“Quite. No vankrai had ever been on the throne of Vaan – and by extension that of Vandram – before. Aeriel Queens ruled for centuries at a stretch, being immortal and all, until they got bored of the whole gig and just kind of…wandered off. Then the eldest female child of the last queen took her position and so it went.

“Well, the last Queen took a human lover – and her first female offspring, Tauheen, was born of that union. Nobody knows if she had any more children, and it wouldn’t have mattered if she did. Tauheen was next in line. A few centuries after her birth – and after the birth of Tauheen’s own children – her mother found another mortal paramour, but this time decided to pursue their budding romance on the Rayanal ranges north of Zaini. And that’s where she went, leaving the throne to her daughter. The one who started and ended it all.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t go so well from there.”

Dawad laughed. “You’re a good guesser, my boy. Tauheen was a very powerful vankrai. And very…human, in some ways. And most importantly, she wasn’t satisfied with being a figurehead ruler. She wanted real power, tangible authority. A very human desire, and very dangerous in something as powerful as an Aeriel. Especially one as powerful as her. But apart from being ambitious and quite single-minded about her goals, she had another human skill. She was very persuasive. A brilliant speaker and orator, really – the original demagogue. She gathered other vankrai around her, even a few feather-born Aeriels – a coterie of loyal followers – with promises of power and glory and all that other jazz.

“The rest of the story can be found in any history book of your choosing. She began imposing her will on her subjects, brutally subjugating those who opposed her. Playing the tyrannical dictator to a T, and mightily pissing off all the human lords who were utterly unused to such behaviour from the pretty Aeriels.

“She didn’t bother the Aeriels too much. Even she couldn’t take it if they decided to gang up against her, and she was smart enough to know it. So humanity bore the full brunt of her madness.

“About a century into her rule, as you rightly said, the humans discovered sif; now that they were actively looking for a way to get rid of the Aeriels. They fashioned the ores into crude daggers and started attacking Aeriels with it. Tauheen sent some of her followers to take care of these little uprisings, and they did, with exemplary brutality. This annoyed the humans even more, and the attacks escalated, gaining more supporters and slowly turning into what we now call the Rebellion.

“All this fighting annoyed the Aeriels, who were still more interested in making pretty designs on clouds than in world domination. And it was hard to do that sort of thing when the humans kept trying to stab them. So they packed up and retreated to Vaan, and locked the gates behind them, shutting Tauheen and her core group of psychopathic followers out of the Luminous Realms for causing all that trouble with the humans.

“Once there, they put Tauheen’s firstborn, Safaa – also a vankrai, though one with significantly more self-control – on the throne of Vaan. And for the first time there were two Aeriel Queens, one on earth and one in Vaan.

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“The Exiles retained power on earth for some time after the other Aeriels had left, but there were too few of them to withstand a worldwide uprising. The furthest territories started slipping out of their control, and then some of the ones closer to home. With each victory, the Rebels gained in confidence, and in supporters.

“Finally they reached Ragah, and there was the well-known storming of the palace. Tauheen was driven underground along with what was left of her followers, and Kanbar, Zaini and Vandram became independent countries with their own governments. Which is what they had always been in all but name, apart from the few decades of actual subjugation when Tauheen was at the height of her power. And as the saying goes, they all lived not-so-happily ever after.”

“Even if everything you’ve just said is true – and I’m not saying it is – what on earth does Tauheen want with the reinforced sifblade formula now? And where the hell does Ashwin fit into this fucking convoluted picture?”

“I am a man, Ruban. A very intelligent and knowledgeable one, yes, but still only a mere mortal. I don’t have a blueprint to the psyche of the Aeriel Queen, and I am most certainly not privy to her plans regarding your formula.

“As for this Ashwin, though…well, if I am right, I think you’ll find that he wasn’t lying to you completely after all. He really is a delegate, one sent specifically with the purpose of helping you foil Tauheen’s plans, whatever they might be. Only he’s not a delegate from Zaini, but from Vaan.”

“A delegate from Vaan?” repeated Ruban blankly. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

“Well, one of Tauheen’s aims – apart from the domination of earth – has always been to regain the throne of Vaan, secure entry into the Luminous Realms for herself and her followers once again. So it makes sense, does it not, that Queen Safaa would be as invested in trying to foil her mother’s schemes as we are. Any success of Tauheen’s plans could not but mean trouble for the denizens of Vaan, as well as those of earth.”

Ruban put his throbbing head in his hands. “So Ashwin is…what? Safaa’s man behind enemy lines?”

Dawad smiled. “I don’t know, Ruban. I’m just saying that considering the circumstances, it seems like the most likely explanation, does it not? It certainly explains why he’s helping you and working against Tauheen and the other Exiles.”

“But-but he looked just like Reivaa. You know, when he was being an Aeriel and all.”

“He looked like a vankrai?” Dawad asked, frowning.

“Uh, not like the dark eyes or anything. His eyes were white as fuck, I can attest to that,” he shuddered. “But he had the two red marks on his wings. You know, like the mark on an X-class. Only they had one extra, both Reivaa and Ashwin. I had never seen anything like it, before that night in Zikyang.”

“Ah I see.” Dawad’s lips quirked into a strange little smile. “It looks like you’ve met Prince Shwaan.”

“Prince what?”

“Prince Shwaan, Ruban. You’ll find mention of him in any run-of-the-mill history book dealing with the events of the Rebellion. By all accounts, he was just a child when it all went to hell, though. So there isn’t as much information about him as there is about his sister, who played a more direct role in the departure of the Aeriels from earth. In any case, he was Tauheen’s second child after Safaa, and a feather-born Aeriel.”

“So he’s not a vankrai?” Ruban asked, confused.

“No indeed, he is not. He is, however, Tauheen’s son and Safaa’s half-brother, which makes him a prince of Vaan and the only surviving member of the royal line apart from the two queens. Which again makes him the most likely candidate for being Safaa’s second-in-command – which is what those two red marks indicate. Reivaa was Tauheen’s most favoured lieutenant. And I suspect you have Safaa’s younger brother sleeping on your bed as we speak.”