A Dragon's Tale Ch. 32

"Who is...?" Kalaya trailed off as she looked at Alana. She cocked her head to one side, then a moment later her eyes went wide. She covered her mouth with her hand as gasped.

"Alana?" She breathed. "Is that... is that you?"

Ethan could feel his wife tense up, but she managed to nod. Kalaya seemed too stunned to move for a moment, then her face split into one of the widest smiles that he had ever seen.

"Alana!" She cried for joy and ran across the room to embrace her daughter. He felt like he'd have more luck stopping a charging rhinoceros than the now-glowing elf. Kalaya flung her arms around Alana and pulled her into a hug so tight that the jubilant elf's arms almost went white.

"Alana." Kalaya got choked up and he could see her eyes getting watery. "Oh my sweet girl; oh, my beautiful girl." The elf readjusted so she could hold her daughter even tighter.

Alana started crying too and wrapped her arms around her mother for the first time.

*Can't breathe.* His first wife thought to him.

"Kalaya, she needs to breathe." He said gently.

Instantly the elf released her daughter and leaned back slightly, and looked Alana up and down. "You are such a beautiful woman." Her eyes were shining with happy tears. "I'm so sorry that I missed..." Her face became no less happy, but much more remorseful. "Will you ever forgive me? That I wasn't there to see you grow up?"

"From what I hear, you wanted to be?" Alana asked tentatively.

Kalaya nodded, then threw her arms around her daughter again.

"My husband had to sedate my daughter in order to take my granddaughter." Railen offered. "It took enough sedative to knock out a man twice her size before she succumbed." Judging by her tone, she didn't approve.

"Why did he take her away in the first place?" Ethan asked.

"A better life?" Railen sighed. "Halvaer thought his granddaughter might be happier if she grew up far from here. He called in a favor from the Tarihowen family, who'd always wanted children but never were able to have them."

"My grandfather wasn't ashamed of me?" Alana asked with her lip trembling.

Railen smiled. "He would regularly sneak into your room to hold you and sing to you when he thought no one would know."

Kalaya's mouth dropped as she loosened her grip on her daughter enough to look at her mother. "You never told me that."

Railen shrugged. "I thought you knew."

"Wow; maybe he's not as bad as I thought." Ethan thought out loud.

"And who are you?" Kalaya asked Ethan without letting go of Alana.

"My wonderful husband, who made this possible." His wife replied before he could.

"Thank you!" Kalaya let go of Alana and threw her arms around him, gripping him so tightly that it was hard to inhale.

"It was my pleasure." He said with a smile.

His wife was standing there looking a bit shocked and surprised, but definitely happy. She had a slightly dopey grin on her face and she didn't look like she couldnot smile.

Kalaya stepped back from Ethan after a moment with a slight frown on her face. She raised her hands and slowly moved them through the air, as if feeling something that he couldn't see.

"A disguise gem?" Kalaya said suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes at Ethan. There was definitely a note of protectiveness in her voice as she moved between her daughter and him.

"How could you tell?" He replied.

"I'm not just a pretty face." She said warily. "Who are you?"

Ethan couldn't help but smile. It was pretty clear where Alana had gotten her fierceness from, and Kalaya looked even fiercer right now in 'mama bear' mode.

"Your father didn't want me to scare you by meeting you with it off."

Kalaya didn't look convinced. "He knows I don't scare easily."

Ethan shrugged and clicked the disguise gem off.

Kalaya started, but recovered almost instantly. "You... you're the prophet of Illuminar -- blessed be He." She turned to Alana. "You married..." Her mouth fell open as she looked towards her mother, apparently for confirmation.

Railen nodded. "This is Ethan Ejder, called Illuminar's prophet -- blessed be the God of Light."

Kalaya looked at her daughter and pulled her into another hug. "I've been praying every day since I found out about you that you'd marry the best man in the Ten Kingdoms." She looked like all her dreams had come true at once.

"May I ask you a question?" Kalaya asked Ethan while still holding onto her daughter.

He chuckled. "You just did, but seeing as we're family, I'll allow another one." He winked.

She let go of her daughter and then spoke hastily, like she had been waiting to say this forever. "Could you ask Illuminar when I'll be able to marry Navaro?"

Ethan didn't miss the subtle reaction that Railen had. Alana's grandmother pursed her lips slightly and exhaled in a forcibly controlled manner. He decided to screw it and call her on it.

