The first thing Scarlet Whisper noticed was the noise. It wasn't all that loud, but it was all-pervasive, like a swarm of bees invisibly surrounding her. Then she caught the breeze. The wind was hot and dry, the breath of the last days of Descending Fire, but it dried her sweat and carried away a little of the heat with it. Paragon rarely had such breezes in the heat of summer; Gem never, surely.
She came around a corner and saw it: set in a rounded gap hewn into the mountains, a grey circular blur. For several moments she struggled to understand what she was seeing. An elemental of some sort?
"Hell," Charles Gunn said, "wouldja look at that? She made a fan."
"It's immense," Wesley said. "The labor alone-"
"A fan," Scarlet Whisper said, understanding. She had only seen hand fans and the like, but she understood the principle. This huge rotating thing was creating the breeze. And though it was crude even by Realm standards, she was certain only the Exalted could have organized the creation of such a large construct. "Buffy Summers? She made this?"
"Seems like her style," Cordelia said, "and I know style."
Smaller fans soon came into view as they made their way into the city, set into roofs and walls, channeling and enhancing the wind as if trying to cool every corner of the city. "I admit she seems to be trying to do well by her city and people. I don't understand why you were so alarmed, Rupert Giles."
Giles considered the view and his words. "It is a violation of our people's traditions to seize power by force. A Slayer has the ability to do so more easily than most people, and so we have trained them not to."
"Hmm." Scarlet Whisper mulled that over. "If the people are satisfied and the ruler just, the wisdom of that is obvious. But the Despot was so named because their rule has usually been tyrannical, and while Rankar was not the worst, he was far from benevolent. Is overthrowing such a ruler evil in your eyes?"
"No," Wesley said with a look at his elder. "Not always. We ourselves helped depose Richard Wilkins. Admittedly, he was far above the usual run of tyrant, but perhaps such an action is not so far out of her character."
"Sometimes lopping off the top just nets you a new top," Gunn argued, "and sometimes it makes a mess. It takes skill and a whole lotta good luck to improve things."
Scarlet Whisper gestured at the people around them, who certainly seemed more prosperous and contented than at her last visit. "True. But the Exalted generally have these things. See for yourself."
Giles adjusted his glasses. "I see your point. And yet Buffy had hoped to return with us to our own world."
"Without a successor, surely that would be by far the less responsible thing to do now," Scarlet Whisper suggested. What was wrong with thesepeople? "At bare minimum she ought to set up a line of succession."
"There are complicating factors, but we are endeavoring to do that," Giles explained. What possible...well, no, they had mentioned that prophecy, however unlikely it sounded. That was perhaps reason enough.
She studied the people as she walked. Their happiness was largely genuine, though some were still justifiably envious. Their world was improving. Disgruntled nobles passed by on their way from the palace, but then nobles rarely saw eye to eye with commoners.
Parts of the palace were under renovation. Scarlet Whisper noted approvingly that while some of the most wasteful design elements were beingaltered, the palace would still be nearly as magnificent as before. Reformers made that mistake too often and were ousted as weak.
Trumpeters announced her as an agent of the Perfect. Very few knew she was a Solar herself. She strode up a ramp lined with guards, the last few outcaste Dragon-Blooded, and into an anteroom. From here she could see an audience chamber with a particularly fancy brass-and-basalt throne, and seated in it, a pale-skinned woman no older than herself. This was theAnathema who had conquered Gem?
"She's supposed to be close to my age," Buffy said as she dressed hastily.
"She hasn't made a habit of military conquest,"Iron Siaka said, "but she has the full trust of the Perfect of Paragon. There's more than one road to power."
"You should know," said Throne-Buffy, who had been ruling in Buffy-Prime's absence. "You're the power behind Scarlet. Too bad she's gone with the wind."
Party-Buffy came rushing in at that moment. "Sorry I'm late. Needed a little hair of the dog."
Buffy-Prime shook her head and tsked. "Gonna make me all drunk for the diplomacy thing?"
"Just a little buzzed," Party-Buffy said hastily. "Be glad it's dog and not qat, okay?"
"You're incorrigible," Throne-Buffy said.
"Hey, I exist to be incorrigible. Means I'm doing my job." Party-Buffy winked at Iron Siaka, who wearily shook her head.
"I'm in a relationship," she insisted. "Now get your heads together."
