Before returning to the palace I decided to travel with Bandor and the others to Chief Kendor's village. I was eager to tell him how the battle had gone and to ask him what he thought about the changes that I had planned for the kingdom. It had only been a few weeks since I had last seen Chief Kendor but in those weeks he looked like he had aged a few years. He now needed two sticks to walk with and his eyesight had gotten a little worse. The Okwari that had returned ahead of Bandor had already informed the chief of our victory and of the fact that no Okwari had been killed in the battle.

"Thank you for keeping them safe," the chief said to me after I greeted him in his hut.

"They all came back safe because of what excellent warriors they are, without them we couldn't have won the battle."

"They told me all about the battle, about how well your troops were organized and commanded; you would have found a way to win without them."

"That's not true, the teewahs' speed allowed us to get the better of their cavalry and by using the longbows we were able to protect our troops from their archers, so it is in fact the case that we couldn't have won without all of the help that you gave us."

"In that case I will accept that you are being sincere."

"My coronation is going to be taking place soon, I hope you'll be able to attend."

"I'll be there, I may not look like it but there is still a lot of life left in this body."

"My first proclamation as queen is going to be to recognize the Okwari as full citizens of Aseron invested with all of the rights that are enjoyed by citizens of Aseron."

"That is very kind of you Alegra, but there is no need for you to do such a thing, we help you because you are a child of the Okwari, and if we did not help you then we would be failing you as our child."

"It's not just about all of the help that you've given me. You were all the victims of a terrible injustice, an injustice that I now have the power to correct."

"A simple proclamation is not going to be enough to achieve that."

"No, but it's a start, and it comes after the soldiers have gotten to see with their own eyes how much the Okwari have to contribute to the kingdom."

"Even so, there is no need for this, we are happy here."

"In addition to my proclamation I will be declaring all of the lands north of the Bronden mountains the domain of the Okwari. You will have your own state within the kingdom and a representative on the Governing Council to make sure that the Okwari are being taken into consideration when decisions are being made about the kingdom's future."

"Alegra, this is too much."

"This is just the start, I'm going to transform this kingdom into a place that is unrecognizable from what the nobles built."

"Your father would be very proud of what his daughter has become."

The chief's words brought me to tears. For all of my power as queen I could do nothing about the losses that I had suffered. The chief understood my pain and he placed a hand on my shoulder to reassure me that he was still here for me and would be for as long as he lived. With my father gone the most important thing to me was that Chief Kendor be proud of me and what I was doing, and it was his pride in me that inspired me to continue pursuing my plans for transforming the kingdom and improving the lives of its citizens.

I spent the night in the village and returned to Glendale to find a frenzy of activity taking place within the city. Preparations were being made for my coronation, and from the looks of things Ferland was sparing no expense.

"Is all of this really necessary?" I asked him when I arrived at the palace.

"It appears that the turnout for your coronation is going to be much larger than we thought, so we're having to scale up our original plans."

"And what is that going to do to our timeline?"

"We need to give people time to make the trip here, so we'll have to delay things by about ten days."

"Ten days is fine; just how many people are we expecting for my coronation?"

"Thousands."

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"Thousands?!"

"Yes, after your victory against the Volstaff army and your purge of the nobles your subjects are eager to see their queen with their own eyes."

"Well, since you've got so much on your plate, I'll leave you to get on with it."

Uraia, as she always did when I went away alone, was making the most of her time with Igor. Having mastered flight Igor and the other chicks were working on developing their flames. Mastering their flames required the chicks develop their capacity to build up flames in their breast while also filling their air with lungs to expel the flames with. Achieving both simultaneously was very difficult and the chicks were struggling to get it right. As soon as she saw me walk out into the garden Uraia left what she was doing and came over to me.

"We were expecting you back yesterday," she said to me.

"I went up to see your father and I ended up spending the night in the village."

"How is he?"

"He's fine, older, but fine."

"What did you do to Esmeralda?"

