Chapter Nine

Lesser immortals now occupy the dominions that their greater masters once used to. This is the case for all of the dominions in the Sea of Stars, except, oddly enough, for the Dominion of Glory. The Throne of Glory has been empty for millennia.

The Bard Rhennalus,

The 'Histories'

The Imperial Palace,

Arendelle

December 16th, 1843

Elsa stood just outside the door to the conference chamber. She was alone in the bare hallway, pale sunlight filtering through a series of windows along the wall. She'd been trying to figure out the words that she had to say to her ring of advisors, but they seemed elusive. What could she say that wouldn't send them into a panic? What could she say to let them know that there was still reason to hope?

Was there still reason to hope?
The world hadn't ended overnight, so there was that to be thankful for. Elsa wasn't sure how much had changed. How much harder would Everdark be to defeat, now that it had re-entered the world? Had they passed some point of no return?

The door to the conference room opened slightly, and Odette peeked out at her.

"They're getting pretty restless in there," she said softly.

Elsa sighed. "Well, then we'd better get this over with."

They both stepped back into the vaulted chamber. A large, circular table dominated the room, large enough to seat forty, but understaffed. Queen Arianna and a dozen or so people associated with her government or with Arendelle's sat in the chamber, clustered around the near side of the table. A somber air glowered over them all.

"Finally," one of Arianna's men grumbled softly as Elsa took her place at the head of the table.

She pretended not to notice.

"Good morning," Elsa said to them all, nodding her head.

"What about this morning, exactly, is good?" Arianna said, an unsubtle edge to her voice. Elsa and Anna's aunt had never forgiven them for the way she'd been made to swear allegiance to the Unified Empire. Elsa hadn't expected Corona to be such a persistent problem for them, but Arianna had made It quite clear that she did not consider her position in the empire a permanent one.

Elsa bit back an argumentative reply. Her heart sank slightly as several people around the room nodded or voiced assent, including some of her own. These were people who had held her in the utmost respect as their queen just months before. Now Elsa felt like a stranger in their presence.

How quickly things change, she mused to herself. Suddenly Anna's the one with all the talent for statecraft. If she were here, she'd be able to pacify them.

"Agnarr always believed that even on mornings that are not good, we should still say 'good morning,' if only out of the hope that by our collective will we can improve our fortunes."

"I believe that you brought us news, Protector," Charles Vander prompted gently, before the hostility could continue. Elsa was glad that Vander had made it. She hadn't been in Arendelle much recently, but according to Anna, the elderly man was beginning to have difficulty climbing stairs.

"Yes, and I regret to say that it is not good news," Elsa said. "You are all no doubt aware that I have been away for several weeks. Most recently, this time was spent in Egypt, where Everdark's forces had recently made inroads. My purpose was to act as a harrying force, trying to disrupt them where I could without engaging directly."

She added that last part to remind them all, once again, that she was still just a human. Immortality or not, magical abilities or not, she was one person, and she couldn't fight all the forces of darkness by herself. Unfortunately, that seemed to displease some of their allies. Indeed, the same man who had grumbled upon her arrival turned his gaze towards the ceiling now. It annoyed Elsa, but there was really nothing that she could do. It might give her some small satisfaction to berate, or frighten, this man, but Anna would be the one who would have to pick up the pieces of the frayed alliance later.

"I discovered that they were excavating the monuments in the Valley of the Kings," Elsa said, "though at first I could only guess as to what their motives were. By the time Odette and I figured out, it was too late. They recovered a dark artifact from one of the temples, and using it, they recalled Everdark to the world."

Elsa looked around the table. Thirteen faces, so few of them anything better than hostile.

"Until now, our enemy was confined to the Sea of Stars, made to lead from afar. That is no longer. We do not know for certain what this change will bring, but it is possible that the God of Darkness will attack us itself. At the least, we should be prepared for that eventuality."

"What?" The same, belligerent man said, incredulous. He was smiling, in a 'this is absurd' sort of way. "What do you mean, we should prepare ourselves? Haven't you been spending the last two months telling us that Everdark was a world-ending threat? One that, by the way, we still haven't seen any evidence of, mind you! And now you've decided that we should be prepared to fight it directly? And of course you won't be here to help, us will you? You'll be off gallivanting halfway across the world, wasting your time on some other useless mission, won't you, Protector?"

The man spat the last word, cheeks ruddy, face flushed. He pounded a meaty fist on the table.

