The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Part 15

"The most important thing is to prevent injustice to the just, closely followed by maximizing our preparedness for war against the demons. The right of people to play the game outside Serminak does not exist except on our sufferance, and it's a very low priority as far as I'm concerned."

"Lord Regent Povon," Fire formally began, "We would like to make a contribution to this project that is commensurate with our abilities. And, since this will be our first work in the outside world, its successful completion will inform the world of the magnitude of our capability.

"We would therefore appreciate it if you let us deal with the murderers, beyond letting us take a good Reading of you while you spend a moment psionicly listening for rule-breaking. I'm sure you've developed an excellent technique for doing so, and it would save us a bit of time if you would allow us to incorporate that technique into our solution.

"Dealing with the non-players who've been wronged by players is a far more subtle problem, and we'll gladly leave that to the rest of you."

"My, what a bold little thing you are for your age!" Gran chuckled.

"Yes, and they're capable enough to justify their boldness." Mark agreed, joining her chuckle. "By the way, Somonik; Speaker of the Ninety-Nine, and Grakonexikaldoron of the Ninety-Nine; our neighbor in Xervia, and Empress Honey; Monarch of The Swarm, and Sheramiv of the Atoned; First Minister of Hilia, I am very proud to formally introduce my daughter with Alilia; Princess Valentia Longstrider; known informally as Val, my son with Talia; Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth; known as Six, and my daughter with Talia; Princess Helemia Longstrider, known as Fire.

"They, along with Prince Karzog here who you met before the time-bubble and who's known informally as Karz, are The Governors of Hiliani. Since the four of them are an inseparable team, we've taken to referring to them collectively and informally as The Governors. They were entirely responsible for the design and execution of the program for integrating the Hiliani Sylvan into our military efforts there, and I think the social system they've designed for young Sylvan is the best there is; allowing them a very fulfilling and enjoyable life while preventing them from killing each other. As far as I know, the system Zwak has in place in Serminak works, but the young Sylvan there don't like it very much."

Each of the four young stood and bowed as they were introduced.

"We are very glad and proud to meet you." Somonik declared as he, Sheramiv, Honey, and Gran returned their bows with smiles.

"We're extremely honored to meet you, Most Noble Somonik." Six told him with another bow of great respect. "We're honored to meet you all, including you gods, who truly need no introduction. But Fire and I are really your enthusiastic and devoted fans, Most Noble. Of all the people outside the time-bubble, you're the one we most wanted to meet. We've studied your exploits with great interest, and it seems plain to us that of all the intelligent beings still living on Kellaran, mortal or divine, you are truly the most noble of character; the most just, the most determined, the bravest, the best. It's our opinion that this fact isn't as widely recognized as it should be, and we intend to correct that situation."

"Well, I'm flattered and surprised, and I haven't been surprised for a long time!" the ancient white dragon told him with a grin. "Thank you!"

"Don't worry." Fire giggled. "We intend that you'll have legions of devoted fans, as you richly deserve, but we know you're very busy so we'll do all we can to prevent them from being an inconvenience to you." "Thank you again."

"I'm surprised that you consider Somonik to be Most Noble," Gran smiled, "When most of the people in the world would nominate your father for that honor.

"Oh, Father's very noble, and of course we love him dearly." Fire said with a warm smile for Mark. "And if the question is of who's gained the most nobility in the shortest time, he'd win that easily. But it'll still take him at least thirty million years to equal Somonik's accumulated record of incredibly noble behavior. And besides, Father's nobility is already universally and fully recognized, whereas most of Somonik's incredible achievements are so far in the past for most people that they've largely been forgotten.

"He's gained in world-wide recognition and respect since he helped form The Just Alliance, but still, we think most people fail to realize how incredible he really is. He's very humble in his public affairs and he doesn't promote himself or tend to talk about his past, and we think that everything he's done to help others at great cost to himself over the last sixty-five million years deserves to be known and recognized and honored."

"I couldn't agree more." Gran grinned as she cuddled against Somonik a little closer. "I'm one of those who are already aware of his incredible achievements and his unmatched nobility, and that's why I love him with all of my soul."

"Who else do you wish to meet, now that you're out of the bubble?" Somonik asked, becoming a bit abashed at the praise and seeking to change the subject.

"We'd like to meet a lot of the great figures of the world." Six replied around a mouthful of roast pork. "Osbald, Emeroth, Senchak, Wosea, and Tokibimina are high on the list, as was Empress Honey, whom we're honored to meet here."

"I look forward to spending some time with you on spell design, if I may." Val told the great insect. "Father got a lot of spells from a lot of people before we were born, and of all of them, I found the ones he got from you to be the most interesting. My team-mates here are all good spell-casters, but I'm our magic specialist, and you're the person I was most looking forward to meeting. Your spells are absolutely unique and distinct from anything else I've learned, and I've finally gotten good enough to have something of value to contribute to our exchange of thoughts and techniques. If I may share something with you psionicly right now, I'd love to give you a portfolio of some of my latest work, since I've already got some of yours from Father."

"I am honored, thank you. I would also gladly give you such a portfolio." Honey responded. "Your father is very adept at learning and teaching spells psionicly, but he is not the theorist that you seem to be, and he chose from my repertoire with a different criterion than you would use, I think. Since I exchanged spells with him, I have learned spells and techniques from many in The Just Alliance, and I have integrated some of their techniques with my own, and made new advances in technique while working with my daughters. This is, as you say, 'my latest work' in the field.

"I will likely require at least two weeks to fully study what you have given me, judging by the volume of the information, and given the other responsibilities and demands on my time that my position entails. But I must admit that my curiosity requires that I take a quick look now...

"By the blazing Source! This is the work of a six-year-old being?!!"

"Not entirely, of course." Val giggled. "I take what everyone else shows me, then I work on it, then I work on it with my team, then we teach what we've done to everyone on Hiliani, including the senior Sylvan there, who are quite accomplished at a few things. It all gets passed around and improved by everyone, over and over. Father's really handy for showing everyone the latest stuff. Only a couple of those are developments of things that I originated, but that's my most recent work, the rest haven't had a chance to learn that or work on it yet. I focus on improvements in casting time, concentration required, energy efficiency, and automation.

"It'll only take about an hour for the four of us to come up with an automated spell-set that'll detect and punish every murderer on Kellaran. Mind you, even with all the delicious power there is out here, we'll need to get some power from elsewhere to get it all done in a reasonable amount of time. But it should all be over by suppertime. Hilia time, that is.

"Now, I've got to look at your stuff too... Ooooh, this is so deliciously weird! I'm sure glad you labeled it all in Trade Common!"