"Name's Snowdrop this time," I said, not taking my eyes off of Sariandi.
The High Queen took a deep breath. "Welcome, mother. The Court recognizes Snowdrop the... Centaur..."
"Unicorn King's [Heritor]," I helped her and pointed at the horn sticking from my forehead. "Or have you elves already forgotten about him?"
By the reaction some of the older court ladies had, some didn't. One older elf raised his voice. "But the Unicorn King's [Heritor] should be a male!"
I laughed. If they only knew. "Take that complaint to the System. I was recognized by the Unicorn's King's own relic as the true [Heritor]," I said and summoned the spear to my hand. The elder shut his mouth.
The damn spear was thrumming with excitement. I must be doing something very, very right. Probably the relationship between the Unicorn King and the elves wasn't that good, but that was just speculation on my part.
"Why you?" Summer whined in a whisper, but everyone in the room could hear a pin drop in the middle of a death metal concert. Or something to that effect.
I shapeshifted my lung systems (plural) to have the extra sets of vocal cords the elves so prize. Then I spoke, my voice a rich chord with each word.
"Dunno, my dear granddaughter. Summer, right? I'm sorry I didn't have the time to come and spend time with my beloved grandchildren," I said with just a tiny bit of sarcasm. "I have a hidden trait that makes me get born in the most exciting circumstances possible. That's why I was born as Alloralla right as the demon worshippers sacrificed the former queen to summon a Demon Lord. Because my blood was silver at the time and anathema to demons. It caused the ritual to fail and the cultists to die, along with the newborn baby me. It happened a lot. Even when my birth seemed ordinary, I still found a way to leave my mark upon the world."
That made every single elf in the room, even the bitchy Season Queens, shut up for good. The only sound they made were the ones their bodies did on their own.
"With this," I continued, weaving subtle magic and my talents in my voice, "It is the third time I save Fulgen. Dying to the dragons is between me and them. I ended the war for you. Pekothas is no more. Their dynasty is gone, by these very hands and magic dead to the last member even if I didn't want to kill [Paladin King] Ernest. Their noble houses were erased save for their infant heirs. Their mages wiped out from this world. Their capital was destroyed by my magic. I am sure you've seen it from here. At least felt the tremors. The centaur slaves you so gleefully peppered with arrows..." I sucked in a deep breath and added several bass notes to my next statement.
"INCLUDING MY MOTHER!"
Then I continued with my normal voice, "Are now free. I put Enantinos, my former chieftain back on the plains, as King. The nation there now is called Laconia, its capital, Sparta. Remember this."
I heard teeth grinding, grunts, and some joints creaking as a few elves shivered. I kept silent, waiting for one of them to speak.
"What do you want, Snowdrop?" Sariandi said with a tired voice.
I smiled. I had them exactly where I wanted. "Cooperation, my daughter," I smiled at her.
"You can't be serious--" Winter started to whine but Sariandy silenced her with a glare and a raised hand.
"Silence, daughter. Respect your [Elders]," Sariandi chided the unruly centuries-old children.
I smiled. It was good to see Sariandi show some backbone. It made easier what I was about to do.
"I'm sorry for my daughter's lack of discipline, mother," Sariandi said to me with a contrite tone and a lowered head. "I apologize for her."
"It is fine. It is the prerogative of children to commit mistakes, and the duty of us adults to rectify their behavior," I replied with my eyes on the chilly Queen. I would bore a hole in her skull if I had {Heat Vision}.
Actually, every elf in the throne room, even the Home-Tree's attention was on her. The wood of the tree trunk around us creaked menacingly.
Winter lowered her head. "I apologize, Old Soul... No, grandmother."
"It is fine, child," I said softly. "Daughter, what I want is cooperation. After my visit here, I am going back to the plains. I have a quest from Queltphion to create a centaur kingdom in the plains and I intend to do so. He will grant the centaurs his patronage."
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Everyone in the room knew what it meant. The centaurs would rise above the other savage races of the plains, maybe even bring them under our hooves. With the vast amount of territory we had, more than Earth's Russia and China together, in a few generations, we would be a powerhouse in the continent.
"And Enantinos rules over Laconia. My former chieftain, the father figure I had growing up as a filly. It goes without saying our nations will be closely allied. We will dominate the southern shores but we won't push the humans out. Our intent is to cooperate and foster trade."
I could've shot a {Force Javelin} in the hearts of the militant faction and they wouldn't be so wounded as they were by my declaration.
"Of course, Fulgen is my family! The [Star Elves] are born from my own eggs, and you are my daughters and granddaughters!" I said dramatically. "I'll extend to you an offer...."
Oh, boy. It was itching to come out. I clenched a fist and said,
"Join me! And together, we can rule the south of this continent as mother and daughters!"
