Limitless Path

The Elder staggered and went down on one knee, though briefly, as Beth turned and walked back to Sera and the others. Sera smiled at her, Blood looked bored, and Val was face-palming, which Beth figured was just about par for the course. The Elder got back upright with much cursing and yelling, though Beth didn't think there was any need for that much carrying on. Sera gestured for them to proceed into the Clan Hall from the teleportation hall, walking by the Elder, who attempted to be petty and lashed out at Sera. The dragon girl didn't even bother to block, the heavy attack landing on her with a booming sound that they all ignored. Sera didn't entirely ignore the attack, however, and replied in kind, using her arm as a spear to strike out with Overwhelming Pierce, smashing into the Elder with so much force she was lifted off the ground and flew across the teleporter hall, a line of vapor trailing where her body disturbed the air.

"That's how we do it in the Black Dragon Clan," Sera said with a laugh.

"It's not going to be a problem?" Val asked in an exasperated voice.

"For what? For an uppity Elder that took matters into her own hands?" Sera asked, laughing again. "She's a thousand years old, which is not super old for dragons, but she's only made it partially through Enlightened in all that time. If it was anything serious, my parents or the actually important Elders wouldn't have sent her in here to harass us like that."

"I think I'm going to like this place," said Beth, to further exasperation from Val.

"Just try not to start a war or something," the kresnik muttered with a quiet curse.

"It won't even start a family fight," Sera said with a shake of her head as she led them out of the teleporter hall.

They moved out into a massive hallway with chandeliers for lighting and rich carpets overlaid on marble floors. The walls had rich, mahogany woodwork and panels of rare redwoods along the entire length up to chest height on Beth. The wealth on display was pretty phenomenal, especially considering the woodworking and stonework that was present. It wasn't the most ostentatious display of wealth Beth had seen, but it was pretty close to that line. It was clear Sera's clan had an awful lot of money to throw around and they weren't shy about it.

Sera led them further into the building, passing a young man that was running towards the teleporter hall, likely to check on the erstwhile Elder. As they moved further into the building, they passed more people that were clearly of the clan, to the point Beth felt a bit out of place as a non-dragon walking through the building. They certainly got a few looks, but Sera's presence with them discouraged anyone from stopping them and asking what they were doing or who they were. Despite being the black sheep of the family, Sera still had some modicum of respect, or at least some level of non-interference where family and clan members didn't exactly want to get in her face. Beth assumed the crotchety Elder in the teleportation hall had been an opening shot, or else just the person who was on hand that could be scrambled into provoking them since she didn't think Sera had given any indication she was returning.

The navigated through the building until they came to a residential section that was nothing but living quarters for the members of the family. External and related clan members had separate accomodations in different outbuildings; only direct family had places in the main building. Sera took them first to her old room, which had been left alone, despite her supposedly being a disgrace. Despite describing it as a room, the group found that it was a large suite with several guest rooms, a sitting room, a dining room, two bathrooms, and a large balcony. They only two bedrooms, at most, for this trip, but there would have been room for the whole team to stay with them comfortably without having to pile in together or make use of Beth's gate on residential mode to get extra space. As soon as they were in the spacious living room of the suite they were met with a servant, a woman who had brown and green scales visible on some parts of her body and greeted Sera with a deep bow.

"It's good to see you back, Young Miss," the servant said.

"Is it?" Sera asked in a dismissive tone, walking by the woman to sprawl on a couch. "I had assumed I was in greater disgrace. You didn't maneuver into any better position while I was gone, Miranda?"

"This position is more than enough for me," the woman demurred, giving another slight bow.

"I told you not to be so stuffy," Sera grumped as the other took seats.

"And who is this young lady?" Val asked, looking between Sera and Miranda.

"This is my personal maid and primary servant, Miranda," Sera said, waving a hand. "She's been with the family for years, working her way up the ladder. She started working for me when I was young and still thinks it's a good idea, despite my relatively low position within the family."

"It's a pleasure," Miranda said, bowing to the three of them in a rather precise manner.

