Kiyora found herself in a library when she entered Seathorius that night. Bjorn was sitting in a chair, reading as he often did. He glanced up in surprise and adjusted his spectacles.

"Hey Bjorn, how is it going?" asked Kiyora.

He set down his book and stood. "Well enough Dreaming Goddess. I am told many new faithful are coming to your temple in Artarq. Your worship is spreading far and wide."

"Yeah, sure, great, whatever. Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Kiyora.

"Well, there is a patrol who hasn't reported in yet," admitted Bjorn. "I doubt it is worth your time, especially since-"

"Say no more," said Kiyora, who was bored.

She transported herself to the surface and looked at the trees. "Excuse me, could you look for a disappeared Nakmar patrol? It was supposed to have come in recently. If you find them direct them here."

Then she zipped back down to the library. "Done."

"I am grateful, Dreaming Goddess," said Bjorn. "Yet there is something else."

He had something else? That sounded interesting. "Yes?"

"Queen Dawn is waiting for you," said Bjorn.

"Queen Dawn?" asked Kiyora. "She is, uh... I'll get to it."

"She is the Queen of the High Elves," said Bjorn. "She came here some days ago and requested to speak with you when you next appeared."

Kiyora sighed. "Well, I'd better go see what she wants. Where is she?"

"In the next room," said Bjorn. "She was very interested in our records."

Kiyora nodded and made her way into the next room. As soon as she saw Queen Dawn, she blinked. The woman sitting on the floor reading a book looked precisely like Alchara. Well, not exactly. She was mortal. There was none of the unearthly beauty around her, just natural beauty and a lot of it.

"This had better be good," said Kiyora.

Queen Dawn looked up. Kiyora realized that she was looking at Alchara in those blue eyes.

"Discourteous as always, I see."

"Well, we didn't exactly part on the best of terms last time, Alchara," said Kiyora. "Why are you pretending to be Queen Dawn?"

"I am not," said Alchara. "I am Queen Dawn. Or it would be more accurate to say that Queen Dawn is my mortal incarnation. You see-"

"Nevermind, I don't care," said Kiyora. "What do you want?"

"Well, first, I should give you some advice," said Dawn. "You take far too personal a role in the affairs of your subjects."

"Well, I am a personal person," said Kiyora.

"I am quite serious, Kiyora," said Dawn. "A goddess has an intimate connection with all her worshippers. The more the goddess acts, the stronger that connection becomes. Doing too much for them could cause them to rely on you as a crutch.

"That would be most unfortunate."

"Sure, whatever," said Kiyora. "Now, what is it?"

"The demoness Arraxia has rebuilt Baltoth's Retribution. She has extended her influence over the subjects of Laughing Wraith," said Queen Dawn. "As of this moment, she is gaining more and more power every day."

"Uh, no, she isn't," said Kiyora. "I'm extending my influence over the satyrs that used to worship Laughing Wraith too. And I've got connections with Antion. So if she tried anything, I could call on them for reinforcements."

"Perhaps. Or they might decide you are not worth the effort," Queen Dawn noted.

"What do you want, Alchara?" asked Kiyora. "I thought we'd established by now that I don't like you and don't want to spend any more time with you than necessary."

Queen Dawn sighed. "The High Elves who dwell upon the elvish reservations have begun overpopulating. As a result, more and more must go abroad into foreign lands and colonies to make their fortune.

"My subjects need more land. We have already conquered several islands in the eastern sea. Yet these are insufficient for our purposes."

"Sucks to be you," said Kiyora with a smile. "That doesn't sound like my problem."

"It is your problem," said Dawn in irritation. "Even if the plight of the high elves means nothing to you, Seathorius belongs to the elves by right. It was our possession before Anoa the Butcher forced us into hiding. We were here long before the Dust Elves constructed Baltoth's Retribution. We have a right to reclaim that which is ours, and I have already received assurances that I may do so with a free hand."

"Oh, so you're threatening me. Great, that's great," said Kiyora. "Bring it on, bitch."

"I am not threatening you," said Dawn. "Why do you always act as though I am a villain?"

"I saved Actovosh, and you paid me back by trying to marry me off to some guy I didn't even know," said Kiyora. "And you forced my best friend to give up a priceless artifact he earned so you'd leave me alone. And then you tried to convince me to help you commit ethnic cleansing on the satyrs.

