SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 822: Meeting with Darian [I]

Trafalgar took Darian's hand. The difference in size was still obvious. Trafalgar had grown over the years, but Beastkin ran larger than humans, and Darian had always been a little taller than him even when they were younger.

Darian noticed the same thing and looked him over for a moment before letting go. "You've changed quite a bit since the last time we saw each other."

Trafalgar gave him the same treatment. "I could say the same about you. Back then, you were..."

Darian laughed before he could finish. "You can say it. I looked like a cub even though I was older than you." His striped ears shifted slightly as he spoke. "I know how I was back then. I wasn't exactly prepared for any of this."

"That's one way of putting it."

"Unfortunately, I didn't get much time to stay that way." Darian glanced around the room for a moment. "Once all of it came down on me, I either adapted or got buried under it."

That much was obvious. The Darian standing in front of Trafalgar had very little left of the nervous Beastkin he'd dealt with years ago. His posture was firmer, his voice carried more certainty, and even the way he held Trafalgar's gaze felt completely different.

Darian then looked past his shoulder, his attention moving first to Cynthia, then to Rhosyn. "I see you didn't come alone. Who did you bring with you?"

Trafalgar shifted slightly so the introductions weren't being made over his shoulder. "The one with the pale hair is Cynthia. She's my wife." He gestured toward Rhosyn next. "And the woman dressed almost entirely in black is Rhosyn. She's a close friend."

Darian looked toward Cynthia with immediate recognition. "Right. I heard you got married." His tail moved once behind him. "Three times, if the rumours were accurate."

"They were."

Darian gave Trafalgar a faintly amused look. "You really have been busy."

Cynthia smiled. "That's one way to describe him."

Darian gave her a polite nod before doing the same toward Rhosyn. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you. If Trafalgar brought you into this room, I assume there's very little I need to hide in front of either of you."

"There isn't," Trafalgar said.

"Good. That makes this easier." Darian stepped aside and gestured toward the seats. "Please, sit. We have enough to talk about that I'd rather not spend the whole meeting standing."

Varek remained near the door for a moment, waiting until everyone had moved farther inside. Darian gave him a brief look, and the wolf Beastkin understood at once.

"Bring something to drink and a little food," Darian said. "We may be here for a while."

Varek nodded and left without another word. Trafalgar and Cynthia took the larger sofa together, Darian returned to the chair he'd been using before their arrival, and Rhosyn chose a separate seat nearby where she could see everyone clearly.

For a moment, nobody spoke. Trafalgar used the pause to look around the room again. It was comfortable, but there was very little decoration for the private chamber of a Great Family patriarch.

Trafalgar leaned back slightly. "I have to admit, you've been handling the family well. Everything I've seen since arriving looks better than I expected."

Darian's expression softened a little. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It is. The recovery looks good, the cities are growing, and your military situation is clearly much stronger." Trafalgar rested one arm along the sofa. "What surprised me most was the borders. I didn't expect one of the Great Families to open its larger cities that much to ordinary outsiders."

Darian nodded slowly. "That was one of the harder decisions."

"I imagine."

"Opening the borders means accepting that people will enter who you don't necessarily want here. Merchants are useful. Spies can look exactly like merchants." Darian crossed one leg over the other. "That's why identification became mandatory before anyone is allowed deeper into our cities."

"So you considered the risks."

"I had to." His tone lost some of its earlier amusement. "The Sylvanels were squeezing us from one side, and the Morgains were on the other. You already know what those years were like. I couldn't sit there and keep giving away resources while hoping things somehow improved on their own."

Trafalgar watched him carefully. "So you opened the territory to create another source of growth."

"Exactly. Trade, outside investment, more people, more work. It was risky, but we needed money and resources that weren't passing through another Great Family first." Darian gave a small shrug. "I think I made the right decision."

Trafalgar looked back over everything he'd seen since stepping through the Gate. "From what I've seen, you did."

