Enemy or Friend

"That's a bit hard to say, I remember Telan had offered to give him a spot in his own clan but Xilo turned that down pretty quickly and got a bit upset over it. I can't quite wrap my head around what he's thinking most of the time either. I still think he's a good kid though if not a bit strange. His few quirks make him stand out a bit more but that's not a bad thing."

"I figured since Felli liked him, he would have a good character at least but to hear your praise as well is reassuring. This time might be a bit different though if I ask. Telan seemed to want him to just join him, I however want him to lead and I mean properly."

Tilting his head Aeon replied.

"Do you want him to be the next King?"

"No...no not really, I want him to be something more. He hasn't even reached his twenties but he's rapidly climbing the ranks of strength and had the.....courage to fight someone three times as strong as him just for a girl. While a bit stupid of a choice, it's something needed. I also have a feeling he feels similar to me in ways even though he hasn't said it....and most of all, that one boy, Zelfin and even another person were scared of him. I don't really remember the woman too well but I remember the fear she showed. With our Daughter clearly liking him I think it's good to grow his potential and see just how far he goes."

Taking a minute to mull over Katrin's words Aeon didn't need much convincing. When they had first met Aeon had taken quite a liking to him. "He's definitely the leader type even if he doesn't know it." If he could guide Xilo he could soar higher than Aeon or Katrin ever could. The more Aeon thought about it the more he agreed with Katrin. Nodding his head at her propasol they spent some more time catching up until the sound of the Throne room doors opening interrupted them. Breaking out of their conversation he wondered who disturbed them until he noticed the familiar energy. Smiling, he saw Felli and everyone else walking up to them. Waving hi, he let Katrin do all the talking as he stayed quiet.

"Good morning Felli, Xilo, Zilan and the rest of you. I hope you slept well after everything I put you through. For the most part we've cleaned everything up which you probably saw when walking in, for now we're just waiting for everyone to wake up. Now that you're here though we can talk a bit about some things again. I'm sure you all read over what Felli had on her last night so let's hear some of your thoughts on the matter."

Resting her hand under her chin Katrin's eyes travelled over each person looking for some kind of reaction. Crossing his arms Xilo remembered back to last night when Felli showed them that book. It was something that had been passed down through each generation of the Royal family. "That certainly lines up a bit of what I know." He still remembered that story he found in the library of Belturn long ago. "Katrin also mentioned the name Dusk as well." After pondering where he heard that name before he had finally remembered it was in the old man's story. Which also served as a bit of proof to the worth of Katrin's words even if it came from Azalu. "Relia..." Shaking his head, Xilo cleared some of the hair out of his eyes as he spoke.

"After taking a look through that book I think I can say for everyone we have a much better understanding of where you're coming from even if we don't agree with how you went about it. Astral Zones turned out to be a lot more dangerous than I thought...I've always had some doubts about those places so this helped confirm that as well."

"Oh? you thought similar before, why is that?"

"People always talked about how they would spread around the world to random places or how we needed to destroy the cores of those smaller ones but never really gave a proper reason why. Along with Outbreaks that happen my mind just wandered but never really chased those thoughts. After what you've talked about and shown, it kind of confirmed some of the questions I always had...though I don't quite agree with destroying them all completely."

"That's fair, I went a bit overboard with my methods. It's nice to see we have a bit of an understanding though."

Grinning, Katrin confirmed onme of her hunches as she studied Xilo.

"So Xilo, mind if I ask you a few things?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I take it, you've come to like my Daughter quite a bit or am I wrong about that?"

Nearly choking on his own saliva hearing that Xilo didn't expect that in the slightest and feeling all those eyes on him especially Felli's he decided to just be honest.

"N-no you're not wrong."

Her grin grew wider as she continued.

"Good I'm glad to hear it, next question. Do you have any plans to go anywhere anytime soon?"

"Kind of but not really,"

Relia's image burned bright in his mind as he said that yet he knew he could do nothing.

"Good, good. Then let me ask you this, would you like to be the leader of a brand new Clan I'm creating."

Hearing those calm words Xilo felt himself twitch a bit as he remembered the time with Telan. This was the second time it had happened however this time was a bit different. "Did she say be the leader?" A little curious about that Xilo ignored the quiet murmurs of the others as he stared straight at the Queen's unwavering eyes. From what he could see she seemed to be serious about her offer. "What's she up to." Blindly trusting Katrin after what she did was idiotic even if she was being honest. Xilo quickly made up his mind as he denied the Queen near instantly.

"No thank you, I'm good. I have no interest in leading a clan created by you."

"Oh is that so? From what you said you don't have anywhere to go and from what I've learned about you, you don't have a home or anywhere else to go."

Katrin absolutely refused to take no for an answer even if she had to play dirty.

"That has nothing to do with this."

"It really does Xilo, From memory you have quite a few enemies coming after you and one of them is currently in our medical area getting healed right now. He seemed really hell bent on killing you and luckily he happened to survive. Let's say you agree to my offer though, I can quickly have someone kill him right now without a second though. if that's not enough, there's more people after you that you can't defeat right now. I'm sure they'd be very grateful to me if I let them know where you are. I may be powerless but I'm still the Queen and have more than enough connections to get you killed If I want to, even if it pains Felli or I can do the opposite and help you get rid of them if you accept."

Anger flowed through Xilo's body as he heard Katrin's words even Felli was getting a bit mad with her Mother. Xeflia felt herself holding her body back from lashing out as she listened to this. "She's threatening him." Doing his best to control his own anger Xilo grabbed Xelfia's hand to help calm her down as he took a deep breath. "She's one stubborn woman...way worse than Telan." Looking at Aeon who was next to her, he saw that he wouldn't even meet eyes. With Aeon ignoring him and those threats looming over his head Xilo sighed heavily. He was in a very rough position now.

"Oh also, I'm sure you'll want to see your friend Relia again one day, If anything I can help speed that process up quite a bit. I doubt you'd be able to find her on your own after all.

"So you're blackmailing me into accepting your offer?"

"Blackmailing is such a mean way of putting it Xilo, I much prefer to say I'm giving you a choice. You can be my enemy now or be my friend. I don't see what's so wrong with this at all. For you it's an absolute win, so why not lose some of that pointless pride you have and agree. You only look like an idiot to me trying to act tough. So let's try this one more time. Will you be the leader?"

Grumbling in his head Xilo hesitated before finally answering.

"....Fine, I'll accept your offer."

Clapping her hands, Katrin's smile bloomed.

"Great!"