'Discipline didn't work either. Any punishnt would only make him angrier. What if he tried again? Even worse, what if the next ti he succeeded? And even if he didn't, with what face could I have looked my other children in the eyes?
'Rena, Lith, and Tista would have felt unsafe in their own ho.' As Raaz was lost in thought, the small and battered figure of Lith from almost sixteen years ago flashed in front of Raaz's eyes.
He was covered in blood, with bruises all over his small face. He had lost several milk teeth that day, giving him an even more wretched appearance. Then, Lith's bloody figure was replaced by Raaz's own.
He saw himself, chained to a wooden table in the Hogum Mansion, with bloody stumps where his arms and legs were supposed to be.
A cold sweat covered Raaz's skin, and he needed sheer willpower to keep himself rooted in the present.
'I did the right thing.' He clenched his teeth, pushing back the mories of Orpal's tortures. 'I don't know what went wrong with him, but ln was rotten from the start. I didn't turn him into the Dead King, nor did Night.
'It was always inside of ln, and if I didn't kick him out, soone would have gotten hurt. At that point, I would have been as responsible as he for refusing to face reality.
'As for Night, she enabled ln. She gave him everything he needed to escape the consequences of his cruelty, bringing his true nature to the surface. There was nothing Elina and I could do, and Trion is proof of it.
'He envied Lith all his life and resented us for disowning his beloved big brother, but he never hurt anyone. He beca a drill sergeant. A reliable older brother for his cadets and a brother-in-arms to his comrades.
'And when Night ca for him, he turned her down.' Raaz turned to look at his son, who was having dinner with the rest of the family.
'She killed him. Night killed my boy, and ln still dared bond with her.' That was the last straw that silenced Raaz's conscience.
Not the suffering or mutilations that ln had inflicted upon him, but ln's indifference to the fate of the only sibling he had always claid to love.
"Are you alright, Dad?" Trion returned Raaz's gaze and noticed how pale his father had beco.
"Yes, son. Thank you." Raaz cleared his throat, trying to sound normal. "I'm just shaken from what happened to Lutia."
"About that, I noticed that many among Big Brother Lith's friends have similar-sounding nas." Aran pointed out. "I an, Valtak, Erghak, Ghirslak, they all end in -ak, just like Ral."
"Because the -ak suffix ans 'of Dragon' in Dragontongue, and adding it is considered auspicious when choosing a na for a baby." Leegaain explained.
"But Ghirslak is a Wyvern." Leria furrowed her brows.
"Indeed, but they still carry my blood. Also, their greatest ambition is to beco Dragons." Leegaain replied, avoiding ntioning the inferiority complex that plagued the Wyvern bloodline and its common arrogance.
"What about Auntie Zoreth?" Aran asked. "Why didn't you na her Zorak?"
"Just because sothing is auspicious, it doesn't an that everyone should use it. Otherwise, my children would all have nas so similar that distinguishing them would be nigh impossible." Leegaain replied. "Also, there is more than one auspicious suffix in Dragontongue.
"I nad your Auntie Zoreth, which ans 'Scion of fire', to honor both her bloodlines and not make her feel forced to embrace mine over her mother's."
'Yet she discarded my blood and beca an Abomination.' The Guardian inwardly sighed. 'And now that I think about it, the sa happened to Azith. Maybe Aran is right, and I should have called her Zorak.'
"Wait, are you telling that '-th' ans 'of fire'?" Leria asked, and Leegaain nodded in reply. "Like Uncle Lith?"
The Guardian choked on his food at the realization and started to cough wildly.
'Maybe I should ban the "-th" suffix.' Leegaain thought, needing several glasses of water to calm down. 'Three out of three dealing in Abomination powers is more than a coincidence. It's a curse.'
"No, sweetie. That's not what Lith ans." Elina was glad of the silly question that distracted her from her worries. "The na we had originally chosen for your uncle was 'Strata', which ans 'brave and strong'.
"Yet after he was born, Nana claid that he was blessed by the light, so we changed his na in Lith, which ans 'child of light'." Elina avoided ntioning the complications at birth, not wanting to scare the kids.
"Child of light?" Lith echoed as he almost choked on his food as well. "Why have I never heard about this before?"
"Because aside from a parent, no one really cares about the aning of a na." Elina chuckled. "Do you know what my na ans? Or that of anyone else in the family, for that matter?"
"Actually, no." Lith rubbed his chin. "Before Kami got pregnant with Elysia, I never really cared about nas. Even mine."
"I rest my case." Elina nodded, taking her victory with grace.
"Grandpa?" Aran looked at Leegaain. "Is Mom right?"
"Yes and no." The Guardian cleaned his mouth with a napkin and put the fork down. "Yes, Lith ans child of light in Tyris' universal language. No, because Auntie Tyris took a few words from my Dragontongue.
"Lith actually ans 'child of fire'. She slightly altered its aning to remove the part about the potentially destructive nature of fire and emphasize its aspects as a source of warmth and radiance."
Everyone turned to look at Tyris, who just said:
"He's right."
"This isn't fair! Why is Big Brother the only one with a Dragon na?" Aran pouted. "Can I change my na in Arakh? Please?"
"If you want to be known as 'al of Dragon', sure." Leegaain nodded.
"Mom, how could you call like that?" Aran's eyes misted with tears as he stared at his mother as if she had betrayed him.
"That's not what it ans!" Elina beca beet red in embarrassnt. "Aran ans heavens' blessing!"
"Which is how we Dragons call our favorite dishes." Leegaain replied.
"What about ?" Leria asked, too afraid of hearing an even more ridiculous aning for her own na to mock Aran's. "What does Leriakh an?"
"Leria of Dragon." Leegaain shrugged. "As I said, Tyris picked a few words from Dragontongue, not the entire vocabulary. Leria is not among them."
"Mom!" Leria pouted. "How could you be so an to ?"
"How was I supposed to know Dragontongue?" Rena tried to defend herself. "Also, why are you blaming ? What about your father?"
"Well said, baby girl. Know that it's all your mother's fault." Senton didn't hesitate one second to throw Rena under the bus.
"You'll pay for this." She muttered under her breath.
"You wound my heart, Featherlings." Salaark sighed. "You all care for your nas in old lizard-tongue and didn't even bother to ask about Phoenixtongue."
"Does it exist?" The room went into an uproar. "What does my na an?"
The children raised their voices louder and louder, trying to speak over the others and get their answer.
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