Minutes later, Nua found herself entering her Salon, where Prince Rasgen and Diana were laughing pleasantly, she held the back of her hand to her cheek as she tittered away, ensuring that she laughed just enough to keep his eyes where they would be most entertained.

When Nua entered, followed by Kaiji, Diana immediately rose from her seat and went to both knees with her head bowed in deference. “Rise, slave, it’s fine, it appears you’ve been doing a marvelous job entertaining a favorite guest.”

Nua raised her dress slightly with both hands and walked over to the Prince, she extended her right hand to him, and he kissed the back of her palm in greeting. “Lady Aiwenor, you look lovely.”

The wood elf assassin gave him a radiant, charming smile as if she had not drained literal life from a man mere minutes ago. “And you are as always, the handsome charmer, Prince Rasgen, welcome to my home. I trust you’re pleased with my hospitality?”

“Very, you are truly a woman of taste.” He said with a twinkle in his slightly almond shaped eyes.

“You have no idea, Prince Rasgen.” She gave him an arch smile and gestured to the chair he had just risen from, when he sat, she did the same where Diana had been a moment before. “Diana, bring some refreshments, and Kaiji, ensure everything is ready for our ‘late’ arrivals. And see if Priceless needs any help while Freyjin recovers.” Nua’s orders were brief and kindly spoken, and when Diana rose and fell in beside Kaiji, they bowed together and quickly left.

The way Kaiji’s eyes lingered on Nua were not lost on Rasgen, and when the pair were alone, he remarked on it. “She has become very devoted to you.”

Nua inclined her head, “Well, I have been good to her.” She said neutrally.

“Not just her, I heard your entire unit shouting your name all the way from my balcony. It raised some concerns in some quarters.” Rasgen said with equal neutrality.

“Concerned about my loyalty, Rasgen?” Nua gave him a friendly smile that suggested ‘jest’.

He shook his head, “Not really, no. The fact that you’re a death worshipper means the temples will never support you, and nobody can rule this city without them as they handle matters that keep the Tlalmok at bay. This may seem strange to you, but you can get away with almost anything if you wrap it in a religious message.”

Nua’s eyes widened at the bold, even blasphemous statement. “Rasgen… that is… cynical.”

Rasgen looked toward the door, the way in was empty and there was no other, so he looked back to the Duchessa and crossed his right leg over his left knee, he raised one arm up from the armrest and extended it to her. “It is just us, Nua, we can speak as realists. If I tried to take five hundred people and ship them off as food, there’d be a rebellion. But tell people it is the will of the stars we worship, that this was the fate that was given to them? I could ship five thousand off with that story. Promise them heaven, promise them reward for obedience, and just set it after their death? I can ask a father to kill his own son, and he would do it, if he believed I spoke for the stars.”

“That doesn’t sound strange, that doesn’t sound strange at all. Cynical, yes. True? Absolutely.” Nua said decisively, “But I had no idea you were so… blasphemous.” Nua said as her view of the noble Prince, already high, shot up several notches more.

“I used to believe in them, very much so. When I was a boy, I was actually quite devout, you’ve never attended our rituals, have you, Nua?” The Prince asked, and Nua slowly answered.

“No, I haven’t.” She replied, her eyes now focused on the man in a way they were not before.

Rasgen’s answer was slow as well, and held notes of sorrow to his words, he brushed back his dark hair atop his head and said, “Our rituals are very… powerful. They move the spirit, you feel at once insignificant and small, but then also connected to something great beyond imagining. In those world shattering moments, yes, I couldn’t help but believe. But then something happened one day that changed everything for me, day by day until the present.”

“What was that?” Nua said eagerly and leaned forward to hear more of this unexpected side of her friend.

“I was leaving the palace as a young man and saw a man who had nothing but rags on his body, and a leg with an open wound begging for coins. Past him walked an old man who ignored him, and driving past them was a wagon bearing corpses of the dead. This was in the city square, and there was a tree surrounded by grass, at the base of which sat one of the Starwatcher priests. He was engaged in meditation, his eyes closed and he hummed his incantations. It hit me then. He was blind to everything around him, so much so that he didn’t care. He could have healed the wounded man or helped the old man get to where he was going, or comforted the families of the dead. But he instead… sat and did nothing. Do you understand, Nua?” Rasgen leaned forward intently.

