After seeing a selkie smooch an empress in front of everyone and their dragon, Ban didn't think he could possibly witness a more awkward situation. It really pissed him off to be proven wrong so soon. This had that beat by a league.

He'd cleared all the papers and reports off the map table in his command tent. In their place was a fair selection of dishes, the best he could get his hands on. Ban stood behind his chair and twiddled his thumbs as he felt the weight of his mother's gaze on him. Ascania was smiling from where she stood at the entrance, but Ban knew from many, many experiences in his childhood that even her most motherly smile could be as dangerous as an Altieri fangblade.

Ascania looked from Ban to Kimpo, standing next to him. The dragon stood straighter and clutched at her frilly skirt.

"It truly is a pleasure to meet you at last, Rippling Moon."

"The pleasure is all... Flames! Flames take me, but there is no way in the deepest cavern of Hell I'm dallying with this lunkhead."

Ascania blinked at the forcefulness of her denial, and Ban couldn't help but be the slightest bit insulted.

"This is Kimpo the Huntress," Ban explained. "She's not fey. Kimpo is my bonded dragon."

"And your son is my Ruby Knight," Kimpo added, and it had a curious note of possessiveness to it.

Ascania smiled. "My mistake. When you called one another 'love', I assumed..."

Ban shook his palms at her. "That's just a... Waves, what would you call that, love?"

"A tradition that goes back millennia," Kimpo said. "My Storyteller could spin a yarn about it for hours, but we dragons and our bonded knights have called each other 'love' since the time of Inwé."

"Your Storyteller?"

Ban went to Ascania and took her by the arm to bring her further inside. "Deebee the Storyteller. Kimpo's mate and bonded to the empress. You've met her, ma. You rode on her back after Enfri kidnapped you from the orrery."

Ascania furrowed her brow as she allowed Ban to lead her. "Kidnapped? I'm afraid I don't recall much before a week ago. It's been so hazy."

Ban pulled out her chair. "It was... during the rebellion."

"Rodrik's Rebellion, you mean," she said while taking her seat. Her tone was cold.

"Yes," Ban said quietly. He withdrew from her to sit at his side of the table.

Kimpo looked between Ban and Ascania. She read the mood. "If it's all the same, little warrior, I'm starting to worry Moon got lost on the way here. I'll make certain she finds her way from the green ones."

Ban nodded to her. He was reluctant to be alone with Ascania, but he was aware it would have to happen sooner or later. Better to do it alone. This was his net, so he'd be the one to pull it in.

Ascania smiled and bade Kimpo farewell, then turned to Ban once she left. "She was a good deal more attractive than I expected a dragon to be."

"The mighty are vain as peacocks," Ban grumbled. "When they get around to crafting their human forms, they usually pick one they think is prettiest."

"I wager most mortals would do the same if given the chance," Ascania said. "What did she mean by green ones?"

"Fey healers," Ban explained. "Something like a sky woman, a priest, and a vizier all rolled into one."

Ascania narrowed her eyes in worry. "There's nothing wrong with the baby, is there?"

"Wrong? No. At least, nobody seems to think so. It's just no one knows what's normal with a baby feyling."

"Feyling? Is that the term for a half-fey?" Ascania poured herself some wine from a carafe.

Ban nodded. "They're not common. The green ones have said it's happened before, but so rarely that they believe the odds of conceiving are astronomical."

"Is that so?"

"I'm hardly the first mortal to fall for a fey, ma."

"In that case, you must have made the attempt an astronomical amount of times." Ascania took a sip and raised an eyebrow at him from over her cup.

"Now see here," Ban exclaimed. "Once. Just the once, mind you. I've been on the march practically since the day we started courting, and a war camp isn't the easiest environment to find some privacy in."

"Istra and I managed it," Ascania said. "You yourself were conceived during one of your father's campaigns against the Southrons."

Ban blushed. He didn't much want to hear about his mother's sexual escapades.

"Didn't you ever wonder why your name on the house lineage is listed as Bannlyth the Battleborn?"

Ban wrinkled his nose. "It is? Waves, keep that under your hat, would you. It's hard enough getting taken seriously when I'm half the age of most of the other officers. I'd rather not let them in on how the First Knight's sporting a tough-talk handle like Battleborn."

"Blame your father for it. I wanted to name you Nikos after my grandfather." Ascania rested her face in her hand. "I should be more disappointed no one's washed your tongue of that dockyard jargon. Traitor he may have been, I'd hoped General Kastus might have imparted some of the knightly honor he was so famous for."

"Would take longer than two years, ma," Ban replied. He looked down at the table. "Didn't have longer than that."