"I had Myra take care of her; she burned to death in the place that she had burned to the ground, that's about as fitting a punishment as I could give her."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

I wasn't in the mood to unpack all of my feelings just then. I went back inside the palace and repaired to my chambers to be alone with my thoughts. Anbu came with me. I had been neglecting him with how busy I had been and now he was seizing his opportunity to get some attention. Anbu wasn't the only one that I'd been neglecting; ever since I had become queen I had spent hardly any time with the people that were most important to me. During my time with the bandits Uraia, Klara and I had been almost inseparable, now I hardly saw Klara because she was always occupied with her City Guard responsibilities and although Uraia was with me the whole day we never had any time alone. When I brought them all to the capital with me I didn't imagine that our relationships would become so strained. I thought back to my time at the settlement, about how I spent so much time away from the settlement with Lucy and Anbu and would spend the years following the massacre regretting that I didn't spend more time with the people there. I didn't want to make the mistake again of not making the most of the time I had with the people that I cared about, Uraia being the person that I cared about most.

Uraia must have noticed that there was something off about me when we spoke. She came to see me in my quarters an hour after we had spoken in the garden.

"It's not like you to withdraw like this. Something happened up north, didn't it?"

"No, nothing happened, it's just..."

"What?"

"When I visited your father and I saw him looking so old it made me think about the people that I care about that I don't want to lose like how I lost my father and the others, and suddenly my revenge didn't seem so important, not when compared with what all of you have come to mean to me."

"I never thought you'd get much satisfaction from killing Esmeralda, but at least now you can put it behind you and focus on the future."

I wanted to tell Uraia that when I thought about the future all that I thought about was a future where we were together, that everything else was a distant second in my mind to my love for her. I didn't end up saying anything to her, choosing instead to leave my chambers and return to my duties as queen, starting with finding out more from Ferland about what his exact plans were for my coronation.

* * *

My coronation proved to be much bigger than I imagined it would be and it was bigger than Ferland was expecting it to be. Ferland had made the decision to have the ceremony outside of the city to accommodate the large numbers that were expected. Carpenters had constructed a large wooden stage in front of the southern boundary wall where all of the ceremonies would take place. The stage was big enough to accommodate all of the people that I wanted to be a part of my coronation: The Overseer, Uraia, Klara, Chief Kendor, and Uther and the rest of my court. Myra was behind us up on the wall, flanked by two banners that were emblazoned with our kingdom's new symbol, that of a phoenix rising from flames.

Before us the crowd stretched as far as we could see. It wasn't just thousands that had come to the capital for my coronation, it was tens of thousands, which included all of the Okwari that were capable of making the trip. Ferland had done an excellent job with the preparations, despite the large turnout everything had gone perfectly smoothly.

For me to officially become queen my reign needed to be inaugurated by The Overseer. He was standing next to me on the platform with the laurel in his hands that, when he placed it on my head, would signify the official commencement of my reign as queen of Aseron. Ferland, as master of ceremonies, began the proceedings by addressing the crowd.

"Citizens of Aseron, I stand before you today proud to introduce the woman who we are here today to coronate as the new queen of Aseron. In the short time since she was chosen to rule by The Overseer she has vanquished the nobles, led our soldiers to a historic victory against the invading Volstaff army and killed their king, and now, having done so much for the kingdom, the time has come to have her officially take her place on the throne as the new queen of Aseron."

Ferland stepped back and the Overseer and I stepped forward. I was wearing ornate silver and gold armor with a red cape clasped to the back of my shoulders. I faced the Overseer and got down on one knee with my head bowed for him to place the laurel wreath on my head that symbolized my ascension to the throne.

"Congratulations Alegra," the Overseer said to me when I rose as queen.

"Thank you, Elias," I said, bestowing upon the Overseer the name that he had asked me to come up with for him.

When I got to my feet and turned to the crowd as their new queen the cheers from them were rapturous. Behind us Myra provided the pyrotechnics, shooting large pillars of fire up into the sky. The hope and optimism in the crowd was palpable. They believed that as their queen I would continue to deliver positive change for them, and for the first time since Elias approached me in the mine and told me that he'd chosen me to be the new queen of Aseron I felt the full weight of their dreams and aspirations on my shoulders. I stood on the stage facing them determined not to fail them, determined to fulfill the expectations that they had of The Fire Queen, the ruler that would take Aseron from the abyss it had been driven into by Esmeralda and raise it up to new heights, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.