Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Stars (Maintenance)

[Roania]

Every day, a million yellow envelopes were borne to the palace. As it should be. And every day, ten thousand functionaries sorted them and answered them. As it should be.

They did so with their master's knowledge and consent, of course. But not His personal attention, for that was a rare and fleeting thing and dangerous to attract. Still, even the perfectly designed is staffed by fallible mortals, and so mistakes might be made.


The Shenqin Emperor was not a patient man, nor a kind man. The best that could be said for the Lord of the Stars was that He was just and could show mercy as quickly as He could show His wrath, and build as swiftly as condemn. He had a role to play in His galaxy, and that role was paternal and yet distant. As far above the thoughts of His subjects as He was their reach. He did not exert the Imperial Power lightly, and always made a habit of punishing those who called on it too frequently. Or without due regard for its potency.

A lithe finger, tapped by a perfectly manicured nail, tapped a rescript lightly. "And how did this come to be before me, Chamberlain?"

Hai Sei bore the affronted gaze with as much dignity as a man cowering on the floor could. "A misunderstanding, Lord of Ten Thousand Years. One this pitiful servant will do his best to rectify. Perhaps one of my subordinates was poorly trained. Of course this humble servant of the Lord is to blame for this oversight. The Lord is ever true and right."

The Emperor tapped the opened envelope. "My time is precious. It is a gift I bestow rarely, and then only that need it. Is this not true, Chamberlain?"

"The Lord is always true, Great Lord. Merciful Lord of Ten Thousand Years. This humble servant accepts that..."

"Enough, Hai Sei." The Emperor glanced at the letter. "When a rescript is bought before me, I expect to find some grave injustice or crime disclosed. Events of that nature. Those that my staff cannot set to right, and I must see to personally. Is this not so?"

"All you have said is so, Lord of Ten Thousand Years. I cannot imagine how this happened. The fault is mine. Please, set..."

"If you say one more word but of agreement or disagreement, I will have both your tongue and a new chamberlain, Hai Sei. Is that so?" There was a sort of whimpering silence by way of answer. "Excellent. Do you know what this rescript is? In affirmative or negative, please." Still silence. "You may speak, Chamberlain."

"Y-yes, Lord." A yawning gulf now swallowed the older man's words, but he clung tightly to his orders and kept silence.

"Ha!" The Emperor laughed shortly. "You are wise, Chamberlain. Tell me what it is, and consider yourself free from the threat of penalty. You serve me well. And those that do need never fear reprise. And stand. We are not in the hall of our ancestors."

Rising into a sort of half-crouch, the Chamberlain swallowed and thought. "It would seem, from what this servant saw, to be a simple ceremonial invitation to a dedication. The kind of thing that tradition demands be sent to the Palace, and that would normally be answered with the dispatch of the local Governor or District Chief without even crossing the exalted table of the Lord of Ten Thousand Years."

"That is exactly what it is." And the Emperor very carefully folded the paper into a beautiful crane, the room falling into absolute silence as He did. "I have been asked to preside at the dedication of a new town hall in Chenjin. I am sure Chenjin is a lovely city. And their Little Mayor has, as all of my people have, the right to petition me. Of course." The delicate crane now balanced in His palm. "I am displeased, Chamberlain."

"If it is desired, I will have the man who failed in his duties scourged and driven into the river, Lord." Hai Sei had no idea who it was, and the system was far too bulky now for it to have been any one person's mistake. But he had a short list of malingerers and malefactors for these occasions, like all Chamberlains. "The regular form shall be drafted and sent with the regular token of the Lord's esteem."

The Lord clenched His fist, and the crane was destroyed. "Mm. Abide on those a while. The Lady on the Phoenix Throne has decided that our children shall have an excursion to the guiltless people of Chenjin." The air grew frostier as the Emperor continued. "Obviously, this rescript should never have come to their attention in the first place. But I do not recall which functionary it is who brings these picked rescripts to my table. Would you happen to know this unfortunate individual's name and clan?" And now Hai Sei felt very small, as the space around him filled with the towering presence of the Emperor's guards. "I believe his title is... is Chamberlain, yes? Yes, that's what I have here."

"L-L-Lord, I... I am sure I can explain. I... I did not expect the system to have failed so. I... I will rearrange matters and ensure this does not happen again, Lord. There will be an audit from top to bottom. No mistakes can be tolerated in such an important work. I... I..."

The Emperor laughed. That was never a good thing. Not in any Emperor. "My dear Chamberlain! You mistake me!" And then the humor died. "No. Jhenoni, Hikatoni. My dear servant is to be helped to his quarters. See to it he packs for a journey to the prefectures without injury. He will know his needs best."

"What? You can't be serious!" Court protocol dropped from the chamberlain instantly. "I? Go to the Prefectures? You jest! Why, they're hardly proper... I would expect I couldn't even get decent liquer there! And my court robes will get so dirty they'll have to be replaced."

"Am I making a joke?" That was when the room hit absolute zero. "Jhenoni. You have served me for many years. In that time, have I joked to you?"

The answer was a guttural "No", somewhere between a word and a laugh.

"And yet, the fourth man in the realm says I am. So be it, then I must have been. Jhenoni, Hikatoni, throw my former chamberlain into the river. But do him the courtesy of breaking his neck on the land, so his soul may fly home. Dismissed."

There was some panicked squawking now, and the Chamberlain managed to pull himself free and dive for the Emperor's legs, where he clung tightly. "Wait, wait, wait! I meant... you cannot be serious! I... I am not worthy to go to the prefectures with the Lord and Lady. But if it is the Lord's wish that I accompany them, it is my duty to do so. I am merely old and weak."

There was silence for a moment, and then the Emperor shaked his robes free. "I would not dream of departing to the distant corners of my realm without my household, Chamberlain. And you are not so old and weak as that, I expect. In any case, it would be a relief to this poor fool to have another man of worth along to save me some of the tedium of meeting with my local officials. And now, you are dismissed."

[Roania]

"The barbarians seem suitably proud of themselves, do they not?" The Gauwunfu Lieutenant gave a mocking bow towards the departing Nimatojin fighters. "Honorable Agents of the Dragon Throne! We have prepared for a long time for this mission, and now we are given the chance to prove our worth! We may live Nine Thousand Years, but the Empire shall stand for Ten Thousand!" With a flip of his his fingers, the crysal in his hand projected a map of the current operational area. "Team Po are to follow the line highlighted here. Team Ho, you must follow this set of directions. Keep to the shadows, all of you. Let none see you and live. It is good that the barbarians have done much of the work for us, but they do not know what we know. They have deafened themselves to the truth. Let us blind them to it, as well." The Lieutenant turned to his silent, gray-robed companion. "Does the beautiful Marquise Sun have a word of encouragement for the men who will risk their lives under her command?"

Ailin blew a soft, sharp sigh through pursed lips. Yes, they resented her presence. However they may have tried to take advantage of it through inadvertent glances and brushes, with soft touches that they had blamed on the motion of their boat on their way here. She had become used to all of that, these days. Like the Lady she was. But now she was in command, and these soldiers (for soldiers they were, even if not bannermen) resented answering directly to someone who could not serve in their ranks. On the subject of the truth, and what not... not that she wished to serve in that fashion. Still, it is best to set an example. "I have but short words to say. You are servants of the Dragon Throne, and I am its Claw. Our enemies are powerful, and their poison kills this dying world. And we have seen proof of that now. As the Honorable Master said at central operations, all sacrifice is acceptable to free this planet. I say now, however, that this planet is not worth the life of one true servant of the Emperor. Keep your eyes open and your weapons ready, however, and there is no force on this world that can stop you. Nu Haen!" And as they repeated the salute, she slipped her robe off her shoulders, revealing the armor she wore underneath.

This earned, she could hear, an approving snigger from one of the farther men. She could deal with him later, if she needed to. She knew she was beautiful. She knew that this armor, tight to each curve as it was, revealing of shape if not of skin as it was, was the superior of their blue power-suits. As the mask climbed up from her neck to cover her mouth and nose, Ailin knew she was, without doubt, the second-deadliest thing on the planet.

If only she wanted to be. No! Time for doubt later. This was her choice. This was what she was now. As beautiful as the full moons, as deadly as a blade. "Let us be on our way. This is no time for you to play at soldiers. Show me that you are the men you claim to be, and I will consider what my report shall be, and what your rewards may be!" The men vanished into the air. All but the Lieutenant and his team. Her 'escorts'.


Teams Po and Ho

The two exterior teams, as they had been labelled, had parallel missions. They were to hop quickly from island to island, destroying every trace of the blue berries that had survived. To this end, they carried potent tools of their own. "Specimen confirmed. Crystal reading North, Northwest, along Parallel Hai. Check your auspex."

"Neutralized. Searching for loose seeds and berries. Crystaline fire set in three, two, one..." And ghostly jade flames briefly lit the air. "Confirmed eradication. Scanning."

Of course, that wasn't the whole of their mission. And they didn't understand what it was for, anyway. Their current Master, far to the southwest, hadn't thought to share that with their Lieutenant. And he wouldn't have shared it with them if he had.

This, though, they understood. "Village sighted. Five sentries, one of them blazing."

"Understood. Distract, decoy and confirm."

A noise. The sound of a host, heading towards the village.

"Four sentries moving. Blazing one leading the way. One remaining behind, to call alert in when they return. Orders?"

"Take him down, but not out. Get in and fulfill the mission objective."

"Understood. Approaching water source now."

The Nimatojin purifier was a beautiful piece of technological wizardry, if you had any appreciation for that kind of thing. None of the agents did. They did appreciate a good round of disguises. "There. Under the rock. No, not that rock. Yes. Next to the roots. That's it. Cunning bastards, the Nimatojin are, right? Never have seen it without the auspex. No, don't touch it. Home says they can't see us like this, but if we mess around with it, then all bets are off. I'm not dying because one of you ogrefuckers decided to provoke a firefight with an entire army. Command? We have a visual on the first target."

"Understood. We have it on screen here. Focus the weapon now."

A fast rush of water, a quick flow of silt and mud, and a century's worth of damage to the delicate material was done in three minutes. Or so the Imperials assumed. "Kill suspected. Requesting permission to inspect?"

"Negative. Deploy our additive, move on and move forward. Our window is closing."

A splash. The water briefly glowed red, then to its normal hue. Confirmation was asked for, given, and the team moved on to the next water source.

The additive in question wasn't anything special. One may call it a vitamin, even. The boys at Pearl Island had been very hard at work on it, once they had finished their dissection of the brains of the local population (with so many bunnies killing other bunnies, who'd miss two or three or four?). The first hope was that it would significantly augment the aggressive and conflict-seeking natures of the Huayht. There, early results in more local labs on representatives of already controlled populations had proven fruitful.

If, sadly, fatal for the test subjects.

The second was the probably vain hope that it would cause a buildup of unpleasant elements in the systems of those who already had metal components. The Empire's scientists had no idea if that would work or not, and were curious to find out. More pertinently, the Hand of the Dragon on the planet wanted to find out.

Provided no one gave the game away, by the time the Republic realized what had been done to its unfortunate citizens, it would be too late. And the same process would be underway in the cities and towns of the north.

Expedition Primary Team, Lieutenant Chang commanding. Claw of the Dragon Sun Ailin accompanying

"They burn nicely, don't they?" Chang said with a pleased little smile, as he kicked another dead hare into the blaze. "All that deathpowder inside of them, I expect." She couldn't see his expression under that mask, but she knew he was smiling. Men like that always did.

Ailin knew she was a monster now. She could feel it in how she saw the blood flow; how the thought of the flesh dying in her hands, at her hands, made her, yes, hungry. Though the horrid acrid tastes of these lives had made her regret her one attempt at indulging. But she did not smile at these deaths. She prided herself on that. It made her superior to this man, and to the creature they both answered to. Affecting to ignore him, she took a step away and gazed down at the beach. "They'll come here?"

"Once they see this spot is open, they'll come here. It's got everything they need, according to our operatives. They would only have passed it up the first time because there is a village here." The Lieutenant looked around, and she could feel his pleasure again. "Was a village here. Once we're done cleaning up, they won't be able to choose another base. By now, our teams should have rendered their alternatives... impossible." Two rumbles provided a well desired period.

"By destroying a waterway a hundred million years old, and shattering the very bones of this world? Yes, I can see why they would choose here instead of working to repair the damage your men have done. And you have all proven yourselves men." Ailin rolled the salvia around in her mouth for a while, then spat hard onto the ground. "If to be men is to kill and destroy."

"The Lord of Ten Thousand Years has decreed that we all must make sacrifices. These unfortunate unknowing subjects are simply making the greatest sacrifice of them all."

"Don't speak to me of sacrifice, Chang. Or to the people of this world. Do you believe our Lord knows what is done here? I doubt even the Master of the Hand is truly aware of what 'sacrifices' have been made." But she wouldn't try to reach out again. Not after the first time. Not after what she'd lost. "Never mind. I am tired and have fought hard. These primitive weapons of the locals we needed to use required more strength than ours do. Our job is done?"

The Lieutenant stepped up behind her. "Our job is complete. By fourth watch, there will be no sign a village had been here. The water source, and the purifier, are both changed according to our desires. They will undoubtedly install one of their larger purifiers, but I doubt they have the resources to do that now when they think they have one that works already in place. And by the time the barbarians know what has been done, it should be too late." And he stepped forward once more, and his hand landed on the soft curve of her rear. "Now, I seem to remember a little bird talking about a reward, Marquise Sun."

Ailin delicately reached down behind her and took his hand, keeping her fingers around his wrist as she turned to face him. "Indeed I did, Lieutenant Chang. A reward fitting for such as you. Kneel, and I shall let you kiss my hand. A prelude to, perhaps, other kissing." He went to his knees before her. "Tell me once more what I am. I do so love to hear it."

She began to rise her hand towards him as he praised her every curve, her every roundness, her beauty and her sex, and sang lavishly on the worship he would offer her body. And as the soldiers began to cheer, she smiled.

And then she lashed out, avoiding his lips and grabbing his nose, then pulling it upwards. At least he began to rise when she did, even if his eyes were watering and she could see his soul breaking in them. After all, had she torn the nose off, it would have ruined this armor. "You forget yourself, Chang. And you forget me. I am no triad whore or society maiden, blushing for your attention. I am a Claw of the Dragon, and you will show me respect. You are lucky I permit you to live. My master would agree that merely for the crime of enjoying my body as you evidently have, I should kill you." She stepped back from the Lieutenant, and she slipped into an even more formal register as her black and grey robes appeared around her, sliding down her arms and tying themselves tight over her armor. "There will be no talk of rewards beyond your men and you receiving an adequate report to your superiors. As I am generous, I will not mention this incident. Finish your duties, men of the Empire. Time flows by and you must be gone soon." And she stepped backwards and vanished into a passing shadow.

"Lousy bitch." Chang muttered. "What are all of you standing around staring at? Get to work! You heard our orders!"

Claw of the Dragon Sun Ailin; primary watersource for presumed SDF base on Eastern Islands

"I will not betray my oaths or my Lord." Ailin muttered, as she stepped through the stream. "And I am not. But my oaths and my Lord do not require this of me, nor do they require crimes of me. And the one and the other demand a response. I demand a response. So a puzzle. And if they can recognize it, and if they can see it, then perhaps something may be salvaged." She dropped the robe, letting it vanish before it hit the water. And then she reached into a holster on the armor, drawing out a blue, sparkling crystal. A moment's fumbling with a catch, and she pressed the crystal beneath her breasts, to her heart. The sparkle faded as it warmed in her grasp. "I am Sun Ailin. I have the honor of serving the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, as you would say, the Emperor." The galstandard title was spat rather than said, but no matter, she continued in her native tongue. "I am a Claw. This title means nothing to you now, perhaps, but in future it will mean everything. But that is not important. None of it is important right now."

"My master here, the master of our efforts, is Mar Serahyle. All agents you have dealt with, both of my people and of the locals, serve him, regardless of their claims. All I must say of him is that he hates you. He hates you and he hates your work here, and he plans horrors I will not permit to go unwarned of. You must leave this planet. If you have found this message, then I assume things have already begun. Look to your supplies, men of Sol, but more than anything else, leave." She drew the crystal away from her, holding it out from her heart until it cooled.

Then she placed it, reverently, against the wall, on top of a pile of plain stone. Would they, when they came here, notice the faded blue stone? Would they know how to play it, if they did? She didn't care. She would be missed. Her men were returning to the Kingdom, and if she was not there before them... it did not bear thinking about. "Spirits of this world, forgive all of us our trespasses. We know what we do, but we do it anyway."

