"Oh, I trust that you two will live up to any expectations I place upon you, for the alternative would be such a shame," said Li pointedly. He sat on the couch again and crossed his legs, extending a hand forward for them to do the same. "Now, talk. What circumstances drive you here? Why should I trust your motivations as anything but simple cries to save your lives?"

"For it would be all too easy to end my life," said Cicero as he sat on the couch, shaky hands wrapped together on his lap. "If you were to send any message to the north suggesting my desire to topple the current Republic, which you with your guild's influence could easily do, then the Imperator will investigate me and promptly execute me for treason."

"And why would you decide to topple the Republic? Is it not an advanced society that secludes itself from the rest of the world in its own utopia?"

"Utopia?" Cicero smiled wryly. "Perhaps, in a way, it is such, but it is not the Elven way. When the Republic was originally envisioned, it was meant to be an idealistic society. An alliance forged from the necessity of the last demonic invasion meant for all races of the world to band under."

"Interesting. And here, the records indicate the Republic was forged to stand against the human kingdom of the time and to absorb it under its rule."

Cicero shrugged. "We would have absorbed the Beaumont, yes, but for the sake of a worldwide peace. We had already advanced significantly by then with the unique bloodline of Lucius – the Imperator - capable of so easily connecting with the Source and granting us technological marvels to accelerate our means of living drastically.

Magic is a wonder, but it is elusive, lying in the hands of the few. Advancement spreads to the hands of many, and with the many, there is far more power."

Li began to recall and pick out all the relevant information he knew about this world's history and politics. He drew from his book reading in the cottage to discussions with Alexei and Ven'thur. "A fact that seems to be contradicted by the fact that the arrival of heroes deterred the Republic from absorbing the human lands. It seems to me that the power of the few can certainly stand against the many."

"And it leaves a particularly bitter taste in my mouth to hear of you speak of advancement for the many," said Sindra. "What did that mean for what you generalize as the many? All those that were not elves? Slavery and sacrifice, that is all."

Cicero gave Sindra a tired nod, his eyes downcast. "Yes, my dear-,"

"Do not call me 'dear'. It sickens me."

"Yes," continued Cicero. "It the end, advancement required sacrifices. But I tell you now, when I was younger, when I was friends with Lucius, friends like brothers, we envisioned a Republic far, far different. One where we would uplift all others and minimize the sacrifices we would have to make.

I still fight for that ideal Republic, for when I see now how it is, how Lucius has simply created a dictatorship dressed up in the sweet nothings of the senate and voting and parties and discussions, I would feel hollow knowing that is what I have left as my legacy."

"From what I hear from Sindra," said Li. "It really does not seem like you were looking after the good old ideals of equality and fair treatment."

Cicero looked at Sindra with concern. "Sindra, I knew from the moment you stepped into my study that you had a fire within you that would yearn to change this world, and there was more than enough ability in your mind for that. But in the Republic, where beastmen can hold no office, you would simply have had no chance.

The only loophole in the codified laws to grant you any power was the method I proposed to you. I should have presented it to you far better. I was too strict. I believed with harshness and authoritarian demand for obeyance, I would have kept you at my side and seen you grown."

Sindra's words were stern but collected, loosed like a calmly drawn weapon. "I was still a child, Cicero. A child of what, fourteen years? And you come to me one day and demand that I become your concubine for my greater good? I may have been a child, but I was not a foolish one.

I knew of what happened to girls of my kind that came into the servitude of elven nobles. We become toys devoid of worth, and, if your true elven wife finds us grating to her eyes, we were disposed of discretely and efficiently."

"For that alone, I am judging the value of your life quite low. Dangerously low," said Li.

Cicero looked to Sindra, then Li, and nodded not with defeat, but acceptance. "I am no father, I shall admit it, and I knew I never had it within me to be one. I was an accomplished academic, a teacher of many students, but teaching and nurturing I learned are far different.

I taught you, so little and fatherless, discipline and drive and ambition and knowledge with harsh words and strictness, but I have come to know that treating you as student beholden to my orders, to understand unconditionally that all that I do is for your future good, was wrong. Terribly wrong.

I can offer nothing more than that admission of wrong. If it must be so, then I offer my head to remedy the wrongs I have wrought."

Cicero bowed his head deeply, baring his neck.

Li knew he had not been there to see every moment of Cicero and Sindra's history, so he was not a qualified judge. However, he trusted in Sindra to make decisions entirely unclouded by irrationality and emotion.

"It is up to you, Sindra," said Li.

Sindra looked emotionlessly at Cicero for a few seconds. She sighed. "Let him live for a little longer. My personal grievances should not interfere with his usefulness."

Li nodded. "Be grateful, elf. You get to live another day."

"And with each passing day, I hope to act such that neither of you will regret this decision," said Cicero.

Li spoke to Gronn now. "And you, dragon. Tell me, why is it that you gather these lesser bloodlines? Why do you act against the will of those that grant you your orders?"

