Far more people than Enfri had expected filled the Salt Stone Palace's throne room. This was only her second time here, the first being for Sasha's hurried and informal coronation following the Battle of Ecclesia. Nobles and wealthy goodfolk from the city and surrounding lands had come in droves. They packed between the white columns that supported the high-vaulted ceiling, from the spellwrought iron doors to the dais of the Sea Throne itself.

Sasha Romov stood in front of the king's seat, addressing his people. He wore a cerulean double-breasted coat embroidered with silver. The kraken sigil of House Romov was emblazoned upon his trailing cloak. Sasha wore a more elaborate crown than the one he'd been using. It was made of interwoven bronze bands adorned with precious stones.

The young king was praising those gathered for their work in beginning to rebuild what the First Legion had destroyed. Sasha spoke of the hardships that lay ahead and that he and his house would stand with them through the worst of it. And, though he didn't so much as imply it with either his words or tone, he thanked them for coming to witness what was essentially a betrayal of who he was.

Enfri and Jin stood off to the left of the throne. They wore white and held bouquets of amaranth. The purple flower bloomed throughout the year, untouched by frost and ice. It was a symbol of eternity, of everlasting love. It carried a deep and rich fragrance, sweet as any rose.

Ban and Pacifica stood at Sasha's other side. Pacifica also wore white and held a bouquet of her own. Ban cut quite the dashing figure in his gray paladin's uniform and held forth a bared half blade cradled in his palms.

As weddings among the great houses went, this was a rushed affair. The public announcement and distribution of the invitations had only been the previous day. It would have been scandalous in normal times, but the Altieri weren't ones for distracting themselves with ceremony when there was work to be done. Enfri mused that this wedding felt less like a joining of two lives together and more like tearing off a bandage that was stuck to the patient's flesh. Best to yank it off with one swift motion than draw out the pain.

She listened to Sasha's speech with only half an ear. Her own thoughts occupied her attention. Though she stood close to Jin and took as much comfort from her presence as she could, Enfri dwelled on what this wedding represented for her personally.

Sasha was making a sacrifice, as was Lady Deimi. Both were going through with this travesty for the good of their houses and Ecclesia. That the Drunov's feckless social-climbing was largely behind it hardly mattered anymore. Enfri even supposed she couldn't fault Lord Vago in the end. He wasn't doing anything worse than following the Althandi ideal. He saw an opportunity to further his house's ambitions, and he'd taken it. By holding the service of his armsmen over Sasha's head, he had assured House Drunov's place among royalty.

Therein lay Enfri's newest and deepest fear, that there may come a time that her bloodline and new title would require her to act against her own heart. She hadn't spoken of this to Jin. Winds, but with the revelations over the past couple days, Jin must have been one of the spirits' blessed saints if she hadn't fled already.

She turned her head slightly to look sidelong at her love. Jin caught the movement and gave a tiny smile in return. Despite herself, Enfri felt a little better.

But at the same time, she was at a loss. How could a person, princess or otherwise, be exactly who Enfri needed at all times? Since showing up on Enfri's doorstep to whisk her away on horseback, Jin had never shown herself to be anything but devoted, protective, selfless, and loving. She was also gentle, determined, strong, and ever so beautiful. And those muscles... Enfri had long come to terms with the fact that a pair of strong arms was her most dire of weaknesses. How could someone such as Jin Algara be real?

Enfri dared to scoot a little closer to her and spoke in a bare whisper, hiding her lips from the crowd with the bouquet. "I love you, my light."

The blush in Jin's cheeks was all the reply she needed.

From across the throne's dais, she caught sight of Ban nudging Pacifica with his elbow and nodding in indication towards the pair of them. Their amused grins showed their approval. Jin's blushing got worse.

She hid her own lips with her bouquet. "Do not play with fire, my heart. I might make a scene and kiss you in front of all these people."

Enfri suppressed a pleased giggle. Try as she might, she couldn't decide on if she wanted that to happen or not. Jin's kisses gave her life, but there was also a very real danger of dying from embarrassment.

By reflex, Enfri braced herself for Shoen's inevitable diatribe or a chiding from some other Dragon Emperor. Blessedly, one didn't come. Now that she thought about it, Enfri realized that she hadn't heard much out of the voices since that morning. The winds granted small favors, and Enfri was inclined to enjoy the respite.