[Roania]

Confidence. It was a supremely reixan trait. Confidence. Control. Clarity. Each and every one of them knew who they wanted to be, what they wanted to be, and how to do it. That was the message they were fed as children, and in turn fed to the worlds. They were simply better than others. Oh, everyone was worthy in their own way, of course. Children of the Light and all that. But they were more worthy.

And so, the Empire. It would gather the wayward children of the galaxy and place them back under adult supervision. Away from things that would hurt them or trouble them. It was only what was best.

And Ailin believed it. Absolutely. The Dragon Throne was the highest position in the galaxy, and all shall and must be made to kneel before it. She knew that like she knew she needed food, water or oxygen. And yet, and yet, and yet...

Was it possible that the reixanxi were not the center of all existence? She had seen much in her recent service. Learned more. And the first thing she had learned was that she did not need to learn anything. They would teach her, if she let them. Give a male from the accursed Republic an open ear and a glimpse of flesh, and he'd fill her head with fancies and lies and truths and half-truths, all in hopes of more. Like any man. That had been a shock. She hadn't expected to find any commonality between them and us. The stories she heard were meaningless. She danced between them like a witch through the rain, never getting wet. She was no master of the art, but she had learned it enough to read the shape of a man's thoughts, if not their content.

She probably didn't want to know the content.

And they were men. Well. She assumed. Male. They 'felt' male, at least. She probably could have gone for research, but the one sort didn't appeal to her, yet, and the other, well... it seemed rude to devour someone who bought you a drink of the horrible local whatever it was. Mercy. A hangover from her old life. Before all of this, and before the brand of the dragon was on her. And one she had thought lost forever. And yet, it had returned... not that they would have any mercy for her, had they known what the woman they were talking to was beyond merely her species. Not that she should have any for them.

She was a Claw of the Dragon, and they were the Dragon's enemies. And that was why she was here. The Grandmaster had told her that. She was to study and observe the enemies of the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, and to assist Master Serahyle in his plans for their defeat and discomfiture.

And yet, and yet, and yet.

They were the enemy, and they were people. People like her. Well, no. Not like her. But like her people. The people she had come from. Were their souls food? Yes. But so was her brother's soul. Not that he'd know her if she came for it. Former brother's soul. Of course, the locals were not people, and she could devour them if she wished. It made her queazy, and so she avoided it, but she knew that the monster... the Master indulged freely and with wild abandon from among the captives...

And yet, and yet, and yet.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Years had given the order that this planet be civilized. That the locals be made into people. And if he hadn't, well, someone must have. Someone who could have. Obviously.

And the Nemato? They had come here for what purpose? No one knew, beyond conjecture as to various weapons. None of the uniforms would share that conjecture unless she pulled rank, and she didn't care that much. Because what they were doing was what was important. They were also trying to take the locals and make them into people.

What a wonderful world this place could become, if efforts were pooled together. That was the Empire's law, after all. All for all, save one, and he is all. Yes, the Nemato were barbarians who dressed strangely and spoke strangely and rejected the precepts and refused to bend the knee. All of this was true.

And yet, and yet, and yet, they were still people. She had heard, in her old life, of the miracle world of Mars. How the Nemato had created it and given it life themselves. With only their will and strength and tools they made by hand. They had had no crystal engines to help, and yet they had done it.

They were the enemy. But should they be the enemy? Why conquer them? Why hate?

Why not learn? There was much to learn. Much that was extraneous, true, but much to learn. It would make the Empire stronger. Some of hers had already gone to the Republic, as some of theirs had come to the Empire over the years. All were children of the same fire. And all could unite together to bring forth more of the Light's children. If she, when she, let a man make her his wife (or before, if she met someone that interesting), one of their men would give her a child as easily as one of hers.

And yet, and yet, and yet.

They were the enemy. She had been told they were the enemy, and so they were the enemy. Academic musing is all well and good, but it does not preserve or extend civilization. And still, she wondered if there was a better way. If she was serving her Lord in the best way.

These thoughts filled her mind. Which was good, because they served to distract her from what the Master was planning. And helped to silence the same wriggling worm of conscience they had helped return to life. She had become a monster, and by her own choice. Twisted in the way of her people, but freely made regardless. But must she act as a monster? What she was was a monster. But who she was...

Who was she? She didn't know anymore. And she had no one she could ask the question of. No one who could tell her if, now that she was a monster, a monster was all she would ever be. A weapon, a tool, like a scythe or sickle. Or was she still the same? Could she be the same?

And if she was the same, and she acted as her old self would, would it be betrayal? Or service?

[Roania]

The planet was a Class Hy world, which is to say that it had been cleared for colonization more than half-a-milennia ago. The original charter had been issued to the Kingdom of Jeok in the 25th Year of King Jae-Gok VII. That was to say, in the 10th Year of the YuanQin Emperor, the final Emperor of the Zi Dynasty. Or, in yet another calendar, the 1311th year of the Reformed Temple Era. Many old fashioned Jeoken traits remained present in the architecture and the language of the locals, who inhabited the great vales and islands along the western borders of the great eastern continent, and were beginning to colonize fitfully the eastern and southern borders of the western and northern lands.

The natives had asked for the interior, for themselves and for their children in perpetuity. The first governor had granted it to them, in the Lord's name, as the Zi began their fateful collapse into civil war. By the time the Glorious An had reunited the heavens and claimed the Dragon Throne, five governors had been and gone and the treaty had become first habit, then tradition, then regulation, and finally law.

The colonists thus turned their back on the great black sands and dark forests, and set their eyes to the seas of water and stars. Beyond their locked landward gates they never went, and the forest grew and the black sands shifted and the natives lived and died as if they were not subjects of the Dragon Throne at all. Or so the provincial government assumed. No one remembered what the natives looked like, and none of the commoners gave it much thought that their lives were circumscribed by the great walls. Every world in the outer sphere had its peculiarities, and the cleansed soil was good and the seas were generous.


And still...


"I'm sorry. Civilians cannot go through here." The guard and his felinoid companion spoke abominable Rudanese, but they straightened up and held their force spears aloft to bar the shrouded figure's approach. "Orders from Myongyen. From the Governor himself. Until the investigators have arrived and completed their work, Gwayho is closed to all. If you are looking for someone from the village, the temple at Liinegaa is where you'll find the latest village records, and every survivor the Provincial Militia deemed unnecessary for the investigation. I have to tell you, though, the odds are..."

The Felinoid sniffed, and one clawed hand went for the holster. "Who's that with you? Show yourself, mryah!"

The smaller figure stopped. A dark grey robe with hood covered all details and features, and the hands were clasped in front. Behind it, another figure stepped out of the mist, fog and rain. Similarly attired, but far, far larger. Neither of the local militiamen had ever seen an ogre, so perhaps they could be forgiven for thinking that one had turned up to turn a bad night worse. Still, bolstered by desperation (and by the pungent drunken whose keg had rolled off the dock, leaving the spirit of its scent behind), they didn't move a muscle save to press the buton (or swing a claw on the hook) that turned the spears to sparkling blue.

Then the giant lowered his cowl and revealed a large, sharply tanned head that possessed more than its fair share of scar tissue. His smile, however, revealed that all his teeth were intact, and pearly white. "I am Warden Jeder of the Brak Tumen. My companion is Exorcist Ngyuen Jian. We are here by order of the ShiFuOnenGo, and by extension, the Celestial Master. If your governor went to the Dragon Throne and set his orders against hers, whom do you believe the Lord of Ten Thousand Years would back, Militiaman?" The large Kaeganian spoke perfect Standardised Jeoken, with barely a hint of an accent. The hand that slipped from his pocket was easily as large as the felinoid's head. "Step aside."

"Mryah, he makes a compelling case, yes-no?" The Felinoid took a step back, lowering his spear slightly and dowsing the crystal flame.

"No-no, furball. Anyone can claim to be from anyone and everywhere. I'll keep an eye on them. You go and call Central." The reixan militiaman stepped into the middle of the pier and set his spear across it as a bar, thumbing another button. Soon, except for his grip, the entire stick glowed sharp blue. "I'm not risking my promotion to Captain, and my posting off this rock, for some ogre with delusions of grandeur."

"Mrrrmrm.. as you say, bareskin, you do that, I do this." And the felinoid took a few backwards steps, lowering his spear slightly but priming for a lunge, one way or another.

"You are all the same. There is no need for this." The original figure stepped between the giant and the guards and lowered her cowl, letting the rain flow down her loose braid and over her delicate brown features. "Here. You are expecting investigators.That would be myself and my associate." Even tinged with asperity, her voice was still the voice of a particularly disreputable spirit of desire, and as she slipped off her rain-robe she revealed features and curves that would have done a lesser attendee of the Spirit of Love proud. "Your attention to duty does you credit, and I will see to it you are commended in my final report."

"After we mention how you threatened us with your little stick there, and how the word of a Warden of the Temple wasn't good enough for you." The giant rumbled.

And then she cocked her flowering hips like an old weapon, and both he and the militiaman swallowed. "After nothing. Jeder, you have our papers. Give them to the man. That's what you should have done in the first place, instead of trying to impress us all with how big and strong you are."

"Exorcist Ngyuen, the insult that has been offered to my honor and my word cannot be..."

Her hands slipped free, and on each of them a gem blazed as she held them to the lamp. "I am cold, and I am getting wet, warden. If you do not provide our documentation in the next minute, then I will have to make even greater insults to your honor when we return to Rudan Prime." The Warden growled, but bowed to superior authority. With a grumble, he reached into his cloak and drew a small sheathe of laminated papers from a hidden compartment. As he handed them to the guard, the exorcist stepped around and put a gentle hand on the felinoid's arm. "Now, Nmmr." Felinoids did not respond to reixanxi as more humaniform species could, but nevertheless, Nmmr was male and so he would have felt a faint pull on his senses as she leaned up and whispered into his ear. "I'm cold, wet and tired, and my companion is being unfathomably useless. If you have secured a place for us to rest, then would you please lead me there so I may prepare our wards for the night? Then, you have my permission to depart for the town."

Nipping the ear was the final assault, and the felinoid quickly led the exorcist to the small village hall. Neither of them affected to notice as behind them there was the sound of a sudden impact, and then a splash.


Inside

"Did you kill him?" Jeder heard Jian's voice as he stepped through the doo and over the carefully sketched ward of negation. "He was just doing his job."

"No, mother." Jeder scowled. "I just hit him and sent him into the water, mother. Which was the soft option. Settled men are weak and know nothing of true honor. I even helped him out and put him on the launch."

"Good boy." With a little laugh. "I'm pleased that he could keep his head above water better than that poor fellow on HaeZin."

"I made a small mistake, and I never hear the end of it." The Kaegani stepped around and under a few more hanging traps, before reaching the T crossing before the great hall. "How many wards have you set up? And I can smell the incense from here, Jian. We in that much danger? Calling on some kind spirits to even the odds?"

The woman laughed again. "Hardly. If there's something here I can't get rid off, then I'm pretty sure the only tool I need is you and your staff. The incense just comforts my mind and centers my soul." There was a soft sigh at those words that made Jeder speed up around the corner.

As he did, he carefully noted the angles covered by the printed sheets of paper, and their direction. "I'm not much for reading the birdscratchings the Rudanese write, but none of these are killing wards."

"Until and unless I know what is happening here, you big beast-abusing oaf, I'm not killing anything. If this is a native spirit, then we must know and I will need to take different steps then if some hungry ghost is wandering around... killing people." Her words went down. "They had left a body in here. My guess is the local Elder. They may have left all of them."

"They needed to save the living. I'll burn them in the morning. Any we find, I promise." He rested against the wall, looking at her. "Anything from it?" She lay on her stomach, facing away from him. He could see the thin fabric that hung from her upper arms, where her top was crumpled. Below her waist, she was covered by a thick blanket.

"It doesn't work that way. Not usually. Not that I know how this should work. But this isn't my first show, herdsman. And provided we're safe tonight, I think I know how to begin in the morning. And she sighed and sat up, shaking her head, letting her hair fall over her bare shoulders and the thin singlet. "Get over here. I don't want to shout."

That command, in that voice, from that body, dresed in that way had him out of his robe, shirt and trousers in moments, sliding into the other blanket and onto the sleeping mat. "You gave me the lumpy one."

"You punched a man of the militia for no real reason. Fair's fair. Besides." Jian's voice lowered a notch, taking on a breathy tone that kept his attention, "You never need yours anyway." He said nothing to that, just watching through lidded eyes as she reached for the glowing blue thermos and poured them both some tea. "I need to relax, Jeder. This worries me, and I can't work if I'm worried. Do I have you?"

"Of course. You have my strength and my soul. I am pledged to die for you if need be." And he took his tea and sipped it, feeling the gentle fumes. "And I always keep my word."

Her breath caught, but a moment later, "WIll you live and kill for me, if need be?"

"Always. That is the pledge of a warden." And he finished his drink and slipped behind her, cupping her shoulders in his broad hands and slowly, slowly beginning to work on the tension under her soft flesh. "But I think you need my strength more than you need my life or anyone else's life." He could feel her shifting under him, increasing her exposure to his hands as her delicate brown body proved the long trip had not made it any less delightful.

"That's why we're the best, Jeder. Much better than that old fart Jin Jaesoo and that jerk Kil Yu, right? We're the best because you know exactly what I need..."

"We make them look like they should be back in the shrine, teaching the precepts to novices." He took a chance and leaned in, nipping the slight point of her ear and sliding his hands forward to hold her waist as she sharply moaned. "They were just jealous. I know Yu would love an Exorcist like you. All soft curves and good ideas." One hand cupped each waiting breast as he drew her onto his lap. "We can do this. You can do this."

Jian's eyes closed tight as another, longer moan left her lips. And she remained silent for a long while, apart from occasional soft gasps leaving her as Jeder showed that he had learned her secrets well in the months since she had first teasingly offered herself to him, then surrendered when the game turned real. "I...I can." She finally said, and her hand reached up and she grabbed one of his hands and pulled it between and below her breasts, where her heart was beating feverishly. "I can, and I will. And you'll be with me. And we'll go back to the Sealed Temple, and the Celestial Master herself will tell me I did a good job, and I'll have the recognition I need to do what I need..." And here her eyes turned up towards him. "And I'll have you, too. Always."

He didn't argue.

[Roania]

"Age before beauty, Honored Secretary Zo KarHan.." Lorell bowed slightly and stepped back from the door to the cabinet room. "Or is your intent with your newest mistress to convince the spirit that you are also one quarter your illustrious age?"

"Then you may pass me, and I will pass before Honored Secretary Mo Aleis, Honored Secretary Kes LoRei." The treasurer stood opposite the two women and their party with his own assortment of minor dignitaries and functionaries. "Or have you come to believe that red stripe on your face is fetching? I have always thought it adds a certain charm to your florid countenance." The man clicked his heels together and bowed at his shoulders, less even than Lorell had.

The Secretary's eyes widened slightly, and her injured eyelid began to flutter slightly. "The Sage and Venerable Secretary of the Treasury is far too kind. It would lead me to believe that that he had intentions. I must however respectfully decline, for it is my preference to seek lovers within my own generation and species."

Now Karhan stepped back, and his jaw began to tremor. But he had no chance to reply in kind.

"If it would please the servants to come and take their seats at the table of their master, then perhaps one would grant them a momentary stay of the execution one has written out." The Emperor spoke. The stars halted in their celestial dance. The seas ceased to wash a thousand shores. "Now." And the universe came back to life with a loud explosion.

***

Three hurried, difficult and troublesome minutes and one destroyed laquer door later, the officials had found their way to their seats and were now sitting at their table, faces down, arms on the table, overseen by four armed and armored Imperial Guards and the nagging suspicion that the only reason they ween't being fed to an ogre was that an ogre wouldn't fit into the room. Their master was speaking. They listened "...behaving like barbarians, the lot of you, and it will go on no more, is this one crystal? You may agree."

"Yes, Lord of Ten Thousand Years." Quick, panicked words.

"Have you realized why this one has broken habit and custom to come here? You may dissent."

"No, Lord of Ten Thousand Years." Again, with the undercut of a horrible suspicion that most of them knew all too well.

