Chapter 2–Motivation
It had been three weeks since her Ascension. She hadn't told anyone yet and had been very glad it was daytime and she was far away from everyone else when she had Exalted.
Now she was in the audience chamber, doing what she normally did: watching her father rule. Watching. Learning. One day, one day probably not too far off if his health kept deteriorating, Serena would make a second ascension and become queen. Queen over Ashdale. Though this would have discouraged others, Serena saw it as a challenge: she had no intention of staying queen of Ashdale, in fact she'd already begun to lay out plans for the liberation of Nexus and the instalment of her as queen over it. First she'd need to show the other nobles (Or "monarchs" as they liked to call themselves) that she was a good, strong ruler. Then she'd use her Charms to gain control over them and to sway the people of Nexus and the surrounding area and one by one get them in her pocket. Inevitably, old King Cole would see her as a threat and try to wipe her off the map, which would give her reason enough to take Betancuria and, from there, liberate Nexus by defeating the Cynis legion in battle at the opportune moment.
But for now she waited. Yesterday, her father had left the kingdom to her, but there is little a monarch can do to prove themselves in one day besides win a battle and there were no convenient battles around and Serena quite honestly did not relish the idea that her plans necessitated them (Though she had proven herself a tenacious war leader during the last war). Her father was listening to supplicants and responding, always temperately, always taking the middle path. That was one of King Arthur Venser's most distinctive traits: he sought common ground and compromise in all things. This was one of the things Serena did not share with him: she was either hot or cold, serene or raging. It was again something that had alienated her father from her, but he'd learned to accept that years ago; despite their differences they were family (in fact besides her son Tommy, Arthur was the only blood relation Serena could really trust) and he knew he needed her to succeed him, and they were both grown-up enough to live with each other's differences and know that these were things they could not change about each other and that the other was still more alike than different.
Of course, now that she was Exalted, she could very well change how her father worked, she just needed to get the hang of Essence channeling. She'd been able to do Martial Arts charms because she'd been learning those techniques for years, just never been able to perform them outside of extremely controlled, assisted circumstances and never to the same degree as she was now. But she knew that she'd have to go deeper: slicing a demon tempter's throat was well and good, but when she compared herself to the stories of what Solars could do or even to what Immaculates could do, she came up short. Not to mention she knew that in order to bring peace, justice and good rule to the world she would have to learn how to do more than fight.
So she had practiced out in the grounds, reciting famous speeches, trying to channel her Essence through her conviction and passion into her voice, but hadn't achieved anything near the kind of feats she'd heard of. She was much more skilled at rhetoric now than she'd ever been, but she knew she was at only a fraction of her full potential. But she could not practice on people without alerting others! Every time she got near completion, she'd find a caste mark glowing on her forehead and have to stay away for twenty minutes until it went away. She knew Khaine could channel Essence without that happening, but apparently it wasn't as easy as it looked.
Her mind snapped back to the present as another supplicant came before King Arthur, this dark brown, with short dreadlocks and a fancy blue silk shirt which had clearly seen much better days, over which was a faded brown coat and a clean shaven face. His pants were of a similar blue silk and were also a little bit worse for wear. CLearly, this man was not from around here at all!
"You got my letter?" the man asked her father, who nodded "Yes, it was very persuasive. Your credentials do seem impeccable, if not your choice of foes."
"Who is this?" Serena asked quietly, muttering so that only her father could hear her.
"Reza Minos," said Arthur, "A merchant from Chiaroscuro. Wants a position as treasurer and I'm of a mind to give it to him."
That's odd, thought Serena, He never just hands someone a position like that! Anyone who can get him to do that is someone I want to meet.
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She invited him to have tea with her, and shortly after he sat down she struck up a conversation. "So," she began, "who are you who is so persuasive he can get my father to hire you right off the bat?"
"Reza Minos," he replied unhelpfully, "I'm a merchant from Chiaroscuro. I challenged the Guild for their dominance in the spice trade there and almost won, but then it all went to hell. They outspent me and that was it. But I managed to salvage what I could and actually come out ahead which was a minor miracle. Anyways, I'm no longer welcome in Chiaroscuran trading circles so I came here, wanting to do government work."
"I see," she said, "why government work?"
"I'm good at running things," the man replied.
"And how did you get my father to hire you so easily?"
"I've got excellent credentials and am highly persuasive, it's as simple as that."