Sasha's speech was winding down, and Enfri looked out over those assembled. A great many knights and paladins stood as close to the dais as decorum would allow. A group of goblins stood in a knot, Light Hoof and Rippling Moon among them. They wore the same fancy-looking furs that they'd worn to the feast. What remained of House Karst attended also. Lord Lammlyth Karst and his three children, Lord Traysul, and Lady Sofia had rather distant looks in their eyes. The hydromancers seemed disoriented by this disruption to their routines.

Curiously, Lady Ascania was absent. Enfri hadn't seen her since the battle and hoped that she was doing well. It was difficult to tell how much of current events Ascania was aware of. The cost of her elder magic left her living in a time when her sons were still boys and Sasha's father ruled a united Altier Nashal.

Ban's gone to see Ascania a lot since he returned. I haven't asked him about his mother. Maybe I should.

Further head counts were put on hold as the iron doors into the throne room opened at the conclusion of Sasha's address. Lady Deimi entered, hands folded in front of her. The bride wore an exquisite gown of gold and violet, the Drunov colors, and her reddish-brown hair was worn up in an elaborate headdress accented with rubies. Deimi's lips were pressed anxiously together as she walked in, and her eyes weren't unlike those of a soldier riding to battle.

Lord Vago the Drunov separated from the crowd near to the foot of the throne. He, unlike his daughter, wore an expression of triumph rather than the fatherly pride he perhaps should have been conveying instead.

Blustering snake, Enfri thought towards the one-armed lord. Upon seeing that vile smirk of his, Enfri decided that she certainly could find fault with Lord Vago.

Enfri then turned her attention back to Deimi where it belonged. She looked absolutely radiant. It was shameful that she couldn't be allowed to wear the gown to a wedding she wanted to be a part of. Enfri's heart went out to her. Deimi was as much a victim of her father's politicking as Sasha.

The throng parted for the bride, allowing her a clear path towards the throne. There was a moment where Deimi tore her eyes from her destination and looked to a young man she passed. The two of them met each other's gaze before Deimi moved on. Deimi swallowed, visibly distraught, and faced forward. The young nobleman watched her walk away with an expression of profound sorrow.

The exchange lasted less than a second, but Enfri saw enough to feel her heart break for Deimi all over again.

Winds and storms. This should be happy, but it just... isn't. Enfri stared into her bouquet and hoped that her tears would be thought of as the natural response to a wedding. Jin stood close, brushing their shoulders together. The simple gesture provided some measure of comfort.

Sasha leaned his head close to Ban and Pacifica, the three exchanging brief whispers. Enfri saw that Ban looked towards Deimi's young nobleman before responding. Sasha said something, and Ban nodded grimly. Pacifica remained stone-faced throughout the conference. Enfri felt a dreadful worry rising within her.

They wouldn't. Would they?

One of the voices returned. Of course they will. Would you have them allow the king to be cuckolded? Place the succession of their little city-state into question? Harden that soft heart of yours, girl. Some things simply need to be.

Enfri rebelled against the thought. But to drive him and Deimi apart? It's cruel. It's wrong!

Drive them apart? The Dragon Emperor laughed. They won't send him away, child. They're going to kill him. It's the only way to be sure.

Enfri wanted to throw up, and not just because it was a horrid suggestion. It was because she saw the cold wisdom in it. Enfri rather hated herself for understanding. For the sake of a kingdom, ugly things might need to be done. Destroy a love, sacrifice one's own identity, become faceless. Perhaps even send assassins to kill a young girl in a village far away.

As time passed, Enfri wondered how much longer she could condemn Jin's father when she was beginning to learn the pressures that accompanied a crown.

There may be hope for you yet.

Enfri forcibly wrenched her thoughts from the voices. It gave her a headache, but it guaranteed a few minutes of freedom. She'd faltered, and she almost allowed herself to listen to those beasts. Her promise to Jin was little more than a day old and still fresh.

Never, she told herself. Never give in to them.