"Last night, this one had the displeasure to learn that yet another Grand Secretary had filed to leave the office. It suited me to call Honorable Chang before the Dragon Throne to discover the cause of his unhappiness, for in the past the only reason a Sovereign has run through so many Grand Secretaries in such a short time was that the Honorable Predecessor executed them. And what was heard from him confirmed the suspicions." The Emperor's cool eyes looked down the table, back and forth. "Would it please any of our servants to speak the truth? Secretary Mo?"

Aleis' looked up with a start when she realized He was speaking to her, and she stuttered desperately as her fear locked in her throat. "Well, that is to say, obviously the Dragon Throne, that is to say, obviously He whom sits upon the Dragon Throne, the Most Magnificent Master of Glory, the Scryer of the Sea of Stars, the Writer of Destiny..."

"Enough." Aleis went quiet as the Emperor's voice cut like a knife. "Enough. My patience is run out. It is my understanding that there has been a party in my cabinet that will not be satisfied until a member of it is made Grand Secretary. Had Duchess Ma's sabbatical not proven... fruitful... I would recall her and have her teach you all the meaning of obedience. Instead, I must do so myself. Secretary Kes, who do you believe should be Grand Secretary?"

Lorell almost jumped out of her chair, but stopped when she realized two of the guards had immediately appeared behind her. She thought fast. "Obviously, if I may say so, oh Most Benevolent Lord," The Emperor's eyes were little pools of ice, and she hurried. "Everything I have done has been with the intention of seeing your most competent and devoted servant arise to your attention. That being, of course, the Admirable Honorable Secretary of the Treasury. I must regret that my actions have damaged the work of the Grand Secretaries, but had they truly been worthy of the faith placed in them, they would have acted to prove themselves."

"Secretary Zo?" The Emperor's eyes slipped to the opposite.

"The Honorable Secretary of the Farmland is far too modest, a feature that we are told is always appropriate for those that seek higher office. I have worked tirelessly to ensure that Secretary Kes is given her rightful position. And I regret only that the three men who were chosen have failed to recommend her as their replacement." Karhan smiled broadly across the table at Lorell.

"And the rest of you?" The Emperor rested his chin in his palm and scowled down the table. "Let me guess. Some of you feel the same way Karhan does, and others agree with Lorell here. If I'm right, make noises like barnyard animals." The room was silent. The Emperor placed his hands on the table. "If I am wrong, the next sound any of you make will be a soft, sad thud. Guardsmen?" Within a minute, there was a loud assortment of desperate attempts at squawks, grunts and animal calls. "Splendid. It feels like I'm back in my office doing my work with my youngest children underfoot, and not here, sorting out yours."

The Emperor rose to his feet and walked around the room, his long yellow robe trailing behind him. "What we have here is a confused situation. Certainly, it seems that some of you are very confused. That is the only explanation that makes sense. Some of you believe that your services are indispensable. Is that not so, Secretary Kes?"

Two pairs of hands grabbed Lorell and dragged her to the front of the room as he passed. One of them, or both of them, took advantage of the situation "Hey, watch yourself." She dusted herself off and rearranged her robe once she was standing, trying not to show how rattled she now was.

"Some of you believe that you are essential to the well-functioning of the Realm.Is that not so, Secretary Zo?" The Emperor stopped for a moment behind Karhan's seat, and then carried on. The guards grabbed him and hurried him to the front of the room. Lorell enjoyed that, though less so when she realized that as a man, he had experienced no further indignity.

The Emperor stepped between them and placed his delicate fingers on their necks, long yellow-painted index finger nails tapping their jugulars. "No one is irreplaceable. I am not, thank the Ancestors. The Marshals of my Banners are not. My Grand Secretary is not. Nor are the least of my servants when they wrong me. And nor are either of you. You thought yourself clever, Kes Lorell. Or you thought me a fool. You thought yourself wise, Zo KarHan. Or you thought me a greater fool than you thought your colleague. Well, and perhaps I am a fool." The hands left the throats. "I permit you two to live. And remain in my service. I choose to call it mercy." The dry chuckle that followed the word was the most omenous portent any of them had heard for a year. "Your sentences are as follows." And he he shoved them to the ground with full strength, and the guards were at their sides, holding them there. "You two shall retain your positions in the new cabinet. The rest of you are dismissed from your present posts, and will be assigned new ones at my pleasure. After all, none of your colleagues were willing to speak up for you, as Kes and Zo did for each other. Everybody, learn from Kes Lorell and Zo KarHan. Why don't you stand up and bow to your dear friends?"

It was not a request. They were pulled upright as the first dawning signs of comprehension washed through the cabinet. Aleis was first to start crying, followed by Nmmr. At least, it was assumed that was what the Felinoid was doing, as his head went into his paws.

"Of course, I am not an unreasonable Master." The Emperor smiled without pleasure or kindness, his eyes gleaming red. "If you truly do not care for the posts you will have assigned, you may petition your new Grand Secretary." The Emperor paused. "Oh, silly me. What with all the fuss and bother Secretaries Kes Lorell and Zo HarKan have put all of us to, I forgot to introduce him. Grand Secretary, if you could tear yourself away from my memorialist and step inside?"

The door was pushd to the side. "It... it can't be." Lorelle breathed out, seeing an opening to back toward the wall and taking it.

"Light, Spirits and Ancestors..." Karhan went tumbling to his knees.

"May I present the 605th Grand Secretary of the Secretariat, who was more than ready to return to the service of the Dragon Throne whenthe call came..."

"Surprised, boys and girls?" The great red and gold trimmed robes. The shock of untamed hair, with only the tiniest fake knot on top to keep up appearances. The magnificent beard. It could only be.

"Duke Kai Ramiel." After that, the Lord of 10,000 Years took his leave with the most cheerful smile he'd worn since the birth of the twins.

[Roania]

Let the Nemato play their games. The Empire was the master at its own. The doctrine they preached was not of cooperation, nor of friendship. It was a doctrine of conquest. Of obeisance. Of the slow climb to mastery.

The North had fallen quickly. Massacres were nothing new to the Huayht, and Imperial 'advisors' were gratified to learn how swiftly their servants took to their orders, and how quickly the other settlements and tribes had knelt after the salutary examples had been made.

Now the Kingdom was not just a city. It was a country. Natives learned roles they had never known, and learned them quickly. Roads were built. Walls were built. And in the center of the Kingdom was Sek'Hei. Once a rough and tumble place of huts and shelters. Now, transforming to stone and wood, with an architecture all new to the world.

"Reports from the south. Our agents claim they have taken to the seas." As militaristic as the north had once been, it had been small scale. Tribes and villages had mustered militias in need. As in Jer'Don, the houses had done the same, coming together in an emergency only. Now, there was an army. And an army had its Generals and its intelligence. Here was the commander of one of them, Paepi. A success story.

The North was as toxic as the South. Or had been. But the Empire had no patience for the slow road the Nemato walked. They were the masters of the worlds. And as the network of roads had spread, so too had a strange cleansing of the land and people. And with cleanliness had come more. Perhaps the Empire had meddled more than they claimed, but Huayht were no longer soldiers and engineers and subsistence farmers.

And one of them was, after a fashion, King. "They've taken to the sea?" Palys brushed his whiskers back and leaned forward on his new throne, imported from a world he had never heard of and made from material he had never known. "Do we have details?" With his mind cleared, the monarch had quickly taken to his role. Perhaps under pressure. "If they're going to do the work for us..."

PaePi brushed his fingers through his own whiskers and. "Our friends have said they will procure a counter-design for us." That was the chosen word. 'Friends'. The Empire was master, but unseen and unheard. They were 'friends', for the time being. "But that they first wish our men to create our own. They have been very clear."

"Of course." Palys leaned back, one long ear twitching as he considered. "Then see to it. The time will come when we take Jer'Don and bring our gifts to the south. We must show our friends, and theirs, that we are as deserving as the southerners." The last word was spat. Southerners were only one step above Easterners to the proud hares of the North. When the conquest was over, Palys had a very special place in mind for his new subjects. It was at the bottom.

"King Palys, we have more reports of the Creeping Madness." A 'surgeon', she was called. He didn't recall her name. It wasn't important. What was important was what she had to report. "As per the advice of our friends a team went to the neutral lands in the great isthmus. They were attacked by..." Her voice broke momentarily. "We don't know. They seemed, at first, to be of our people, but they moved like devils. And were strong as devils. Worse, our men they injured became as they. Something is causing this. You must move men to the isthmus and prevent any southerners crossing by land."

Palys racked his brain. The years of madness were a mystery to him, as they were to all the hares of the north. Records in Sek'Hei were incomplete, hazy, and had a strange propensity for vanishing. Had this happened before? Could it have happened before? Would he know? No. He was King. This meant he could make decisions. He knew that. He didn't know how he knew. But he knew. "General Paepi! Take a detachment to the isthmus and fortify."

Obeisance, unquestioning, was not a habit the Huahyt had picked up. The General tugged on his whiskers, hard. "Will our friends accept that?"

"I will tell them myself. They tell me I am a King, and you are my people. If need be I will talk to their King!" Not that he would dare talk to the leader of the strangers. No. That female who had accompanied them would be better. And was more pleasing to look at, besides.

[Roania]

"This charade has continued long enough." Serahyle stroked his long, thin moustache as he stared at the map. The map that foretold the end of Republic opposition. And yet, that would not be enough. No. He had come too far to let them go so easily. "And yet, perhaps it has not finished serving its purpose." The black tower of the castle overlooked the center of the Huayht kingdom. He could hear the shouts of local officers as quarantine procedures were upheld. A pointless effort, as the 'disease' was his to spread and his to halt at will. For now, that had served. The Republic could not stop him. But could he stop them? "Take a letter."

His scribe said nothing. Which made sense, as he'd told the hare that if she spoke once without his permission she would lose her tongue. If only all his subordinates had been so cooperative. All she did was shift so she could better write onto the digital paper.

"To the Honorable Tru'Map of the Province of Jer'Don..." A little intake of breath there. He'd have to discipline her later. "I am pleased that you have done as was promised. The sanctity and security of our world requires unity, and my banner will provide that unity. When the time comes, you will be rewarded. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Your Lord and Master, King Palys. Done. Now, read that back to me."

The scribe did as directed, her ears twitching occasionally.

When she finished, Serahyle took the scroll and scrawled Palys' signature and seal at the bottom, then rolled it and fit into a local canister. "Now. Take another letter." The paper was ready in a moment. "Honorable friends of the Republic! I feel it is time for us to put aside the differences between our governments and talk among ourselves of the future of this world. We are all men of science!" No. "Strike that. Replace it. We are all Men and Women of science! None of us wish to see this world and people perish. We have gone too long without sharing our resources and information. Together, however, it is my belief that we can destroy this malady. The Late Empress always spoke highly of your medical prowess, but we may have data that you lack. In addition, it would be pleasant, after so long in the company of these creatures, to speak to truly civilized men and women once more."

"New paragraph. My friend, King Palys, tells me that he has established a fortification on the landbridge. I advised him against it, but he is adamant that the illness spreads from the south. I believe that this fortification, if secured by my men, would be a suitable meeting point, as it will reassure the natives that we are, similarly, in between and above their disagreements and only seek their betterment. However, if it would better serve you for the meeting to be held in the fine land of Jer'Don, then I would be delighted to see this newest success story in the Republic's expansion." A thought. How had the former commanding officer signed before being removed? Ah, yes. "Yours in the pursuit of knowledge, Marquis Mar Serahyle. Finished. Read it back to me."

Woodenly, the scribe did as directed.

"Excellent. I will have my servant deliver this letter herself. The first letter..." And the Claw smiled toothily. "Do you remember it?"

"N-n-n-n..."

"Just as well. You shall go with my servant to Jer'Don. You will then set out to deliver this letter to Tru'Map. Am I clear?"

"N-n-n..."

"You will do as I order you.If you are set upon, you will fight to the death to keep this letter. You will lose. You will not be taken alive. Do you understand?" And a squeeze of what was there that could not be seen, only felt.

Imediately, his scribe's eyes widened and emptied. "I understand, Master." The words came out atonally.

"You will do as I command?" Serahyle kept his eyes locked on hers, his will reaching in to make sure that nothing survived that was hers. Only his thoughts would do in this servant's mind.

"I will do as you command, Master."

"Excellent." The Claw reached up and his power stretched over her in a black cloud. When it passed, her disguise was complete. In that she looked exactly like a northern hare trying not very hard at all to look like a southern hare. "Stand." And as the Huayht female stood, so did her master. "Ailin, I have need of you. Come."

"I obey." Came the words, a scant moment later from the space behind him. He could hear the frustration and anger in her voice. And the fear. Ah, she feared him.

Ailin did not appreciate the new strength from the natives. How powerful it made him. How powerful it could make her, if she would but obey the demands of her flesh. Let those fools back home prattle on. Serahyle had a new clarity of thought. He was the first and foremost of the Dragon Throne's servants. Not merely on this world, but in all the Realm. He would destroy the great enemy and reap the rewards. But enough. "You and Misel here will take a shuttle to Jer'Don. I send you as my personal emissary to show how seriously I mean the message. We are doing things your way. I have come to agree that we must extend the hand to the Nemato, and this letter will show we take initiative."

He felt her mood rise, then flatline once more. He would laugh. Later. "Understood, Honorable Master. But what of Misel? They will not take kindly..."

His will snapped out at Ailin, and she went to her knees. "Misel is none of your concern. She has her own business in Jer'Don. You will not ask of it. Am I understood, Ailin?" Her temper rose and he wondered if she would try to fight him. If she would have to be broken, again. Would the Grandmaster send him a new assistant if he killed her?

Ailin simply nodded, ending his thoughts. "I will do as you command, Master." And her own thoughts went opaque to him. Well, no matter. So long as she did as he instructed...

[Roania]

Not for the Empire the heady stress of constant expansion. Conquest could be quick. Subjugation took longer. It took time for a previously independent world to be truly broken to the wheel, and more time still for their civilization to be rebuilt according to Imperial Standards. YiuwingXenWoQo. All shall bend the knee. The important part was to teach them how. And more, to do so honestly.

"Palys, is it?" The Emperor of the Galaxy leaned forward and rested His chin on a clenched fist, one carefully manicured eyebrow rising as He stared at the so-called King. "State your case, and be quick about it." His voice was a low murmur that the acoustics of the chamber magnified until it could be heard everywhere.

"If I may, Most Eternal Lord," Serahyle slid effortlessly in front of the Huayht King. "The people of Hak'Rae have but recently been saved from barbarism, and I do not believe that their honorable King understands the honor that has been extended him by his presence here. If it will suit the Most Magnificent Lord of Ten Thousand Years, I believe it will expedite matters greatly if I speak on his behalf."

The Emperor simply leaned back on His throne and contemplated His Agent. For but a moment. Then, suddenly, He barked a short laugh. "If you speak out of turn one more time, Mar Serahyle, it will suit us to have you and your protege here skinned and turned into gloves for our daughters. Are these words clear? Our words were directed to our noble guest." The Claw stopped, and then went to his knees before the throne. The Lord rose to His feet. "But let us make our words clearer. You claim to be King of the world that has entered our records as Alis'e. A charming name, though not one in favor in our court. You have come to make obeisance, have you? Then you will go to your knees. Follow the example of our other servant."

King Palys looked around the ornate fixtures and the mass of nobles and guards. The trip here had been an experience he had never thought could be had, across what his guards had called the sea of stars. On the ride from the 'port', he had witnessed more life and wealth than he had imagined. He did not know what forces his enemies had mustered to their cause briefly, but he could see the choice that had been thrust on him was the right one. And yet, he was proud. Or what he believed to be proud. "Why should I be servant, and you be master? I was named King because I was best. What claim have you?" The hare slowly rose to his feet, rising to his full height. Standing, he could look the so-called Emperor in the eyes, even as the Emperor sat upon his throne upon the high podium.

He had thought the room silent before. But now, it was the silence of one of the villages he had cleared of life. There was not even a breath. Still, he pushed on, his kinked ears picking up the subtle shifts of armed men changing position. "If you are the Master you play at, then my people have an old tradition. Defeat me in unarmed combat, and I will kneel and serve. If you fail, then you will serve me."

There were growls from the massive creatures at the door and on either side of the throne. He had thought they were statues, so still they had been. The Emperor, however, laughed. "Yokatoni, take my robe." One of the monsters moved and grabbed the cloak as it fell from the Emperor's shoulders. "You are bold, Palys. You have seen my wealth and my power, and your first thought is to turn it to your use. Such courage. Such greed. Here is my claim. My ancestors have added more worlds than you can imagine to the domain of civilization. This throne has stood for Nine Thousand Years, and shall stand for Ten Thousand Years. I am not just the Master of this world, I am the Master of all Worlds. But if force is what you respect, Palys, King of Hak'Rae, then come." The Emperor lifted His arms and stood at the end of the dais. "My order is that none shall intervene."

