Hera left the hot springs once an alarm she had set up rang. She was still not ready to talk with people, especially considering everything that had been revealed to her. But it wasn't as if she had the option of staying around and waiting.
Not only did she have no idea how long it would take to cope with all that information, but if she didn't start talking with Valera soon, the Matriarch would question the delay. That would cause even more problems, as Hera didn't really have a good explanation on why she was freaking out.
Pushing all of those thoughts aside, the Empress simply decided to act as if everything was fine. She would have a moment to think about things when she was heading back to Zaxalam. After all, even if Insomniac was supposed to take her partway to her journey, she didn't expect him to follow along the entire time.
She was still distracted by those thoughts when Hera arrived at the location where Valera was waiting for her. It was one of the dining rooms that was used for guests, but not the most fancy of them.
Joseph was the one who told her the location as soon as she came out of the bath. She had just made a turn to reach the room itself when she noticed two people standing in front of a door. That was the same door that she was supposed to go to, but since they seemed to be doing something, Hera waited patiently before trying to step in. She had no idea how the politics of this clan worked and didn't want to step on anyone's toes by accident.
But it quickly became clear that she had no say in the matter. The two men who were waiting there noticed her approach and turned to face the Empress. One of them had an angry expression, but the other seemed to be just a butler or servant of sorts.
And while the servant was really unassuming, the man was a bit more unique. He wore a dark blue suit with a vibrant tie in a lighter shade of cyan. Even the man's hair was blue, which reminded the Empress of the former storm cloud owner. Due to the mess that was her mind right now, she couldn't help but frown when seeing the man. Thinking about how long it had been since she talked with her friend.
"You must be the Hera, am I right?" the man asked, causing the Empress to frown.
She felt more bothered by his tone than the actual words he was saying. But still she nodded.
"Yes. I am. And you are?"
"A member of this clan," he replied. "Someone who actually deserved to get the Azure chain legacy."
The Empress had an idea where this was going, but she still gave him the benefit of the doubt, despite her best judgment.
"I am sorry about what happened to your family member. It is a shame that your legacy couldn't have gone back to you, but at least now you have a chance to make it one more time."
The man scoffed again. "Oh sure. Now we're going to have to spend decades trying to solve a mess that you caused. This all could have been much easier if you just had done your job right and not killed the person who had the legacy before making sure someone else could get it."
The Empress held back in rolling her eyes and replied in the most polite tone she could. "I am sorry you feel that way. Unfortunately, in the situation where I got the legacy, or at least its remnants, trying to let someone else take it wasn't something that could be done. Now, if you don't mind, I have a meeting with Matriarch Valera, and I cannot be late for it."
Hera stepped to the side and tried to move past the man, only to have him grab her arm, trying to stop her from moving.
"If you were really a hero, you would give your own legacy to my family to make up for what you stole."
The last shred of the Empress's politeness went out of the window on that comment.
"Look, I did what I had to do, and I wasn't the one who got the legacy from Azure Chain. If you want to start complaining about it and see if you can have someone take pity on you to get a new legacy, go ahead. But I have nothing to do with that. I did my job, and I stopped the war. A war that your family barely even tried to help with."
The Empress yanked her hand out of the man's grasp.
"Also, you shouldn't be grabbing random people you don't know by the arm. I figured that people in this clan would at the very least understand that this is very rude."
The man's face turned red as he continued to speak. "That should have been mine. My legacy. My birthright. Don't you dare walk away from me."
He tried to reach out again, but this time Hera, without even looking back, wrapped his leg with her tail and pulled him, causing the man to fall and slam his back on the floor.
"So, this is what this is all about? You're upset because Mommy and Daddy didn't give you the legacy? Did I get it right? Honestly, I don't care. But the point is you were too weak to get the legacy on your own and now you're trying to steal mine? No, no." Hera shook her head.
