His Sifu.
"Apprentice, a moment if you please."
The Chosen of Battles turned away from Iselsi Navia's husband and daughter to look at the smiling face of his worst enemy. "Of course, Sifu."
They walked together from the dining table, leaving behind two of the most respected Dragon-Blooded in the Realm in Dallen's esteem. The spring air felt cold once they exited the mansion and Dallen regretted the absence of his coat for a moment. Then he remembered Navia's teachings and regulated his temperature with an act of will. He didn't hesitate to use what she knew.
Dallen Andair would learn everything Navia could teach him...and kill her with it. Not murder but an execution. Not for vengeance but for justice.
"What do you think of my husband?" she asked at last, as they drifted in a seemingly random fashion through the ground's gardens.
"He is an honorable man," Dallen said.
"And my daughter?"
"A fine soldier, Sifu."
"Ah." Navia walked silently, slowly, lost in thought. Dallen didn't speak, didn't question, only obeyed. Yet he couldn't help but notice the peculiar architecture of the garden's statues, familiar icons and shapes from the Bureau of Destiny. The mansion seemed Da'nashay's but apparently this garden belonged to his Sidereal wife.
"Sifu."
"You know you are always free to question me in private, apprentice," Navia said softly. She lingered at one statue, a figure of a Maiden holding an apple and a horn.
"No Resplendent Destiny?"
"No." Navia sighed and moved on, the edges of her green dress trailing behind. She didn't wear the robes of an Immaculate today, probably because of the company she kept. The forest-green contrasted nicely with the thick, curly red hair that hung to her waist. She looked quite lovely for a monster. "Once there was one but I abandoned it after a rival tried to use me against my husband."
"What do they remember?" he asked.
"Little. People know Da'nashay is a married man but no one remembers to whom. Neither he nor Rhiann talk of me and so little thought is given. He is the son of the Scarlet Empress, and she her granddaughter. What is Iselsi Navia to that, the overseer of the All-Seeing Eye, to that?"
"You didn't answer my question, Sifu," Dallen said, scenting vulnerability in the Exalt's evasiveness.
"Quite right, Dallen." Navia honored him with a tight smile and his name. If you could call it honor. "They remember me. Some people will, if you spend enough time around them."
"Did you?"
"No." Navia traced a path of tears along the cheek of another Maiden statue. "But they are both Sorcerers and strong enough of will. If I sometimes seem hazy and indistinct...well, neither sees me enough to remember everything and both believe me an All-Seeing Eye spymaster, cunning in the ways of subterfuge. It is easy enough to explain away."
"Why did you bring me here, Sifu?"
"To teach you what you must be able to do."
The answer surprised him. He'd expected her to say something about sympathy, something about recognizing her as human too. Why else could he be here but for that? So she had a family she loved but hardly saw. Sol Invictus, how did she expect that to make him more sympathetic when she'd stolen him from the woman he loved?
Dallen realized she'd stopped at the end of an ill-used path, overgrown with ivy on tall lattices. A small circular room in the hedges held a full-size statue of the Maiden of Endings...with a sheaf of paper in one hand...and a sword held to Her own throat. He stepped around a small hedge facing the statue and stared.
"What is this?" he asked, surprised. Though used to depictions of the Maidens, he'd never seen one like this.
"A reminder, apprentice," Navia said. She approached the statue, carefully folded the hems of her dress and knelt before the icon. Navia slowly lowered her forehead to the ground in an act of ultimate homage. Dallen knew all the Chosen worked collectively for the Maidens but he'd never seen a Sidereal so openly worship a Maiden that hadn't Chosen them. It shocked him to see Navia, so seemingly devout, do so.
"Of what? All things End?"
"That too," Navia said, lifting her head from the ground. "But for me, it is a reminder of the ultimate necessity of our calling. The Maiden of Endings does not threaten self-execution in this depiction because all things must End including the Incarna. She is ready to execute Herself in the event She no longer performs the function She must."
"That's not really true...is it?" Dallen felt uncomfortable now, deep in a side to Sidereals he'd never seen.
"The Maiden of Endings continues Her work today, apprentice, but ever She stands ready to bring what must End to an End...including Herself if She fails to do Her duty. This is as true as any other aspect is true."
"I already had a duty," Dallen said quietly, drawing her out with the truth. It was a technique she seemed fond of and would distract her. For all that Dallen remained an Outrider, he'd learned a great deal about subtlety in the Bureau. Let her guess incorrectly at his motivation. "And duty doesn't excuse evil, Sifu. Far be it for me to judge the Maiden of Endings...but She Ends what She has to. The Sun's still greater, bigger, stronger...and following His cause will make a world where She won't have to End so many things."
"Sidereal do not have the luxury of moral debate," Navia said sharply, the first sign of anger he'd seen from her in a month. He repressed a grin. Who was pulling the strings now? "I am not here to convince you or persuade you with words. I brought you here to show you how far you must go to save the world...and to show you how far I am willing to go. Look at Her hand."
Dallen looked...and saw the sheaf of paper was real. He stepped forward and brushed his fingers against it. Heaven-Wrought Parchment, the standard signatory paper of the Bureau of Fate. Sidereals could write astrological effects on many things but Heaven-Wrought Parchment placated the Pattern Spiders the best and served as official Division stock for all records.
He glanced back at Navia. Her face held no expression. Slowly, he tugged the top sheet free.
Da'nashay, You Will Stand Against Tyranny But It Will Break You. Your Mother Is Dead And You Will Die Next. You Must Rise Up And Proclaim Yourself Successor Or Danaa'd Will Spurn You And Your Soul Will Never Be Reborn. You Must Sacrifice Yourself For The Realm, Bring Attention To Its Sins Through Your Execution, Or Your Life Will Have Meant Nothing.