Recently lifted from madness and true barbarism as the King was, he was not much removed from the ferals that menaced his world. Still, he was removed enough to think, to consider, to understand. And to understand was to realize that this may have been a mistake. Still, he was a King. The first his people had ever known. And the knowledge fed into his brain by his mentors bade him try, if only to prove he could not. Bellowing the war cry of his people, Palys charged down the long carpet.

The Emperor, however, merely sidestepped and tripped the hare up at the last moment, then brought His boot down hard on the ankle of the unfortunate barbarian. And then drew His sword. "You dare challenge me? The last man so bold is entombed beneath this palace. Perhaps he seeks company." The deadly straight blade teased Palys' neck. "I am no princeling. I am no captain. I am no mere slave in your court. I am your Lord, as I am Lord of all. Here, then, are my terms for your survival. You will return to your place, Palys of Hak'Rae, and kneel. Or your world shall die before you do. I do not give second chances."

Palys had many things to say in response, but he was yet smart enough to know that they would be a mistake. Quietly, as the Emperor lifted the blade from the back of his neck, he rose and stepped backwards until he was right next to the glowering Serahyle. Without a word, he went to his knees and placed his head on the ground as the agent was.

"I am told you came to offer your allegiance on your behalf, and on behalf of your world." The Emperor said, as if there had been no contest. "Do you swear your allegiance, Palys of Hak'Rae? For you and for your heirs, until ten thousand years have passed? On behalf of your world and your people? Do you accept the Law of the Empire? The Will of the Light? If you do, then we shall walk the Dragon's Road together. Our strength shall be yours, and your strength shall be ours. Until all is one."

"I accept." Palys muttered, as he had been coached. "On behalf of myself and my heirs, on behalf of my world and my people."

"And what of you, representatives of the World known as Alice? You have heard your king. You have given up your soil and your water to me. Do you witness and recognize? United, you shall save your world, and we shall help you."

The assorted officers of the Northern Kingdom were jostled forward to kneel, some more eagerly than others. This was noted by sharp-eyed scribes.

And yet not all was as it should have been. There was an interloper among them, his uniform far different to the royals around him. And when his turn came to kneel, he shoved the guard away. "That beast is not my King! And I swear no allegiance! I am a servant of the City of JerDon! I have been taken here against my will! My name is Don'Te of JerDon! My rank is Captain! My serial number is..." That was as far as he got before the guard grabbed him and shoved him to the ground, the deadly pistol pressed against the back of his head.

And then it really went to hell. Literally. The ceiling went from dark and speckled with stars to the heart of an inferno, a red light across the room. "Explain this to me, Mar Serahyle!"

The Imperial Agent jumped to his feet, his pale face suddenly florid. "I... there must be some mistake. This resident was found exploring a village in the territory of the Kingdom of HakRae by Royal Scouts. He had some cover story, but we all know that the City of JerDon has collapsed. Surely this one individual is not of any importance. The scattered people of the South will bend the knee when our forces arrive. Execute him, Your Eternal Lord, and let us have done with this."

And the room went back to normal, and the Emperor was on His throne. "Explain yourself then, Captain Don'Te. And be quick. The more time you waste on giving me your name and rank, the less time you have to live. And that would be a shame."

The lop-eared hare, separated from the angry kink-eared hares by a wall of guards now, dusted himself off and rose, somewhat nervously, to his feet. The moment he tried to speak, however, Serahyle broke in. "I invoke my right to have the testimony of this barbarian nullified. This is the moment we have been working for, all of us. We have driven the Republic to abandon the world, we have stabilized a recognized government to submit that controls the world. What need have we to hear these lies?"

"You call me barbarian when I am the one who has been kidnapped? When my world is the one that has been poisoned? When I am threatened with death?"

"I call you barbarian because you do not acknowledge the authority of your King, who serves our Emperor! Be silent, and your death shall be..."

A new voice broke in. A softer, feminine voice. "But we recognize the authority of the King. Surely, Husband, that means that this person is entitled to be heard? Rebels against Imperial Authority have long been permitted to speak as though they were loyal when in the halls of the law. And what is this hall, but the ultimate court?" Sitting on her throne, the Imperial Consort had said nothing until now.

"Preposterous. The world has not yet been pacified. There are no rebels, only barbarians and their enemies." Serahyle folded his arms across his chest, trying to stare down the slight figure on the Phoenix Throne.

"Then why is King Palys here to bend the knee?" Her words sent a wave of shock around the room as the spell broke and the assorted Imperials began to murmur.

"That is not what I..."

"Enough. Mar Serahyle, I will hear no words from you until after Captain Don'Te has spoken his case." The Emperor's words had a sense of finality about them. "Don'Te? Speak."

And so the lop-eared hare spoke. Quickly. Telling how the Republic had been asked to leave. The fall of the first government, the rise of Tru'Map, and his collusion with King Palys (an allegation that seemed to come as a surprise to said King). The spread of the plague, the new government that was forming to combat it, and how he had been studying an abandoned northern village to see if the plague had spread from the North. His violent kidnapping, which seemed somewhat hazy in his memory. And finally, "We are not slaves! We are not slaves of the Republic, nor are we slaves of Palys, and we are not slaves of you! We are free! And we will fight and die for our freedom, though the city itself fall!"

"Mar Serahyle, your response?" The Agent opened his mouth. The Emperor shook his head. "No, we don't actually care. King Palys, we do not decline your oath of allegiance, but we must advise you that this is unusual." The Emperor's lips curled as though he had bitten into a lemon. "Should you truly wish to be acclaimed as a King of the Empire, and granted the key to the stars, you must pacify your world and defeat this plague both. With your own resources. We will not break our word with the Republic to provide more than technical support. You have forty-eight hours to speak to my officials and gather what resources you think you need, and we grant you a gift of five thousand ces with which to purchase them. Be aware, of course, that now that I have your oath, should you reach out to others you will be punished in ways I assure you cannot comprehend."

Palys rose and nodded, stiffly. His officers gathered into a knot around him and they began to confer.

"Captain Don'Te, you have my deepest apologies for the inconvenience that led to your presence here. It would seem my servants were far too eager to fulfill their calling, and I grant you the mercy that I can. A swift and painless death." The Emperor lifted his hand and made a sign, and one of the great ogres lumbered into life at his side and began walking towards the Captain who was desperately trying to face death with dignity.

"One moment. I have a use for this person." Palys smiled tightly. This new plan was far more to his liking than the simple subjugation Serahyle had promised him. "Send him back to JerDon. Let him tell of what he has seen here, and of the power that I have aligned myself with. I am sure more of his people will choose sanity than madness. Load him with gifts, if you like, to show how great you are."

"Madness is increasingly all I see coming from this, but as it is 'your' world, I will do as you say. Jakatoni, put him down." The ogre slowly and sadly dropped the Captain to the ground instead of putting him inside his gaping mouth. "Very well. Thank your king for his mercy if you like. I award you one thousand ces to buy what you will. You are all dismissed. Save for you, Serahyle. We have much to talk about." The Agent clenched his fist but knelt again.

[Roania]

"And do you believe him, husband?" Li AiQien touched her husband's arm as he sat at their table, jaw straight and eyes blank of expression.

"Do I believe that he believes he speaks the truth, wife?" Asen Damalin rose to his feet and walked to the cupboard, from which he removed a blue bottle and poured a thimbleful of some bright liquid out. "He is genuinely surprised that I would have any objection to his methods. In his mind, no doubt, he sees himself a hero. And that is why he has been confirmed in his command and returned to Alice. I have a use for men such as that." The Emperor swirled the blue liquid in his glass, staring into its depths. "'King' Palys must have a chain around his neck to ensure he keeps his oath. Whatever their species, men who call themselves Kings are proud and until truly broken to the wheel do not understand. He will redouble his efforts on his own behalf. And will probably need to be removed from his post shortly after he completes his conquest."

"Heartless, husband."

"Do you believe so, wife? A simple thug given a job beyond his ken by a slave with no authority to do so." He stroked his thin beard and smiled tightly. "We will chalk that up to necessity. Perhaps Palys will surprise me. It would be easy to do so. It is written that even the lowest may achieve great things. No, it is not what Mar Serahyle tells me that concerns me. It is what he does not." The first sip. "Were I my mother, I would go to Alice to see the matter for myself. This is foolhardy, and insulting to my servants. Were I my grandfather, I would put Palys, Mar Serahyle and Don'Te to the question until I found the answers I seek. This is cruel, and breeds disquiet."

"Then you will let this play out with no supervision? I know you well enough to know that is unlikely." Li AiQien took a seat opposite her husband. "I have never known you to permit this much latitude in the past."

"And I do not now. But it is never my custom to speak of my plans after I have enacted them. Even to you, wife." Asen Damalin took another slow sip of the blue liquid. "Instead, let us speak of how we may obtain knowledge." And the Emperor deliberately spilled the blue liquid onto the white surface of the table, his finger now tracing meaningless patterns. "I would ask another agent to look into Serahyle's work. That Ailin girl has every reason for dissatisfaction."

"The woman who..."

"Of course, wife." And he laughed sharply. "Nesar's little joke. And yet, she is Serahyle's apprentice. I will not ask her to break confidence. Not yet. I have little to offer her that she wants and I would not force her to obey just for the sake of obedience. Yet. Certainly, there is no route from this life for her." Asen Damalin's finger skimmed the surface of the azure sea. "To go through proper channels would give him time to prepare a response. A surprise inspection would be taken as the insult it is, and if there has been no wrong-doing, it would be undeserved. And I will not break my law to catch a law breaker without more information. Did you get all of that, Mother Crystal?"

Yes, Master. Your letter to Mballa Ipolla has been scanned and is currently en route. It is a duty to serve.

"Excellent. My thanks, Mother Crystal." Asen Damalin rose to his feet before the raised eyebrow of Li Aiqien. "I'll get a towel to clean off your table, wife." He walked out the door quickly.

Li AiQien rolled her eyes. "Mother Crystal, what letter was my husband scribbling in the azura? And don't give me any trouble. It's been a long day."

My friend Mballa, I hope this finds you as well as it leaves me. I am sorry to send you another letter so close on the heels of the last one, but I have an urgent favor to ask for the good of the peace between my Empire and your esteemed alliance. I need to know the circumstances of SIlaco's withdrawal from the world called Alice, and any information that she feels comfortable sharing about a plague. Cordially, Damalin.

"I trust it meets with your approval, wife?" Asen Damalin stood at the door, his arms crossed as he leaned against the sliding division, a rag in his hand.

"I would merely point out that you could have sent the letter far more directly and far less circuitously, husband." Li AiQien skimmed her finger across the azura, then put it to her lip. "Now you had better lean my table to the point where we may eat off it again, husband. I will ask the servants in the morning, and if I am disappointed then you will be sleeping in the Chamber of Untranquil Repose for the next year." And with that, she brushed by her husband, down the hall, and up the stairs.

[Roania]

"First strike! Second strike! First strike! Third strike! Second Strike! Fourth strike! Third Strike! Fifth strike! First strike! First strike! Eighth Strike! And hold!" Feng Dagong stepped through the ranks of the least of his disciples. "Do not waver! If you cannot maintain this pose, how will you ever learn control? Hold position! Control once! Control twice! Control thrice! What do we seek, Sen?"

The trembling man's voice cracked as he tried to maintain his pose and speak to the tiny, but intimidating, old master. "Control, Master Feng!"

"And yet you are unbalanced! Where is your control? Focus yourself! Kaze! Are you the oak, or are you the willow?"

"Master Feng! I am the willow! I bend, I do not break!"

"No! You are neither! You are a man, and you must hold yourself! None will do it for you! Control! Awareness! Be ready!" The old man took his cane and swung it hard against his student's knee. Kaze, however, was no longer there. He had jumped, first atop the cane and then in a second more back to the ground, landing in the same pose. It didn't work to keep him safe from the cane's swift returning strike, though, and the student fell as his knee gave way. "You do not know a quarter of what I know, and I do not know an eighth of all there is to know! Control! Awareness! In combat, will your opponent only strike once?"

The assembled men knew the answer. "No Honorable Master!"

"Then why should I when teaching? Expect attack! Be aware of your surroundings! Be in control of yourself!" The Master looked around him at the standing men, their legs wavering. "You may lower your legs and return to the ready position. Student Kaze! If this old man's blow rendered you unable to stand, then you do not belong here! I am sure that is not the case!" WIth a grunt, the fallen student managed to leap back to position. "Adequate! That is the word for you all! You are adequate! But you are not here to be adequate! You fought your way here to learn, and learn you will!"

"But not today! Return to the village." The master hobbled his way down the courtyard, heading to the arched entrance of the Temple. He stopped at the portal, though. "The day grows long, and your shadows longer. Yet you linger."

"Forgive us, master. Our words will mean no offense, but... but I have been elected to speak. We would follow you into the temple tonight, and remain. As the senior students are permitted. You teach us as our masters at home had, when we had begun the path..."

Feng Dagong leaned forward on his cane. "Had you not begun the path, you would not be here You have had other teachers, and you feel they took you along the path of mastery enough to earn you a place within. That you know all I have taught you this past month, Jao Guan. I assume you all do. I am an old man, and I do nothing but press you through the basics and teach you, in new words, what you already know. Is this what you think?"

"Master! I would not dream of saying such things! If my words gave offense, then please..."

"I have taught many students these many years." Feng Dagong lowered his cane. "And yet, you feel I do not teach you more than you know now. That perhaps I no longer am worthy to teach my secrets. Or that I hoard them rather than share. Do any of you feel alike? Speak honestly, and your words shall be your protection."

"Jao Guan feels only that we are being asked to prove ourselves." One of the other men said. "As I feel. And many of us feel. We were accepted to study here, to learn, after many challenges and after being turned away many times. I would learn, and I know that I am not alone. How may we serve our schools, how may we serve the Sovereign?"

"Ah, I see. You feel you are ready to enter the temple." There was a half-mumbled assent. "Then you shall. All you must do is walk by me, and enter." And Feng Dagong dropped his staff and turned to face his students, his fist meeting his palm as he bowed forward. "You have my leave. After all, if you feel you are ready, then how will you know if I do not permit you to try?"

It took a few seconds to realize what had been said. The sixteen men looked at one another, but soon Guan was walking to the door. When nothing happened to him, he began to show more confidence. He reached a point by the bowing tutor, bowed in return, and stepped by. And then there was a blur, and he fell to the ground, his skull cracked open. From within the temple, two shrine maidens stepped out and dragged his body to the side. Then they returned in silence.

The remaining men now looked around, considering their surroundings. No man stood against them but the Master, and he had not moved that they could see. Now, four students walked slowly forward. Only to hesitate before passing. They stood there in silence, staring around them, then looking at Feng Dagong.
One of them stepped back, shaking his head. "Forgive me, Master, I... I just remembered that I have left something of importance to me in the village. I shall return tomorow. Thank you for your lessons today."

And then, quickly, he turned around and walked as quickly as his pride would let him from the courtyard. The three remaining challengers, however, walked swiftly by the Tutor. In little time they lay in a slowly groaning pile near the body of Guan Yu.

"Right. That's how it is, is it?" The largest of the students cricked his neck and raised his fists."We cannot go past boldly, nor quickly. We must go through. Master Feng! I am coming for you!" And the man charged the elderly tutor, slipping into basic combat run and launching an all-out attack, leading with a broken-neck kick. The little old man grabbed the leg as it flew by his face, before it could bend, and pressed his thumb against a spot within the knee. The giant went down with a thud, and the quiet shrine maidens rolled him into the pile.

"He can't get all of us!" That was the next challenge, and half the remaining students learned that they were right, as he lead their strikes against one another and sent them crashing to the ground, not lifting a hand himself. Another three fled the courtyard shortly after.

Soon, there were two students remaining.

[Roania]

Expansion Zone, Southern Continent

"General PaePi, It is my duty report that the territory labeled as RedTops Cliff has been liberated." Captain Faivur put his feet up on the desk that had now been freed for the right sort of people. "There was light resistance from the feral population, but no sign of organized defense. Those filthy lops must have turned and fled, if they were ever here." There was a loud rumble in the distance as artillery fired on some far-off battlefield. "With your permission, we'll finish off the captives and radio home for proper settlers, then advance to Point Blue."