"Also, I have it on good authority that everything bad ever is your fault. And I've checked several sources on that. So I'm not taking their word for it.

"Do these sound like the actions of a hero you?"

Queen Dawn sighed. "I understand that many races have come to call Seathorius home in the time since it was taken from my people. But I have no choice. In forty years, the lands of the high elves will be unable to sustain their population.

"We must expand, or we will starve."

"Or you could stop breeding like rabbits," said Kiyora. "Just a thought."

"In the days before Anoa the Butcher, the High Elves did so," said Queen Dawn. "I remember it very well. We tried to have fewer children so that the land could sustain us. But the humans continued to breed. They did not live alongside nature as we did.

"We tried to convince them to stop. But they would not listen.

"So, we were forced to thin their numbers."

"And you wonder why Anoa the Bright didn't like you," mused Kiyora.

"What he did was not war," said Dawn. "It was simple butchery. He laid waste to entire civilizations, not of elves, but other races he deemed unfit to live. He made a wasteland and called it...

"Well, he didn't call it peace at all. Instead, he went straight back to war.

"We may have hunted humans. But we would not have exterminated them as Anoa tried to do to us."

"Oh wow," said Kiyora, "you'd never exterminate a species. I guess satyrs and black dragons don't count, then?"

"Black Dragons are not a race!" said Dawn. "I was only trying to kill Smyngoth's entire family after he nearly wiped out the Gold Dragons! I never anticipated that Wrynncurth would survive! Let alone create a new race of cosmic horrors from the souls of his family!

"And as for the satyrs, I had no intention of exterminating the species. I merely wish them to be driven from the land. That race has far too many holdouts to be destroyed in a single war. And in any case, satyrs are an abomination."

"What makes them different from other species exactly?" asked Kiyora. "What, did you curse them too?"

Queen Dawn sighed. "Long ago, each of the races was brought into being. A male and a female for each. From this union would their entire race descend. Alchara gave each race certain gifts-"

"You are Alchara," said Kiyora.

"Yes, and no," said Dawn. "I am more limited than her. I don't usually remember all she does. The knowledge fades from my mind when unneeded. At any rate, I was the Queen of the Gods, and I gave each race their gifts.

"The elves were granted long life and attunement to the spirit world. The dwarves were granted great durability and mastery of craft. Goblins were given the ability to live in places where no other race could survive. Halflings were given an affinity for the earth, and they could easily raise crops. Each race had such a power granted to them."

"What did humans get?" asked Kiyora.

"I... well, that is a rather complicated story," said Queen Dawn.

"Complicated, how?" asked Kiyora. "And how did you screw it up?"

"Well, humans weren't even in the original plan for the first world," said Queen Dawn. "We had all the races lined up. But we realized that there was no way they would interact with each other. They needed to be more specialized.

"We needed a middleman to bring them all together. So, after all the other races had been created, we assembled humans at the last minute. Basically, they could learn any ability, but not as quickly as the races that specialized in it."

"So what was the problem?" asked Kiyora.

"The Father of all humans, Lucius, had a competitive streak," said Queen Dawn. "He dedicated his life to churning out as many children as possible. Then he sent them to become apprentices to the other races. After that, he went out of his way to learn everything he could.

"Though his children didn't learn as fast as the other races, there were so many. They were bridging the gap. They invented writing to pass the information on and stole techniques from all races. If things had continued, none of the other races would have had a chance."

"So you tried to exterminate them," guessed Kiyora.

"No!" said Queen Dawn. "This is ages ago, before this world was even created. I'm not talking about the first humans in this world. I'm talking about the first humans in the world the gods created."

"So what did you do?" asked Kiyora. "Send a strongly worded letter?"

"We had made the humans too powerful," said Alchara. "So we decided to shorten their lifespan. They lived far shorter times than the other races. We also allowed the other races to branch out into other areas of expertise. In this way, a balance was restored to the races."

"Wow, I'm sure that went over well," said Kiyora, rolling her eyes.

"It went over terribly," said Alchara. "Lucius was enraged. He claimed we had stolen his race's gift and given it to everyone else."

"You kind of did," said Kiyora.

"It was always the god's plan to set limits on mortal lifespans," Dawn said. "None of the races ended up immortal. Even elves wither and die eventually.

