For the first time, Eleazar flinched at a question. His wings tensed, arching for just a moment to lift themselves slightly off his shoulders. Among his kind, not that Malisia likely knew, it was a literal fight or flight response. It happened in an instant, and then they were back on his shoulders, the claws hooked at the front like an ornate clasp as they always were. His face, always hard to read thanks to his skin, was tighter than usual. He said nothing as they reached the end of the hallway at last. He turned the corner without thinking and walked down another. This one had only doors on either side but was shorter, and he knew they'd be past it soon enough.
"My victories," he said at last, his voice low, "are every battle in which I did not fall. My victories are the fact that my grandfather's kingdom still stands as a united country and not as a bunch of loose rabbles scrapping what living they could off the rocks." He stopped for a moment, knowing Malisia meant no harm, but it was a question that probed at a still-healing wound and had taken him by surprise.
"I suppose you do not know much of the wars that happened here in Cravonid. We are a civilized country now, or as civilized as can be expected. We even have a few traditions as a country and not just within individual clans, but in the time of my grandfather, it was not so. We were exactly what other people theorized and spread rumors about: monsters fighting monsters. We were driven here by humans, but that did not foster any comradery between us. Just the opposite, in fact. In some places, we were no better than animals. Two races went entirely extinct as far as we are aware, and humans came often to poach us like animals. It was not until my grandfather nearly lost his son, my father, that he had enough. My grandfather began taming the clans around him by force, at first, until others began to see the power we could have by joining together against the human enemy. We still fought each other more than we fought humans at first, but gradually, as my grandfather's clan grew, others began to see his vision and joined willingly. We could protect ourselves against humans and develop something better than a wild wasteland. Yet, my father still died at the hands of humans."
He paused, lost in memory. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. "I was still young when I first stepped onto the battlefield. I cut my teeth on a blade of steel, and it is not something I would wish any other child to see. There is still strife along some borders, but the last ten years have been the most peaceful time our people have ever seen. That peace is a victory more precious than any gold or jewels, but it is not a victory I hold alone. I hold no victories alone. I am but one more blade."
