65 How to train your Witch (2)

The return back to Londinium was not worthy of any fanfare.

The people were happy, but they had been made aware my trip northward was not anything special like the one I had in Europe. No parade was made, no jubilation was offered, and I managed to enter the city without gaining any shock and surprises by actually holding tight on the newly-acquired familiar. I got her close to my chest and away from sight.

The little drake had been a surprise. A big one at that. I mean, who wouldn't have been surprised by this discovery without enough notice? I wasn't even sure Morgan had purposely led me to discover it. In fact, from the notes I had looked into during our early search, I would say she didn't even hope the thing would have hatched. Yet it did.

A dragon, a mythological creature which theoretically couldn't exist due to her kind was stuck on the 'other side of the world' or something like that, was there and currently bonding with me. The drake was quite receptive to head pats and hugs, which made things easy for me when it came to tame and keep the thing under check.

However it would be a lie to say she was outright under control while around me. She tried to posture aggressively against Lancelot when I introduced her to it, but calmed down just as I got her body to 'melt' at my chin-rubbing and ear-scratching. Her horns were pleasure spots too when handled the right way, and she was a purring cutie by the time I had her completely outmatched by wholesome treating alone.

She was resting as we got back home, and while Lancelot suggested creating a space for her in the stables to 'keep her away from causing trouble', I had a better idea. To say that Altuos was stunned by this unusual discovery was a thing. The man jumped and gave me a renewed stare of admiration for having literally brought a little dragon back home.

He gave her a closer look, understanding that what I needed was something which would magically bound her to me. Good news was that the dragon was already somewhat 'bound' to me by what he described as a 'perceived parental instinct'. So yes, the baby drake imprinted on me as I had assumed. Still, this wasn't enough to establish a dominant role in her growth.

Hence why a medium 'Familiar Magical Bond' ritual was quickly performed to prevent any surprises. The point of the bond would be to keep Melusine from seeing any point of disobeying me in any strong demands. And yes, I gave her the name Melusine because I had to give her a name, and I messed up my memory of the other Melusine I knew about, a woman that could turn into either a fish or a snake. Definitely not a dragon.

Oh well, it's still a good name.

So yeah, this was a new thing to add to the list: tamed a dragon. Sorta. I still had to go beyond step one, but I was hopeful it was quite feasible the moment I tried to introduce her to the family. Barghest was, as expected, suspicious of the bundle of scales and chirps. Mya smiled kindly while, surprisingly enough, getting a free pass for head pats by the drake. Lyanna kept back out of genuine uncertainty of this- maybe because her Fae DNA saw Melusine as a bit of a threat and Mordred...

"Dear, I think we should put a stop at this," I muttered, trying to calm Mya's giggles as the most absurd turn of events just unfolded before our eyes, causing pretty much the entire room to either chuckle/giggle or gawk at the sight of a toddler riding a tiny drake.

I wasn't exactly sure if it was some magical situation tied to my bond with Melusine, or Mordred having descended from someone with the core of a red dragon, but the way the little blonde easily crawled up to the happy critter, shifted on her back and then muttered something close to 'fly, fly!' which resulted in her current airborne status- My jaw just dropped. And I spent several seconds questioning how the heck was that even possible despite all potential reasons.

Still once I was done gawking at the sight for a while, I ultimately put an end to it before the girl tilted at the wrong time and fell. Both the dragon and the cute rider looked immensely upset at the lack of a longer flight. The sour mood grew into a more neutral one when I promised them both I would allow them to do it again. But in a room with reinforced windows and with numerous pillows covering the floor, walls and ceiling.

Nonetheless, a successful introduction of a new member to the family. Lucy was surprised by the sight but was quite pleased by the development, while Scathach just decided to 'help with the training' by getting Melusine at times and give her head pats while she rested on the woman's lap.

And with that situation mostly sorted out in its more pressing matters, it was time to turn my attention back to the reason I had to go to the deepest corner of Scotland. The dagger was there, Morgan was looking giddy at the ensuing steps and... The ritual was fairly intense.

Altuos had requested my assistance as the one doing the most about it since it was supposed to draw a lot of energy he didn't have. I was not exactly happy about it, but Morgan definitely had that vindictive cheeky smile that confirmed a degree of amusement at seeing me stuck with this task.

Nonetheless, the ritual happened, I was spared from saying much as I was just turned into a glorified battery for the whole thing as the knife 'cut' into Morgan. Scathach had tried to explain the process to me after listening to Altuos and giving a closer look to the dagger, but even the Lady of Shadows was perplexed by some aspects of this ritual. Specifically the end results of it as something about the tool we were going to use didn't make much sense. It held some runes that were unusual, unknown and... quite unnecessary.