"Something to add?" He asked her.

"A childish dream of something that can never happen." Railen replied sadly. "My daughter would be happier if she could let go of him."

"It will happen mother." Kalaya replied.

She wasn't insisting, nor trying to convince, nor hurt, nor offended, nor desperate, nor any other emotion that Ethan usually associated with the phrase 'it will happen'. Instead, it was a simple statement of fact. She said it with a firm but reserved conviction that someone might use when saying the sun would rise in the morning.

"How do you know?" Alana asked.

"Because I had a dream." Kalaya replied, ignoring her mother's obvious skepticism. "There was a kind woman dressed all in white so bright that she almost glowed, but the light was comforting too; like the warmth of a flickering candle."

"Hold that thought." Ethan held up his hand to stop her and then looked at the elder blonde woman. "Do you know this luminous woman's name?"

"Yes, my daughter told me." Railen replied.

"Was the name Gabriella?"

Railen's eyes went wide.

He grinned.

"How did you..." The grandmother stopped, then looked up to the heavens. "Blessed be He for sending a prophet who can even see into dreams and visions."

"No, I've just met her before." He explained, then turned to Kalaya. "Her name was Gabriella, wasn't it?"

Kalaya nodded excitedly.

"What did she say?" Alana asked.

"That Navaro and I had sinned, but that Illuminar had forgiven us because we'd repented. She also said that eventually, after a long time, I would be reunited with my daughter and become Mrs. Navaro Nalfigar."

"Really?" Alana breathed, looking like...

Like...

Ethan couldn't even think of a way to describe the joy on his wife's face. If you would've hung her in the sky, she could've substituted for the sun.

"Yes, that's what kept me going all these years." Kalaya replied. She still had an arm around Alana and couldn't quite seem to tear her eyes away from her daughter. She was gazing at his wife like she was the most precious thing in the world. Alana herself still looked shell-shocked, like she couldn't believe that all this was happening to her.

"So, can you tell me when?" Kalaya managed to tear her eyes off of Alana just long enough to ask. "I've been waiting over twenty years."

"I'm afraid that I can't tell you when. But if Gabriella said it would happen, it'll happen." He replied, then realized how those words sounded. Damn, he was starting to sound like a religious nut.

Kalaya beamed.

There was silence for a few moments before Kalaya gave Alana another quick, excited hug. "Now, you must tell meeverything about yourself; leave nothing out."

Alana grinned sheepishly as she began to speak.

* * *

"Okay." Selene said as she remembered everything that Rachel had just said. "So, there's a barrier between our world and the source of mana, which is the Ether. And that barrier is slightly porous so some can leak through. All life needs mana to survive, and instinctively draws it through the barrier, taking everything they need to survive and a bit extra. Mages can collect the extra and use it to power spells."

"Yup." The redhead nodded. "You can also meditate to pull mana directly through the Ether, but that takes more work and isn't very fast."

"So how come no one of Earth figured this out?"

"Ethan said there's stories of magic, so someone probably did." Rachel replied. "However, the barrier is much thicker around Earth so you can't get enough mana fast enough to be useful. Now, are you ready to try and find the mana that's in your own body? That's the first step."

"Sure; how do I do that?"

"That's the hard part." Rachel said. "We're dealing with the mind, and everyone visualizes it differently. Ethan once told me he sees it like a cloud that gets less and less substantial the lower he is on mana. I see it more like water in a goblet, and I've heard of many other ways of seeing it."

"I see it sort of as a ball of water hovering in mid-air, which gets smaller the lower I am." Taloni offered.

"Hey, I see it the same way." Beth said smiling.

The two teens grinned at each other.

"So basically, you start by relaxing and trying to clear your mind." Rachel instructed. "You really need to focus on awareness of your body. However, it's hard to notice something unless it changes. Once you're relaxed, I know a spell that will slowly drain your regular mana as long as you don't fight the spell, because it's incredibly easy to block. That should help you isolate your mana so you can feel it."

Selene grimaced. "I'm really bad at abstracts."

Rachel gave her a sympathetic smile. "Me too, but I learned."

"Okay, let's get this party started."

* * *

Ethan couldn't help but smile as Alana and Kalaya talked. They had almost disappeared into their own little world as his wife's mother peppered her with questions on every aspect of her life. He actually found himself learning a lot of interesting tidbits about her too.

He was leaning against the door and Railen came and stood beside him.

