I spent the bare minimum amount of time needed to be polite before bailing. And by that, I meant I stayed until Auri had finished gorging herself, and I’d looted all the mangos.

“Dawn! When can we expect the next rewind?” Augustus asked as he clapped me on the shoulder.

“Still unsure on the cooldown. However, with this, I hope I’ve demonstrated that I can uphold my end of the bargain. After the changes we discussed are made.” I said.

I wasn’t good at bargaining, negotiations, or politics. I wasn’t a complete idiot - if I did my part, there was no incentive or reason for Augustus to uphold his end, especially if he was willing to take the reputational hit.

Augustus patted me once more on the shoulder.

“A wise move! Do you know why White Dove called Auri ‘cousin’?”

I looked at the phoenix in question. She had little bits of food burning on her, as she indolently lay on the table with a round belly. Not exactly the picture of grace, elegance, and power, nor a close relative of White Dove.

The colors were all wrong, to start.

“I have no idea.” I told him. “I didn’t think the personification of death itself had relatives.”

“Curious.” He agreed. “Well, I hope you enjoy! The Triumph’s been scheduled, and someone will be sent to Ranger HQ to work on your end with the details.”

I made a few more polite noises, and seeing that Auri had stuffed herself, unceremoniously left.

The week passed by quickly enough. I was practically tripping over runners as they scurried back and forth between Ranger HQ, and all the other places they were dealing with.

I wished the Triumph was entirely out of my hair, but it wasn’t. I got pulled into a dozen different meetings, usually headed by the [Master of Ceremonies], just to make sure I was ok with this route, or that route, or did we want to go by my house, or what color should the horses be, or…

I honestly didn’t care, except when a question came up that I suddenly did care about. Like, did I want to wear a tunic, or armor? Was Auri going to be joining me, or would she be a bystander?

Armor, and Auri was going to be with me. Still, the ratio of wasted time to stuff getting done was atrocious. Made me wish for emails and the like, but even then I just knew we’d be getting meetings that should’ve been an email instead.

My desire to just get away from it all was increasing. Life was easier, in some ways, when I was lower level and lower profile.

In spite of my high stress levels from the endless meetings, life was going well. No urgents calls for Sentinel Dawn came in. SERE training had been going on for years, and I smoothed over a few minor bumps. A couple of Rangers got hurt in training, but nothing serious. They were back in action a few minutes after limping over to where I was.

Sadly, my time helping Autumn in the marketplace bore the brunt of there being so many meetings. I was barely able to show up, and give her tips.

Frankly, at the stage she was at, the most important part of me mentoring her was the publicity of it. If someone wanted free healing from the famous Sentinel Dawn, they had to go through her apprentice first. It gave her a number of patients that she wouldn’t otherwise get, which translated to experience and levels.

One day, hopefully soon, she’d hit the magic formula of enough levels and prestige that people would be coming to see her, and then she’d be set.

I wouldn’t dare to think she’d be set for life. Autumn’s financial ambitions made that impossible.

Finally, the day arrived.

My preparations began the previous evening, meeting with Night.

“Dawn. Once again, I would like to congratulate you on reaching the milestone level. It is a shame that I will not be present at tomorrow’s festivities.” Night said, and we started to slowly walk together through the tunnel leading to Ranger Academy.

“Thank you.” I accepted his words with good grace, our prior argument in the past. It was done, there was no sense angsting over it now. I briefly wondered what Night would be doing instead of attending the Triumph, but…

Vampire. Sunlight. The question answered itself. The question that hadn’t answered itself was ‘Did Night get his own Triumph, and was it held at night?’

The answer to that was no. Night liked staying out of sight, out of mind, for a staggeringly long list of reasons that basically boiled down to ‘hard to kill someone you didn’t know existed’ and ‘keep the Immortal vampire somewhat secret.’

“Tomorrow will be somewhat special. Pomp, ceremony, and circumstances demand it. I do not believe you will have any extravagant late-night romps, nor discover a deadly plague while you are busy visiting the world of dreams. At this moment, are you aware of any circumstances that demand that we deploy a Sentinel?” Night asked.

I shook my head.

“Nothing.”

Night gave me a brisk nod.

“Very well. Given the preparations you will undoubtably want to make, you are excused from tomorrow’s morning meeting. If some circumstance demands that you are deployed, Sentinel Maestrai will be sent to give you the details.”

I nodded. A Sentinel mission, especially the types I was sent on, meant thousands of people would die if I didn’t get there as quickly as possible. It beat a parade any day of the week.

I was curious though.

