Theron had, indeed, noticed Dean Pennel. He hadn't been avoiding her—it was just that he couldn't be bothered to waste the time to understand what other reasons she could have for coming after him other than a vain attempt to stop him.
Of course, he had seen her battles with the same forces that had tried to stop him, but like he had said… he just didn't think much about it. He felt like the world around him was changing in ways he couldn't explain or describe, and he had much more important things to do than figure out why it was an old woman he had spent quite little time with, frankly, who was coming after him.
Hearing her words, though, he paused.
Her son? That must mean General Pennel. Was he being punished?
The problems of the Nightingale Empire seemed so small to him now. Not long ago, he had killed their Ancestor, and the Imperial Clan was probably not even aware that they had lost the right to stand amongst the other Imperial Clans of the continent.