"Alright," she said, "that makes sense," and she changed the subject.
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Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Serena and Reza became fast friends. He was fascinated by her intellect and her by his tales of his life in the south, though she found him rather whimsical for one so talented; he'd wandered from place to place, business to business, always excelling but seldom accomplishing much. He'd also been rather hard to get many details out of, and never said too much or too little. One day, she found a letter addressed to her.
Dear Serena, it read, I would like to– and as she watched, the next letters twisted and formed into a new message entirely inform you that I am a solar exalted. If you are reading this, then that must mean that you are also a solar and I am very glad you are, as it means that I may no longer be alone in this.
Surprised and shocked by this new turn of events, Serena wondered at what stroke of fortune (or perhaps Fate?) had led this man to her. Nonetheless, she threw the letter in the fireplace (she hadn't lived in her family for so long without becoming a little bit mistrusting).
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"So what do you want to do?" asked Serena. She was in her chambers, sitting across from Reza, again each holding half-full teacups (this was how most of her important conversations happened: over a spot of tea).
She had decided to be direct and to the point this time: no mind-games or veiled intentions. He knew what she was, she knew what he was, now all they needed to do was decide if they were going to be friends or foes. And for that she needed to know his goals. She supposed he'd probably have some kind of grand ambition, exalts were like that. Therefore it surprised her when he said "I don't really know."
"What do you mean?" she asked, wondering if he was trying to deceive her or if he was genuinely without a goal.
"What I mean is that I want to do things, but I don't know what. I tried to keep going with business, but I couldn't out-compete the Guild."
She supposed he was a different kind of empire-builder: he'd tried creating an empire of ships and caravans, and like so many others had been dragged down and defeated by the already established powers.
"So I decided that if I couldn't do that, I'd go out and help people, but I couldn't seem to do more than mediate a few petty disputes. I was a diplomat for a while, trying to avert wars and bring some peace in Chaya, but they wouldn't listen. Even after I'd made them not need to war they kept on fighting. So I left there."
"People," began Serena, "often as not don't really fight for the reasons they say they do. Usually it's actually about power, and "slighted honour" or "ideological conflicts" are merely a pretext."
"Never thought of it that way…" he muttered, looking slightly perturbed at that.
There was a moment of somewhat awkward silence, broken with Serena saying "So how long have you been a Solar?"
"Two years," he replied bitterly, "and nothing to show for it. I'm a vagrant whose never accomplished anything lasting, and I'm all out of ideals to uphold or ambitions to fulfill."
This was a side she hadn't seen in him; he'd always been cautious, never saying too much and certainly never betraying any seated bitterness over his lack of accomplishments. Granted, being a Solar Exalt without a lasting achievement to one's name must be galling, especially after two years. Khaine had accomplished much in the twelve years he was Exalted: he'd prevented six wars, negotiated four peaces, saved the nation of Halta, outwitted several deathknights (causing one of their deaths), caused a barbarian invasion to disintegrate before it hit, fooled a Raksha noble and had tea with the Emissary before it died in the invasion (or so the story went; many think the Emissary is still alive today) and won the heart of a certain young princess from Nexus.
"So what do you want to do?" Reza asked.
"Well," said Serena, "I've been looking at power and what people do with it. It's like in Chaya– people don't use their power to help others, they use it to get more of it. All these "reasons for war" are pretexts to mask rulers' lust for more power. They gain it, they accumulate it, they trade it, they seize it, and most ultimately abuse their power and those beneath them. But I think… I think that doesn't have to be the case. I think that it's possible for someone, especially someone like us, to make a real difference. To set an example for the rest of the world to follow. To use their power to do what's best for the people under them, so that the strong won't harm the weak anymore. That's what I want to do. Once there is a good, kind and responsible ruler on the throne, who won't abuse their power, peace, justice and happiness will follow, sure as light follows darkness. And I think– I think that for Nexus, I can be that ruler."
She realized that she'd been talking as much to herself as to him, and looked up. He was slowly nodding, pensive. He looked up and said "Yes. I suppose that's something I could support. I suppose you could even call it admirable. But… admirable things don't work in the real world, not if…" he trailed off, as if searching for the end to his sentence.
"Not if you try to do them alone," she finished for him, then added "but we don't have to be. If two Solars work together, they can change the world. It's what we were meant to do."