“What would happen to the Triumph if I was deployed tomorrow?” I asked.

Night raised an eyebrow at me.

“Why Dawn, don’t you know us well enough by now?” He asked.

I rolled my eyes. Right. I knew the answer to this.

“You’ll place a body double on the chariot, probably Ranger Irus, and have him cast an illusion of me over him. It’ll look like I’m there.”

“Mmm, close. Ranger Irus will be providing the illusions, but a shorter Ranger would be selected to stand in your place.”

Smoke and mirrors.

“Anything else?” I asked Night.

“Not unless you wish to participate in mentoring Trainee Ouranos. Quite promising. The way he is able to impart additional stats to his entire squad while being a fine combatant himself is extraordinary, and I’m expecting good things out of him in the years to come.”

I knew the Trainee in question, of course, overseeing various classes and fixing people up while they sparred.

“Unfortunately, not tonight.” I apologized to Night.

I made my way back home, where I sat down with my fully disassembled gear, and refrained from sighing.

I wouldn’t trust this job to anyone else, no matter how tedious it was. This was my gear, my armor, my protection against the world. A mistake or a screw up could kill me.

I wasn’t Sky. I wasn’t so arrogant as to think I was unkillable, no matter how cockroach-like my skills made me.

I grabbed the brush and my sandals, and got to work.

Brushes and oils, picks and rags, and a dozen other tools were all used to buff and polish my armor to a high sheen. I had to look utterly perfect tomorrow, and I didn’t have a skill that quickly and easily did the job for me. No, it was all manual, Skill-less work.

I did get to use my red cape, which was nice.

Auri was already snoozing in her Arcanite nest, the crystals turning her lovely red-and-rainbow colors into a dizzying nightlight for me to work by. It was quite pretty.

I made it through almost all of my gear, checking and double-checking all of the gems and Arcanite woven throughout. The true life-saving aspects of my armor. I was reaching for my helmet when I paused.

I didn’t need that tomorrow, and it was already late.

I wished I could go to sleep. Not quite yet.

I hadn’t promised I’d do it, but I was going to anyway, because I was Sentinel Dawn. I was going to blast the largest area of effect heal I could while going through the city. Given the timing, and how the [Master of Ceremonies] had arranged it all, nearly everyone watching would be in sunlight.

I constructed a moderately good image of my [Dance with the Heavens], expanding the range with [Wheel of Sun and Moon], and tying the entire thing off with [Persistent Casting]. Normally, I just blasted “heal” when I needed large effects like this. I had the mana to spare.

I was potentially going to heal a hundred thousand people or more tomorrow, within the span of an hour or two. Efficiency suddenly mattered.

However, I couldn’t spend days building the image, although I was probably going to hole up in the Sentinel room for a few days after this to reconstruct the absolutely perfect self-image.

A thought for another day.

Having gotten the prep work done and out of the way, I let myself pass out in my bed.

I woke up early, cursing the nightmare that had ruined my sleep. Bleary-eyed, I shot [Sunrise] through myself, a little disappointed when it didn’t level up.

“Brrrpt! BRRRPT!!!” Auri was flying around me in manic circles.

“Good morning to you as well.”

“BRRRPT!!!!”

“Yes, today’s the day we show you off to everyone!”

Auri had it in her mind that the entire Triumph was about her, and eh. I didn’t see the need to correct her.

Next up was a bath. I spent a brief moment luxuriating in the warmth, just closing my eyes and letting it all soak in. Then I got scrubbing, exfoliating myself within an inch of my life.

I put on a light tunic, and tackled breakfast with the family.

Mom had fixed up a marvelous spread of everything. Practically enough food to feed the entire family for a day was shoved in front of me.

“Eat! You’ve got a big day ahead of you.” Mom was grinning, and Auri took her rightful spot on mom’s spoon.

“A slow burn please, dear.” She told Auri.

“Brrpt!” She followed mom’s command, her wooden perch erupting in flames.

I briefly eyed it. Just how many spoons was mom running through per week?!

“Today’s the day!” Dad was all grins as he sat back in his chair, hands over his stomach. “I never thought I’d see my baby girl the focus of a Triumph!”

“You still haven’t seen her be the focus of the Triumph.” Mom menaced dad with an Auri-enhanced wooden spoon. “And if you don’t get moving, you never will!”

That got dad shooting out of his chair, running around to help.

“AND YOU!” She swung her spoon around, pointing it at Themis.

“BRRRRRRPT!” Auri shrieked with delight at mom’s move, spinning her in a fun way.

“What are you doing! You’re going to be late! Chop chop chop get a move on!”