"By the way, this is my girlfriend-" Sera started saying.

"Wife," Beth cut in.

"Fiancee," Sera said.

"Sure," Beth said.

"And her bond, plus her bond's lover," Sera finished.

"What a terrible introduction," Val grumped, removing her large hat and placing it on the coffee table in front of the couch she and Blood were on. "As you may or may not have noticed, the four of us are Enlightened. Further, not to toot my own horn, but I'm the heir of the Milky Way kresnik clan and leader of the Young Scion group, though most of our activities are finished."

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"Oh? I thought you were fully done with that stuff?" Beth asked as Miranda gaped at the group.

"Ah, I may have a couple functions to go to," Val said. "Don't look so surprised; I told you what a commitment it was. Besides, I'll drag you along to some of it as well."

"Even…even the young miss is Enlightened now?" Miranda said, looking lost with all the information she was suddenly being hit with.

"It's not that big a deal," Sera said, giving a dismissive wave. "Not when compared to Beth. Wait till you hear-"

Beth grabbed her girlfriend's face and stopped her talking rather forcefully by smashing her mouth shut. The other two also gave Sera some serious looks, which had her looking abashed, made all the funnier by the fact Beth was still squishing her face. Sera cleared her throat and took Beth's hand off her face before apologizing, clearly a bit embarrassed that she had gotten too carried away. Miranda, meanwhile, was doing her best to remain centered and focus on the conversation and the group's needs while still trying to process all the information.

"Sorry, sorry," Sera said. "Being back home has my head a little…well, it's a little messed up right now. Thanks for the catch."

"It's not like it's a galactic secret, but we should still try not to just blast it to the universe just yet," Beth said, holding Sera's hand and caressing her fingers.

"Right, right, sorry," Sera said, looking around the room before her eyes settled on Miranda again. "Forget I said anything. Anyway, what're my parents' schedules like right now, Miranda?"

"Ah, yes, the Lord and Lady are holding meetings right now," Miranda said, finding something she could latch onto. "They will be busy until early tonight. I informed their staff that you had fina-er, that you had returned, and they said you may present yourself tonight at dinner."

"Welcome home," Sera said in a sarcastic voice, spinning a finger in the air.

"Certainly not the kind of welcome I would expect the daughter of such a prestigious clan, especially when her accomplishments, achievements, work, and connections are taken into consideration," Val said coldly. "I would dare say such dismissive treatment is also a poor reflection on how the Black Dragon Clan views important guests. Not just myself, but these others that Sera has brought are quite important guests. Not only were we accosted at the teleportation hall, we're being relegated to meeting anyone of influence at a dinner much later in the day? Hardly that respectful."

"I-I can try to, uh, get a meeting earlier," Miranda stammered, put decidedly on the back foot by Val's short tirade.

"That's fine, Miranda, we'll live," Sera said before turning to Val. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, and it's good that you lodge the complaint, but it's not necessary. It's also not going to change anybody's mind."

"Oh, I'll change their fucking minds, alright," Val snapped back, which also surprised Miranda.

"Easy," Blood muttered, the first she had spoken, calming Val a bit.

"We'll see my parents at dinner, then," Sera said, waving a dismissal at Miranda.

Once she had left, Beth asked, "How secure are we here?"

"We shouldn't talk about anything too sensitive," Sera said. "Not that I would think my parents care, but I wouldn't say the same about the rest of the Clan. We should be careful about what we reveal and how we reveal it."

"Then again, if they knew we were in the good graces of half a dozen Exalted, they might not be so quick to dismiss us," Val said, leaning back and frowning slightly. "There is a certain time and place for throwing the weight of one's connections around, and this is such a time. If the Elders want to give us a hard time for whatever reason, they should have something to make them think twice."

"Hey, hey, no reason to go overboard," Beth said with a flick of her fingers.

"Says the girl who has an Exalted as one of her lovers," Val scoffed.

"Well, I mean…" Beth replied, chewing her lip. "Don't really know what to say to that."

"Well, there's also, uh, you know," Sera said, gesturing with her eyes and nodding her head towards Beth.

