The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 132

Part 19

Then he turned to Amirgath with a glare of tightly controlled rage. "Fire was rude and insulting to you, but you were rude and insulting to us first, and I don't expect my children to have to take that in front of all of Kellaran and all of the Triax during a diplomatically important event without giving some back. I don't care if you're the most powerful being on this world, we don't have to take that from you. I want your apology, right now, or you will no longer be welcome in any of the territories we rule. Being legally barred from entry for just cause, your vow of justice on The Truthstone of Falgaroth will enforce my decision." For a moment, it seemed that the air between them was charged with the power of Amirgath's furious anger. He crouched and gathered himself in an attack stance and took a deep breath, and they all knew he was instinctively readying his fire. Then he slowly let it out, and met Mark's glare of rage with his own, and spoke with a dangerous, exaggerated patience, in a harsh, throbbing growl. "I am as yet unaccustomed to having to consider the tender sensibilities of mortals. And, having considered the repercussions of every possible response I might make, I can think of no way of destroying you utterly withou it leading to some very inconvenient consequences. So. I. Apologize."

With that said, he was gone.

Everyone left on the beach consciously relaxed a bit as the tension of the moment dissipated.

Fire turned to the observers. "Quewanak, Somonik, would you be so kind as to pass on a communication for me? I want all dragons, mortal and immortal, to know that I realize that what I said to Amirgath was insensitive to all dragons, and I apologize to all of them. As father said, I felt a need to give a little back to Amirgath after what he'd just said, and I wish I could have thought of something at the moment that was more specific to him. I'm sorry."

"Well said." Somonik told her. "I will indeed see to it that all mortal Draconians are aware of your apology."

"The gods already know." Quewanak stated with a bit of a chuckle. "It doesn't take long to spread news among them."

"By the Source, that was all rather magnificent!" Emperor Osbald grinned as he helped himself to another helping of the excellent feast. "I might have had the courage to stand up to him as you and your father did, but I wouldn't swear to it. I'm not intimidated by many, but he's definitely one of them!"

"I wouldn't worry about it." Visinniria chuckled. "Amirgath is quick to anger, but just as quick to dismiss it afterward. It's not so much that he considers mortals or humans to be beneath him, as much as he considers everyone else to be beneath him. The second-eldest dragon god gets no more respect from Amirgath than you or I do. He's just like that. A lot of us are quite amused that he was forced to apologize. Before he swore on the Truthstone, he would never have done so.

"Thanks again, Falgaroth." She added with a giggle as she gave the huge blue unicorn god a rub on his knee.

"The Truthstone continues to produce unexpected benefits." Falgaroth noted with a humorous whinny. "Amirgath likes to be at the center of everything, so it would be intolerable to him to be excluded from here. Hilia is the only racially neutral ground, and home of the Key, and this is where leaders and rulers meet when they want to achieve something practical in a relaxed and comfortable setting. These informa meetings on this beach are the crux and capitol of international and interracial diplomacy. Amirgath would rather chew rocks than be barred from here."

"You all make me want to slap you." Quewanak stated. "I believe that is the correct turn of speech in this language to describe my emotions; I do not literally want to slap you. "Amirgath acts like he is better than everyone else, because he is, in many important ways.

"Until The Triax came, all our gods were considered to have equivalent power. They could each destroy the world, so any excess ability beyond that was considered superfluous from a strategic standpoint. "But now the gods of The Triax are teaching us to fight at their side, in the void. They train us for battles wherein each individual god's every attack could not only kill everything on a world or destroy it down to pieces the size of gravel, it could destroy reality in a volume the size of a world, leaving a tear in reality and erasing the world within from existence.

"In our training with The Triax we have learned what many of us have long suspected; Amirgath is the mightiest of us. The Triax say he is the single most powerful being they have ever encountered. "When Amirgath was a mortal, he was the very best in every field of endeavor in Draconian life at that time. And he looked then as he does now; his appearance is not a spell or a divine attribute, it is natural and owing to the fact that his body is completely and uniformly covered in silver scales, each almost too small to see with a naked eye. He was the quicksilver dragon from the day he was hatched, and it is universally agreed that he is the most perfectly formed male dragon who has ever lived. Even all of you who are not dragons must admit that he has the most magnificent appearance of any being you have perceived. He was unmatched in power, fire, strength, ferocity, and tactical intelligence, and that has not changed. He was the first Draconian god, and he has been the patron deity of Draconian rulers and leaders for many hundreds of millions of years.

"I was the eldest mortal who ever lived, I ruled Draconia, and now I am a god myself. Yet I still consider every moment that I spend in Amirgath's presence to be an honor. You should show some respect." Mark shrugged. "He disrespected us first, and publicly, and at an important event. If he'd done it in private it would have been different."

"We do respect him a lot, Falgaroth and I." Visinniria laughed. "And we know he respects us. But we show him the same level of respect and courtesy that he shows us. There may not be a single derogatory term in the Draconian language that he has not used to insult me with at one time or another.

"I think that your problem is that emotionally, you still haven't gotten past religion. You worshipped him for many millions of years. Maybe you don't still worship him, but your pattern of emotional reaction to him is still deeply ingrained."

"Perhaps." Quewanak admitted.

"And," Visinniria insistently continued, "While it's true that Amirgath has the highest scores in our exercises with the Triax gods, there are perhaps twenty others whose scores are consistently behind his by less than one-twentieth, including myself and all the other races' gods of war. His superiority is not decisive, and he is no longer improving most quickly. It's highly likely that Dojitak and Blethian; the dragon and unicorn gods of war, will pass Amirgath within the week."

"Perhaps." Quewanak chuckled, clearly skeptical of the claim.

"At any rate," Alilia interrupted, more than a bit irritated with the conversation, "We still have work to do before tomorrow. We need a presentation on our void craft, the Draconians need a presentation on their void-proofing techniques, every nation should prepare a quick presentation on their latest developments in warcraft. And the gods of both pantheons should prepare a presentation on the training they're doing together."

"I agree." Tithian stated with a toss of her mane. "It seems this occasion draws to a close, and I'm glad I observed it. Thank you.

"We will take our leave, and see you tomorrow at the Assembly."

Soon the six remaining observers had said their farewells and departed.

Six and Kragorram only required a few minutes to compose their new presentation on their voidcraft. Then they all returned to working on their own projects for another hour and more.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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