To exactly no one's surprise, when they returned to Solaris' office, there was a familiar Cat waiting with her. :Hello brother,: Hansa said warmly, :And well met, cousin.:

:I'd prefer if you directed all such comments to me, and I relay them to Kir, thank you,: Anur said, words polite, tone distinctly frigid.

:Herald - :

:No Kir, you don't like Mindspeech, even when I do it, and I said I'd try to keep others from forcing their mental voices on you. This is me keeping my word.:

"Thank you," Kir murmured, Hansa inclining his head, still managing to look remarkably regal from where he was sprawled across Solaris' lap with her hands tangled in his fur. "He agrees," Anur relayed aloud, Solaris watching Kir with some sympathy as they set their finds on the low table between their chairs before sitting down.

"It is an extremely odd sensation," she said, "The… mindspeech, Hansa says you call it?"

"That would be the direct translation, yes," Anur agreed, calm tone entirely at odds with the uninhibited glee that was fairly radiating off him from the moment he'd found a stash of nearly a week old (and therefore, unacceptable to sophisticated palates) spice-cake. It was all Kir had been able to do to keep him from carrying nothing but armfuls of the dessert back. At least he would always be easy to find a gift for.

"That – is an excellent amount of spice-cake," Solaris smiled, "How did you know it was my favorite?"

"I didn't – it's my favorite!" Anur beamed, apparently delighted at finding someone else who appreciated the traditional dessert as much as he did, "But I'll split my bounty with you. And Kir gets a piece or two, even if he doesn't appreciate it as much as he should."

"You have got to be kidding me," Kir groaned, burying his face in his hands as Solaris and Anur started bickering on whether or not thickness should be taken into account when it came to calculating an even split on spice-cake portions.

The matter was finally resolved (answer, yes) and Solaris had taken her first piece of spice cake and fruit before she asked, "Where did you find this much spice-cake, by the by? It's not exactly typical fare in the District, unfortunately."

"You'll have to change that now that you're Son of Sun," Anur informed her solemnly before shrugging and swooping in for another piece. Kir was content with his cold meat slices and cheese – he'd have his "paltry share" of spice-cake later. "As for where – the kitchens. It was set aside to be disposed of, probably sent to charities or something, at least I hope so, because it was a few days old or something ridiculous. Spice-cake keeps well though, no idea why they'd get rid of it."

"I think it was left over from the Midwinter's Day celebrations," Kir said, "They last a few days past Midwinter itself here, but I would bet they weren't as jovial or universal as usual this year."

"Yeah, watching the former Son of Sun get set on fire could probably do that," Anur snorted, pouring himself some water.

"Lastern wasn't set on fire," Solaris said, looking at them in bemusement, "Is that what they're saying?"

"Who knows what they're saying," Kir sighed, "The rumors were ridiculous. No fire then? That's somewhat disappointing, what happened to him?"

"He was struck by lightning and turned to ash at the moment of the lighting."

Kir and Anur stared at her and a particularly smug looking Hansa for a few shocked moments before Kir managed, "I don't think that's any better."

"And then the Sunlord possessed His Image and rose from His Throne to honor me with His Crown, resized to fit my head as it was lowered," now he knew Solaris was enjoying the piecemeal revelations, her last bite of spice-cake doing nothing to hide her mirthful expression.

"…that's a statue, I'm guessing?" Anur muttered sidelong.

"A very large statue," Kir replied faintly, mentally thanking the Sunlord that nothing so dramatic had happened while he was around. Building up a tolerance of sort for miraculous occurences or not, his first instinct would still have been to run away as fast as possible.

"And I suppose the lightning struck at the exact moment of igniting and from a cloudless sky?" Anur asked a few moments later, voice dry as he had apparently recovered and returned the majority of his attention to food besides spice-cake, at last.

"Of course it was cloudless," Kir snorted before Solaris could reply, "First, if He were to go to the effort to turn someone to ash with lightning, why not go the extra mel and have the sky cloudless? Secondly, it was Midwinter's Day."

