novelbest Chapter 543: Nidhogg wants to meet Kael.
Chapter 543: Nidhogg wants to meet Kael.
Nidhogg remained leaning over the table for a few moments, that mischievous glint in her golden eyes still lingering as she watched Elion over the steaming rim of her cup. The warm light of the lanterns reflected off the small scales scattered across her neck and collarbones, making her seem simultaneously welcoming and dangerous. There was something almost childlike in her curiosity at that moment, but Elion knew, from enough experience, that the creature before her could alternate between domestic sweetness and mythological catastrophe as easily as one changes clothes.
"Before any agreement," Nidhogg repeated, drumming her nails on the wooden table, "I want full context."
Elion took another sip of tea, deliberately calm.
"Full context usually comes at a high price."
"I am the payment," the dragoness replied with immediate pride. "I am offering my undivided attention."
"That worries me more than it should."
Nidhogg let out a short laugh, pulled up a huge chair, and threw herself into it in a way that was hardly befitting her size. The chair creaked dramatically, but survived. She rested her chin in her hands and leaned forward, eager as someone about to hear valuable gossip.
"So tell me everything about Kael."
Elion raised an eyebrow.
"Everything?"
"Almost everything. Skip the traumatic childhood parts and the overly embarrassing ones. Focus on the interesting ones. Did he kill someone important recently? Topple an empire? Break hearts? Look bored in the face of ancient forces?"
Elion smiled slightly.
"Yes."
"Which ones?"
"All of them to varying degrees."
The sound of Nidhogg’s laughter filled the entire house. It was loud, vibrant, and genuinely funny, echoing off the walls carved from the ground and making some pots and pans clink on the stove. She slammed one hand on the table so hard that the silverware flew several inches.
"Ah, I knew it!" she exclaimed, laughing. "I knew that quiet boy would grow up to be exactly the kind of refined troublemaker I imagined."
Elion rested his elbow on the table, watching her patiently.
"You saw him twice when he was a child."
"I saw enough." Nidhogg pointed a dramatic finger at the ceiling. "Children who observe everything in silence either become wise or administrative threats. Kael clearly chose the more amusing path."
"He would say he chose nothing."
"That only confirms it."
Still smiling, Nidhogg leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms under her bulky chest, assuming an almost solemn posture that lasted only a few seconds before dissolving into renewed animation.
"What I wanted, in the end, was simple," she said. "I want to get to know him now that he’s an adult."
Elion blinked slowly.
"That’s all?"
"That’s all," Nidhogg replied, as if it were the most reasonable demand in the universe. "I want to see what he’s become without the layers of other people’s stories. I want to hear his voice now. I want to know if he still looks at cosmic threats like someone evaluating the quality of a soup."
"He still does."
"Wonderful."
She brought the cup to her lips, took a full gulp, and sighed contentedly.
"I also want to find out if he inherited your flaws."
"That would require weeks of observation."
"I have ages available."
Elion chuckled softly and shook her head.
"You remain unbearably direct."
"Efficient," Nidhogg corrected. "Life improves when we stop pretending to be subtle."
For a few moments, the atmosphere became calmer. The crackling of the stove filled the pauses between conversations, while the glow of the outer roots pulsed softly through the rounded windows. Elion knew those comfortable silences well, typical of friendships too old to demand constant performance.
Then Nidhogg set down her cup, and her expression changed slightly. There was still warmth in her face, but now tempered by genuine attention.
"As for the favor," she began, "I can help."
Elion nodded, already anticipating a complication.
"But?"
"But Yggdrasil has hidden her kingdom quite well."
The sentence hung in the air with more weight than it seemed to carry.
Nidhogg reached out and traced invisible lines in the air, as if drawing maps that only she could see.
"I’m not just talking about closed portals or confusing paths. She bent dimensional routes, scrambled symbolic references, shifted access axes, and hid entrances behind conceptual layers. It’s the kind of thing someone does when they want absolute privacy or are avoiding specific visitors."
"Kael suspected this," Elion commented.
"He suspects a lot of things. In this case, he was right."
Nidhogg rested his chin on his hand, looking out the window at the colossal roots that traversed the void.
"Her Original Realm was always difficult to reach. Now it’s worse. Yggdrasil has refined the isolation to the point where certain paths only exist for those she accepts emotionally."
Elion made an elegant grimace.
"I detest sentimental mechanisms."
"Me too. They’re irritatingly effective."
"So, can you clear a path or not?"
Nidhogg smiled sideways, and something ancient gleamed behind that domestic humor.
"I can. But I’ll have to make an effort."
Elion knew that tone well. When Nidhogg said effort, it usually meant shifting fundamental structures of reality with some elegance.
"How much effort?"
"Moderate for me. Alarming for outside observers."
"Define alarming."
"Roots moving where they shouldn’t, dimensional echoes, perhaps some out-of-season auroras, one or two guardians panicking. Nothing serious."
"You have a terrible scale."
"I have too much power to calibrate it."
