Once Upon a Child of the Stars

Thirty Seven- Land of Fire

The bus ride ends a few hours later, finally reaching the phoenix kingdom. Right away, we pull up to the mouth of the giant cave leading into their land. Awes of the children filled the bus, amazed by the rock formations that encased the land of the fire beings. 

I felt a smile of my own twisting onto my lips with the excitement of seeing my extended family. It has been quite a while since I last saw them and I was more than happy to get the chance to visit with them. 

"I see you're excited," Xavian comments. I give him a smiling nod and his smile slips onto his beautiful, pinkish lips. 

"I want to see Uncle Thane and Aunty Azar!" Thea says with excitement. 

"Don't forget Evren, Maxen and Ember too," I say to her with a chuckle. Her smile ignites even brighter than before, pure joy in her eyes. 

We are filed off of the buses and relief hits my legs with every step and stretch of our muscles. Once everyone is off the bus, we turn to two approaching figures, figures I know all too well. A smile bursts onto Uncle Thane and Aunt Azar's faces with the sight of us. 

Azar's fiery red hair was pulled nicely into a bun on top of her head which seemed to make her purple eyes pop out more. She wore a beautiful orange shirt that shimmered with gold glitter tucked into a black fitted skirt. Uncle Thane had a burnt orange dress shirt on with black pants, his hair slicked back and tamed. 

Thea and I along with the rest of our family who were on the trip all rush up to greet our extended family. Thane crouches down and takes Zenith, Wynn, and Thea into a large hug. I am greeted with the arms of Azar along with a kiss on the cheek. 

Thane stands up, his eyes shining bright at the sight of me. He pulls me into a tight hug as the kids then swarm to our aunt. 

"I've missed you, Kiddo," Thane says to me as he holds me in the hug. I pull away a second later, a smile on my lips. 

"It has been too long, Uncle Thane," I say. 

I still feel comfortable and safe with my uncle as I apparently did in the womb of my mother. She said because Thane was around more than my father for a while that I had a positive reaction to him more than my father for some time until my father was back in the picture. I suppose those connections last throughout our lives much like a mate connection does. 

I sense the presence of Xavian approaching, and I turn to see him walking up to us. Thane looks up, his eyes examining my mate. 

"Who is this young male?" Thane asks. 

"Uncle Thane, Aunt Azar, this is Xavian. He's my mate," I say. 

"He isn't dyspherian. What is he?" Azar asks with curiosity. 

"I am a hellian," Xavian replies curtly.

"Wait, as in Xavian Indominous? The king of Hellian?" Thaneous asks, surprise apparent on his facial expression. I nod pursing my lips as I wait for their reaction.

"Well no shit! I always knew you'd mate a man of power!" Thane said with a laugh. He soon sticks his hand out for Xavian to shake. 

"Thaneous Kaida, phoenix king," Thane says with pride. "And this is my lovely mate and wife, Azar," he says, stepping aside for Azar to shake hands with Xavian. 

"It is a pleasure," Xavian states politely. Kaedian steps forward, standing just behind Xavian and I. 

"Who is this other Hellian?" Thane asks, looking at Kaedian. 

"This is Kaedian, he is my assistant. He volunteered to chaperone on this trip with me," Xavian explains. Thane sticks his hand between Xavian and I to shake Thane's hand who gives a hearty chuckle. We chat among ourselves for a few minutes before Principal Viro's voice calls out.

"Attention everyone! Please get into your respective classes so we can meet King Thaneous and Queen Azar!" Viro instructs. We do as we are told, Xavian, Thea and I going back to Thea's grade group. 

Everyone gets into groups, we chaperones standing in the back of the groups. Viro makes his way to Thane and Azar and they speak for a moment before they turn to us, standing in front and center of the groups. 

"Classes, this is King Thaneous and Queen Azar, the rulers of the phoenix kingdom," Viro announces and everyone gives a round of applause to them. Thane and Azar smile to everyone and wave. 

"Would you two like to introduce yourselves and give us a bit of a backstory?" Viro asks Thane and Azar. 

"We'd love to. Would you like to go first, love?" Azar asks to Thane. 

"My pleasure," Thane says before he looks out at the groups. "Hey guys. As your principal has said, my name is King Thaneous, or as my family calls me, Thane. I am a full blood dragon shifter and I am actually the cousin of King Xenophon," Thane says then the attention is turned to Azar. 

"I am Queen Azar. I was born and raised here in the phoenix kingdom, or as some call it the Land of Fire. My mother is a dragon and my father is a phoenix, making me one of the few hybrids of our species," Azar explains with a smile. 

"Before we get started on our tour, does anyone have any questions for us?" Thane asks. In seconds a few small hands raise up. Thane smiles and calls on a little boy with short black hair and chubby cheeks. 

"If you are both dragons why are you the rulers of the phoenix kingdom?" the little boy asks. 

"Good question. When we step down, the throne will go to my younger brother, Prince Aidan, because he has a phoenix mate and will carry on our genes. The only reason I became Queen now was because we were more capable of handling the kingdom at the time," Azar explains. 

"Any other questions?" Thane asks, but nobody raises their hands this time. Must be the question was a popular one. 

The thought of who would rule our kingdom did cross my mind. Now that I was not only to be queen of the dragons but the Hellian queen as well, I was unsure where I would take my place. My brother could take the throne in eleven years, which I am sure my parents would have no qualms about. If he had a dragon mate then he would carry on the royal blood better than I would being that my children would not only have a quarter human and a quarter dragon, but they would be half Hellian as well. I was unsure if the kingdom would accept such a hybrid. Half was bad enough, but being only a quarter dragon ruling a dragon kingdom would surely result in rebellion. 

Before I could continue my thoughts on the matter, principal Viro called out once more. 

"Alright, time to start the tour of the kingdom. Please make sure you stick with your chaperones at all times," he instructs. 

"Welcome to the Land of Fire," Thane says as he turns and begins to lead the groups into the kingdom, Azar's hand in his.