Singing, drinking, and laughter dominated the camp on the night of the full moon. Around the fires, griffons in all manner of clothing sat.
'I will have to impose more discipline on these idiots one of these days, but this raid was very profitable. So I'll be lenient with them this time.' He thought as he walked past the fields, ignoring the cheers that accompanied him as he passed his... 'Clansman'.
The moonlight reflected the glow of his stolen flat crown, its jewels standing out against its golden surface. His light brown fur remained dark in the night, his brown eyes silently judging those who obeyed him.
"You're not in a good mood boss." A voice came from beside him, revealed to be a griffon in worn-out Griffonian army officer's clothing. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know how, but that crippled idiot had the strength to have a child..." He grunted mockingly as his subordinate looked surprised. "The bastard can barely walk properly and he managed to do the deed."
"You mean...?" His Boss just stopped at the edge of the harvest they were camping in.
The Griffon stood on the edge watching the horizon, letting his cape fly in the mountain breezes past them.
"The Emperor has a son now... The succession crisis I hoped looks like it won't happen..." He broke the news, sounding disappointed. Taking advantage of the fractured empire and with such a crisis would give the bandit kingdom he ruled many riches and slaves. But he would adapt and overcome as always.
"But this boy... He looked very interesting..." The Griffon ran its claws over the tip of its beak, which showed to be a metallic part. "The Sixth..." A smile showed its way out of his beak. "He's going to be as weak as his father." He turned to his subordinate, who was showing extreme interest in his boss's words. "He will recognize me as lord of these lands, just as the one who brought him into the world."
"And if he doesn't... Sir?" The subordinate hesitated as he saw his master's brown eyes boring into his head with the question, but he only returned his gaze to the horizon in front of him.
"If not. He will learn the horror of defying the Sunstriker Clan." He grinned as he gave the subordinate a sideways glance. "And more land for us to... Enjoy... Don't you think?"
The Officer replied with a smile of his own. "Right as always, Eriviar sir."
He read more and more reports at his desk along with a group of other officers. Who looked at him with variable expressions; from confusion, and interest, to irritation.
It was late at night, the meeting had been hastily called, and many of the officers were asleep by the time the messengers arrived at their locations. But the President was extremely persistent and called the occurrence urgently.
"What's now Kemerskai? This better be worth it! We already had an 8-hour meeting and you still drag us here in the middle of the night??" Kemerskai's green eyes strayed to his fellow Griffon, it was an officer with blue-purple fur and green eyes like his own. Bearing a mustache on either side of its beak.
The leader of the National Revolutionary Front was a competent and loyal officer, but very uncompromising with any other member who demonstrates an ideology that diverges from the Republicans. It exemplifies the most brutal aspects of the Republican Revolution, and his desired path to take revenge on the Empire involves a lot of bloodshed.
"That meeting wouldn't have taken so long if his followers had been more open-minded on foreign policy, Suntail." The Griffon took his strained gaze from his President and addressed the voice that was aimed at him. Another officer who this time had red fur, with gray eyes and an eye patch over his right eye.
A mentor and comrade to Kemerskai when he joined the army and his subsequent right-hand man in the revolution, having obtained the official vice president position. Even if he got into a lot of conflict with Kemerskai on many matters relevant to the presidency.
"More 'open-minded'? I expected nothing more than a royalist sympathizer like you Rosewing. Having Diamond Dogs accepted into our ranks is a complete mistake and I won't change my mind." He growled at his fellow officer. Which rolled her eyes at clear hostility.
"That's why we couldn't come to any agreement. You and your baseless racism just fuck up all the progress and unity we've achieved." Suntail sank his claws into the table, grinding his beak as he glared at her.
"Those things are only good for licking the emperor's paws. Those royal bastards deserve to die-"
"Enough." All eyes now returned to Kemerskai, who rose from his desk while holding a briefcase in his right grip, a serene expression maintained even in the face of his officers' pointless squabbles.
"I didn't summon you here for this matter that will be resolved at a future date. But something that will show a threat and urgent need to totally change our future plans." Now he had the attention of everyone in the room.
Tossing the folder in the middle of the table, spreading out the contents inside for everyone to see, he made many there bulge their eyes in surprise, and others gnash their beaks in nervousness.
"Impossible.... This was not foreseen!" Suntail exclaimed, clearly frustrated with the development. The Folder showed pictures of the Emperor holding a child identical to himself on his wings, smiling as confetti fell around him demonstrating obvious celebrations.
"The Emperor has gained an heir." A huge silence fell over the room. None of them even dared to break him in the face of such monumental news as this.
"The Christening happened a few days ago." Everyone watched as the President-Marshal was silent, swallowing the news. "This will either prove to be an advantage or a massive problem. Time for a change of plans."
He looked in wonder at all of.... That....
He didn't quite know how to describe it, but it was like the palace he was in but much smaller. Like it was a miniature and square version. And there were thousands of them all scattered as far as that luminous ball's light could touch.
Houses. They were all grouped together, leaving an open line between them where people passed by.
There were so many! As many as he and Dad could see up there. They were so small down there from what he could see from the porch, so small... so insignificant...
"Beautiful is not it?" He turned to his side, his father in his beautiful golden regalia standing beside him. He didn't have his crown. Yet his glow didn't dim, while giving off that warmth he'd always loved.
He nodded very quickly in excitement, making his father laugh to himself at how adorable his son looked.
"People...." The Little Griffon managed to let go, causing his father to look at him in surprise. "small..."