“No… not at all.” Nua replied, but her voice was filled with anticipation.

“That priest was counted holy because he focused on the will of the stars, but around him the stars ignored everything, and he was just like them. The Starwatchers count everything as fate, and use that as an excuse for everything that happens. It helps people accept the sacrifices we make to keep the Tlalmok at bay, but it doesn’t solve our problems.” Rasgen’s teeth clenched hard at the anguish that his own loss still brought him. “I gave up my beloved consort, and I know, whatever you tell me, that she died in pain. I don’t believe, I can’t believe, that was decreed. It is just like when I was young, the stars and their will are the excuse for the easy path. Prayers, rituals, divine will… what is that but a cover for…” Rasgen’s bitter voice passed across the space between them, and Nua cut him off.

“Weakness. Sin. That is what it covers, Rasgen. It covers the greatest of your sins and makes them moral duties instead of things to be resisted, things to be changed.” Nua sat back in her chair and held out her left arm, she pulled back her sleeve and removed the glove revealing her false hand. It extended most of the way up her forearm, and she held it so the gem was visible. “I know why your ministers doubted me, and I don’t blame them for it. But I tell you Rasgen, I have come to love this city. To love your vivaciousness, your will to savor your own existence because you know it can end in an instant. Even your slaves can find happiness, and have some protection, you haven’t forgotten that they too are people. The zest for life here is an inspiration… and I loathe your suffering.” Nua’s gem began to glow a faint black, and Nua’s eyes took on the golden hue of a priestess in her passion.

“But your weakness, your sin, is the lack of will to power. Your faith keeps you compliant sheep, you believe you can’t win, so you’re already beaten. But I have killed beastmen, I killed Timnah with my own hand, they are not gods. Just people. And people can die. Sobella understood that, by the end of her life. Someday… someday you will too. I hope it is under better conditions for you, than it was for her. But when that day comes, all your fear, all your weakness, all your sin…? Poof.” She blew lightly on her open hand as if casting off specks of dust. “You’ll wonder why it was even there in the first place.” Nua’s golden eyes then returned to their native blue,

“Be that as it may… the suffering is greater if we lose than if we endure.” Rasgen said firmly, though not without displeasure.

“If you endure it without intending to end it, then it will never end. How many more Sobellas will there be, Rasgen?” Nua asked with genuine sorrow, a sorrow they shared in a moment of silence. ‘He’s so close… if only I could make him understand…’ The priestess of death thought pityingly.

“You sound like Prince Sado.” Rasgen said whimsically, “You know, if you and I had come up together, I think the three of us would have been marvelous friends. It broke my heart to bring him down, you know. It sounds terrible but, I can’t help but be glad that he and Kaiji lived.”

Nua sniffed with a fancy grin and the briefly tense air was gone, “If I’d been born a human royal and come up with the two of you, I think you might be right. But that isn’t how things worked out. Still, I’m glad I got to know you now. And you know, I’ve come to appreciate Sado in my own way as well. He’s very… earnest. Even if he was misguided. I don’t know how protocol stands, but if you want some time alone with him to reminisce, I can certainly arrange for it.”

“I still find it hard to believe he doesn’t resent me for not joining with him.” Rasgen admitted, giving a nonanswer to her suggestion.

“I’m sure he felt betrayed, but he’s not some stupid brute, despite my first impression of him.” Nua gave a whimsical smile to the Prince, and just then Diana returned with a silver tray on which cups of tea with some light toast sticks on the side, sat and awaited their enjoyment.

The next few hours were easy ones for Nua to enjoy, Rasgen proved a more than engaging guest, and by the end she wasn’t sure who was trying to charm whom more ardently, and it was almost a matter of great reluctance for her when Priceless entered to inform her that guests had begun to arrive in earnest.

