Memory & a Message
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiot Elves
Chapter 14
...Arwintar...Last Days of the War for the New World...
Jircniv sat in his council chamber with the other priests who ruled on religious matters around the Empire. Light shone through the skylight of the tower, but that was nothing compared to light on the many faces of those who occupied the room.
Jircniv read the report out loud and with absolute confidence, even glee. "...And so casualties have been almost nonexistent, while a few have been lost, insurrection throughout the North of the Slane Theocracy has been completely, and thoroughly suppressed. Worship of the Sorcerer King has almost entirely replaced the Six, as the rewards of the King pour in to those units which have performed well. No 'opposing priest' tends the units of the Empire any longer, as the last of them fell 'in battle'."
He set the document down, "So that takes care of that. The Empire will reap even more benefits, when we are the most loyal to His Majesty, and vote overwhelmingly in favor of his deification at the Synod. Thank you gentlemen, for all your support through this trying time."
"Gladly given." High Priest Sudon remarked, speaking for the group. "My Emperor, as I have said since my youth, the only gods worth worshipping are those that protect humanity, and as we have indisputably seen, this one does that better than all the others of the past."
There were quiet nods of assent around the table that revealed their general agreement with the sentiment. Jircniv wasn't about to dispute it, the memory came to mind of the apples of Idun that took years off of the ages of the old priests, offering vigor they had all but forgotten that they'd ever had in the first place.
"On another matter," Jircniv said, quickly changing course, "how are the preparations for the new temple?"
"They're going well." Sudon replied, "The ground was acquired and the foundation is laid, with undead labor and rotating supervisors managing the task, we'll have the largest temple to the Sorcerer King in his empire."
Jircniv folded one hand over his torso and held his side, he tilted his head down and rested the elbow of his other arm on the one he'd folded over himself, and let his fingers rub his chin in deep thought. "That will remain true for now, but... we're also among the first. Surpassing the one in Hoburns will be easy, and they don't need to expand, they are the first, their name is already etched in history and it will be a place of pilgrimage forever as the house of worship founded by the first Pope herself. Others will build in the Draconic Kingdom, in the Beastman Kingdom, in Re-Estize and the Holy Kingdom, not to mention the Elf Kingdom, the Abelion Hills, the Dark Elf Kingdom, the Understone Empire, the Dwarf Kingdom, everywhere. We must anticipate that they will attempt to surpass us."
"Sire?" Sudon asked as he began to see the Emperor's eyes blink rapidly as he entered a realm of thought, working out the problems as he saw them.
"Alright, quietly buy up the other land around where the temple is being built, but don't build on it 'yet'. Also," he turned to his finance minister, "see to it that we buy up the land around all the other planned temple sites, and do so under assumed dummy organizations or individuals. Once they've built what will 'surpass' the temple here, and finished... then we expand our own and surpass them again. If they try to match us, well by then we'll hand the ownership of that land over to our own temple here and use the property there to build temple facilities to contribute to those local communities, and even help with emigration to Baharuth. Thus, we'll retain the largest temple in the Empire for many generations."
The walls could barely contain the excitement of the occupants of the council chamber, from religious fervor to the commercial and political benefits, there was not a one who did not savor the emperor's masterful scheme to ensure his Empire's loyalty and devotion was seen as second to none.
"We are fortunate to have such a wise and sagacious ruler." Sudon said humbly and bowed his head, and he was followed by the rest of the room.
Jircniv for a moment, nearly blindly accepted the praise, but as he was about to, he pondered, 'Wait... my ruler anticipated this... didn't he? Did Sudon really mean me... or His Majesty?' He let out a mental sigh, 'Will I ever approach even the base of that mountain? No... probably not. Probably not.' He thought, and dismissed the annoyance like the fly it was rapidly becoming as he grew ever more used to, and comfortable with, the rule and the friendship of the matchless Sorcerer King.
...Crescent Lake...
Bertra sat at her desk in the little office in the back of the building she'd bought. Around her were stacked numerous boxes, and more elves were walking in and out of the front door, dropping off ever more, until at last another group of elves entered, two at a time, carrying bookshelves that were either long, or tall. Tall went to the walls, long ones that were roughly chest height were lined up close to one another under Bertra's watchful eye. "Yes, fiction over there," she pointed close to the entrance, then approached and dragged her foot along the place to put the first shelf. "Then nonfiction over here." She drew her foot across the floor elsewhere where that section was to start, much further back. "Then..." Section after section was quickly laid, with the appropriate number of shelves for each section, until the workers had put in every box and put out every set of shelves and put the ladders in place for the tall bookshelves on the wall to ensure easy customer access.
