Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Aelion Corridor within the Abalus Reach
Throneroom of the Dragonship Llangynidr, flag bearer of the Aelion Corsairs

Siân stood motionless and without making a sound, for she stood in the Throneroom of the Prince himself, while observing the blessed event. The chamber was elegantly laid out, all smooth edges and no rough surfaces, as if it had organically grown. Such was the nature of wraithbone, the material fashioned by Aeldari Bonesingers from the very elements of the Warp itself. Against the far bulkhead rose a red mound whose surface morphed into a luxurious throne at its peak, but no figure sat in it. Two over-sized sabres, with their blades crossed, were mounted on the bulkhead behind the throne. The artistry displayed in the creation of the blades alone would have made them a treasure…anywhere but in an Aeldari vessel for they had not been crafted by such fine hands, not grown from wraithbone itself. They were trophies; Charnabal sabres crafted by human hands, on Holy Terra, and wielded by members of the III legion of space marines, the Emperor's Children. The legion dedicated to She Who Thirsts, the aspect of the Primordial Annihilator inextricably tied to the Fall of the Eldar.

Though the throne was empty, the chamber was not. In the center stood a single male Aeldari, Prince Taliesin ap Enniaun, commander of the Aelion corsairs through rite of birth as well as vanquished foes. He wore a light green loose tunic with tight trousers that were a much darker green in colour. His pointed ears were unusually long for even an Aeldari and his silver eyes matched the silver of his long straight hair which blended into a great cape of similar colour that reached the floor and spread onto the deck behind him. His hands were at his sides, but not empty. Each held a silver-bladed sabre crafted from wraithbone.

Partly surrounding the Prince, arranged in a semi-circle, were a score of other Aeldari dressed in similar greens and silver and likewise armed with sabres, the Prince's Bloodsworn Retinue. But they did not exist in the Prince's eyes for he saw only the female Aeldari standing before him. She was tall, with straight blonde hair that flowed down beyond the small of her back, and dressed in a long gown of gold and red that clung to her lithe form and fanned onto the deck behind her. her hands were neither empty or at her sides. In them she held white a bundle of white cloth, the swaþelynge. And within it was a rare item, one of the rarest blessings bestowed upon the Aeldari, a babe.

Siân could not have stopped herself from smiling if she had tried. Lucky Rhiannwynn, she said to herself as a tear ran down her cheek. My sister, you have been blessed beyond imagining.

Rhiannwynn glided forward so smoothly that, with each step hidden beneath her gown, she appeared to simply float toward the Prince. Slowly and deliberately, the Prince raised his sabres and flipped them within his hands, crossing the blades in front of his chest with their monomolecular edges within a hair's breadth of touching his tunic. Siân's sister reached the Prince and lay the swaþelynge, and the infant within, atop the crossed blades then stepped away and dropped to one knee with her face down to the deck, hidden by her long hair.

Taliesin smiled.

The Prince raised the crossed sabres high without disturbing the child's sleep. "I name my son Llewelydd ap Taliesin," he said. "Now, born to the sabre before you, my Bloodsworn Retinue, born before your very eyes." Each of the retinue comprising the semi-circle raised a sabre high and gave a roar of triumph. As they did, Rhiannwynn rose and stepped forward to her liege-husband. He gently lowered his crossed sabres and the swaddled infant resting upon them, allowing her to remove Llewelydd from the blades, and immediately sheathed them.

"Come, Siân," Taliesin said with a smile. "Stand before me with your sister, proud scions of the ancient and noble House Aanwen," he added. "Come and witness what the wedding of our houses has wrought."

Siân stepped forward, Taliesin's Retinue parting for her, and came to stand beside Rhiannwynn. The smile never left Siân's face as she put her arm around her sister and stared at the sleeping face of her nephew. She raised her eyes, sharing a smile wither sister then her gazed turned to the Prince. And her smile dropped from her face.

The smile had dropped from his face and a fire shone in his silver eyes. "What brings you here, Siân?" he asked. "Rhiannwynn is my Void Dreamer and has the Sight as do you. She tells me you did not know she was with child." He paused for a moment, allowing the tension to build. "What is wrong in the Reach that brings you back to us after having returned to Rubha Àird Driseig? What are your human friends doing?" Siân's eyes widened. "Yes, I know," Taliesin continued. "You have taken an interest in a mon-keigh boy, a pet so to speak."

"His name was Basil Cadmus and he had a good soul," Siân countered. Taliesin simply stared at her. "He lent me his psychic power to battle a Keeper of Secrets when we first met. Lent me his power to save the Exodite children from it." The Prince's expression slightly changed, showing his interest. "And a handful of years later, he called the same Keeper to possess him in order to save a friend who it had already taken control of…and he tossed it from his mind. He even studied at the Black Library."

"Impressive," Taliesin answered with a smile that bordered on sarcasm. "I am pleased by any victory over She Who Thirsts, more so than anyone else," he added. "My House ruled over Mirain before the Fall. Before it was engulfed by the Warp when She Who thirsts was born and became a world ruled by Crones. You know this. Our Houses fled the destruction together, fled in Rubha Àird Driseig."

"But he is dead now, killed by Druthact," Siân.

"I'm sorry that you lost such an adored pet," Taliesin coldly answered. He paused for a moment, then continued. "But the mon-keigh are greater fools than even we are. They have always brought death and destruction wherever they go. Even now, one of the mon-keigh's self-appointed righteous defenders, an Inquisitor, plots with our great Enemy for her own mad goals. Forget the mon-keigh. Stay here, at your sister's side, and journey the stars with us."

"Druthact has granted his aid in that endeavour you mentioned," Siân interjected.

Taliesin laughed. "He was always too clever for his own good," he said.

"Granted his aid by granting knowledge of, and the coordinates to, three Exodite worlds in the Aelion Corridor," Siân snapped back. She did not need to look over her shoulder to know the gasp came from her sister, Rhiannwynn. The laughing smile dropped from Taliesin's face. "Three worlds under your protection. The humans will damage the World Spirits beyond repair on those planets. I have seen it."

Taliesin moved so fast she did not see him draw his twin sabres. "Why has he done this?" he screamed.

"He has found an artefact attributed to the Cosmic Serpent," Siân answered. "And he has also found the way to Scholomance."

"That is merely a legend we were told as children," Rhiannwynn interjected over Siân's shoulder.

"It is real," Siân. "Basil and I found the artefact and touching it showed me the way there from here. Druthact saw a way there too when he took it…after killing Basil." She glanced at her sister and then back to Taliesin. "He says that a portion of Asuryan's godly might was trapped in Scholomance and that we can use that to bring about the rebirth of the Phoenix." Siân paused to give her next words the ability to sink in. "The human Inquisitor will be causing mass death and mayhem on the human worlds as well and will be conducting a rite to focus all that psychic power, focus it to beseech the Primordial Annihilator to grant her power."

"Mon-keigh fool!" Taliesin snapped.

"But Druthact plans to use Scholomance to steal control of that rite from her," Siân said. "Use that psychic power to shape the reservoir of Asuryan's power into the Phoenix reborn."

Taliesin stared at Siân.

"And you have come here to request my aid in stopping Druthact," said the Prince as a matter of fact. Siân nodded. "You will have my aid."

Siân glanced over her shoulder at her sister. Rhiannwynn simply stood there, trembling as she held her infant son.