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Ignis
Chapter 36: Welcome Home

Chapter 36: Welcome Home

You feel the temptation to open your Third Eye and take a look with your Sight, but hold off on it. Instead, you master yourself, refusing to blink, and ask Stiehr point-blank "What do you think I should do?"

Stiehr flinches. You get the impression that he would blink if he could. "I..." His voice trails off, and he looks about to cry.

You wait patiently. This is something that he needs to work through on his own. He is free now, or as close to it as any Imperial Navigator can be, and he needs to know it. Not just intellectually, but also instinctively.

"I..." Stiehr's head falls back to the pillows, tears flowing freely down his scarred face. "I don't know. For so long, there has not been an 'I'. There were no decisions to be made, someone else always made them. It has been so long, I... I don't even have a name. I was once Stiehr Saurlance, but he died. In Kania, when the rift opened. Then there was Slave, staying alive by serving the cruel will of its Mistress. What am I now? Who am I now?"

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You consider this for a long moment. Aunt Yasha opens her mouth, then closes it again when you twitch your head. You let Stiehr cry for a long moment. Finally, you speak. "You are free now, free to make your own decisions. I think the first one you could make would be to choose your own name. What do you want us to call you?"

Stiehr stares at the ceiling of the compartment, weeping silently. Finally, he croaks out something, almost too quietly for you to hear. You lean closer, and he repeats it, more strongly now. "Saor Dannan."

You nod approvingly, translating from old Eriesh in your head. "Free of the Dannan Clan. Welcome to our clan, to our family. Welcome home."