Anur paused, swallowed his mouthful of cheese, before saying, "Wait – are you implying that it's always sunny on Midwinter?"

"Of course it is, the ignition happens when the first beam of high-noon sun hits the doused Eternal Flame through the oculus – how would there be a beam of high-noon sun if it was cloudy?"

"Are you – is he serious? Has there never been a cloudy Midwinter?" Anur demanded, turning to Solaris. She was no help to him, she looked as bemused as Kir felt, replying, "Well – I suppose there were cloudy mornings or afternoons, but during high-noon? No, it's never been cloudy in my recollection, or in the records I've read – it would be an extremely bad omen. I would have to look into the interpretations but I'm fairly certain that would mean Vkandis Sunlord has abandoned Karse, for her people are no longer His."

"Do you have cloudy Midwinters in Valdemar?" Kir asked, finally making the connection Anur's reaction implied and feeling utterly shocked, "That happens?"

"I can't say every Midwinter, but a fair number of them, yeah," Anur said, Solaris and Kir exchanging shocked looks before Kir voiced what they'd probably both been thinking, "Your country is utterly bizarre."

"Oh no! That does not make Valdemar bizarre, that makes you weird – I can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of countries, if not all countries besides Karse don't have that happen. At least not as a nationwide phenomena," Anur must have caught their doubtful looks and got a mulish expression on his face, "I will prove it, I will so prove it one of these days. In this? You Karsites are the bizarre ones."

"Good luck with that," Kir shook his head, feeling decidedly off-balance with that revelation. If the Midwinter's Sun wasn't guaranteed in other nations, what did that mean for Karse? At the very least, it was reassuring, that at no point in their long descent had they truly abandoned the Sunlord's Way as a whole, but on another it was a little unnerving.

The idea of a cloud-covered Midwinter was actually mildly terrifying – he'd have to make sure to never be in Valdemar for the day itself, or any nation besides Karse if Anur turned out to be right.

"Well, speaking of Midwinter," Solaris almost visibly brushed aside their previous discussion, asking instead, "What was your Midwinter's ceremony? You mentioned Hansa arrived, he says he's the reason my summons to you disappeared off my desk? I assumed it had been sent out but hadn't expected it to have arrived that day!"

"Actually, with that, it seems a reasonable time to present this," Kir pulled the carefully scribed reply to Solaris' summons out of a messenger tube they'd stuffed in his packs. This was the final of at least four drafts Greich had run through in the days immediately following Midwinter, and every literate member of the unit that stood still long enough had been forced to read over the document during one of its revisions.

Solaris took it curiously, cracking the seal and unrolling it – Kir didn't quite hold his breath, but both he and Anur had set their food and drink aside to watch her reaction. She was impressively impassive, and even when she looked up from the document to speak her tone revealed nothing, "I assume then, that you agree with the main thrust of this message? That you would prefer not to be reassigned permanently to Sunhame?"

"I would much rather have never had to set foot in this city again," Kir said with a painful sort of honesty, knuckles white on the arms of his chair, "But I know that is impossible, so having – retaining my post in the 62nd would be – it would be appreciated."

Solaris tilted her head slightly and Anur murmured, "Hansa is asking if it would even be possible for you to lead the Firestarter Order from a border posting."

"I think it would be more than possible, even desirable, considering how the Firestarting Order must be restructured," Kir replied, directing his gaze to Hansa, "As it is not going to be disbanded, it would be best if the true target of the Firestarting Order could be presented relatively quickly, so people are not left wondering if the reclassification of a witch is a lie or at the least a temporary measure. With Ancar supplying blood-mages – while he hasn't attacked Karse full on yet, it is only a matter of time – having Firestarters assigned to the border would reassure people that Firestarters truly aren't going to be used as internal policing forces. Not to the extent we were."