"My granddaughter is a wonderful woman." She said matter-of-factly.

"You have no idea." He nodded.

"Is it true that you said she shouldn't be a shamed woman without two or three witnesses?"

"Yeah, and frankly that shouldn't need to be said." He replied. "She's done nothing wrong, and certainly nothing worthy of having her be 'shamed'. But even if she had, it takes two or three witnesses. Further, when was the trial to convict her of this?"

Railen smiled. "Prophets of Illuminar -- blessed be He -- have a reputation for upsetting the order of things. I see you are no different."

"Honestly, I'm not comfortable being called a prophet." He said sincerely. "But I talked to Illuminar once, and I don't see Him holding a person's misdeeds against him if he was truly sorry and changed his ways. Sure Kalaya and Navaro messed up, and sure there have been consequences, but I'll bet that the Book of light doesn't say they have to live in shame the rest of their lives."

"You speak with great wisdom honored dragon." Railen said, looking at him with what appeared to be a newfound respect. "I agree, and I would love to feel my daughter's name on my lips again after so long."

"I want to see Alana's folks get married." He replied.

"Halvaer would never agree." She replied sadly. "He's too angry at Navaro for hurting his daughter."

"Navaro apologized." He said, and then gave her an abbreviated version of that part of the conversation on the Argo's quarterdeck.

"And he was sincere?" Railen asked.

"Absolutely sincere."

She smiled. "My husband has never been able to hold a grudge after someone has sincerely apologized to him. Never. It will take a few days, possibly a few weeks; but if Navaro was truly sincere, Halvaer will forgive him. He might do it grudgingly, but he will."

"Then could Kalaya and Navaro get married?"

She shook her head. "No, while my husband might agree once he forgives Navaro, the head of House Nalfigar is more..." She paused, and then said delicately. "...more practical."

He got the impression that 'practical' was code for something worse, probably something darker, but he wasn't sure what.

"Navaro believes in duty, honor, and keeping his word. He swore an oath to his house, and he won't break his oaths." She continued. "He will need the permission of his father to get married because of his oath, for he is the house-heir and thus his actions affect his house greatly."

"So what you're saying is, I need to talk to Navaro's father next."

Her expression darkened. "If you do, be careful. Navaro is not like his father; the pomegranate fell very far from the tree."

"I will, thanks for the warning." He nodded.

"Ethan!" Kalaya called.

He turned towards her. "Yes?"

"You married a Fey?" She sounded both curious and impressed, though not like she had anything against Fey.

"Yup, and she's the most delightful girl too." He said, which reminded him of something. "Hey, what do the wood elves have against Fey anyway?"

"It's not all Fey; just the Unseelie Fey of the Winter Court." Kalaya replied. "The Seelie Fey of the Summer Court are welcomed. It's just hard to tell which Fey are part of which court."

"Oh?"

"All Fey are mischievous, but the Seelie Fey's mischief rarely causes harm." Railen explained. "The Unseelie Fey have no problem hurting or even killing. They don't usually do it out of spite, but neither do they care if it happens."

"Ah, okay. Are those two different races, or just different factions?" He asked.

"Kind of both, but not really either." Kalaya replied. "Alignment tends to run in families, and over time there are a few very subtle differences that have emerged, but they aren't a different species. Pretty much everyone is wary of Fey because the Unseelie Fey will sometimes pretend to be Seelie Fey and cause all sorts of problems. That's why Fey are never directly addressed or allowed into certain places until it has been conclusively determined which court they belong to."

"I suppose that makes some sense." He conceded, though he didn't like it, nor how unfair it was to Taloni.

Kalaya turned back to her daughter. "Now, tell me something that makes you incredibly happy."

Alana flicked her eyes towards Ethan. *Sir, may I please tell her about your daughter?*

*Our daughter, and yes.*

"Well..." She put her hand over her womb. "You're going to be a grandmother soon."

Alana's mother looked stunned for a moment, and then nearly screamed in delight as she threw her arms around her daughter again. "Congratulations!"

Railen smiled ear to ear, though she was a bit more reserved as she looked at him. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." He grinned back.

There were several minutes of baby talk, and then Kalaya turned to her mother. "My granddaughter should be blessed with the mark, right mother?"

"Mark?" Alana asked.

"Like yours." Kalaya pointed to Alana's shoulder, where her birthmark was.

"Blessed?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, surely your adoptive parents told you?" Kalaya said.

