Quatal was happily sat on my shoulders, dropping biscuit crumbs into my hair as we spoke to Byurik.
"This idiot!? He actually tried to discipline? When you got your feelings did it also grant you a conscience?"
"Hey, I always had a conscience, as long as you do what you think is right then you're good.... Right?" I asked at the end when I noticed they were shaking their heads.
"What do you do when someone steals something?"
"Did they need it more than who had it?" I asked seeking elaboration for my answer to show I was taking the test seriously.
"Wrong! You send them to the guards, or take them there and otherwise stay out of it. You are the king, or will be at least. You only have to sit on the throne they made you, tell people where the line is and what happens when they cross it."
"You're wrong... picture this...A young boy steals some bread, what do you do?"
"Call the guards and tell them the boy stole the bread."
"How do you know the boy stole some bread?"
"You sai-"
"I did, but what if I was lying, can you honestly say you don't believe any merchant has ever pretended that a customer hasn't paid, or has never damaged merchandise to scam people? You are a man with authority now. If you call the guards and say "This boy stole some bread" that boy is stole that bread as far as anyone else is concerned."
"Then what?"
I asked Quatal to go steal Byurik's plate of biscuits and pretend to be a thief, when she got back to me I asked "Why did you steal the biscuits?"
"Papa told me to."
"Why?"
"He's hungry I guess, he was ill, but now he's better, but he was hungry."
"Well, stealing is wrong and he shouldn't have told you to do it, so we will send you home with a guard to see why he did, OK?"
"OK, but... Papa, I know you were playing with Uncle Byurik, but can I eat the biscuits?"
"I have to ask uncle Byurik sweetie, they are his biscuits."
"If I say she can't have the biscuits?"
"I ask if you're really so petty as to deny a child biscuits because her dad proved you wrong."
"Quatal, you can eat the biscuits." He went on to ask me to elaborate with my plans for investigatory policing and I told him I just wanted fairness, no one above the law.
"ev... No especially my family, I have the power to change the law, if I do something illegal then I'm to stupid to lead anyway, if they do it means they were either too stupid to ask and not fit for leadership, or they simply didn't care and will barred from ever holding national authority."
"You would disinherit your family like that?..."
"Excuses like "But he's my son" and "she's like a sister" won't undo evil deeds and power corrupts. I won't let someone already corrupt gain more, in the hopes they see the error of their ways."
"Papa's right, if I'm naughty he should tell me, I don't want to be a bad girl that makes him sad." Quatal said before finishing a plate of biscuits, that was stacked two high when she got it a moment before.
"Then for starters young lady, don't ruin your appetite. Also I forgot to ask sweetie how is the malting coming along."
"Auntie Astra said I'm done, but she wants me to keep slithering through trees every night before bed and if I get itchy I have to tell her."
"On that note my future princess, I have a gift from a dragon for you..." He retreated behind his desk and retrieved a small pot. "My Origin Wyrm sensed your birth and your father's reawakening. She sent this with a small note."
I opened the note and read it aloud for Eve and Quatal.
Greetings, young divine,
I am the queen of black dragons, in honour of the Domain of Black's new heir, the one he blessed with transcendence and his feathered serpent daughter, I have asked king of the white dragons to provide something to help with the malting issue her kind is known to face in times of stress.
Receive well little one, the white flame of their king and my own black flame:
The white will cleanse your scales of the impurities of this world, use it regularly and, without risk of it fading, liberally.
The black flame is something for your father little one, I hope he can use it to bring you into his kin as I am.
With deepest respect for The Black
Kurnovus
"Adam... Did an origin wyrm just call itself your kin and from what I gathered, it's future lord?" Byurik asked the question with a bizare mix of absolute sarcasm and genuine interest.
"I mean, that sounds like a lot more work than ruling Eden, so I think I'll focus on that for now. Sweetie, can daddy see the box?"
"Course, Auntie Kurnovus said she sent you something to.... Are you excited?"
"Very." My answer was honest and definitive, I didn't care that she was of The White. None of that domain or colour stuff meant a damn thing to me, a creator of white saved my daughter so I wouldn't stereotype them as readily as the deva. "Quatal, when you grow up, I may be able to make you evolve again, but it will change you so I won't do it to you're twenty and can ask without hesitation."
"That sounds scary... It hurt a lot last time and I like me... As long as Papa and Mama do to." The words hit hard and cut deep, thinking about the pain she endured to evolve this far brought tears to my eyes and refused to let them stop.
"Quatal, I think Papa feels bad for hurting you back than..." Eve said trying to leave it between us, despite her clear desire to hold us both.
"Papa, don't be sad, I asked you to do it remember..."
"I'm so sorry my sweet little girl, I never should have given you that option." I squeezed her as tightly as I could without hurting her.
"Papa, listen... I asked you to do it, remember? I loved cuddling in the mine, I loved carrying you and Mama back to town that time. I thought I was big and strong and then those men hurt me and made you very sad, I didn't want to see you said again so I bit you like you asked. I hurt you too Papa, so if you're sad, I have to be too." She said before crying as well.
"Hear that Adam, if you want her to be happy, you have to forgive yourself." Eve added as she finally folded and came closer to hold us both.
"I'm not sad baby, I'm proud, you weren't weak like me. When you got hurt, you didn't want to hurt other people, you wanted to hurt more so you could make sure they never did... I love you so much my brave brave girl." I said, it was a white lie, every word I said was true, but of course I was sad.
She was my daughter and I caused her pain, that was unforgivable and would take a long time to make amends for.
"What do you intend to do with the flames, you can hardly leave things that valuable lying around?" Eve asked as a distraction.
"Oooo! I can put mine in my dimension space!" Eve said drawing our attention immediately. "Oh no... Is that naughty?"
"Depends on how you use it, but would you mind agreeing to us checking it regularly to make sure you haven't picked up anything dangerous?"
"Nope, I don't mind. What are you going to do daddy?"
"I'm going to make this flame a bit stronger for you, ten years in here should make it grow big and strong."
"You have something that can empower and Origin wyrm's flame?" Byurik asked in disbelief.
I summoned the black sun that my core manifested as, the sight of which next to the black flame made Kuronovus' look like an ember.
"What the hell is that!"
"Oh, This is my power, well more specifically, this is what I can't use. My body isn't strong enough yet, but if I absorb that black flame when I fully assimilate this, I will be able to exert control over dragon creation, which is something that has eluded the creators since they came to be."
With that, I merged the black flame with the black sun, the effect was immediate and beautiful.
The black sun pulsed with new life, whereas before it merely resembled the still image of a sun, its surface now rippled and undulated, the dragon fire slid across and through it feeding enough to grow stronger without weakening me. on the contrary, where as before my detached power felt stagnant and numb like a limb that had gone to sleep, I now felt it radiate begging to be used.
"Papa's power is kinda pretty." Quatal said as she approached, but I made it disappear before she could touch it. She was annoyed by that and I had to explain it would have hurt a lot if she touched it and put pancakes back on the menu as a compromise.
"I will have to thank that wyrm of yours."
"Actually... no, seems like mine was just doing her a favour by delivering the gift and message, Kuronovus is hubris and chaos incarnated.... I think they were just helping in the hopes you can reign her in, if only they knew you were worse.
"How so?"
Everyone just stared at me.