"Besides that, I am not sure how combat-ready the other Firestarters are. Also, from the perspective of being accepted by the Order as a leader – I have not dealt with a single one of them in over ten years, expecting them to follow my orders and direction without leading the way? Disastrous."

"And if you were stationed here, you'd be miserable," Anur said bluntly, turning to Solaris and continuing, "So I'm sorry, but if you can't come up with some other option than permanently assigning Kir to Sunhame? You might as well write me out of any plans you have, because I can't support a regime that asked my brother to sacrifice one hell of a lot in peace of mind and otherwise only to make him miserable. And I'll knock him out and drag him away too, so you'll lose us both and pretty quick."

"Anur - !" Kir hissed, eyes widening in alarm as he kept talking and wanting nothing more than to grab him and flee because speaking that frankly could not end well –

"Kir," Solaris said quietly, drawing him out of his plotting of escape routes with a hand on his knee, "Calm down. Anur speaks nothing less than the truth and I will never be angry for that. Frustrated, maybe, but never angry. And he is speaking the truth, isn't he? You would be miserable, were I to take you from the 62nd."

"I would be… upset, if you removed me from the 62nd entirely," Kir corrected carefully, trying to clamp down on his immediate panic. He knew Solaris, maybe not as well as some of her other advisors, but thanks to years of letters and veiled exchanges, he knew her. She would not immolate them for questioning her non-Divine edicts, she would welcome helpful advice and criticism but it was one thing to know that and another to know that, when she sat there with the ancient and elaborate Sun Disk exclusive to the Son of Sun about her neck and a Firecat (a Firecat!) on her lap.

He suddenly felt much more empathy for all those who shied from his robes.

"I would not be miserable unless I were permanently stationed in Sunhame, or in any major temple," Kir continued, "I do not – I do not like cities. I do not care for large congregations – I like ministering to a community where I know each and every one of them. I enjoy being useful, working with my flames in new and odd ways – and I truly believe that for a long while, the only place I can have both is in the Sunsguard as a chaplain, and as I am already in the 62nd and have a very good relationship with them, why change a good thing?"

"Why change a good thing indeed," Solaris smiled, sitting back in her chair, "Thank you, both of you, for your honesty. And I will write a letter to the same effect to your 62nd, I get the feeling that if anyone were to try and take you from them against your will they'd have quite the fight on their hands."

"On multiple fronts," Anur murmured, clarifying with, "Hansa."

"Well I, at least, appreciate the warning, and can greatly appreciate the mutual affection and respect this indicates," Solaris chuckled, continuing, "I was planning to do a massive reassignment effort, and only leave priests where they were if literally every adult in their congregation requested they stay. I must say I anticipated most of those being small village and pastoral priests, not chaplains! Maybe I'll have to reassess my plans!"

"What are your plans regarding the Sunsguard?" Kir asked, finally reaching for some fruit again and relaxing, "While there isn't as much corruption as in the priesthood itself, there is still a significant amount from what I've heard."

"I would appreciate your insights on it," Solaris nodded, selecting another piece of spice-cake before saying, "I plan to basically disband all those units I cannot trust on a temporary basis and make it permanent on a case-by-case basis at the unit level and then deal with individual problems. I hope that we can simply select decent officers and leave them to restock their unit's rosters appropriately."

"And what will you do with disgruntled men who've been discharged permanently, with weapons training and bitterness alike?" Kir raised an eyebrow, surprised at the scope of her plan for the Sunsguard but understanding how it was probably necessary. He had received a disheartening number of reports of corruption from the mild to the obscene from the 62nd's former members, and a lot of it hadn't been something he could really do anything about at the time.

"Those units that remain – of which there are a decent amount – will work as internal policing. I also think arming the populace should keep things calmer – at the least it will make them feel more confident, even if they don't necessarily know what they're doing," Solaris shrugged, and Kir honestly smiled at that, "Perfect!" he agreed, "That will serve quite a few purposes for reassurance."