Yeah. I could almost hear some voyeurs up there cringing. I had to reduce the scope. It was not yet the time for global domination. But the thought lodged itself deep in my mind. What if I removed all the temples to the gods? What would happen?
Considering the shitstorm that was this Age of Eclipse just because the God of Cluneal Clefts [1] drew too much power from the Sun, I didn't want to find out. This world was probably irrevocably bound to the existence of the Gods. I mean, the Elder fairies were conformed with the "newcomers".
"What would we have to do? We won't allow outsiders to travel across the forest," Sariandi said, challenging me. I knew she was just playing along.
I shook my head and moved back just a tiny bit. I tried to sound a bit scared, "No! Of course not! We have the southern strip for land travel, and the southern waters for ships. I would never attempt to violate the sanctity of the Forest."
"Then what can Fulgen offer to the Alliance?" She asked.
Oh, boy. Here we go, ripping off another videogame from the same company.
"I ask only for the knowledge and expertise of 'our' elven people. Enantinos knows how to lead a herd of centaurs in the plains and he spent the last few years with the Mad Bounty King, so he learned a bit about governance from the worst role model possible," I dragged the formerly "invincible King"'s reputation in the mud and that appeased the militant elves' bloodlust. Some even chuckled lightly.
"He'll still need help. The city was destroyed. The treasury spent on the child-murdering... Sorry," I really burned with anger at that memory. Ever since I came to Pekothas I was on edge. Most of my decisions were clouded by rage. Was it mental influence from the mages or something else? I would never know the truth. Maybe it was just me, grieving and breaking down.
But the fight with the dragon-armored [Paladin] and the necromancer-zombified mages along with that tentacle monstrosity still unsettled me. I felt within inches of truly dying [2] when it grabbed me and destroyed my armor. That's why I released such a powerful spell. I have no idea how I charged it so fast, but the missing potions and cores told me I might have consumed them in unorthodox ways.
"That's okay, mother," Sariandi said sympathetically. "We are also appalled at the way the humans treated their own offspring."
I cried. "They made my own brother an [Assassin] and then murdered him, Sariandi."
Breaching protocol, the elf [High Queen] stood up and hugged me. I was about one head taller than her, and the elves were taller than humans.
"I vow here, before you, before the Home-Tree and the Elder Fairies, mother,' She said out loud as she rubbed my back. "Fulgen will always stand with you. Fulgen will always actively fight against slavery."
most of the elves cheered. She came closer and triggered an item. I stopped hearing anything aside from myself and her. "I'm sorry, mother. I'm really sorry."
It was my time to rub her back. "I know, daughter," I cooed back. Then I ran my finger up her spine. "Look what I found! A backbone. Use it. Say what, I'll promise to send you a word as soon as I am capable of when I am reborn. You can name-drop and use me as you see fit to keep people from pushing you over. But that hurt, Sariandi. You did the same mistake twice by letting those bitches you call daughters lead you by the nose. You're a [Queen], not an ox."
"The fairies told me the same thing," Her nervous chuckle came with painful dimples and creases around her eyes.
She canceled the privacy barrier, "I'll remember your wise advice, Old Soul. Now, what would you have Fulgen do?"
I glanced at the Season Queens. "Send Spring to Laconia. She is to marry King Enantinos and cement the bonds between the two nations, erasing any doubts that the war is past us. I want Summer to go as well, but to help with advice. In fifty years, Summer can come back. Spring can also come back, but only after Enantinos dies of old age. I expect him to live long and have plenty of offspring. Since we centaurs are descendants of the Unicorn King, we can breed true with most creatures and all the sentient species.
"Then I'll take Winter and Autumn with me to the plains. They will help me with the management of my kingdom and teaching the centaurs and other groups of the species that will surely ally with us about agriculture, culture, and other aspects of life. Of course, they are welcome to bring their close aides and any retinue they want. I would also ask those among the princesses that want to try and live as part of the nobility here and there to come with us. Those should come willingly. I expect them to be open to marrying humans and others, should they chose to."
Spring and Summer were the most well-behaved of the four bitches. True to her season name, Spring was a sweet flower. She would make a good wife for Enantinos. And yes, this was a political marriage totally forced down her throat. And all of us knew she would have to consummate it. But given the way she was smiling and blushing, she wasn't against it.
Keeping the cold bitch and the dry one with me would bring me trouble, but I could also make them suffer. Nothing demeaning, just honest, hard work fit for someone with the best upbringing an immortal race could give.
They protested but I tuned them out. Sariandi stomped the ground and the Home-Tree answered by shaking the four and groaning menacingly. They had no other option but to comply.
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[1] The vertical crease between the buttocks.
[2] She forgot what really happened but not the dream. She's filling the vacuum with the dream memories.