"Negative, Captain. Any and all captives are to be disarmed and bound for shipment offworld. Royal command. As to disposition of your men, prepare for a potential Alliance counter attack. Scouts have reported enemy armor and infantry moving along points to the south and to the west. The Second and Seventeenth Lancers will be joining you tonight. Your orders are to hold until then."

"Understood, General."

"In addition, Colonel PieTar has informed me his forces were repulsed by unknown armaments in a skirmish. Details are unknown. Be watchful and mindful."

"Yes, sir! Don't worry, we won't be beaten so easily."

"I should hope not. His Majesty has issued a new command today. Any soldier that flees from the enemy without orders is to be shot on sight. Inform your men. Paepi out."

The captain stood at the mention of the King, then closed the communicator. So much to do, so little time to do it...


Eastern Islands

Why should the children suffer for the crimes of their parents? That was contrary to sense. A parent may be a monster, and yet the son be worthy of salvage. Obviously it never worked the other way around. And even more obviously, if the Dragon Throne bade otherwise, it was to be so. For Ten Thousand Years, if need be.

But the straight-eared huayht were merely unfortunate. The reports had been clear. And while their crimes were despicable, the children had been merely... misguided. They could be saved. From many things. For instance, were the Celestial Master, May She Illumine the Path for Nine Thousand Years, to study a report on local practices in the newly organized worlds and learn, to her horror, that several hundred thousand were trapped in the thrall of abomination, she would need to save those people from their error. By killing them.

What of the innocent, then? Well, only the children are the innocent. And as it proved difficult to be selective, the newly arrived (and temporarily stationed) soldiers of the 1st Banner devised a way to make it easier.

Simple audio/visual attacks knocked the locals out. Then, the bannermen would go from body to body, tearing off the rags and making quick judgment to fulfill their orders. The young were thrown into stasis. The adults were shot. They were assisted in this by the presence of detailed maps of the eastern islands gained in an earlier operation, as well as discrete drone surveillance. It would take them a day or so, but thus would souls be saved.

Also, the islands would be rendered a desolate wasteland on which nothing would ever grow again (figuratively), scorched by the Light's flames to cleanse the very soil of the rites that had been administered there.


City of Jer'Don

"Excuse me, can you help me?" Captain RuhYo stopped and turned, looking from side to side. There, in that door. "I'd hate to bother you, but I'm really scared." The most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. She smiled, her prominent teeth glowing bright in the lamp light Her perfect ears twitched once, twice, revealing delicate veins that could have, in happier days, been a boon to the Alliance's nascent pop industry. Her little nose twitched too, and as he stepped closer he could smell her as well as she was smelling him. "Could... could you walk me back to my home? It... it's on the way to the other gate." What an intoxicating smell it was. She wanted him to step close to her. To show himself to be the hero he had joined up to be. Okay, so he had joined up because Tru'Map had made it sound good. But NOW he was in it to be a hero.

"I'd be happy to walk you home. I've just finished my turn of the works here." Here was JerDon's northwest gate, a sound defensive structure for decades now augmented by the best technology and weapons money, republican gifts, and Hauyht ingenuity could buy. When she stepped out of the shadows, revealing that beneath her tight agriculturist's dress she was hiding some powerful physical statements to go with her olfactory ones, his arm went around her. "I'm Captain RuhYo. And you...?"

"You can call me Nilia." She stepped into him, and his arm dipped lower as she pushed against it. "It... it was the name of the person from out there who helped me be better. I don't like to think of who I was before that." And she slowly turned and buried her head to his chest. "And... and I don't want to think of those horrible lops making me be that person again. We... we're going to win, right?"

"Of course we are." And at that moment, RuhYo believed it. "Did you know..." And they walked down the road.


Eventually, they arrived at a small, ramshackle hut. "You're a refugee?" He asked when they stopped in front of the door and she turned around to face him.

"My village went... went mad. I escaped because I was picking some food." She bit her lip. "I made my way here before the war started. I... I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. Not anymore. And... and now there isn't anywhere else to go." Nilia's eyes closed and she fell against him. Once more, his arms went around her, and he became acutely aware of the form he held. "I... I wish there was something I could do to thank you..." And one of her hands went exactly where he was hoping it would go. Her other arm wrapped around his neck. Their eyes closed, and their noses touched. "I...am sorry." His eyes opened to see hers turn bright red.

And then there was nothing else to see.

[Roania]

"The so-called 'alliance' has four primary field armies that our scouts have detected. They will each need to be defeated in detail before we may proceed to their center." The officer tugged on his kinked ears. "With JerDon destroyed and their armies rendered nonexistent, we may expect the remaining independent townships to fold and agree to our terms. Can we get the known dispositions up on the tactical screen? No? Lousy thing hasn't worked right. With me." The field marshal walked to the large table, on which a map of the southern continent had been painstakingly plotted out. Red signified Royalists, blue signified the Alliance, and green designated heavy concentrations of ferals. "First Army's current orders are to sweep directly south from their current position, heading for what our sources indicate to be the heartland of the enemy agricultural land. I expect this to force the enemy to detach at least some of their forces currently blocking Second Army at the river delta, allowing HeTro to break out and resume his march to the coast, at point B, dividing the western extreme of the alliance from the main body." The assembled staff officers jotted down notes on various assortments of papers and tablets.

"Third Army's leadership reported in today. They successfully disengaged from the enemy defensive positions with minimal casualties besides the unfortunate General Dom and first platoon." A selection of red markers were pulled back from the targeted town. "We don't know details on what weapons were used just yet, but I'm informed that scouts are attempting to recover from the battlefield. Either way, they cannot advance further for the time being. Instead, they have been ordered to defend in depth their current position. It is the belief of our friends that this will cause a further reduction in enemy forces as they attempt to blockade or cut our supply lines. Captain Forte, it will be your job and the job of your riders to make sure that doesn't happen." The motorcycle officer gave a lazy salute.

"Field Marshal, for first army to move south south or second army to move west, they would need to cut through heavy feral areas. We have no guarantees that they would be fit to fight at the end of their march."

The Field Marshal tugged on his ear once more, and smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "I have been informed that the Ferals are not our enemies in this war. They are our weapons."

Points South


The thumping began at dawn. On a level below the conscious mind, it ran repeatedly in the minds of the feral villagers, inflicting pain and despair in equal measure. Unless they went in one direction. Lacking in intelligence thought they were, the ferals got the idea quickly and began to swarm together, a mass of adults and children running angrily through the fields, propelled by forces beyond their comprehension. Dozens of them. Hundreds of them. All now heading towards the Alliance outpost that they had, previously, avoided. All of them powered by madness and adrenaline.

The clouds momentarily parted, and a black bubble was revealed. "Palys, this is Sky Totem. We have confirmation."

[Roania]

It had been bothering her, of late. He had been bothering her, too. Well, not quite. Kaede was wonderful. And when he held her, Lixuan felt good. But, well. It had been bothering her. "Kaede, when you were with the Triad, how many women were you with?" She looked up at him from her position in his lap, where moments before she had appeared to be napping. A small, but perfect, hand reached up and gently brushed through his whiskers, causing a shiver.

"Oh, ummm..." He nearly dropped his tablet onto the princess, but caught himself at the last minute. "Hardly any. I've told you." Now that his lady had woken up, he very quickly placed his reading material to the side. There was plenty of time for study. Lixuan, he had been told in no uncertain terms, was his chief priority until she got bored with him. Kaede didn't want to think what would happen to him if he somehow managed to offend her. The Lord of Ten Thousand Years had not smiled when the tanukune was in his presence once.

The princess bit her lip and nuzzled her cheek against him for a moment, drawing one of her favorite sounds out of his mouth. "Hardly any isn't 'none' though, is it?" She demanded, sitting up and crossing her arms across her bountiful chest. "How many women had you before I even knew you?" She gave him a moment to draw his attention away from her cleavage. "Well?"

"Look, I'm not getting into this discussion." Kaede pulled back a distance from her, his eyes now going to the little fang that had made an appearance at her lip. "None of them meant a thing to me. It was just business." And he reached across and took her hands from her chest. "I'm with you now. So far as I know, in a year or two we'll be married." Not that he was entirely sure that was something he wanted, but Lixuan was growing on him. Like a mushroom, or a cancer. "Why do you care if I fucked ten or eleven girls? Never saw any of them more than twice, and don't remember any of them." A little white lie to soothe the angry princess. Also, he hoped she didn't catch his slip. Perfect wording. Something else he'd been told to work on.

"Ten or eleven?!" Lixuan's eyes widened. "Ten or eleven? And you don't even remember?" The fang vanished as her lips pressed into a long, thin line. "Well. No wonder you don't want me. I've got nothing to offer someone as experienced as you." And she turned away.

"What? No way, princess. If I could, I'd have you every which way right here in this room. You're the h..." And then he remembered where he was, and who he was speaking to, and changed what he was going to say. "You're the healthiest, loveliest girl in the galaxy. But you're also the Princess! We need to wait until we're married. What if you decide you don't want to marry me? Or I m..." No, that was a terrible idea. Don't suggest that another girl may steal his attention. "Or I may die on a mission or something once the Prince decides I'm ready for it." Not that he had any idea what that would even mean.

She shook her head, and he moved forward to put his arms around her from behind, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "And your father told me that if he ever catches us together with you in less than two layers, he'll have me skinned, tanned, and used as soupstock." Among other awful, awful fates. Every time Kaede even thought of trying to get closer to the gorgeous lady in his keeping, The Emperor's unsmiling face when Lixuan had announced their engagement loomed large in his mind.

"I won't let daddy do anything bad to you, you know." Lixuan spoke with the cheerful sincerity of a girl who knows she's powerless to do anything about it. "But that's not important. When we do get married, and you can fuck me..." She giggled at that word. It had entered rotation after a day in Kaede's presence, and so far the Lord of Ten Thousand Years and the Imperial Consort both didn't know it. Thankfully "Why, I'll hardly compare to those girls, will I?"

"You're sexier than they are." Kaede whispered again, moving his hands just slightly so as to elicit a pleased little sigh from his princess.

Just a little, though, before she shook her head. "No." And she slipped out of his hands despite his best efforts to hold onto her and stood up. "I'll see you tonight, Kaede. You keep working on that book. I've got some studying of my own to do." And a perfect target for it.

[Roania]

"First daughter, do you know why I've asked you here today?" The Emperor leaned forward on his throne, one hand resting in his palm. The room was empty at this watch. Well, empty apart from the marksmen, the ogres, the Emperor...

"I can't imagine, daddy." Lixuan said with cheerful insouciance. As every subject of the Dragon Throne knew, she knelt before her father, head on the ground, rear in the air, eyes down, hands flat on the floor.

"Where were you this afternoon between the 8th and 10th hours? After you departed from my presence?"

"Why, daddy! You know I was in my room the whole afternoon. Wouldn't my tracker say that?" The blow was as sharp as it was unexpected. Her chen felt the assault of the Emperor's will and sent her mentally reeling. "Daddy!"

"Where were you this afternoon between the 8th and 10th hours? After you departed from my presence?"

"I... I was in my room! I..." and again. And she screamed as she writhed in the vice. "I... well, first I went to get little brother. To save the guards some time."

"And then?"

"And then I went to my room. Daddy, what's this about? Please?" Her fingers tightened on the rug as her head swam."

"No." The Emperor's words had a certain finality. "You decided to force your attentions on one of my loyal guards." And strong, powerful hands grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. "As the commoners would say, you raped him. That would be absurd, of course. A Princess of the Dragon Throne, my daughter does not rape." He raised an eyebrow as he walked down the carpet towards her. "Don't look so surprised. If you have not yet learned nothing happens in my palace that I do not know of, then I have sired an idiot." And he stopped in front of her. "Tell me the truth."

"Look, I don't know what you found out, but he was perfectly willing to go along with me. I don't..." There was a short, sharp sound of flesh striking flesh, and Lixuan's eyes widened. "You hit me!"

"And you lied to me. Did you really think that was a good idea, child?" The Emperor brought his hand back across. "Do you forget who I am in addition to your father?" A third strike. "Or do you believe my law does not apply to you? Speak the truth. And mind your language. To be... creative in my presence would be fatal. My men have their orders."

"I can't believe you would hit me! When mother hears about this..."

"You begin to bore me, child. Your mother knows all I know. All I know, Asen Lixuan. She is no longer a factor you need concern yourself with. What you need to concern yourself with is you. And how, my dear girl, you will live through the night." Her father turned and walked away as the silent men gripped her arms even tighter. "I blame myself. You were my firstborn. The fruition of all my hopes. My miracle, the westerners would say. And I doted on you. Too long, too hard, too much. Ancestors help me." He turned to face her. "I suggest, child, telling your Lord the truth."

"Alright, fine! I just went to Rex because I was curious. And we all know he'll fuck," the headache returned. It was like all that she was and is and will be was compressed into a tiny point. That her father jabbed with knives. "I mean... well, sleep with anyone who moves. And I'm anyone, and I move, and I..."

"But he resisted. And he tried to make you understand. Duty, honor, all useless. Because you forgot one simple point, Asen Lixuan." The Emperor strode back towards her and grabbed her by the neck. "You are my daughter. A princess of the Empire. Your future, like everyone's future, is mine. And my desires for it did not include you being without your virginity at your coming of age! Light, Ancestors and Spirits, girl, did you even think what this says about your family?" He lifted her off the ground and tightened his grip. "We are not anyone, and we should not aspire to be anyone. Everyone understood this but you. Your little friend from the slum understands this. Your mother understands this. Your siblings understand this. Your uncle understands this. Darkness take her, daughter, my sister," the word was spat, "understands this. "Did you think what your grandparents will say if news of this gets back to them?" Lixuan gasped and writhed in his hand, her legs kicking with futility. "Of course not. And why would you? You were never taught. I never taught you." He dropped her back to the ground.

"Father..."

"More shame for me that I am your father." The Emperor pressed his hand against his head. "Duke Greizon did not wish to press charges after we gave his son the antidote. I offered him every opportunity and he refused. Duke Greizon only wants you to learn." His lips curled. "I am no teacher. I do not aspire to be. That is a task I leave for those the Light blessed with more wisdom than I. Your mother said I should give you to her people." Lixuan's eyes widened. "I refused this council. You deserve more than her sisters ever will see. Grandmother's advice was to send you to Mars. I would not force you, who show so little respect for our people, upon our respected enemies. Even were my parents able to handle you. My sister, finally, recommended you go to join her in Solont. But I am afraid that even were I so disposed, Asen Nailin's schedule, her 'work', should not be interrupted to watch an idiot child who will either upstage her or compete with her. And they have no facility there for one with your talents."

"Please, I... I have learned my lesson. I will not..."

"Duke Greizon is right. You must learn. And you shall learn as I did, once. By doing. You are a trifle young for this position, but you will do me credit. Guards, my daughter's transport awaits her. Lixuan, your staff await you on board the transport. They will fill you in. We must have you away from here until the scandal fades." And the Emperor's eyes narrowed. "Remember, child. Your every move will be watched and graded. By me, by your tutors, and by the Celestial Master. Fail any of us, and I promise you, your return will be one of mourning. Now, go. Get out of my sight."

Lixuan's eyes filled with tears as she was dragged backwards. "Those are your last words to me, father? Speak of love, not hate!"

The Emperor turned his back. "That I speak with you at all is a token of love, daughter."

[Roania]

"The Emperor has made it clear that for three generations we shall let the western barbarians be." Grand Marshal Yangde Hui, Marshal of the First Banner, stood at the top of the table, looking down at a vast map of the galaxy. "That would be sectors □□ and through to □□, as well as sector □□. And this is right and proper, and we shall obey, as it is our duty, yes?" The eight other marshals pounded the table in agreement. "However, three generations is no long time, and the situation may change. Therefore, it is important to contemplate the seat of their power. Enlarge on sector □□, subsection □, south □." A yellow star, a rather middling one by imperial standards, appeared on the screen. Constantly changing data appeared below and above it: Lists of major system bodies, estimates of population, holdings already secured to the Throne, agents in place and so on. "Field Marshal Tcho, this territory would fall within your path. Have you given this any consideration?"

