34.3 A Hand of Her Own

General Summary

Day 517

After brunch I bring Lyssa, Kaide, and Liliales into the lower levels to meet the Empress one by one.    Kaide goes first and emerges pale-faced but reassured. I don't pry into their conversation but she tells us all that the Empress offered to share her memories if Kaide wanted them (which she doesn't).

I am reconciled that she is not me. She asked if I wanted to be Osyr or if I wanted to remain an elf...that the Osyr could be her burden so that I could find my own path. I am glad I can be myself without being her.

Even more, she asked if Kaide wanted to keep their name and if the Empress should take a new one. I smile at this - if Kaide is to remain an elf then at some point it would make sense for her to choose a heart name for herself. I had been tempted to ask this of the Empress herself, not least of all because I would like to have something to call her if we are going to be family.   Lyssa and I enter next and she kneels as I stay standing. The Empress beckons her up as well and questions her about the dwarves. Evidently she has heard of the dwarves of the Valley and thinks it a good thing that they escaped bondage.

Will they become the allies we will need?

Lyssa's answer is thorough, just like I would expect a brief from her to be. She speaks about how they are everything we could have hoped for, though too disposed towards self-sacrifice. She says that they could be not just fierce allies but fast friends. Though the Domain dwarves are brittle and rotting from within because of the structures they uphold. She speaks passionately about how the few suppress the many and how many dwarves have their potential wasted, trapped in their castes.   Her description leaves little room for reformation or kind rehabilitation, pointing instead to the necessity of forcibly changing those in control. Too many uprisings and attempts at liberation from below have failed for there to be any further opportunities.   The Empress asks me who and how we will break their chains and while I have a semblance of an answer about needing my magic and authority to interact effectively with the Ventarri I ask Lyssa to give us the benefit of her experiences.   Her answer, again, is well-planned. She envisions it as a (relatively) lengthy war by the standards of time on this side. Carving out pieces of the Domain around the periphery and taking control of their agricultural centres to starve the Capital and increase unrest and pressure on their Ventarri leaders. Then we could take the North by breaking Ventarri bonds in Stolvari and Nacht.   Eventually she says she would like to negotiate with the Ventarri leadership in-person and exert the force of the Empress' bond on them so they can see what bondage feels like. And even though some may be willing to offer allyship they may still need to be brought to justice to gain the trust and respect of the oppressed.   For a moment it is like we are in my war tent and I suggest that she and Zadiyah plan the opening moves of engagement, potentially bringing our own agitators in since we have seen how effective they were against us in Drognar. If we can establish ties between the Valley and Lone Mountain Keep we will have a good staging point for pushing towards the domain.   When the Empress speaks it is not to name Lyssa a Dread Lord as I had thought. Instead, she asks if I am ready to have a Hand of my own.   The new oaths that Lyssa swears reshape her bond both to me and the Empire. She is released from her obedience to the Empress herself but keeps her fealty to the Empire, serving now as an extension of my authority and devotion to our people. At the end of our ritual I feel our bond flare and glow ever brighter against the other stars that track the members of my family.   Normally this ceremony involves the gift of a face name for someone who now has reason to be known by many who do not know their hearts. Looking at Lyssa before me I make a change to how any of my Hands will walk through the world. Like me they won't have face names. Anyone working to exert my will on the world will be known by their hearts wherever they go - all of us will need heart names that describe not only the core of who we are but who we are to the Empire and its people.   Outside Kaide is teaching Liliales about the Osyr runes in the library when I call him to meet the Empress. She addresses him as a Prince of the Empire (a title I find very amusing and wonder that if he wakes as a girl we might all finally get a real princess to tease). The Empress wishes to get to know him and learn about who he is, sending me away to a surprise she has set up for me in the rest of the gardens of the space.   I wind my way through the familiar pathways to the great central fountain and feel my breath leave my lungs.   Doraal is standing there.