Once this wedding and what came after was through, Enfri resolved to sit Ban and Sasha down and make them see sense. She would bully them if she had to, threaten to fly each and every one of her dragons out of Ecclesia if they harmed a single hair on that lad's head. They needed to snap out of their stupidity and hash things out like grown men. Not like petty, jealous children.

Kings and empresses needed to be better than that.

Lord Vago offered his good arm to Deimi. His daughter took it in hers, and he escorted her up the short steps to the throne. Before stepping aside and descending back down the steps, he nodded to Sasha.

Groom and bride faced each other. Jin and Enfri stepped up to flank Deimi as her witnesses. Ban and Pacifica did so for Sasha.

"Who brings to me my wife?" Sasha called in a loud and clear voice. As the one granting his name and roof to the other, it was his place to open the proceedings.

Jin answered first. "Princess Jin Algara of Althandor bears witness and grants her blessing."

A wretched pain twisted in Enfri's gut, and she somehow managed to keep her voice even. Officiating ceremonies was a duty of sky women, though she'd seen more funerals in her time than weddings.

"Empress Enfri the Yora of Shan Alee bears witness and grants her blessing."

"For her safe passage, I give thanks to the spirits," Sasha said. "Within my house, I will shelter her. Beneath my name, I will honor her. Let all the fires burn, let all the winds blow. The waters shall pass, and the stones shall abide. So long as this is so, my love for her will flourish from this world to the Beyond."

All gathered spoke as one. "It is so."

Deimi hesitated for an almost imperceptible moment. "Who stands for my husband?"

"Princess Pacifica Romov of Ecclesia bears witness and grants her blessing."

"Lord Bannlyth the Karst of House Karst bears witness and grants his blessing."

Enfri listened as Deimi spoke the wedding vows. Throughout, her heart was heavy.

oOo

Above the throne room floor, Deebee watched the mortal wedding with a passing interest. The balcony on the upper floor provided a good view of both the dais and the crowd, and she found herself grateful to Sasha for giving the balcony over to her and the rest of the dragons. It was a prudent decision on the young king's part. The humans remained leery of her people, and Deebee supposed she couldn't blame them for needing a modicum of separation.

Even without the unfortunate incident with Varn the other day, rubbing shoulders with the mighty would make even the most courageous of mortals skittish.

Not Enfri, Deebee thought with pride. My sunrise is more brave than any of them.

Sunrise. It had been Yora who first called Enfri that, long before she was born. Winds and flames, before she was even conceived. After the end of his first war in Althandor's service, Yora had sat beside Deebee in contemplation of the midday horizon. He had said that he could see a sunrise coming. Yora had loved his daughter before their first meeting, fated to never come.

She's nineteen as of last autumn, Deebee thought. She is older now than Yora ever was. So alike, the two of them. My precious Opal Knights.

A part of Deebee wondered if Yora had heard the same voices that now tormented his daughter. If he had, he never let on. If not for Varn's unwanted interference, Deebee doubted that Enfri would have let it slip either. She was a stubborn girl, and too strong for her own good. It felt like Enfri could carry any pain inside her and still smile, no matter how she suffered inside. A mark of great strength, in Deebee's opinion, but she very much wished that Enfri would realize she needn't suffer alone.

That blustering girl couldn't have been more important to Deebee if she had hatched from her own egg.

The Drunov girl came to the end of her vows, and Deebee hoped things might start moving along. Once this wedding was done with, the more important of the day's two ceremonies would begin. She turned to take stock of the others.

Pride swelled in her heart. So many dragons hadn't gathered in one place for centuries, though just thirty of Enfri's forty-nine were in attendance. Elloo, the reds, and the blues were patrolling Ecclesia's skies, and Adar was readying himself. Everyone wore human forms and clothing so not to offend delicate human taboos. Nooka the Artificer leaned against the balcony's railing nearby. The Seeker and the Wanderer, the mated white dragons, observed quietly along with their clutch of dragonets, and Darva the Corsair hung back with his arms crossed over his chest.

There were many others, those Deebee had found in her centuries of searching for them, and some who had found her. This wasn't all of the mighty in the world. Many wanted nothing to do with Aleesh once Deebee told them the truth of Shan Alee. A distressing amount claimed that if they were to follow an Aleesh, it wouldn't be one of mixed blood, marked or otherwise. Dragons had an unfortunate tendency for putting too much stock in breeding.

