The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress
"Where were you, old friend?" Ragara Yelaren asked, evidencing curiosity. Iselsi Navia adjusted the decorative shawl over the gorgeous blue Dynastic dress and stepped close enough for confidential conversation. Both of them carried field-issue jade rings that would be worth an absolute fortune from the Houses, if the Dragon-Blooded were capable of their manufacture. As long as they wore them, they had no fear from Terrestrial snooping Charms.
"Just a small matter to conclude in Heaven," Navia answered politely. Then, she smiled a little to remove any sting from her words. "It's good to see you again." She'd worked with Yelaren for quite a long while, seeing as they were both on the Capital Convention. They'd been the closest thing she had to a best friend for the better part of 500 years. She was pleased that, so far, there was little evidence of resentment from the sapphire-eyed Chosen of Serenity. After all, he was her senior by a century yet she'd been promoted over him. He'd never cared much for secrets and the enigmatic nature of her department had never settled well on him. It was remarkable they got along.
"Quite a party Iriszy has put together, don't you think?" The Chosen of Serenity looked quite serene as he surveyed the august assemblage of Dragon-Blooded. In his handsome blue suit, the blonde man with spiky hair fit in perfectly...but of course he would. He was in his element here. Truthfully, it was an amazing party by Creation's standards. Iselsi Navia was not the sort to care for such, though, not even the ones in Heaven.
"Of course. She is missing no opportunity to forge alliances and start foundation work for relations between her prospective household and the other Houses. Iriszy is intelligent. Although this is only her first child, she may reasonably expect the Scarlet Empress to write her name in the books and give her a House in the years ahead."
"Yes, she has the imperial bloodline of course," Yelaren shrugged. "And the ambition, the temperament, the cunning...Mnemon might be careful. She was the only other one so ambitious at her age."
"I suppose you would know," Navia sighed. "Iriszy is far too ambitious for my liking but you know my heart. I never quite had the heart for teaching again after my first died."
"Yes, it's a hard thing to lose a student," Yelaren said sympathetically. "I wish it could have been different but no Terrestrial lives forever and Iselsi had a good run in her time."
"I wish it had not been necessary to demolish her House," Navia said wistfully.
"It was out of respect for you that we waited as long as we did," Ragara Yelaren said. "We both know the necessity. Dangerous complications in the future might have arisen if their ambition hadn't been coaxed back then. Her death likely saved a great deal of trouble for us now."
"I'm sure you're already planning Iriszy's daughter's matches. That should give you something to do." Yelaren didn't contest her change of the subject. She was relieved, and appreciated that her relief was the reason he allowed the matter to drop. He was a good friend.
"There's always too much to do," Yelaren sighed, brushing at his hair to make sure the spikes stayed straight. "Even at a party, we're working. Sad, isn't it?" Navia looked into the wall-length mirror at the back of the room, saw the two of them reflected with myriads of Terrestrial walking and socializing about them. Two loners in a roomful of people. Such was the fate, if the use of that word could be forgiven, of the Sidereal.
"Why don't I introduce you to Da'nashay? I imagine you'll like him quite a bit better than your latest protégé."
"I know all about Da'nashay," Iselsi Navia said skeptically. "I like him simply because of how much Iriszy doesn't but neither is he someone I care to meet." It was not particularly fair to her student, to be sure, but there it was. She had known Iriszy since she was a baby and she loved her as if she was her own. But that didn't mean she liked her.
"You'd be surprised, come on." The Chosen of Serenity tugged on her arm, nearly dragging her across the floor, pausing only to whisper once more before they caught up to a man in articulated red jade armor. While he was not the only man in the room wearing armor, or armed with a daiklave for that matter, he was undoubtedly the most deadly-looking. "You'll love him if you get to know him. Just back from the field! If only I could get a good marriage for him, he's the most stubborn man! ...Ah, Captain Da'nashay, how good it is to see you again!"
"Ragara Yelaren," Da'nashay said, inclining his head respectfully as he turned around.
The captain was a handsome man, in a worn, rough, craggy sort of way. His jaw was solid and square, his shiny black hair smoothed down the back of his neck, and the stubble on his face almost looked decoratively intentional. His skin was most unusually colored, in shades of red and purple like a sunset...or a distant flame.
When he continued his turn to face them, Navia's eyes widened as she looked into a remarkable set of his own. It was rare to see green eyes of quite that deep color. In fact, they were exactly her color, if lacking the stars hers had. How beautiful.
"Ah," Ragara Yelaren coughed apologetically, as the eye contact between the two lingered into an awkward length. "Please, Captain. Allow me to introduce Iselsi Navia, a Dynast of...excellent qualifications."
"Navia," the captain repeated and he smiled slowly. Thankfully, it was not a lecherous smile but rather one of genuine pleasure. Navia found herself smiling back at him without having to force it. It was the closest to a real smile that she'd come in...centuries, surely. "It's not common to meet a woman willing to confess that House name."
"I have little use for pretense," Iselsi Navia said, dipping into a slow curtsey to cover the irony that threatened her composure. Pretense was all there was to a Sidereal's existence, and to this Resplendent Destiny for that matter. This Iselsi Navia was the spymaster of the All-Seeing Eye and, thus, discreet yet indiscriminate simultaneously. So she employed both before the handsome Terrestrial.
"How refreshing," Da'nashay nodded, as if answering a question she'd posed. "I have no use for it. A soldier in the field has little enough time as it is. I don't care for games."
