Entropy's Servant

Chapter 58 - Alliance

Hello everyone, Astaroth here.
International relationships are important, aren't they?
It's critical to have a good friendship with your neighbours.
Any 'extras' that come with that are just that--extras.

After dinner, I sat down on the pile of leaves passing for a bed, and made an attempt at resting. Given the nature of the 'bed', that proved difficult, but still, I ended up sitting there for perhaps ten minutes.

My time of not-quite-rest was interrupted by a knock on the door. Judging from the fact that it wasn't immediately followed by a kick, I deduced it wasn't Davna. Before the other party could get a chance to speak, I opened the door from afar.

To my surprise, the girl who entered my room was Davna, followed immediately by Charlotte.

"Hello! Uh... You told me to come, so here I am!"

"As requested, we present ourselves. What is your will, Your Highness?"

I chuckled. "It's fine to act as you normally do," I said, shaking my head. "Now, both of you--ah, no. Sit, sit." I patted the bed next to me, and as I requested, the two of them sat down, so that Davna was inbetween Charlotte and I, all three of us sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Your Highness," Charlotte said again, "might I inquire to the reason you have summoned us here?"

"You may, and I shall answer. Davna."

"What is it?"

I cleared my throat, paused, gathered a little courage. Then I spoke. "Do you... know how a typical family structure works?"

Charlotte seemed more shocked by my question than Davna--something I couldn't blame her for. "Your Highness, surely you don't intend to--?!"

"I do," I said, nodding, "she deserves to know. So, Davna?"

"Ah, uh... I think so. Usually, you have a mommy, a daddy, and a kid, right? But I'm a dragon. That doesn't..."

I placed a hand on Davna's head, casting my gaze down. "Most of that is right, but... normally, dragons are like that, too."

Her eyes quivered a little as she looked at me. "Wh... What does that mean?"

I took her little hand in mine, and did my best to look her in the eyes. "Do you... remember when you first hatched?"

"Mhm. You were the first person I saw, Master."

Her hand was shaking just as much, if not more than her eyes.

"I've told you before that I found your egg, right? And that I then incubated it with fire magic."

"Yup! Wasn't that supposed to be really hard?"

"It was. That took a lot of effort, you know."

Davna's free hand sought company, so Charlotte took it.

I decided to quit dancing around the subject matter at hand. "Davna," I said, "your parents... Were killed. 'Slain'. The man who did it called himself a 'dragon slayer'. And... Today, we killed that man."

She squeezed my hand rather tightly. "We... we did?"

"Mhm. The burning monster--well, the drakonid who turned in to the burning monster. It was that guy."

"Ah... really?"

"Yes. I couldn't mistake his face in a lifetime. I couldn't do that to you."

"So then, we took..."