ELRETH

Her nerves fluttered as she made it to the council building and pushed open the door. They were all still there, and looked up, surprised—and wary—when she walked in. But they all, immediately submitted.

Elreth sighed. "I am so sorry," she said quietly, walking to the circle and taking her seat.

Lhern looked at her curiously. "For what, Sire?"

"Ugh, Lhern, it's Elreth, or El. For all of you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm sorry I refused to let you question further. I'm sorry I fought your questions at all. If I had been in your shoes, I would have thought and asked the same things—though perhaps not in the same way. I am… I am learning, and tired, and generally still finding my feet. But I do not wish to rule this way. So, I am here to ask your mercy and forgiveness," she said, forcing herself to drop her head and roll her shoulders. "I'm here to ask you if you will allow me to begin again, better this time."

There was a moment of stunned silence, then Huncer spoke up. "Of course, Elreth," she said and Elreth could hear the smile in her voice. "I can't speak for everyone but I am relieved that you have taken a different perspective than you expressed earlier."

Elreth nodded and brought her head up to look at them as she spoke. "I have given it thought and I understand. You are here to help me. To equip me. To protect me from negative surprises. I… I want your assistance, not your submission.

"Anything I mentioned, any restriction I placed on you, I revoke it. You are free to ask me anything—and Aaryn as well. Your advice should be based on the best of what you know, and I can only make use of it if I've been open and transparent with you. I do think we need to discuss how to speak about and to the disformed—there are some terms, some ideas that are just offensive—but questions… questions are not offensive. You can and should ask me and Aaryn anything you need to know. And we can and should listen to your concerns about our answers.

"I do not submit the rule to you. The decisions in the end are mine. But I want to assure you that I will hear you. I will listen, and I will consider. I will not… well, I will try not to let my emotions bring me to this place of lashing out. I am… I am aware that it does not benefit me, or you, or the people. I ask you to be patient with me as I work through the best ways to approach these moments when I am pushed. But I give my word, I will not remove you from your position or stop listening to you simply because I do not like what you have to say."

Lhern nodded, smiling. "That's good to hear."

Elreth shrugged. "I should have said it the very first day. I am regretting a great deal of how this has begun. But the only way to correct it is to move forward with a new intention. So, I offer that to you. Please, when we return tomorrow, feel free to ask either of us anything. And then give us the best of what you believe to be the right advice to address the challenges we will face. I do understand that the people will not simply roll over on this. I also know we'll have support from many of the affected families and they are within every tribe, so I have hope that we can find a way through this without true conflict."

There were murmurs from some of the more junior members, but none of them spoke up. Elreth looked back and forth between Huncer and Lhern who sat side by side and were looking at each other, both of them with small smiles.

But then Huncer's expression went somber. "I hope you're right, Elreth. We want to find a way through that allows the people to remain in a place of peace. Since you're here, can we ask you to address one issue we have been discussing for the past hour?"

Elreth's stomach twisted with nerves, but she nodded quickly and settled herself in to her chair properly. "Yes, yes of course," she said. "Whatever would be helpful."

"Thank you," Huncer smiled, then turned to another female across the circle. "Sorche, would you like to ask the Queen the question you raised?"

The female nodded and turned to her. She kept her chin down and expression soft, but her eyes pinned Elreth to the chair. "You said yourself this morning that everything about your rule is new. You are Queen when there has not been a dominant female before. You are young, though that isn't new. You have avoided appointing one of the cohorts. Now you intend to take a disformed as Mate.

"While I am, in principle, supportive of everything you are doing—and in fact, believe it is long overdue—I cannot ignore that the people are being asked to both accept and live under a great deal of change. Many of the old traditions have been broken, or discarded completely. And while the time for change is obviously upon us, I do wonder if you have considered that change is a… catalyst for problems. I understand that you do not make changes for changes sake. But while the previous issues have been mostly unavoidable, the issue of your mating, the union of the crown with the disformed is within your control. At least, the timing of it is," she corrected herself.

"Have you considered waiting purely to give the people time to breathe? To see you undertake some of the old traditions that you can uphold? To let them feel safe and secure with you as Queen, before you ask them to submit to an Anima that some of them will have serious misgivings about? Will you wait for the sake of the people and their sense of security?"

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