"A remarkable sentiment in the Scarlet Dynast," Navia said. "Tell me, Captain, why would a self-professed unpretentious soldier who doesn't like games choose to spend his time here?"
"It was a personal request of my sister, Iriszy," Da'nashay said. His face slipped into a neutral mask that was surprisingly good but his true feelings were plain before Navia's practiced eye. There was obviously no love lost between them. "I'm only in the City for a few days before I deploy again. Trust me, I would much rather be elsewhere." His disclosure was truly remarkable, given that anyone with any interest would overhear his words. Da'nashay was either very bad at politics or he was deliberately being bad.
"I understand entirely," Iselsi Navia said smoothly, unconcerned with anyone noticing what she had to say. "I am also here for the same reason."
"I have rounds to make. The burdens of heritage." He was obviously reluctant to leave as he looked at her. It had been a long time since a man had looked at her the way he was looking at her now. She couldn't ever recall it feeling pleasant like this look was. No trace at all of the lingering fear that used to crawl in her stomach when she saw a man with lust in his eyes. "If you don't mind, I would like the chance to meet you again sometime. It's rare that I encounter someone direct and it would be a shame if it didn't happen again. May I?"
"Certainly," Navia said politely. "I look forward to it." She bowed her head slightly and he did precisely the same. The smooth, subtle grind of jade against jade faded as Da'nashay in his armor moved on toward his initial destination.
"Quite a man," Ragara Yelaren muttered admiringly, and with more than casual interest. "He seems quite taken with you. What a pity." He chuckled, as if making a joke.
Navia felt only the ice-cool of reality enfold her once more. She knew what he was and she knew what she was. Attractive or not, she was not given to flings and her job permitted no other kind of relationship.
"He's not what I expected," Iselsi Navia said at last. "Iriszy painted him a dangerous, manipulative, cruel man. Naturally I have seen those signs in her all along but I just assumed he had them too. They are both children of the Scarlet Empress, after all."
"I know. He's sadly doomed." Ragara Yelaren sighed regretfully. "Did you know the man's still a virgin? Seems to have no interest in relationships at all. Career soldier, through and through, and no head for politics. But yes, doomed. He's never been at risk in battle because we've scheduled him to die at the hand of his sister. I understand she considers him her chief rival. It's likely to happen very soon, I think."
"An amusing rival," Navia whispered, still numb by the unexpected intimacy of the contact. For a reserved Sidereal, it was rather bracing to interact honestly, with no roles or ranks to play. Even the spymaster Iselsi Navia was just like her in this respect. "He will never be a political threat to her. He's never going to found a House, as she will. You're right, Yelaren, she'd probably kill him on her own. Childhood hate twisted into something else, it leaves her no room to do otherwise, even if he is innocent of its cause. He has perhaps a day to live." Fate spoke through her and she knew what she said would happen, as surely as one step came after another. "Whose planned it?"
"Nuche Keru's," Ragara Yelaren said, his voice unexpectedly quiet. "The tree has to be carefully pruned at times, Navia. It may not make much sense, even to a Chosen of Secrets, but the Cerulean Lute of Harmony is very careful about these things. We've had decades to forecast what's happening now and it's necessary that this one die. A shame. His men call him the Scarlet Soldier, can you imagine? One would think such a man would have the mettle we need. I'm expecting a promotion soon that will get me in the door to more of the planning data so I can understand why people like Da'nashay have to die."
"What?" Iselsi Navia asked, feeling a surge inside her. "Did you say...he's the Scarlet Soldier?" Lightning rose inside of her, not true electricity but the sensation of something immensely important.
"I know. I hear his mother even tolerates it. Imagine. The Scarlet Empress allowing a portion of her name to be used. I suppose it's because his men named him and he didn't seek it himself."
"'You will know him by his blood and his name," Navia whispered. A thousand years she'd waited, more than that, and now here he was. "'The Pivot Child is to be born from the Dragons and he will be near enough'...yes, blood of the Scarlet Empress. 'He will be named for his mother, yet not by his mother', also true. 'He will be chaste, pure, and your eyes...your eyes will reveal him to you.' And they do...he has my eyes."
"Navia?" The Chosen of Serenity looked alarm, when she finally glanced at him. "What was that? That sounded like Prophecy."
"It is, in a way," Navia replied. "Something secret." Had she said that out loud? How could she have made such a lapse?
"The Pivot Child? I know that name..." Ragara Yelaren frowned in concentration and Navia's stomach sank. It was bad fortune, to say the least, that on the eve of finding the father, that the forgotten prophecy should be on someone's mind now. And it was her fault, after having been warned by herself no more than a dozen hours ago. Clumsy.
"It refers to an obscure and obsolete Hinge Prophecy, Yelaren," Navia said softly. "One that cannot come to pass, as it depends on another, more impossible prophecy. The Fulcrum Hammer."
"Oh, right. Well, isn't that quite the coincidence?" Ragara Yelaren laughed, sounding a little forced. "One of the components of a Hinge Prophecy, and you noticing it like that. Ivy Manse kind of thing, I suppose. Well, I suppose it wouldn't have been a Prophecy if it didn't point to something real, true?"
"Who's to say?" Navia said, staring off into the crowd after Da'nashay. "Please excuse me, Yelaren," Navia said quickly, pressing her hands over her stomach. "I'm not feeling well." True, for she was somewhat in a state of shock. "Please, give my compliments to Iriszy, I have to go."