Difference between revisions of "Jennet's Corruption"

Latest revision as of 13:17, 8 June 2022

After a long and difficult labor, Aliana finally rested, with her newly born daughter sleeping in her arms. It was a thing of beauty, Jennet had thought. Why, the last time she'd been present for a birth, it had been two and not just one. And both of those two would be sleeping by now as well. Jennet nearly considered sleeping here herself, even, now that the chaos of child birth had subsided and the servants had all left the room.

Aliana let out a comfortable sigh. "Lynia." She smiled. "You'll tell Bermand the name, right? You're more likely to see him before I do."

"I might not see him as soon as you expect," Jennet lied. Tomorrow, just before dawn, was a Transfer day. One of her sons was going to be disappointed, to not see his new daughter yet. It scarcely mattered which one planted the seeds. "But yes, if I do, I'll tell him."

Aliana now yawned. "Goodness."

"Get the sleep while you can. The wetnurse can only help with the baby so much."

"...Oh, my. I hate to impose, Mother, but..."

"For the wife of my beloved son? I would do anything."

"I should have asked one of the servants before they left, but...could I trouble you to fetch me some water?"

The door closed as noiselessly as could be hoped. For the High Queen to now be delivering a jug of water for her daughter in law... well, not that she still held much power over the kingdom, since her sons' coronation. At her age, she had heard it said, she shouldn't have been sustaining such stress anyway. Nobody knew of the Transfers, so nobody should have had any idea of the stress she was under. But it was true; no longer needing to govern the Kingdom had been better for her, in her advanced age.

But a wave of something came over Jennet. Whether jealousy or something else, she couldn't ascertain. She thought she heard a man speaking, but could not tell from where. "Caynean royalty. I never thought to see one so low as to run errands." She could not find the voice anywhere in the corridor. "For being the distant spawn of Gregor, your mind does not account much for things beyond physical existence. I am not in the room with you. Or perhaps I am. It scarcely matters to me right now."

"Who are you?" Jennet whispered.

"Do not speak aloud, you withering fool, you'll expose us both. I exist within your head, not beyond it."

Then who are you? Jennet thought.

"A spectre of the past, I suppose you could call me. A figure that was perhaps dealt a great injustice at the time."

What does said figure want with the High Queen of Caynea?

"Oh, surely it's not as important as fetching a jug of water for that woman in the other room."

The woman who married my son! Queen Consort of Caynea!

"Consort, you say. Then she cannot be as important as she seems. But she is a potential danger. She cannot be left alive - she could bring disaster to this entire planet."

How?

"If she were to discover me, and destroy me, this planet would surely collapse. Neither of us can allow that to happen."

The meddlesome old woman had finally left the room, leaving Aliana with her new daughter. Gregor's beacon - the Cloudbreaker, I suppose I should call it - lay propped against her bedside table. She'd requested that it be present for the birth, which confused the caretakers, but her husband, Bermand, was all too happy to comply. He probably believed me, when I asked to make sure that our child was compatible with it.

She grasped the beacon with her free hand, cradling the infant Lynia in her other arm. It glowed in a familiar way, like the old signet ring did. Five years, it had been, since she touched down upon this planet. And her mission was unquestionably a success. She'd found what became of Archmage Gregor. Or rather, what became of his equipment. Perhaps the man had actually just died of old age, since he'd refused to be dosed with PCM before leaving the Vessel, but she still didn't know how he survived being fired upon by the main cannon.

Aliana ran her hand along the length of the staff until she found the hidden capacitive point. She held her thumb on it for a few seconds, shutting her eyes to concentrate. In only a short moment, she opened them again. So that's it, then. Bermand was not lying. It truly has been six hundred years. Gregor, my old love... The tears ran down her cheeks as she thought about what had once been. What worlds we could have built, together, if you had not left before...

The bedchamber door creaked open, and behind it was the old woman from before. "Oh, Mother, you've returned. Thank you so much."

High Queen Jennet set the water jug on the bedside with a discomforting, forced-looking smile. "Anything, for my daughter in law, on the eve of her first-born child." She retrieved a simple goblet from a cabinet and set about filling it for her.

"I do apologize that it had to be this way." Aliana tried to clear away her tears, then accepted the goblet from Jennet. She raised it aloft. "To the continued future of Caynea."

Jennet, not holding a goblet herself, simply raised her fist into the air.