"You failed to get the legacy before, and I'm not the one who is going to give it to you. Now, I'm going to give you one chance to leave. To just turn around and get out of here. We will pretend that nothing happened. And you can keep whatever is left of your pride. But don't try anything again. If you do, you're going to quickly learn that your clan's name is not going to be able to save you from everything. Do I make myself clear?"
The man, or kid as Hera was considering him, tried to get up while still speaking. "You don't get to talk to me that way. I am Frederick Vaughn Azure. And I demand respect from you. I will not be talked down by someone who is lesser, some strange creature who's not even part of the MAZE."
Without waiting for him to finish his rant, Hera flung a small poison needle at the man. She had already checked his level, and he was still on a single digit. Likely someone who became an Explorer in the past year. If that. And she wasn't in the mood to deal with a spoiled brat.
The poison she created wasn't made to harm him in any way, just as a way to make him sleep. It was something that she would use on anyone who might be struggling to have a proper night of rest. She had done that with her dad a couple of times already. This was just a bit more concentrated so he would pass out right away instead of slowly getting sleepy and then going to bed.
Frederick tried to say something, but he quickly stumbled backwards and fell into his butler's arms, letting Hera turn towards the servant and say, "Just take him out of here. Trust me, if he stays around, nothing good will come out of it."
The man nodded and scurried off as quickly as possible. Not wanting to be here anymore. Which was understandable. But what Hera couldn't really understand was how the clans were allowing people like this to exist.
In this day and age, how were they capable of letting children grow with this type of ego and without really understanding anything about the world. The entire situation only made her feelings towards the clans become even worse.
And now, she was going to have to have a serious conversation with Valera. Especially since the kid was talking about people being lesser. They had just fought a war to stop that kind of talk, and hearing it again so soon was like having someone poke at an old wound.
She took a deep breath and walked into the room where Valera was waiting. As soon as she did so, the Matriarch spoke up.
"What took you so long? I heard you outside."
"I had a small issue with one of your family members. Frederick."
Valera shook her head. "That kid is always bringing trouble. What did he do now? And are you going to ask for payment to let it all go?"
"You are the reason why he's like that." Hera stated.
Hearing that, Valera finally looked up from her table. "My fault he's like what?" Her voice was full of anger.
"Stupid enough to risk causing a lot of problems," Hera replied without blinking an eye. Only now realizing that Insomniac was also in this room. The man was clearly frazzled by the sudden turn of events and now seemed to be struggling to decide who he should be helping.
"He's just a spoiled kid who doesn't understand the meaning of his words. Did he hurt your feelings? I am sorry. I'll see to it that he's punished. Is that better?" Valera's tone was still very condescending.
But the Empress kept her cool and said, "No. It's not enough."
"Wow, you're really greedy, aren't you? What did he say?" Valera crossed her arms. "What was so awful that needs reparations?"
"He said that he should be the one who got the Azure chain legacy." Hera gave a pause before adding, "Not someone from an inferior species like me."
At that mention, both Insomniac and the Matriarch froze. They turned to face Hera with worried expressions, but it was the strongest person in the MAZE who spoke first.
"Did he really say that?"
"Yes. Maybe not those exact words, but he said that I was inferior and I shouldn't have the legacy because of it. He even said that I should give my legacy to him as a way to apologize. My guess is that even in the best-case scenario, he wouldn't be the one getting it. Am I wrong?"
Valera shook her head. "No. He's not legacy material. Too reckless and too easy to anger. Together with the elders, we decided that he was not the one getting it, no matter what. The fact that he tried to get yours is regrettable."
"Regrettable?" Hera's frown grew even deeper. "That's all you have to say about that?"
"What else do you want me to say? He's a child who did some childish thing. That's all there is to it."
The Empress shook her head. "No. It isn't. First of all, he's not level one anymore, so he's not a child. Second, by letting him do whatever he wants, you're sending a very specific message to everybody who sees him. That basically you think no matter what he does, he can do so because he's part of your clan."
"That's not what I'm—" Valera started speaking, but Hera quickly interrupted her and continued.
