Avery opened her eyes to see Ira lazily sprawled out next to her in a peaceful slumber. Since he had the opportunity to visit her freely, he would use it to his fullest. If it was up to Ira, he would stay held up in a room with Avery for weeks.

She reached over to touch Ira’s face and he instantly opened his eyes and looked at her.

“You have to go to the Underground City.” Avery reminded him.

“I know,” Ira placed his hand on her abdomen and felt the heartbeat of his child in the tips of his fingers.

“I would go with you but it’s difficult to travel in this state,” Avery said.

“I know,” Ira smiled as he sat up and put his shirt and shoes on, “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

“No, you need to make sure the Dark Elves are moving in the right direction. I wrote a list of instructions for you to give to Sylun. Don’t leave until everything that I wrote down is completed.” Avery was about to get up to retrieve the letter, but Ira moved first and grabbed it.

“Don’t worry about it, Avery,” Ira waved his hand and stored the letter away. “If it’s nice over there I was thinking that we should relocate after you give birth.”

“If you want to then I have no problem,” Avery agreed before continuing, “Be careful with that list, it was hard to write.” Her hand rested on her stomach to indicate the source of her trouble.

“What happened?” Ira asked.

“Every time I would start writing the contents would erase themselves by slowly undoing each letter.”

“Like it was being reversed?” Ira asked curiously.

“Exactly like that, I suspect it was the child.”

“Well, a little mischief never hurt anyone,” Ira kissed Avery’s forehead before planting a kiss on her abdomen. He took a step back to look at Avery’s face that always had a resting expression of cold indifference. While he stared at her, her bright silver eyes met his gaze.

After taking a few moment to imprint the image in his mind he spoke, “Alright, I’m ready to go,”

“Don’t take any unnecessary risks, Ira.” Avery’s biggest concern was Ira attempting to fight the entire group of Higher Races.

If they were to attack as a group then he had little chance of winning. Lyra, Thessia, and Kesver all used magic that was powerful enough to be considered ancient while Gicae could move the entire group at a moments notice. Then there were the three Valkyries who had a combination of magic and swordsmanship.

“Eh? I can’t say anything about risks but I will say that I won’t die.” Ira’s smile showed that he fully believed his statement which would’ve been considered arrogant if spoken by anyone else.

“I recall you saying that the sound of ‘trumpets’ put you close to death not too long ago.” Avery’s words jogged his memory but it had no effect on his smile.

“Yet I’m still alive,” Ira shrugged.

A knock on the door interrupted them and Casey entered moments later.

“Ira, I don’t want to come across as too impatient, but it would let all of us sleep better once we have a birthing companion available for Avery.”

“I’m leaving now,” Ira smiled as he slipped past her.

After Ira left, Casey went over to Avery and examined her. Although they could bring human servants up to the Hall, it would take too much effort. The only person other than Ira that they would allow to attend to Avery was her birthing companion.

“I’ve told you that I’m fine, Mother,” Avery spoke up as Casey continued her thorough inspection.

Everyday Lauren or Casey would always arrive in the morning to check on Avery. They had already shown how important Avery’s well being was to them. Inwardly, Lauren was hoping that Avery would have a boy since it would increase the spread of Ira’s bloodline.

“And I’ve told you that you’ll have to put up with our caution,” Casey finished checking Avery and showed an expression of awe.

“I still can’t believe that rate at which your child is growing,” Casey shook her head. They had increased the protection around Avery to the highest level, but it still wasn’t enough for them to feel relieved.

“We’ll move a few more Valkyries to the garden since its the most exposed area,” Casey said as she stood.

“I understand,” Avery nodded before looking at the door. If Ira was present then the worry about adequate security would disappear.

…

“You didn’t listen to my words, Gicae.” Lyra was barely able to hide her anger as she spoke.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? If she’s hopelessly in love with Ira then the best option would be to push her toward emotional instability and cloud her judgment so that she would follow our instructions,” Kesver said.

“She said to make sure they weren’t close before he spoke to her. Even if Gicae saw from that girl’s perspective no one here knows how Ira feels toward her.” Ustia took Lyra’s side.

“Was there a need to see how Ira feels toward her? You saw how he reacted when he thought Avery was in danger. Since he didn’t do the same for that girl we have our answer.” Myr obviously disagreed with Lyra and Ustia.

There was a small rift forming between the group and it was only becoming more apparent as time went on. Lyra wanted to refrain from causing any unnecessary aggression between themselves and Ira. Ustia’s thoughts had also begun to shift toward avoiding needless aggression especially after seeing Lauren who brought back memories of Kara.

The rest of the group, on the other hand, had different thoughts. Gicae hadn’t made his stance clear at all, but everyone else had. Thessia, Myr, Lua, and Kesver all were of the same mind and wanted to have some sort of control over Ira if they could. Myr and Lua even wanted to hold Avery captive to ensure Ira would earnestly work toward opening the Storm Wall.

After he opened it, killing him would be the next step since it was clear he wouldn’t tolerate Avery being put in danger. Even though they thought that way, they didn’t inform Ustia. It could be said the relationship of the trio had slowly declined as Ustia voiced her unwillingness to fight with Ira.

“Lyra, I understand your concerns but there was no time to investigate her ties to Ira. I saw the chance to read her mind so I had to capitalize on it and now we’re aware that she has no strong ties to Ira,” Gicae spoke apologetically.

“When are we going to check his progress?” Thessia asked. She had a feeling that the trace of her bloodline had something to do with Ira.

The only other dragons near Milneria were Elder Dragons that were close to awakening from their hibernation. Since the barrier had been removed any dragons that were hibernating to conserve strength would definitely make their presence known. Thessia, being an Ancient Dragon, could control them to an extent.

Lyra read the room and could tell that Ustia was the only other person in agreement with her. She started thinking of a few plans in her head but didn’t show anything on the outside.

“We’ll go in a few days, I doubt he would have grown very much since the last time we spoke,” Lyra said before pausing briefly to give a quick glance to Ustia and continuing, “If that’s all, I think that is the end of our meeting.”

Although she was the overall strongest out of the group, she couldn’t fight against all of them. Especially at the current moment where they were surrounded by the sea. Kesver gained strength from water so he was in the best position to fight. If a conflict were to break out, Kesver could submerge the island underwater very easily.

The room emptied and everyone went their respective ways except for Lyra and Ustia who stayed behind.

“The situation is moving further and further from your control,” Ustia frowned.

“I’m aware of it but there isn’t much I can do,” Lyra sighed as the white speckles in her black eyes flickered, “My only goal was to remove the Storm Wall to see if our races had survived. Wasn’t that what we all agreed on all those years ago?”

“We did agree but we all were weak back then and no one actually expected we would survive. We’ve just about recovered to our previous state and I’m sure most of them have thoughts of ascension in the back of their mind. They would obviously be wary of Ira since he could leave an injury that obstructs their path of growth,” Ustia voiced her own conjecture.

“...Ustia, I need you to go to Lauren and get her to pass a message to Ira,” Lyra said with a serious expression.

“Just tell me and I’ll leave immediately,” Ustia nodded.

As the information was exchanged neither one of them took notice of the incredibly small strand of psychic energy attaching itself to her body.