When they were done, Bertra was just opening the first box to be put onto the shelves. "Thank you all very much." She said with a matronly smile, and then looked at the many boxes and gave a small frown at the huge stack.
"Tell you what," she said thoughtfully, "you have two choices, I can pay you all for your time and you can get going, or... you can help me get all this organized, and I'll let you take a few books with you as a bonus. What do you say?" She held a hand extended out to them as she asked for help, and then the other back behind her to the stacks of boxed up books they'd brought in.
Most were quick to say, "I'll just take the coin." And with a warm smile, she opened her coin purse and handed out the pay due to the various workers, who quickly left the shop to find their own way elsewhere.
But a handful, a few, grinned enormously, "Pardon me, Bertra, wasn't it? The name's Mineras, and I think I can speak for everyone still here when I say, who doesn't love a good story? We'll take the bonus, and help you with what you need."
Berenice grinned at the young man who called himself 'Mineras' and the way he greedily eyed the boxes as if ravenous for their contents like a starving man at a feast.
The others nodded in agreement as fast as their heads could move, and they set to work tearing open boxes and setting the various genres on the many various shelves.
Thanks to their copious efforts and under Bertra's close minding of the organization of the various books, the work proceeded swiftly, and she quickly found it was even more enjoyable than she expected, as she got to know the ones who stayed, and quickly dubbed them from their humor to be a drunken band of perverted idiots. When she said this, most grinned sheepishly, some struck proud poses, but one and all they embraced it as they tirelessly worked on the many books found within.
After a few hours, they collectively wiped the sweat from their brows in the most exaggerated and comedic ways that they could, and looked about with common pride and accomplishment.
"Thank you all, thank you all very, very much." Bertra said with a deep and humble bow, "I couldn't have done all this without you, and it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun, had you not been here every step of the way to get the damn place organized. Go on, snag a few books off the shelves, and I hope to see you again here, someday soon." She said as she went back to her desk and started to write.
"Our pleasure." They replied with amused and proud looks as they beheld their part in the handiwork on full display.
"If you're looking for any recommendations, I'd suggest, 'Scales of Trust' about a dragon who travels to another world where he befriends an outcast human girl. Wonderful story, and the author is not only incredibly handsome and charming, but he writes wonderfully, while also being incredibly humble as well. I'd also recommend 'Rise of God' about... well you'll see. Same author, as to the rest, I haven't read them all yet.
"Thank you," A long haired elven male replied, "but I tried the Rise of God, but didn't really care for it, it was maybe a mid tier quality work."
"Really Lute? Well, no accounting for taste." Maximus replied with a shrug and his ears twtiched with annoyance, so much so that he grabbed two copies of the book. "In case I wear one out." He said with a wink when Bertra looked at him funny.
"Alright, well whatever makes you happy, thank you both, I'll remember this for a long time to come, discounts for all of you when you come back in the future, now be off, I've got a message to mail out to a benefactor, and I'll never get that done if you all keep me here laughing at your antics all night!" She smirked and clapped her hands smartly together, and the elven laborers gave her smug, self-satisfied grins as they walked out of her store with their bonuses in hand.
...Camp of the Combined Army...South of Kami Miyako...Days Before the End...
Skana sat in her tent for awhile when Neia had gone out, but she was not idle. She was sitting at the command desk, however it was not a military missive she was penning.
To my dearest Mother & Father,
It has been a long time since I've written to you, seems like it's been almost as long as since the day I learned to read and write. I just hope that this reaches you, and that you can understand its contents. If you can, I want you to know how much my life has changed in the last few years. I met someone I truly love, not just desire. She's everything I could want, she's brave, she's bold, she's strong, she's selfless to a fault... but she's also driven. Hard to believe I of all girls could love that quality, isn't it? I am under no illusions about who I once was, there was just whimsy, woods, drinking and sex. I know how often you despaired of me ever really growing up. But how things have changed. I found a hero, someone I admire enough to not only follow into the mouth of hell... but I've changed with her, into someone who, like her, might claw our way out of hell if we found ourselves in it! I trained with the sword every day for hours on end, worked my way up the ranks, crushed elite soldiers... it cost me an eye, but I'd say it was an unfair trade in my favor, given that I took the head of the one who took my eye.
