A War Dawning - Epilogue

"Court wouldn't have minded had you taken it all," Neral said, fireplace roaring behind her and wall-lined books standing guard as she set her pieces.

"A few are still in a snit, but they can complain to the mirror because she whose decision that it was has decided. If I had crushed them, the Court of Draleth and its new ruler doesn't get to look upon the land they lost every day of their collective lives."

"Speaking of which, given your exemplary service of late, I should like you, at your earliest convenience, to tour the new lands we have acquired. You need to pick an estate."

Neral shook her head. "Majesty..."

She was just as firm. "I insist. I watched you earn at least that, and I will see you have it."

Evaline was in queen mode and that was that. "All right, Majesty."

"Damn right." She smiled warmly. "If nothing else you could use it for your shoes."

There was a tiny knock at the door and Evaline smiled broadly as Neral imagined what was going on behind it. She sang, "Who is it?"

"Me." said a sure and certain little voice.

"Who is 'me'? I'm quite sure I'm me and I'm in here."

"It's me.

"I can see your heart melt, Bootsie."

"Hush. Come in."

Khylen bolted in, wearing her white sleeping gown with Deres coming in behind with a smile of his own. "She insisted on saying goodnight."

Khylen had been clingy for a time since Neral had returned and her mother understood. Her life had been upended and uncertain and she needed to anchor herself once again. And, to be honest, Neral welcomed it and needed to do the same. She reached down to those little, outstretched arms and scooped her up. The hug was fierce as was her kiss on the cheek. "Good night," Neral told her.

"Good night, Mother." She eyed her critically, not quite ready to let go. "Still a regular day tomorrow?"

"I expect so."

"It will be so," Evaline assured her. "I will send her home for dinner, if I have to send her home myself."

The young mistress of the house approved. "Thank you, Majesty."

"Are you going to get a story?"

"She most certainly is." The general could tell that Deres was as happy with that notion as Khylen was.

Khylen hopped down and gave Evaline a smile before the salute that she'd seen her mother give her entire life and give it in a way that made her mother's heart swell. "Good night, Majesty."

Evaline pondered her briefly before taking the seal of her house from the table. "You know what this is, yes, Khylen?"

She nodded. "It's your symbol."

"It is. Very good, little one. Could you do me a great favor?"

She wondered what was coming, big blue eyes pondering what she could possibly do for the queen. "Okay."

"When I am not wearing this, would you be so kind as to call me Aunt Evaline? When I don't wear this it's a time that I only want to be just me and not have all that queen business following me around. Can you remember that?"

She gave a sharp nod."I can."

Evaline smiled warmly, "Thank you, Khylen. Have a good night."

She took two steps towards the door before turning back. She eyed the emblem and then Evaline as the queen set her pieces to the board.

Neral cleared her throat and Evaline looked to see her general gesture downward, trying to keep the grin off her face. Evaline's eyes met Khylen's to find her little arms wide as if to embrace the world yet again. Neral watched her queen's eyes mist and heard her clear her throat as she hugged Khylen tightly before the little one kissed her cheek, "Good night, Auntie Evaline."

The queen returned the peck on the cheek. "Good night, Khylen. Enjoy your story."

She handed the little one off to her father before the two of them headed to the open door. "I hate you so much there are no words, Neral."

"Hate you with every fiber of my being, Deres."

"Huh?"

"It's a joke, Khylen, I'll explain on the way to story time."

That seemed enough for her as the door closed with a hard click, leaving the two alone once again. Evaline went back to setting her pieces, good mood still on her face, shaking her head,"Your little one hugging me."

"You started it. She hugs and kisses her aunties goodnight when they visit."

"One can easily be reminded how..finite life is, no? I mean, I wonder how many remnants of the old world are still around waiting to kill us. I plan a summit with the other monarchs in the hopes that we can come together to search for signs. Find them and destroy them before some other fool can use them against us."

Neral picked up the thought, putting voice to something she had been contemplating since returning home. "To that end, I should like to fund a detachment of troops to seek out such things in our own lands. Deres has friends with some...expertise in the sciences and I think it would benefit us to at least put effort into tending ourselves at least as much as we cooperate with the other kingdoms."

After bearing their own witness to the existence and power of such weapons, though not without some debate, Adar decided to send small bands of technomages throughout the world with the same mission, though they added the careful acquisition of knowledge to the list of priorities.