"Exactly my hope," Solaris smiled, Anur bringing the mood down a bit when he asked, "And Ancar? Bandits and pirates and the like? The Sunsguard is stretched thin as-is, cutting the numbers even only by a few units – when it sounds more like it'll be at least halved – is going to lead to serious shortages and problems, especially if the permanently discharged start acting up."

"That, I don't have a solution to," Solaris grimaced, a blank moment passing before a thoughtful expression crossed her face, "That could work… Hansa just suggested guilded mercenaries."

"That is going to be extremely expensive," Kir said immediately, "Given how poorly they've been dealt with in the past? There will have to be a massive up-front payment offered to tempt any of the guilded sort back into Karse. And extremely tightly worded contracts, with massive penalties as extra reassurance."

"And it's going to have to be sold to Karsites carefully," Anur added, nodding towards Kir as he continued, "Kir says the Tedrel Wars had a major impact on Karse and the Sunsguard's trust of Sunhame – I wouldn't doubt the scars from the Wars mean people will be leery of mercenaries too, guilded or not. Valdemar hiring the Skybolts was more because Eldan personally vouched for their Captain than actually trusting Guild mercenaries and for us the last mercenaries we dealt with were expected enemies, not supposed allies."

"Arming the populace should help, but he's right, it's going to have to be explained carefully," Kir agreed.

"As for the expense," Anur said wryly, "Might I suggest stripping down that horrific door as a starting point?"

"It will be one of the first things to go," she promised.

***===***pagebreak***===***

This visit was going much better than Anur had anticipated. Angry crowd insulting Rodri aside, entering Sunhame had been simple enough and finding Solaris had been alarmingly so. Given the Sunlord's ability to literally strike people down with lightning, he doubted anyone who attacked her would make it very far, but there was no reason to be incautious.

Especially since she was the first person he'd met who seemed to like spice-cake as much as he did. That sort of taste had to be preserved.

Now, they had left Solaris to start blitzing her way through paperwork regarding the Sunsguard plan with Hansa now keeping a watchful eye on her. Her guards had arrived at last, and hopefully they understood the magnitude of their error by the stern looks Kir and Anur had both given them. If they didn't, an actual lecture would be forthcoming, and if Kir wouldn't do it, he'd take full advantage of his odd position in the Sunsguard hierarchy and deliver it himself.

His already odd half-removed-upward position in the rank flowcharts Devek had forced him to memorize had recently been given an immense boost after all. While only First Order Firestarters could be Head of the Order, not every First Order Firestarter was the Head.

Kir, Anur knew, was not particularly thrilled with the entirely anticipated promotion, though occasional glances at his friend's expression gave nothing away. His features could have been carved from granite for all the emotion he was showing. It gave him a somewhat alarming resemblance to Weaponsmaster Alberich, actually – one problem with Karsites all fitting a particular type as far as appearances went, he supposed. But that very forbidding expression gave away enough, there was none of his usual exasperation at the world, distant worry over whatever was keeping him up at night that particular day or even bemusement at whatever bizarre situation they'd found themselves in this time.

All micro-expressions with him, really, but thanks to the bizarre hunt of the Nameless and his increased if only occasional contact with Kir mind-to-mind, he'd found that it was a relatively simple matter to focus and get at least a general sense of what Kir was feeling. A bizarre sort of bond, especially since he was fairly certain it wasn't just one-way. Now that they were in Sunhame, he was hoping he could get access to those records Kir had found the hunting rite in, maybe that would have something in it about joint Voice manifestations or whatever it was that had happened to them.

If he couldn't find anything, he could always see if Firecat Hansa had any ideas…

"So, the Firestarters have basically entered self-imposed lockdown?" Anur reiterated, raising an eyebrow and hoping Kir might elaborate on what they were going to be walking into. "Supports your theory of terrified panic, at least."

"Unfortunately," Kir grimaced, "Solaris made the announcement regarding the false definition of witch-powers and the true innocence of those that were hunted for centuries almost immediately, and the news spread incredibly fast. Helped along, of course, by the fact very few actually want those practices to continue."

