Lov suffered through hell the first day. It started out sunny and bright, the popping wood of the fire exploding in his ears. Before long though it rained, and he hated it more. The rain was a light sprinkle, but to Lov the drops were drums, thundering constantly. Lightning would explode in his ears, and the flashes would blind him for tens of minutes. Before he found a slight overhang to huddle undercover, the rain had felt as if it were battering him, pounding into his skin and getting under his scales. He felt chilled to his bones as he prayed for the sun to return. His eyes had hurt worse with the blazing ball of light in the sky, but the rain was unbearable.
The storm kept him awake all night. Towards morning, it blessedly moved from overhead. The sun was just lighting the horizon as Lov sat and listened to the world. He heard a sound like someone drumming their fingers. Lov craned his neck around searching for Tryton, or anyone else that could be making the noise. As he looked, he noticed he could focus on a spot, and zoom in upon it. For example, the tip of a blade of grass. He could focus upon it and see the serrated edges of the blade. All of it he processed instantly. The wind blew though the bowl, howling around it, causing swirling eddies. Lov shivered as it blew past him, and watched the sky as the sun lightened it. He was amazed to see greens and yellows mixing with reds and blues. It looked like an oil slick across the sky. It was as if a god had painted the clouds with rainbows. Lov sat breathless and filled with awe.
The sun coming over the lip of the bowl blinded Lov, and he covered his face with his hand, blocking out the burning light. Slowly he felt the searing pain subside. He felt the small puff of wind that signified Tryton's arrival.
"How are you doing, kid?" Lov heard his grandfather's voice thundering in his ears. "Is there anything you need? Food? Water?"
Lov slowly removed his hand from his face, so he could glare at Tryton and give him a piece of his mind. But Lov was shocked to see Tryton standing on the other side of the bowl. Tryton, seeing his grandson's face, laughed, and it roared in Lov's ear. "You think that mean mug is going to scare me?" Even though Lov watched Tryton say it calmly, Lov couldn't believe what he heard was so loud.
Lov sighed wearily. "I just want to get some time away from here. I've been here for months, and I've hardly relaxed." Lov turned beseechingly to his grandfather. "Will you please send me back to my uncle? I need time to digest everything that's happened to me."
Tryton looked to the heavens, rolling his eyes thinking, the boy will never learn. "Are you sure that's what you want?" He asked.
"Yes!" Lov all but shouted. His own voice thundered in his skull, making him wince.
"Alright, I'll send you back to your uncle. Bumble headed buffoon won't know what to do with you, but that’s better than you moping around here." Tryton yelled out "Tinkle, come here!" The familiar blue fairy appeared out of thin air.
"What's up, old man?" She demanded, anger in her eyes. "I was just about to bathe in the waterfalls."
"What's the idiot up to?" He asked.
"You'll have to be more specific." She replied. "You call a lot of people idiots."
Tryton chuckled a little. "I mean the elf idiot."
"Oh, Nord!" She concentrated for a minute, thinking over her reports. "Missy says they're in Gobekli Tempe with the halfling."
"That will do nicely." He turned to Lov, "Grab the kid's things and drop them there with his uncle. I'll follow with Lov in a moment."
She glared at Tryton. "You better make this worth my while, I'm not an errand runner. Especially since you're making me miss my shower!" She stepped sideways and disappeared.
"Alright kid, you need to grab your power, and just hold it. I'll guide you through the spell we'll use to transport."
Lov nodded and attempted to seize it. The sun blazed on his closed eyelids, blinding and painfully bright. He shook his head in disgust after a moment. "I just can't seem to grasp it." The young half-elf complained.
"No matter, that just would have made it easier on you." Tryton reached out and seized Lov. It felt as if his body were ripped apart tiny piece by tiny piece, and reformed in a dark cavern. It was agony, and when he felt himself pull back together his hearing was assaulted. The cavern reverberated with the tremors of thousands of people marching past. Lov felt the vibrations of them through his ears and feet.
"Yes, this will do nicely." The old man said, walking deeper into the cave.
Tyrosh walked through the lush garden inside the temple. They grew everything here. Every spice, every flower, some crossbred and found nowhere else in the world. Huge statues of dragons lined the garden. Some as tall as a Titan, if not taller. Others were more the size of a vase. Every one of them was different. Here a serpentine dragon, a long twisting sinuous body with small wings. There a monitor dragon, fat and wide like the lizard with a large wingspan. She loved to come here, it had always been her favorite place in the temple structure.
As she walked, she could see some novices practicing their meditation. One, a large ogier, sat softly humming to himself. Tyrosh was a dragon, used to forming the reality around her to work her magic. Even the Titanbringer needed the Breath of the Titans to bring his constructs to life. But these ogier were amazing, they sang to plants, and the plants grew. They also shaped, formed and split how the ogier wished them to go.
This one was singing to a young sickly flower vine. The flowers hung, weak and brown on the vine. But as the ogier sang, the sad brown flowers rejuvenated, filling with a rich purple. The leaves, which had been hanging on by a thread, sprang to life and glowed a hearty green.
"That's beautiful." She whispered in his long pointy ear. Unlike the elves, it was as hairy as a halfling's. "What's your name?"