He let out a laugh at that, of course! They stood so high the balcony of their room in the palace, in a tower so high above one of the greatest buildings in Griffenheim.
"Yes, they are quite small from here." The Monarch returned his gaze to the capital, at the wonderful at sunset over the city.
He still couldn't get it through his head how young his son was, and already being able to formulate understandable sentences. He could have conversations with his son, even though it was difficult for him to formulate words, it was impressive.
His heart was filled with pride just looking at his son, his mature gaze in the face of such new terrain, and so well behaved in the most crowded places, just as in his christening... He still couldn't contain his smile when he remembered how his son behaved, he was barely born and was already educated and acted like a proper noble.
Emperor Grover never considered himself the biggest and most religious Griffon. Yes he prayed and thought about the gods, but only out of obligation.
But after the birth of his child? It was every morning after waking up and every night in bed before going to sleep, thanking each of the three gods individually for the blessing for such a resilient, educated, strong and intelligent son.
It was a miraculous thing that his son could do so many things at such a young age. The reason was obvious, the gods had blessed him.
He was perfect, he was the example of what a good baby should be and more.
Only a year old, and he was already sitting next to his father watching the horizon. And better yet, chatting with him. (Even if knowing how to speak very little)
The emperor couldn't help himself, and extended his right claw to stroke his son's head. Who gratefully accepted it, making murmurs of happiness.
'I am a blessed Griffon.' His beak widened his smile even more. Before his child, the father had a very low motivation, almost non-existent. But at the birth of this little bag of joy, everything changed.
For the first time in a long time, Grover was happy, genuinely happy. He perked up when he woke up energized for the day ahead. The mountains of papers and bureocracy no longer mattered, the greedy nobles and false admirers no longer disturbed him as much as before. His illness and weak body didn't bother him as much as before.
For now he had a reason to move on, to face all these problems head on. He was now a new Griffon.
The responsibilities of managing the empire became something more tolerable. For just meeting his son again at the end of the day was the greatest reward he could ever receive after a long day of work.
He had never realized how empty he felt... Even with the love of his life, he couldn't truly enjoy life at its fullest. But now he felt complete, he felt truly alive.
"Father..." The Little Griffon repeated the first word he had spoken since his birth, making the Emperor beam at his caramel-colored son. Meeting his beautiful blue eyes that could easily rival the most beautiful sea.
"Yes sweetheart?" He closed his eyes as he continued to stroke the feathers on his son's head.
"Why...they down there?" he asked hesitantly as his small head struggled to form the words.
"They who? The people?" Junior nodded. "It's because we are nobles."
The Sixth turned his head confused, his father just chuckled nervously. 'Of course he doesn't know what a noble is. Grover you idiot.'
"We.... Are of a higher group of people." He tried to find the right words as he swung his claws around trying to empathize his words to his son.
"Higher...?" the boy asked, showing clear curiosity, excited to learn more.
'Of course you want to devour more information, never accepting something at face value....' The father thought, laughing quietly.
"They are commoners, a class of common people and with less... things than us. They work, feed us and fight for us." He passed his claws to the Griffons walking below. "Nobles are the ruling class, those-"
"R-ruwing?" He interrupted his father, who smiled as he shook his head.
"Ruling. It's bossing others around, telling them what to do." The Son nodded in the affirmative, his father then continued his explanation. "Those who were born of an older group of those who rule."
He then raised an indicative claw. "Rule is same as ruling."
"What... Let us... Rule?" the child asked, causing his father to look curiously at his son.
"I'm Sorry?"
The Son was embarrassed that his father had not understood him, but continued. "Why... can we order... on others?"
The father was surprised by his son's line of questioning, but before he could say anything the little one continued.
"What...makes us...better than...them?" the boy asked, genuinely confused.
The Father could only look shocked at his son. 'So young! So young and asking questions that noble adults don't have the courage to ponder!'
"That's.... An excellent question my son." He paused for a moment to ponder as he ran his right claws over his son's wings, much to his delight. While its other claws grazed its beak in reflection.
'What makes a noble truly a noble..?' The most common answer would be divine mandate, the nobles had been granted the right to be better than the commoners below them to take advantage of and abuse them as they saw fit. But he knew that wasn't the right answer.
'No, I refuse to make my son become a greedy nobleman who uses status only for his own interests.' His expression changed to one of determination. 'He will be better, he is already better, but I will guarantee that he stays that way.'
He looked at his son, removing his claws from the smaller's wings, who let out a grunt of complaint. Which quickly dissipated as he looked at his father.
"Nobility doesn't make us better than they do, it just gives us an even greater responsibility."
"R-responsibiwity?" His father nodded his head.
"Our duty, the Nobility comes from here." He jabbed his son's feathered chest with his claw. "It comes from within."
"From...within?" The little one would pat his confused chest, turning his attention to his father.
"Yes, Nobility is the act of helping. That's why we stay here." He would run his claws around the balcony to the castle. "On the top."
"So that we can spread our wings across this land." He extended his own wings in symbolism, much to his son's surprise and growing admiration. "And then we embrace them all with our capabilities, keeping them warm on the cold nights. And protecting them from anything that could hurt them from outside of our wings." He finished with his wings closing, one of them passing his son and pulling him closer to his father.
"And this-" He finished as his wing squeezed his son in a wing hug. "is the true meaning of nobility."
It didn't truly answer the question of his son, however, not even he had the answer to such a deep question.
Those words from his father, Grover Sixth would carry with him for the rest of his life. Words he would carry with pride, and something he would follow until his last days.