Tcho took a breath and another through the ancient life support engine built into his throat, creating a sound like someone had taken a Reihi fiddle and was engaged in smashing it against a tree. "The rebels against the Dragon Throne who dwell within this system are unlike any we have previously encountered. They are aggressive in defense of their false freedom and brutal against those who would steal from them. So many of them have no government we recognize, tearing down their leaders and creating new ones without thought or function. It was our initial thought that they would welcome the safety of law, yet they resist. And I fear they will continue to resist forever so long as the center of their force stands. Show the station moon known as Tye-tan."

A grey stone appeared, covered in assorted structures. Each was labeled with guesses Intelligence as to its function. Only a few were certain. "The rebels base their defenses from this point, or so the evidence leads our men in the area to believe. We assume their military shipyards and laboratories are also based here. We make many assumptions. We have no evidence to support any of them. Only recollections of wars wherein the current authorities established themselves, using Tye-tan as a base of operations. We have labeled this point 'Stronghold of Barbarism', and unless and until it falls, we have no hope of bringing civilization to the unfortunate. According to our friends in the Fleet, the locals have a tradition of releasing old data to be seen. The Grand Admiral believes that even if we may assume all the information was planted, it would take the combined effort of "

"So? We have faced fortresses before, and destroyed them." This was a fiercely bewhiskered Kaeganian, the Marshal of the Third Banner. "No clan is without its malcontents and those who understand the true path. Find one, and open the gates from within, if we cannot blast them from without."

"Regrettably, it is not so simple. The soldiers of these false authorities, men and women alike," This got a reflexive shudder from every man in the room, "are both welcome guests of the Empire and kept under close eye by their superiors. Obviously, they fear that we may call them to their proper allegiance, and steps are taken to ensure their loyalty to their false government,"

"Have we no claws, then? Take one of their men by force and tear the information we need from his mind. It is your business to consider these options, and then to carry them through!"

"Thank you, Field Marshal Kok, for reminding me of my duty. My second shall call on yours tomorrow, if you wish." Tcho coughed hard again, then slapped his hands on the table. "I have thought of all of this. My predecessors have thought of all of this. It is impossible. We are told that the soldiers of Yud are protected by the force we know as Xo-De. It is our belief, indeed, that this strange power is the true master of the Yud, and that it dwells within this accursed fortress in imitation of the Sovereign upon the Dragon Throne. And I need not tell you that the Empire has been trying to understand this apparent entity for years, and come no closer."

"So, in three generations, when the Present Emperor Upon the Dragon Throne asks our successors for a plan of battle, they will have nothing from us? This will not stand." The Grand Marshal spoke quickly and sharply.

"We have a plan. It is simply not a very good plan. Perhaps in future, it will be better."


Plan of attack

The Second and Third Fleets would approach from above and below the galactic disk (north and south, in imperial parlance) while the fourth, fifth and ninth would begin feeding into the system's halo.

The attack would be a dishonorable surprise attack, and it would begin with the sacrifice of dozens of warships to trigger a mass-reasonance cascade that would, hopefully, destroy the defenders and blind Xo-Di. Either way, the damage done to the battlefield was of a sort the Empire's vessels could handle far better than their opponents.

Following victory, the surviving ships would be joined by the seventh and eighth fleets to launch a further attack into the inner system. The second, third and fourth banners, in their entirety, would be landed on the fortress to conquer it or destroy it. And then, every other rock in the system.

Back to the meeting

"Well, that seems a bit bleak. But then we'd have defeated Yud?"

"No. We would have weakened ourselves and Yud to the point where invasion by a third party would be inevitable and unstoppable. There is a 5% chance of successful conquest with us retaining enough of our manpower to defend our current borders."

"Well. Looks like we had better get intelligence to work harder on getting us into that moon...station...thing."

[Roania]

"Are you satisfied with our loyalty? Is your Emperor?" Palys had howled in delight at the news of the fall of Jer'Don, hitting his powerful feet hard against the marble of his new throne room. "The world is mine, and as it is mine, it is his."

The Dragon's Claw remained silent for a long moment, tapping a long fingernail against a sharply pointed ear. "Understood, Ailin. Say nothing. You are what you appear to be. Obey." The dark red of his eyes closed for a moment, and then he turned to the King and smiled. "You have done well. And as such, we are preparing to give you the next deposit of materiel investment. Fit for the lord of North and South. An array of civil and military technology will be made available to your servants in the hour, to pick and choose from."

The King frowned, scowled, glared at the Reixan. "What do you mean, choose from?"

"As the planet is not yet entirely under your control, we can hardly call the war at an end, now, can we?" Serahyle pressed his hands together and bowed ever so slightly.

"The refugees who fled have nowhere to flee to. We shall destroy them! But a minor problem."

"Solve this minor problem, Your 'Majesty', and the Emperor will learn of your efforts." Palys opened his mouth to protest, but Serahyle lifted a finger. "Obey." The word was thick with hidden meaning. Did the Claw's eyes glow briefly under his hood?

"I obey."

-------------------------

In the south, matters progressed as expected. Their job done, the Northern Army began putting the ferals to death en-masse. And if a few sane southerners were caught up in the massacre, no one really cared. Yes, a few battalions were lost to the chaos of feral attack. The Battle at Laz'Don would be spoken of in hushed whispers for years to come. But the Northerners were not alone to wreak their hatred freely.

As the initial slaughter ended, a second force quickly arrived and seized the initiative. This one dressed in blue, with weapons that birthed explosions and sent crackling lightning through the mobs. More worryingly for the armies of the king, they interfered in operations regarding the surviving sane southerners. Men, women, child, sick, elderly, they were taken. And those northerners who tried to fight this interference with their righteous victory? They were taken too.

The northerners were left as an occupying force, occupying broken ruins and cracked ground alone. None of the promised slaves would be theirs. And there was only one explanation given. "This world is your heritage now. Yours and your children's. The light wills that you multiply and fill it."

----

On the unknown islands, Nilia lay on the beach, staring back towards the city she had recently 'evacuated'. A secretary. That was her job now. It afforded her precious little chance to think, and a great deal of time to spend with the secrets of the locals. News of the Republic's return had been passed to Serahyle the moment she had learned of it, and she had learned of it quite quickly. Not that she dared to work for For'lom himself. Her disguise was impenetrable, but his personal staff would be the first under suspicion.

Her hated true master, though, had said nothing. She did not know his thoughts. She doubted he would do what should be done, but in deep cover, she had no way to reach Home herself. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She had guessed at that long before... and that was why she was here. "Are we really safe?" She asked the male Huayht soldier who had accompanied her and was now stroking her ears and back in what she assumed was a courtship gesture.

"Of course we are. Just a temporary setback. For'Lom is a genius. Those kink bastards will regret the day they crossed us." At the moment, it wouldn't have been enough for the woman she was pretending to be. Not to feel safe. But that he was making the effort? She moved into his lap, giving him the encouragement he needed to touch her nose with his. She wished he could remember his name... knew she would soon, but... mm. Distracting.

She liked these people, in truth. Far more than she liked the Kinks. And so she was willing to permit his hands to grow slightly venturesome. Trying not to think of how she had destroyed their home. Given their enemies the keys to the gate. Eaten one of their captains. Not that her crime had been noted. What was one death among millions?

Distracted as she was by her dark thoughts and his eager teeth and hands, her senses didn't pick up on the shift in the weather and the wind.

Is this how your soldiers behave when on-duty, man?" A sharp voice called her out of her reverie. A Reixan voice. "Not that I don't understand the appeal of a perfect pair of... ears, but I could have killed both of you fifteen times by now if that were my choice."

She blushed, slightly, because the hare she was pretending to be would have blushed. And she leaped to her feet and refused to bow, because the hare would not have known she should. Her companion moved even faster, grabbing his rifle and covering the interloper. "You! Whoever you are. You are my prisoner."

"Don't be stupid. You've got way too much to live for over right on your right." The silver-eyed Reixan grinned at Nilia. WInked at her. Did he know? Of course he didn't. "I'm here. That means that my men are around you. And I got here. That means that your best capabilities could not have stopped me. Shall we skip the demonstration of my superiority, or do you want to try to shoot me?"

Her beau lifted the rifle slightly, finger tightening on the trigger. Oh, ancestors. His hormones were going to lead to him getting himself killed to try to be a big man for her. Nilia coughed. "I assume you are here to discuss terms for surrender, sir..." Her hand felt for the barrel of the rifle and began pulling it down.

"Duke, in your language. Prince may be better. You two, however, may call me General Asen Tonen." Her knees almost gave way, but she had her hare boy to lean on. "And surrender is one of the many things which I have come to discuss." The Prince bowed slightly in the western style. "Now, if you must take me prisoner, start by telling me your names? Let's handle this politely."

"Sergeant Tru'dar." The sergeant shook her off his gun and pointed it at the dead center of Tonen's chest. "Before I bring you to our leader, I will have to ask you to disarm. And don't try to scare me, you filthy..." the word was a horrible insult in their language, but not exactly translatable.

"I go by the name Nilia, now. And, Tru'dar, I really think..."

"My brother has always said that women who think are the bane of men who want to get stupid things done, Nilia. Let him be." Tonen turned his attention to Tru'Dar and snapped what was unquestionably a command. "Fire, you miserable coward!" Tru'Dar's finger pushed all the way down, and there was a series of loud retorts as the bullets... went right through Tonen, rippling the fabric of his form like he was water. "Are we finished being big man in front of the pretty girl? Because I guarantee you've not won any points here. Bring me to your leader, or I will go myself."


====

"A pleasure to see some familiar faces, though I expect you'd not say the same." Tonen stood in the hastily repurposed conference room, arms behind his back in Imperial Parade Ground rest. He was speaking now to the Nimatojin lieutenant. "How are Erika and Demi doing? And the new baby? Honorable mother does like to babble, and little of import comes through when she does." His blonde-white hair was unmoved by the ventilation, or the guns that out of habit were pointed at him. "Let's stick to the facts, Governor-General. Your war is lost. And badly lost. My brother is, for the moment, unmoved by Palys' claim that you are nothing more than rebels against his authority, but I know that the more... What do the Pendrans say? The more 'King' Palys has you by the gripping hand, the less the Secretariat will care about any... irregularities in this planet's conquest. And once you've lost them, I'm rather afraid you've lost the sympathies of the Dragon Throne."

"And so, that's why I'm here. Grand Secretary Ma has asked me, personally, to bring her plan for peace. You may call it your unconditional surrender, if you like, but I think you will find much to like in it. Clever woman, Ma. My time is valuable, so you will only get one chance to accept or deny this. Afterwards, events will play out as they will." The illusion or hologram or whatever summoned a long and eloquently written scroll into existence, then flung it on the table. Where it stayed. "Essentially, you move. I have a few million of your fellows in stasis hanging about, your remnants won't make much difference to our cargo. Sorry I couldn't save them all, but it does take time to pull an army together. As you are no doubt learning.Where was I? Secretary of Foreign Affairs Aleis and my wife have chosen a world currently lacking sentient life. It was primed for colonization, but commandeering it for your people wouldn't be much of a hassle. Just paperwork and the Emperor's will, and the first is ready and I can guarantee the second. All you need to do, right now, is bend the knee, and it's all taken care of."

"That's the benefit of our government, you see. Word is law, and words will be kept." Tonen winked at the Nimatojin. "We would never abandon you just because we were asked. We have responsibilities. Palys wants this planet. Let him have it. The Republic wants to help you fight for it. Did you ever ask why? It doesn't matter, though. Because you have a choice. You could sell yourselves to those who are as constant as the wind-blown waves or bend the knee willingly to those as constant as the stars above."

The illusion flickered. For the first and last time. "Of course, I must warn you that if you refuse my generous offer, your kin in stasis would have no choice but to be treated as the rebels Palys insists they are, when his arguments win through. More blood on blood. Why, for my honor, I would have to hand them over to some third party now, and perhaps release a few -- with their weapons, of course."

[Roania]

"The very first thing we're doing, husband, is changing this ridiculous name. Our children are not growing up in Fort... Awesome." The Celestial Master took a few shallow breaths from her exertions, so tired from climbing the stairs with her heavily pregnant belly that she fell against her husband for support.

"I kind of like it, Min." Sieg ran his fingers through her hair and then dropped them to her wrist. "Let's get you inside so you can take a load off your feet." The door to the palace opened at his touch. "The kids are already inside, it sounds like." There was a crash and the sound of something very expensive breaking.

"Spirits preserve me if I ever let you put me in this situation again!" Ta Min managed to get inside. The moment she did, the hurrying staff came and helped her to a seat and an ottoman and then ran off after the toddlers. "Do you understand me, husband?" She asked, once she was situated.

"I understand you always say that, and then you change your mind the moment that becomes inconvenient for you. Children!" Sieg whistled sharply. "Your mother is very tired, and your grandparents don't need a mess made of their house. Why don't you go and play upstairs. And leave your uncle alone." He called after eight quickly departing little feet and four wagging tails. "Where are my parents, Rosie?"

The maid looked between this palace's heir and his sleeping wife. "The Prince and Princess are in the Hall of Impossibly Cool Things." She said, with not a trace of a smile, before she hurried up after the children.


----

"Exile was too good for her." Oph Aecenae paced in a little circle around a small collection of the hall's many, many, many curios. "He should have had her executed. If my mother were here, she'd..."

"Approve entirely of the Princess' actions, as Rex was forgetting his true place as a glorified DNA donor. You forget, darling, I met your mother." Faren rubbed his eyes. "I could hardly ask Damalin to execute his own daughter. It was a small mercy that he was willing to hear our charges. What happened next cannot be ascribed to the Princess." The martial kitsuite saluted haphazardly when his son walked in.

"What did happen next? Neither I nor Min could get any information out of Aurelia besides you wanting me here." Not that that was unusual in conversations with his sister. Sieg fell into parade rest, even though he had been a civilian for a good five years now.

"Some of the guardsmen took... affront to Rex's part in the Princess' exile. And they have staged a campaign of abuse and assault that led to your brother requesting the termination of his contract." Faren sighed and rolled his eyes. "It is unfortunate, but it is the way of things. Brotherhood means little under the pressure of an oath apparently forgotten... and of course their intense jealousy."

"Jealousy? Our son was raped." Aecenae didn't have much in the way of physical strength, so she lashed out with her will, causing Faren to duck his head. "The Emperor..."

"The Emperor has expressed his regret, but he will not, and I will not ask for him to, purge the guards over this incident. Many of these men are simple folk, chosen for their strength and loyalty. You know as well as I that not every member of imperial society has the advantages we hold." Faren held up his finger. "Neither he nor the Captain requested Rex's resignation. This was our son's choice. We may regret that, I certainly do. But we cannot lower ourselves in our regret." Aecenae stamped her feet, but went quiet.

"So what did you ask me here for? I still know a few people in the guards, if you want some names. And our interest could always use a solid hand. Or the military back in Solont is looking for men, and there's always that huge project ship of theirs...." Sieg stopped. He had already thought of a few dozen places for Rex, but some of them would need to be run by Min first.

His father shook his head, his ears folding back. "We wanted to speak to Min more than we wished to speak to you, son. You had not mentioned how pregnant she was." This last was with a cross glance at Aecenae.

"Min loves to complain. I wouldn't worry too much. Let me just..."

"Your brother wants to become a woman." Min leaned on the door post. "Your father has the unfortunate idea that because I had the misfortune to marry you, I am his personal chaplain. You will disabuse him of this before we leave for the Temple City. Am I crystal, Greizon SIeg? Now move back here so I can lean on you. And don't talk. I'm angry." Sieg knew enough after their years together to know when he had to listen. "Now, having spoken to my brother-in-law, I must admit I see the logic in his reasoning. He feels used and abused as a man, and he's given up what he cared about most. I took the liberty of chastising him about his previous adventures, and it appears that he does feel very regretful. The spirits seem to be quite happy with it. Since you called me here, I assume you wished me to approve or disapprove. Well, I approve. I will have the documentation for your new daughter in an hour. We may assume the Emperor's approval, he owes me."

Sieg had stayed silent through all of that. When it ended, though, he tried to open his mouth to speak.

And his mother hushed him. "Sieg, why don't you and your father go and play a game of throw ball?" She asked, brightly. "Aurelia will be home soon, and I think the three of us girls ought to talk about this without you boys listening in. Daughter-in-law, would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely, Mother-in-Law."


"Well, that's our cue." Faren walked out of the hall with Sieg, and sighed slightly. "You don't seem surprised, Sieg."

"I'm not surprised, dad. It takes a lot to surprise me, and for whatever reason..." Sieg's tail curled around his arm for a moment as he stood in thought. "No. Rex wanting to become a woman... doesn't surprise me. I'm more surprised that you are so open to the idea."

