He knew that over the last few moon cycles that he was being observed from afar, and by his very own blood no less. His headstrong nephew was going to make it difficult for his brother and his pirate queen to reach Sularia again while their daughter was in the custody of Kyrel. Though he supposed that there was no better bait to lure them out than to play on their need to see their kid once more. He had hoped that he would have taught the boys better than that, but the elder son had something to prove and gain. And when Jayce got into that mode, nothing was going to stop him, even family ties.

Kyrel did his best with the help from the purple court to take good care of Fiona and her grandmother made frequent appearances to check up on her as well. Despite everything, he saw little to no reason for Jayce to do anything against her. He could only hope that something else would garder his attention and take the pressure off them for once.

On this sunny afternoon, he had just put Fiona down for a nap and was making his way through the gardens when he spotted a familiar person waiting for him on a bench. “Lovely, why are you here?’, Kyrel asked, stopping within feet of him. This clearly no personal visit and the look his nephew gave him felt ominous. “I’m requesting that you come back to Egjora.”

“The hell did you just say?”

“I understand that your past with the city hasn’t been pleasant…”

“Pleasant? Boy, you have some nerve asking me to go back there.” His knuckles cracked as his hands balled up tight. “What business do you think I have there?”

“Some questions you have to answer, that is all.”

Kyrel couldn’t even fathom what he was hearing. Did Jayce finally lose his mind? It was made extremely clear that he and that city needed nothing to do with one another. He went to turn around, but was met with three imposing members of Jayce’s crew. “I had a discussion with one of her daughters, the youngest one I believe. I promised no violence would come through, can you say the same?”

“Jayce…”, he growled, not turning around to face him as the captain stood up and patted his shoulder. “I’ve been watching and I’ve seen how much this place and the family there means to you. I’d rather resolve this delicate matter easily and then you’ll be free to come back and do as you were again.”

———–

There had been no other option for him but to concede and go along with this foolishness. Before long, he was up in the airship and made their “guest” for the time being. No, he wasn’t under arrest, but they made sure to keep eyes on him at all times as he waited in his quarters. He simply sat on the bed and watched from the small window at the great sea of blue that surrounded them on their journey to the island city.

He had bad blood with some of the bigwigs over there long before he left and made his life anew on the mainland. Not many of them would be overly excited to hear of his glorious return, but he had to keep his focus and hope that a bunch of questions was all that would be presented to him.

But Kyrel doubted he would get off that easy.