Buffy-Prime took the other's hands. She blew out a long breath, then inhaled as deeply as she could. The other Buffys came apart in streamers of color and dust and flowed into her. Memories of tedium surged through her, but also success-and then a wave of sated relaxation: party after party, drugs, booze, lots and lots of sex. "Woof. That was...nifty." Iron Siaka frowned. "I know, I know-audience time "
Buffy touched the tiara that had materialized on her brow, then strolled casually into the front hall and sat herself down in the throne. She'd managed to get Rankar's gaudy hunk of gold and gems replaced with something more understated in her absence.
The girl who strode in ahead of Giles, Wes, Cordy, and Gunn was no more than a few years older than Buffy; she had red hair and more freckles than Willow. She exuded a confidence that Buffy could only envy, though. She looked born to be a leader. "Despot Summers," she said, the first time anyone had addressed her that way. "I am Scarlet Whisper, ambassador from Paragon. Before you took power, we were planning an offensive against Gem. I'm here to see if that course of action is still necessary. As a gesture of good faith, I've brought these friends of yours safely to you."
Buffy couldn't resist a wide grin at the site of Giles, and the others-even Wes-weren't exactly unwelcome either. She started to hop down off the throne, thought better of it, and beckoned the others forward. She gave Giles and Cordelia quick hugs, then shook hands with Wes and Gunn. Even that was enough to set the court whispering, but as of right now, she didn't care.
"Thank you, ambassador. Welcome to the court of Gem. I offer you my hospitality; make yourself at home."
Iron Siaka and Scarlet Whisper eyed each other like strange cats. Surely the ambassador didn't know what Siaka was. But then, what was Whisper? Buffy could sense the aura of power that surrounded her, and not a whole lot more.
"This audience is closed. I have business to attend." Buffy rose from the throne. She couldn't think of a time she'd ever needed so badly to talk to her Watcher.
Chapter 66-The Ceremony of Innocence
"Please pass the chicken," Cordelia said for the umpteenth time. For the umpteenth time, everyone ignored her. She wasn't getting used to being ignored; she was just getting mad.
Gunn reached across the table to get the chicken for her, earning a glare from Scarlet Whisper. He already had hold of the plate, though, so he gritted his teeth and ignored her.
"I've got to tell you I'm pretty sure what the weird waxy thing is," Buffy said, taking a quick sip of wine. "It's called a Chrysalis Grotesque, and myself possibly excluded, Infernal Exalted get that way inside one."
"Yourself possibly excluded?" Scarlet Whisper took a bite of some unidentified vegetable. Cordelia frowned at the beans that covered much of her plate and took a chicken thigh.
"I keep having to repeat it," Buffy said wearily, "so let's just say I'm not from around here and things have changed. The important point is, by now the Perfect is out and he's one of us, with a Glarghk Gul Kash'mas'tree inside." Was that a ruby on her plate? No, Buffy wouldn't bite into a ruby. Jello, maybe. She must have invented jello.
"Kash'mas'nik," Scarlet Whisper corrected. "Controlling him?"
"Not really," Buffy said. "Giving orders and advice, but he doesn't have to listen. I should get in touch with him, let him know I'm coordinating this area." It was too solid to be jello, Cordy decided. Still couldn't be a ruby.
"You have authority over the Perfect?" Scarlet Whisper asked testily.
"Only according to hell," Buffy said, smirking. Cordelia didn't approve; there was no way Scarlet Whisper would pick up the subtext.
"But of course you've given up your life of fighting hell," Scarlet Whisper suggested, "and now you serve it instead."
"Oh...yeah...of course," Buffy agreed. "Definitely. My life for the Yozis, uh-huh." Giles hid a grin in his napkin. Maybe Scarlet Whisper was getting it.
"You seem to be doing a good job as ruler," Cordelia said to Buffy. This time Buffy noticed and turned red. "The people seem happy, the stores are full, and you get to wear princess clothes. Lucky. You aren't even being told what to do by weird demon priests."
Buffy's gaze dropped to the table. "I'm not that good."
"As far as I can tell," Scarlet Whisper said, "the Yozis have left you on too long a leash if they want you to make hell on Earth. Cordelia is right. I see faults here and there, but you're an effective ruler."
Buffy crunched another translucent thing between her teeth. Rock candy? This one was blue. Buffy finally seemed to notice Cordelia looking at her. "Try one," Buffy said, and tossed her a clear one that sparkled like diamond. "Go on. They're not even all that valuable around here." She kicked Cordy under the table. Rude!
Cordelia raised the crystal to her mouth. It must be joke candy for the city of Gem. Buffy wouldn't try to feed her an actual diamond. The candy crunched between her teeth. God, it was sweet! There was a hint of fruit flavor to it, too; it tasted gorgeous. "Mmm. Thank you very much, what is it?"
