— Brother Seraño, Lavradio —

His entry into Girona was satisfying beyond words. On Seraño's way in, he passed the heretic's convoy of gurantor trains leaving. He even caught a glimpse of the heretic himself, more grown, staring pensively into empty space, traces of deep worry on his brow. He had plenty to worry about now that he was stateless with a hundred mouths to feed. Seraño didn't have the power to touch him, but seeing the boy worry was balm for the soul.

That child had run him out of his post and had him sent down, an act that culminated in the once-ambassador working in Enclave's mail room. Him, a scion of a first family, supervising mail sorters! He had even gotten himself arrested at one point for interfering with official messages from Lavradio, but the sentence hadn't stuck. He was working on secret orders from President Phrenos of the Council of Guardians. All Seraño had to do was keep his mouth shut, admittedly not the easiest task for him, and in good time he was free.

Seraño had been the first to see the boy's true nature, the threat he represented to the church, and tried to convince King Joaquim to kill the child just days after he emerged from the summoning room. He had gathered his courage in court and denounced the boy and, instead of showing wisdom, the famously feckless monarch had tossed a knife between them and said they should fight it out among themselves. The heretic, violent creature that he was, had been the first to take up the knife and attack. What sort of mad, dangerous child attacks an ambassador? The prelate and a local disciple, both heretic sympathizers, had sent him down for the incident.

How the world had turned since then! Not only was he free, but he had been reinstated. Now, Seraño was replacing the heretic in Girona, the capital of Lavradio. The new regime in Unity City understood his value and rewarded him by giving back the post he'd sacrificed for the church and more. He was to be prelate too, and a Defender of the Faith. He was the leader of the priests in the country, and he had the authority to burn heretics wherever he found them.

Seraño was here to cleanse Girona. Enclave would handle the heretic and his wayward followers, who would be much easier to kill without royal protection.

For all the joys of his arrival and his taking possession of the prelate's elegant quarters in the Basilica of Majestic Light, there were disappointments, too. The new king and queen chose to greet him in the palace's small audience chamber with only a few ministers and guards in attendance. An ambassador was normally welcomed in a full court. That was his due. There were two ways to interpret the situation: either the king was showing him favor with the more intimate meeting where sensitive matters could be discussed, or he was robbing Seraño of the open recognition his post deserved.

King Leonardo, nephew of the previous king Joaquim, reviewed the long parchment handed from Seraño to a guard, from the guard to an attendant, who examined it carefully for poison, to the prime minister who reviewed the text, before finally handing it to the king himself.

"It's all to the usual form, and We recognize you as Enclave's ambassador. But why you, Brother Seraño? Lavradio is normally considered a dead end by your Assignment Committee." Left unspoken was how he'd been sent down at the request of Matrix Lucia and Prelate DeGray. How did you wrangle your way back here? And why?

"I was the first to recognize the heretic's danger to our beloved Unity. I am best suited to root him out of Lavradio, in Leadership's considered opinion."

"The heretic is not in Lavradio," Queen Larava reminded him. "He was exiled. Perhaps you passed his caravan on the way here. Rumor is he's heading towards the Kravikas desert. You make it sound as if he were still here, when he is somewhere on the road, homeless. What, precisely, is there to root out?"

"His memory," sniffed Seraño. "The faithful have transferred their ardor from Unity to the heretic. They sing his songs and read his insipid sermons to each other on holy days. They speak highly of him despite his declarations of heresy. He is present at every toast in his name and every hope your people hold that Enclave will fail and fall."

"It is quite the puzzle for Enclave, isn't it?" said the king sympathetically. "The church was not in a position to help the people of Lavradio at a crucial time, and that rascal seized the moment to make a name for himself as a friend of the common people. Now you have to convince people that Enclave loves them more than the Nexus does."

"A pity Your Majesty chose not to arrest the heretic when told to do so. We might have been rid of him already."

"Me, arrest the heretic? Have you seen the way he fights? If I had tried to arrest the boy, he would have cut through a thousand of my men. Perhaps you are unaware of our recent troubles, but we do not have a thousand men to spare, Ambassador Seraño. Even his students are no trifles. I have witnessed them in action against the dark magulo …"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Seraño did something nigh unthinkable, except perhaps by an ambassador of a notable power. He interrupted the king. "There is no such thing as dark or cursed monsters."

