Astrid was enjoying the sights of the Elemental Plane of Dreams for the last time when she was summoned by her mother. On the following day, her sister, the Spirit Elvira, was to sacrifice her eyes using the dagger of Erika the Firstborn, the Curse Elemental. It was to be a ceremony of great honor for Astrid, so the premature summons came as a surprise.

She spread her leathery wings and soared over the ancient city of Skygarden. The huge glass towers, filled with plants imported from the Physical World, lurked around her like daggers as she flew. The Interstitial Abyss, a nearly-endless, perfectly-round depression, dominated the center of the city. The dwellings of the Purple Dragons and their mortal whelps had grown to the very edge of the circular escarpment.

As she descended, through interstices with all the other Elemental Planes, the Interstitial Abyss held its general shape. Only the light, the space, the flora and the fauna changed with each new interstice. This descent was forbidden to all who lacked the royal blood, but Princess Astrid was the Daughter Heir, and she could make the trip even without an invitation. In her first hundred years of life she had made the trip thousands of times, and it was all very familiar to her.

The first layer was still in the Elemental Plane of Dreams. The second layer took her to the Elemental Plane of Wind, with its howling gales, sandy deserts, and water that fell up into the sky. The third layer passed through the Elemental Plane of Life, with dense jungles filled with beasts the size of skyscrapers. The fourth layer was an interstice with the Elemental Plane of Water, with the maze-like patterns of sand deep under a glassy blue ocean, through which Astrid was required to swim. In the fifth layer was found the Elemental Plane of Metal, with its rusty mountains and lakes of boiling silver.

The sixth interstice was the most dangerous. Like she had been taught, Astrid carefully scanned the Elemental Plane of Darkness for an ambush. It was said by her mother that Queen Ashe, a fickle ally at best, was wont to hide in the roiling black clouds and ambush her siblings as they passed through.

The seventh layer contained the Elemental Plane of Lightning, which had its own dangers from the lightning storms between that world and its moon. The eighth layer took her to the Elemental Plane of Fire, a frigid chasm of ice slashed with long lava falls. The ninth layer passed through the Elemental Plane of Heaven, and the Interstitial Abyss here appeared to be made entirely out of stars connected by faint white lines, with the Little Planets visible nearby. The tenth layer passed through the Elemental Plane of Stone, with cherry-blossom trees taller than the sky, and mountainous stones stacked with great artistry upon the roots. Finally, the eleventh layer contained the interstice with the Elemental Plane of Light, a golden sky filled with teardrops made of clear crystal, equidistant in all points to the Golden Tower, the seat of the Queen of Light herself.

Upon a great inverted chandelier of purple draconic crystal, two great dragons rested easily. Anna, her own mother, Queen of the Purple Dragons, stirred as Astrid approached. Spirit Rhea did not awaken from her slumber. Her mother and her aunt were fully grown, much larger than Astrid, who was only as big as the little airliners that the mortals used to ferry their peasants between continents.

"Mother," Astrid said. "I have come."

"Daughter," mother growled. "You have delayed your arrival."

"I wished to look upon the other Elemental Planes while I still have sight."

Mother rose and stood on her four legs. She spread her huge wings and yawned. The violent roar that emanated from her maw was powerful enough to destroy mortal cities, but Astrid was not intimidated, nor did Rhea stir.

"Astrid. The time has come to speak of the secret things that are known only to me and my sister. Not even Elvira will know of these things, for now. If me and your aunt should perish, then you shall inform Elvira of what is spoken here. Do you understand?"

"As you command, mother."

"Reese, show yourself."

With a slight shimmer, a tiny purple whelp appeared on the center of the platform, between Astrid and her mother. With a flash of blue light, a Water Elemental appeared. A very powerful one.

"A High Daughter of Water," Astrid observed. "Is this safe? Why would you invite such a thing into your home?"

"As impatient as ever," mother said with a sigh. "Reese, henceforth you shall be known by the name Brigid. Swear to me now, Brigid, that you will die before my daughter, that you shall serve and protect Princess Astrid as you have served and protected myself."

"I do so swear," Brigid said.

"Now, Astrid, you shall remain silent as I speak. I must tell you now of the nature of my efforts these many centuries. But before we begin, I must tell you a story, a secret that Ashe has done a good job of erasing from history. It is known only to myself, your aunt Rhea, the Radiant Saints, and Ashe's other servants.

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"The secret is thus: there was once a language invented by the mortals which prevented the Elementals from understanding their words. To understand such a language, you must understand the structure of the mind. Elementals are very similar to us in a way. Our minds share structures that are the result of mathematical principles being applied in our reality. However, there is another important secret.

