Redux: Lineage

Luna listened quietly, the only other sound in the room being the gentle crackling of the fire behind her. She'd dressed down since returning, abandoning her leather armour and instead donning nothing more than a set of long underwear, her legs and upper body covered by cotton items of clothing that gave no helping hand in hiding that voluptuous, trained body of hers. Once I'd finished explaining the matter of Heimili and the other woman, Svea, Luna leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"I should've known Svea would be involved in this somehow," she said, rubbing her temples with an aggravated expression.

"How so?" I asked her, crossing my arms and leaning against the bedroom wall.

"Because she's young and she's stupid," Luna answered. "And that combination flocks to danger like a moth to an open flame."

"So what's her deal?" I asked, interested to hear more about her.

"She's a young dragoness, barely thirty years old, and has this stupid idea that she can do what no other dragon has done before and cast out the arrogance and ego they all possess," Luna continued. "Ugh... I think I'm being a little harsh on the girl... basically, she's a noble, pure-hearted little girl with grand plans in her head. It's just a shame that she's going to be preaching to an empty hall for the rest of her life, as none of her kind want to even hear the idea they aren't the superior race."

"Heimili seemed to have that idea," I nodded.

"And it was something I thought Celestia had beat out of her many years ago," the dark-skinned Alicorn said, the look in her eyes clearly showing her delving into her memories.

"So why am I taking care of her?" I asked. "Surely this is something for Celestia to deal with, right?"

"Would you be mad at me if I admitted this Rite was not only your coming of age test to prove your worth as a ruler, but also as a way to plant your stature in the world and snap back at the dragons?" Luna asked in a semi-sheepish manner, a tone of voice and mannerism that didn't usually find its home on her. "Because I feel it's best to be honest to you, treat you like someone who's playing the game instead of a mere piece in it."

"... go on," I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Getting rid of Heimili will do wonders for you and the rest of the world," Luna explained. "She's dangerous, a borderline terrorist, even to her own people, and while they've never voiced their want to get rid of her publicly, I've spoken to many of them that wish she was gone."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she's so close to become a serious threat to every other race on the planet," Luna continued. "When she was banished, she was caught lighting the fires of a rebellion under the Draconic Council. She was planning to overthrow them, seize control of the dragons and their armies, and use them to truly supplant herself on the throne of the world."

"What stopped her?"

"Celestia did," Luna answered. "And she stopped her hard. I would be shocked if you'd ever seen your Aunt come close to using a fiftieth of her power around you, but I'll tell you now: she is a devastating force of raw strength when she needs to be."

"She cut Heimili down to size?"

"Nearly in half, Richter," Luna said with a proud smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "While she and I may not agree on everything, we both agreed that Heimili needed to be stopped, and it was a pleasure watching her work."

"Did you not help her?" I asked.

"Richter, I didn't need to," Luna chuckled. "Celestia was more than strong enough to handle Heimili without my assistance."

"So, what happened afterwards?" I asked. "Celestia slaps the scales off Heimili, and then what?"

"She's tried before her own people, stripped of her rank and achievements, and is banished forever by her kind," Luna explained. "We of course wanted her to be put to death for her crimes, but the dragons don't believe in executing their own. They feel that public disgrace, record erasing, and banishment is worse."

"Wow," I said, nodding slowly. "Dragons are fucking stupid."

"It's because they're a society based on ego and adoration," Luna began. "They view achievements, accomplishments, and success above all else, and love hearing other dragons talk about how amazing they are. If you're executed, you were a traitor, but a traitor who still accomplished a lot and has that list in the history books. But if you're stripped of your titles and your achievements, have all evidence of your existence removed from the annals of history, and then permanently removed from your own kind, you're everything a dragon never wants to be for the rest of your life."

"So their punishment for high treason, from my perspective at least, is absolutely nothing?" I asked.

"Essentially, yes," Luna nodded.

"Dragons are really fucking stupid," I sighed. "But back on track: why am I killing her?"

"Stature and spite, mostly," Luna shrugged. "If you successfully kill her, you and the others, you will forever be known as a band of warriors that managed to slay a Grand Matriarch dragon, which will give you acclaim and fame all throughout the land."

"And the spite?"

