Twelve nights later, the sanctuary’s upper threshold opens beneath a clear moon. Eltaor, a black-haired middle-aged elf man with a weathered face and dark traveling cloak, lean and marked by a pale scar at one brow, steps into the moon court with the remaining dragons behind him.
The wards accept him only after the family flames answer his freely offered welcome. Mithria stands beside Lucidus, with Caelan, Maereth, Sera, Orlan, and Wisp gathered beneath the silver-lit arch.
Mithria
Eltaor.
Mithria crosses the court slowly, as though twenty years have become a fragile bridge. Eltaor lowers his staff, and the dragons behind him bow their heads in the sanctuary’s quiet light.
Eltaor
Mithria. I followed every hidden road that remained. I feared I would find only a memory of you.
Mithria
You found me, and our child is here. Lucidus was stolen from us, but they were never lost to our blood.
The family flames rise together for the first time, illuminating the scattered bloodline gathered beneath one roof. Wisp’s small wings glimmer as the remaining dragons enter and the moon court fills with stunned silence.
Eltaor
Then let me meet the child I have mourned for twenty years.
✓ Quest Accepted
Meet Eltaor
“I warily approach because even though I can recall my mother. I attempt to sense anything that may remind me of him that registers as familiar though I share his hair color that appears to be it physically.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Lucidus approaches Eltaor warily, slowing beneath the moonlit arch. The gathered dragons fall silent, leaving only the soft stir of silver flames between them.
Lucidus
His black hair is familiar. Nothing else in his face or scent answers me yet.
Lucidus studies him without reaching out, searching his posture, voice, scent, and the shape of his presence for any echo of the mother they remember.
The family flames lean toward Eltaor, and a faint warmth passes through Lucidus’s ward-mark. Beneath the strangeness, his presence carries the same old blood-sign as theirs.
Eltaor
You have your mother’s caution. I cannot blame you for keeping it.
Eltaor remains where he is, lowering his hands from his staff so Lucidus can approach without pressure. His scarred brow tightens with grief, but he does not look away.
Eltaor
I will not ask you to call me father. Let me stand here, and let you decide what I may become to you.
Quest Complete
Meet Eltaor
“I look over to Mithria as if asking her to answer an unspoken question of "Is that really the man you keep talking about?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Lucidus turns from Eltaor toward Mithria, holding her gaze beneath the moonlit arch. The question is silent, but its meaning passes plainly between them.
Mithria
Yes. He is the one I told you about. Eltaor is your father, and the man I searched for after the roads took us apart.
Mithria touches two fingers to her heart, then extends her hand toward Eltaor without drawing him nearer. The family flames answer with a warm, steady glow.
Mithria
The years changed his face, but not his voice, his blood, or the patience that kept him searching. You are looking at the right man.
Eltaor
I am he. I will not ask you to accept more than that today, Lucidus. I can tell you what happened, and let truth earn whatever follows.
Eltaor shifts aside, leaving the moonlit path between himself and Mithria open. Behind him, the gathered dragons lower their heads, and Wisp’s small silver wings stir.
Mithria
You may question him here, where every ward can hear us. Nothing about your father needs to remain hidden from you again.
“I approach cautiously as I hold out my hand to him. I'm not entirely certain on hugging him he doesn't appear to be that type of person so hopefully this suffices.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +1)
Lucidus approaches cautiously beneath the moonlit arch and extends one hand toward Eltaor, leaving the distance between them otherwise untouched.
Eltaor watches the offered hand, then sets his staff against the stone. He reaches forward with both patience and restraint, meeting Lucidus’s hand without pulling them closer.
Eltaor
That is enough. Thank you for offering it.
His palm is callused and warm, his grip careful rather than possessive. The family flames brighten around the joined hands, and a faint silver echo passes through Lucidus’s ward-mark.
Mithria
He never was one for embracing first. He waits until trust gives him permission.
Eltaor
I can tell you about the roads that took us apart, and about why I could not reach you sooner. Ask what you need to know.