Buffy smirked. "Diamond, Cordy. You can see it's diamond. Get on the ball." She began to juggle the candies.
"Cordelia," Scarlet Whisper said, "those are actual gemstones. Rather common for Gem, extremely expensive anywhere else."
Cordy stared at the fragment in her hand. "But-"
Buffy lifted her spoon to her mouth and very deliberately bit the bowl off. She chewed, making no more noise than usual, and swallowed it whole. "Tasty. Still metal, though. Want to try this too?"
Cordy made a face and finished off her diamond-since they were apparently common enough to eat here!
"I don't think I've seen that before," Whisper said. "I hear a great many stories about the limitless power of the Exalted-or the Anathema-but clearly some things are easier than others. Caste makes some difference, and the...type makes more."
Buffy nodded agreement. "I started out with a basic set of mostly physical...stuff. I could see in the dark and see the future in my dreams...and I could sense demons a little. I didn't learn much else till I came here, but I'm pretty sure Sineya and Dracula both tried to tell me I was just scratching the surface. What about you?"
"It was my art," Whisper explained. "I write, I paint...sometimes I sculpt a little. Every year at Calibration the Perfect gives out a prize for the best satirical depiction of him. He knows he's not really, literally perfect. I wrote a poem, and I recited it in public: 'The Man Who Thought He Was Perfect'. I was a shy kid, and knowing the Perfect won't hurt you isn't the same as believing it."
"Your anima display didn't betray you?" Wesley wondered.
"It happened before I went on stage. There was this light, and I felt warm and encouraged and supported. I went out and spoke, and nearly started a riot. The Perfect could tell it wasn't just the words, because they weren't that special and because I was scared to death after. He asked me to...to work for him-"
Buffy narrowed her eyes at Whisper. "What're you hiding from me?"
"I...I can't tell you," Whisper said. "I'd be violating his direct orders and I'd die."
"Pretty harsh punishment, coming from a man you admire," Gunn said.
Whisper nodded, surprising everyone. "The law can be harsh. Sometimes people commit capital crimes without meaning to, and die of it when they realize what they've done."
"And you support this guy?" Buffy said, appalled.
"You believe you were less harsh? You seem to have changed your policy here," Whisper said, "but Rupert Giles tells me you were trained to kill demons on sight. The Perfect won't make them citizens-the Scepter won't bind them-but he lets them stay for a month unless they break the law. Then they're treated the same as anyone else. The Perfect doesn't decree any capital crimes unless they involve serious danger to Paragon or its citizens, or give direct orders without similar good cause."
Buffy looked troubled. "You don't understand the situation in my world. I won't say the Perfect is a bad man. Still seems like he's running a police state, though. Just without the police. I believe you when you say he means well."
"If you hadn't figured out by now that being a ruler requires hard decisions, your city would have fallen to riots by now." Whisper sounded far sterner than anyone with her face had a right to.
"Nearly fell to worse than that," Buffy said. "Okay. You can't tell me everything, and you're not wrong about it being a tough job. You want to know about my powers, I wanna know about yours. Quickest way to learn-" She reached back and picked up the Scythe. "-is try and kick my butt."
The Dulcet Consolator arced around to the left and collided with the stake-end of the Scythe just as Scarlet Whisper brought her short swords up to trap the blade end between them. Buffy leapt up, pulling the stake-end up and yanking the other end free as she somersaulted over Whisper. The Ivory Guardians slashed at Buffy, but her jump was too high for Whisper to make contact, and then the stake end came around to trip her up.
"Who trained you?" Whisper asked, unperturbed even as she toppled. "You said there were no other Exalts where you came from."
Buffy shoved her, sending her skidding across the floor. Whisper dropped one of her blades and came to rest at Giles' feet. "You're looking at him," Buffy said.
"You were trained to fight by an ordinary mortal?" Whisper said, staring. "That doesn't seem possible." Iron Siaka lunged at Buffy from behind, but Buffy dropped at the last moment and flipped the Sidereal overhead.
"A librarian in dusty tweed," Buffy agreed. "I thought the same thing at first, honestly. He was never going to kick my butt, but he's tougher than he looks."
"You don't wear armor," Whisper observed, raising her empty hand. Her missing sword sailed through the air and was caught just in time to form an x with the other and catch the Scythe.
"It's conspicuous," Buffy said, spinning backwards to trip Siaka. "It's bulky, and it doesn't stop a lot of common weapons any more." A coating of brass sheathed her body as she moved back towards Whisper. "But I think I'm adapting well to your world."
