Vioroll flinched at her mention of raising a child alone. They did feel guilty about that. His voice was a little guilty when he spoke. "It's not like that..." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain his bearing. "I am not...permitted...to speak of your...your mother. Or what we had planned." He opened his eyes. "But I want you to know that we didn't want to leave you without a mother, and did everything we could to get around it."
"Z'laenna...was different once. Before politics forced us into these roles. Every once and a while, I get glimpses of the innocent and kind girl underneath the cold exterior, but..." He sighed. "She had been planning to have children, around the time you were born. Even had a girl she liked. But..." He sighed. "Let's just say it fell through, badly. Very badly." He looked over at the false volcano. "It was the last time I saw the old her. She's buried her heart after getting it burned so badly, and it has consumed her. We'd hoped that you would grow up in a happy family, with a kind aunt and friendly cousins." He seemed a bit lost in the memories. It wasn't often he indulged himself with remembering the past like this, but since he had, it was hard to stop. "Your mother...she should have had more presence in your life, but it all fell apart."
He shook his head, forcing himself back to the present. "You may be heir now, but your aunt is still the Queen. We all still serve at her pleasure, whether we like it or not. I can delay her, but I can't tell her not to do something at this point." He smiled grimly. "Thanks to Vaerath, you actually rank higher than I do in the Royal line of succession. I'll never hold the throne, nor do I want to now, as it would mean that both you and your aunt perished before me." He glanced back at the crypt. War had been patriarchal first. His father had ruled the kingdom for a time after the split with the angels. But then his mother had taken the throne, and she had reworked the entire kingdom to put women in charge so no male could ever challenge her rule. It hadn't worked, and she'd been killed, but Vioroll had seen firsthand that the changes had stuck. Z'laenna ruled now, regardless of the fact that he was older, if only by a few minutes.
"If you want her to avoid making matches, you can tell her that yourself. Don't hide behind me. I'm not a suitable shield in that regard." He sighed, low and deep. He wanted to go back to training her, and get it over with.
"Now, to move onto a higher note: Tell me. What do you know of control? Why is it that the leaders of War use control magic, when others would mistakenly assume that it should belong to conquest?" He dredged up ancient memories of his father explaining it to him. For the magic to work properly, one had to understand it, and this was the best way. "And, more importantly, what is War?"
"Z'laenna...was different once. Before politics forced us into these roles. Every once and a while, I get glimpses of the innocent and kind girl underneath the cold exterior, but..." He sighed. "She had been planning to have children, around the time you were born. Even had a girl she liked. But..." He sighed. "Let's just say it fell through, badly. Very badly." He looked over at the false volcano. "It was the last time I saw the old her. She's buried her heart after getting it burned so badly, and it has consumed her. We'd hoped that you would grow up in a happy family, with a kind aunt and friendly cousins." He seemed a bit lost in the memories. It wasn't often he indulged himself with remembering the past like this, but since he had, it was hard to stop. "Your mother...she should have had more presence in your life, but it all fell apart."
He shook his head, forcing himself back to the present. "You may be heir now, but your aunt is still the Queen. We all still serve at her pleasure, whether we like it or not. I can delay her, but I can't tell her not to do something at this point." He smiled grimly. "Thanks to Vaerath, you actually rank higher than I do in the Royal line of succession. I'll never hold the throne, nor do I want to now, as it would mean that both you and your aunt perished before me." He glanced back at the crypt. War had been patriarchal first. His father had ruled the kingdom for a time after the split with the angels. But then his mother had taken the throne, and she had reworked the entire kingdom to put women in charge so no male could ever challenge her rule. It hadn't worked, and she'd been killed, but Vioroll had seen firsthand that the changes had stuck. Z'laenna ruled now, regardless of the fact that he was older, if only by a few minutes.
"If you want her to avoid making matches, you can tell her that yourself. Don't hide behind me. I'm not a suitable shield in that regard." He sighed, low and deep. He wanted to go back to training her, and get it over with.
"Now, to move onto a higher note: Tell me. What do you know of control? Why is it that the leaders of War use control magic, when others would mistakenly assume that it should belong to conquest?" He dredged up ancient memories of his father explaining it to him. For the magic to work properly, one had to understand it, and this was the best way. "And, more importantly, what is War?"