The ogier gave a start, then turned and bowed low to Tyrosh. He was short for an ogier, only standing head and shoulders above her. He had soft black hair, cut short as most novices kept their hair. "Thank you, Great One, and honor to you and yours. My name is Kaon." He bowed low, his ears tipped back and his cheeks rosy. "And your praise brings me honor. Some ogier wait all their lives for praise from one of your kind."
Tyrosh shook her head. "How many times must we dragons tell you? You ogier are just as powerful as we are, just in a different way." She turned and gestured to the temple wall. It extended hundreds of feet above her, covered in vines and grasses, trees jutting out from the many different levels. "Just look what your kind does to beautify this place. Without you, Dalanar's sacrifice would be a plain bit of stone." She turned back to the ogier. "I know he loves the life and vitality your kind brings to the stark rock."
"How could we do any less? He sacrificed himself for the whole world."
Tyrosh smiled. "That's why every being in this world could learn a lesson from the ogier."
The Titan that was her ever present guard walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The Titanbringer wishes to speak with you." It stated.
Tyrosh turned back to the young ogier. "Until next time, Kaon."
Kaon bowed low, the Titan escorting Tyrosh away. It followed her as she crossed the complex, walking by where the constructs were forged. She could see some novices meditating over the armor, pulling pieces from the racks hanging on the walls, and focusing their energy into individual segments. She could hear the metallic twang of blacksmiths pounding out the metal coming from ahead of her. The forges they used were covered in shining silver runes, and she could see a faint blue sheen where the hot air tried to force its way out of the furnace. Swirls and spirals lined the furnace doors.
There were beings of every sort here, even orcs were welcome to train as an acolyte of Dalanar. She watched as one, hairy with the thick black fur of his people, poured old armor into a crucible. It appeared Reggie wasn't the only old Titan destroyed. Most of the beings in here were human though, and none women. She snorted her nose at that. She would never understand why humans refused to let women step into their traditionally male professions. She believed they cut themselves short, keeping the elven smiths, a lot of whom were female, from their forges.
At the anvils, large broad shouldered men pounded out the iron. The anvils were set onto raised platforms, covered with runes and symbols. A soft yellow light emanated from the lines. Elvish was inscribed along the edges of the anvil, Tyrosh knew it said "And I give you breath."
Tyrosh continued into the main temple building, walking towards the lifts at the center of the complex. While Gendry had slept most nights with the orphans in the school, or wherever sleep happened to find him, Martell had taken the uppermost level of the temple for his rooms. She rode the lift to the top, stepping from the plain bareness of the public temple, to the opulence that Martell had always sought in life. Rich silk tapestries covered the walls in dark blues and greens. Large gold statues were placed on pedestals down the hallway. Most were great humans from before the Dragon Wars, when they had spread over the world.
She strode through the arches that led into Martell's study. "It's bad enough you've cut my hair, enslaved my people, and are making a sham of what should be an honored and great office. You can't give me a morning walk without calling to torture me with your presence more?" She threw her hands up in disgust. "So what is it now? What couldn't wait?" She glared at him, wishing he would melt into a puddle of pig excrement.
Martell glowered at her. "You do know I'll need to punish that ogier, don't you?" He strode to his desk, picking up a piece of paper. "'All temple personnel are to leave the dragon, Tyrosh, to suffer in her shame for her crimes against me.' This was spread throughout the temple, posted in the barracks, and the priests have been trying to drive it in to the ogier." He continued as he threw the paper to the desk. "Kaon ignored a directive, he'll be flogged for it."
Tyrosh's eyes flashed. If she had not been restrained by the necklace, she would have eaten Martell right here and now. Instead she growled, low and dark. "Mark my words, Martell, if you do anything to that boy, everyone will suffer."
"You should have thought of that before talking with him." He motioned for the Titan to drag her away. "Lock her in her rooms, so she can't spread any more discontent."
The Titan grabbed Tyrosh by her wrist, and dragged her from the room. "Don't do it, Martell, we'll all suffer!" She shouted out as the door closed behind her.
Lov covered his ears as he walked. It didn't really help with the noise he heard, but it made him feel better. The pounding had quieted some as they had traveled through the caverns, but a loud humming had taken its place. He could still feel the rocks vibrating under foot. But his vision had returned to normal, if you call being able to see in the dark as if it were a sunny day normal. When they had first entered the cave system, Lov had seen as if they walked in the noon day sun. Now blindingly bright points of blue light spread across the corridor they walked. Tryton walked purposefully ahead of Lov, as if he knew exactly where they were going.
They came to a hole in the wall, a large purple mushroom painted above the door. Tryton strode through and approached the bar. Behind the stone counter was the strangest being Lov had ever seen. It looked like an ant that had grown to monstrous proportions. The hard chitin that was its skin was a rich brown, and the eyes glowed like rainbows in Lov's new vision. It stood, staring into a ball that appeared to be attached to its tail. That ball glowed like the points of light from the corridor, only softer.
Tryton rapped his knuckles on the counter top. "Hello, good sir." The being said from behind the bar. It tucked its tail behind itself. "How may I help you this afternoon?"
Tryton smiled, flashing pearly white teeth. "Yes, I'm looking for a seven foot tall elf, he's kind of an idiot, way too pretty for his own good." Tryton pointed to the stairs cut into the walls. "I just didn't want you to flip your lid when I went up there. I know how prickly your species can be."