Dallen dropped the paper, horrified at the shocking Destiny laid out...and at the bold slash of Navia's own signature upon the paper.
"What is...what is this! How could you do this to your own husband?" Dallen had to fight to control the sweet swell of killing frenzy. Intentionally or not, he'd softened a little at the knowledge that she was married to one of the most honorable, moral generals the Realm had ever produced. Then, Navia did this, almost as if she deliberately gave him opportunity to hate her more. Did she see the truth after all? Did she want him to hate her?
"I haven't." Navia pointed at the next sheet of paper. Dallen hesitantly lifted an edge, saw Da'nashay Rhiann's name on it and let go as if it were made of acid. "I trained you better than this, apprentice. Use what you have been taught and what you knew before you came to me."
Dallen struggled to do what she said, obeying because understanding her lessons had unlocked new understandings in many things. The Violet Bier of Sorrows coalesced in his mind because of her teachings. He would use this as he had everything else. Someday, he would be stronger...and then he would be free.
"Dust...these have been here a long time. How long?"
"I change them every year. These have been here for months." Navia said.
"No one's else has touched them."
"That is true," Navia agreed. "This place is warded from casual intrusion." Coming from the elder Chosen of Secrets, that monumental understatement was probably rivaled only by saying 'the Faerie are not nice'.
"Why?"
"Remember the sword, apprentice." His eyes shot to the statue. Navia stood, walked to him and retrieved the fallen paper. She took Da'nashay Rhiann's sheet as well. "Look more closely," she said, pressing it into his hand.
Dallen looked at the now-familiar forms...and saw it, just as Navia stepped back and sat on a bench. She hadn't signed the form...she'd cosigned it. A perfectly prepared petition lay in his hands, small tabs indicating the sacrifices already made to the Pattern Spiders and the prior approval of Nara-O. While working Astrology was still tremendously difficult for him, Navia had made this very easy. All he had to do was sign it.
All he had to do was sign these forms and he'd kill those Navia loved most.
"This is a trick," Dallen Andiar insisted. It had to be.
"No."
"Why do this, Sifu? Why put their lives in my hands?"
"Because a Sidereal can allow no compromise in their lives!" Navia's Anima rose, a whispery gold-edged green that rippled the leaves of ivy in the garden. It mirrored her unconcealed anger. "I told you, apprentice. We are Sidereal, Chosen of the Maidens. We do not have the luxury for lives, ties or distractions in the mortal world if we cannot prioritize. I allowed myself a husband and a daughter only when I knew I could kill them if I needed to. You must do the same."
"Have you lost your mind?"
"I know my mind, apprentice" she said sternly. "I revise these petitions every year I return here. Every year I sign their death warrant, suspended only as long as I can retain my objectivity. Now you have them in your hand. You have only to sign them. I will not stop you."
"I'm not signing these," Dallen said, shaking his head.
"Then you agree I remain objective."
Dallen opened his mouth...and shut it. He didn't understand the game she played but he couldn't deny she played it well. Navia had showed him the sword at her throat, given it to him and dared him to put her to the test.
"No, Sifu, I don't accept that. You made these rules, not me. I'm not killing a man I respect because his wife says I have to if I disagree with her." Though he sincerely believed that she was wrong, General Da'nasahy didn't deserve to die to punish her.
"What if my husband's life meant the death of thousands?" Navia's star-filled emerald eyes gleamed a resonant shade with her Anima. "I am Sidereal, just as you are. We are all that keeps this world from destruction. Over a hundred million souls will die if we fail. We were not made for this but it falls to us and we have preserved the world through every catastrophe imaginable and exactly seven that are not. Do you understand the stakes?"
"Yes, Sifu," Dallen said.
"Then understand that responsibility. If I make a choice out of emotion, rather than necessity, I risk the world. What if I stay my hand, allow the man I love to survive when it is his time to die? He could rise up, claim the Scarlet Throne and rule as a tyrant, pitching the world into war."
"Enough 'what if's'," Dallen said. He shook his head, grateful for Jad Ivask's keen insight and unwavering moral virtue. His commander, Zenith and Outrider both, had taught him much. And every lesson was something a man could live with. "I'm not killing any man on your word, Sifu."
"You do not care for hypothetical scenarios, apprentice?" Navia's voice grew grim and her countenance cold. "Then let's move past the possible into the actual." She drew out a folder, set it on the bench beside her and bowed her head.
Dallen stood there for a long minute. She didn't move. The wind picked up, though it hardly pushed through the mantle of hedges warding this place from the weather. Crisp air still pushed through, the last memory of winter. His feet had enough time to get cold before he finally moved.
The folder bore the embossed Fivefold Fellowship seal and Old Realm characters spelled out 'Confidential Personnel file' across its surface. Dallen stared in disbelief. Some Sidereals went a thousand years before even catching sight of planning data or profiles. Yet...here it was. What game did Navia play? What was she after?
"Let me guess...you have something in here that's supposed to convince me to kill Velessa."
"No," Navia said. The remoteness on her face faded. Then...a tear trickled down her cheek.
Dallen tried not to care. Iselsi Navia was a monster, a killing machine who slaughtered the innocent to follow some insane agenda. She wore the trappings of love and family because it suited her. It gave her leverage to manipulate him, just as she tried to make him hate her. Maybe she'd never married Da'nashay at all! This whole thing could be a lie.
He opened the folder.