“I’m sorry you never found your own Alain,” Mari said.
Sien lowered her head, the smile changing into something that Mari couldn’t interpret. “I have had three men who intended to marry me. The first was when I was ten years old.”
“What?” Mari asked, thinking she couldn’t have heard right.
“He was much older. He claimed he would protect and love me and help me save Tiae when, with my help, he became ruler of Tiae. Wasn’t that noble of him? But he was killed by rivals, and I changed hands. The second man gained control of me when I was fifteen, holding me prisoner and swearing that I would marry him and do exactly as he demanded so that he could become king someday. Are you seeing a pattern?” Sien paused, her eyes shadowed by memory.
Mari swallowed before she could speak. “What happened to him?”
The princess smiled again. “I had hidden a knife on myself. Only a small knife, but I had learned enough of the ways of violence by then to kill him with it when he attempted to attack me in the bedroom that was my cell. With his keys I was able to escape.” Her expression changed again, becoming wistful. “And then, at seventeen, I met a knight in shining armor. Faris had defied the embargo of the Great Guilds, coming south from Danalee in the Confederation to try to learn the fate of relatives who had been trapped in Inser when the kingdom was broken. He was twenty, and he believed in good things and meant all the best, and I believe to this day that he truly loved me. But he thought that if we wed we should be equals in all things, and I told him that was not possible, that I would always be Tiae and he could not be. He did his best to understand, I think, and perhaps in time he would have been able to accept that. But our small group was ambushed, and he died as valiantly as any hero could have wished, holding off the bandits until I and a few others could escape. It has been almost ten years since he died, and there has been no one since, for I would not again put myself at the mercy of another, and I could not put enough trust in anyone.”
“I…don’t know what to say,” Mari confessed. “Except that I don’t know that I would have survived what you have, let alone come out of it as…as well as you have.”
“I have my demons, Lady Mari,” Sien said, looking at Mari again. “They come in the night, usually, but sometimes in the day, to mock me and frighten me and attempt to warp me into something that would harm Tiae and all who believe in it. Maybe being Tiae is what has kept me sane.”
A soft knock sounded on the door, then the old woman looked in. “The Mage is here asking after Lady Mari.”
“Send him in,” Sien said. “Mage Alain. You are welcome, and I thank you as I thanked Lady Mari for your service to Tiae.”
Alain nodded, moving to stand next to Mari. “One of the first things I learned from Mari was the need to do the right thing.”
“Is there no end to the good that Lady Mari does in this world?” Sien asked with just the right amount of humor in her voice. “I now face the need to live up to her example.”
Mari couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, that’s me. Absolutely perfect, and a model for princesses everywhere. Do not nod, Alain. Did you find any more of Raul’s people hiding out there?”
“About twenty in various locations,” Alain said. “But none of them lied when they said they had been forced to join the warlord’s army. The commander of the town’s forces let them go. Most of them. Four said they had nothing left and asked to join the town’s defenders.”
Sien finally sat down, looking at Mari and Alain. “You have given us much. What can Tiae give you besides workers and soldiers?”
Mari bit her lip, hesitant to bring up what she really wanted. “Princess, I’m a Mechanic. I have a lot of training in how to fix things and build things. Machines. And the nice thing about machines is that even though they are often temperamental in their own ways, and each can have its quirks, one machine of a certain type is just like every other machine of that type. But I’ve been, more and more, having to work with people, and people are…really complicated. Alain can tell me if someone is lying, but what about people who think they’re being truthful when they tell me something that isn’t right? What about people who know how to twist the truth?”
“You’re talking politics,” Sien said. “I imagine that every ruler of the common folk, no matter how elected or appointed, has greeted the news of the daughter’s appearance with thoughts of how they could use the daughter to their own ends. If you’re claiming that you have no skills to motivate and inspire, I must disagree, but if you are worried about those who will try to manipulate you for their own power and profit, you have every right to be concerned. I’m afraid that I have far too much experience in dealing with that.”
“Can you help me?” Mari asked. “Alain and I? Help us with the politics?”
“The Princess of Tiae become political advisor to the daughter of Jules? How can you trust me, Lady Mari? Do you not realize I would do anything to help Tiae?”
“No,” Mari said. “I don’t think you would do anything. I can see what this town is like. I’ve also seen places like Marandur, and I’ve dealt with the Senior Mechanics. I know what people who would do anything are like, and what their works are like. You’re not one of those people.”
Sien did not answer for a long time. Finally, she nodded. “Thank you. I often fear what I could become. What I could become for the best of reasons. Yes, Lady Mari, I will be happy to advise you in matters political, and perhaps help keep the vipers from whispering in your ears those things that benefit only them.”
“Can you just call me Mari, Princess?”
“Can you just call me Sien, daughter?”
Mari laughed, finally feeling her depression after the fight lifting a little. “That’s a deal.”
“And what does Sien call Mage Alain?” the princess asked.
“To friends of Mari,” Alain said, “I am Alain.”
“Then, Mari and Alain, let us go down to the streets and join the people who are celebrating the beginning of the rebirth of Tiae. It is a lean celebration, given how little we have, but no less sincere for that. And afterwards we will speak with each other of the impossible things we are going to do together, restoring my country and bringing peace to its people.”
“And overthrowing the Great Guilds and bringing the new day,” Mari said.
“And stopping the Storm before it causes more grief,” Alain said.
Princess Sien shook her head. “You two don’t dream small. I don’t know if I’ll be able to help you as much as you will help me. Can you change the entire world alone, Mari?”
“No, of course not,” Mari said. “But I don’t have to do it alone. Alain’s helping me get it done.”
Acknowledgments
I remain indebted to my agents, Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, for their long standing support, ever-inspired suggestions and assistance, as well as to Krystyna Lopez and Lisa Rodgers for their work on foreign sales and print editions. Thanks also to Catherine Asaro, Robert Chase, Carolyn Ives Gilman, J.G. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Simcha Kuritzky, Michael LaViolette, Aly Parsons, Bud Sparhawk and Constance A. Warner for their suggestions, comments and recommendations.
ALSO BY JACK CAMPBELL
THE PILLARS OF REALITY
The Dragons of Dorcastle*
The Hidden Masters of Marandur*
The Assassins of Altis*
The Pirates of Pacta Servanda*
Books 5 & 6 forthcoming
THE LOST FLEET
Dauntless
Fearless
Courageous
Valiant
Relentless
Victorious
THE LOST FLEET: BEYOND THE FRONTIER
Dreadnaught
Invincible
Guardian
Steadfast
Leviathan
THE LOST STARS
Tarnished Knight
Perilous Shield
Imperfect Sword
Shattered Spear
PAUL SINCLAIR/JAG IN SP
written as John G. Hemry
A Just Determination
Burden of Proof
Rule of Evidence
Against All Enemies
ETHAN STARK
written as John G. Hemry
Stark’s War
Stark’s Command
Stark’s Crusade
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Ad Astra*
Borrowed Time*
Swords and Saddles*
STANDALONE NOVELS
The Last Full Measure
* available as a JABberwocky ebook
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