Elsa felt an instantaneous fury, a white-hot rage that demanded to be satiated. The man's insubordination must be punished. Before she could stop herself, she started to move –

Twelve horrified gazes stared back at her as she stood with one hand outstretched towards the man, magic playing around her fingertips. He met her gaze defiantly. Almost seeming to dare her to strike him down. Elsa realized that she'd already lost. By raising a hand against him in anger, she'd validated his distrust and hatred of her. Her shoulders slumped as she lowered her arm.

"What is your name?" She asked him, feeling deflated and very weary.

Some of the tension in the room faded away. Several held breaths were released.

"Secretary Schlemmer," he said, voice still dripping with vitriol. "Your empire's new treasury secretary, if you cared enough to pay attention."

"Well, Schlemmer," Elsa said tiredly, "be observant and notice that I didn't execute you for your insubordination right there. I appreciate the service that you provide for our empire, but you would do well to remember that a treasurer is very… replaceable. I might not have many allies in this room right now, but I can guarantee you that in a disagreement between the two of us, no one is going to come to your defense."

There was utter silence. Elsa deliberately forced herself to maintain eye contact with Schlemmer, not only because she wanted to intimidate him, but also because she couldn't bring herself to meet Odette's gaze after caving into something as base and juvenile as threatening the man's life. Schlemmer's hard gaze faltered, and he finally glanced down, a bead of sweat visible on his forehead even from Elsa's distance.

"Yes, Protector," he said eventually in a small voice.

Elsa felt a wave of guilt and shame as she looked around the table again to find that no one seemed willing to meet her eyes now.

I used to be able to rule without fear, she thought to herself. Or was that always an illusion?

"To your other point," Elsa continued, deliberately taking some of the edge out of her voice, "I would expect Corona to have a longer memory for its own experience against Everdark's forces. At the very least, Arianna surely still remembers."

Arianna continued to stare at her hands. Saying nothing.

"Perhaps the reason that you consider my absences to be 'gallivanting' is related to the lack of transparency with regard to their purpose," Elsa said. "That point is taken. Until now, we have considered it to be an unnecessary risk to share information about the purpose of my missions with the advisors to the throne, considering that we are unable to personally account for the loyalty of each of you. But now I can see that we should be taking steps to bring you all into the fold."

In her peripheral vision, Elsa saw Odette's eyebrows shoot up. It was Odette who had come up with the idea of secrecy about Elsa's location. She hadn't liked the reticence of Arianna and her people to join the empire, and Odette still didn't trust that they were entirely on the same side. She was still of the belief that something was distinctly wrong about the way the Coronans had acted recently.

Elsa tried not to think about it too much.

"I will discuss this with the empress upon her return from London," Elsa said. "In the meantime, I hope very much that an appreciation for the gravity of our circumstances will lead you all to redouble your efforts at doing your best for this empire."

"Is that all, Protector?" Vander asked.

"For now," Elsa said. "I'm aware that I haven't offered any advice on how best we might combat this new threat. That's because I don't have any, yet. I decided that it would be best to share this information with you all as soon as possible. We'll continue to be in touch as the empire develops an official plan of action."

After a few moments of waiting in silence to see if anyone else would ask a question, Elsa nodded. "Very well. You are dismissed."

The scrape of chairs against the marble flooring echoed in the chamber as the advisors filed out of the room. Elsa tried to catch Arianna's gaze as her aunt walked past, intending to apologize for invoking the death of her husband as an argument against Schlemmer, but Arianna swept past quickly, staring at the floor. After a few moments, the only people left in the chamber were herself, Odette, Montaigne, and Sorise Linkletter.

Sorise tucked a stray hair back into her bun and fixed her indeterminable gaze on Elsa. "I find it quite surprising that the empress considers herself to be an inferior leader to you, Protector. All the issues of temperament that she possesses are magnified several times in you."

Odette bristled. "Now, I hardly think that's fair. The man is an asshole."

The elderly woman's slight smile disappeared, turning instead to a hard line. "He is concerned. He has yet to see the fruits of this new alliance benefiting his people, and you bring him news of a great and terrible new threat that he must contend with. Likely, he is quite new to the notion of a world in which the fate of multitudes rests upon the ability of a very small number of people to manipulate magic against an ancient god of darkness."