Ascania let out a quiet sigh. "Ever since the augurs began... waking up, you could say, I've been confronted with what your father and brother did. Conspiring with Kastus and Duke Falthis, desecrating the oracles, manipulating the legions, and so many other crimes have been explained to me." The hands she lay in front of her on the table curled into fists. "I'm sorry, my son, but it's been as if I've awoken from one nightmare to find a darker one."

Ban's throat felt dry and hoarse. "I know."

"Our house destroyed our kingdom," Ascania murmured. "We tore it apart, and now the name of Karst is spoken with the same venom as Krayson and Teranor."

"You had no part in that," Ban said to try to assuage her shame.

"Didn't I?" she asked. "It was my oracles that led your father down that path. My visions that tempted your brother to claiming the Highest Throne for himself. I appreciate what you're trying to say, Ban, but I am as much at fault for them betraying you as they were."

Ban's breath caught.

"When I say I've been told everything, Ban, I meant I've been told everything. All of it. I know how Rodrik conspired with Kastus to have you killed so he could marry Pacifica. I know how he left you for dead out in the forest. I know how your father and brother used their civil war as a distraction for their planned invasion of Althandor. And I know... it was you who stopped them."

Ban couldn't look her in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are." Ascania rose to her feet and came around the table. She went to Ban's side and held his face. She stared into his eyes while her own held nothing but sorrow. "Whatever else you may think of your father, I knew him as a good and honorable man, and that is what makes his betrayal hurt so deeply."

A memory came to Ban, something he felt he needed his mother to know. "Before he died, Father told Rodrik he never consented to have me killed. He died trying to shield me from Rodrik. His last thoughts were of you."

She got a small smile that quickly melted away. "And Rod?" she asked almost too softly to be heard.

Ban reached up and took his mother's hands. He let out a heavy breath. "Ecclesia was burning. Our people were dying. The First Legion was caught up in a bloodlust and began slaughtering and pillaging. I fought Rodrik in the palace courtyard after he struck down father. I tried to subdue him. I knew what he'd done and that Cathis would demand justice, but I didn't want to be the one who..."

Ascania knelt in front of him. "Please, tell me."

"A lot happened. Enfri's aunt and her lackey arrived. They wanted to kill Princess Jin Algara and made a deal with Rodrik to join forces and fight me and her together. People died, Crown Prince Dashar Algara died and we still have that to answer for to Cathis. In the end, Rodrik had me beat. He was coming to kill me, and Kimpo attacked him in the last moment. He was about to kill her when I..."

She wiped at the corner of his eye with a thumb. "What was the last thing he said?"

"He said my name." Ban looked down and gave a rueful laugh. "Rod called me Ban. He never called me that. He always called me Bannlyth."

Ascania got to her feet and turned her back to take five steps away. Her shoulders sank as if they were carrying a great weight. "My two sons," she whispered. "My precious boys. One went mad, and the other...

"Became a kinslayer," Ban finished for her.

"No," Ascania said fiercely, turning back around. "That is not your burden to bear."

"I killed my brother," Ban argued.

"You killed a traitor!" Saying it pained her terribly, and her face contorted as she fought not to weep. She took three even breaths before she tried speaking again. "I will mourn Rodrik and your father. I expect I will mourn them for the rest of my days, but you need to know I will never think of you as the man who killed my son. Rod fell to his own ambitions. He reached too high and paid the price."

"And the rest of it?" Ban asked. It felt like a demand. "Everything else I've done?"

Ascania furrowed her brow.

"I gave you and the hydromancers to the Romovs as wards. I abandoned our holdings in Ecclesia. Mother, I destroyed House Karst!"

She shook her head. "The last head of house saw to that, my son. What you did was give our house a future." She gestured around her. "Shan Alee. Waves, but I thought Sasha was having me on when he told me about a Dragon Empress and the return of the mighty; what I remember of this Storyteller felt more like a vivid dream than a memory. It wasn't until I saw that Urdov boy wrangling a clutch of dragonets to squire training that I started to believe it."

Ban sagged in his chair. "Since I came of age, I was taught of how Shan Alee was an evil empire, and the Aleesh were monsters."

"As was I," Ascania agreed, "so of course I had misgivings about what I heard you were doing. But then, Sasha told me of the girl."

"Enfri?"

Ascania nodded. "He told me how you love her. Of how she loves you."

Ban grimaced. "You wouldn't mind wording that different, would you?"

"I would," she said stubbornly. "Love needn't be romantic love to be true love."

"You're quoting Fullwyn's philosophy again, and that doesn't stop half the folk we come across from thinking she and I are an item even with Jin standing right there."