Neral wanted to be appraised of what they found and to have her own people with them, at least as far as the borders of Erette went, seemed to be the best solution. Allowing that took more debate from the powers in Adar, but that Neral's own expedition had saved them as much as the rest of the world years before earned her some respect and deference. Given that to the world Adar didn't exist beyond children's fables and tall tales from those that had tried to brave the wastes, caution would be required by both sides, but the potential benefits made the risk acceptable. As it was, the Court of Draleth was already set to be visited by mages of Adar to see how much they knew of the plot and technology used for it and take steps to see that no hint of the latter escaped into the world.

"Good. Submit a proposal to myself and Court. I have no doubt that it will be approved since they have no interest in dying in a flash of light again anytime soon." She put the dice in the cup, rolled them delicately, and let them fall into the space for them, a shallow rectangle with raised edges to keep the dice from flying before moving the pieces she could ahead on the path. Knowing the path by heart, she knew how many spaces which of her pieces could move and how where they landed would pull them forward or force them back.

Neral saw her wrap her hand around her wrist where the bracelet had been and roll it to and fro as Neral collected the dice for her own turn. "Everything all right?"

"It is." She hesitated with the next words because they were an introduction to a harder admission. "You know, I never expected you to marry. You certainly did not need to. Your sisters have well furthered your line and duty was always your first focus."

Neral's dice dropped and she moved her pieces. "It was something that was always on my mind. It was something I always hoped to do...wanted to." She remembered nights of loneliness, "I was always concerned about finding a soul that could contend with my position and not be threatened by it. I also wanted someone I could actually love, as insane as that might be."

She studied Neral's pieces, contemplating which ones might make it to the first skirmish. "You seem to have found it."

Her heart swelled again at the thought of the life in her house. "It was...most unexpected, but yes." Evaline could never know the whole truth, but she loved the man and would have grown to love him anyway. "He is a good husband and a fine father. Khylen nor I could ask for better."

"I thought you insane to up and marry that man, but it was what you wanted and...it seems to have been the correct choice."

"I believe so."

The hard part was at hand as she focused just a bit too much on her turn. "Perhaps you could do the same for me?"

Neral's dark eyes lost the board as she processed again the words she heard and tried to decide what she thought they meant. "Choose for you? A consort?"

She nodded quickly, "Court often annoys me with this demand and that, but they are not wrong in this. Stabbed, poisoned, and potentially torched from a weapon from the old world did impress upon me the importance of continuing the royal line."

The idea of playing matchmaker was so bizarre that it set her insides to squirming, so she decided to try to set that energy to squirming her way out "Honestly, Evie, there is nothing I wouldn't do for you, but surely Bae..."

Evaline brushed the rest of the thought away. "Bae has her role. She knows of every potential candidate and once I set her to it, she will find others to make sure that I have the broadest possible choice of candidates who are acceptable in terms of lineage. Ordinarily that might be enough, but I find myself in envy of what you have. And I remember that mother and father's relationship was often cool. I don't want to repeat that. I would prefer not to raise a child in that. I would like a consort that I could actually be happy with if I am to be with them for life."

"I never expected to have this, to have him. We just sort of...happened." She snorted in laughter at the truth of it. "Had I tried to find Deres on my own in that way, it likely would have been a disaster. What makes you think I'm any better at even that aspect than Bae, especially when choosing for my queen?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Bootsie, I'm not leaving you the final choice, but... Bae is dear to me, but she and I do not have the history you and I do. You know me better than anyone and I thought perhaps you might lend your perspective on me to this. Left to my own devices my own relationships tend to be..."

"Shallow?"

"Bless you for the kindness of that word. If it were someone that you in particular thought was a good match, I believe I would take it more seriously in that not to would be a slap to you for the effort you put in on behalf of our friendship, not to mention curiosity as to a man you would pick for me."

Neral went back to the board, seeing what pieces would likely make it to the first skirmish and contemplating what damage she might be able to do."So long as it is clear that the final choice is yours. I'll not have you marry a man on the basis of my choosing and then have you peck at me forever because you don't like how he chews his food."

"My word is given that I will not do that."

"Good enough," she said, hoping that the rolls would be kind before she met the queen or she'd be outnumbered by the time the game really started, "though I wish you would have contented yourself with asking me to do something simple, like fend off another invasion."

Evaline laughed heartily. "Poor girl, your work is never done."

"Damn right."

End.