Behind Eltaor, the gathered dragons remain silent. Wisp’s small wings lift once, and the moon court’s wards settle into attentive stillness around the family.
“I speak, my tone having been softer since I had first arived here "I'd like to hear that. However, I wish to speak in a more comfortable setting and with one other." My mother already knows who because I've been hanging around Caelan since she first arrived.”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Lucidus
I would like to hear that. However, I would rather speak somewhere more comfortable, with one other person present.
Mithria’s gaze moves toward Caelan, who stands beneath the silver-lit arch. A knowing softness touches her expression before she turns back to Eltaor.
Mithria
Caelan, then. Lucidus has hardly left his side since I arrived, and I understand why they ask for him now.
Caelan steps forward, setting his cup aside near the moon court’s inner bench. Wisp’s small wings stir, and the sanctuary opens a quiet sitting chamber beyond the arch.
Eltaor
Of course. I will speak where you are comfortable, and with whomever helps you remain at ease. Caelan is welcome.
Caelan
I will listen, and I will keep the account clear. No one here will rush you or speak over what you need to know.
Mithria leads them into the warm chamber, where low flames illuminate cushioned stone seats and a sheltered table. Eltaor follows, carrying his staff but leaving the doorway open.
“I take a seat across from them next to Caelan as I ask "So what exactly happened? I faintly recall being taken and rescued almost a day later. However, I don't remember much from back then. In otherwords I don't recall seeing either of you though I know I felt the atmosphere change because of mom."”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Lucidus takes the cushioned seat beside Caelan, facing Mithria and Eltaor across the sheltered table. Caelan shifts close enough to share the account without crowding them.
Lucidus
So what exactly happened? I faintly recall being taken and rescued almost a day later. I do not remember much from back then. I do not recall seeing either of you, though I know I felt the atmosphere change because of Mom.
Eltaor
You were taken from the western road by hunters using a veil to dull memory and scent. Mithria reached their camp before they could move you, but the rescue took nearly a day because they had hidden you beneath an abandoned shrine.
Eltaor opens a small leather case and sets a cracked blue stone on the table. Its surface bears the faded outline of the hunters’ sigil, while a silver thread glimmers inside it.
Mithria
I felt you before I saw you. Your blood-sign changed the air around the shrine, and that change led me through the veil. I broke their circle, but the spell had already clouded your memory.
Eltaor
I arrived after Mithria had carried you clear. I wanted to follow, but the hunters recognized my blood and turned the roads against me. This stone is what remained of their guiding relic, and it can show where they held you.
Caelan
Then we have both an explanation and a lead. If the relic still remembers the shrine, we can learn who organized that abduction and whether any of their routes reach the sanctuary.
“I put a hand on the stone as I say, using maigic on it "I don't think it'll be needed but lets see what memory this relic holds."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled -1)
Lucidus
I do not think it will be needed, but let us see what memory this relic holds.
Lucidus places a hand on the cracked blue stone and sends magic through its faded sigil. The silver thread inside awakens beneath their palm.
Blue light spills across the sheltered table, forming the abandoned shrine in sharp memory: hunters, a group of adult human trackers in weathered brown and gray hunting gear drag a veiled captive, an adult figure of indeterminate species and gender with their face and body mostly hidden beneath a pale veil and layered traveling robes below its broken altar while masked figures, adult figures of indeterminate species and gender in dark hooded coats, their faces concealed by smooth black masks direct the ritual from a distant circle.
The vision turns, revealing a black banner marked with a silver thorn. One hunter carries orders sealed in dark wax, bearing the same thorn beside a three-pointed crown.
Eltaor
That is not a field band’s mark. The silver thorn belonged to the Veiled Court’s inner brokers, the ones who arranged captures and sold blood-signs.
Mithria
I remember that shrine. Their leader spoke of delivering you to someone beneath the eastern mountains, but I never heard the name.
The relic’s memory fixes on a final detail: a route scratched beneath the shrine, leading toward a ruined watchtower and bearing the Court’s three-pointed crown. The blue stone falls still.