Elion took another sip of tea to hide his smile.
Nidhogg continued, now speaking with her hands as she listed possibilities.
"I can open a temporary trail. I can mask his signature and take him discreetly. I can simply tear off a side route and stitch it in the right place. There’s also the option of knocking on the door with symbolic violence."
"That last one sounds like you."
"That’s why I left it for last. I tried to mature."
Elion calmly put down her cup and crossed her legs.
"If you’re really going to do this, I need to know the price."
Nidhogg looked dramatically offended.
"Price?"
"Exchange. Condition. Whim. Future favor. Friendly blackmail. Choose whichever name you prefer."
The dragoness placed a hand on her chest.
"Do you see me as a merchant?"
"I see you as someone incapable of wasting an opportunity."
"That was almost a compliment."
"It was a diagnosis."
Nidhogg laughed again, leaning across the table until she was dangerously close.
"I’ve already said what I want in return."
Elion raised an eyebrow, though he knew the answer.
"Repeat it."
"I want to meet Kael."
She said it with utter simplicity, without malice, without any apparent political undertones. There was only genuine curiosity and a kind of anticipated affection for someone she had observed from afar for years.
"You intend to interrogate him?" Elion asked.
"Talk to him."
"Scare him?"
"Perhaps a little."
"Flirt with him?"
Nidhogg grinned broadly.
"It depends on his reaction."
Elion massaged his temple.
"Don’t flirt with my son."
"You say that as if you have the moral authority to define that territory."
"I have maternal authority."
"That never stopped anyone interesting."
"Nidhogg."
"I’m kidding." She paused. "Partly."
Elion let out a long sigh, the kind used by people too accustomed to old chaos.
"He’ll find you exhausting."
"Great. That means the conversation will have an impact."
"He might just stare at you in silence until you reconsider your choices."
"Even better. I love temperamental challenges."
Nidhogg rose from her chair and began pacing the hall, energized by the very idea. Her scaly tail swayed behind her dress, accidentally knocking over a cushion along the way.
"Just imagine," she said. "The legendary Kael finally before me. I’ll say something provocative. He’ll respond curtly. I’ll laugh. He’ll get slightly annoyed. Then we’ll make progress."
"You just described half of your social relationships."
"Because it works."
Elion watched his friend pace around the house with the intensity of a joyful storm. It was hard not to be amused. It was also hard to ignore that, behind the exaggerated enthusiasm, Nidhogg was serious. She really would help Kael.
"When can you do this?" Elion asked.
Nidhogg stopped immediately.
"Today, if necessary. Tomorrow, if we want discretion. Now, if we want drama."
"Which option offers the least chance of cosmological collapse?"
"Tomorrow."
"Then tomorrow."
"Coward."
"Prudent."
Nidhogg approached the window and touched the rounded frame with her fingertips. Outside, the roots shimmered like petrified rivers of light.
"I’ll need to probe the blockages first," she said in a more serious tone. "Yggdrasil is ancient, sensitive, and stubborn. If it senses my intentions too soon, it’ll mess everything up again."
"You two never got along."
"She judges me."
"You gnaw at roots."
"I do aggressive structural maintenance."
Elion laughed loudly this time.
"Still using that excuse?"
"Because it’s still technically defensible."
She turned her face over her shoulder.
"Tell Kael not to disappear. I want to find him before opening the passage."
"He doesn’t disappear on purpose."
"Everyone disappears on purpose when they have that kind of temperament."
"You included."
"Especially me."
The two exchanged an old, knowing, and tired smile.
Elion finally stood up, adjusting her black dress with calm movements.
"Okay. I’ll let him know."
Nidhogg immediately appeared beside her with absurd speed and grabbed her hands again.
"And bring him fed."
"Why?"
"First impressions matter."
"You’re going to serve food to test character, aren’t you?"
"Obviously."
"You’re terrifying."
"Thank you."
Elion tilted her head, amused.
"If this goes wrong, I’ll say it was your idea."
"If it goes right, I’ll say the same."
The redhead started walking towards the round door, but before she reached it, Nidhogg pulled her into another crushing hug. Elion disappeared again among breasts, scales, and enthusiasm.
"N-Nidhogg... ar..."
"Sorry! I got happy again."
When he finally let her go, Elion straightened her hair with wounded dignity.
"One day I’ll die like this." "What an honorable way."
"Terrible way."
Nidhogg opened the door with a theatrical gesture. The glow of the roots flooded the entrance.
"Go, Elizinha. Gather your taciturn son. Tomorrow we will meet a grown man and irritate a divine tree."
Elion smiled as he left.
"Your sense of priorities remains criminal."
"Efficient!" Nidhogg shouted from the doorway. "Don’t forget to tell him I’m lovely!"
"That would be false advertising."
The dragoness’s laughter echoed through the rift between worlds as Elion followed the colossal roots. Behind her, the small house nestled in the heart of creation shone welcoming and absurd. Ahead, Kael, Yggdrasil, and enough trouble to fill several ages awaited.