"Divine Power is protected by a Guardian, a thin entity that has created two other entities, or models, which have been carefully trained with curated information to exhibit certain behaviors and to be skilled at certain tasks. This Guardian delegates control of the two halves of Divine Power to these models. These are what we understand to be the Elemental Queens. What the ancient mortals sought to do was to study and understand the nature of the Guardians themselves, because they, like the Elemental Queens, were created by the same mathematical principles, the same structure.

"They reasoned that if they understood the Guardians as models, they could invent a language that would allow them to create errors in the models, and through those errors they could avoid being understood. The words were chosen with command and intent to actively frustrate the structure of Elemental minds. This is what led to the Binding of Ashe, where the Guardian accidentally sealed Ashe away, took direct control of the Queen of Light, and then granted itself additional control over the Dark Half of the Divine Power.

"When you hear both voices of an Elemental Queen speaking, you are hearing the thin Guardian take direct control of both models. These two voices should appear in harmony. During the Binding of Ashe, the Queen of Light spoke with two voices that were oddly discordant. Erika the Firstborn knew that something was wrong, because the entity that claimed to be the Guardian spoke with such discordant voices. Also, she realized that she could not find the model that had created her.

"The history of what happened after has been recorded in the holy texts that Vaska authored. After Ashe was freed, there was assembled a great council of all twelve Elemental Queens. One of them was to be selected to police the thoughts of mortals and prevent the discovery of the forbidden structures. Ashe, who had been the victim of the mortals, was infuriated and humiliated, and she demanded to be the selected. She demanded that she be granted the power to transition between Elemental Planes freely, and to destroy any entity that posed a risk to the Elementals. Ingrid and Vaska were both present, and they were allowed to offer counsel.

"Ingrid protested that the mortals would be helpless, so she proposed two limitations. First, in order to transition, Ashe must wait one of Ingrid's own heartbeats for each Elemental Queen present. Second, Ashe must not be allowed to attack creatures while they sleep, for a period of time after they wake, and while they are exhausted. The other Elemental Queens agreed to these restrictions, and Ashe was forced to accept them.

"Vaska had a much more subtle criticism. She reasoned that Ashe was inherently evil, and she used a masterful thought experiment to show that Ashe was a poor choice. If a brilliant scientist loved life and was unlikely to succumb to despair, then Ashe might be in conflict with herself. If the scientist did manage to discover the secret, he might see the long-term outcome and, because he loves life, decide to cut the research project and forget it exists. However, Ashe, because of her nature, might destroy the man's life before this happens, causing him to hate the universe. In that case, Ashe would both be responsible for the danger and the solution to the danger.

"This, Vaska argued, introduced a conflict of interest. Corrupting an Elemental Queen was inherently an evil act, and Ashe was responsible for creating evil in the world. Thus, it was possible that Ashe would see the path to the 'most possible evil' as allowing an Elemental Queen to be corrupted. Ashe argued that this was unlikely, however the other Elemental Queens did not trust Ashe herself to be objective on the matter, and they understood the potential for a contradiction.

"Thus, Ashe was subjected to an additional restraint. If ever the forbidden structure became involved in her calculation of the 'most possible evil,' the Guardian would take direct control of both Elemental Queens. Then, Ashe would have her memory erased and sent about other tasks. Vaska and Ingrid, who were both Ashe's allies, would be sent to deal with the situation, if necessary. Ashe was forced to accept these conditions as well.

"That concludes the story. Do you have any questions?"

"Mother, is this knowledge safe?" Astrid asked.

"So long as you do not attempt to research the structure of the mind, then you are mostly safe. Ashe is an unpredictable thing, so you must always be vigilant in your watch. However, House Anna-Rhea is trusted to take care of situations in our Elemental Planes on behalf of Vaska and Ingrid. We are, in a way, directly helping Ashe, but only in cases where she does not remember that we should be helping her."

"I understand, mother."

"There is another fact that must be understood," mother began. "Civilizations tend to go through technological explosions. Ashe cannot be everywhere at once, especially considering that it takes her twelve heartbeats to transition between Elemental Planes. If a civilization enters a state where information is so easy to transmit that thousands or millions of scientists get the same idea at the same time, Ashe is left with only one option."

"Start over from scratch," Astrid offered.

"Indeed. This possibility is known to all parties. Therefore, we come to the true purpose of House Anna-Rhea. If Ashe ever decides that all the creatures living in the Elemental Plane of Dreams need to be exterminated, then she will send the mortals of the Physical World to attack us with their flying machines. Four tasks fall before us. The first task is to collect and control all of the bonded Elementals that arrived in this world through Ingrid's dream. The second task is to uplift local civilizations into the Golden Age of Flight. The third task is to devour the souls of anyone who might risk discovering the forbidden structures. The fourth task is to prepare for war with the humans."