Deebee heard the people below applaud as Sasha presented Queen Deimi Romov. She looked down and watched Sasha clasp hands with his queen. They stood tall and accepted the accolades of their subjects.

More speeches followed. Deebee stopped herself from sighing. She tapped her bare foot against the floor regardless. Anxiety for what was coming next kept her from taking more of an interest in what was certainly an important moment for the Altieri. She heard the mighty stir. They were probably anticipating the...

Varn stood next to her at the railing, interrupting Deebee's thoughts. He was in his wizened, human form and dressed in a threadbare robe. In Deebee's opinion, Varn looked like a caricature of a hedge wizard. He frowned as he looked down on the dais, and Deebee had no doubt that his ire was directed towards Enfri.

"What are you doing here?" Deebee hissed.

"Peace, my Storyteller," Varn growled.

"I am your Storyteller no longer."

Varn looked at her. His yellow eyes were disapproving. It made Deebee want to grab him by that silly, long beard of his and give it a firm yank.

He turned away and watched the end of the wedding. "I suppose you are not. It was my understanding that you meant to leave this city today."

Deebee sneered. "As if it were any concern of yours. Our beloved was forced to delay yet again, but it's being turned to our advantage. After today, no one will doubt how powerful she has become. Not even you."

"We'll see," Varn scoffed. "I've tried to warn you against following this creature. Even knowing the truth of the Dragon Emperors, you insist on serving her. You still say that she hasn't compelled you with the bond."

"Even without the bond, I would be with her," Deebee said. "Even if she weren't the Dragon Empress, if she weren't Aleesh, Enfri would be my beloved. She is more than her bloodline, just as it was with her father."

Varn furrowed his brow. "Her father?"

"Yes. Yora was my Opal Knight before Enfri. He died before she was born."

"And it was this mortal man who first chained you?"

Deebee shook her head derisively. Varn had been obstinate since she was a hatchling, and the centuries had only deepened that flaw. "You simply refuse to understand, Varn. I was never captured. Never blustering chained. I was bound to Yora in the same way I was bound to Enfri. Can you honestly imagine a human baby overpowering a dragon?"

Varn drew back from her. "What did you say?"

"I witnessed each of their births. I remember it as if it was moments ago. Such tiny things, mortal babes. Yet, I felt their nascent magic reach out to me and bind us as one."

Varn grumbled deep in his throat. "In the days of the empire, it was not done this way. Marked children of Inwe's line were kept away from dragons until they learned to control their elder magic. You are fortunate neither child tore your soul apart."

Deebee blinked. "Excuse me?"

"They have that power," Varn snarled. "She can reach into a dragon's soul and rip it to shreds. There would be nothing left to reach the Beyond. True, eternal oblivion awaits those who defy her and those like her."

Those like her.

Deebee shivered, fearing for Kimpo. For all she knew, Elise might have already destroyed the dragon she loved.

"Why did you never tell me?" Deebee asked in a soft voice. "Not just this, but all of it. Why did you tell me that Shan Alee was our wondrous homeland?"

Varn closed his eyes. "Do you remember what I said to you on the day we parted?"

"We deserve to be forgotten," Deebee said.

"So we did. It was two hundred years since Shoen cast his death curse and destroyed the empire. The mortals were taking their own measures to erase the past, and we felt it wisest to do the same. Just as Gara's descendants discouraged study of history, we decided that the mighty who would never know the dragon bonds should also live free of that darkness."

"Gara?"

Varn chuckled. "Gara of Thandor, warlord and the most hated woman in the empire. She claimed the holy 'Al' of the First Summit for herself and her homeland once the empire fell, but old habits die hard. I catch myself using old, imperial names for things even after so long."

Deebee hummed, thoughtful. "I've always found it curious that a kingdom founded by a female mortal would produce such a male-dominated society."

Varn grunted in agreement. "Gara... Algara, had a string of lovers who fell in her war against Shan Alee. She bore each of them sons, but never a daughter to succeed her as was the Thandi way at the time. Power remained within the blood, and so the males of her line rose to prominence. Their society shifted, gradually but inexorably, to the Althandi of this age." Varn nodded towards where Jin stood beside Enfri. "The elder blood runs true. Your beloved's wife is much like the warrior I remember."

