Shades of a Golden Child Chapter 3, a white wolf fanfic

Most Auspiciously Blessed One:

Your soul was deemed worthy of Celestial Exaltation as a Chosen of Secrets. Your presence is required in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy in Yu-Shan. Please present this missive to the nearest Shogunate official but keep its contents confidential.

Should you fail to respond to this urgent summons, you will be in violation of YS-BOF 42-196.13 regarding Sidereal responsibility and decorum. You risk the integrity of the Shogunate and the Bureau of Fate. You may be charged and the Violet Bier of Sorrows, at its discretion, may dispatch an operative to escort you to the nearest Celestial Gate. You have three (3) days by earthly reckoning to present this missive to the Shogunate.

If you have received this missive in error (you are not Nefvarian Navia or you have already contacted the Bureau of Fate), please present this missive to the nearest Shogunate official for collection.

Regards,
Lu'kyrie Shard

Auspiciously Inclined Seeker of Recent Exaltations

Division of Exaltation

3549 In Solis

(Year of the Raiton, Mercury Era of the 1st Epoch)

Dallen looked at the date and whistled. Easthaven used a variant of the old Shogunate Calendar and it amazed him to see the datestamp on the letter. This sheet of Heaven-Wrought Parchment was almost 1400 years old. And that meant...

He looked at the elder Sidereal, a woman so serene and controlled despite the tear still glistening on her cheek. Dallen expected her to use her family against him, anticipated her appeal to duty. But he'd never expected to see something from her childhood.

Who Date vSubject Chejop Kejak3554/12/3Fw: Golden Child Sid - Nefvarian Navia?

Concluding Emollient3554/12/5Re: Golden Child Sid - Nefvarian Navia?

Chejop Kejak3554/12/6Nefvarian Navia - Confidential

"What is this, Sifu?"

"The truth," she answered. Coming from a Chosen of Secrets, it seemed a contradictory statement. But he couldn't argue with a personnel file. Hell, it was a Severity to forge this no matter what it said. Iselsi Navia wouldn't break the Law of Heaven, just to put one over him. No Sidereal would.

Chejop KejakTo: Bent One Winged Angel/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

3554/12/3cc:

bcc:

Subject: Fw: Golden Child Sid - Nefvarian Navia?

Looks like the Maiden has plans for Taking Chances. FYI.

Naro-OTo: Chejop Kejak/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

3554/12/2cc: Concluding Emollient/Bureau of Fate/Endings, The Golden Dragon/Bureau of Fate/Loom of Fate

bcc:

Subject: Golden Child Sid- Nefvarian Navia?

Nefvarian Navia, SID# 92, turned herself in today at a Shogunate Security Consul in Meru. Chejop, her case is four years outstanding so please update SID#92 case file accordingly.

Nefvarian Navia has been taken into custody and is being held prior to transfer to Yu-Shan. Examination reveals evidence that she is a Golden Child. The Golden Dragon is requested to examine her to trace her lineage. As her records show, she is presently fourteen years of age and so conceived well after the Oricalcum Infraction.

Chejop Kejak, I must regretfully decline your request to be her Sifu. As Orloria Kessen was your Sifu, we prefer her replacement have an instructor with less potential bias.

Concluding Emollient, please draft her Non-Compliance Assessment and forward to Chejop Kejak for dissemination to her eventual Sifu.

This message is intended only for the addressee and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, or the person responsible for delivering to the intended recipient, you should not read, copy, disclose or otherwise use this message, except for the purpose of delivery to the addressee. If you have received this notice in error, please advise the Forbidding Manse of Ivy immediately.

"You were a Ronin?" he asked in disbelief.

"Not exactly," Navia said. Her voice sounded like one of the Dowager's Nemessaries, as empty as it was. "I was only 10 years old when I received that summons. I did not deliberately defy the Bureau. Read on."

Chejop KejakTo: Bent One Winged Angel/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

3554/12/6cc: Nara-O/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

bcc:

Subject: Nefvarian Navia - Confidential

Per Nara-O, your request to be Nefvarian Navia's Sifu is granted. As the Sifu to a dozen other Sidereals, you doubtlessly know policy but it is incumbent on me to advise you to refresh yourself on any changes in New Sidereal guidelines.

Per Nara-O, your first priority is to use her to draw out Taking Chances. The Golden Dragon's Blood-Kin Sense will pierce her protective Charms and enable pursuit. You are granted Mandate-level access to all Bureau resources for the purposes of apprehending and killing the Inspector of the Night.