Ascania laughed. "Infuriating, isn't it? I lost track of how often Istra and I were caught deep in each other's arms, and the only rumors that came of it were how she and I were such good friends. I started to think I could take her on the throne room floor, and the great houses would nod and praise me for being 'such a supportive friend'."

Ban snorted then covered his ears. "Waves, ma."

She flicked her wrist at him. "You're old enough to realize I was young once. My point is, Ban, if you're willing to follow the Dragon Empress and entrust the future of our house and our family to her, I choose to trust your judgement." She fixed him with a steely look. "You are the Karst now. You're my son and my head of house. Where you lead, I'll follow, even if it means I must call myself Aleesh instead of Altieri from now on."

Ban was unable to meet her gaze again. He nodded. "Thank you, Mother."

"And as Empress Enfri's First Knight and the knight-marshal of her legion, I suppose you're the one I need to talk to about applying for a bond with a dragon."

Ban snapped his eyes up. "A what with a what?"

"Don't be so droll. I didn't come all this way to lounge about reading philosophy. Pacifica told me the Arcane Knights are meant to be more than just warriors, and I feel that's something that interests me. Do you even realize how long it's been since I've manifested a spell that wasn't an oracle? I'm halfway worried the Karst bloodsong has atrophied away to the level of some two-scub hedge arcanist. I need to be of use again."

Ban's head was swimming from the storm of new information flying at him. "The bloodsong? I thought Uncle Lamb..."

Ascania scoffed. "Here I thought you being part of an empire mostly run by women had divested you of male-centric ideals. I was the head of house before passing the title to Niklaus, not Lammlyth. Only a marked heir of the bloodline can receive it without it killing them, so there was no point in my passing it along. Niklaus wasn't a Karst, and you and Rod weren't marked. Or so I thought."

Ban blinked. He'd never really gave thought towards the Karst bloodsong before. He'd always just assumed it was held by his uncle because he was the eldest Karst. Because Ban hadn't even known he was marked by the elder magic until recently, it'd never been anything he thought he needed to be concerned with.

Think twice, then think again, Ban recalled from Kastus' lessons. Always assume you've neglected to consider something.

"Waves, ma," Ban mumbled. He felt a lopsided grin coming on. "Have a preference for what color your dragon is?"

She laughed. "So long as the knighthood deals with books more often than fighting, I think I will manage."

Ban felt a tug at his elder magic. He had just the dragon in mind for Ascania. "Shame. I wouldn't mind you bonded to a red, then I could boss you around for once."

"You could anyway. You're still the First Knight."

"Pacifica tells me that only means I cast the deciding vote in ties."

"Really? Who decided that?"

"She did, apparently."

Ascania smiled. Then, she looked towards the tent entry. "I think I see your lady dragon returning. Oh waves, she's not alone."

Ban sat up straight, then thinking better of it, rose all the way to his feet. He felt his breaths coming irregular as a whole new wave of anxiety came upon him. He whispered to Ascania. "I did tell you she's a goblin, right? You won't be surprised?"

"I knew she was fey. No one said what kind."

"Oh. Well, she's a goblin."

"You said." Ascania fretted with her skirt. "Hooves?"

"She has them."

"Antlers?"

"Her rack's huge."

Ascania nodded. "Pregnancy will do that."

"Ma!"

She unsuccessfully hid her impish smile behind her hand.

Ban wondered if he had time to explain some of the more difficult kith phrases Rippling Moon might use. He knew the goblins' way of speaking could be hard to understand for someone unused to it. Ban was about to tell his mother the difference between someone being red or blue when Kimpo came inside.

"I hope you're ready, love," Kimpo said. "I found out what was keeping her."

"Eh?"

"I won't ruin it. I want to see the look on your face." She held the tent flap open.

Rippling Moon strode in, her back straight and head held high. Ban felt like his jaw came unhinged, and Ascania breathed out softly.

Moon wore a white gown. It shimmered with gossamer threads that refracted the light in coruscating colors. Faint silver and gold embroidery scrolled across the low bodice and flared skirt, and the gown's cut left her shoulders bare. The silk was so white and pure that it seemed to shine with its own radiance.

The rest of her was no less shocking. Moon had a light dusting of rouge on her cheeks, there were penciled lines around her eyes, subtle contouring highlighted her natural bone structure, and somehow her eyelashes seemed even longer than before. A violet ribbon tied Moon's platinum blonde hair back into a loose tail with two strands left free to frame her face. She'd even polished her antlers and hooves.

Ban was already speechless. What happened next nearly caused him to faint.

