Freeloader
During their long flight across the world, Dakka flies by places he knew every now and then. The landscape mostly looks the same, though a few beeches have changed shape.
He also sadly remarks to Fina whenever he passes by a city that doesn't seem to exist anymore, and he 'harumphs' happily whenever he sees that a city he knew is larger than before.
One thing he notices is that all of the buildings are taller, and the entire land seems to be covered in enchanted roads. People seem to travel a lot more nowadays, and he can no longer tell what the national borders are.
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Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Dakka and Fina arrive at their destination – Lord Fheldin's palace – the ancient overlord of Arra.
When Dakka flies down, he remembers how his grandfather had placed a restriction on his 'front porch' (the giant pit that his front gate is at the bottom of). 'I bet I can just fly down now,' Dakka thinks smugly. 'I'm so powerful that nothing grandfather has made can hold me down.
So, Dakka goes to fly down to the bottom, rather than walking like everyone else. Sure enough, he can't feel the restriction anymore.
The only problem with flying down is that he's far too big to fit down the pit in his dragon form anymore. So, he shifts into his humanoid form, catches Fina again, and they descend together.
"This is your grandfather's place?" Fina remarks with awe in her voice. "This place is way more grand than the Valor Hall."
"What can I say?" Dakka smugly scratches his nose. "This place was built by dragons – not humans."
"One thing, though," Fina asks while pointing forward. "Why's there a dragon's skull over the front gate?"
"Oh, that's my granduncle's skull. Grandfather defeated him in a dual long ago, so grandfather keeps the skull up here to remind all visitors how large a 5-Horned dragon is."
Fina nods understandingly. "Intimidation works. Good. Anyway, I see that this skull is larger than yours when you had one less horn."
Dakka shrugs. "Naturally. Granduncle was way older than me when he died."
"Anyway, Dakka… Let's just go inside…"
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Dakka doesn't even get to knock on the door before he hears an aggressive roar rumbling from the other side of the door.
"Is that Fheldin?" Fina asks, puzzled at why she'd be hearing an angry dragon running towards the front door.
"Nah," Dakka shrugs, "It must be one of my uncles. This voice is way too tiny to be granddad."
Sure enough, the front door bursts open mere moments later, and a purple 3-horned dragon runs outside in his dragon form. "HOW DARE A FOREIGN DRAGON COME HERE ON FATHER'S TERRITORY!? DO YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!"
'Oh', Dakka thinks, 'This dragon must be too young to remember me.'
"Don't you think you're being a bit stupid, little child?" Fina calls up to the fuming dragon.
"NO MORE TALKING!!!!!" the dragon screeches before raising his head and gathering fire in his throat.
Before he can release his attack, Fina holds out her hand and whispers a command, "Quiet down."
Perhaps it's because she was originally supposed to be a Spirit mage, but most of her powers now are Spirit spells. That, coupled with Felkawyn making her as mighty as her husband, means that she can perform Spirit magic on a scale never before seen in this world.
Any Rehkin never could've dreamed of using Spirit magic to enthrall a dragon, yet the moment Fina meets her eyes with her attacker, the dragon can't help but calm down and feel hesitant.
"I… I'M NOT STUPID…," the dragon mumbles. For some reason, this 'little' purple dragon can't look this weird woman in the eyes. Something about her is intimidating, but not in the domineering way familiar to his kind.
"Sit down. Now," Fina commands the dragon, and he immediately complies.
Fina then crosses her arms and assumes a lecturing stance. "Tell me. Assuming that my husband is a dragon from a foreign territory, do you really think that he'd dare show up unless he was either confident in defeating your father, or unless he was invited?"
The dragon looks down – realizing why what he did was pretty stupid. Still, Fina doesn't let him off the hook.
"If my husband is strong enough to rival your father, you leaping out and getting yourself killed will just give your father the hassle of having to revive you. If my husband was invited, then you attacking a guest would dishonor your entire family and make your father a laughingstock.
The purple dragon doesn't even reply. His tail just drops limply to the ground, and he slinks away down one of the side halls.
