"Oh?" Empress Mauria glanced at me and what was likely a cold, alien beauty to her, distant and ageless. "What theory?" she inquired politely.

"That Osganker was a hack and fraud." Sama glanced over at me. "How many of the statues in the back were merely Flesh to Stone effects on dead creatures posed for image, Edge?"

I glanced back that way. "Nine of them. The griffon, hippogriff, two horses, one goblin, the green dragon wyrmling, the charging orc, the giant frog, and the manticore rampant back in the corner." I paused significantly. "I was assuming they were hidden Imperial defenses in case of attack. There is necromancy underneath the Petrification. If it is Dispelled, it is likely they will all Animate as undead and attack whatever is in the area."

The empress drew in a shocked breath. "That… his work was most realistic and impressive…" she trailed off.

"Yes, Magni fancied him for some reason, giving him nine pedestals like that," Sama agreed smoothly. "Colostros! Come here!"

The crack in her voice made just about everyone jump, breaking over the skin like it did. Warlord's Voice was not something you could just ignore.

The young, stalwart guard she called out to fairly sprinted over to us. We had everyone's attention, two others quickly closing in to find out what was going on and back up their fellow guard, looking around the area for surprises.

"Lady Sama!" the young guard saluted her instantly.

"Take a message directly to Magni. The statues put in place by the sculptor Osganker are actually Petrified undead monstrosities waiting to be released by anything eliminating the magic, something that is probably worked into the pedestals." She glanced at me, I nodded calmly (because wasn't that the whole purpose there?), and the guard flushed. "Ask Magni if he might not wish to have words with his favorite sculptor over this matter.

"Ciaphas, Genuis, get six men with hammers out there and reduce those statues to rubble." She chopped her hand, pointing and the two men raced off without another word. "Go, Colostros."

The last guard also raced off with urgent speed, and quiet calls and shouts started to liven up the Imperial Palace with sudden activity.

Sama turned on the attendant there, who flushed deeply, and dearly looked like she wished she could melt into the background. "Where is Jumana?" Sama asked, her smile showing too many sharp teeth.

Paradoxically completely unafraid of her, the empress sighed. "She was released from service. The emperor said something about a Coral Islander serving as the empress' personal slave was not a good look…"

"Being a slave was her cover," Sama smiled scathingly. "She's a daughter of House Oyoyo and a fully-trained Coral Rider whom I mentored. She will be reinstated as your handmaiden by the morning." A sneer rose on her lips as her callused hands precisely and deftly tucked in graying hairs, straightened the lay of the empress' cloak and gown, and just glared at the choice of earrings and bracelets, the red gems clashing with the greens and whites. Her deathly cold blue eyes fixed on the hapless attendant there. "You, remove yourself. I do not want to or need to learn your name, and if I have to learn it, you aren't going to have a need for it much longer."

Something wet began to trickle down the young woman's legs as she turned and fled in terror at that hissing command.

"Sama, you don't need to…" the empress began tiredly, and instead found herself being swept into a warm and strong motherly hug that buried her words effortlessly.

"Someone needs to, because nobody is, Mauria," Sama said quietly, kissing the top of the other woman's head. She was probably fifty years or more older than the empress, but looked closer in age to her daughter, except the hints of scarring all over bronzed skin. "Now, I also have a gift for you," she added quietly. "Take the Token off the hilt of my Sword," she ordered the empress calmly.

There was only a moment of hesitation before fine, pale hands clasped automatically around Sama's slender waist deftly undid the simple chain of the Runestone dangling from Tremble that I'd clipped there an hour ago.

"That Token is a Teleportation spell," she quietly informed the empress she was rocking back and forth like a child. "It will take you far, far away from this shadow of a life you have here.

"Procure several of the Potions that Magni uses to stave off the years. Drink them, and then leave everything behind you. You have a great life waiting for you somewhere else, but the dream you were supposed to have here was stolen away and crushed by your husband. It is time to reclaim it on your own. Your children are grown, and do not need you to prosper any more.

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"Step out of his cold shadow and walk in the light once more, Mauria."

Small hands clutched at the impervious bronze of the tall woman clasping her so gently, and I watched the tears falling from her face. "Sama, I, I…"

"Will do this. Magni will be overjoyed that you are actually thinking about your appearance, and put no more thought into it. He is a grand man with grand plans, and you are a tiny cog that is out of place and affecting his image. He will not think you are leaving him behind like the useless thing he is."

Softly sobbing chuckles escaped the empress' lips at those words. "You never did treat him as anything great…" she managed to gasp out. "I used to resent you so much for that, but you were always so kind to me. I thought you were just trying to manipulate me like he did…"

"Mauria." Sama gently turned her face up and stared into her eyes. "You have never had anything I wanted for myself. The only thing you had worth the giving was you, and what I gave you was the respect due a fine mother and loyal wife, even when your husband was a true proud Siricilan hero like in all the stories.