She and Rasgen rose as one from their seats and made their way to a massive hall near the center of the grand estate. Everything was in a word, flawless. The candles lent an orange glow to the room that bathed it all as if the room was illuminated by the light of a setting sun. Mirrors about the walls added the illusion of depth that made the already massive hall appear to be even grander. Musicians from a distant corner sent little notes out that echoed off all the walls.

When they entered, Priceless shouted the announcement, “Prince Rasgen Mazin and Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor!” The many guests knelt to the Prince, and rose a moment later, allowing the engagement to resume.

“Welcome to my home, great houses, noble and merchant alike. Though I was not fortunate enough to be born here, I pray you take the hospitality I show you tonight, as proof that I have adopted it as an adopted daughter comes to love a father who has welcomed her into his home with open arms!” She curtseyed in her dress, and felt the many eyes on her.

They gave polite applause, and Nua finally stopped them with a loud clap of her own, “Please, enjoy, there is wine to be had, food to be eaten, and delights to be explored.”

The gossip and talk resumed, and nobles dressed in the rich finery of Pas’en mingled with the great merchant houses. Both groups were quick to make their way to the Duchessa as she walked about the hall, she caught Priceless’s questioning eye, and Nua gave her a nod, but made a brief fist. The instruction was understood, ‘Go to your task, but bring protection.’

Nua looked away and focused on a short, portly man with a glass of red wine in his hand and a smile spread out from thick lips over a broad, round face. “Lady Aiwenor, I must thank you for your patronage, the extensive coin you provided to my smiths allowed me to radically expand my operations. I managed to acquire a dozen more skilled slaves and two dozen freedmen, enough to open several more facilities.”

Nua looked around briefly, and catching Kaiji’s eye, the demon-elf quickly approached. “Mistress?” Kaiji asked deferentially.

“Kaiji, are there new facilities for smiths opening in any of my towns or villages?” Nua asked with a raised brow.

The stout man’s lips suddenly closed.

“None that I know of, mistress. If there were, then Priceless and I would have heard of them.” Kaiji replied.

“Oh ah, well I haven’t actually ‘opened’ new facilities yet, I have acquired the people of course but finding the right place to put them is not easy.” The stout merchant covered for himself quite well, Nua had to acknowledge that.

“What if I were to tell you that I will let you open up new ironworks in any of my villages or towns, at no cost, and with no taxes for three seasons, on the condition that you employ those who already work there. Would that tempt you?” Nua asked pointedly.

“Ah, well yes… actually it would. But building such a facility isn’t cheap even so.” He pointed out.

“Then I will sweeten the deal further, I will establish a counting house from which you can borrow, I will charge a very low interest rate, but in exchange you must discount armaments of the same quality you provided to my first twenty-five, by half the percentage difference from whatever interest rate is set on loans by the bank of Pas’en.” Nua suggested, and the whites of the merchant’s eyes twitched a little.

“I, well yes, I like that quite a bit, Duchessa…” He half stammered and his hot breath wafted over to her so powerfully that she could smell the mix of wine and greed on him.

Nua looked over to Kaiji, “Slave, take his information, then stay by my side.”

She then turned to the merchant again, “I will send my Steward by to iron out the details, I hope we can come to an agreement, starting my own ironworks would be tiresome.” She said in passing, and the meaning was not lost on him. ‘He will be quite accommodating when negotiations begin, of that I am sure.’

So the night went, with person after person approaching her, and deals were struck or considered between various houses, marriages and alliances, opportunities made or lost, all to the sound of music, glass, and popping corks. Not to mention laughter and chatter of any worth or none.

The feel of her dress was slowly becoming more natural to Nua as the evening wore on, though it was still absurdly impractical in her mind, it was hard to deny, ‘I do look good… even if that damned cat ruined my hair.’

As the music transitioned to dancing, Nua found herself at the center of the room and the crowd of guests were on the periphery, from there, the music began to pick up, and from the side, Prince Rasgen approached, a hand behind his back, he looked down at her with confidence, extended his other hand, and bowed. “A dance, Duchessa, to inaugurate the evening?”

