The summit ended not with a bang, but more of a whimper. Or, maybe a better analogy would be the sound of water trickling from a pipe, since people were trickling away. It had already dragged on longer than planned, and Regina could hardly blame the delegates who started leaving. The season wasn’t very well-suited to travel, but they had responsibilities in their home countries and issues to see to.
The group of Delvers including Alix Castaway and Madris had arrived pretty late. They barely got to experience any of the summit, which Regina was going to assume was okay with them. Madris seemed to have lost interest in the people who’d tried to attack her after the dark elf questioned them, and instead drifted through the conference, somehow being both inconspicuous and discreet and impressing her presence on it. Regina, for her part, just shoved the issue of the would-be assassins away to deal with later. She would hold their trial after the end of the summit, anyway. There was no point in showing any potential trouble or conflicts to the whole world.
The Seer was mostly shut up in his room, and Regina had to assume he was using his abilities to search for information. That being the case, she was not going to bother him or try to force answers he couldn’t give yet from him. Instead, she focused on the summit itself, what remained of it, trying to plan a good conclusion and to set the groundwork for further efforts building on it. That mostly involved scheduling a lot of meetings and preparing teams from Cernlia, Nerlia and the hive.
Eventually, she was so focused on it that she almost forgot about the issue, and was surprised when Ira told her that the Seer wanted to talk to her. Regina finished up the document she was currently working on, glad that she got a bit of a break from social obligations or meeting with others at the moment. Then she rolled her shoulders, checked quickly that she was presentable, and went to meet the Delver.
“Good evening,” she greeted him, cutting short his bow. “Let’s take a walk, if you wouldn’t rather stay here?”
“A walk sounds delightful, Your Imperial Majesty,” he answered, and she was pretty sure he was being honest. He had been mostly shut up in his room for a while.
They stayed quiet as they left the building, then turned to the edge of the town. They got more than a few curious looks, although most of the people who looked eager to approach quailed at Max’s dark stare. He walked a bit behind her, fading into the background but still present enough to discourage anyone from bothering them. Except for a lingering glance, Alix appeared to ignore him. Presumably, he wasn’t entirely unused to the concept of bodyguards accompanying people he was talking to.
As they started to walk a circle around the town, down a surprisingly well-paved path and passing several of her drones standing sentry, she turned to look at him. Castaway appeared a bit tired, she noted, bangs under his eyes and a pale cast to his skin.
“I assume you found something?” she asked, keeping her tone neutral.
He nodded, unhurried in his reply. “In a manner of speaking, yes, I did. Not as much as you might have hoped, however, my Empress, please do not get your hopes up too high.”
Regina raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Of course. Anything you can tell me would be appreciated, even if there is some uncertainty or if it seems banal.”
They passed another checkpoint and left the town proper, going along a pretty well-maintained dirt path through the fields. It was a rather picturesque scene, the white blankets of snow spread over the fields and gathered on the peaked roofs of the houses, like a painting on a Christmas card. Regina felt the cold, as well, but it didn’t bother her much. The Seer didn’t even seem to notice their surroundings or the weather.
“As you might have guessed, my Ability, one that is more broadly applicable than my usual scrying, is vague and based primarily on intent. In truth, it is mostly my magic supported by a Class Skill. It generally requires meditation and can take a while to produce any results, and these are usually just glimpses of events or people vaguely connected to whatever I may be searching for. The why and how is not something it gives me.”
Regina hummed. That sounded very interesting. “Is there some bias involved?”
He smiled slightly. “Yes, there certainly appears to be. It might also change depending on the circumstances and subject matter. The visions I received today do appear to have a common theme, in any case.”
“And that is?”
“Perhaps it would be best to start at the beginning?” He waited for her to gesture her assent before he continued. “The first glimpses I saw are most likely only vaguely related, although that is par for the course, as I mentioned. It was a scene from the past. I saw a figure in a hooded cloak, covering their identity. They were speaking to someone I recognized. The Cernlian Thaumaturge, Zephyr.”