Please note the Non-Compliance Assessment attached. Your discretion in training Nefvarian Navia is absolute, of course. Per Nara-O, it is recommended that she be told the contents of her Non-Compliance Assessment. It is felt that the truth will motivate her to excel, to help overcome the loss of 4 work years in a timely fashion. Please see Nara-O with any questions.

"There is only a little more," Navia said. She didn't seem serene anymore. A better word might be deadened or numb. Dallen read on. He had to know how this ended.

Concluding EmollientTo: Naro-O/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

3554/12/5cc: Chejop Kejak/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

bcc: Bent One Winged Angel/Bureau of Fate/Secrets

Subject: Fw: Re: Golden Child Sid- Nefvarian Navia?

Non-Compliance Assessment is as follows.

Projected Workflow Impact:

Nefvarian Navia was in receipt of a Summons four years ago and did not acknowledge it. Her workload will be absorbed by other Agents, as per YS-BOF 10-111.29. The following includes those items other Agents are not expected to have the time or resources to absorb.

-0 Anathema Horoscopes missed.

-3 Untimely Anathema Profiles

-2 Promotions held up.

-14 New nations will form unsupervised.

[+ -147,120 total projected deaths.

[+ -27 persistent errors climax without intervention.

-0 First Circle errors climax without intervention.

-0 Second Circle errors climax without intervention.

-0 Third Circle errors climax without intervention.

Actual:

Nefvarian Navia was in receipt of a Summons four years ago and did not acknowledge it. As a result, the following occurred that would have been prevented had she complied.

Father: Nefvarian Horis (DB Strain#162)

-Rating 3 disruption of Shogunate offices per Navia's case.

-4 DB killed, causing a downstream bloodline error of 1.47.

Mother: Taking Chances (see Inspector of the Night SOL# 498)

Military:

[+ - 19 Incidents of Disruption of Shogunate Facilities.

[+ -Approximately 14,972,224,808 corsins in damages.

[+ -Approximately 26,002 casualties (unconfirmed).

Civilian:

-9,072 confirmed casualties.

-101,998 unconfirmed casualties.

Other:

-Agent KIA (Ellis Piers SID#37)

-[+162 Celestial Gods KIA

Without a profile on Navia, I would recommend discretion in sharing this information with her. Innocence must End eventually but I don't know the Bureau is best served by crushing a teenage girl with the knowledge that her delay in joining the Bureau directly resulted in the deaths of 35,000-136,000 people.

Concluding Emollient

Iselsi Navia watched Dallen set the folder down and stand, brooding in thought. She felt the paths his thoughts might follow, saw the echoing ripple of endless forthcoming permutations. Like any Exalt, her apprentice could ignore the Tapestry's directive if he tried. Unlike other Celestial Exalts, Dallen had no directives from the Tapestry to ignore. Only a responsibility he could embrace or decline.

"This doesn't change anything," Dallen said at last.

"Would you like to see your Non-Compliance Assessment?"

The former Outrider glared harshly at her, his red eyes flashing like a storm of blood. His fists tightened and Dallen looked nothing like the refined Dynast he dressed to be. "It changes NOTHING. People die all the time, Sifu, in one place or another. You can't make me feel guilty for what's going to happen anyway."

It was a marvelous facade. Of course, Navia knew perfectly well his deceit. He wanted her to think that he needed coaxing because it would avoid deeper scrutiny. She admired his intentions. Give your adversary something they believed and they would believe it. Dallen Andair learned everything she taught him despite and because of that deceit. But he had not yet learned the most important lesson.

"Then I should kill you now, to free your Exaltation to find a host with a conscience."

"What? How can you talk of conscience? You tried to murder the woman I love." Dallen's eyes emptied of his hate, became a smoothly reflective surface that showed nothing of his feelings. She'd hit close to home, it seemed. "You tried to kill my commander and the people I respect, and for what? Some stupid empty Philosophy with some stupid empty Prophecy behind it. How can you tell me I'm without conscience when you kill in the name of some ridiculous belief?"

"How is killing in the name of the Unconquered Sun any different?" Navia raised a single finger in warning and he hesitated. "Think, my apprentice. Jad Ivask, your Zenith leader, killed people because he believed he was right. Belief is a powerful tool, for them and for us. The difference is that the Solar allow their beliefs to control them. Our beliefs only inform us."

"Lies. Their beliefs come from the Incarna!"

