The Return of the Lifebringer (Children of the Sun Book 3)

They had intended to leave Irithara, but the guards in front of the palace weren’t letting them for some reason. Nira said something to one of the guards, sounding almost outraged, while Nef communicated his own confusion by simply raising one of his eyebrows. Why couldn’t they just speak Global? He knew they knew it. Bastards.

The guard answered something back, in a very bored tone of voice. Nef didn’t need to be speak Iritharian to know whatever the man had said was unhelpful. Nira scowled and folded her arm before turning around and walking back into the palace. And to think they’d only stopped by to say bye to the king.

He hadn’t been happy to hear his daughter was leaving again, but he hadn’t tried to stop either of them either. Until now, that was.

“What was that about?” Nef asked, and Nira huffed.

“Apparently we’re not allowed to leave by ‘the king’s orders’,” she replied, heading immediately to find her father. Or at least Nef assumed that—making sense of this place was beyond him.

“Well, that makes sense,” Nef replied sarcastically, following her lead. He was glad they didn’t have to carry luggage around. He hated traveling. But honestly he would probably not even care right now. It had been so great being with Nira again, even if they were hanging out in Irithara.

Though to be fair, Irithara wasn’t that terrible. Not as bad as Nef had thought anyway. It was still freakishly cold, though. No wonder the people here drank so much.

Though no matter how happy Nef was to be with Nira again, he couldn’t help but notice that she was a bit…different now. Not necessarily bad, though, just different. Nef theorized it was a confidence boost from the fact that she had superpowers now.

And wasn’t that super cool? He needed to find out more about how all of this worked. Maybe he should have a talk with Yorin at some point….

“Ah, Nira.” Nef blinked up at Nira’s father. He hadn’t even realized they’d already gotten wherever they needed to get. Which was apparently a spacious room filled with luxurious furniture and a dragon.

Mel was just sitting behind the chairs, his tail curled around one of them. And if Mel was here, Kaleth was of course too.

Nef frowned, pointing at him. “Weren’t you going to leave already?”

Kaleth just gave him a withering look.

“Dad, why aren’t we allowed to leave the palace?” Nira asked calmly, folding her arms. Hidarion looked seriously worried right now, and somehow Nef doubted it was because of the potential rage of his daughter.

Hidarion got up and walked towards Nira, his shoulders slumped. “Uh, I’m sorry, honey, but it’s impossible to fly to Enoria right now.” He shrugged. “That’s why Kaleth’s here, still.”

“What do you mean impossible? Did all your cars break or something?” Nef asked, completely confused at this point.

Hidarion chuckled softly. “No, there’s some kind of blockade between the southern coast and the Federation. We’ve just been discussing it.”

“So we can theoretically take the long route and fly around the entire planet?” Nef asked, and then shuddered. “Ugh, sounds awful.”

“But why can’t we leave the palace?” Nira said, this time sounding a bit annoyed.

Hidarion offered an awkward smile. “Uh, I guess you can. I was just worried about you. I didn’t want to risk you leaving and….” He trailed off, looking away.

“Oh,” was all Nira could say to that.

Now curious and wanting to avoid a potentially awkward silence, Nef took a seat and clasped his hands together. “So what’s this about a blockade?”

“I don’t think this is something you need to know,” Kaleth replied, rubbing his eyes. He still had his goggles on his forehead. How long had he been sitting here? Had he just arrived? “This concerns the Iritharian military.”

“You’re saying that like you’re going to war,” Nef joked, earning a hard look from Kaleth. Both Nira and her father in the meantime took seats as well.

“I’m not going to war,” Kaleth said and sighed. “I just can’t get through on my own.”

“Uh-huh.” Wasn’t Kaleth crazy powerful now? Nef had no idea, but it seemed to him the man should have no problems either way. How many aircrafts could be forming the blockade, anyway? Also, Mel seemed to be keeping a weird distance from all of it. Nef would expect him to put his head in Kaleth’s lap or something. Not that Nef wanted to see that, not even in his dragon form.

“I’m sorry, Kaleth, I can’t just lend you a few jets and potentially start a war with whoever these people are,” Hidarion said sadly, looking at Kaleth with sympathy. He put one arm on the table, reaching out a little, as if to touch Kaleth’s, before stopping himself.

Nef narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“Must I remind you that they are currently blocking the way to Enoria?” Kaleth said, folding his arms on the table and leaning in closer to Hidarion.

Nef opened his mouth to point out the obvious logical fault in that argument, but Hidarion did it for him. “Well, there has never been that much traffic there, anyway.”

“Yes, but there might be now,” Kaleth argued back, finally taking off the goggles and carelessly throwing them on the table. “Or there could be if it were possible to fly through.”

“Can’t you just fly, like, really high above the blockade?” asked Nef, simulating the idea with his arms.

“No,” Kaleth replied, sighing again. “I haven’t tried, of course, but whatever those flying crafts are, they are very fast. They could very easily catch up and shoot us down.”

“I’m sorry, Kaleth,” Hidarion said, looking a bit too sorry actually. His argument and stance on this made perfect sense. “I’m not going to make the first move. My country is not doing so well right now, and the last thing it needs is more conflict.”

Kaleth seemed to want to argue, but Hidarion raised his index finger and continued. “But I’m not just going to let them do whatever they want. If they cross the border, I am going to take action.”

Kaleth shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, staying silent for a moment. He didn’t look up when he spoke again. “Fine. I suppose that means we are stuck here for the time being.”

Hidarion chuckled. “That’s not so bad.”

That on its own wouldn’t really raise any flags, but that smile Hidarion was giving Kaleth definitely did. Was this flirting or not? Judging by the way Mel’s ears drooped, it probably was.

Nef threw a concerned look Nira’s way, who thankfully didn’t seem to notice anything. Nef wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he also knew that her noticing wouldn’t bring anything good, so maybe it was for the best.

“I know, Hidar.” Nef’s eyes widened. The King of Irithara had a nickname? That one could use without being decapitated? Cool. “I appreciate you letting us stay here, of course,” Kaleth continued, his shoulders sagging. “I just wanted to go home….”

Hidarion grimaced. “I know, I’m sorry, Kal-leth.”

Nef shook his head. Watching these two interact sure was something. Hidarion seemed like he had been planning to say more, but then he reached into his pants pocket and took out his phone. “Erm, excuse me, I should probably take this.”

“Who is it?” Kaleth asked.

“The Defense Minister of Enoria,” Hidarion replied, sounding just as bewildered as Nef felt. This couldn’t be good. And this guess turned out to be correct, judging by Hidarion’s face. “W-what?”

Nef exchanged a look with Nira, who seemed very disturbed. Almost as disturbed as Mel. Kaleth mostly just looked pensive. They could all hear what this call was about, couldn’t they? Nef glared at nothing. Stupid superpowers.

“Er, thank you,” Hidarion ended the call, put his phone on the table and stared at it for a moment. Then he looked up at Kaleth with a pained smile. “W-well, looks like you won’t have to wait long for my military to get involved in this.”