Soul of a Human

On the way to Clare's father, Saphine really had fun posing as Mors Master, sending him to get snacks and drinks from street vendors, mostly to distract Clare from what she had gone through but also because it began to make fun. Every time Mor looked to Dino for help, the prince just told Mor with a head jerk to get on with it. Mainly because the cover for Mor and Sophie had to be upheld, but also because he thought it hilarious.

This time, they faced much less resistance and were quickly brought before Chorne Celestine.

"Your Highness, welcome. If my daughter is in your company, I can guess why you are here." Celarn greeted the prince, ignoring everyone else.

"So you acknowledge that you broke the law?" Dinothom asked.

"No. I decided what was best for my daughter's future, and to secure it, I acted upon it," Chorne stated without a sign of remorse.

°What an ass.° The human commented.

°Indeed. I look forward to what Dino will do to him.° Mor answered.

"Then it will probably sadden you to hear that your daughter was hurt and mistreated by her "future" family," Dinothom said, but Chorne shrugged.

"It was time for her to learn what it means to live as the wife of a noble."

"Great. This makes it easier for me." Dinothom stated. "To your information, I nullified the "engagement" of your daughter, and the offending family has been punished to the fullest extent of the law. Still, you are also guilty."

"You did what? Do you have any idea what it had cost me to secure that?" Chorne said, surprised.

"Silence!" The prince demanded.

"You are guilty of trading an adolescent Soul-kin for political purposes. Therefore, I, Dinothom Diamond, hereby revoke your and your wife's noble status. Henceforth, you shall be commoners. Your title and possessions will go over to your daughter on her eighteenth birthday. You will given a house and an average monetary compensation. I don't want to be unfair."

"You can't do that!" Chorne protested.

"I just did." Dinothom stated coldly, "Please leave the premises. The possessions of Lady Celestine will be managed by the crown until the day of her legal age."

"You know that this is an unjust punishment!" Chorne continued.

"I know, I'm making an example out of you and the Celestites. I will not tolerate that the laws I put in place be dismissed because I'm not king yet." Dinothom said.

"Can I add something?" Orth interrupted.

"What do you want to say, young Obsidian?" Dinothom asked.

"Lord Celestite, you should have trusted your daughter. She's a bright woman and taught me something that we, as nobles, often forget. We're so fixated on finding the right affinity and magic energy in our future partner that we ignore something just as important. Trust and balance. If we would look for someone, completing our abilities, wouldn't that make us even stronger than only concentrating on pure magic power?"

Dino and Chorne looked surprised at the young noble, and a big smile grew on Dino's face.

"That's not how this world works. Magic is everything." Chorne refused the notion.

"Too bad you can't see it. I guess you need to live as a commoner to see everyone's worth. Each and every soul-kin has value to our society, and our duty as nobles is to direct everyone's potential." Dinothom explained, then he thought for a second.

"Young Lady Celestite would be under the royal family's protection until she is of age, but I can't let a young girl stay here unsupervised. So what should I do? I know! I would need to ask the Obsidian family to take her in until that time, under my protection, of course. The Mansion on Diamond Isle would be an excellent compromise."

"What?" Clare asked, surprised.

"You're not staying here anymore. I'm taking you with me to Diamond Isle," Dino stated matter-of-factly. And for you, Celestine, better prepare. The guards will execute my order soon."

With that, Dinothom turned around and left with his companions.

°Too bad we couldn't get a single hit in, but getting Dino on the case was awesome.° The human said, satisfied.

°Yes. I think we did the right thing.° Mor agreed.

°Want to congratulate Orth? The shit he spouted was smooth as fuck.° The human said.

°Yes, he was really cool. Too bad, Lord... ah, only Celestine now... didn't understand it.° Mor said.

°Not what I ment...° The human sighed.

°What did you mean?° Mor asked.

°Fucking piece of osmium...° Came the answer.

Clare stayed very still on the way back, deep in thought about everything, and nobody wanted to take this from her.

"I'm impressed by all of you." Dino said. "and very proud. Getting me involved was a very good idea. Also, young Orth, what you said right now was very smart. How did you reach that conclusion?"