"But Lucius wouldn't listen to anything we said. Instead, he became obsessed with regaining his lost immortality and turned to dark rituals. He forced his children to learn skills at younger and younger ages. Those that did not meet his expectations were banished from his sight.

"His spells failed him. And eventually, he and his wife, Evoria, became old while the other races were still young. It was that which pushed him over the edge. He'd always hated the Father of my race. And knowing that he would live on for centuries while Lucius withered and died was a humiliation. One, he would not forgive.

"In a rage, Lucius murdered Evoria and used her blood in a ritual to create a new race. One made after the image of his bloodthirst. The satyrs."

"Gods, this is boring," said Kiyora. "I don't care what happens to any of these people. Can I get the cliff notes version or something?" She was interested but wanted to avoid giving Alchara satisfaction.

"Fine, you little brat!" snapped Dawn. "Lucius created the satyrs. Then he made their entire purpose in existence to destroy and devour all races that were not human. And they have plagued the world ever since. He then killed himself, the first suicide. Doing this created the impersonal force of entropy known as the Withering."

"Wait, why would killing himself create the Withering?" asked Kiyora. "Why would killing his wife create the satyrs?" She was interested in that. It seemed like something worth knowing.

"Because he was not just a human," said Dawn. "He was the Father of an entire race. Evoria was the Mother of that race. The energies of creation within them were far greater than any mortal before or since. When the Father or Mother of a race does something, it echoes throughout eternity.

"When he murdered Evoria, it was an act of unforgivable evil. For the first man of a race to murder, his wife is something that has never happened before. Not even in prior universes. It created a ripple effect in the spirit world, whose effects are felt today. Humanity, as a whole, might have been tainted. The only reason it wasn't was because he had had many children before he went over the edge."

"Boring..." said Kiyora in a sing-song voice.

"Why do you ask questions when you don't want to hear the answers?" hissed Dawn.

"Well, maybe because when I ask why satyrs don't have the right to live, I want an actual reason," said Kiyora. "Not some boring, second-hand mythology you probably aren't even telling the truth about."

"Second hand... I WAS THERE!!" roared Dawn, eyes shining as light poured forth from her. It was Alchara speaking those words.

"Yeah, I know," said Kiyora. "I'm just messing with you because I don't like you."

For a moment, Dawn held her gaze. Then finally, she relented. The glow faded, and the light was shut out. "At any rate, you must see that Arraxia has no intention of keeping her borders the same. When she is ready, she will attempt to seize your lands and bring the Nakmar under her control. If she does not destroy them first."

"Yeah, probably," said Kiyora.

"...And you do not intend to do anything about this?" asked Dawn.

"Nope," said Kiyora. "I'm still weighing my options."

"King Andoa II has assured me that if I launch an invasion, he will take no action against me," said Dawn. "If you assist me, we could weaken the satyrs considerably. I would gladly give you half of the territory we conquered.

"In light of your preferences, we need not kill them all."

Kiyora sighed. "I'll tell you what; I'll consult my advisors and see what they think, then I'll get back to you. That okay?"

"Ask whomever you desire," said Dawn. "However, know that I will not wait forever."

"Whatever," said Kiyora before teleporting away.

Kiyora arrived in one of the halls of the Palace of Arsheen. At once, she saw Massacre. The chimera was lying on the ground. As soon as Kiyora appeared, she rolled over. Kiyora kneeled and began to give her a belly rub.

"Hey Massacre, who's a good girl?" said Kiyora. "You's a good girl. Hey, uh, where is William?"

"Bah," said the goat head.

"I'm standing right behind you," said William.

Kiyora turned around in surprise and saw William reading a book on magic. The long-haired blonde boy was clad in robes and sitting by the fire. He looked tired. "Oh, hey, Will."

"My name is William," he said. "How can I help?"

"I was just looking for your dad," said Kiyora. "I kind of need his help on something."

"He's busy meeting with the representatives of the Artarq nobles," said William. "He replaced Asimir and his allies with men who are loyal. So they've all been afraid they'll be next. Father is trying to assure them they are only at risk if they betray them. It could take hours."

"Well, that sucks," said Kiyora. "I guess I'll come back later."

"What is it you need advice on?" asked William, putting down his book. "Did Alchara go back on her word?"

"No, not exactly. She's trying to get me to join in an alliance against the satyrs," said Kiyora. "She wants to invade them and get rid of them before Arraxia betrays us."