In a way I'm more whole than I've ever been, though I admit I'm filled with anxiety for the wellbeing of my wife, and what the future may yet hold for us as we finish our work and are forced to look back on everything it took to get us as far as we'll have gone... I'm also hopeful, optimistic for a future brighter than I ever dreamed possible when I was just leading virgin village boys into the woods for a roll in the grass. I wonder, can you roll your eyes at my usual crudity now? I admit I laugh a little as I write that, I remember how embarrassed you both got at my behavior. I've settled down, obviously, just not the way you ever imagined I would.
In no time at all, I'll be standing in Kami Miyako, and then it's off to Arwintar. I'm still agog at how much of the world I've seen. Remember when I was little, and I asked if the woods around us took up the whole world? Now I have only an inkling about how small we truly are, and I'm humbled by what we've done and what we plan to do. The world is such a vast place that I could never hope to see all of it, but wherever I go within it, I'll carry the same message that carried me out of the muck of the demihuman prison camps! I'm now Skana Baraja, an undefeated sword dancer and the second most dangerous woman in the army of my wife... or was, until we got Blue Rose and the Elf Queen, and I'm not too sure about some of the others, but damn it, I'm still in the top ten somewhere!
However, that time will pass, I'll settle into a home, have children, and have a peaceful life to go with them. If I can avoid going to war again, if duty doesn't call me out of my house to fight once more... I think I can finally have the same happiness that you two had.
At least you can rest easy, knowing I'll have finally done something responsible with my life, and rest happily, knowing that I will be well and truly happy in my own right. There are lots of regrets I'll hold, some things I will never forget... but isn't that part of life? Picking our regrets as much as our happiness? I seem to recall grandfather said something like that, before he passed. He never said what his regrets were, but I'll tell you mine.
I regret the weakness I had when the demihumans came to our village. I regret my failure to protect Illyana or the other elves in Wenmark, especially those in the Golden Roan who trusted us... so few survived, so very few... in a way, it broke the woman I love beyond all repair, made her a monster, but that doesn't mean I love her any less, and I regret that I couldn't tell her that in the moment she most needed it, at Prart when she told me what she was doing on those walls, the moment I lost all my hatred for her, and fell in love.
I did... later, of course, but the agony on her face when I didn't say anything, will stay with me forever. At that moment it seemed like she thought she didn't deserve what she thought she'd finally found, and that it was going to be taken away from her... and I didn't know what to say. Better late than never, I guess, but talk about a bad moment for us both.
It's OK now, of course, she's sure nothing will change, and so am I. With her to the end, whatever that end may be. But... I'll never forget you, or where I came from, even if I can never go back there again. I honestly... I don't know if I'll be able to write to you again... I didn't realize this would hurt so much, even though so much of what I've said is... good, beautiful even. Please forgive me, not even for not writing again if I don't. But forgive me for making you worry, forgive me for not being a better daughter, forgive me for anything I ever said or did to wound you with my stupid youthful recklessness.
Rest well, knowing that wherever you are, you're wrapped in the love of your often foolish, but ever hopeful daughter,
Skana Baraja
She set the quill down beside her and stared at the paper and read over her words by the light of a nearby candle, and as she did so, tears dropped and dampened the document, smearing bits of ink here and there, before she wiped her face with a rough gesture, and then, satisfied, held the letter over the candle. It caught the flame and began to burn away. 'Please... carry my words to them in the life beyond death...' She thought.
Just then, Neia entered the tent, as the letter was released from Skana's fingertips and the last of it was carried away in smoke.
Neia saw just the flare of smoke and Skana's fingers come away, and the evidence of recent tears from Skana's one green eye, and it took her only a moment to close the distance and ask, "Is anything wrong?" as she brought her arms around her wife and drew her into an embrace.
"No, just old memories, and a message bearing them." Skana whispered into Neia's ear.
Skana felt and heard the rustle of the material from their clothing rubbing together, and saw the way their shadows blended together as they danced on the walls of the tent, cast there by different candles, it was as if they were not two, but one, bound together by darkness and contrasted against a dancing light that moved as if to music. Skana swore she could feel the heartbeat of her wife through armor and cloth and flesh, and that hers had begun to beat in sync with it. It was half a dozen breaths before she recognized that, without even knowing it, she had aligned her breathing to that of the woman she loved, just as she'd aligned her life and her fate with Neia's over the years, and neither aligning life nor breath was regretted for even an instant.
As she let herself lean gently into the arms of the powerful Black Paladin, Neia answered her with a gentle, understanding, and hopeful voice of her own. "Oh. Well, let's go make new memories tonight, and the next message that goes out that way, can speak of those instead. After all, if we can't even do that, well what's the point of all this?" Neia whispered in return, and stepped back, holding Skana's hand, she led her wife out of the tent, and into the world her father had tasked them with remaking.