea at all hours, memorizing their flavor, aroma, aftertaste, and all that nonsense. You were always bloated and smelled like an incense stick.

Thats because I also collected dried tea leaves for my future catalogues. Gunyin sighed. I cant believe I was so foolish back then.

You were five, Big Brother. Tulion said. We all had our silly dreams. I wanted to become a Mage Knight like Dad.

There was bitterness deep under the levity of his voice, yet everyone pretended not to notice. Tulion hadnt fallen to debauchery due to poor character. He had simply collapsed under the broken expectations he himself and his family had for him.

Gunyin lacked his fathers magical talent, but he had inherited Orions discipline and Jirnis cunning. His lack of magical powers was actually a boon, giving him all the time he needed to become a wise administrator for the Ernas Archduchy and a fair ruler.

Phloria had nothing of her mothers wits and beauty, but she more than made up for it with her martial skill and aptitude for magic. Where Gunyin was his mothers son and Phloria her fathers daughter, Tulion was nothing.

He had no particular talent or skill that would make him a good soldier or noble. He was by no means stupid or incompetent, but there was nothing about him that was as eye-catching as his siblings.

Soon, he had fe akin to a clay vase surrounded by steel vases. Whenever they bumped into each other, he was the only one who ended up getting hurt. There could be no conflict with his siblings because no hope of victory.

The young Tulion had then decided to embrace his role as the familys good-for-nothing and had just stopped trying. That was until Thrud had kidnapped Phloria and turned the unbreakable Ernas, whom Tulion had considered demigods, into frail humans.

Until Phlorias death had shown Tulion that there was no such thing as a steel vase, just stubborn clay vases that refused to back down.

Im back. Quylla emerged from a Warp Step leading to the tower. What did I miss?

Nothing much. Gunyin said. We just finished reminiscing about old times.

I want to thank you, all of you, for coming to the Desert with me. Jirni said after activating the Scrambler she always carried with her and ensuring that no one could overhear her. You have no idea how much this means to me.

Dont be silly, Mom. Tulion replied. This is our first opportunity in a long while to spend some time together, away from palace duty.

Indeed. Jirni nodded, noticing the deep fatigue lines on her sons face.

Without her and Orion, the burden of House Ernas fell on Tulions and Gunyins shoulders. It hadnt been much at first, but things got worse with every passing day. An Archduchy carried a heavy burden and required its rulers to perform many contributions.

Jirnis work as an Archon and her role in the Royal Courts power plays allowed her not only to steer politics in her familys favor, but also to foil many attempts of the powerful noble households to undermine the Crown.

Orion lacked her cunning, but his many achievements as a Royal Forgemaster and commander of the Knight Guard gave him great influence over the Mage Association and even greater over the military.

Together, they contributed to all the major endeavors of the Griffon Kingdom, leaving the light lifting to their children.

After months of absence, however, the influence of House Ernas was waning, and past gratitude wasnt enough for the Royals to overlook Jirnis and Orions dereliction of duty anymore.

The political enemies of the Ernas pressured the Crown to punish Jirni and Orion lest the Royals set a dangerous precedent. Either no Archduke could wash their hands of their responsibilities without suffering the consequences, or everyone could.

The Royals, Vastor, and Brinja Distar did their best to delay the decision, but not even they could stop the powerful forces at play for long. Half the Kingdoms noble households wanted the Ernas gone, and with the silent support of the Gernoff, it was only a matter of time before they succeeded.

Gunyin and Tulion did everything they could to rack merits and save the Ernas Household from the harshest criticism, but lacked the means to make up for their parents inactivity.

Jirni and Orion were still alive and had requested no Healer. Their prolonged leave had no plausible justification, and they could provide none. The Court had learned about Awakened during the War of the Griffons, but the Gernoff officially didnt exist.

The Myrok, Jirnis birth Household, were Oghroms heirs under the sun and the boogeyman in the shadows, and Jirni needed to keep things that way.

If she revealed the threat of the Gernoff hanging over her head, she would just play into her enemys hands. The Gernoff had no interest in non-Awakened politics and would never bother themselves developing a faction in the Royal Court, but they didnt need to.

Just revealing that Oghroms legacy had been split into two halves would have crippled the Myroks prestige and authority as one of the four founding pillars of the Kingdom.

The Gernoff might demand half of everything the Myrok possessed, and their opinion would provide Jirnis political opponents with fresh ammunition. The only reason the Gernoff hadnt done it already was that the end didnt justify such expensive means.

Anything the Gernoff openly asked from any political faction would come with a price tag, and once they stepped into the light, there was no turning back. They would be pestered with endless marriage proposals and offers for alliances.

Everyone would know about them, and their precious anonymity would be lost forever.

Jiza and Jirni both had little to gain and much to lose from revealing their hands to the rest of Mogar. Yet time was a currency that only Jirni valued, and doing nothing would be the fall of House Ernas.

Without the resources, the guards, and the arrays, Jirnis entire family would be destroyed. At that point, the Gernoff would just step back, maybe even for years, waiting for the opportunity to kill Jirni with a borrowed knife.