Moon curtseyed. She curtseyed! "I'm sorry for being late. It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Lady Ascania."

Looking to his side, Ban observed his mother's reaction to this... aberration. Ascania's hands were clasped over her chest. Her eyes were shining, and her lips parted into a delighted expression of amazement. Ban recognized that look at once.

His mother had just fallen in love with Moon.

Waves save me.

Kimpo sighed with satisfaction. "That was the exact reaction I was hoping for, little warrior. Thank you."

Ascania, face beaming, bustled forward to take Moon's hands. Ban was too preoccupied with making sure he didn't miss his chair when he sat back down to listen to their exchange. Once he was sitting, he looked up and watched his mother linking arms with Moon and leading her to the table. Kimpo trailed behind, still watching Ban with a mocking smirk.

"Thank you, my lady. You're too kind," Moon said as Ascania pulled out her chair.

"Nonsense. Not at all."

Ban eyed Moon while Ascania returned to her seat. "What's all this?" he asked.

Moon gave him a demure smile, but her eyes were cool. "What do you mean?"

He leaned towards her. "You don't have to..."

"Sorry for interrupting, Ban," Moon said, "but before we talk about anything else, you need to know I was given an estimate on when the baby will come."

Ascania gasped in delight. "Waves, when?"

"Month of Straw, as early as the first week," Moon said to her. "A birth in autumn is supposed to be a good omen."

It was the strangest thing, but Ban had a harder time understanding Moon when she spoke like a human. Something about it wasn't registering. He looked between his mother and the woman posing as Moon, then to Kimpo. His Huntress had grabbed a roasted goat leg and ate it happily while watching the scene unfold. If nothing else, Ban supposed he was glad Kimpo was entertained.

Ban had misgivings. Something about it felt... deceptive, though he couldn't deny how beautiful Moon looked. Even so, he worried he'd put unfair pressure on Moon to do this, or he hadn't done enough to assure her that he wanted to marry her for the woman she already was.

Maybe he should make this up to her somehow, even the score by having dinner with Light Hoof while wearing a loin cloth. He abandoned that idea immediately. As he saw it, there was no way a human could do that without it seeming patronizing, no matter in what spirit it was done. Fey didn't have the privilege of being themselves in mortal society. They had to assimilate or be barred from it, because the world wasn't a perfect place that could readily accept different cultures. Not yet. It reminded Ban of one more reason he had for siding with Enfri.

He'd make that world a reality, for Moon and their child.

"Is something wrong, Ban?" Ascania asked him. "You haven't eaten anything."

"Just couldn't find the words," Ban said. He scratched at the back of his head and looked at Moon. "Sorry, lisichka. I should've said sooner. Your dress is lovely. It's almost worthy of you."

Moon smiled. "Princess Jin helped me decide on it and contacted her seamstress in Ecclesia for me. I intend to keep it for special occasions. Green one..." She cleared her throat. "The empress told me about the gala they attended. I thought you and I would go to the next one."

Ban smiled at the thought of Moon dancing a waltz. If this evening was teaching him anything, it was that his blue could do anything she set her mind on. "If that's what you want, I'll escort you to as many as you like, but I should warn you I'm a lousy dancer."

Moon giggled. "I would sight this."

"Waves, but I thought you didn't like slayer clothes. Itchy and scratchy, you said."

"Silk is different," Moon said, rubbing her four-fingered hand over the material. "Is soft. Nice to touch. Is thing I not mind wearing."

Ban and Moon both realized at the same time that she'd reverted to her goblin speech patterns. As one, they looked to Ascania and found her beaming at the pair of them. She looked happy as she reached out to take Moon's hand.

"Whatever you are most comfortable in," she said. "So, when can we start planning the wedding?"

Ban braced himself for the awkwardness to continue. He only wished he could enjoy it as much as Kimpo.

oOo

Ku Ji Min, the eastern executor for the Glorious Emperor, felt like a fool.

Lingering embarrassment following her outburst over the giant spiders continued to gnaw at her, and the scents coming off the food was driving her to desperation. Only, she was in something of a bind when it came to eating. A veil made it difficult to get food into her mouth, and removing the veil wasn't a good option. Furthermore, the concept of public eating remained foreign to her.

Ji Min sat down on the cushions surrounding the low table and felt like every last one of the easterners was staring at her from the corner of their eye. They expected her to remove her headdress, reveal her face, and awaited to see what they would never get the chance to in the Jade Empire.

Of course, she'd shown her face to many of the Espallans, but that was different. The Espallans were the Most Revered Defenders. She loved Hagen as if he were her brother, and his sortha as if they were her own family. Even then, it had taken time for Ji Min to grow comfortable with them seeing her.

