One Last Meeting; Timeless Tale

"Then, as the cosmic overwatchers that we are," Aeragon smiled, waving a hand across the table and using Triere's ever changing crystal waters to craft them an intricate and ornate chess set. "Let's move some pawns and let the games begin."

Aeragon rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together so that he may rest his chin on his hands. He smiled at her, enjoying her enthusiasm before looking down and noticing the board morphing to become a better replica of the Veritas and the pieces beginning to shift and move before either of them touched them. They were about to engage in a game much more complex than simply chess. The pieces on the board represented various persons of interest to each of them within the Veritas. They were tracking their movements, reading their paths and predicting, only predicting, their various destinies. That was how the truly ascended played.

"You mistake me, Triere, my bet is very much on Blue prevailing, but my son is the black sheep, the underdog. You know how well we perform when we're, supposedly, outclassed." He waved his hand over three pieces fairly close to one another. Surely, Triere would know what, and who, those pieces were meant to represent. "Wanna bet on my son?"

Aeragon shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, I could say I don't like him, love him sure, but like him? Nah." Casually, Aeragon moved his hand to the board, grabbing a piece, not of the original three that he had gestured towards, and moving it one space. It was also in the Dawn, but wasn't anywhere near the other pieces. None of these pieces actually had specific designations, like pawn, rook, king etc. They were all shaped like pawns, but each held special characteristic to help identify who, or what, they were suppose to represent.

Aeragon reached for his glass, hoping for it to be magically refilled as he did so, "Wanna hear a story while we wait for the initial engagement?" and tapped the fingers of his free hand on the eye shield of his helmet. Aeragon knew his son was a but hot-headed for as cool as he seemed to be, nothing like how he was at that age. A challenge was something Jaehaerys always accepted, no matter who it came from.

Even if Triere passed, pieces still moved around. All the pieces had minor sentience, capable of mimicking the motions and actions of the people and things they were suppose to represent. So, eyebrows raised briefly when he saw one of his pieces in the Dawn begin to radiate with an aura of some sort, soft pink in color but very faint, probably passive and not active, and the piece beside it manifesting an orb of energy around itself. He smiled, it was almost time for engagement.

"There were once three warlords that wanted to rule the same lands." Aeragon begun, taking a piece he had to his side and placing it in the Delta, close to the Blossom's Steppe. After, he picked up his helmet and stared into the eye shield. "They each had different ideologies, different methods of achieving their goals, but each wanted one thing and one thing only. Peace." He smiled, dipping his glass in the water while holding up his helmet like it was the skull of the Shakespeare play, Hamlet.

"So, each of them met a bird one day, and all of them wanted it to sing. The first warlord approached and said to the bird, 'Sing, or I'll kill you.' The second warlord approached and commanded, 'I will make you sing.' And finally, the last warlord approached and said, simply, 'I'll wait for your call.'" Aeragon paused before took a sip for his glass as he placed his helmet down on his lap and leaned against the table again as he placed his glass down.

With a shimmering shine in his sapphire eyes, he stared into Triere's and smiled, slyly, as he rested his cheek in his hand. "Who do you think the bird sung for?"

"Pff, you're still a spoilsport." Aeragon shrugged his shoulders, and watched the board. He passed as well, but didn't feel the need to actually say anything. The pieces were already in place and the show was about to begin. There was nothing more to say.

Aeragon said nothing, didn't even look up, just watched the board.

Aeragon folded his arms on the table and continued to stare intently at the board, watching the events that were playing out keenly. "Yourself included." he whispered under his breath at the end of her last statement. He didn't expect her to presume to think she really knew anything about his son, and his son wasn't losing this battle. Not from what he was seeing. The boy may have been on the arrogant side, perhaps a bit more proud than most, but he was the leader of a large kingdom and legions of soldiers and he didn't rule the public by fear or overbearing authority at all. The people actually trusted him.

"You guys are doing the same thing, feeling each other out. You're underestimating him because you know how strong you are, but make no mistake he's talented, much more talented than I was at that age, with more power too. He hasn't flexed his muscles yet, and he's still groggy from being asleep for close to a thousand years." The reckless way Jaehaerys tossed his power around was a choice he made because there wasn't anyone that could really stand up to it, however, Jaehaerys had acute control over all his abilities and could switch up his strategy at any time. The point was the get the enemy, such as those of Blue's caliber, overconfident before he switched it up and shut them down. She wasn't the first of her type he'd run into, there was one standing at his side right now and she hadn't done anything, she was just the most powerful incarnation so far.

Aeragon smiled a bit, watching his son fighting, chuckling a little to himself. "Your own arrogance is showing."