Asking Morgan about it just had her remark they were meant to prevent 'any left-overs' to remain behind as a full split by normal runes was not achievable. A small portion of the 'dark side' would remain if the old runes were used, hence why she added a few ones to guarantee a full split. And as we all looked into it, I could see the logic in that regard as one of the three unusual runes had the purpose of 'Complete' and the other of 'Purity'.

Making a judgment call, I decided to still go for it, but to keep Scathach in standby for any surprises it was best to intervene externally against. The ritual started, drained me a bit, but ultimately the knife 'cut' into Morgan and her connection to her other selves was ultimately severed as she had explained. A blinding white light bathed us all in the room where this was happening, and what we were bestowed with was... surprising.

Morgan was there but... she wasn't the same as last time. Her clothes were somewhat the same as her usual ones, but gone was the crown with the veil. And gone were the marks of Uther's blood curse as her pristine white skin was now devoid of any corruption. Yet, it wasn't the only change in her physical appearance. She looked a little bit shorter, and her frame slimmer. And her face younger.

The ritual's end goal beyond its main 'separation' process was also one that removed the curse that had tortured Morgan for many years... by deaging her to a point where she had yet to unleash it and thus could be 'safely removed' by the dagger itself. At first glance and by her own admission, Morgan was now twenty... which meant she was a year and a half older than Ria now due to this change.

In layman's terms, Morgan was younger, and now purified by any negative taint which had previously given her the chance to develop impressive magical power and attitude as a dark witch and fairy. Which meant she was now weaker than Scathach in magical might despite her more expanded knowledge and understanding over magic itself. Did she mind the fact her power was gone? Not truly. Not when something came up about her current sentence clashed with her new situation. There were some specific details in the bargain that, within my early knowledge of things, seemed fool-proof. Now? Not anymore.

Morgan argued, a bit too happily in that regard, that the geas was worded that her duties and punishment were constituted within the reasons that she caused trouble 'as a Dark Witch'. Something that was no longer applicable due to this development.

"Hence why I am no longer bound by it."

I blinked and... nodded. "That seems fair."

My response stunned a few people, Morgan included, as she had expected me to pettily fighting that claim.

"...Really?"

"Yes," I confirmed. "Which is why I think a better punishment with these new details should be styled. You still committed atrocities Morgan, and your status hardly spares you from that."

Her jaw dropped. "But-"

"A hundred years of community service as a church's assistant will be affordable I suppose. Why, I can tell Felicianus will be more than happy to be convincing a new Mary Magdalene to become a believer of our Lord and Savior," I said before turning to someone that had already understood what I was up to and... was smiling eye-to-eye about it. "In fact, I suppose it wouldn't be too troublesome of a burden to teach poor Morgan how that works, Scathach. I don't wish to overburden you after all."

The former queen grinned the kind of chilling grin that was quick to send shivers down the white-haired former witch. "I wouldn't mind at all."

And thus another plan of Morgan was sent down the bin for the time being. She did get a minor victory as she was no longer so dangerous to require enforced imprisonment, but I wasn't going to literally give her freedom just like that. 'Better person' or not, there were still crimes she had to answer for and what I gave her was mercy.

Mercy was not stupid trust. Just as much as ruthlessness was a necessity all the time with troublesome individuals like her. She was right, I could easily fall into the trap of becoming a new Uther if I wasn't wary about it but... I was learning how to be a good king and I wasn't going to let my personal views to taint how a king had to be somewhat more careful with their own judgment.

One thing was to enforce willpower, another was finding a just punishment by respecting my own authority and the autonomy of my subjects.

And with both tedious tasks set down for the time being, I was back to my office, digging through the paperwork and smiling a bit as, within the documents, I found some positive reports about a side-project that was soon going to become a reality. A massive and fast type of ship which was meant to house dozens of people, numerous construction tools and resources, food, and allow shelter from storms. It was quite unsuited for combat, but that wasn't its main purpose as this was going to be the first model of many 'colony ships'.

With Europe finalizing as a stable force for me to keep an eye on as a vigilant monarch, what was left for Britannia to do was to find new lands to occupy, new people to acquire as new subjects and maybe new cultures to greet and accept in this grand empire.

It was time to look west and colonize the right way. Bringing civilization, medicines, and new ways of life to the natives in exchange of a new flag to nod at and new pride of being part of a bigger and multicultural community.