A few months after the exodite meeting high farseer Imisha laid crawled up on her bed back at the craftworld. She wanted to die. The roof was spinning and the stomach cramps rolled over her like waves. The ornate room smelled of sweat and vomit. Oh god here it comes again. Her stomach heaved and she lent over the side of the bed to retch up what little food was left in her.

One her way back up she caught her own reflection in the mirror. She was a mess. Pale and clammy. Why had she allowed her hair to grow when during her inconveniently extended stay at the maiden world? Now it fell straggly and foul across her face. First thing tomorrow she would cut it off. And get rid of that ridiculous braid. It is for savages, not craftworlders. She rubbed her eyes and squinted. Where was the purple scar that normally covered her right cheek? She traced her hand to her face. The scar was still there, but felt...thinner somehow. And then the nausea crashed over here again.

She was quite alone, with noone to hear her pathetic retching. With noone to help or comfort her. She had sealed her door with every means known to her. No one must know she was sick. Her position rested upon her strength. Among the ruling elite none dared oppose the mighty Imisha. If her political rivals knew the state she was in they would surely try to exploit it. If she could just figure out what was wrong with her. Damn useless doctors. Exhausted she closed her eyes. Just for a second.

Imisha sat up with a start. There was someone in the room with her. And it was her least favorite person in the entire galaxy. Casually draped in her writing chair sat the young exodite princess. All of Imisha runes and papers were in a total mess. Apparently the concept of privacy was foreign for the princess. Tact wasn't her strongest side either. She didn't give the Imisha so much as a second to collect herself before she laid into her, like their last argument had never ended.

"I am going to be honest with you: I think you are a terrible farseer. You have totally misunderstood what are role in meant to be. For you it is almost a military rank. You think it's about who swings the strongest stroke and summons the fiercest storms. That battle prowess gives you the right to rule."

Imishas sight had been clouded for a long time. These days the vague omens and subtle touches annoyed her and she seldom found the peace her colleagues talked about to sort out all the threads of fate. For her it just all became a mess. To compensate for this and keep her position of power she had allied with more martial factions within the craftworld. And honed her own skills to a razorsharp edge. And as a result over the last few decades the craftworld doctrine had taken a much more aggressive approach.

"But a farseer is not meant to be a warrior. We have others for that. She is supposed to be a guide, someone meant to shepherd our fragile canoe through the terrors of the night."

At this point Imisha realized the bed had fresh sheets and someone had cleaned up the vomit from the floor. She looked around, dazed and confused. There was no one in the room but her and the princess, who annoyed at her lack of attention raised her voice.

"Not straight into them! Your blind pride and hatred for the humans almost dragged us into an unwinnable war that would have seen the end of us all. That is why I have taken steps to remove you from your place of power so that cooler heads may prevail."

The princess took up an empty bottle from her robe and placed in on the desk. She looked purposely at Imisha.

"What is that? "Imisha managed to stammer. The cramps were returning.

"That is what I poured in the welcome drink back in the chief's tent."

"You...you poisoned me?"

"Actually you have yourself to blame for your current predicament. All I did was to remove an obstacle in the way." The princess picked up the bottle again. "This little thing is something extremely old and very very rare. My sister managed to smuggle it to me at great danger to herself. I have been saving it for a situation just like this one."

"But the others...they also drank" Imisha eyes widened in fury and she started to rise despite the pain. "If you hurt him I will rip the..."

"Calm down! He is just fine. And so is the human by the way." The farseer sagged down back onto the bed. "Why would I go through all the trouble of putting that deal together if I wanted to poison them? It was you I was after. Yet I knew you would never drink something by yourself. So I needed something that would only affect you. This was the perfect solution."

"Because I am a seer?"

"Oh no much simpler than that. Because you are a woman."

"A woman?"

"Yes. And there have always been one very simple way to put women out of action."

The coin didn't drop for the farseer, but in her defence she wasn't exactly at her best.

"Will it kill me?" Imisha tried to keep her voice steady but in the middle of it she doubled over and writhed in cramps.

"Kill you? Who do you take me for?" A look of genuine shock spread across the princess veiled face. "The exact opposite actually. This is what that I am talking about. I never met a seer who was so blind to all things around her. You met me twice and don't have a clue who I am. You didn't foresee me drugging you. Or sneaking in here. You even missed your own children's destiny. You girl, have to be the worst farseer I ever met." the princess laughed.

"I don't have any children" the farseer spat between clenched teeth.

"Oh for Ishas sake do I have to spell it out for you woman?"

"But...but I am barren." There wasn't really a big shame, two thirds of all eldar women were barren. And the hard life Imisha had been living had not really allowed for children anyway. Yet as hard and sophisticated Imisha was something very soft and primal inside her made her place a hand on her stomach.

The princess picked up the empty bottle and wiggled it about, smiling obnoxiously. Imisha could not help but to reach out in the warp. And there, fiercely shielded by her own bright light were no less than three small sparks. How could she have not seen them before?

"You do realise that I never needed you for the deal right? I just used it to draw you there." the princess sounded cool and composed. What she didn't tell the farseer was that everything had almost been ruined by this presumptuous juggling of multiple fates combined with the princess own temper. But you are allowed to cheat as much as you want, as long as you never get caught. The truth was that rather than some brilliant master plan, the dice had simply rolled her way.

"Your have started to lose your way, all the stress and terror is getting the better of you. That is probably why you have been loosing your powers of divination. And you have allowed hate to poison your soul. I needed you there to see what you were fighting for. To reconnect with what matters. To relax for a bit. To get laid."

"You sabotaged my ship!" A realization suddenly dawned.

"I did!" the princess face lit up in a display of pure pride and delight. "It makes me so happy when my work is appreciated! Not that it was needed. Didn't take you two very long..."

"Was he in on it?" Imisha loathed being made a fool of.

"Oh god no, that man would die a thousand times over rather than see you so much as frown. He thinks seeing you again was destiny. That the two of you are meant to be." The princess tiptoed next to the bed holding the pregnant farseer, bringing an empty paper basket with her. "And you know hun, he is right. I know two halves of a whole when I see them. And the children have a right to know their father."

"But..."

"Is this where you rant about your duty to your people? That you are needed where you are and so on? Well as explained to you before you really are not. You have much to learn about leadership. To be frank your bullying have been holding back the others seers for quite a while."

"That leaves your martial skills. But as hard as you have grown we both know you would never risk your unborn children on the battlefield. Nor will you be allowed to when your condition becomes known. Besides with all the capital ships I freed up with the deal with the humans the next chaos incursion into this sector is in for a very nasty surprise indeed."

For the first time the two women who had been at each other's throats since they first met shared a smile. Then the farseer turned green in face and hung her head over the bedside, hurling into the paper basket. The princess awkwardly got to her feet and started walking back towards the door.

"The storm will come again. And we will need you. But for now there is a rare lull in the wind. Go to your love. Raise your children together. Live while there is still time." The princess stepped out the door and closed it behind her.

Once outside the farseers chambers the she did not immediately walk away but rested her back against the outside of the door, eyes closed. In a small sad voice, she said to herself.

"And come back again when you have something worth dying for."