"It's all thanks to Clare and Mor. Mor, who is not bound by affinity, always tries new things, removing one weakness after another, all with his limited energy. It is simply inspiring. And well, Clare... We both tried to do the same thing as Mor while he was training with Snow, and she showed a much greater degree of fine control than I could ever learn. Then she said something I can remember until today. We high nobles are one-shot wonders. While I have almost perfect control over earth magic, I struggle with everything else, and she showed me that."

Dino nodded. "Indeed, this is something I have tried to teach the nobles since meeting Morokhan and Sophie, but you are the first who really gets it. Others only indulge me because they want influence over me, but you understand."

°Dino is incredible.° The human said, and Mor nodded.

"And you, Mor, I need to give you something for your discovery of that long-range communication spell. What do you want?" Dino asked.

"I don't know? That's too sudden!" Mor complained.

"Don't worry and think about it. Whatever it is. This spell changes everything and will be included in the school curriculum for your last year." Dino said.

°I know something! Saphine had too much fun messing with you today, so why don't you get revenge? Like she needs to play your maid for a week?° The human chuckled.

°Sounds, funny. But I think we should think about something more serious.° Mor answered smiling.

°Then the classic I.O.U? A favor to ask whenever?° The human offered.

"Why are you smiling like that? It's creepy." Saphine interrupted Mors' thought conversation.

"The human thought of a good reward I could ask of Dino," Mor stated. "I could ask him to order you to be my maid for a week."

Saphine recoiled in shocked surprise. "Never!" and Dino laughed.

"That would definitely violate Article 1 of the Soul-kin rules of orders. She would kill you."

Everyone laughed at that, and even Clare temporarily smiled.

"Then, I want a favor. Sometime in the future." Mor said, and Dino agreed.

"If it is within my power, I will see to it."

°Perfect!° The human added.

As they continued walking in pleasant silence, Dino looked at this group of Soul-kin future and liked what he saw. He would need to make sure they got all the support he could give them and all of this because of Mor. "He's a true force of change, but will it be enough?" Dino thought to himself.

After a quick goodbye from the Agaton family, where they had stayed, and continued to the glider airfield. Dino requested a glider for his own use and an express transport back to Diamond Isle. Sophie's glider would be brought with them, but they would travel all together in the more spacious one. Finally, out of sight from most onlookers, Morokhan dispelled his stone armor and let out a complacent sigh.

"Finally! It gets exhausting after a while," he said, then ruffled his son's hair. I wanted to do this the whole time. Good job, Mor. I'm proud of you."

They all filed into the bigger glider and started the travel back home. While they were traveling, Clare opened back up and told what had happened to her, which assured Dino of his decisions. While they were traveling, Mor continued teaching his communication spell to everyone, Clare being the second one to get it. She had the advantage that she already had a good idea of how it should work from her talks with Mor. Still, at the end of the two-week journey, everyone had at least gotten it. Dino used it the whole time, always praising how easy it made everything.

The rest of the time was filled with idle chatting and games of "King capture", as Dino has named the human game, much to the protest of said human. But because nobody could relate to a thing called Shogi, the royally decreed name stayed.

After returning to Diamond Isle, Dino accompanied Orth and Clare to the Obsidian home to take care of the girl's new living arrangements, while Saphine got herself a chariot, and the three Agatons returned home on foot.

The results of that rescue mission were throwing ripples through the kindom as they became known. After a grueling trial by the royal family, the two Celestite nobles were sentenced to death, and Celarn's ambitions with the Ruby family remained unfulfilled. The king rejected his plea to talk to one of that family.

This outcome strengthened Dinothoms's position as future ruler and that of his laws, but it also created some vocal opposition from the lower nobility.

Orth left the Agaton homestead and lived back in his family's mansion. The prince had contacted his father and explained the situation, but because no other Obsidian family member was home, Orth was tasked by his father to carry out the prince's orders. Still, Orth and Clare often visited the Agaton family, and sometimes Saphine also tagged along.

Clare was getting over her ordeal very well, mainly because of the support from her friends. And much to the humans' amusement, it seems she clung more and more to Orth. Still, it was understandable, as they were now basically living together, and the boy didn't seem to object.

Mor had just returned to his training, now more accompanied by his father than his friends. Aero also returned and told them about the family festival, about to happen.