"I don't think Meesei would do anything dangerous until she thinks you're ready." Kaleeth commented. There was some guilt in her mind for not being brave enough to accept Lorag's offer, though she knew that she would make for a poor Champion, if the worst came to pass. Unlike some of the others, she was rarely in positions of leadership. "And it sounds like Lorag wants you to to be trained first. I guess Sabine will have to spend a lot of time with you."

Ahnasha nodded to Kaleeth. "He'll have to. Enchanted trinkets would definitely be helpful; you'd be allowed to use them in any kind of duel for your title if you were Champion. But, I have a feeling that Meesei and Lorag both would still want you to be able to defend yourself without them. As for the idea of you actually one day becoming Champion, though, I also thought about what that would mean. I don't want to think that Meesei, or any of us are going to die in this war. After all we've been though, I think we can all finish it together. But if you stay as Meesei's second, you would [i]eventually[/i] become Champion. You'll outlive her by hundreds of years. I won't say that I'm against the idea of staying in a central role in the clans, but...I'll also admit that a part of me was hoping to be able to relax after all of this is over. I think we all would deserve that much."

---

The thought had crossed Julan's mind that his grandparents, or whoever he ended up speaking to, might not believe what he said at first. Even being as young as he was, Julan could recognize that his claims would be surprising. He had come up with a few ways to answer the question, but again, he was nervous enough that he did not say much to lead up to his answer. "Um, in the castle. They're in the castle. Janius, that's my father. Janius Aelius. That's my father. He was born here. He told me his parents were Remus and Aeramina. I guess everyone here thought he was killed by spiders a long time ago, but he wasn't. He lived, but he couldn't come back. He didn't want us to come here earlier, but...I wanted to meet my grandparents. I think he's just afraid. Can I meet them?"