Gronn grunted. "There was a prophecy. The Elder whispered. Spoke of the end. End of all dragons."

"I see. A prophecy, is it? What is its wording? When was it uttered?"

"In mortal terms, twenty years ago. Wording, I do not know. Only highers know well. But I know it meant the end."

"And the higher dragons did not act against it?"

"Highers ignored it. Believed themselves too strong. I knew better. The higher are a lost cause. The lessers like me, I can still save."

"And why is that you are so sure of this prophecy?"

"Because I know what it means to be weak. I listen to words around me. And I am an earth dragon. I feel the world. I know something is wrong. Something is sick."

Li cocked his head, intrigued. "Oh? Explain more."

Gronn shook his head. "Cannot. It is simply a feeling. Not much more. I simply know it. The world is sick. Slightly. In some places, the mana does not flow."

"Gronn and I are both invested in this prophecy," said Cicero. "That is another reason why I have taken it upon myself to topple the Imperator and restore the Republic to its original vision. The Imperator has laid up his immense might and lifted us elves from the age of blade and staff to the age of engine and steam through his bloodline.

A bloodline we once thought miraculous, capable of tapping into the Source, the primordial energy flowing through the world's deepest veins, with remarkable efficiency. And yet, the more it is used, the more I believe we are harming the world in some manner.

As Gronn states, mana has dried up in some small places of land, particularly those where extensive source rituals have been conducted, and the more rituals there are, it seems the more 'natural' ones occur such as that which brought the heroes here."

"And are you not part of the problem?" asked Li. "You supported the advancement of elven society, and that could not have happened without tapping into the source to begin with."

"I did not know then that there were such drastic costs to utilizing the source. The need for sacrificed lives, for sacrificed environment – all was hidden until Lucius began to use the source far, far more aggressively, maddened as he was with a vision of his own, a vision he deemed the Worldbreak where all things, not just the dragons, ended.

His instability drove him to lust for power, and now, he is Imperator without term limits and a populace that hails him as a prophetic god, believing him the only thing standing against the Worldbreak despite inadvertently being the one to further it.

Were I to wrest power from him, I would ensure the source is never tapped into again for we have technology enough to progress through our own merit."

"I do not know about the source," commented Gronn. "I do not know if it is bad. Or good. Or the reason for the Elder's vision. I simply want to save my people."

"A grandiose, far reaching goal from you," said Li to Cicero. "And a rather humbly small one from you," he continued to Gronn. "Interesting. What you have told me about prophecies is rather new, for there are no such ones here in Soleil."

"Ah, there were," said Cicero. "Among all humans. The northmen and beastmen believed all life to revolve around cycles, and of course, there is always a point to the cycle that everything ends to restart. The humans of the south, of what now you call Soleil, believed in the Lightbreak where the sun envelops in shadow to herald the end of the world, but the duchess has been quite particular about erasing all mention and memory of such to her people."

"Very impressive that she was able to accomplish such a task," said Sindra. "In a purely quantitative sense, it would seem given the thirty years of her reign, that would be impossible."

���Paladins to burn texts, and a hero called Mindeye to erase memories when needed," said Cicero. "Moreso the hero's powers. From the information I have received from Meld, I understand that this Mindeye is perhaps the true strongest of the Ascendant Order, capable of altering the memories of entire populaces across vast swathes of land."

He smiled faintly.

"Though, it seems, the hero's power has difficulty interacting with non-humans. Perhaps there is a reason why Soleil has worked so hard to paint the Republic as a hated 'other', sealing its borders such that there is little to no interaction between them?"

"Were you not a senator of some position, I would consider this conspiracy, and you belonging within a temple asylum," said Sindra.

"A good thing I am not speaking nonsense, for elsewise I would have nothing to offer the guildmaster aside from my head," said Cicero dryly.

"You two have piqued my interest," said Li. "This talk from another land and from other perspectives is giving me information that, though it may not necessarily be directly useful now, is certainly interesting to ponder and play with.

But for now, the cover of night is fading, and dawn will be here soon. And I have other things to attend to. I trust you two will be staying here?"

"If you wish us to, then yes," said Cicero.

Gronn nodded.

Li stood up, taking Tia in his arms. Sindra followed his lead.

Li bent down and put a palm flat on the table. When he withdrew his hand, there were two seeds there. They looked like two thin worms, elongated like bean sprouts with wriggling tails and a seed head in the shape of a tiny, spiked ball.

"The two of you, take one of these," said Li. He pointed to the drinks on the table. "With a drink, if you would like, as I cannot guarantee that they taste good."

"And might I ask what they are?" said Cicero intrepidly.

"Ah, they are called [Shadowpowder Triggerseeds]," said Li. "If ground up and with the right alchemical extraction tools – tools that are far beyond anything in circulation here – I understand their powder can be utilized as an incredible explosive. In their pure, natural state, however, their explosiveness is dormant, awaiting my specific order to trigger them."

"I see," said Cicero with a nod. "Well, I do understand that trust does not grow quickly."

"No, it does not, so get to eating."