"It doesn't matter if this is your intention or not. That's what people are going to think. Without exception. And while that might all work fine here, what happens when he offends someone more important? I'm not saying I am important, but what happens once he starts to act like that to everybody? What happens if, because he feels I wounded his pride, he comes after me with some infantile plan of vengeance? What do you think the alliance will do if that happens?"
"Are you threatening me, girl?" Valera frowned.
"This is no threat, Valera. I am stating the ramifications of your actions. By letting that kid do whatever he wants, he will eventually offend the wrong people and cause a serious problem. What do you think will happen if he were to say that to one of the council members of the alliance? You think people would be kind enough to just say it's fine? Or will they think that he is a human supremacist and decide that the best way to deal with that is to get rid of him?"
"Even if he is an ungrateful little brat, I'm not going to let anyone threaten a member of my clan." Valera replied, her gaze sharp as steel.
Yet Hera didn't back down.
"Yes, but that threat is going to be coming from the alliance. Are you willing to go to war because of him? And if you do, what do you think the other clans will do? You said how you were all being careful not to step on everybody's toes so no one would think that an opening appeared to attack the others. So what if you give that opening? What's going to happen then? And what if, in the worst-case scenario, his plan works? And he kills me. What do you think will happen with the alliance, then? You think everybody's going to be quiet and say 'oh, it happens' or will they assume that's an act of war and bring their entire force on you?"
The Empress sighed.
"I kept telling myself that I shouldn't be arguing with you about this, since I don't know the full story. But it was pretty obvious that you messed up with him. You were supposed to be a clan from someone who has a legacy. Someone who people aspire to be. Azure chain was helping against the centaurs. He was helping against people who believed they were doing right. Even if they were not, it wasn't because he was at fault. He was a hero in every way aside form title. How a clan like this created someone like him is beyond me."
Valera kept staring at Hera for a long moment before she nodded. "You're right. I apologize for how my, I suppose I should say grandson, treated you. And I will make sure it never happens again with you or with anyone else. I do need to make sure my clan understands their place in the world a bit better. And I'll do my best to be an example for them. I hope you can accept that, girl."
"I am the Ophidianite Empress and a hero aspirant. And I came all the way here to help you. To assist with something that you requested. So I would appreciate if you stopped calling me girl in such a patronizing tone. I already made it clear that this bothers me, but you don't seem to be interested in respecting others. And if that's the case, then I don't think I will be interested in helping you anymore, either."
Insomniac quickly stepped up and started to speak. "Calm down. We don't need to be that radical. I am sure that Matriarch Valera didn't mean anything to that. We are all friends here."
"No, no. She is right. I've been unfair to her despite the fact that she came all the way here to help us. Once more, thank you, Hera. I will make sure to treat you properly from now on. I do apologize if my words and my clan offended you in any way."
"Thank you. Valera, it takes a lot more than that to offend me, but I had seen actions that made me worry. That's why I decided to criticize the clan. I apologize if that came out as rude, but that was not my intention. I hope going forward we can have a proper relationship without any of those issues," The Empress knew that wasn't likely to be the case, but still tried to be neutral about it.
Valera nodded. "I would like that too. Now. Can we go check the vault? I called you here specifically for that, and frankly, after hearing what my grandson did, I lost my appetite."
"Then if it's not a problem, we can go there, but I would like to eat later. I don't have a problem eating after something like this."
Valera gave her a smile but didn't say anything else. She simply got up and started walking towards the vault where the secrets of the Azure chain legacy were housed.
Even then, Hera wasn't really sure that this small outburst would change anything. She had no trust in Valera and the people from this clan to change their way of life just because she snapped at someone. The only thing that she believed was that they would be a bit more careful with Frederick since he was acting that way. But even then, Hera wasn't completely confident the kid wasn't going to cause any more problems.
Still, an admission of guilt like that was probably the best thing she could ask for right now, so she just decided to take it as a win and move on. Hopefully, she would never have to see Frederick again, and if she did, he would just be background noise and not something for her to deal with.