Chapter 29: The Peace Summit

As we continued siphoning off power from the sleeping Dragon, our society grew exponentially. We made scientific advancements that would have taken us hundreds of years on our own. We even learned to tap into something called a Gateway, an interstellar highway of sorts that spanned throughout most of the universe.

Traveling through the Gateway, we could even return to Ancient Earth in a fraction of the time that it took to get to our current home. Instead of hundreds of years, it would take mere months. But just as our society evolved, so too did our problems.

“Of all the ambassadors to pick for these negotiations, why Senator William Randals?”

Saria Kaves was far from a good mood. Just when she started to feel relief at opening negotiations with the Ministry of Water, she finds out that their ambassador is none other than William Randals, one of the most hated men within the Ministry of Fire.

“It’s almost like they want endless bloodshed on their hands. I was willing to forgive the fact that they sent a Mystic into our ranks to spy on us and abduct our Grunts. If I’m being honest with myself, I still want to kill them all for even thinking of messing with our precious children ... but I let it slide for the sake of peace so the Empire wouldn’t spiral down into anarchy. However, this is simply too much to stomach!”

Saria slammed her fist into her desk, creating a plasma discharge that lit up the room and smashed her desk to smithereens. Realizing her mistake, Saria knelt down into the wreckage until she spotted her favorite feathered quill. Fortunately, it remained undamaged. Saria exhaled in relief.

It hadn’t been the first time she destroyed her desk in a fit of rage only to find the precious quill still intact. As much as she hated to admit it, Saria could still hear her mentor’s many lectures in her head, almost as if he were there scolding her like he used to.

An Elemental does not act from wrath, he used to tell her. Let your anger fade and the answer will become clear for you.

Easy for you to say, you old charlatan, Saria responded to the voice. My anger is the only thing keeping me from losing my mind to that THING! You had Balvor. You didn’t have to fight a war inside your own head all the time.

As if on cue, Saria started getting a headache. Though pretty mild compared to what it used to be, the pain still irritated her nonetheless. Saria silently forced the ‘thing’ in her head into submission. Even more annoying was the fact that she had to resort to teachings from him in order to calm her emotions. After everything they had accomplished together, how could he just abandon the Ministry in its greatest time of need? Saria loathed her weakness of keeping the quill he left behind ... and worse, missing his companionship.

I don’t have time to think like that right now. I’m the Minister of Fire. Everyone inside this dome is depending on me. Saria let the anger drain from her body the way he had taught her to.

Still clutching the quill in her breast, she opened her eyes to see a terrified Eramar. In fact, every clerk in the room had stopped their work as they gaped at the Minister warily. This kind of occurrence wasn’t entirely uncommon, but then, Saria never really discharged her psions like that too often.

She had to keep her psions under control, especially during emotional times. If she failed to do so, then a disaster might happen that could permanently harm the Ministry. In many ways, the powers of the Wielders were tamed in comparison to her own.

“I apologize for my outburst, Eramar ... everyone. You were saying?”

The tension cooled down a bit, and everyone resumed working as if nothing had happened.

Eramar cleared his throat and put on his mask of tranquility once again. “As I was saying, I don’t think that it’s Sorric’s intent to propagate further hostilities between our districts. Despite the charges put against him in the past, William Randals remains a trusted emissary of the Ministry of Water, as well as one of their few allies in the Imperial Senate.”

“He’s also suspected of supplying arms against us to the Ministry of Lightning during the second uprising of the lesser Ministries.”

“It was never proven that Randals was trafficking weapons to the Lightning Elementals as a means of gaining a foothold into Fire Elemental territory for the Ministry of Water.”

Despite the yoga techniques that she had used earlier, Saria found herself becoming angry again. “It was never fully disproven either. And besides, from what I’ve seen of the man, he’s just the type to be a secret black-market dealer.”

Eramar pinched the top of his nose much in the same way he would were he with a student. Saria found that amusing considering the fact that she was the man’s elder by more than a few centuries.

“The matter was resolved years ago. The Imperial Courts judged him innocent of all charges.”

Saria scoffed. “Oh, like those bunch of slag-eaters have as much sense as Dragon dung. You know as well as I do that the courts are far from infallible, even in those days when Chissler wasn’t running the Empire into the ground.”

Eramar took a deep breath before responding. “Don’t you see? This is obviously some sort of test from Sorric.”

