The eternal suffering

DIR(12): Scrambled eggs

*Flashback* (1)

"You're back!"
There were few voices in the world which Hector could stand to hear. Most of them had died out long ago. But lady Elena, his beautiful wife, never failed to make him smile.
Even when he was still wrenched in sea water and stinking of fish.

He gave her a tired smile, before he walked into the room to hug her tight. She grimaced at his smell, but otherwise didn't complain. "It's good to be back.", Hector mumbled and closed his eyes to hide his face in her shoulder.
"How is Leon?"

"He's missed you.", Elena grinned happily. "Me too, by the way.", she added accusingly. She pushed him away gently, before looking into his tired eyes. Her smile faltered for a moment, but then she caught herself.
"Have you found your friend?", she asked.

"He's here. In Camelot.", Hector nodded and went to look around in the room. He spotted his son almost instantly.
Leon was merely a baby. Maybe a little over two years old. The child was sleeping in a crib not too far from the fire place. Just far enough to keep him from reach, but close enough to warm him thoroughly. To think he had spend so much time in Camelot.... and yet so much time away from his family.

'Maybe...', he thought, 'maybe it's better this way.'

"Is everything alright between you? Or did Uther say something? I could talk to him, if he isn't treating Balinor right." She looked at him with worry.
It always felt strange to Hector to have someone in his life who understood him so well. Who listened to him. Who treated him like a human being.

"He hasn't... but Balinor ratted me out.", he muttered and tried not to look at her.
Despite everything, he knew that his wife did not approve of his way of dealing with things. She did support his ideas as well as she could though.
"You poisoned his father. You planned it. You've poisoned half the island. What do you expect?
Your friend has people there he loves. You cannot expect him to understand why you find it necessary. I happen to agree with him, by the way."

"Have you figured out what the book says?", Hector asked, instead of justifying himself.

Elena's face turned sad. "I have."
Hector bit his lip. He knew their relationship was strained a little. After all.... she did have to put up with a murderer.

"That's good.", he said and looked away.
"It's on the table. When I heard that you're back, I got all the translations out. It took weeks. Be thankful I'm so smart, unless you'd still be staring at the pages like an idiot. Your language is remarkable.
It's a shame that you lost the ability to read it. You could have taught me."

Hector's stomach dropped a little at that. Elena turned to him, a proud smile on her lips. So used to his sadness that she was unaware that she just threw oil into the fire.

Hector had lost his status as dragon kin. His immortality. His healing abilities. His ability to read in his native tongue as well, apparently.
He lost everything that had made him dragon kin.
He had to start from scratch. He was nothing but human now. He aged faster than ever.
He couldn't understand dragons any longer, unless they chose to speak human.

He gritted his teeth at the reminder.

"You won't believe it!" Elena had continued talking, without realizing that he had been spacing out all along. She sounded so excited to show him what she had figured out.
Before Hector had left to the island, all they had figured out was that Hector had been right all along.
The poison was what caused his fall from grace.
And that dragons used to be different. Feathers. They had feathers! There used to be no dragon lords! The dragons used to be free!

"Go on, read these!", Elena smiled and held out sheets of pergament. She had written in the neat handwriting Hector was so used to see from her.
And she was careful with her translations. There were barely any words she had scratched through.