Iron Siaka was saying something, but Buffy couldn't make out what. "That's interesting," Whisper agreed, blocking a rain of blows from both ends of the Scythe. "I'll have to see if I can figure that out."
Buffy swept her feet out from under her, then caught her and slammed her across the room, though Siaka dodged lightly to the left and kept babbling. "What the heck art yu tlakn agt? Vah?" Buffy stopped speaking for a second and tried again. "Gft Jau bis?"
"Roit gyt bael beth?" Giles said angrily, stepping forward. Buffy put her hands up in a blocking gesture and shook her head. She didn't think they'd done anything to him, just to her perceptions.
Iron Siaka said "Kort mey fiblis" to Giles before Buffy lost track even of the syllables. Now it might as well have been "blah blah blah". Giles made a face and stepped back just as Whisper stabbed a distracted Buffy in the side.
Buffy stepped away casually, pulling the blade from her side; the wound hurt, but it was only pain. The real loss was her inability to quip. She tried to make a remark about foul play, but nothing would come to mind. All she heard come out of her mouth was "blah blah blah", and the others clearly heard incoherent syllables, if that much. She slapped down the Ivory Guardians with one hand and punched Whisper in the face with the other.
She couldn't let them steal her puns like this. Buffy ground her teeth and focused. "I think," she said carefully, "you just br-broke..." almost there..."my universal translator. That's going to cost you."
"Good show, Buffy!" Wesley shouted. Iron Siaka stared at her as if she'd snapped a pair of adamantium handcuffs. Gunn and Cordy clapped.
"You guys are really trying to put me through my paces," Buffy told her sparring partners.
"We know you still have powers you aren't showing us," Siaka said. "What about the hair? Or being a giant?"
"You want to get a good look at cave-Buffy?" She was asking Whisper; Siaka had seen several of Buffy's increasing cavalcade of shapes. She wasn't entirely comfortable using those yet, but she knew now that should be trying to get that way.
"Vishhhion!" Cordelia sang out suddenly. It came out slurred as the other ex-cheerleader stumbled to one side. "I gotta shay I like thish one better than usual."
"Oh dear," Wesley said. "Cordelia, what do you see?"
"Jusht some guy in a yoke," she mumbled, "drinkin...shome hella shtrong liquor. Dunno why that's got the PTBs all worked up."
"A yoke?" Whisper was suddenly perturbed. "What does he look like?"
"Uuuummmm...dark-shkinned but blondish straight hair. Not like he'sh tan, like he's black with weird hair. Tall, shtrong but not too muscly. Salty goodness." Cordelia sank down against the wall.
"The Perfect," Whisper said. "But what's he drinking?" The last was to herself; she could see Cordy was in no shape to answer.
"When I took over Gem, the bigshot demons gave me a bottle of top-label chalcanth," Buffy said. "They called it azoth."
"Made from a higher circle of demon," Siaka said. "Still alive, after a fashion, until you drink it."
"Why would the PTBs care if some demon lord gets offed?" Gunn wanted to know.
"A great many reasons, mortal." Iron Siaka didn't deign to elaborate.
Buffy glared. "Be nice."
"Make me," the Sidereal replied. "We're not done here."
"All right," Buffy growled. "But you won't like me when I'm angry."
Giles tried very hard to stroll down the palace corridor with Buffy. It shouldn't have been a difficult thing to do, and it wouldn't have been if Buffy were the petite girl he had trained for half a decade. Instead he was trying to speak to a musclebound Neandertal who was very nearly walking on her knuckles, who was covered in shining brass, and whose hair had just tangled itself into an elaborate braid that would have dragged the floor had it not been levitating. "I must ask, Buffy. Why not return to your normal shape?"
"Because this shape is my shape too, Giles." Buffy's voice in this form was a contralto snarl. "I like being pretty. I'll be pretty again soon. But 'pretty' doesn't define me. I want to get used to being all of who I am."
"These powers...I must confess that I never anticipated these developments, not even after finding you here." Giles hoped he was making clear that his distress wasn't for Buffy ceasing to be "pretty". "I was no more told the truth about the Slayer than you were. I suspect it was lost long ago."
"If Slayers lived longer than two or three years more often, you'd have found out sooner," Buffy muttered. "Someone didn't want to know. Or didn't want us to."