"Excuse me...!?" she huffed under her breath, clenching her fist a bit, as if trying to hold back some sort of slight tension. The worst part about his statement was that he was correct; she being the 'Crystal Dragon' and all. Or. Former 'Crystal Dragon.' She could definitely relate, though it was something she wasn't proud of. Something  that served as a constant reminder to her own weakness; that which every dragon should understand at all times, even if that weakness is in or of themselves. Each one is supposed to learn in time, but she was just lucky enough to have her father teach it to her when she was younger. "Guess you're not as much of a stiff as I thought." He was starting to finally loosen up, then. Fortunately for her, her father, the 'Black Dragon' already succeeded in finding the cure, so it wasn't permanent, and had already been taken care of long ago. Just, perhaps... Not at this time, presently, in terms of Shiniere. 'A Technicality...?' she thought, wondering what would become of her Queen. "..."

The rivalry between them was age old; in fact, it stemmed to their childhoods, even though Triere came from the future in the first place as a young girl. "... Pretty sharp there. You weren't my 'Second In Command' for no reason." Being 'Judgemaster,' she was not only Passing Judgment on the scenario playing out in all the Veritas, but also on the events outside of it and also still within its own sphere of influence. "But I got something for ya..." She moved her hand down to the Delta swiftly, darting for a piece with a certain haste and precision that clearly showed she already had something prepared, her translucent flowing sleeve casually grazing the cheek of the opponent as though a soft slap upon the face. She smirked casually, something similar to her father. She could barely believe that she was becoming just like him, but damn it all if it didn't make sense. She knew he was always with her... That's why he put her in charge at the head. She couldn't afford to look inept after he trusted her with the Tensei family tree... That's why it was about time to put things into motion.

Aeragon shook his head, ignoring the slap of her sleeve, in fact dodging it by pulling his head back because he felt it coming. "Your set-up took too long." Was all he said, and he didn't move his hands to alter pieces on the board at all. Most things that he needed were already set up where they needed to be, and he could move towards a more pressing offensive. Admittedly, he may have been a little defensive before, but that was just his nature.

Aeragon finally looked up with a huff, staring across the table at his partner in this game. It was ending soon, and he would be leaving soon, so he'd like to correct her on a mistake she continued on making. "Stop assuming things, please, you're making a fool of yourself. You don't know my son." While it seemed like he'd grown, to her, to him he was still the same foolish girl. Granted power beyond creation, by her father, and it wasn't deserved. Not matter how much time passed, or how much he had come to at least understand the workings of it, his feelings about her family hadn't shifted a single bit.

He looked back down at the board after that, folding his arms a bit tighter together, and nodding his head affirmatively. "Good choice." He whispered quietly to himself.

Yeah, he sure didn't understand, but that was fine. For all the things they had "in common", he and Triere were always different, especially with their view of the world. While he recognized and lived in the perpetual grayness of reality, it was clear her ascended position fit her black and white outlook. There was nothing to be said about that, nor his feelings about his son.

He already said that he didn't like him, which was true. What parent liked the rebellious nature of their children, even if they were almost an exact replica of how the parent was back then multiplied by 100? The fact of the matter was that no parent, in their right mind, would allow another person to make backhanded comments about their child, especially not directly to their face. If Aeragon was a more aggressive person, then he would have already come across the table on her.

So he continued to watch the board, "Continue the game, obviously, it's almost over." And he was sure that his victory was highly likely. All of this, everything, had played right into his favor as he had planned.

Aeragon was done looking at Triere, so he didn't bother with raising his head. Instead, he kept his arms folded on the table and remained composed and calm. A few thoughts lingering through his head, but nothing more prevalent than the wisdom his greatest partner ever whispered to him which was just one simple word, Closure.

"As he is now, Jaehaerys is fine. He may be arrogant, more boastful and overconfident than most, but he believes in his strength and that's a good thing. He isn't unsure in any decision that he makes, even if they are wrong, and for that I couldn't be proud him. I'm disappointed with him, but I'm glad he's his own man.

"As he is now, his rebellious nature against authority and incessant need to rage against the machine is normal and natural, but realize that where he comes from he is the authority and he is the machine. meaning there is nothing for him to actually rage against. He doesn't need some overbearing parent lording over him, planning out ever integral part of his life to the point where he can't even form his own idea about his destiny.

"As he is now, he can handle this situation and there is already someone in this world destined to stop him if he gets out of hand and it isn't me or any of you. His tamer just isn't ready, but when the time comes, she will be."

"I'm not mad at you, and if I was it certainly wouldn't be for doing your job or doing playing this game that I pulled you into. What you did was sit there and bad mouth my child in my company, a disrespectful gesture to do while sitting with an old friend. Thoughts like those are better left to yourself." But Aeragon could tell she hadn't learned how to hold her tongue, even this ascended form. It was fine though, that was just the way she was. Aeragon should have expected she would be this way regardless of the time span that passed.

"At any rate, it was probably a bad idea to leave my children in this universe anyway. I trusted a universe overseen by an old acquaintance would be a good one for them to have fun and grow as people, but that was a mistake. I may have to extract them sooner than expected and move them somewhere else."

Aeragon took his helmet in hand as he rose from this seat and toppled his piece in the Dawn, as well as removed his piece in the Dusk from the board while putting his helmet on. "You win, like always." Was all he said before vanishing from where he was.