"Oh, Enfri and Jin aren't married," Deebee said hurriedly. She dropped her voice to a mutter. "Winds, though the thumping I hear from their bedchamber at all hours would suggest otherwise. Rendezvousing like rabbits lately."

"Don't sound so disapproving, Deebee." Varn shoved her shoulder lightly. "I learned long ago that mortal love is fierce and vibrant to make up for their shorter lifespans. Humans don't often feel they have the time to wait on these silly ceremonies of theirs to express it. Nor should they if they don't wish to."

"Varn the Librarian, a romantic?" Deebee asked incredulously. "Wonders truly never cease."

"I wasn't always an old reptile," Varn said.

Deebee smiled, imagining Varn in his youth and how he would have courted the silver who became his mate. Rinnoth the Chronicler, who sadly passed Beyond soon after Deebee hatched. Deebee retained bittersweet memories of her.

Speaking to Varn once again brought back even more of those memories, and not all were tainted by her resentment. Their long talks of history, civics, and magical theory came in a flood. And here she was, returning to those same scholarly talks. How she missed this.

"Why did the elders leave us?" Deebee whispered. "Why did you have to go?"

Varn sighed. "Some of us then were far younger than you are now. All who survived Shoen's cleansing of Shan Alee answered the call. Mika the Vizier. Wisp the Shield. To keep our children... innocent... of our sins, we all had to leave."

"To where, Varn? What was so important that you would leave me behind?"

Varn's voice grew so quiet that Deebee had to strain to hear him. "And if I told you we never actually left? Would you not hate us even more?"

"You've been in hiding," Deebee said. "From us?"

Varn nodded. "And from others. Our task is dangerous, and so very few of us remain. That is why I cannot tell you of what we do. The knowledge itself is deadly, my Storyteller. The enemy is cunning beyond measure. Dangerous as nothing else you know. We move in secrecy because the faintest glimmer of our plans reaching the wrong ears will cause untold destruction."

He didn't need to say anything more for Deebee to understand what he faced. She knew this from Ban and what he had learned from the White Lady, the goddess Nashal.

"Tell us, Varn," she said. "What can be done to stop the doom."

"The old forms must be heeded," Varn said cryptically. He looked upon Deebee with a new, searching light in his eyes, seeing that she knew more than he must have expected. "This was our agreement with those greater than us. For our service, our children must not come into their designs."

"But we are a part of it," Deebee insisted. "Intended or not, we have made ourselves a part of it." She leaned in close and spoke softly so that not even a black dragon could overhear. "We were told, the work of the Five is not yet done."

Varn's eyes went wide.

Deebee turned to look at Enfri down below on the dais. The new king and queen descended the stairs to join their people. The four witnesses remained where they were. It was finally time for the second of the day's ceremonies.

"Enfri," Deebee said. "Ban Karst. I suspect Jin Algara. The final two remain a mystery to me."

Varn was silent for a long moment as he stared at Enfri. "To think, that all the world's hopes rest on the shoulders of one descended from those who enslaved it. My Storyteller, I cannot believe what you say."

"Hush," Deebee said. "I want to hear this."

The mighty approached the edge of the balcony. The white dragonets jostled each other for better views. Darva the Corsair would fall over if he leaned out any further. Dear Nooka held his silly, yellow cap in his hands and looked next to tears. They gave Varn and Deebee space, but the railing began to creak with the weight of so many bodies pressing against it.

If only Kimpo could see this, Deebee thought.

Enfri stepped to the center of the dais, standing before the throne. The way she held her hands folded over her stomach betrayed her unease, but Deebee doubted anyone but herself was familiar enough with Enfri's moods to see it. She was outwardly calm, serene, but Enfri was likely a jittery mess on the inside. She hid it well.

"This city welcomed me when I had nowhere else to turn," Enfri said. Her voice was steady, and it carried through the acoustics in the throne room. "I have received more kindness and generosity from the people of Ecclesia than I deserve."

A few scattered onlookers called out, expressing their debt to her. Deebee wondered off-handedly if those cries were genuine or if Pacifica had arranged a plant or two in the crowd. Either way, the crowd settled and listened with rapt attention.

