53.7 The Gifts You Need

General Summary

Day 1086

I leave Elnora with her omen egg and head out to find Nishvalen for his overdue invitation into my formal family. I had intended to stop by my residence first but when I arrive, he is waiting for me there. Clearly people in my life are simply…arranging things for me. Free from Fate, perhaps, but not free from the caring attention of the people who keep track of me.   We talk a little about the Council and the vote tomorrow — the stakes don’t seem high to me, but it is still interesting to watch it happen. Nishvalen thinks there is a certain fatalism to how humans perceive longterms plans. Whatever one generation plans, they know that the next may overturn. My wise watchkeeper points out that it is the same amongst elves, just on a longer time scale. Several generations ago, no one would have imagined that there would be Carthian nobles in the Empire. Maybe as I live through millennia, the difference between elves and humans will shrink and eventually vanish? But even Magdalena and Darkness see something different about humans, so perhaps not.   Integrating Deldrin will probably be similar to integrating Carthians, he thinks. In a hundred years, it will seem like we were always integrated.   Nishvalen has done good work here, though he is quick to shrug it off as possible only because of my presence. But steady work is always valuable, regardless of whether a catalyst was present.   He is ready to be part of Deldrin’s council, though it will certainly be easier to stomach if the city is part of the Empire. But he worries about potential futures, such as trying to serve a city that has declared war on the Empire. What if, in many generations, the children of Deldrin come to find the Empress’ shade as stifling rather than sheltering. The notion of rebellion just doesn’t exist in the Empire, but it might now, with new races who are not so deeply oath sworn. Or maybe not — Nishvalen will have a part to play in deciding which direction develops. As far as I’m concerned, it is a problem I have delegated to the people entrusted to care for each city in the Outlands.  

Nishvalen, will you continue to keep watch from within my family from now on?

  It is long overdue, and he accepts right away. We will make arrangements for humans to see an Imperial oath swearing at the same time as the Council announces their decision to the populace.  

Day 1087

The Council is not meeting until the afternoon, and so I sleep for as long as my body wants. It’s a luxury, in this world paced by people waking up at dawn.   The meeting itself is very different from the last. For one, it is led by Persivus. The chambers themselves have transformed overnight into a mix between a war room and a classroom - desks and rolling boards. I feel so much more at home than I did before, and Persivus is eager to show me around his diagrams and discoveries.  

Bodin shook me yesterday. I went home and did something I’m told used to be a tradition in my family - I found somewhere dark and quiet and asked what I could do.

  He touches his collar and tells me that it felt like two soft hands had placed it there and then spoke to him.  

I’ve already given you the gifts you need. Use them.

  I smile to hear that the touch of the Empress can be felt again even by Ventarri who have not always kept the old ways.   The central table of the chamber holds an enormous map of the city, with the new islands pinned to it on separate pieces of parchment. He tells me that to them, the Empire is akin to the Storm. It cannot be understood, only adapted to and survive. Deldrin would be lost within it. And the solution, he thinks, is to have a clear vision to hold onto and ground themselves with.   So he began asking questions about the problems the city needs to solve. And if he was carrying the Empress’ shade and acting in the interests of her people, what would she have him do? He seems almost sheepish, admitting that once he asked himself that question, it became easy. It was like he could feel her (or me) hovering over his shoulder and nodding with approval.   On the map, he taps an island dedicated to the trades and describes it as an industrial dumping ground. No one wants to live where they work, and so they allocated this island to industry because it seemed to suffer the most catastrophic disasters in the past. But now, homes are being built there for Osyr and he wants it to be different. He speaks about how dwarves have treated Drettir, and knows that it is not the way forward in trades and industry.   His new plans have schools built for trades similar to the schools for scholars - he wants to teach tradespeople their craft and elevate them beyond mere labourers. He can see from what I said earlier about their trade quality that they need to revolutionize their way of life and work if they hope to join the Empire. They can’t afford for tradespeople to be a lower class of people.   And all of this progress will require spending and development, including of the outlying areas beyond Deldrin. But he has political concerns about how to approach the leaders of local villages in a way that is effective and respectful. He hopes to work with Nishvalen to figure out how to do this, and one aspect of it will likely be for the sages to get out of their towers and go lend aid to the villages. Imperial wizards have a tradition of service to the land surrounding their homes and studies — it is humans who sequester themselves and hide from the world while they immerse themselves in esoteric knowledge.   As the other council members arrive, Persivus sweeps them up into his plan in a smooth way that I have to admire. He doesn’t even bother making his case, he simply assumes that the others are with him and before long, they are. When Nishvalen arrives, the two of them go to work together and I watch my watchkeeper advising and adding specificity to Persivus’ plan. After a few hours, there is not a single council member who is anything but supportive of the rapidly developing plan. And Nishvalen has his hand on Persivus’ shoulder like a proud older brother.   Throughout the discussion, nearly all the other council members contribute to the plan in some way:

• Elsida casts tea leaves and looks to me for approval when she suggests placing academies in places where their shade will be thrown over vast swathes of the city.
• Wyn picks apart each decision to make sure it won’t damage the ancient magics protecting the city…until Nishvalen points out that they have a guardian dragon (perhaps multiple, in time) and that it is not just ancient magics that will protect them.
• Garrett begins work designing a proper army for the city, instead of the rotating cast of professional soldiers who serve in temporary armies for council members.

  By the time the meeting is drawing to a close, the council has seemingly just taken it for granted that the integration will happen, and the vote seems almost a formality. So Nishvalen will draw up plans for an announcement and his oath ceremony, and draft oaths for the other council members. The leadership of the city should be oath sworn.   They are still eagerly in discussion when I slip out of the chambers and go find Elnora, eager to see what omens she has been shown.   I find her in front of a large desk strewn with paintbrushes and watercolours, with paintings hanging to dry around her. They are dreamlike and hazy, even for watercolours, and depict several scenes:

• The back view of a woman with flowing blue hair in Imperial robes, holding a staff carved with Carthian runes that radiate light. Around her are the dark shapes of an army with banners flying. It is an Imperial scene, but none of the banners are recognizable to me - legible, but not familiar. Around her neck is a pendant I recognize from Elsida.
• The same woman in more casual robes, fighting with a sorceress with a similar staff. Water magic clashes between them. The sorceress grins and tosses her arm around this pale Imperial mystic — they are friends training together.
• And finally, the figure kneeling.

  I let Elnora explain them to me, though I already have a strong sense of who these people are and what they mean. The woman with pale blue hair is Elnora herself, and the sorceress is someone she describes to me — a human woman sometimes wearing an eye patch. She addressed Elnora as ‘sister’ and they trained together as competitive sisters do.  

She felt like someone I grew up with, but she also felt like the oldest sister I could ever have. She wasn’t always the same person…

  In other dreams, there was war. They called Elnora and Hella ‘vile creatures of darkness’ and came with torches and spears. She dreamed of crossing the sea in great ships and bringing soldiers with her…but for what purpose?  

I dreamt of a woman who taught me many things. She felt like more than a teacher…she was a lover. I couldn’t recall her face, but I felt like she was an elf. Whenever she spoke to me, it was in the ancient tongue.

  She points at the no-longer-glowing egg on her night table - the magic is gone and her dreams have returned to being just dreams. Elsida says that such things are omens or portents, so that she can recognize these things when they arrive. But Elnora thinks none of it feels inevitable — they are things that she’ll have to fight for. Like all things, I point out. Even those tangled up in fate have to fight for the destiny they want.  

I dreamt of a lot of graves. And I dreamed of friends who grew old as I stayed young. I said goodbye a lot. But this woman I loved…she never left me. And neither did my sister.

 

No…she wouldn’t.

  I tell her about Hella, and Kadia. And Elnora tells me she can vaguely remember me and her teacher watching as the two of them trained together. At this, I remain silent. That sort of relationship is one to be discovered, not one to be led to.   But she didn’t see Deldrin in these dreams…even though she thought she wanted to see what becomes of this place, it seems more like she is meant to follow me away from it at some point. She saw jungles, Carthians, and human cities full of people full of hate. Whatever life’s work she and Hella take on will take them all over the world, across the sea and deep into the Imperial heartland.   Her tone turns reflective as she tells me about one of the first healers they saw when she started getting sick. The healer suggested stripping away all her magic to save her. It would be a half life, and obviously she refused. Now the world she’s seen in her dreams is radiant, and she wants it. She sounds certain that she wants it.   Bran’s omens did their job. If I am to work on bringing this strange human girl properly back to life, I won’t be doing it alone anymore.   If she can be strong enough to absorb the magic of the pearl, I expect that it will either consume the zephyr magic entirely, or live in a state of painful equilibrium between the zephyr and Osyr magic. I tell her about the sharp edges of zephyr magic and how that is the problem, not the moon and sea. My personal theory is that we could replace the zephyr moon magic with Carthian moon magic. But she will need to develop an affinity and understanding for that magic on her own with a teacher. She will have to come to Dreamfall, where the only Carthian this side of the Barrier is in residence.