Oh dear, Ji Min thought. It seems the longer I am away from home, the more I am expected to bend.

She glanced around the table. It was predominantly women, the Dragon Empress, her betrothed, and her betrothed's cousin. They were also accompanied by the empress' silver dragon who seemed content to remain in her human form from now on. The red-headed woman with the long legs who attacked Darian earlier was no longer with them. She withdrew after skewering Darian with a final cold glare and now ate at another table. And, of course, Lita of the Harkh'alash.

As for the men, they were either Espallans or the prisoner of Espallans. Ji Min supposed she could accept that much as adherence to the People of Jade's sensibilities regarding the integration of the sexes. She would just keep her back on the crowd of eastern men behind her and pretend they weren't there. Ji Min raised her hands to the ties securing her headdress.

Lita's fingers on her wrist stopped her. She spoke to Lord Darian. "Will you explain something to the Dragon Empress for us?"

Darian had been trying to conceal how he watched the red-headed woman. Wary of another attack perhaps. He gave Lita his full attention. "Explain what, hallah'ha?"

"The executor's face bears the likeness of the Glorious Emperor. It is divine by association of blood. To ask her to reveal it would be a sacrilege."

"Wait, Lord Darian," Ji Min said, speaking up. "That will not be necessary."

"Are you certain, amah?" Rohsh asked. He and the Sha'shara had always been especially reverent of Ji Min.

Ji Min bowed her head to him. "This appears to be an informal gathering. Am I correct, Lord Darian?"

"Yes, my lady," Darian said.

"Then it is not the place for me to claim relation to divinity. I will not expect other lands to bend to my people's theology."

Lita frowned. "Would that the steam men held similar ideals."

Ji Min bowed her head. "If we explain to them why the Glorious Emperor's family does not show their faces, we will have to explain that he is the incarnation of a living god. It is not yet the time to speak of this. I will adhere to their customs as I would wish them to adhere to mine."

Lita smiled in admiration. "As you say, amah."

For a brief moment, Ji Min worried she might have spoken falsely. However, the Glory pulsing within her blood didn't lessen. It remained steady at a level she had never experienced it reaching before. Ji Min took it as a sign she still acted in adherence to the Glorious Emperor's will.

As a font blessed by the divine, only the emperor or someone like him could bestow Glory, or what the east called ether. As he could give, so too could he take away. Within the Jade Empire, there was no way to acquire Glory but through him.

Ji Min looked to the Dragon Empress, and she must have caught her eye. The empress looked back at her with curiosity in her expression. She was surely another font of Glory. The Dragon Empress provided her people the ability to work magic. There was no other explanation Ji Min knew of. Glory was an intrinsically finite resource and came from a bestowment from the divine. It didn't just come on its own.

If the incarnation of a goddess could sit in front of mortals and show her face, Ji Min could do no less. She reached for her headdress' ties again and tugged them loose.

The conversations around the table died down at once, and though they were polite enough not to gawk, Ji Min could feel their complete attention upon her. She removed her headwear and set it on the ground beside her. Furtively, Ji Min glanced up towards the empress and found her staring with an expression Ji Min could only describe as befuddled.

Darian translated what the empress said. "She apologizes for staring, my lady. It is only she is surprised by how similar you are in appearance to the Althandi."

Ji Min bowed her head to the Dragon Empress. "The similarities are not a coincidence. According to our histories, we were once one people. The rise of the first Shan Alee separated us, and two thousand years of being apart gave birth to two similar yet distinct races."

She didn't wait for Darian to pass that along before continuing. Ji Min expected she'd opened herself up to a flurry of questions, but there was something pressing she needed the empress to know. At the least, she hoped it would occupy the empress' thoughts while Ji Min availed herself of Aleesh hospitality as quickly as possible. She'd eat with her face uncovered, but that didn't mean she'd take her time doing it.

"Please tell the Dragon Empress that the primary reason for our seeking her out is to convey an offer from the Glorious Emperor, Ku Jun Seo."

The empress furrowed her brow as she listened to Darian, then addressed Ji Min. It was unnecessary, but Ji Min appreciated how she spoke to her direct rather than solely through an interpreter.

"Her Majesty asks what that offer might be," Darian said.

Ji Min was already picking out the foods she'd like to try first. The scent coming off the fermented cabbage was unusual, but it reminded her of the kimchi popular among the landless. "I come to extend a proposal of marriage from the Glorious Emperor to the Dragon Empress."

Judging from the strangled look that came onto the empress' face, Ji Min would have plenty of time to eat.