"They likely didn't know." Railen offered. "The birthmark that my granddaughter has is unique, and has been passed down through the Kalon women for centuries, though it often skips a few generations; I don't have that blessing."

"Why is it a blessing?" He asked.

"There's a legend that the wife of the first head of House Kalon was a daughter of Ithlan." Kalaya said. "The mark is believed to indicate that the woman so marked is a descendent of a dragon. The mark is only passed down through the women too, so no male has ever had it. It's never been passed through a man either."

Ethan and Alana looked at each other.

Wow.

"That makes so much sense." He finally said. "That's why you can resist my dragon side when it tries to compel you; because you're descended from a dragon."

Alana nodded, then thought to him. *Yes but Ethan, I'm not the only one who can resist you, nor your only wife with this exact birthmark.*

He stood there for a moment considering what that meant; was Rachel also descended from a dragon?

* * *

Alana's heart felt light as a feather as she followed her husband and grandfather back towards the Argo. She couldn't believe how well that had gone; how amazing her mother was. She had a dopey grin on her face that she probably couldn't have wiped off even if she wanted to. Her 'smile muscles' were starting to ache slightly and Ethan had told her that she was glowing several times.

She sighed.

"Pretty happy huh?" Ethan said with a similar grin on his face. She could tell it was mostly sympathetic happiness because of how happy she was, but she appreciated it all the same.

"Yeah." She replied dreamily.

He chuckled put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "Good, I'm glad."

"Me too." She turned to Halvaer. "Thank you so much for allowing me to meet my mother."

"The honored dragon didn't leave me much choice." Her grandfather replied. Interestingly, he wasn't looking at her, but he did directly respond to her.

That was progress.

"I would see my family made whole again." Halvaer continued. "Requiring two witnesses is lawful, though of course the high priest of Illuminar -- blessed be He -- must be consulted on such matters.

Alana's smile faltered just slightly as she looked at her husband.

*Plesius is such a dick that I have no idea how he became the high priest.* Ethan thought to her. *I get the feeling he'd resist the change just to spite me.*

She nodded, then thought back. *I hope not.*

*Me too, but I would put money on it.*

They walked the rest of the way to the Argo in a comfortable silence. She wasn't entirely sure why her grandfather was walking back with them though. She highly doubted that he would have any other business at the docks. Surely he could send someone else if he did, so why come personally?

When they reached the Argo, a few wood elven artisans were packing up what looked like the last of their tools. Near the Argo's gangplank, the wood elven king was standing with several bodyguards.

Halvaer stopped far enough from the king to be out of easy earshot and turned to face Ethan. "Please tell my granddaughter that I would very much like to speak her name, and speak to her directly. I hope this will be possible the next time you visit Nalatia."

Suddenly, Alana's eyes felt very moist.

She threw caution to the wind and threw her arms around him in a hug. He didn't prevent her -- which was probably a minor miracle -- but he didn't hug her back either.

"Thank you." She whispered.

She could've almost sworn that he said "You're welcome", but his voice was too quiet to tell.

She disengaged and stood next to her husband again, who stuck out his hand to her grandfather. "It was a pleasure to meet you Halvaer Kalon."

"Likewise honored dragon." The elf shook the offered hand. "I believe my granddaughter has found a worthy husband. May Illuminar -- blessed be He -- guide you in the path of light as you travel."

"And you."

Halvaer gave Ethan a respectful nod of the head, then turned and walked away.

Alana followed Ethan towards the king, who nodded respectfully at him. "Well met honored dragon."

"Well met." He replied.

Alana noticed something between them, but wasn't sure what. A mutual respect maybe, possibly the beginnings of a friendship. The King clearly regarded Ethan highly, and she doubted that it was only because he was reputed to be a prophet of Illuminar. There seemed to be more to it, but she wasn't sure what.

"I have a gift for you honored dragon." The King said, then took a small box from one of his attendants and offered it.

"What is it?" Ethan replied as he took it.

"Traditionally, gifts are opened to discover the present inside." The King said with a smile.

He flicked the catch open and Alana looked over his shoulder. It was a small metal disc about four inches in diameter with a one-inch hole in the center. The hole had a membrane in it that looked like water, but it undulated slightly like water in the wind. It also reflected the colors of the rainbow slightly. It looked almost exactly like another example that was currently in his captain's cabin, only with tiny lines etched into the surface that reflected the wood elven artistic sensibilities.