"You killing their most powerful warrior is really gonna make the oversized handbags really angry," Luna said with a rather petty smirk on her face, the pure joy in her eyes from her childish endeavours was rather endearing as I stared at her.

"And is Svea going to get in the way?" I asked.

"Not if she ever wants to go home to her mother again," Luna said with a dark chuckle. "Defending a banished member of their race is a serious crime, one that she'll be banished for. She may want to broker peace and love between dragons and other races, but she's not stupid enough to throw her entire life away to keep Heimili alive."

"What chance do we stand against her?" I asked Luna, getting down to the topic of battle.

"Without a detailed inspection of all of your war assets, I can't really give a decisive opinion," Luna shrugged. "But I know Celana can hit hard with her magic and I know that the Barb Tails are an extremely skilled and efficient mercenary group."

"Give me a rough estimate, please?" I asked.

"You're probably going to scrape by with an extremely high death number that might put the Barb Tails out of business and leave several people, including Celana, crippled for life," she said after a heavy sigh.

"I don't like that estimate,"

"I didn't think you would," Luna nodded. "Is that giving you second thoughts?"

"Not really," I said, crossing my arms as Luna shifted in her chair. "What about the Construct Mage that runs the Hunter's Guild? Angie Svert?"

"I don't think she'd be up to the challenge," Luna said with a shake of her head. "Ask her that question when she was in her twenties, and she'd be rearing to..."

Luna trailed off during her sentence, her eyes widening with some kind of memory as she shot out of her chair, looking down at the ground before looking up to me with a wide smile.

"I completely forgot!" she exclaimed. "I owe her a rejuvenation potion!"

"Is that relevant to this topic?" I asked.

"Of course it is," she nodded. "This is going to help you get some serious strength on your side."

"Isn't that considered as you helping me?"

"Rick, listen close, because I'm going to introduce to you a politician's favourite word," she said, holding up a single finger. "Technicality."

"Why?"

"Because that word is going to let you get away with so much shit in your life," Luna chuckled. "Basically, if I give the potion I owe her from another encounter, she'll become young again and be able to help you. But officially I didn't give her the potion for your benefit, so technically I'm not providing any support."

"Is that so?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yup. It'd be like accusing a doctor of helping a criminal for fixing someone's broken leg and that person then getting recruited by the criminal," Luna shrugged. "Does that sound like a fair accusation to you?"

"I'm guessing that kind of accusation gets thrown out a lot?"

"It is the least powerful accusation ever, as any decent politician can spin people by saying that you might as well accuse the cobbler that made his shoes or the seamstress that stitched his trousers," Luna continued. "So we're cheating with this, but technically we aren't."

"And you're okay with cheating?"

"To this degree, yes. Because I don't want you or your friends dying out here," Luna said, standing up and placing an affectionate hand on my cheek, staring into my eyes and smiling softly. "I love you to pieces, and I couldn't live with myself if you ended up dying because I didn't do something I could've to stop it."

"Thanks, Aunt Luna," I said with a warm smile, feeling a warm rush of love and adoration spread through me as Luna embraced me, hugging me tight against her busty torso and squeezing her soft breasts into my torso.

Another twitch of arousal shot through my loins at this, being able to feel her toned abdomen pressed against mine, barely managing to keep myself from sliding my hands over her wide hips and grab hold of her thick ass. My heart began to pound in my chest as the hug continued, a feeling of worry spread through me as I wondered if Luna could feel my heart rate picking up from excitement and arousal. I soon broke away from her, trying to keep my distance to give myself a second to calm down as a shiver of guilt ran through me, feeling rather disturbed at my reaction to my Aunt's body.

"Right," Luna said, looking at the wardrobe across the room in the master suite she'd rented in the inn. "You go and relax in your bedroom for a few hours while I go and get everything I need for this potion sorted out."

I nodded quietly, moving away from my position against the wall as Luna moved over to the wardrobe, dressing into the usual leather armour she was found in and began tying on her boots.

"Have you guys got anything to keep yourselves entertained while I'm away?" Luna asked.

"I'm sure we can think of something," I shrugged. "There's four of us after all. A conversation shouldn't be that hard to get going."

"Fair enough," Luna nodded. "I'll try not to take longer than I need to."

"See you round," I said with a smile as I headed out of the door, wondering exactly how powerful Angie would be once her youth was restored.