"I wasn't a fan, but your mother talked me into it. It makes a certain amount of sense. I want my children to be happy, Sieg. All of you. And this... this may give your brother happiness again." Faren rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "I know one boy, many years ago, that it did just that for. And I like to think that in my way I am far better equipped to handle this kind of stress than my former employer. As to your mother, well... Aurelia is hardly... conventional."

Sieg had known that since a seven year old Aurelia had dropped a frog in the bed he had been sharing with Min that night as a 'welcome to the family gift'. "No."

"I think your mother hopes that a new sister would be a positive effect on her. At the very least, it may give Aurelia an example to follow. A slim hope, but your sister has always regretted that she had no sisters to look up to." The Prince laughed. "This may be a fine opportunity to get her off our refusal to have more children for the time being!"

Sieg tugged on the tuft of one of his ears as he thought quietly, as was his wont. No, this made sense. It wasn't what he had thought he was coming here to discuss, but it made sense.

This only worried him. Very rarely did things that make sense so well work out as intended.

[Roania]

Rex hadn't expected things to happen so fast. And yet, here he was, naked, on a crystal-infused jade table, the women in his family surrounding him. He'd have been embarrassed, but there was no real point. In a few minutes, he'd be one of them.

"There's no going back, big brother." Aurelia leaned in and looked him in the eye, a big grin on her face. "You sure you want to be a girl?"

Was he? He didn't know. He just knew that... that he needed a change. He wasn't going to let this drive him to suicide, but some clean break needed to be made. "Yes. I want to be a woman now."

Aurelia giggled. "I've always wanted a sister! And stupid mommy and daddy have said they don't plan on having any more children. We're going to have so much fun!" Aurelia's happiness was very rarely a positive sign, but Rex tried to ignore his younger sibling's propensity towards chaos. "And I'm going to tease you relentlessly, you know. Just like you teased me."

"Stop bothering him, child." That was his sister-in-law.

"I am not a child! This new year I'm going to have the biggest and best coming of age ever!"

"Which means, child, right now, you are still a child. We need to put him to sleep. Get back to your position."

"Be nice to my daughter, Min."

"Did we check her for frogs? Someone, check her for frogs."

"I didn't bring any frogs with me! Hmph. Mommy made me turn my pockets out." Aurelia kissed him on the forehead and left his field of view.

"Alright, Rex." His mother approached now. "This won't hurt. I am legally required to ask if you're sure this is something you want."

"Yes." It came even easier this time.

"Alright. Your father and I picked the name Xeiri for you when you wake up. Now, just relax, son. Soon, you will be my daughter."

Something was sprayed on his eyes and face. As he fell asleep, the last thing he heard sounded like, "You can come in now, ma'am." But who...


*Four Hours Later*

"Careful. She's starting to wake up." That voice sounded familiar... whose voice was it? She couldn't tell. Her eyes wouldn't open quite yet.

"She's pretty! I'm jealous. Mommy, why aren't I pretty?"

"That boy you hang around with all the time would probably disagree with your opinion of yourself."

"Yeah, but Ko thinks he loves me, so he's biased. And besides, he's weird. He went so red when I took off my robe to go into that pond..."

"We'll have to talk about this later, young lady." That was Xeiri's mother, then.

"Your new child is pretty, however. She's going to grow into a stunner."

Something about that statement felt strange. Sensation was slowly returning to her body, and with it came awareness. Yes, she was female now. She could feel it from the core of her being, slowly radiating out. Softer. Weaker. Smaller. Rounder. New thoughts sprang to mind. Boys, men, being wanted, being approached as her former self had approached so many women. Sex. As the recipient, now. Children. She tried to speak. Nothing came out at first. Then, a new voice. Her voice. Higher than she had expected. "I..." Eyes open. Trying to move to look at her body. Trying to stand.

"Careful. Your balance will be off for a moment." Her mother again, helping her to stand up. Lighter, too. And shorter. She didn't come up to her mother's shoulders.

"I... mirror..." That voice spoke again.

"Aurelia, get the mirror over here."

Her sister. Taller than her, too? Was that right? Mind felt fuzzy. Confused. Xeiri tried to smile at Aurelia, who giggled and pushed the mirror in front of her.

Xeiri closed her eyes, steadying herself to face the woman in the mirror. Opened them. Found the woman in the mirror was a girl. A, yes, very pretty girl. She guessed the girl's age at around thirteen springs, at most. Yet... female. Definitely female. "What..."

"You were born 12 summers ago, Greizon Xeiri." That was Min? The woman's voice felt different now. "While you slept, a clinician went through and confirmed everything about your body is fully functional, and fully female."

"I... a girl?"

"In one month you will be joining Prince Cao at his lessons. For the next four weeks, then, your older sister will be helping get you ready for your new life."

"C-Cao?" Y-yes, she... she had abandoned him. And they were... but... wait, so young? "Young?"

"Well, of course. A woman who's seen twenty-five springs is no fit companion for a prince who's only seen thirteen, and rather late to teach what needs to be taught. I authorized the process myself. Do not disappoint me."

"Should be angry." Xeiri's mind was clearing and she stepped forward, touching the frosted silver of the mirror. "But... I'm not..."

"Well, I'm thrilled! I've got a little sister. We're going to have so much fun!" Aurelia slipped behind her and tugged on her newly lengthened hair. "And I've got to teach you about the proper clothes, and the fundamentals of grace!"

"Fun?" A few hours ago, Rex would have objected. Strenuously. Now, though... "That does sound fun."

And her sister leaned in and whispered in her ear. "I promise, when Cao sees you, you're going to drive that poor boy crazy."

Xeiri said nothing to that. What was there to say? It did sound... nice.

[Roania]

The General smiled warmly and held his hands out. "My brother hardly deserves your hostility. The moment Palys bent the knee, he could have considered the condition to break his oath met. But he did not. He has, whether you understand it or not, given you more than a choice, he has given you a chance." He shrugged, and the contract lying on the table vanished in a puff of crystalline dust. "I have come here in friendship, offering words of friendship. That you interpret them as a threat speaks more of you than it does of me. In time, you will kneel, as I am told all will kneel." Tonen gave a slight smile. "What does it matter if it is today or nine thousand years from now?"

The Prince snapped his fingers, and there was another shift in the weather. "I hereby transfer the Alliance Soldiers currently in my protective custody to the custody of the Republic of Sunset. Mayor For'Lom, Captain Ton'he, you are my witnesses." A second piece of paper was thrown on the table, a few simple lines of English and Rudanese. "Miss Madison,I will need you to sign on the left. Witnesses, sign on the bottom. You will note that this includes all materiel. I'm not sure where you will put everything, but you are an industrious people. Now, before I close this connection and return to my duties, is there anything else I may do for you, Mayor?""

[Roania]

"That didn't go quite as I had expected it to." The shadowed figure said. "It is nice to know that even now, I may be surprised."

"Really? It worked out exactly as I had anticipated." Tonen shook the crystal-dust off of him and stepped back. "They had already lost their homes and were clinging to life on a battered island. Freedom means nothing if it consists only of the freedom to die. And die they would, if not now, then later." The General busied himself for a moment with the connections between his head and the node. "No doubt had they fought as you anticipated, they may have regained their world. And to what end? As my teachers on Ares taught me, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Lops hate straights hate kinks hate lops. The cycle of violence would never end. Not unless those with the power to act, acted."

"You read your briefing. I'm impressed."

"I read all my briefings, brother. I had an excellent teacher on that score."

"Hm. And now what do you propose to do, Military Governor?"

Tonen didn't blink or miss a beat. "Our environmental engineers have already begun reporting. This world is a toxic death trap. Life's presence on it was no more than an aberration to begin with. With your blessing, I will commence our evacuation. Shame I couldn't work out what the Republic's interest was, but I hardly expected Madison to give us information. She doesn't like you very much." The prince walked to one of the great bay windows of his command ship.

"The feeling is more than mutual. Had you and that accursed Ma woman not gone over my head, I would have ordered the extermination the moment I knew the Republic had returned."

"That's why we did it. And you will forgive us."

"Hm. In time. At the very least, that idiot puppet has now served his purpose. Do what you like with him, but bring me Mar Serahyle alive. He has crimes he must answer for. This is my word. So it is said, so let it be done."

"Of course, brother. I have already chosen Palys' successor. Or, rather, he has chosen himself."

"Good. Then I leave you to it. Inform me the moment our people have been evacuated."

[Roania]

"They're leaving?" Serahyle hissed, clenching his fists. "They can't leave! General, blow that ship out of the sky!" The Claw paced the room angrily. "Didn't you bring any space-bound weaponry?"

"They're leaving. No. Of course not." Tonen shrugged and walked to the window. "Nice view." What in the light gave you the idea that you were still in command here? I have been named Military Governor of this planet. Or have you not checked your tablet recently? Naughty claw." The two of them stood in Palys' throneroom, surrounded by hares and watched by the king. The Prince was the taller of the two and wore the finest robes, as befit his status as both prince and ruler.

"Excuse me, but the filthy lops have left?" Palys howled and stamped his feet in delight. "I wished them dead, but their departure will do."

"I'll deal with you in a moment." Tonen held up his finger and produced a pair of energy cuffs. "As for you, Mar Serahyle, you are under arrest by order of the Great Secretary for Internal Harmony. And the Great Secretary of Foreign Affairs. And the Great Secretary of the Fields and Forests. And the Grand Secretary. And Grand Marshal Tink. And the Dragon Throne. Honestly, the only authority who doesn't want you arrested seems to be the Chamberlain, and I'm sure if we give him time he'll think of something. Will you come quietly?"

"This... this is preposterous. On what charges?" The Claw backed away, his muscles tensing.

Tonen tossed a little glowing crystal in the air. "I had a conversation with a pretty young bunny as she left with the rest. Told me where to find something of interest. Speak."

"I am Sun Ailin. I have the honor of serving the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, as you would say, the Emperor. I am a Claw. This title means nothing to you now, perhaps, but in future it will mean everything. But that is not important. None of it is important right now."

"My master here, the master of our efforts, is Mar Serahyle. All agents you have dealt with, both of my people and of the locals, serve him, regardless of their claims. All I must say of him is that he hates you. He hates you and he hates your work here, and he plans horrors I will not permit to go unwarned of. You must leave this planet. If you have found this message, then I assume things have already begun. Look to your supplies, men of Sol, but more than anything else, leave."

"We also received some very interesting information from the Republic. You'll have plenty of time to look it over as you prepare a defense."

"That useless whore! I will kill her! But first, you must be dealt with! Guards, King Palys, kill him!" The glamour around the throneroom and its inhabitants vanished. The guards were no longer standing to attention. Instead, they knelt on their knuckles, massive, savage beasts. Serahyle laughed. "My experiments are not over yet, Prince Tonen! My thought was to give the Empire an army! But I see the weakness! Instead, I shall conquer it myself! A new race shall be born! And I shall be its God!"

Palys, meanwhile, remained much the same. Also, terrified.

"Well. That makes it rather simpler, doesn't it." Tonen didn't blink an eye. "Admiral, when you're ready."

The lance of flame could be seen from the unknown islands. Also, from orbit.

***

"How... How..." Serahyle knelt in the ruins of the tower, battered and bruised and burnt almost beyond recognition.

"Did you really think I was there personally?" Came a voice from the edge of the crater. Prince Tonen stood there now, dressed not in court robes but in his uniform. "Your mind has deteriorated. Shame. Nesar said you were one of his best." Tonen waved his hand. "Take him. Be cautious, though. A dying dog can still bite." The defeated man made no attempt to resist, however. "What? No heart in it? What a shame. I was hoping you would have had the decency to resist arrest."

"Why would I? I have clearly been beaten by the better man. And you are a better man." Serahyle smiled and reached out to the prince. "Better by far than me. And better by far than the Emperor, who abandoned the Light's work for three generations. Let me show you my work, Highness. These creatures are simple tools to manipulate, to craft as we will. You could be great, Prince. I see in you the lineage of Emperors long distant." Tonen stared quietly at the man. "Yes, I see you thinking. Why should you not? Give me but one week, and you could be as unto a ..."

The claw spluttered in pain as the Prince grabbed his lower jaw and held it open, then pulled his tongue out. "I do hate when you people talk. Let's fix that, shall we?" The jaw was released, and a glowing blade came to his hand. A moment later, the work was done. "Oh, don't be so melodramatic. You're not going to bleed out. Men, take him away! And take his hands away, too. There's no telling what tricks he's got up his sleeves." Tonen looked around at the gathering crowd of hares. "As for you, we're pulling out, and I sincerely hope you're coming with us. This world is a death-trap. It drives men mad. And I, for one, want to see what you can do when free of it."

[Roania]

'At the end of each expansion, countless systems would be seeded with surveillance drones by brave Venturemen. Thus, worlds were marked for colonization, conquest, absorption or extermination.

"We are departing the crystal web in five, Commodore!"

Occasionally, hundreds, if not thousands, of years could pass between investigation and the arrival of a fleet, as a more profitable path was marked out or a check delivered to civilization's efforts in that section.

"Thank you, Seer. Subaltern Cho, please ready the reader. Captain, order all crew to posts."

But no system was ever forgotten. And now, it was time for Zen-Mo and its inhabitants to bend the knee.

"Sir! The Mother's Winding Thread is reporting incoming fire!"


It was generally considered rude by the Armada to break into a space battle. Much better to turn up after and capture everyone who survived. Sometimes, it couldn't be helped. A missile impacted on the ship's armor, shaking the vessel. "Damage report!" Captain Jin was immediately surrounded by floating screens. "And get those shields up!"

"Minimal damage to hull and solar panel four! No casualties Shields are coming on line!"

"All ships! Battle readiness now!" The Conmodore took his own great throne and his own array of communications and data screens appeared. "Situation report!" One by one the indicators of his detachment turned from red to green, indicating that power had been returned to the shields.

"Commodore! This is Master Yu's Timeless Wisdom! We lost three men when a power cell burst!"

"Commodore! The Way of the Light is Truth! We're taking heavy fire, but shields are holding! Two separate fleets of hostiles, based on visual telemetry!"

"All ships, this is Cast in the Name of the Dragon Throne! Flank shots are authorized against any vessel that opens fire! Captain Jin, get me on screen! All ships!"

"We are acquiring their transmission frequencies now. Some unusual interference, but nothing the comms channel can't handle. Commander, get a team up here and prepped for distance inspection on panel four! Commodore, you are the voice of the aether in five, four, three, two, one, now."

A larger screen appeared in front of the Commodore. It showed himself and an array of easily understood symbols at the bottom. At least in theory. In practice, life being what it was, the road to submission had to begin with violence. "This is Commodore Yee-Pak, Leading Officer of the Third Division of the Fourth Fleet in the service of the Dragon Throne. You are to be twice-congratulated! It is rare to attain space travel on your own and a sign of special brilliance! And you will now have the opportunity to serve alongside one another in harmony, using that brilliance as servants of the Dragon Throne. As its local representative, my first command is that you lower your arms. Force between equals only creates enemies, and all save one are equal before the Dragon Throne. This is my first order. Stand by for my second. Yee-Pak out."

The screen vanished. "Subaltern, where is that drone? We must find out who is the aggressor here so that we may arrange for third division to visit their homeworld."

"Malfunctioning or damaged, sir! It's broadcasting its location along the crystal path, but nothing more."

"Commodore, we are being hailed by ships designated Kho and Han."

"On screen. Both of them. Seer? Let me know when you have their languages." The young woman looked somewhat shaken, but nodded quickly. "Begin automatic translation as soon as you can. And buck up! We can put this detritus to flight if need be."

Across the imperial detachment, two screens appeared side by side. On the left was a prim, tidily dressed blue humanoid-ish alien whose one central eye blinked out of sync with the four on each side, and whose four arms were crossed across its chest. "Zzeyonee Skwar br... war against the Great Uthob," came the subtitle across the bottom of the screen, kicking in and muting the noise it made with its mandibles. "We have come to this place to make it clean for nests. Withdraw immediately, or we shall destroy you." The creature leaned to the side, heard a report, and gave what may have been meant to be a smile. "I mean to say, we are but making the galaxy a cleaner place. We are sure you can appreciate our goals."

On the right was the upper quarter of some strange, hairy beast. After a moment of fiddling, the feed moved up to reveal a reptilian face trimmed in fur. None of the Reixianxi on board had ever seen a lion or a crocodile, and so they lacked the necessary context to determine that a combination between the two was what they were looking at. "'Bok'har khar svolt k'har... know not where you come from, but beg your aid. This is the last home of our people and we are their last hope and help. Chased from the stars by the Ulthob, who seek us as prey for their children."