“A test?”

“Yes. He purposefully chose a mediator that you would disapprove of to see if your desire for peace is genuine.”

“Aack! That manipulative old goat! As devious as he was during the last war.”

Even if Saria hated it, she had to make this peace work for all of their sakes. Folding her hands together over her mouth, Saria took one last look at the blue-feathered quill and made up her mind before she could second guess herself.

“Very well, but it’s better we limit the number of people who know about this. Randals is still remembered with contempt among many people in this district, not just the Fire Elementals. Just mentioning his name could start a riot.”

Eramar nodded in agreement.

“And I want this thing over and done with before the final exams for the Grunts start. We don’t need this business interfering with the development of our up-and-coming Elementals.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Eramar, obviously thinking of his own ordeal of training Ryan Uruks.

“Achoo!” sneezed Ryan as he sat down for dinner with Thomas Madison and his family within the underground residential area beneath the volcano.

“I heard that when you sneeze, it means someone is either talking about you or thinking about you somewhere,” said Thomas between mouthfuls of macaroni and cheese.

“If that’s the case, then they’re probably bragging about how awesome I am, right my apprentice?”

“Whatever you say, master,” replied Thomas in a slightly slurred voice, obviously more interested in eating than in conversation.

Thomas had invited Ryan to join him and his family for dinner at the civilian’s quarters in the northernmost region of the dome. Ryan had no idea that there were actual families living at the Ministry, which made him wonder what other things about the Ministry he didn’t know.

Apparently, Thomas was among the Grunts who had families living in the Ministry itself. In fact, there were many families in the Ministry of Fire, all of them generational Elementals. It blew Ryan’s mind that Elementals could even settle down and have a family.

From his understanding of the Elementals, they seemed too ... well ... militaristic. But here was an actual Elemental family, and not one of them treated him like a freak or a reject. It made Ryan sad because it reminded him of his own home a bit, but he tried not to let his feelings show so as not to spoil the evening.

They sat in a circular dining room with a round, wooden table in the center. The walls were gray steel, and yet, had a very homely feel to them due to the comfortable orange lighting. The room was big enough to hold a whole house, decorated with all kinds of vases of every shape and size along with the furniture.

Ryan couldn’t know why a family this small needed so many couches, and some of the couches came in the weirdest shapes. One was red and shaped like a tube, and another was pink and twisted into a sort of spiral shape. Ryan wondered how anyone could sit in such a thing, but he guessed it to be more decorative than practical.

Even more peculiar were the art pieces on the walls made of fire, electricity, and lava - making the room feel like a frying pan. Strangely, the energetic art displays that hung from the walls and the ceiling didn’t seem to affect the room’s temperature, or at least not so much as Ryan could tell.

The Elemental art projects displayed many events of Elemental history: from two Elementals dueling in gleaming armor with swords, to great battles fought against the alliance of the dark races. Creatures of all shapes and sizes adorned the walls as well. There was a squid made out of fire that actually appeared to swim around the room. In another corner, there was a rodent-like creature made of lightning floating around lazily that Mr. Madison said was an otter. All in all, perhaps the strangest home Ryan had ever known

“So tell me, Thomas. How did you and ‘Master’ Ryan meet?” inquired Thomas Madison’s mother with a good-humored inflection.

Mrs. Madison wore sparkling earrings shaped like seashells and a pearl necklace that Ryan thought his own mother would just go gaga for. She had mid-length brown hair, dark brown eyes like Thomas, was short and slightly portly, but still pretty enough for a woman of her ... um ... well, years.

Ryan wasn’t very good at guessing a person’s age and he didn’t want to give his best estimate lest he offend her. From what Ryan had learned from hanging out with Éclair, women were pretty sensitive. Just one of the many reasons that Ryan felt justified in classifying all women as weird.

Before Ryan could respond to Mrs. Madison’s question, Thomas interjected. “He blew me up!”

Mrs. Madison became confused. “What?’

“I think he’s talking about that ‘accidental’ explosion on the training fields a few weeks back,” lied Ryan. “The one that put Thomas into the hospital.”

Thomas scratched his chin in thought. “Oh, that’s right! Ryan saved me!”

Mr. Madison dropped his fork in shock. Mr. Madison kind of looked like Thomas, the same pudgy kind of face, the same styled hair, short and military appropriate. He was a pretty big guy with a little bit of lard in the yard, but he seemed alright.