Sorise looked between them both. "If your argument is that the secretary acted out of line when he spoke in such a way to Elsa, I must respectfully disagree. One could argue that a nation's leader should be above this kind of reproach, but Elsa is not this nation's leader."

Elsa spoke before Odette could reply, voice weary. "Alright, that's enough of that. Montaigne, were you planning on berating me too, or can we head our separate ways?"

She tried not to let an edge of sarcasm taint her voice, but it was hard to keep it out. It seemed that everyone was against her, today. Mentally, she told herself that it was the bad news. These people were frightened by the news of Everdark's return, and they were coping with it irrationally, lashing out at the person they expected to solve their problems for them. Elsa had about her fill of it for one day.

"No, I think that I'll just keep my thoughts to myself," Montaigne said, eyes twinkling humorously.

Elsa forced herself to smile. "Very well, then. I'll see the both of you later."

She nodded to them and turned to walk out of the conference chamber, Odette falling into step beside her.

xxx

Later that day, Elsa sat behind Odette on the bed in their personal chamber, absently weaving the long brown strands of her hair into a French braid, like the kind that she used to wear.

"Am I being thin-skinned?" Elsa asked.

"No," Odette immediately replied, glancing over her shoulder. "I mean, the Coronans have had a vendetta against us ever since Arianna swore allegiance to the empire, but for some reason Sorise has always hated you, too. I didn't think she'd ever say something like that to your face, though."

"I mean, was that hatred?" Elsa asked. "Or was she just speaking her mind? Are we doing the right thing, Odette? Or are we just telling ourselves that?"

"Are we doing the right thing by fighting back against Everdark? Of course we are," Odette said. "So everything else is irrelevant. What we're doing here isn't a buffet platter. People don't get to decide that they want our protection, and complain about our methods at the same time. It just doesn't work that way."

Elsa let go of Odette's hair involuntarily. After a moment, Odette turned back again.

"What is it?"

"Part of the reason that I hired you for the magistrate's council all that time ago was because I was impressed by how you spoke truth to power, Odette," Elsa said softly. "You believed in accountability and justice for the people at the top."

Odette turned all the way around now and took Elsa's hands in her own. "I still do. And in a perfect world, I'd be happy to entertain dissenting opinions. Hell, I'd be the one voicing them, if no one else was willing to do it. But we are living through a crisis on a magnitude greater than anything anyone has ever experienced, Elsa. Philosophically just rule is fit for peacetime. Benevolent dictatorship is what will guide us through war."

Elsa gulped. "You know, it offended me more than it should have, when Sorise insulted my temperament. I… I always thought that I'd been a pretty good queen. Not a perfect one, but I tried my best."

Odette reached forwards and pulled Elsa's head into her bosom, running her hand through the queen's silvery hair.

"You were." Odette sighed. "You know, for all the terrible things that my father did, there's one thing that I'm grateful he taught me."

"What's that?" Elsa asked, curious. Odette didn't talk much about her father. He was an abusive man, a terrible, violent person. He'd killed her mother.

"Just because someone is older than you, it doesn't mean that they're right," she said. "Sorise may have spent forty years studying the lives of medieval kings, but that didn't imbue her with their wisdom. There's a big difference between learned and smart."

Elsa sighed. "I wish that there wasn't, though. Maybe then I'd know what to do just by watching what Ashanerat did, six thousand years ago."

Odette didn't reply for a few moments.

"I have a theory," she finally said, "about why I get visions from ancient Greece, and you get ones from Celestus," she said.

"Oh?" Elsa replied, sitting back up and adjusting one of the shoulder straps on the shift that she wore.

"Yes, but we'll need to wait until Hans returns to test it out," she said.

They still hadn't gotten another update from Hans and Anna and Kariena in London, although Anna had been gone with them for two days, now. Which meant that things had probably not gone according to plan. It was to be expected, yet still it was worrisome. Elsa always felt like some part of her was never able to truly relax when Anna wasn't near her side. Something left over from when they'd been forced to spend years apart. Elsa was snapped from her rumination by Odette's voice, excitedly plowing on.

"You have visions of the last Protector, right?"

"Yes," Elsa said.

"I think I'm seeing the last Mender," Odette said. "But I just don't recognize them yet."

"You're telling me that there wasn't convenient exposition at the start of your first vision?" Elsa joked. In reality, she had been lucky that her first vision had been a reliving of a conversation that Ashanerat had had with one of the other wizards in Celestus's ruling consulate, a man named Rhennalus. In it, she'd learned Ashanerat's name and duties.