"Pardon me," said the king. The prime minister glared at Seraño, calculating how long it might take to order his death for such an affront. "I meant the monstrous insects who exude an aura of darkness, are poisonous to the touch, and wear a carapace no weapon can pierce, so similar to the legends of cursed monsters in scripture they would seem identical. The disciples' might was too great even for them, who posed a special terror among monsters.

"Phillip the Younger is far beyond the ability of guards and soldiers to apprehend. The best I could manage was a negotiated exile. Your people made him; Your people will have to unmake him."

That was practically an invitation, and Seraño grabbed at it. "I humbly request a small group of peacekeepers to aid in the holy work of ridding your capital of his influence."

"What would you do with such men, were We to give them to you?"

"Arrest anyone who defies the Unity, Your Majesty."

"And then what?"

"That depends on the magnitude of their heresies. Those who repent may be flogged and left in jail for a time. Any who refuse to mend their heretic ways must be executed. Burning is preferred, but hanging is acceptable."

The queen did not blanch, nor did the king shape his face with anger, but the mood in the room shifted.

"You wish to impose religious order on Our people, at Our own expense? It seems to Us Enclave should fund its own solution to its own problems."

"Then allow us to raise a force at the church's expense. The true faithful need only your permission."

"Certainly not. The church has always remained unarmed excepting a disciple and their bulwark. No king can allow an alternate force within his borders. An ambassador should know better than to ask."

"So your Majesty refuses to honor the Treaty of Alignment? It clearly states …"

"That no competing religion will be tolerated," Queen Larava interrupted him. She was herself a descendant of the Five Families who provided the core of Enclave's disciple and leadership castes. She had been educated in the same school as the priests and practitioners, and specially groomed for her place as Lavradio's queen. She knew the treaty's text by rote.

"Nexus does not teach a competing religion. It teaches the Unity religion. There is no difference in doctrine that We can see. The only difference is Brother Phillip's belief that Enclave could do a better job of defending the faithful by anointing more disciples and deploying them more freely."

"Will Your Majesties not aid the church in any way?"

The elderly prime minister consulted some papers in his hands. "You have extensive grounds for your basilica, and you have many temples. Gliebes in major cities are set aside for their support, and you may continue to collect rents on those lands or improve them at your discretion. And there are always the donation boxes."

"Thank you, Max." King Leonardo drummed his fingers against the arm of his throne for a while, thinking. It was sheer pretense, Seraño was sure. The man had made up his mind before the meeting began.

"We see this schism as an internal affair of the church. Just as Enclave did not interfere with our civil war, We will not interfere with Enclave's internal conflicts. However, We shall offer advice. Brother Phillip showed everyone a church that cared more about the common person than it did its own power. He defended the powerless, healed the sick, and brought hope to the hopeless. If you would surpass him, you won't succeed with dour sermons and name-calling."

"Do not forget his singing voice, dear," added the queen.

"True. We are a people who love music, and even the nobles miss him for his songs. In every way, the young brother was known to personify those attributes Enclave disciples so often claim for themselves. Yet, we see not a one of them here. What are your disciples doing in Enclave, when there is so much need in the world for their abilities?"

"The blood of the First Families can't be risked for mere trifles, Your Majesty. If the need is truly great then a disciple may be dispatched, but your offering to the church must reflect the need."

"So it is true. You're renting them out. Is there a price list? Or, must I outbid my neighbor?"

"The line of the First Families …"

"Puffery!" Leonardo interrupted. "That is the word you used the other day, isn't it My Queen?"

"Yes, My King. To prattle on about one's special place in the great order of things without any proof to support such claims. Puffery."

"A commoner term, but an apt one." The king returned his attention to the hapless ambassador. "I will not give you swords to fight your internecine battle against Nexus. If it is truly your wish to eclipse Nexus, then convince Us with deeds that Olyon favors you. If he does, then he will surely grant you victory over the heretics. If you fail then Olyon's favor truly has shifted, and it is Nexus, not Enclave, who will lead us into the future."

Seraño left the audience convinced: Lavradio feared an ascendant Nexus and was hungry for more practitioners from Enclave. When he returned to his palatial quarters in the Basilica and the reports on his desk, part of the new king's reasons became clear: most of the city's healers had defected. The ambassador put all the missing healers' names on a list for immediate ex-communication. He wasn't going to let the heretic borrow any more of Enclave's power.

He would have to meet with the remaining healers one by one to sniff out the spies and sympathizers left behind. And if he couldn't raise a proper inquisition force then he would have to contact the city's less savory factions. There was more than one way to skin a futobel.