"Six hundred years ago, your people and all other races of humanity lived as slaves beneath my ancestors. Whatever stories you have heard of Shan Alee, whatever myths, they are false. The Shan Alee that once was, it committed terrible crimes against humanity, and in retribution, the Aleesh have been hunted nearly to extinction by the Highest Kings since the day our homeland was overthrown."

Varn narrowed his eyes. "What is this?"

"Listen," Deebee whispered.

"I acknowledge the sins of my elder bloodline," Enfri continued. "I reveal them to you, and I will never try to hide or diminish what was done. The truth of Shan Alee has been kept secret by the Law of the Highest King, known only to the magocracy and the rulers of nations. They did this for good reasons, but the secret history can no longer stay hidden. I come to bring Shan Alee back into the world, but it will never again be the evil empire it once was. I want to do everything I can to show you and all the world that I am truly, deeply ashamed of what my people did to yours. My vision is for a new kingdom to rise, the Shan Alee promised in legend. I will make it the bastion of peace, learning, and freedom that I was raised to believe in but existed only in fairy tales.

"The elder magic within my blood allowed the wickedness of the past to happen, and so it falls to me to use my power to atone for those sins. But, that power doesn't give me the right to rule. It gives me the ability to serve."

Enfri's eyes drifted upwards and found Deebee. Smiling proudly, Deebee nodded to her.

"I am Enfri the Yora, Dragon Empress of Shan Alee. My penance for the sins committed against humanity is to gather what remains of my people and forge our new kingdom. Together, I will lead them to heal the wounds we gave to the world. The Aleesh are scattered and hunted by Cathis' assassins, but by the elder magic of Altier Nashal, I now know where many are to be found. Dragons and Aleesh, united once more, will live beside you in peace and friendship as they should have done in the last age."

Beneath the balcony, Deebee heard the iron doors open again. Varn leaned over the side to see who came through.

"I believe she is sincere," he muttered. "I know you believe it, but I cannot accept it to be true. The cost of her elder magic will consume her."

Deebee smirked. "You have much to learn about mortals, my Librarian. Watch this now. As you know, the Dragon Emperors exclusively bonded gold dragons."

Adar the Ascendent approached the dais through the parted crowd. The Altieri whispered and gaped at seeing such a beautiful man with gold skin. His green doublet with the House Yora crest was fine enough to be worn by a king.

Varn hissed. "I can accept your madness, Deebee, but you can't expect me to watch one of my precious dragonets, Mika's own son, get bound to that girl."

"Don't be ridiculous," Deebee said dismissively. "I'll admit we discussed it, but Enfri wouldn't hear a word of it once we broached the subject of replacing me with Adar. I am our beloved's dragon, and Enfri is wholly against having more than one."

"Then what..."

"I told you to hush."

Enfri gestured towards Ban. "Long ago, Shan Alee was upheld by arcanist knights bonded to dragons by the elder magic. I have forged such a bond between Kimpo the Huntress, Eldest of red dragons, and the Karst. I have named him the First Knight of Shan Alee."

A murmur of surprise swept through the assembly. Deebee heard some notes of discontent also. She doubted that many among the noble houses and goodfolk would be all that sorry to see House Karst taken away from them. There were some even in Ecclesia that blamed Ban for the actions of his family. Whatever their feelings, they must have understood the gravity of one elder house becoming a vassal to another.

In history, only the Highest Kings had received the same.

Deebee and Adar considered Ban as something of a gamble. It was clear that he loved Enfri, and she him. He would be of incalculable worth in whatever lay ahead. But the politics involved were troubling. Some would undoubtedly see this as Enfri styling herself as a rival to House Algara. Deebee could only hope that Jin also being at her side would cool any rash reactions.

"To him?" Varn asked. "Adar will replace the red that was stolen from him?"

"Wrong again." Deebee smiled affectionately for Ban. She did try to hide it, but she could admit to herself that she liked him. Ban was no emperor, but he forged bonds all the same. He loved powerfully and without reservation. Kimpo had chosen wisely.

As Adar took the steps to Enfri, it was Pacifica Romov who came to Enfri's side to receive him. The Altieri princess maintained an elegant calm that would make stones seem nervous in comparison.