"But you really think so?" Elsa said, more seriously.

"It does make a certain amount of sense, right?" Odette asked. "I had Anna try to use it, to see if she'd be able to have a vision, and she could barely bring herself to touch it. Do you remember the way it made me sick, the first time that I did?"
Elsa frowned. "Yes, it gave you nausea," she said. "But now that I think about it, you seem perfectly able to touch it now."

Excitedly, Odette stood up and walked over to the dresser, where she took a box out of one of the drawers and retrieved the amulet. She walked back over. "Touch it," she said. "And tell me what it feels like."

Elsa slowly closed her eyes, reached out, and placed her hand on it.

"It feels… warm," she said. "Pleasantly so. And there's a vibration, I can feel, even though I know that it's not moving. I can feel a sense of power, emanating from it. Welcoming me," she said thoughtfully.

"And it always did feel that way to you," Odette said, "because by the time that we found it, you already knew that you were the Protector. You'd already been awakened. But the first time that I touched it, I didn't know that I was a Mender yet. I hadn't even really admitted that I was a witch yet. I'm telling you, that this amulet speaks to the archmages. Anyone else who touches it gets sick. But we feel the same thing."

Elsa met Odette's eyes. She was right, Elsa realized.

"So… why was an amulet just like this one in Egypt, and why did they need it to bring back Everdark?" She wondered aloud. "What does that have in common with us?"

Odette put the amulet back into its box and returned it to the dresser. "Well, I'm just speculating, but I have a guess."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Okay, shoot."

"Well, when you told us about the Sea of Stars, do you remember that I took notes on everything you said?"

"Yes," Elsa said. "You said that you wanted to preserve everything the way I remembered it directly after the fact, in case we needed a detailed account later."

Odette was moving again, turning the room over to look for the papers that she took the notes in. Finally, she found the ledger underneath a pile of other ones in a cabinet beside the desk.

"Here we go."

She walked back over to the bed and flipped it open to a silk bookmark that she'd left in a page partway through.

"Here is the first time that you mention the 'Lost Immortals.' You said that all you knew about them was that there were inhabitants of the Sea of Stars before the current ones, and that in the very distant past something happened that made them all go away. You didn't know what it was, and you weren't sure if they were important, somehow. They'd come up in a conversation that you had with Verne, your wizard companion."

Elsa felt a pang of sorrow, remembering the dear man who had given his life for her during the battle at the Worldgate. Her entire experience in the Sea of Stars felt so distant now. It was almost as if she'd dreamt the whole thing. She wondered briefly if the Hall of Glory, the dominion that Everdark had gifted to her while she was still its thrall, was still hers. It couldn't be, right? Did it matter if it was?

"I remember," Elsa said.

"Well, I talked to Hans about the Lost Immortals before he left for London, and he had an answer for me. Apparently Hades told him about them, one time. Hades wasn't the first God of the Underworld. Originally, Everdark possessed that role. As a matter of fact, none of the Immortals in the Sea of Stars are the original ones anymore. It turns out, Everdark was part of a group of thirteen divine beings that comprised the original inhabitants of the Sea of Stars. They each held something called a 'dominion,' which I suppose is just a partition of the Sea."

"Yes, I have one," Elsa said.

"The dominion of Glory," Odette said, flipping a few pages to where Elsa had told them of that. "According to Hades, the original paragon of that dominion was a platinum dragon called Tevarion the Sunmaker."

Elsa snorted.

"Anyway," Odette continued, "I think that the amulets are artifacts left behind from the era of the original immortals. They seem connected to ancient and powerful magics, and I can't imagine a man-made relic having the power to re-bind a god to the world. The only question is how your ancestor ended up with one."

Elsa sighed. "And as for that, unfortunately, I don't think that we'll ever know. Whatever records of Ceristo that we used to have, got destroyed during the sacking."

Odette shrugged. "I wouldn't be quite so certain. I think that the truth will find its way to us eventually, somehow. In any case, in the meantime I think that we should both be deliberately trying to use the amulet to experience visions more often, from now on. I think it's safe to say by now that Everdark isn't controlling the visions, and I think that after the business with the Wargates, it's become clear that there's a lot we can learn from them."

Elsa nodded. "I was about to make the same suggestion, actually. I have plenty more to learn from Ashanerat."