"Hence, the whole issue with Rodri earlier."

"Precisely, though I think that was exacerbated by a recent burning in the area – and the fact Rodri has been going through there for some time, so they knew he wasn't a threat himself."

"Which is messed up."

"Of course it is, but they were angry," Kir's expression soured briefly before returning to stony blankness, "People are remarkably stupid when they're angry, especially when in a group."

"Had to deal with a few mobs in the cities," Anur agreed, by now well-practiced at mentioning his experiences as a Herald without mentioning anything specific to Valdemar itself, "They were pretty ugly, and very quick to turn uglier. So their terrified panic isn't entirely unjustified, we expected it."

"They have also recently been told that they've spent their entire adult lives burning innocent children alive," Kir said, tone weary even though his face gave nothing away, "I wouldn't doubt they're guilt-stricken, and wouldn't be surprised at all if a few of them are suicidal."

:Kir…:

:It's occurred to me before,: Kir replied shortly, no longer having any visceral flinch of horror at the switch of mediums, though his knuckles went briefly white, :But I had the luck to be somewhere I avoided burning innocents for years, did duties true to the priesthood's purpose rather than our corrupted mess of policy and practice. It has been a very long time since I've seriously considered it as anything other than a contingency plan.:

:...All right. I'll let that lie then.:

:Thank you.: "Now, stay close to me, when Firestarters argue, things have a tendency to burst into flame," Kir warned aloud as they rounded what would be a lovely hedge when it wasn't the dead of winter and found themselves facing a remarkably plain structure compared to the elaborate coiffing on every other priesthood-associated building in the District. It was still beautiful, but full of patterned wood-and-stone and an attention to architecture that some of the others passed over in favor of tons of gilt and gold.

"Lot less shiny than the others," Anur tilted his head to one side as he examined what he supposed was the Firestarter Hall Kir had said they were heading for. "I like it."

"Glad you approve," Kir replied dryly, some of his tension easing, a small smile twitching at his lips before it vanished to his stony façade again – Anur would take what he could get. "It's one of the oldest buildings in the District, much of the mage-work that went into crafting a Hall that could withstand Firestarter arguments and debates has been lost to the ages."

"You arguments are that explosive?" Anur raised an eyebrow, "That's… surprising, really. You have a temper, yes, but you don't set things on fire unless you mean to."

"That is precisely because it is so easy for me to set things on fire," Kir replied crisply, "Control, and strict control, was a vital necessity for me. For those of less power, it is not quite so vital, which can lead to problems when they're running on terror and anger and not much else. Also, as soon as one person pulls a blade in a fist-fight – "

"Everyone grabs the nearest one and sticks it in the other guy," Anur finished with a sigh, eyeing the doors that were fast approaching, "Makes sense. You go first."

Kir actually rolled his eyes at that, pushing one of the oversized wooden doors open and promptly side-stepping.

A chair leg, which was, naturally, on fire, flew past them and skidded across the paving stones before coming to a halt against a stone bench.

"Well, that was a bit of a warmer welcome than I anticipated," Anur said finally, peering around the edge of the door to look in at the source of the flaming chair leg.

Kir chuckled softly, actually stepping into the sun and flame-lit room, saying, "Hail, brethren."

"We have not yet come to a decision," a middle-aged Firestarter said stiffly, apparently not recognizing Kir as one of their own, "Kindly leave us until the Firestarters Conclave has conclude – "

"Enough," the woman sitting at the far end of the room interrupted him, raising her formerly bowed head and rising to her feet. "There is no Conclave. There is simply the mindless bickering of terrified wretches who don't dare honestly think about what has happened, what has been revealed to us."

