Queen Jasnah Kholin sighed letting her composure evaporate once she was all alone in her study. Dealing with monarchs was as infuriating now when she was one as it was before. She fought tradition her entire life, being crowned Queen of Alethi while being a heretic herself presented unique challenges. She was supposed to rule a nation of deeply religious subjects while being an unbeliever, Knight Radiant, and a scholar. Her being female hardly adds up to the pile of problems she will have to overcome. I shouldn't have accepted this burden. She thought tiredly. But how can I refuse my uncle? Dalinar Kholin was a force like a storm. He simply blew you over and assumed you'd always wanted to lie down in the first place. She smiled at the thought. Besides, someone else would do a far worse job than me.
Ivory—full-sized, like a human—stepped over to the table. Hands clasped behind his back, he wore his usual stiff formal suit. The spren's coloring was jet black, both clothing, and features, though something prismatic swirled on his skin. It was as if pure black marble had been coated in oil that glistened with hidden color. He looked toward the growing stack of notes on the table.
-"I wish I haven't agreed to this meeting with the Azish."- Jasnah said to the spren.
-"You accepted the role, Jasnah."- Ivory said. Ivory had a clipped, no-nonsense voice. "You are Monarch of Alethkar. Radiant only could have refused. But Radiant only you are not, the Queen you are now." He proclaimed with his strange diction.
-"I know, Ivory. But I think it was a mistake. Maybe somebody else would have done a better job."- she confessed showing uncharacteristic uncertainty.
-"I think you are far more adequate for the job than other humans."- Ivory said. "Other humans are unstable, they use emotions to guide them. But not you," he said, lifting his chin. "You are like a spren. You think by facts. You change not on simple whims. You are as you are."
She gave him a flat stare.
-"Mostly," he added. "Mostly. But it is, Jasnah. Compared to other humans, you are practically a stone!"
She sighed, standing up and brushing past him.
-"Jasnah?" Ivory asked. "Am I … in error?"
-"I am not so much a stone as you think, Ivory. Sometimes I wish I were."
Something stirred deep within her. Glimmers of memory from a dark room, screaming her voice ragged. A childhood illness nobody else seemed to remember, for all it had done to her. It had taught her that people she loved could still hurt her.
-"Have you ever wondered how it would feel to lose your sanity, Ivory?" Ivory nodded.
-"I have wondered this. How could I not? Considering what the ancient fathers are."
-"You call me logical," Jasnah whispered. "It's untrue, as I let my passions rule me as much as many."
Ivory was the only new-generation inkspren to form a Radiant bond. Some of his fellows would rather have killed Jasnah, instead of letting him risk what he had done.
The spren had a noble air about him, stiff-backed and commanding. He could change his size at will, but not his shape, except when fully in this realm, manifesting as a Shardblade. He had taken the name Ivory as a symbol of defiance. He was not what his kin said he was, and would not suffer what fate proclaimed.
The difference between a higher spren like him and a common emotion spren was in their ability to decide how to act. A living contradiction. Like human beings.
-"You have said, more humans should question their places in life. I presume it is only fair for you to follow your own words and question your own place in life." Spren concluded with a nod.
Jasnah came back to her desk and started looking through the notes and papers. Ivory stood silently letting her work.
-"All ten orders are again," Ivory said from behind her. For years it had been only the two of them, Jasnah and Ivory. Ivory had been dodgy about giving odds on whether the other sapient spren would refound their orders or not.
However, he'd always said that he was certain that the honorspren—and therefore the Windrunners—would never return. Their attempts to rule Shadesmar had apparently not endeared them to the other races. Yet they did. Kaladin Stormblessed, the flying bridgeman. Always serious, always solemn—and so tense. Like he had to be strict with himself to contain his passion. She closed her eyes reminding herself the consequences of a soft heart. The boy meant well but she doubted he could do what must be done for the good of them all.
Yet … "I've seen war, Brightness. I'm a soldier. Problem is, Ideals have expanded my focus. I can't help but see the common men among the enemy. They're not monsters." The young man said. It made Jasnah think. To what lengths am I willing to go to protect humanity? My kingdom? My family? Is there a point from which I would no longer return and become same as them?
"I can't afford to stay my hand from war, Ivory,"- she said sadly. "But I must remember that there are limits."
Ivory's inky surface glimmered before he responded.
-"That troubles you, Jasnah."- the spren said. "Aren't Alethi born for war?"
Jasnah let a small smile show on her face.
-"Is Captain Kaladin the one on Oathgate duty today?"- she asked changing the subject. The inky spren nodded.
Jasnah glanced at Navani's timekeeping fabriel and inwardly sighed.
-"Time to visit Bronze Palace has come again."- she said not looking forward to the meeting. She stood up motioning Ivory to follow her. The spren changed the size and reappeared at her shoulder.
The morning was bright today. Kaladin glanced at the plateau where Oathgate to Azir will soon transfer Brightness Jasnah. She is the Queen now. Kaladin corrected himself. He didn't know what to think of the woman. She was as infuriating as any lighteyes, maybe even more. And ruthless. Kaladin continued to lean against the wall, arms folded, but he shifted his posture, uncomfortable. "The Fused are immortal. Nothing stops their rebirth now that the Heralds have failed. This is our real problem. Our enemy has a near-endless supply of parshman bodies to inhabit." She said once. Kaladin tried to put himself in the shoes of those poor parshmen. Finally free of slavery and dullness of mind just to be possessed by an ancient evil spirit. He shivered partially at the thought and partially because of the cold. He inhaled a small amount of Stormlight to keep him warm.