Fina then looks up at Dakka and says, "You'd mind as well let all of your horns show." It would scare off any more stupid youngsters, meaning that she wouldn't have to repeat this tiresome lecture again.
"Sure thing, dear," Dakka nods. The moment his horns pop out of his head, the air quivers subtly, and the nearby servants hiding in the halls feel their heartbeats quickening and their eardrums popping.
With that out of the way, Dakka props his wife up on his shoulder, and he strides inside. "I'M HOME GRANDFATHER!"
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As Dakka and Fina walk down the main hall, all of the local dragons keep far away from him. They don't even dare to peek their heads out of their rooms.
The only people who dare approach Dakka are the local servants. To them, all of these dragons are the same; one dragon can squish them just as easily as the next.
Besides, they work here, in a palace full of beings who can kill them on a whim. They're quite used to serving beings like Dakka and Fina.
So, several servants show up and politely show Dakka and his wife the way forward.
Seeing this treatment, Fina suddenly starts to get a few ideas.
'I want a lot of servants in the future...' Before, she was OK with the idea of just living somewhere secluded, where her children should be safe...
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Eventually, they're shown the way to Lord Fheldin's chambers. It appears that the old master has been waiting for them. Dakka can feel the old dragon's present gaze fixed on him through the palace walls.
Given that he's stronger than his grandfather now, Dakka is temped at first to just barge into Fheldin's room - act like he owns the place. 'The look on granddad's face would be priceless...'
However, out of respect for his elders, Dakka instead knocks on the door politely.
"Come in, Dakka," comes the old master's looming voice.
Dakka opens the door, and he walks into Fheldin's room.
The entire room is cloaked in blackness, and the cavern is likely large enough to hold Fheldin's draconic body - meaning that it's impossibly huge.
Frankly, Fheldin's room is so large that none of his children were ever quite sure just HOW big it was.
However, with Dakka being an Elder Dragon now, he can see its true size. 'Huh,' he thinks. 'I could fit in here quite easily. Very impressive.'
Despite the cavern being so large, there is a single source of light - a bright spotlight coming from the ceiling and illuminating a single bed in the center of the cavern.
There, Dakka and Fina see Mistress Arla and Master Fheldin sitting side by side, reading a book together.
As soon as the two guests come in view, Fheldin's tail briefly thumps in pleasure. "Dakka... Come closer. Let me look at those horns..."
Dakka steps forward, and he bends down. His grandfather reaches up and tugs on each horn in turn. "You've grown up."
Just this one sentence... Dakka had never heard a compliment from Fheldin in his life, but this one sentence is enough to make Dakka's heart burst with pride.
"Come. Sit!" Fheldin announces happily. He snaps his fingers, and more of the room lights up - revealing a long dining table and several chairs. There's no food prepared, but the seats look pretty comfortable.
More than that... it's actually Fina who notices the strong enchantments on the furniture. Those things have powerful spells on them to make them next to impossible to break - a handy thing, indeed, when the occupant of this room can suddenly morph into a behemoth-sized lizard in his sleep.
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The 4 of them spend the next several hours talking with each other and catching up on each other's lives.
Arla and Fina hit it off immediately. Their conversation mostly revolves around Fina asking Arla for advice on how to run a country, and how to properly raise children.
Fheldin and Dakka, on the other hand, bond over Dakka's long story of the "eternal war". Hearing how Dakka grew to get his 5th and 6th horns makes him especially pleased.
At some point, Fheldin glances to the side at the two women chatting away. "You've got a powerful wife," he remarks. "Is she a dragon?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"I sense the kind of strength that only a dragon should have. Hmm... Very interesting. I'm proud that you were able to snag her. Treat her well."
Fheldin then turns back to Dakka. "By the way, why are you here?" he asks. "You're this powerful already. You should be conquering a world or two and making a home for yourself."
"I was...," Dakka tries answering...
"OH!" Fheldin interrupts him, "Actually, why don't you just take my kingdom?"