"The Maidens are not Incarna also? But consider this." Navia brushed at the robes across her knees. "A Solar raises an army to unite the North because he believes the world will be better off under one rule. Your Solar opposes him because he uses Demons to fight with, because he is careless with civilians. Both men fight from their sense of rightness...but with different sensibilities and to different results."

Dallen shook his head and turned his back to her. The Chosen of Secrets rose from her bench and walked behind her apprentice, gently cupping the back of his neck. Dallen's muscles were tight beneath her touch, hardly tolerant of her presence. His face could lie, as could his lips, but his body spoke the truth. Beneath the lie of obsession, beneath the indifference he thought he felt, lay true hatred. Good.

"Dallen...the Solar are beautiful and wonderful...and once they made an amazing world possible through their vision," she murmured into his ear. "But that vision grew dark. I admit it seems light now but we cannot gamble the lives of Creation's peoples on Solar fancy. Don't make the mistake I made."

"Jad isn't Taking Chances," Dallen said, suddenly calm again. His discipline was impressive in one so young. "Don't paint the Solar with your mother's doings."

"Hers was but one tale of the First Age, my apprentice." Navia shook her head and leaned it against Dallen's. He shuddered but didn't move. Better. "Nonetheless, I once felt as you did. My mother was so wondrous. How could a creature that beautiful, that all-knowing be wicked? Mother graced my dreams with paradisiacal pictures and gave me a Chillikin to keep me company when she was away. I received that Summons when I was only 10, hours after my Exaltation. But even then, I knew what it meant. I'd been called to serve in Heaven...and Heaven wanted Mother dead."

Navia slowly walked about to face him, her head still resting against his until their foreheads touched. Conflict radiated from him, wound through his thread like a child. Mars would be pleased. "I acted out of sentiment and love. I did not turn my mother in. And thousands died. She murdered them and would not had I acted."

"So they were corrupt then. That doesn't mean they will be again. They've learned."

"Have they?" Navia shook her head slowly, moving his with it. "The Bull of the North tells me otherwise. Seras Winterblood speaks with courage and conviction but her temper is a thing of legend already. Jad Ivask is a hard man, despite his soft heart, and sometimes even he does what other men could not do. Face the truth, apprentice. The evil of the Solar is not so far removed."

"Every man has evil in them," Dallen said hoarsely.

"And every woman," Navia added. "The difference is in outcome. Solars kill millions to advance their beliefs. Sidereal kill thousands to save millions. You know the numbers, apprentice. It is our job to reduce the net number of fatalities in this world, minimize the destructive influence of the Wyld tearing at our borders and the forces of death eating away at our interior." She showed no sign of her satisfaction at seeing the slight flinch on his face. Easthaven had long fought against the Dowager and the Wyld was visible from its tallest towers. "This we do no matter the cost. And we get the results Creation needs, apprentice."

"I don't see why I should believe you. You've already proved the Sidereal are willing to lie to advance their agenda. Why not lie about the reports they use to justify it?" Dallen's eyes smoldered with intelligence and concealed ire.

"If you mistrust the Bureau of Fate, then go to the Bureau of Humanity and search their records," Navia said. "Search wherever you wish. I do not require your belief anymore than your sympathy. I require only that you make effort to uncover the truth...and then act according to the dictates of the conclusion that follows. I require that you make the same commitment to protecting the world that I have."

Iselsi Navia stepped away from her apprentice, bowed once before the Maiden of Endings, and moved to the exit of the shrine. Dallen's voice called out behind, catching her attention. She stopped, turned, and waited calmly for what she knew he would say.

"Would you really have let me kill him?" The Chosen of Battles held up the Heaven-Wrought Parchment. "Would you have killed your only family just to convince me how hard you are?" Honesty at last.

"You do not see." Navia sighed and turned away from him again. "You and I are part of a group that is solely responsible for keeping Creation alive. We do not always agree on the interpretation of data but none of us argue at the necessity of acting on it. We must sacrifice our lives so that all life may live, apprentice. I do not need to demonstrate my 'hardness' to you. I need you to rise to the same level, to be as hard as we must be. For Velessa and any world the two of you might someday live in."

"Leave her out of it," Dallen said, temper smoldering in his crimson eyes.

"The sword is at my neck, apprentice." Navia gestured to his hand and the paper it held. "I have put it in your hands. I love my family and nothing on Heaven or Earth can hurt me more than their deaths. I love Creation and life. I am willing to put my heart and soul on the chopping block for it. Do you love Creation, apprentice? Can you do as I do?"