Syl flew like a ribbon of light just to turn into her girl form on his shoulder.
-"The Queen is coming."- she said with a giggle.
-"What's so funny?"- Kaladin asked his spren.
-"I could have been a Queen too."- the little spren proclaimed, her tiny face smiling with mischief.
-"But you run away."
-"I did, I left all of that for you."- she said flying off his shoulder and appearing as a girl on a swing in front him. She studded the Kaladin for a second. "I am not sure I made a good bargain." She said laughing.
-"Are you trying a new form of comedy?"- Kaladin asked gruffly but he couldn't hide amusement from showing on his face. "Insulting people?"
-"I am smart and beautiful piece of god. I would be a great comedian. Thank you very much." She proclaimed cheerfully. Then her face went serious. "Kaladin, we need to talk. About the Words."
The cheer from Kaladin vanished that instant.
-"Syl, I can't," He said making fists. "It's too hard."
-"I know, we can stay the way we are now."- Syl said in a calming voice. "But for how long? The Enemy, he stirs."
Kaladin closed his eyes trying to calm himself. The feeling of powerlessness as the Fused charged at his friends. And he unable to stop them, to protect those he cares for. And the words, so close. If only he could ...
-"I know that Syl."- he finally said more roughly then he intended. "But right now, I can't say them."
Syl nodded. Then her solomon face turned cheerful again.
-"Come on…" Syl said, zipping around to his other side. "You need to be with people to be happy, Kaladin. I know you do."
-"I have my bridge crew," he muttered.
-"Not the same. And you know it."
-"So who would you suggest, Miss Matchmaker?"- Kaladin said sarcastically. "The last one you insisted on got married."
-"Oh, I don't know," Syl said. She took the shape of a tiny young woman in a girlish dress, floating before him. "But I will tell you when I find someone suitable and you will listen to me." She proclaimed wagging her finger at him.
Kaladin couldn't help it. He burst out into a healthy laugh imagining himself being with a woman just because his spren ordered him to do so. Syl smiled back zipping back and forth. You probably wanted that reaction, you little nuisance. He thought fondly.
Syl suddenly grew alert, zipping into the sky as a ribbon of light.
-"What is it?"- he asked alarmed, getting ready to summon her back to his hand as a shardblade.
-"The Queen is here."- Syl said suddenly turning back into a girl but this time wearing more intricate havah. And her figure looked much more mature than usual. Is she trying to imitate Jasnah Kholin? Kaladin wondered not understanding what Syl meant with her comment about Queen's presence.
-"I don't see her retinue, Syl."- he said looking towards the tower.
-"I don't need one, Captain."- a feminine voice said behind Kaladin.
Kaladin whirled summoning Syl as brilliant spear pointing her at the location from which voice came. There stood Jasnah Kholin, her arms crossed beneath her breasts, looking a bit annoyed.
-"Are you trying to commit regicide, Captain?"- Jasnah asked, her eyebrow curving a bit in amusement.
-"Why didn't you told me?"- he hissed at Syl who reformed into her usual girl form.
-"I did, dummy, you didn't listen to me."- spren responded, mockingly hurt by Kaladins harsh words.
-"I am sorry your Highness, I wasn't expecting you coming all alone."- Kaladin said confused. "And sneaking behind me to boot."
-"I haven't been sneaking, Captain."- Jasnah said, her lips pursing. "I thought it would be better to avoid pomp and time wasting. Large retune slows down my work and I have a lot of work to do."
Kaladin nodded entering the small area of the gate. They still didn't have enough Stormlight all though situate has been better now since Dalanar spoke new Words. He didn't know what all that meant, he was too busy struggling with his own personal voidbringers to think about others accomplishments.
-"So only two of us will be using the gate today?"- Kaladin asked.
Jasnah nodded primly. Storms, she does look like a Queen. Infuriating Queen. He thought, admiring her poise and bearing.
-"You are making my job much harder, your Highness."- Kaladin said summing Syl and stabbing her in the ancient fabriel.
-"How so?"- Jasnah asked laconically, lost in her own thoughts.
-"Your protection would go much smoother if you would be in a crowd of people."- he declared leaving Syl in the stone.
Jasnah looked around and then got her eyes on Captain.
-"Wouldn't that job be even more easier if you didn't let other bridgemen go to rest?"- she asked raising one eyebrow at Kaladin.
Storms, she is right. Kaladin thought wincing at the rebuke. Suddenly a spren made out of Ink appeared between them. And Kaladin noticed a high pitched ping resounded in the empty chamber of the Oathgate. Small dart flew missing the Queen by just a few strands of hair.
-"Jasnah, assassin here is!"- Inky spren warned. Kaladin swore unsure from which direction the dart came.
-"Use the gate!"- Jasnah ordered and Kaladin pushed the Syl turning the rings of the fabriel. He saw in his peripheral vision a person with a mask on his face charging towards them. The inky spren disappeared and shardblade appeared in Jasnah's palm. But as soon as assassins arm entered the room Kaladin reached the position for fabriels activation and the light flashed. And everything was gone.