Each ‘chop’ was punctuated by mom swinging the spoon at Themis, Auri chirping with each move as Themis dipped and wove to evade the fiery menace. The wildly spinning burning spoon ride was a BLAST!

“Ok! Ok! I’m going!” He defended himself.

“Not fast enough!”

Albina came by right as I was finishing breakfast, and it was off to the next stage of my preparations.

“Ok, you need the full works.” She fussed around me, while I sat on a chair. Auri was busy having fun with mom.

“Hair length?” She asked.

“Long. Going to have to cut it short after this, but long for now.”

Albina gestured, and poof! I had hair!

“Are you keeping it the same color?”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“Yeah, no reason to change it.”

“Right, anything in your hair?”

I gave a tiny shake of my head.

“Going to have the golden laurels.”

“Right, right, how silly of me to forget, I’ve never done a Triumph before!” Albina was sounding a bit nervous, which was causing me to get cramps in my stomach.

A few more twists and pulls on my hair - all without Albina touching me - and she was done with that part.

“Ok, there’s the hair. No tangling for the next few hours, but the skill will fade. There’s a light breeze, which will look great, but this could become a mess if you’re not careful later on. Now, this is a performance, not day to day life.” Albina said. “I suggest much heavier makeup than normal, like what a [Thespian] would use. It doesn’t look as good close-up, but it looks better from a distance.”

I hesitated a moment.

“Whatever you think looks best.” I said, trusting Albina to do her job well. She didn’t come over and tell me that I was setting bones wrong, I wasn’t going to tell her she didn’t know that performance vs normal makeup were different.

I leaned back and closed my eyes as she got to work. A number of quick dabs figured out the right colors to use, followed by a foundation layer. My healing made my skin flawless and without scars, and Albina moved right on to blush, bronzer, and highlights.

“With your healing, do you still want me to avoid lead?” Albina asked.

I thought about it a moment, then nodded.

“Pretty sure I can heal myself of lead, but can you? Plus, I don’t think it sets the best example.”

Albina fussed over me a moment more, carefully applying layer after layer.

“How’s Primus?” I asked, and I felt her light up next to me.

“Oh, it’s so wonderful now! The bit of help you’re sending me is simply divine. It’s let me get on top of things, and now I don’t feel constantly overwhelmed. By the goddesses Elaine, you’ve been a lifesaver. Why, just the other day…”

I tried to relax as Albina nattered on about Primus, moving onto the eyes, then my nails, hands and feet, and finishing it off with some tasteful lipstick. A subtle amount, almost impossible to tell it was there if someone didn’t know what they were looking for.

“And set!” Albina used one of her skills to keep everything perfect.

“Auri, if you light my hair on fire before the event’s over, so help me.” I told the fiery menace as I got up.

“Brrrpt?!”

“Yeah you.” I pointed a finger at Auri, as Albina used one of her skills to summon a mirror.

I looked weird. Like a doll.

“You’re sure?” I asked her.

“Yes, watch.” The mirror distorted, and suddenly it was like I was looking at myself from far away, with bright sunlight on me.

“Oh.” I looked much better.

“See?” Albina was more than a bit smug.

“It’s perfect.” It really was. “You should probably try to get a good spot. There’s a reserved section, but…

Albina flapped her hand at me.

“I know, I know. I was that girl once upon a time, sneaking into the places I shouldn’t be for a good view. I’ll stick around until you leave, in case you have any last second needs.”

I nodded my thanks, and moved on.

Getting my armor on was ironically harder than usual. I had to be extra-careful to not mess up anything Albina had done, although my dexterity came in handy. The lorica musculata went on first, followed by the tough, metal-reinforced leather skirt. Numerous buckles were tightened, long practice making the motions second nature. I put on my sandals, tightening my greaves over them, before slipping on my bracers.

The set was new, but the [Armorers] that the Rangers had were good enough to make it feel exactly like my old set, hugging me like a second skin.

Lastly was my cape, a regal red that looked totally cool. Incredibly impractical in a fight, but hey! This was a parade, not combat.

“Brrpt. BRRRPT!” Auri was looking at my outfit, and complaining. If my head was off-limits because my hair would burn, and my shoulders were off-limits because my cape would burn, where was a bird to sit?!

Honestly, it was like I didn’t like all my worldly possessions going up in flames.

I patted my armguard, as I held the arm in question at chest level. Like a [Falconer].

“Right here! I can twist and turn and show you off!”

“Brrrpt!” Auri flitted over, and landed on the offered perch.

“Brrrpt. Brrrpt. Brrrpt.” Auri complained as she couldn’t get a good grip on the smooth, flat metal.