"So that's what she was planning," mused William.

"You knew?" said Kiyora.

"Well, Father mentioned that Queen Dawn has been meeting with King Andoa. Something about expanding her territory," said William. "Sixty years ago, he allowed the High Elves to conquer some isles in the Sea of Power. They enslaved the satyr populations and sold them to the Sornian Sugar Plantations."

"What does that involve?" asked Kiyora.

"You don't want to know," said William. "Suffice it to say that it is more of a prolonged death sentence than slavery. Civilized cultures pay dwarves for such work. They are much more durable than most races, so they don't suffer the same ill effects. But the nobles of Sorn are interested in profit, and if that means they must work an entire population to death, so be it.

"There have been other attempts to expand recently, of course."

"So what happened to the island?" asked Kiyora.

"The elves established settlements on them. They then began emigrating in great numbers," said William. "I gather the High Elves had become overpopulated and needed the land."

"I still want to know how they managed it," asked Kiyora. "I know humans mature quickly, but elves aren't considered mature until they are at least sixty. No offense, but this seems more a human problem."

"None taken," said William. "If you must know, the High Elven population was devastated by Anoa the Bright. It was just retribution for their atrocities. You see, he initially merely conquered Gel Carn and made that into his Kingdom. However, as his people grew and grew in number, the elves made war on them.

"He didn't take it well.

"In the aftermath, Queen Dawn realized their lack of numbers had defeated them. Thus she reorganized her society to produce as many children as possible. For centuries female elves were expected to remain constantly pregnant. The hope was to restore their decimated population as quickly as possible.

"In all fairness, many factions would have loved to wipe them out. So the added population probably saved them from extinction. They did need the warriors.

"Now her efforts are paying off. Or so Rusara believes; I think they're about to hit their limit."

"Oh," said Kiyora. "We Dreamer Elves have something similar, but it has nothing to do with genocide. We have five females for every male, meaning that males are expected to have multiple wives. It's screwed up.

"Hey, where is Rusara anyway?"

"She has business in other parts of Harlenor," said William. "She is a Dust Elf of great influence and can hardly afford to be here all the time. I'd tell you where she is, but I have no idea."

"Right, well, what do you think I should do about all this?" asked Kiyora.

William seemed to consider the question. "I wouldn't ally with the High Elves." He said at last.

"Why not?" asked Kiyora.

"Aside from the fact that not all satyrs are evil?" asked William. "It doesn't make sense from a pragmatic perspective. The High Elves have a highly organized military far stronger than yours. If you help them destroy the satyrs, you'll end up as a vassal to them, at best. Assuming they don't destroy you once you've outlived your usefulness."

"Do you think Alchara would do that?" asked Kiyora.

"You have hardly been friendly with her in the past." mused William. "But in truth, I don't know. My education is less extensive when it comes to High Elves. However, I know that the elves hunted "lesser races" for sport long ago. They were constantly murdering them without defiance sent. The High Elves regard that time of their history as a Golden Age. That should tell you where their priorities lie."

"So what do I do?" asked Kiyora.

"I'll talk to my Father. He has friends at court," said William. "They may be able to change King Andoa's mind. As for what you can do. I'd ally with Arraxia."

"You're kidding," said Kiyora.

"No. It is not in her interest to be wiped off the face of the map," said William. "She'll need all the help she can get."

"But she's a demon, and you are a paladin," said Kiyora. "Why would you want me to work with her?"

"Elranor himself allied with demons when both of them had a common enemy," said William. "Alliances shift and change with the fortunes of war. We must live with this reality, however much we admire our enemies or hold our allies in contempt."

"But I can't slaughter my people!" said Kiyora.

"They are High Elves," said William. "You are a Dreamer Elf. You are different races."

"Well, yes, but I mean, I live in a city where Alchara is worshipped above all else," said Kiyora. "If I kill her subjects, she could make life unpleasant for me."

"Then, you must avoid a war," said William. "If you can form a united front with Arraxia, you may be able to convince Alchara it isn't worth the risk. And if war does break out, then you will have to obey the rules of war. Treat the prisoners with the utmost respect. Make it clear that this is nothing personal.

"I'm sorry, Kiyora, but short of appeasing Alchara, there does not seem to be any other option."

"Damn it!" said Kiyora.

Why did weird stuff like this always happen to her?