Storm and Leyocan left the temple and continued on their journey.
Both were completely silent for the entire trip, deep in their own thoughts.
They finally reached Sanctuary by late afternoon.
Storm and Leyocan parted ways in order to attend to their own affairs.
First thing Storm did was track down his son and mate.
He found them in one of the parks in the city, Orian was playing with a fellow child griffin, dragon and manticore.
Aurora was watching over them closely.
As they saw Storm approaching, Orian completely forgot about the game they were playing and rushed at his father.
He threw himself at one of his father's legs and tried to embrace him, but Storm's leg was so thick that he couldn't fully encircle the limb.
Aurora followed at a much slower pace.
"Welcome back!! How was the trip?!" Asked Aurora.
"Fruitful... but... tiring. At least we're no longer locked in a deadlock with the orcs." Explained Storm.
"So, they'll help us? " Asked Aurora.
"... not... exactly... but at least we now know what whe need to do to hopefully get them on our side." Explained Storm.
"What about you two? Anything interesting happened while I was gone?" Asked Storm.
"Welll.... Actually..." started Aurora.
"I'm getting a 'subwing'." Exclaimed Orian.
Storm looked up at Aurora in confusion.
"The word is 'sibling', Orian. " Corrected Aurora.
"Ohh, that's great little guy! Wh..." started Storm.
It took Storm's brain a moment to catch up to the news that was so casually dropped in his lap. When it finally did, his brain shut down completely.
He stared at his mate with a look of pure shock.
"....Rora...? Did he just...?" Stammered Storm.
After a moment, she smiled and nodded her head in confirmation.
"W-w-when!!?" Asked Storm.
"The Grans told me yesterday." said Aurora.
Storm had no words. He stepped forward without another word and placed a limb on her lower belly. The place where his second child was currently growing.
"H-how many?!" Asked Storm.
Aurora frowned at his question.
"One, Storm... How many did you think?!" Asked Aurora.
Storm shook the cobwebs out of his thoughts.
"Of course!! Forgive me... I guess the news haven't fully sunk in yet.." Stammered Storm.
To take his mind off the revelation, he changed topic back to his son.
"I got something for you. "
He took out and handed him the wooden dragon figurine he bought for him back at Caledonia. He squealed in delight and ran to his friends to show them his prize. Storm smiled as he watched him go.
He spent what was left of the day with his family.
He was scheduled to meet with his advisors first thing in the morning. Where a mountain sized amount of new concerns no doubt awaited his attention.
After he and Aurora tucked Orian into his nest.
They sat together well into the night.
After a moment Aurora broke the silence.
"Storm, what do you intend to do here after?
"Probably sleep." Replied Storm.
"No, I meant over the next few weeks?"
"I.. don't know... I assume I've got a lot of city administration task to catch up on... After that...
I do not know, I don't have any plans.
Why do you ask?" Enquired Storm.
Aurora was silent for a moment as she considered the best way to address her concerns.
"Storm... You'll need to rely more on your subordinates from now on." Stated Aurora.
"What's prompting this now? Did something happen while I was away?" Asked Storm.
Aurora looked down at Orian's sleeping frame.
"Your presence was missed by him these past few weeks, and he has concerns. We both do." Said Aurora.
Storm looked away ashamed.
He had been feeling guilty of late about spending less time with his family.
He was always away on some task for several days at a time. Or so busy working on a particular problem that he might as well be out of the city. He didn't realize it had such a big effect on his son.
"Rora... I..." started Storm.
She silenced him with a claw on his lip.
"I knew we were never going to have a regular family life. I joined with you regardless. But Orian is young and impressionable.
He doesn't understand why you can't spend as much time with him and it's causing him to doubt your bond with him.
It's only going to get harder once our second child is born." Explained Aurora.
Storm nodded his head.
"I know."
"How am I supposed to juggle the family life of 8 children, when I can't even manage 1!?" Thought Storm.
"I don't want our children growing up thinking they have to fight with each other in order to get a moment of your time." Explained Aurora.
"Neither do I." Said Storm.
"For one thing, don't try and solve every dilemma yourself. Give your advisors more authority to solve these on their own.
That way you won't return from a trip with a mountain of outstanding tasks waiting for your approval. Or don't you trust them to do it correctly?" Asked Aurora.
"I trust them." Stated Storm.
"Even though Storm trusted his advisors without question. He still had trouble letting go.
When he did that as a young dragon, his entire clan was wiped out from under him in his absence.
Some of that trauma remained with him even now and he had trouble relinquishing control.
He trusted them to run the day to day operations, but every change, every new addition needed to be approved by him first before it could be implemented.
It was a system that worked fine when he only had a small clan of soldiers.
But since settling down and forming a city, the workload had drastically increased.
There just wasn't enough hours in the day for him to get to everything, and he felt tired and worn out at the end of every day.
Leaving him to neglect spending time with his family in order to rest for the next day.
On the few days that he decided to take off and relax with his family, his mind often refused to let go and relax.
"I'll have a talk with my advisors tomorrow. You are right! It's time I learned to trust and let go." Stated Storm.