"I share your frustration," Giles said, trying not to be distracted by a particularly gaudy set of wall hangings that must have been at least ten percent thread-of-gold. "And yet, had you known-"
"At least a fifth of all the Infernals in Creation have turned on the Old Ones,Giles, and it's only been five years. The Yozis are that anti-human. They think they can bribe us with bling and designer drugs, but even Conan knows they're not really gonna let him run the show." Buffy turned sideways to shoulder her way through a narrow door. "The Abyssals are defecting too, and the Deathlords and Neverborn keep them on an even tighter leash. I could have known without turning into a monster. Most of the Line could have."
"Not all," Giles said. "And if even one in a hundred would have decided to free the Old Ones we would have been in dire trouble." He paused while a pair of servants, evidently used to Buffy's form, offered her a cool drink. She handed one to him before taking one for herself. "You took those two apart, Buffy."
"Whisper and Siaka wanted to see what I can do, find out what I've learned since I fought Siaka last. I showed them what they wanted to know." Buffy rubbed the shiner they'd given her with a couple of fingers. "You've seen me come in with bruises and a split lip on bad nights, Giles. Did they ever hold me back one bit? They look worse off than they are, I swear. And...Scarlet Whisper's an Eclipse. I think she might be interested in learning some of my powers. She's newer than me and not as big on combat."
"Should you teach her?" Giles wondered. "Not all of your powers have proven harmless, or easy to adjust to."
Buffy turned slightly and put a hand on his shoulder. It was nearly big enough to envelop his head. "Power can go to anybody's head, Giles, and Exalts seem more susceptibile than we ought to be. But the type of power doesn't seem to come into it much. If she asks, I'll teach her what she wants to know, if I can."
"She serves the Perfect of Paragon, Buffy. Don't forget that. Whatever his intentions, he runs a truly repressive state verging on totalitarian control. And she approves of him enough to have sworn her loyalty." He had to impress that on Buffy; she seemed to have taken to the diplomat almost at once.
"I understand, Giles. I don't know that I can keep things from her if he wants to teach them to her, but I'll be cautious." She began, slowly, to shrink down from her combat form. "Got to hold Big Brother down."
"Thank you, Buffy." Giles breathed a sigh of relief. "I have no desire to become Winston in our own world, let alone here."
Iron Siaka applied a cold compress to Scarlet Whisper's bruised face. There had never been a time she could have imagined administering first aid to an Anathema, yet that seemed increasingly to be her fate. Not that Buffy usually needed such help.
"I've never seen those techniques," Whisper mused. "I don't suppose you could teach them to me?"
Dzhesus! Even Gold Stars didn't intentionally teach their pets Sidereal magic! Though now that she thought of it, any Eclipses they were training needed careful watching. "Maybe. I know some exotic martial arts you might like. What did you think of the Despot's combat magicks?"
"Sadly, I think most of them were too flashy. I'd risk exposure as an Anathema if I used them." Whisper finished wrapping the bandage around Siaka's arm.
"Wise not to break your cover," Siaka agreed. She'd kept that advice as best she could, hoping that Buffy would forget her now that the Despot was inside Fate. Hadn't happened yet; they had to interact too much. Siaka had made too many promises to Anya and to the Bureau to either leave Buffy's side or try again to kill her. She was in deep, had been ever since seeing the woman who'd fought a deathknight with no training and barely a clue what she was.
"If the Perfect is really serving the Yozis, I'll have to kill him," Whisper murmured.
"You can do that?" The citizenship oaths of Paragon bound those who swore to obey the Perfect on pain of death.
"Demon-related loophole," the Eclipse said quietly. "I have a duty to the nation to defend it from demons and creatures of darkness. If the Paragon were to actively order me to let him alone I might die in the attempt, but then I'd die either way. Might as well go down fighting." Yes, that was a Solar talking. Though in fairness, most Exalts would say much the same.
"Might as well. I'll do whatever I can to help, if it comes to that." And she would-though she'd still far prefer if said help came in the form of a legion of Realm troops to occupy Paragon and overthrow the Anathema there. Up till now, the Perfect had been "good enough", but the only really long-term way of keeping the uglies out was to keep the Dragon-Blooded strong. So it was time for a new government? They'd done that after the Shogunate, too. And if it had to incorporate a few of the Anathema for a little while to hold the line, Iron Siaka would bite her tongue and do what it took, but she knew better than to think that would last. They were just too unstable.
"What do you think of Cordelia's vision?" Scarlet Whisper wasn't going to forget that, which was both sensible of her and very inconvenient.
"I think my friends and I have plans to deal with it," Siaka said. "I just have to notify the right people." No Yozi's fetich soul had died since the end of the Primordial War, but sometimes the unthinkable had to be done. And it was the Five-Score Fellowship's job to see that it was.