Over the next few days, the drama that was the relationship between Nent and Kiyohime continued.
As Sol expected, Nent's earlier actions had already brought Kiyohime's feelings to below zero. So getting her to completely forgive Nent in a few days was simply impossible. Though making it cordial at least was far easier.
This was why all they could do was play the waiting game. Thankfully, Kiyohime hadn’t resorted to violence nor did she trample on Nent.
No matter how wrong she was, Nent was still a prideful King ranked phoenix. There was a limit to how low she was willing to go in order to apologize.
This made this whole situation pretty tricky and Sol wasn’t willing to intervene personally between the two of them.
He did become closer to Kiyohime, but even if she was his aunt and sort of his teacher, the two of them weren’t close enough to have a discussion about such a thing.
Sol knew for a fact that he would be quite angry if an outsider who knew nothing about the situation tried to intervene in his relationship with his woman.
Aside from Nent and Kiyohime's situation, Sol made the habit of visiting Tiamat every day.
He knew that he didn’t have to train but he didn’t want the relationship with one of his family members to be simply a kind of transaction.
Tiamat had been extremely welcoming toward him from the start and he wished to treat her as sincerely she was treating him.
Thanks to those visits, he could feel like an invisible gap that previously separated the two of them was slowly closing up.
Furthermore, for someone as curious as Sol, Tiamat, who had lived for thousands of years was a true treasure trove.
Aside from asking her taboo questions, there was so much she could share with him and Tiamat was happy to share her knowledge.
It has to be said that divine beasts weren’t exactly the best when it came to familial relationships.
Perhaps it was the way they gave birth, or perhaps it was simply in their nature, divine beast usually took a off-hand approach when dealing with their children.
This was why Gabriel's relationship with her daughters was quite stiff and this was even more so for Tiamat and her children.
The way Tiamat obviously pampered Blaze when she was alive didn’t help in making the relationship better.
Sol could see that while she didn’t show it, Tiamat was quite lonely inwardly and his passing time with her brought her a modicum of happiness.
—-
“You are wondering why Blaze went away with Mars?”
Currently, the two of them were not in the throne room of Tiamat but rather walking near a beautiful lake that completely reflected the canopy of the sky.
While standing there, Sol had the impression that he was floating in space. The beauty it of this place brought peace to his heart.
This lake was a wondrous sight on the normally sealed island of Blaze. Tiamat had brought him here after he expressed his wish to take a look.
“Indeed. In the past, I didn’t know much about my parents. But later, the more I learned about Mar–my father's personality, the more incongruent I found their relationship.”
Sol still found it weird sometimes to address Mars and Blaze as his parents. It wasn’t as if he rejected his birth parents in this world.
Had they been alive long enough to raise him, he would have been more accepting. But with the way things were, he could only think of them as strangers.
Still, he was deeply thankful for them for having given birth to him and this was something that wouldn’t change.
Listening to Sol’s question, Tiamat shook her head with a bitter smile
“I have once asked her the same question and her answer was pretty straightforward.”
“What did she say?”
“She said and I quote, ‘His helpless and flustered appearance is pretty cute.’”
Sol tilted his head in confusion for a while before he somewhat managed to grasp the situation.
In short, Blaze was a bully and Mars was her target.
Still, there was something he couldn’t understand,
“But they made a Pride type contract, right?”
“Right. ‘While he can be cute, his face as he fights alongside me makes my heart flutter.’ Those were her words.”
Tiamat gently opened the door of the castle and they entered.
The first thing that greeted Sol's eyes was the painting of a tall beautiful and vaillant-looking woman with a long heavy spear in one hand and blazing scarlet hair seemingly flowing under the wind.
Her voluptuous body was clad in a tight tank top that showed her somewhat muscular belly and long pants.
She was without a doubt a beautiful woman with the body of a warrior that did not affect her femininity.
Sol’s eyes opened wide at this sight,
“This was my daughter, your mother – Blaze.”
Tiamat looked at the portrait of her daughter with a motherly smile unlike anything Sol has ever seen.
“Blaze was…a complicated woman. She didn’t need a strong man. Nor a particularly handsome one or even one full of pride like most dragons.
What she wanted was someone she could be at ease and happy with. Mars was talented. Incredibly so but if that was all, he and Blaze would have simply remained as partners. Nothing more.
What attracted her to him was the candor in his heart. The innocence that would not die even in a world as shitty as this one. Someone who could walk with her until the end and that would never betray her and would love her more than anyone else in the world.”
Tiamat reminisced one of her conversations with Blaze.
‘I like his cute appearance as he blushes and stutters while seeing me. It makes me feel loved.’
‘I like his troubled appearance as he rejects the advances of other women even though he didn’t need to. It makes me happy.’
‘I love his courageous and fierce look as he fights alongside me. It makes me feel safe.’
‘I love the way he acts while always thinking of the good of his kingdom, it makes me respect him.’
‘Mars is far from perfect, he has many bad habits and many defaults like anyone else. But it’s those imperfections that make his qualities stand out even more and make me love him even more.’
She could never forget that day for this was this day she understood that her daughter had stopped being the mischievous little girl that would bring trouble while fighting everywhere.
The one who stood in front of her back then was a mature and adult woman completely and hopelessly in love.
Tiamat shook her head, “Of course, if you ask me personally, I still think her choosing Mars was a mistake. His kindness only worked because he was strong and the proof is that he died and brought down my daughter with him because of his kindness and naivety. In my opinion, he was nothing more than a fool.”
Tiamat shrugged.
She didn’t like Mars. Never liked him and never would. Still, there was nothing she could say about their relationship itself since Mars had always treated Blaze like the jewel in his eyes and always made her happy.
Ruffling Sol’s hair she continued to gaze at the portrait of her beloved daughter.
“Still…While I wasn’t present to see the last moment of my girl, I know that even then, she had never regretted her choice and loved him until the very end, and you, Sol, are the crystallization of that deep love. This is why you need to be happy Sol. I will make sure that you stay happy. No matter what.”
For Tiamat, the pain of losing Blaze was something she could never put in words. This was further compounded by the fact that she had been asleep while her daughter was facing her last moment.
Like a thorn in her heart, it continuously made her bleed.
Thankfully, while the past was impossible to change, the future was filled with infinite possibilities.
Sol stayed silent as he listened to Tiamat speak before asking.
“Why are you telling me this much?”
Sol found the situation weird. Tiamat wasn’t the kind to confide in people. Even though he was the one who had asked her about Blaze, Sol felt like Tiamat was the one who acted in a way to make him ask this question.
Tiamat’s eyes shone with deep fervor.
“In a few days, you will undergo the baptism in a special pool. Until then, I will impart to you all my knowledge and all my way of thinking. But this isn’t enough.
It’s far from enough. What you need isn’t to just obtain an inferior version of my Zone. You need to break all boundaries. If you wish to surpass the current me, your first need to surpass the past me.”
Tiamat’s grip tightened on Sol's shoulder, threatening to crush it. But Sol did not flinch and looked deep into Tiamat’s eyes.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Fate is calling, I guess.”
Tiamat grinned. The best way to destroy Fate was to first follow it.
(AN: Blaze really appeared for the first time in Interlude 4, Camelia's interlude also appeared in the first Special Christmas chapter (too bad for those who skipped it). Been really a while since then. Anyway, I thought it was necessary to give further insight in her personality since this is the Dragon volume after all. Love comes in many forms. You can’t rationalize love nor try to understand why someone love someone else. You can only accept it.
Anyway, the little slice of life moment is over. I wanted to develop it a little more, but I believe it's time to come back to the more important matter.)
