The towering Pollux knelt before Dorn, and the steadfast, fearless warrior's heart was filled with unease.
Back when he and the Retribution Fleet had been scattered by a Warp storm, he had barely managed to escape to Macragge after the light of Pharos illuminated the way.
Pollux had strongly insisted on returning to Terra, but Guilliman had persuaded him otherwise.
Son of Dorn had always wanted to return to his gene-father's side, and his desire to do so surpassed that of every other Legion.
"Pollux, I am glad to see you again, my son."
The notoriously stern Rogal Dorn revealed the faintest smile at the corner of his mouth for the first time in ages. He stroked Pollux's head with his palm, feeling the texture of those savage scars.
He knew that his son must have endured much. He had overcome it all through his strength and fearlessness.
Lox could not even swallow the fruit in his mouth. Just as he was about to cough, Sanguinius beside him had already patted his back a few times.
"Thank you."
Sanguinius merely smiled without speaking, sitting beside Lox as they watched the father and son reunite.
"I am just surprised that Dorn actually has a smiling function. It is truly shocking," Lox muttered as he wiped fruit juice from the corner of his mouth.
"I once dispatched a Retribution Fleet to the Isstvan system. I had intended to send Sigismund, but due to his refusal, I had Leonard, the fleet commander I trusted most, take his place."
Dorn spoke as he recalled those events.
At the time, Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Death Guard had arrived on Terra aboard the Eisenstein and delivered that terrifying, incomprehensible news to Rogal Dorn.
After confirming that the information was true, Dorn dispatched a Retribution Fleet.