“Once we get there, you can fly around me, won’t that look cool?”

“Brrrpt!” Auri agreed.

My worldly possessions and hair once again safely negotiated for from the flaming pyro-terrorist, I moved onto the next stage.

“Kallisto!” I greeted my favorite member of Ranger Team 1 at the door. He was in his full gear as well, helmet and cape included.

“Elaine! You’re looking great as always! All set?”

“Yup! Unless you see something out of place?”

“Give me a moment.” He said, circling around me a few times.

“Brrpt!”

“And a very good morning to you as well, Auri.” Kallisto finished his third lap. “Everything’s in shape, let’s go.”

“Gotta wait for Themis. THEMIS!” I yelled into the house.

“I’m coming!” He yelled back.

“HURRY UP!”

The issue with being made to look picture-perfect - half my movements would ruin the image. Too much high-speed flying would break the skill Albina put on my hair and turn my long locks into a tangled mess, walking through the crowds would get me jostled and ruin part of the picture, there was mud and dust and a dozen other ways I could end up not looking my absolute best, which was against the whole idea.

I needed - wanted - to make the Sentinels look good. A great big mud pie on my back would do the exact opposite.

Hence Kallisto and a few guards to work as escorts.

Themis stormed out of the house, wearing a simple white tunic. He paled a bit as all of us looked at him, giving him a critical once-over.

I snorted after a moment.

“You and mom did a good job.” I praised him, and his chest swelled.

“Right, let’s move.” I ordered. I was not only the star of the show, but technically the boss of half the people here.

We carefully weaved our way through and out of the city, to where everyone else was staging for the event. My [Persistent Casting] was still locked and on, healing everyone who got near us as we walked.

“Dawn, you’re here, excellent, excellent.” The [Master of Ceremonies] hurried up to me as we arrived. Dude seemed to be thriving on the event, and I’d eat my laurels if he didn’t get a few levels out of this.

“Metellus! Please show Dawn her spot.” He barked out an order. “Scipiones! Find out what the gate guards are doing. Titus! I need you to…”

He kept a half dozen members of his staff hopping, arranging people, making sure everything was just so.

Themis followed me as I was led to a fantastic chariot, with scenes of powerful warriors triumphing over various monsters wrought in bronze. Two white horses were restlessly pulling at the reins, held by a man at the front.

“[Charioteer] Junius! I’ll be driving, just invisible.” He told me as I stepped up into the chariot. I felt my lips twitch, trying to form a smile, as I saw the wooden block in the middle.

I was short. The chariot was big. Normally, I’d only have my shoulders and head clear of the top, which didn’t look good.

“A pleasure to meet you. What happens with the reins?”

I’d probably been told at some point, but hadn’t bothered to listen. Just another one of the way too boring meetings, versus finding out now.

“You’ll hold them, but don’t worry! I’ll have my hands on them, and with my skills, it’ll work out.”

I shrugged.

“Alrighty then!”

I got into position. Left hand holding the reins, right arm up holding Auri. I was lucky, as my entire job was to stand here, looking good. I got to watch everyone else running around. Themis got onto the back of the chariot, and ugh. Even with the blocks, he was still a hair taller than I was.

“Memento mori.” Themis whispered. I rolled my eyes.

“Brrrpt!”

“Save it for when we’ve started!”

“Just practicing.” He cheerfully replied.

“Just enjoying being able to annoy the snot out of me.” I retorted.

“Yeah, that as well.” He amicably agreed.

Little brothers. Couldn’t live with them. Couldn’t live without them.

I had a dozen snarky retorts to memento mori. In short, it was supposed to be a reminder that I was only mortal. Only human.

I considered retorting that I planned to live a long, long, life, and I was nearly unkillable. Given that I was currently and actively annoying White Dove/Black Crow, that felt like I’d be jinxing things a bit. Plus, I didn’t want to rub it in.

I still didn’t know how I was going to handle being able to hand out immortality and my family. Where did I draw the line? Themis’s kids? Grandkids? Was there a generation where I said “sorry too bad?” Was there a point where I said “nah, I don’t like you enough, you die of old age?”

Would there be a point where I couldn’t cast [The Stars Never Fade] fast enough?

Tricky, difficult questions. I left them for future Elaine. I had a few decades at least before I needed to work those problems out. There was no sense agonizing over it now when the solution could reveal itself later.

Thirty minutes of rearrangement later, and a whole orchestra of cornua was blown with great fanfare. A number of drums started their slow roll, and the Triumph of Sentinel Dawn began.