That satisfied Darian, and Trafalgar let the pause run a moment before moving to the question he'd been waiting to ask since entering Thal'zar territory.

"Can I ask you something directly?"

"You usually do."

"How exactly did you get the Sylvanels and my family off your back?"

Darian smiled faintly at the wording. "Pretty much the way you told me to."

That got Trafalgar's attention. Darian leaned back in his chair. "I let them stay above me for a while. I didn't fight every demand. I didn't make a scene before I had the strength to survive the consequences."

Trafalgar remembered that advice very well. "The Sylvanels were the real problem," Darian continued. "They kept asking for more. Every agreement became an excuse for another demand, and every time they saw that we could still function afterward, they decided that meant there was more left to take."

"Greedy."

"Extremely." Darian's tail flicked once behind his chair. "So I started slowing things down. At first, I followed most of what they asked. Then I began making excuses. Delays. Smaller payments. Different terms. Every time House Thal'zar grew a little stronger, I gave them a little less."

"And they accepted that?"

"They complained constantly."

Trafalgar almost smiled. "But they couldn't do much without making the arrangement public," Darian continued. "That was the important part. They wanted the benefits without anyone else paying attention to how they were getting them."

"And the Morgains?"

"That was easier." Darian's eyes stayed on Trafalgar. "I kept the agreement I had with Valttair. Nothing more complicated than that. As long as I respected what we'd agreed to, he didn't interfere much."

That sounded exactly like Valttair. "When did you finally cut the Sylvanels off?"

"When I knew we could survive it." Darian's voice hardened slightly. "Once the family had recovered enough, I stopped meeting their demands entirely. Like you told me years ago, if they pushed too far, I could make the whole situation public."

Trafalgar nodded. "And if you did, the other five Great Families would have had every reason to stand against them."

"Exactly. They could pressure a weakened Thal'zar quietly. They couldn't openly punish one Great Family for refusing to be drained by another without consequences." Darian gave a faint smile. "Once that became obvious, they had very few good options."

"And Valttair?"

"He barely cared."

That didn't surprise Trafalgar at all. 'So it really went almost exactly the way I expected.'

Valttair had already gained plenty from the arrangement. On top of that, he'd spent a large part of this period shut away training, and House Morgain had more than enough problems inside its own territory to occupy his attention. Losing one useful piece on the board probably wasn't worth creating another crisis over.

'Especially when Darian didn't break their actual agreement.'

Trafalgar looked back toward him. "And the Sylvanels?"

Darian's expression became more amused. "They took it considerably worse."

"I expected that."

"I haven't had the pleasure of seeing the matriarch's reaction in person yet." Darian's striped ears shifted slightly. "I'm assuming I'll get that opportunity at the next Council."

"That should be interesting."

"Interesting is one word for it."

Cynthia had listened quietly through most of the exchange. Trafalgar had already explained much of the old situation to her, but hearing it directly from Darian gave the whole thing a different weight. Before meeting Trafalgar, Cynthia probably never would've imagined herself sitting in a hidden Thal'zar military complex while two members of Great Families casually discussed years of blackmail, pressure, and political leverage. Now she barely reacted, because apparently being married to Trafalgar changed what counted as unusual.

Rhosyn looked even less surprised. She sat calmly in her chair, black eyes moving between Darian and Trafalgar as the conversation unfolded. Very little about Great Family politics could shock someone who had lived as long as she had.

Trafalgar let the subject go. There were plenty of details he could ask about later, but that wasn't the main reason Darian had contacted him.

He leaned forward slightly. "Caelum told me you were the one who wanted this meeting."

Darian looked at him, and Trafalgar went on. "I would've come to see you eventually anyway, but he made it sound like there was something specific you wanted to talk about." He rested his hands together. "So let's deal with that first."

The change in Darian was immediate. The faint amusement left his face, his striped tail stopped moving behind the chair, and for the first time since Trafalgar entered the room, the new patriarch of House Thal'zar looked completely serious.