:That seems a little harsh,: Anur murmured to Aelius, the Companion replying promptly, :Hush, I want to hear all of this.:

"Eldest Brother," she continued, brown eyes locked on Kir with that same blankly forbidding expression Kir had crafted onto his own face, stepping off the slight dias her chair was on and beginning to walk towards them, "Is it true? What has been said? Have they really – were the witches of – " her breath hitched and she stopped walking halfway across the room, raising a hand to her mouth as her composure wavered, "Have the witches I've burned been nothing but children?"

"Yes."

:That seems a little harsh too…:

:Hush, Chosen!:

The woman, who by now he was certain was Jaina, the current-yet-former Head of the Firestarting Order, entirely lost her composure at this point, dropping to her knees with a crack that made Anur wince and a sob that finally seemed to jar Kir into action.

In four quick strides he was kneeling at her side, wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry into his shoulder, shaking. Anur looked around at the other Firestarters – nine of them, with Rodri nowhere to be found, thankfully. He wasn't entirely sure how this initiate inducted as a Firestarter business worked – Rodri had only been in Sunhame two years at the most, there was no way he could actually be an acolyte yet –

:Chosen, focus,: Aelius' voice had a weary tone he hated, :These people are breaking.:

:Not yet they're not,: Anur replied, examining the nine Firestarters, from late teens to forties – one distinguished man might even break fifty – and noting the ones that looked the least shaken. They were the ones he'd want to keep an eye on, really. The ones that were reacting were at least reacting, not unfeeling with shock or denial or, worse, entirely uncaring.

"Right then," he said aloud, everyone at least tilting their heads towards him and he clapped his hands together, rubbing them briskly as he looked around, "First order of business – are those chairs supposed to be on fire?"

"…No."

"Thought so, now – when was the last time you all ate?"

He may not know what to do with people who'd just been told that the reason people shied away from them, flinched when they walked by, hid the pregnant women and children away if they passed through town was nothing, was true. That they really were the monsters everyone saw them as, because the targets weren't justified at all, were just innocent children. Or, well, not children, Alberich, but innocent – of being burn worthy because Alberich and innocence just didn't compute well in his head –

:Chosen.:

Aelius no longer sounded weary, he sounded amused, maybe even a little fond – so Anur counted it as a win. Because if he couldn't piece them back together, had no idea where even to begin, he could at least distract them and make sure they held it together long enough for someone to figure out just what could even possibly fix this situation.

As long as it didn't take longer than a week. After that, he was out of ideas.


A/N: Okay - epic length A/N and service announcement here:

First - hope this chapter worked for you. Got pointed out Solaris last chapter was a little off-key for some people and me too but I struggle with her, hopefully this struck the right balance of human-yet-AWEsome let me know and I'll try to get better with her voice. I struggle with her, any tips/tricks/ideas are appreciated even if they may go unused. More Firestarter trauma/drama etc. to come, it is the focus of the fic after all (*cough* title *cough*)

Now, FOR ALL THOSE WHO KNOW HOW TALIA GOT ORDAINED - YOU'RE DONE, NO NEED TO KEEP READING, THANKS!

On multiple sites I've gotten a surprising amount of communication regarding Talia's ordination - requests for how it should happen, questions as to what I'm going to do with the ceremony, is it going to be a ceremonial or practical posting etc. etc.

This has led me to realize a surprising amount of people have not in fact read the novella by Mercedes Lackey (ML herself, yes) called "Sun in Glory" published in the anthology of the same name a fair number of years ago. This novella details Talia's ordination. I have an entire sub-plot/storyline/it's gonna be EPIC planned AROUND THIS NOVELLA. I will not be covering the details of the novella content, just using it as a structure. Will it still make sense without reading the novella? Yes, it should, because the boys have to understand what's going on too. Will it probably be a much richer experience if you read the novella? Yeah, probably. Also, I really liked it and think it's good and Alberich is the MC - how can Alberich being an MC go wrong, seriously? (Don't tell me, just... don't).

Anyway, with any and all questions regarding Talia's ordination - read Sun in Glory by ML or wait patiently, but just be aware that the ordination itself is already canonized and I'm not messing with it.

Thanks readers, you all rock!