Regina blinked in surprise. “Really? That … sounds familiar, actually.”
“I thought it might,” he agreed evenly.
Regina frowned. With everything that was going on, she’d almost forgotten about this. Zephyr had gotten information from someone about the ritual they’d used to suppress the hive’s psychic connection, from someone who had then met with a priest known to be following Alianais.
“Do you have any idea how this relates to our present issue?”
Alix scoffed. “I already told you I did not. My Empress. The people I see might be indirectly connected to my question in vague ways, they could even be opposed or acting against it.”
“I take it you saw other people who might be opposed to what happened?” Regina asked, blowing out a breath.
“Perhaps.” This time, he really looked hesitant. “I saw …” He sighed. “I saw glimpses of a woman bearing the mark of power, with long white hair and golden eyes.”
“Alianais.”
“Presumably, yes.”
“What was she doing?” Regina asked, tensing up a bit.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I got several glimpses, but they were hard to make sense of. Most prominently, she was in the company of another woman … one with blond hair and gray-silver eyes, wearing strange attire.”
“Leian,” Regina muttered. “What were they doing?”
The Seer gave her a sideways look. “Perhaps so. However, Lianaleine and Alianais did not look peaceful. I only received any vision with my sight, you understand, not sound. But it looked like they were fighting.”
Regina stopped. “Fighting? Truly?”
He smiled. “Not literally fighting. At least, I believe so. I meant that they seemed to be at odds.”
“So they were arguing.” Regina tugged on her mandible, then turned. “I don’t suppose you have any idea what about.”
“In all honesty, I would suppose you would have a better guess than me for answering that question, Your Majesty.”
Regina tilted her head, glancing around them to avoid looking at him. He wasn’t wrong in that respect, probably. She’d definitely gotten a few hints of potential conflict between Leian and Alianais, just like between her and the rest of the gods.
She also wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell the Delvers of that. She hadn’t forgotten what Galatea had said, Madris’ insinuation that they might have been influenced as well. She hadn’t had much of a choice going to the Seer with this, at least she didn’t have any other avenues of information that could compare to him, but it was probably still a risk, too.
It was frustrating.
“My Empress?”
Regina turned back to the Delver. “I see,” she said simply. “I am uncertain what this all means, Seer Alix. Do you have any other impressions or even gut feelings that could give us a hint as to this? Are these people who I should beware, who are working against me, or …?”
A grimace flashed across his face. “As I said, my Empress, it is unclear. Alianais could be behind this event, I suppose, or tangentially related to it in some unclear way, or even actively working against efforts to assassinate you. The same goes for the other goddess.” He hesitated for a moment. “Or the last person I saw. A man with white orbs for eyes wearing clothing reminiscent of the Ancients.”
“Deirianon.” Regina grimaced.
“That may be. I only saw short flashes of him, less than any of the others, and even what little I did see, to give you this description, is partly guesswork.”
Regina nodded. So, does that mean Deirianon is less involved than Alianais somehow? Or is he just shielding himself against prophetic visions? Or is that just random chance? It was frustrating not to have any clear answers to any of this. Still, she wasn’t really surprised that Deirianon appeared in Alix’s visions. Even if he wasn’t directly responsible for the attempt on her life, he probably was indirectly - or thematically - connected to it.
After all, she had little doubt that Deirianon, the supposed god of peace, wanted her dead. He was probably only holding back because of Alianais. Or so she would have thought, anyway, but if Alianais had dropped her and was working against her, that complicated matters. I suppose it could just be that he doesn’t want to be obviously outed as a hypocrite, or invite trouble by killing someone in my position. The other gods probably wouldn’t approve of their colleagues just going around smiting leaders they don’t like. Either way, this was all speculation, she didn’t have much to go on. Regina cautioned herself not to make assumptions.