"Right, but we're not talking about that here, right?" Val said.

"Well, leave it to Beth to reveal it, probably at the worst time," Blood quipped, earning a frown from Beth.

"Hey, I'm not that bad," she said.

"Really?" Val asked.

"Compared to your ass," Beth shot back.

"Hey, I'm being good," Val said.

"That's my point," Beth muttered.

The four of them bickered for a bit before making sure they were ready. Despite the early kerfuffle, they didn't need to bathe or change before the dinner, which left them with some time free. Beth's gate wasn't exactly a secret at this point, but she thought it would be best to leave that out for now, which left her to explore Sera's old rooms. It was interesting to see the kind of place she had lived in, especially the luxury of everything, but there was a lot that either was missing or that Sera kept with her. The benefit of having a spatial storage power and from a young age, not having to store things anywhere but with the person in question at all times. Beth was half tempted to steal some furniture, considering the wood used to make it was likely worth more than a CRA Hall's annual budget alone, not to mention the fine fabrics that adorned said furniture.

Beth asked if there was a training ground, but Sera said it was better they held off until at least the second day. It was without doubt that they would be challenged, and likely by somebody far more powerful than a third-string Elder, so it was best they took at least a day to settle in and not cause too big of a stir. Sera did explain that there were very likely to be people from other dragon clans there, including people within their age group, though she didn't seem to think too highly of any of them. She hadn't been the best of the younger generation when she had lost the bet and gone to the Royal Rose, but the improvement she had seen after joining Beth's group had been nothing short of revolutionary. She expected that she was well ahead of any of the other younger dragons at this point, the exception being if a true prodigy had popped up in the years she'd been away. She hadn't totally divorced herself from the clan during that time, however, and she had had no word that anybody like that was in the still small batch of much younger dragons.

"What about your servant?" Beth asked.

"Miranda? What about her?" Sera answered with a question of her own.

"She doesn't fight? And what's her deal?" Beth asked. The four of them were on the balcony, which was shielded from the weather by runes that Val had inspected and said were quite good, each sipping on a drink of their choice.

"Miranda is from an offshoot clan, or maybe even better to just say lesser bloodline," Sera explained. "She's an earth drake, which is considered an inferior bloodline to dragons. She's trying to raise her, and her family's, prestige and merit by working for my family. If she's really lucky, she could even marry a much lesser member of the family and have a chance of having dragon offspring instead of drake children. It's a bit messed up, if you really think about it, but it's a lot of jockeying for position and acknowledgement. I never gave too much of a shit about those games, and I care even less now. Miranda's fine, but don't rely on her too much in terms of privacy."

"I understand what you mean," Beth said, seeing the other two nod as well.

"Anything else we should be aware of in the current politics?" Val asked.

"My parents are in firm control of the Black Dragon Clan, and that means they have decent authority with all the other clans," Sera said, taking a slow sip. "That doesn't mean we won't be challenged by others, but I think it won't take long before they realize we're out of their league. It's going to be a lot of fights started from the other younger dragons, and that means anybody under five hundred, by the way, and we'll have to respond to a lot of that. Our strength will make them fall in line. Other than that, the Elders hate my guts, but they have limited authority in the clan; not no authority, mind you, but as long as my parents don't disown me, the Elders can only harass me, and they can only take it so far."

"And you coming back so strong that even some of the Elders can't beat you won't change any minds?" Beth asked.

"It will change some, but that might cause an even bigger mess," Sera said. "It's easy to be hated by the old assholes, but having them in a split mind might turn into a massive pain in the ass. It'll be endless arguments and trying to get me involved in their disputes or in the clan management. They won't be super happy when I tell them all to take a long hike off a short pier, so I guess they'll all be mad at me again by the time we leave? Either way, expect problems but not for anything crazy to happen."

"My Lady," Miranda said, appearing right at the end of Sera's explanation. "It is time for dinner."

"Well, let's get this over with," Sera muttered with a deep breath, getting up and leading the others out of the suite.