“Thomas, you never mentioned that it was this boy who saved you.”

Thomas scratched his head, obviously a bit confused by the memory wipe he’d been given. “Oh, yeah. I guess it just slipped my mind.”

Simultaneously, both parents got up to thank Ryan. Mr. Madison had a vise-like grip on Ryan’s hand and shook it vigorously. “You saved my boy’s life! If there’s anything I can do for you, son, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Mrs. Madison rubbed her hands through Ryan’s hair while pinching his cheeks profusely. “You are welcome here anytime you like. You can even look at my special collectible couches and vases that aren’t on display. Anything for the man who saved my boom-boom cakes.”

“MOM!” shouted Thomas, his cheeks going red.

“Oh, such a funny story about how he got his nickname, boom-boom cakes. Well, it all started when he was a baby, and one day we found a very strange diaper full of-”

“That is to say, we are eternally grateful,” interjected Mr. Madison. “Thank you, Ryan. If you ever need anything, just ask. I may not look like it, but I still got some pull in the Ministry even though I’m retired and put my warrior days behind me.”

Ryan spoke up before he started turning purple again. “Thanks, Mr. Madison. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“HEE, HEE, HEE!” giggled Suzy, Thomas’ little sister.

The child was a little over two years old with short brown hair, the same color as her mom’s, and a big gap in her teeth whenever she smiled, which happened often. Ryan tried to be manly and not get caught up with cute things like girls do, but when he saw that little girl, with her dimples and her big, innocent eyes, Ryan inwardly said, ’AWWW!’

“Funny boy, funny,” said little Suzy, giggling in delight and clapping her tiny hands together. “He turn purple.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Suzy,” said Mrs. Madison. “It’s just a trick of the light.”

Ryan regarded the child with a newfound respect. The kid’s got sharp eyes.

Fortunately, little Suzy preoccupied herself with shoving pieces of macaroni up her nose, to which a panic-stricken Mrs. Madison attempted to dislodge said food items.

Mr. Madison turned towards Ryan with a sudden intensity that made Ryan feel uncomfortable. “Join me for a walk, Ryan?”

Mr. Madison got up to leave and Ryan followed, unsure of what to expect. Thomas helped his mother remove the macaroni from Suzy’s nose, but the two-year-old proved quite resistant. As Ryan walked alongside Mr. Madison, he got the faint feeling that the man was sizing him up.

“You’re Richard’s kid, aren’t you?”

Even though it shouldn’t have surprised Ryan by now that people here knew his father, he suddenly felt a jolt like someone had pulled a carpet out from under his feet. “You knew my dad?”

Mr. Madison smiled whimsically. “Oh, I reckon that there’s not many old-timers like me who didn’t know your father. At least, what they thought they knew about him.”

“What do you mean?”

Mr. Madison shrugged, and said, “Well, your father was a different kind of Elemental. He wasn’t like me or most other Elementals. Most of us do a certain amount of years of service, and then if we want, we can retire to seek other work within the Ministry, or anywhere in the Tarrus Empire besides military work.”

Ryan frowned in confusion, prompting Mr. Madison to explain.

“Some of us become clerks, teachers, or medics working here at the Ministry. Others go into business with the merchants. There’s lots of work to be found at the Fire Ministry other than training and fighting. However, if you do choose to leave the Ministry and live among civilians, you have to have your powers suppressed. But that ain’t so bad considering that many former Elementals go into politics afterwards. After our years of service, my wife became an accountant, and I, myself, went to work in the Sanitation Department here at the Ministry

“Oh, I see,” said Ryan in surprise when he remembered what ‘sanitation’ meant.

So even Elementals have plumbers. Who knew?

“So, Elementals can get married, raise a family and stuff, like my mom and dad did? There’s no laws of celibacy or something like that?”

Mr. Madison chuckled as he nodded. “Yes, Elementals are not expressly forbidden from marriage. Although many choose to wait until their years of service are done like me and Martha did. Active duty as an Elemental is just dangerous.” Mr. Madison paused to take a drink from his coffee that he carried with him. “Now, Richard, he was doing even more dangerous assignments for the Ministry other than the standard forces, assignments only reserved for those who achieved the highest tier of Level Four. Those kinds are truly a rarity. I only made it to the mid-tier of Level Two myself.”