[ Back ]

Isha stood on the bridge of the flying citadel staring at her glowing fist. It was pretty obvious now what had happened.

Marianne.

Isha hadn't known that the chosen of the unconquered sun were actually chosen by Sidereals. Like Marianne. She had specifically given them the amulets. Rathimund had said they contained Solar-flavored essences. “When the time is right…”

It seemed so obvious now.

She glanced over at Ejava. Why them and not Ejava? Ejava had been through so much, endured so much, and in general was much stronger in spirit than any of them.

Wait. Was she, Ejava, The Champion?

Like the Empress herself, hero of the great contagion… perhaps The Champion Marianne had spoken of needed to be a dragon-blessed. Perhaps The Champion _couldn't_ be anything more than that.

Even Isha knew that the chosen of the dragons would only follow one of their own of their own free will. Disdain for Anathema was ingrained into generations and generations of Dynasts. Even now, Isha was both intrigued and reviled by her sudden re-exaltation.

Re-exaltation.

It was a lot of power. _A LOT_ of power. So much more than she had known, even as a dragon-blessed. It was clear now just why Song's two colleagues'd had such an easy time wiping the floor with the four of them. There was just no contest. Perhaps on a battlefield, sheer numbers of dragon-blessed working in coordination could overwhelm a handful chosen of the unconquered sun, but it would take that at least, she felt.

But at what cost? The island and her family were now closed to her, to all of them. As true Anathema, they would be shunned at best and attacked at worst, should they try to return. The Wyld hunt, and Peleps Deled would be there, waiting for them, should they dare.

So what now? The Righteous Orphan Rebellion? Would they be shunned? Berrel didn't seem to begrudge Marianne's Anathema as a Sidereal. Perhaps there was still a place for them there. But did it really matter to her any longer to restore the Empire to some semblance of what it had been? Even if they did and succeeded, she couldn't go back.

But well, even so, what the Empress was doing was wrong. And that was a bigger thing, overshadowing the purpose of the Righteous Orphan Rebellion. Creation itself was in danger, from the same person who had once saved it hundreds of years ago. Stopping the Empress and her plans should accomplish the Righteous Orphan Rebellion's goals as well.

And then, at a lower level… her house mission. She was no longer a Nellens. Isha was born to them, and exalted under Pasiap to that house, yes, but this person, standing here now with the glowing fist? She was no longer Nellens Trona Isha. She was someone else. Isha had died not once, but twice.

This person rose from the ashes of Isha in a land of Basalt and Sand. In Malfeas, across the domain of Cecelyne, the Yozi patron of Nellens Song. To the east in Creation she was now constrained, standing, glowing, in a flying citadel of the first age, at the helm of immense power.

Confined to the east; an eastern name. Born of Basalt in the land of the Yozis.

Born of Basalt.