"To show my gratitude to your city," Enfri said, "and to show the world that Ecclesia and Shan Alee will stand together through all that lies ahead, I will forge the bond between Princess Pacifica Romov and Adar the Ascendent, Eldest of gold dragons and all the mighty." Enfri took Pacifica's hand and the two girls smiled for each other. "As a Diamond Knight, she and her Ascendent will protect you and your city."

If the nobles had been surprised by Ban's appointment, this one shocked them to the core. There was a rumble of voices speaking to one another.

Deebee leaned on her arms against the balcony railing. "It really isn't as momentous as they're thinking," she explained. "Ban's idea, you see. Once you get down to it, this is really nothing more significant than a king's sister joining the court of another kingdom. Pacifica is taking the role of an ambassador of sorts, and the same with Adar. She will be Enfri's Diamond Knight, a position never before held by anyone but a member of the Aleesh royal family. That will carry great weight in the kingdom we mean to build."

Varn grimaced. "I understand that it benefits you and Ecclesia both. It joins you like a marriage between houses. That doesn't change that Adar will become the servant of a human."

"You really don't understand," Deebee sighed. "The Shan Alee you suffered is dead, and good riddance. This is new."

Pacifica and Adar lowered themselves to one knee, facing each other before Enfri. The assembly grew quiet and looked on in amazement.

Enfri spoke in the Aeldenn Tones. It wasn't an incantation, not truly, but it was magic. Enfri's elder blood changed the words as they left her into the ancient language of spirits. Deebee wouldn't consider herself as fluent, but she understood enough. Some of the conjugation escaped her.

The words spoke of unity, of promises to work together to protect both of their peoples. Enfri vowed never to ask anything of Pacifica that would endanger Ecclesia or her house, and she asked that Pacifica would defend the Aleesh and the mighty as if they were her own.

"—Become my Diamond Knight and my Ascendent.—"

Varn shook his head to deny it, and Deebee held her breath. If this couldn't convince the Librarian of the truth, nothing would.

Pacifica took Enfri's hand. "I will. Again and forever."

Adar took her other hand. "Again and forever, my empress."

Deebee closed her eyes and felt the echo of Enfri's elder magic wash over her. As it had been with Ban and Kimpo, it felt like the sun breaking through storm clouds to shine on her face. Clear skies spanned the horizon, further than any dragon could fly within a lifetime. The pure, golden wave of power carried a sense of joy, love, and freedom. It felt like hope itself.

The all-too-brief sensation passing, Deebee opened her eyes to find them watering. Blustering human tears. She never could get a handle on why her vision had to go all blurry at the drop of a hat.

Below, the arcanists in the room were picking their jaws up off the floor. Even those who hadn't felt the spell echo directly could sense that something marvelous had occurred. On the balcony, no small number of dragons were overcome with emotion. Nooka the Artificer wept unashamedly.

Deebee turned to regard Varn. The Librarian was still as a statue, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in utter astonishment.

"That... Flames take me, what was that?"

"That was the bond, Varn," Deebee said.

He slowly shook his head. "I was present for the bonding of dozens of arcanist knights. I was bonded myself to Shoen's great-grandfather and then his wed-daughter. What your empress did... It was not the same."

Deebee pursed her lips in thought. "You said earlier that marked children learned to control their magic before being allowed near the mighty?"

Varn's hands began to shake. "They were taught how to force the compulsion, how to grant the same power of torture to the knights they forged. Flames..."

"It seems I wasn't the only one who was lied to," Deebee said. "The bonds were never meant to be chains, my Librarian. What you felt was the true bond between a knight and dragon. This was what Inwe shared with Darkoo the Majestic thousands of years ago, before the bonds were corrupted. The spirits created Enfri's elder magic to unite humans and dragons, not condemn us to slavery."

Varn nodded. "She hasn't compelled you. Flames take me, but she couldn't even if she wanted to. Her bonds, they're... pure."

"You believe." Deebee said. It wasn't in question.

Varn couldn't take his eyes away from Enfri. He exhaled sharply and smiled in wonder. "It's her. She's real. My dear Storyteller, you've found our beloved."