“But if you are asking for my opinion …” Alix continued. “I get the impression there are complicated feelings involved. For more than one of them. Either way, it is abundantly clear these would-be assassins were not acting on their own, not on their own initiative, or even the instigation of a run-of-the-mill disgruntled courtier. We can take that as confirmation, I do believe.”
Regina glanced at him. It definitely sounded like the Seer’s Ability or magic didn’t just transmit visual input. But she bit down on any questions. He probably wouldn’t want to answer them and it wouldn’t do to force the issue, and prying would be seen as rude, anyway.
“I do hope I don’t have to explain why all of this information, including what we have revealed about the attack on me, is sensitive,” she said instead. “Knowledge of it must be highly confidential. As such, I expect you not to share anything with anyone else unless you have my explicit permission.”
Castaway clearly didn’t like that, judging by his expression. But he visibly restrained himself and inclined his head in response. “As you command, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Good. Thank you.”
By now, they were almost back to the center of town and the premises of the conference. Regina glanced at the waiting drones, noting their formations and the patrolling sentries. Their numbers had increased slightly as the time went on, but she’d left the details to Max and the others. She and the Seer walked in silence for a minute. She hoped she wasn’t the only one feeling a bit of tension in the air, although he seemed calm and guarded as usual.
Then, just as she was starting to consider who else she should talk to about what happened and what new information he brought — just sorting out how much new information that actually was needed to be on the agenda, too — she sensed another mind from the psychic link reaching out to her, establishing contact, with a sense of urgency.
Regina? You might wish to hurry back.
Janis? What’s up, is everyone alright?
Sure, this is not that kind of problem. It’s just …
Regina frowned again and dove deeper into the link with Janis, letting her actual surroundings fade to the periphery of her awareness as she walked back at a faster pace. In a deeper connection, it was easy to see what was up right away, even without Janis explicitly explaining anything.
And that was a group of delegates marching up to her, or at least to a group of high-ranking dignitaries from the Empire which included Janis, carrying what they certainly indicated to be an important document. After a few words were spoken, Janis realized they were here with an official proclamation.
Look at it, Regina urged her, even though she didn’t really need to given what they had already said.
They were being notified of the founding of a new league. Janis skimmed the document quickly, lingering on the important terms. Several countries, smaller states located roughly on the opposite side of Nerlia from the hive’s perspective, were now members of the Western Confederation.
I’m hurrying back, Regina told her new heir and little sister. It’s probably best if I’m here in person for this. Not that it changes anything.
She took a deep breath and tried to force herself to consider this carefully, analyze what it meant quickly.
The Empire of Central Europe would not be the only new nation birthed at this conference.
Well, or perhaps it would be. A ‘Confederation’ didn’t necessarily mean they were actually founding a new country. It could just mean a close alliance. In reality, it wouldn’t make much difference for her. It probably did just mean a league of several nations, even if it would pave the way for a closer union later. She couldn’t forget that the Gnomish Confederation to the East had started that way, as a confederation of cities and smaller states, and was pretty much just one country now.
Either way, this new confederation was clearly not aiming to befriend or join the Empire. That they had already grown close enough and put enough effort in to form this thing — Regina had taken a while to prepare for the Empire’s founding before the summit — meant there was a strong will to make this happen. Whether they were explicitly positioning themselves against her would remain to be seen.
What are you going to do? What are we going to do about this? Janis asked.
Nothing, Regina responded, rolling her eyes over the psychic link. We’re going to politely congratulate them on their league, nothing more. Except we’ll offer regrets that we couldn’t have commemorative gifts, to ask after a ceremony to commemorate it and hope we will be invited, the works. This Confederation is not an enemy or a threat to the Empire. That’s what we need to make clear, whether they’ll buy it or not.
I understand, Janis muttered. On the plus side, they probably don’t want to make an enemy of us, either. They’d have to be stupid.
Regina smiled slightly. Then she turned to make her excuses to the Seer so she could get back.