"Yeah..." Dakka curls his lip. "How about no?"
"Fine, then," Fheldin shrugs. "Get off my property. Now."
Dakka sits up in his chair. "Dude! I'm your grandson! Don't you want to at least catch up with me? Besides, me and my wife only wanted a place to stay while I look for a suitable home for us. Does a month sound good?"
Fheldin crosses his arms, and he gets a stubborn look on his face. "You have 6 horns. That makes you a potential rival. You either get off my land, or take it for yourself. There can never be two kings on a single mountain."
Arla interjects with a frown, "He's your grandson…"
However, Fheldin looks at her fondly, shakes his head, and says stubbornly, "I know… but this is the Dragon's way. He's this old, and he's grown this much. Treating him like a child would demean the pride that his hard work has earned him."
Arla nods in understanding, and she goes quiet. She can fight her husband on anything - usually getting her way. However, when it comes to the old traditions between dragon-kind, she knows to back off.
The mistress of the palace looks down at her meal (which the servants had brought in a while ago), and she doesn't eat it. Suddenly, she feels sullen and sick.
Seeing the worried look on her face, Fheldin picks his wife up and sets her on his lap. Feeling the searing heat his body gives off, Arla gets more comfortable, and her face eases up slightly.
'Why did grandmother look worried?' Dakka suddenly thinks.
However, his mind quickly moves on to other things.
"Anyway," Dakka repeats himself, "I'm not taking your kingdom. That's rude."
"You don't understand," Fheldin sighs. "I've been looking for a successor since the day I married Arla. All this time, I'd never found any of my children worthy. To think it would be my grandson instead…"
Hearing this, Dakka finally agrees with SOMETHING his grandfather said... "Fine. I'll hear you out."
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Knowing that he has full reins of the conversation now, Fheldin gets this nostalgic look on his face, and blabbers on and on about his past - the days of his youth and how he met his wife...
... Apparently, it's a dragon's paternal instinct to want to be surpassed by their own lineage. That's largely the reason behind their motivation to find powerful partners.
This powerful instinct usually comes later in life - as soon as their first child is born.
This instinct used to be a beautiful and moving part of a dragon's life - the feeling of immense pride as your own child proves himself better than you.
However, ever since the female dragons went extinct, this moving part of a dragon became a curse instead. With every generation having thinner dragon blood (and thus, being weaker), Fheldin was left with a moving sense of emptiness and disappointment whenever he looked at his children.
So, needless to say, Fheldin's strong instincts are telling him that the cycle must be complete. Everything he has MUST belong to his grandson now!
"Don't worry!" Fheldin assures his grandson. "When I pass the kingdom to you, all we need to do is perform an ancient inheritance ritual. How about tomorrow?"
"Fine...," Dakka agrees. He has to admit that his grandfather spilling his emotional baggage on him has succeeded in convincing him.
The entire time that Fheldin is prattling on about this, Arla crosses her arms and remains silent.
While Dakka is absorbed in his grandfather's stories, Fina, notices how sullen and depressed Arla is getting.
Frankly, with how strong Fina's spirit is, she doesn't even need to use a spell to realize what the problem is.
From the way Fheldin is talking, it sounds like he's saying his final farewells, and Arla's heart is filled with grief.
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After dinner, Fheldin and Arla spend an unusual amount of time alone. It's as if they're desperate to spend more time together.
Of course, Dakka doesn't notice this. Fina has to point it out to him.
"Something's seriously wrong," Fina whispers to him as the servant is guiding them to their guest chambers. "I feel like something bad is going to happen with this inheritance ritual."
"More than likely," Dakka wonders aloud, "inheritance between dragons involves a duel to the death."
That would explain why Arla was already grieving over her husband. His opponent is a 6-Horned dragon. Fighting such a foe is simply a death sentence.
"Don't worry!" Dakka assures his wife. "I'm so strong that I can easily subdue Grandfather. I can just beat him, then make him submit. I don't have to kill him. Besides, since he's weaker than me, I can just bring him to life again with the soul in his bones."