The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 93

Part 15

“The most important thing is to prevent injustice to the just, closely followed by maximizing our

preparedness for war against the demons. The right of people to play the game outside Serminak does

not exist except on our sufferance, and it’s a very low priority as far as I’m concerned.”

“Lord Regent Povon,” Fire formally began, “We would like to make a contribution to this project that is

commensurate with our abilities. And, since this will be our first work in the outside world, its successful

completion will inform the world of the magnitude of our capability.

“We would therefore appreciate it if you let us deal with the murderers, beyond letting us take a good

Reading of you while you spend a moment psionicly listening for rule-breaking. I’m sure you’ve

developed an excellent technique for doing so, and it would save us a bit of time if you would allow us

to incorporate that technique into our solution.

“Dealing with the non-players who’ve been wronged by players is a far more subtle problem, and we’ll

gladly leave that to the rest of you.”

“My, what a bold little thing you are for your age!” Gran chuckled.

“Yes, and they’re capable enough to justify their boldness.” Mark agreed, joining her chuckle. “By the

way, Somonik; Speaker of the Ninety-Nine, and Grakonexikaldoron of the Ninety-Nine; our neighbor in

Xervia, and Empress Honey; Monarch of The Swarm, and Sheramiv of the Atoned; First Minister of

Hilia, I am very proud to formally introduce my daughter with Alilia; Princess Valentia Longstrider;

known informally as Val, my son with Talia; Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth; known as

Six, and my daughter with Talia; Princess Helemia Longstrider, known as Fire.

“They, along with Prince Karzog here who you met before the time-bubble and who’s known informally

as Karz, are The Governors of Hiliani. Since the four of them are an inseparable team, we’ve taken to

referring to them collectively and informally as The Governors. They were entirely responsible for the

design and execution of the program for integrating the Hiliani Sylvan into our military efforts there, and

I think the social system they’ve designed for young Sylvan is the best there is; allowing them a very

fulfilling and enjoyable life while preventing them from killing each other. As far as I know, the system

Zwak has in place in Serminak works, but the young Sylvan there don’t like it very much.”

Each of the four young stood and bowed as they were introduced.

“We are very glad and proud to meet you.” Somonik declared as he, Sheramiv, Honey, and Gran

returned their bows with smiles.

“We’re extremely honored to meet you, Most Noble Somonik.” Six told him with another bow of great

respect. “We’re honored to meet you all, including you gods, who truly need no introduction. But Fire

and I are really your enthusiastic and devoted fans, Most Noble. Of all the people outside the time-

bubble, you’re the one we most wanted to meet. We’ve studied your exploits with great interest, and it

seems plain to us that of all the intelligent beings still living on Kellaran, mortal or divine, you are truly

the most noble of character; the most just, the most determined, the bravest, the best. It’s our opinion

that this fact isn’t as widely recognized as it should be, and we intend to correct that situation.”

“Well, I’m flattered and surprised, and I haven’t been surprised for a long time!” the ancient white

dragon told him with a grin. “Thank you!”

“Don’t worry.” Fire giggled. “We intend that you’ll have legions of devoted fans, as you richly deserve,

but we know you’re very busy so we’ll do all we can to prevent them from being an inconvenience to

you.”

“Thank you again.”

“I’m surprised that you consider Somonik to be Most Noble,” Gran smiled, “When most of the people in

the world would nominate your father for that honor.

“Oh, Father’s very noble, and of course we love him dearly.” Fire said with a warm smile for Mark. “And

if the question is of who’s gained the most nobility in the shortest time, he’d win that easily. But it’ll still

take him at least thirty million years to equal Somonik’s accumulated record of incredibly noble

behavior. And besides, Father’s nobility is already universally and fully recognized, whereas most of

Somonik’s incredible achievements are so far in the past for most people that they’ve largely been

forgotten.

“He’s gained in world-wide recognition and respect since he helped form The Just Alliance, but still, we

think most people fail to realize how incredible he really is. He’s very humble in his public affairs and he

doesn’t promote himself or tend to talk about his past, and we think that everything he’s done to help

others at great cost to himself over the last sixty-five million years deserves to be known and

recognized and honored.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Gran grinned as she cuddled against Somonik a little closer. “I’m one of those

who are already aware of his incredible achievements and his unmatched nobility, and that’s why I love

him with all of my soul.”

“Who else do you wish to meet, now that you’re out of the bubble?” Somonik asked, becoming a bit

abashed at the praise and seeking to change the subject.

“We’d like to meet a lot of the great figures of the world.” Six replied around a mouthful of roast pork.

“Osbald, Emeroth, Senchak, Wosea, and Tokibimina are high on the list, as was Empress Honey,

whom we’re honored to meet here.”

“I look forward to spending some time with you on spell design, if I may.” Val told the great insect.

“Father got a lot of spells from a lot of people before we were born, and of all of them, I found the ones

he got from you to be the most interesting. My team-mates here are all good spell-casters, but I’m our

magic specialist, and you’re the person I was most looking forward to meeting. Your spells are

absolutely unique and distinct from anything else I’ve learned, and I’ve finally gotten good enough to

have something of value to contribute to our exchange of thoughts and techniques. If I may share

something with you psionicly right now, I’d love to give you a portfolio of some of my latest work, since

I’ve already got some of yours from Father.”

“I am honored, thank you. I would also gladly give you such a portfolio.” Honey responded. “Your father

is very adept at learning and teaching spells psionicly, but he is not the theorist that you seem to be,

and he chose from my repertoire with a different criterion than you would use, I think. Since I

exchanged spells with him, I have learned spells and techniques from many in The Just Alliance, and I

have integrated some of their techniques with my own, and made new advances in technique while

working with my daughters. This is, as you say, ‘my latest work’ in the field.

“I will likely require at least two weeks to fully study what you have given me, judging by the volume of

the information, and given the other responsibilities and demands on my time that my position entails.

But I must admit that my curiosity requires that I take a quick look now…

“By the blazing Source! This is the work of a six-year-old being?!!”

“Not entirely, of course.” Val giggled. “I take what everyone else shows me, then I work on it, then I

work on it with my team, then we teach what we’ve done to everyone on Hiliani, including the senior

Sylvan there, who are quite accomplished at a few things. It all gets passed around and improved by

everyone, over and over. Father’s really handy for showing everyone the latest stuff. Only a couple of

those are developments of things that I originated, but that’s my most recent work, the rest haven’t had NôvelDrama.Org holds text © rights.

a chance to learn that or work on it yet. I focus on improvements in casting time, concentration

required, energy efficiency, and automation.

“It’ll only take about an hour for the four of us to come up with an automated spell-set that’ll detect and

punish every murderer on Kellaran. Mind you, even with all the delicious power there is out here, we’ll

need to get some power from elsewhere to get it all done in a reasonable amount of time. But it should

all be over by suppertime. Hilia time, that is.

“Now, I’ve got to look at your stuff too… Ooooh, this is so deliciously weird! I’m sure glad you labeled it

all in Trade Common!”