"Tell me you're going to take up your destiny now, and leave Magni to his own fate."

The empress stared into the blue fire of those eyes, and could not say no. "I, I will do it, Sama! As soon as I can…"

"Two weeks, no more. I will give Jumana a pack with all that you will take with you, and you will leave the rest for him to brood over behind you. Remember, in the end, he does not think you have the strength to leave him."

Something sparked in the empress' dark eyes. More than just resentment and seeking an end.

"Tell her, Edge," Sama whispered.

Her eyes flickered over to me as I stepped closer, leaned in and said, "Your dreams can still be yours, Mauria de Odinia of Siricil. Truth. Hope. Valor."

She gasped as her knees gave way, but Sama effortlessly held her upright. The Words resounded in her mind with the echoes of higher callings than just Siricilan heroes of legend, and gave strength and steel to dying embers that flared to bright life with all the power of a young woman's bright future waiting for her.

------

"You can sequester her from Magni? He will make great efforts to find her. Her leaving will be a slap in his face, and he is quite the proud man," Sama looked both composed and satisfied as we glided away from the Imperial Palace.

"It seems to me that King Antius has need of a noble woman who knows how a kingdom is run… and does not wish to run it like a Siricilan. He is a northerner, and will expect her to be able to defend herself and will train her to be able to do so."

"Will the Wishes be an imposition on you?"

I waved it off. "The only cost is time. My time there shall be focused on preliminary training for Moorian Rangers. I will inquire of her if she thinks she could learn such a different view of the world."

"Ha ha! His wife learning elven magic where he could not!" It went without saying that if a Lumina Tree and the Immortal behind it allowed a human to access elven magic, it was done and done. Sama thought the idea was wonderful. "And turning her into a rival for that bitch on the physical level is only appropriate, too!"

I inclined my head slightly. Empress Mauria was not a prime physical specimen, the joy and energy of her life sucked out of her and leaving her in a frail and unprepared physical state.

It was what it was. The Potions of Longevity she took from her husband would take away the weight of years and restore some youthful vitality.

Sustenance, One a Day, and an active lifestyle without an empire hanging over her head would do wonders for her, all building on a Wish-boosted Template.

"Any change to your plans?" she asked me.

"No. I will return the others to Zanzyr. At least two of them are eligible to graduate, and I will tender my own, as well. Sidheduiche is expecting me to return to them, given how exciting things are for them right now. It is time to address the shadenelf problem."

"Does this tie into your own ambitions?" she asked me, curious.

"I am attempting to forge a Road to the Eternal that can be taken by others. One of the aspects of that is forging a kingdom and declaring my power, then holding the kingdom and position against all comers. Eislas has multiple elven clans and territories that can be joined into a realm every bit as grand or grander than Sidheduiche… and with considerably more territory to grow in.

"If my people would like to come to the surface, there is plenty of unclaimed room in Eislas they can colonize without having to take it from those who live there. I will return them to the sun and the moon and stars."

"Poetic and appropriate. Sounds lofty, given what you told us of the Immortal trials."

"I am effectively going to qualify for ALL the Immortal Paths, just to prove it can be done."

Sama laughed softly. She and Briggs didn't have to worry about that, the Rantha Curse would escort them right into Eternal without a problem. "Who will possibly sponsor you?"

"Who says I need a sponsor? I'm not going to rebuild myself on an Immortal chassis, and I don't need a seed of Immortal Power to do so. At most, I would approach the megalith that is our homeworld and ask for its recognition on a Druidic level as an Ur-Priest. It would be the most minor flexing to usher me past the Immortal limits, if it dares to do so… and as an Immortal creature, it has the right to sponsor its own champions."

Sama considered that point, finally nodding. "No comment, you have to find your own way, paving a road for everyone else," she agreed. "What are the chances of bringing in the gods here? Can it be done? I'd dearly love Aru to come in here and show these arseholes what Alignments and Damn Good really is…"

"I don't know, honestly. There's magic, so it would seem like it, and it's not that different from Power of Ten. The limitations the Immortals put on things are actually artificial, magic has a lot of power here… but that doesn't mean it can support the truly Divine.

"We might just be stuck with a bunch of self-interested arseholes manipulating mortals for fun and amusement, and have to find a way to deal with them. Changing the rules on THEM, or something."

"That alone would be worth something. Any idea of how?" Sama had to ask.

"Pyramids could do it. Lots of them, placed around the whole planet, could effectively re-write the laws here. That would nominally be impossible, except…" I glanced down beneath our feet.

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