"Is that one of the filth speaking to you? Nothing but lies! The Khar aren't good enough to be implanted with our young. Not enough fat. They serve us in many other capacities, and they're all quite happy to do it. Now, if you'll just let us finish tidying up..."

"I think we know who the trespassers are." Captain Jin said.

"I couldn't agree more." The Commodore rose to his feet and pressed his hands together. "Honorable subjects, I understand your dismay at one another." And he bowed. "But you now serve a master greater than you, and it is his will that this war be ended. Honorable Ulthob, stand down and transmit your map logs to our vessel. Your worlds will be investigated by one of the Dragon Throne's Survey Vessels and we will determine what is the new truth." Another bow. "Honorable Bokhar, we will meet with your leaders and explain your new safety and protections, and the obligations required for it to remain kind. Return to your world, none will do it harm so long as we remain present."

""Sir, the blue bugs look like they're preparing to fire on the hairy lizards."

"All ships, open fire. Let's show them why we're in charge now."

[Roania]

Siela was upside down.

It wasn't particularly unusual, she had to admit. While it was probably wrong to be grateful for anything in this situation, she still was grateful the Emperor''s sense of propriety would not let her robes fall and reveal anything to the men in the room. Threat of a life-destroying wardrobe malfunction done away with, she could do her best to continue speaking. "I understand your anger, Lord."

"Do you." Came the wintery response from the big chair.

"You have been betrayed. You have been dishonored. You..." There was a sudden tightness around her throat, crystalline rope appearing for a hanging. Word choice, Siela. "That is to say, you have been threatened with dishonor." The threat relaxed. She was reasonably sure he'd not actually kill her, but... "Your word has been treated as if it is of no account, a mere empty oath that might be walked around rather than the vow of the Lord of Ten Thousand Years. You're furious. And you're right to be furious."

"Mmm." There was a movement from the Phoenix Throne that Siela affected to ignore, and her master sighed. "Do you have a point, Grand Secretary?"

"That this is a chance to show your current and future subjects, Lord, that you follow the forms of the law. The Empire... That is to say, you and your Empire were assaulted equally by the prisoner's alleged crimes. Let him stand trial."

"The forms of the law." The Emperor was staring at her. "What is the first law, Ma?"

"You are the first law, Lord."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. That means you will understand when I say that the forms of the law will be followed when Mar Serahyle is put to death tomorrow. Dismissed, Ma." Gravity was restored and she was returned to her feet on the floor.

"No, Lord." That drew far too many whispers for Siela's taste. "I'm afraid I do not understand. And more to the point, Lord, I fear you do not understand." And that silenced all of them. The great hall became as silent as a tomb, and every eye was on her. "Am I not your chief adviser?"

"For the moment, Ma Siela, you have my favor. It is a limited resource." A hushed conference at the thrones. "Very well. Advise me."

"Mar Serahyle's crimes were not only against you, Lord. The Republic has a slight interest, and they have provided much of the evidence we would be using to try him." She could see his lip curl at the mention of her homeland, but he didn't say anything. "What is it you always say? The law must be obeyed, and seen to be obeyed? If you quietly do away with the prisoner, they will think you are concerned only that he failed. They will wonder if your word is as solid as we know it is." It was time to go for broke. "Obviously, you are the one true sovereign of this universe, and the thoughts of... barbarians... are not worthy of your consideration. That is why you have given this role to the Secretariat, which I lead. Are you withdrawing your faith?"

"Bold." Was that a hint of approval in his voice? "The charges include Abomination. As sovereign, these are crimes against me. And crimes only I may punish."

"I thought you would say that, Lord, so I spoke to the Celestial Master." Who had been so cranky anyway that talking to Siela didn't even register. She hoped Min would be pregnant more often. "She says that the crimes of Abomination and Corruption are crimes against everyone, and it is everyone's duty and right to see them punished. I have the ruling right here." The Grand Secretary reached into her robe and drew out a small, silver-threaded scroll.

"Min needs to learn her place." The Emperor leaned back, tapping his nails against the dragon's head.

"With the greatest respect, Lord, this is her place."

"I suppose it is, at that. And you are in yours, I expect. So be it." There was a pause. Screens flickered in the air above the Emperor and vanished when no longer needed. "Hm. You believe a public trial would serve the Realm?"

"A public trial would serve the galaxy."

"Tch. Then you may have it. In fact, you may have the entire case to bring forward, Procurator Ma. I believe my brother holds roughly thirty prisoners besides the traitor. May your ancestors help you, I certainly will not."

That was... unexpected. And unpleasant. Granted, she had every expert she'd need to consult directly at her fingertips, but she'd never wanted to go into law, and she didn't know the first thing about bringing cases forward. "Well, maybe you could give me a little help?"

His smile was slow, lean, hungry. "That would be unethical, Ma. I shall be the judge."

[Roania]

Cao felt the storm of his father's anger break somewhere overhead, and shivered. "Please, I'm sorry, I'm... I'm distracted. What were you saying, Miss?"

"Are you going to call my sister that, too?" Aurelia teased, poking him in the shoulder. "Even your dad isn't that old fashioned, and he just threatened to kill me!" Princess Aecenae put her head in her hands at that. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have tried to play a prank on the next Emperor. But you're not mad, are you, Asen Cao?" She wriggled into the seat next to him and rested her breasts against his arm.

Cao's voice came out a bit higher than he had intended. "N-n-no, of course not... a-a-and I'll call...her... whatever she wants me to call her." What was Aurelia doing? Aecenae snapped something, and the girl was up and away before he had even had the chance to decide if he liked it or not. "I mean..."

"Worried she's not going to be a girl? I promise she is. I was just up there helping her get ready and dress. Want me to tell you about her? I could give you all the juicy details!"

What was it his uncle had said? If you show weakness, girls will go after it. Cao tried to center himself. "Princess, if your daughter isn't going to control herself, I... I..." He blushed under Aecenae's incredulous look. "Well, um..."

"Your Highness, I hesitate to disagree with an imperial command, but I promise you that my daughter is showing all the restraint she's capable of showing. And no, I would prefer not to ask her to leave. She has spent a lot of time and effort preparing Xeiri for this moment, and my husband and I believe she is entitled to see if it worked." Aecenae did, however, turn to her daughter and point at a distant seat.

"Xeiri." Cao still didn't know what to make of this. His mother had mentioned it to him a couple of days ago, almost in passing, while looking for a drillbit. "I.... I see."

"She's really pretty! And I got her all these really cute otufits to help her show it off, and I didn't even put any frogs in her suitcase! I wish your dad hadn't turned up and spoiled my fun. You'd have been so funny. I bet she'd have thrown stuff at you."

"I like Cao the way he is." She stood there now, a soft blush on her cheeks. Cao knew who she was the instant she appeared. Those orange ears, that tufted tail... the playfulness in the eyes. They were all Rex. And yet... and yet... "You are staring. Am I so strange?" She was... a girl. Maybe his age? Every inch a girl, from the feminine curves just now making themselves known to the softness of her features to the highness of her voice.

"Oh! No!" His voice cracked badly, and he could have hit himself for it. Quickly, he stood up, fist to palm, bowed. She started to do the same, but smiled and remembered to cup her hands in front of her abdomen as she bowed. "No, not strange..."

"Relax. I'm still me." Maybe she meant it.Cao couldn't see it that way. Every sense was telling him how female the kitsuite approaching him was. As she came close enough, he could detect the faint scent of lotus and spice. "Aren't I?" This last was asked almost in the same tone Aurelia had used to tease him. "Still me?"

"What would you..." When her lips met his, his circuits fried. Without thinking, one arm held her, as if he was trying to support her. Ridiculous, because at least right now she was still a little bit taller than him, but it was what his arm wanted to do. She didn't break the kiss, either, letting it deepen as her body pushed against his.

And then the kiss broke and she stood there, panting. "Well?" She eventually said, in a room where the silence was now a thousand times more oppressive.

"I don't..." Cao was hyper-aware now. His body had tensed up, and as close as they were standing... as he was holding her... she knew everything. Just like he knew everything about her. "I don't know."

"Good." She away, and he let her, sure that the blush on her cheeks was matched on his. "Because neither do I. But I'm still your friend, Cao. No matter what." And then she turned to the side and looked to Aurelia. "Well? Did I do it right?"

[Roania]

"Are you really a girl, now?" That was what he wanted to ask her, now that AiQien had moved her in, introduced her to the twins, explained her curfew (First watch?! But it was hard to argue that it should be extended when the voice arguing belonged to a young girl), given her a new crystal key to the palace, and dismissed her. "I mean..." Her friend was hung up on this one issue, and she was getting kind of bored with it. "I mean, you look like a girl, and your chen feels like a girl, and... and when you..."

Xeiri leaned forward and put her hands on top of his. "Cao. You've asked me that a dozen times. Either you're not listening, or you're trying to get me to show you how much of a girl I am." His face, already red, looked like it was about to burst. It was... cute. "For the last time. Yes, Cao. I am a girl. One hundred percent female." And she slipped across the floor to sit next to him. "I know it's hard to take in. This wasn't exactly what I intended." When had Cao gotten such a sweet look in his eyes? And she stuck her tongue out. She stood and held her hands out. "Look carefully, Cao. You get this one for free, okay?" The way he was looking at her, though... "Do you see a boy? Or a man?" He shook his head. "Because I'm not. I'm a girl, Cao. And I'm going to grow up into a beautiful woman. Just like you're a boy, who's going to be a handsome and strong man." She slipped into the pose Aurelia had taught her, resting one palm on a cocked hip, pushing her chest out. "Okay?"

"Y-yeah." He blushed, and looked away.

"But that doesn't mean anything has to change between us right now." She resumed her place on the floor and put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm your friend. You're my friend. I'm never going to forget our friendship." Her hand dropped down and grabbed his. "Just, now, I think you're my best friend." Her eyes widened when she realized what was happening. He was crying.

"You've always been my best friend. And... and then you left. You said you'd always protect me, and then you left anyway." The prince didn't resist being taken in her arms and held against her breast. She wasn't large enough to comfort him as she had before, but this felt... natural. "Father didn't fire you or anything, you walked away! You didn't ask him for help and he would have helped you and you didn't ask the Captain for help or anything! You didn't even talk to me! You just left! And... and I thought you were..." Words were lost in a flood of tears. "The guards they replaced you with... they didn't listen to me or anything! I couldn't talk... they wouldn't let me read... I started spending time with my father and... and it was better than being with them... One of them even called me..."

Xeiri's fist clenched. "Who called you anything?"

"It doesn't matter, father killed him. He didn't need to. I told him not to, even. But he did. And.. and he'd have done it for you, too. If you had asked him. But you'd rather have..."

Xeiri was finished listening. One hand went down to take one of his, and she brought it to just below her left breast, where her heart began beating rapidly. "Cao. Listen to me now. You will never have another guard like that again. And I swear on my life that I will never leave. Ever." While her hand pulled his up and right to her breast, letting it rest there. "This one's free, Cao." His eyes were staring into hers with a strange intensity. "You want to have even the slightest chance of touching me again, you need to man up." She kissed him. Once. "Not too much, but a little." She giggled as his hand tentatively squeezed. It didn't feel good, but it felt warm. She took that as the cue that she was doing the right thing. "Do you think you can? I'll help you every step of the way, if you'll let me. Because I know you can be a man you would be proud of." She paused, lowered her voice. "That I would be proud of. Do you understand me?"

The tears drying, Cao nodded. For the first time, then, he leaned up and kissed her.

When it broke, she pulled away and adjusted her dress. "That's not happening again, though." The heartbreak in his eyes almost made her laugh. "Well, once we've grown up a little, maybe. But not for a while." She licked her lip. Maybe a year? Month or two at the inside, surely. "I'm just starting this life and I'm not going to be that kind of girl. This was special."

"I... I know." But he kissed her again anyway, making her see stars with the emotion behind it. "I... thank you for coming back." There was a chiming sound, and Cao grabbed his watch. "Oh, I have to meet my new tutors. Do you want..."

"I'll meet them soon enough. They're my tutors too, remember? I think I need to talk to the Emperor." Cao's face dropped. "I promise, I'm not leaving. I swear. Okay? Trust me. I know I betrayed your trust before, but... just this one more time." And he did. Wonders never ceased.

Or maybe being a girl had more perks than she had anticipated. Kissing the Prince. No, that's not going to happen again any time soon.


=====

"You want what?"

"I know none of the guards who replaced me met your standards. I'm apparently a hard act to follow." Last time she had been in this office, it hadn't been so large. "I know you don't like me, Lord. But you know I'm right." She hoped. That was not a promising look. "I know it's not orthodox, but I've not forgotten my training. And what won't carry over, I'll relearn."

The Emperor leaned forward, one hand shading his eyes. "It is true that my son is... was... happier in your care. But you'll excuse me, young miss, if I don't take seriously the offer of a girl who's only seen twelve summers. You'll have quite enough to do learning things that are appropriate for your sex."

"And you'll do what? Keep choosing guards at random and killing them when they disappoint you?"

"Do you propose instead that I beat some strength into my son? The thought has crossed my mind."

Xeiri's tail frizzed, and her ears went straight up. "If you so much as lay one finger on him, Asen Damalin, I..."

"WILL DO NOTHING." And suddenly he was there, in front of her, and his hand was on her neck and she was being lifted. "I have had enough of your insolence. Am I clear?" He brought her even to his face, and then threw her to the ground hard.

She tried to tell herself that she'd experienced worse, because she had. But that didn't make it hurt any less, even if she was resilient. Still, that would not do."You make yourself perfectly clear. No one helped you until it was too late, did they?" She found her feet, trembling. "You're scared of your son making the same mistakes you made. You knew those guards were awful, you chose them because you wanted to make him strong. Well, that's fine, Lord. Strength is everything." Her heart was beating a mile. "Right? We fail because we're weak. You failed because you were weak." She kept going, because if she stopped, she'd never start again. "But you're wrong. Strength isn't everything. Fear isn't everything. Love is everything. Now, you told me you love your son? Then you listen to me. You will have to kill me before you raise a hand to that boy, because if you don't, you sure as zlith will have to afterwards, because I'd be coming for you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Brave." The Emperor returned to his seat and put his hands on the desk. "Such bravery. Do you want to know a secret, child? I detest bravery. A thousand brave people die every day. People, girl, should not be brave. They should obey. Do what I say. And yet, you refuse. Always. You presume on my good will towards your father. You presume on my love for my son. You presume. Do you think yourself safe for those reasons? My daughter presumed on my affection, and all it won her was her life. What hope do you have?"

"Only this, Lord. That if you truly wanted me dead, I would have been dead years ago." She stood her ground.

The man's lips twitched upwards, momentarily. "You wish to be my son's bodyguard again? Then here are my conditions, Xeiri. You will train yourself, first and foremost, in the ways of the woman I expect you to become. You will learn the graces like they were handed to you directly by your ancestors. Am I clear?" She nodded, cautiously. "You will have no training in the martial arts until I am absolutely certain these lessons are sinking in, and you will be trained in those arts by teachers I choose. Am I clear?" Her eyes brightening, she nodded. "You will tell no one about this. Especially not Cao."

"But..."

"My universe. My laws. Remember that, sometimes." The Emperor smiled tightly. "It will help you keep that pretty head my son so loves to kiss." He knew? ...of course he knew. The question was, how had she forgotten? "You are dismissed." The door slid open, and she began to turn to go. "Oh, and one more thing. You get this one for free, is, I believe, a phrase you used?" Her cheeks, already turning bright red, went a deep crimson. "Then, here. You get this one for free." The heat was sucked out of the room, though he retained his smile. "If you ever address me by name again, uninvited, I will kill your father. Then, I will kill your brother. And I will kill your mother and your sister and your sister-in-law and her children. And I will find those your father holds dear in Solont, and I will have them killed too. And only then will I kill you. Do you understand me, Greizon Xeiri?"

Each word had been a blow to her solar plexus, and at the end of it she knew she was cringing like a whipped dog. Her tail had even curled around her leg, and she felt the urge to whimper. "Of... of course, Lord. Forgive me, Lord. I... I was..."

"There is nothing to forgive. You got this one for free, remember? Now, begone. I have actual work that needs doing. We will discuss your role when and if my wife says she sees progress in your education."