Nua curtseyed, took his hand, and though she briefly tensed, he seemed to sense it, and his face became one of concern that only she could see as she looked up at his face. His reach for her waist was briefly slowed, and became gradual, allowing her to become more confident. His other hand came out and took her own.

The notes bobbed up and down on the scale, and she matched his steps. As they began to move, other couples entered the floor and began to join them.

“You’re not a bad dancer.” He whispered into her long elven ear. She felt the warmth of his breath, and her ear twitched as a shiver of pleasure from that sensitive spot ran down her spine.

She looked up into his smiling face and whispered, “I’m a better killer than I am a dancer, Prince Rasgen.” Her death cold breath caressed his ear, and it prompted him to notice that her body, though it had a hint of warmth to it, was not as warm as his own.

She saw his slight concern and whispered to him, “Remember what I am, this too is part of my life, my connection to that aspect of the god that I worship. Don’t let it trouble you, I am alright. And for the record, my Prince, you are an exceptional dancer.”

He stepped back, took her hips, and hefted her up, landing her on her feet at the perfect hint of the note. Other dancers did the same, but few with the same grace. Nua gave him a half smile and let him wrap an arm around her waist again. “Practice makes perfect.” He said, accepting her praise, his grass green eyes baring a spark of desire that he himself did not fully understand.

So the evening went on, with partners shifting about until it was time for two things… to feast in earnest, and for Nua to receive her honors.

It began with the sounding of drums. Small drumsticks pounded too rapidly for common eyes to follow, and the guests again moved to the side to spectate.

The drummers wore the martial uniforms of the Duchessa’s soldiers, appearing every inch the fighters they were at heart, they stared straight ahead and unblinking, towering over most of the guests. More importantly, in Nua’s eyes, everybody knew what they were. ‘Komestran. Let them remember why Komestrans are to be feared, these are my biggest and strongest. With any luck, they’ll start to distrust Komestrans and look to offload them, and I can shore up my numbers cheaply.’ It was a useful thought, but she put it aside as the pageantry began to pick up. The crowd began to kneel as the Prince made his way to the front.

A part of her wondered if she should not kneel… and it was not the first time she wondered about it. ‘Would I wonder the same if he were an elf?’ She wondered about that too, and not without any disgust with a loathing she had yet to purge despite her best efforts. It lingered on, and as if she were acting in defiance of that, she bent one knee and bowed her head with a hand over her heart and the other on her raised knee.

“Sword.” Prince Rasgen boomed, and from one side, Sado emerged with a sword resting on a red plush pillow. He knelt to the Prince and raised it up. For a moment, Rasgen did a double take, but when Sado raised his head, he gave the smallest nod.

Satisfied with whatever unspoken words passed between them, Rasgen took the hilt of the blade and raised the sword high overhead.

Rasgen’s booming voice rang out over the hall, “Nua Calen Aiwenor, you came to this land a foreigner. Yet in your short stay, you have saved lives, enriched the people, and served the throne with the diligence of one born to this place. You have earned your role in our city, and it is with the greatest of pride that I, Prince Rasgen Mazin, fifth of his line to sit on the throne of Pas’en, bestow upon you the rank of Duchessa! You are now Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor, with all the rights, privileges, and above all duties that the title entails. Do you accept the burdens and pleasures I bestow upon you?”

“I do, Prince of Pas’en, I am your Duchessa. I will protect this city from all threats, within and without. Its people will not hunger while I have food in my storehouse, nor will they thirst while I have water in my well. Its walls will not fall, while I can defend them.” Nua’s lyrical voice carried about the hall as well, and the sword came down after she spoke. The flat of the blade resting on the crown of her head.

“Then rise, first of House Aiwenor, may your line endure for a thousand generations!” Prince Rasgen exclaimed boldly, and the sword came away and he held it out.

Sado held the cushion up again, and when it was replaced, the fallen Prince rose to his feet and withdrew.

Nua rose to the sound of cheers and applause from not just the nobles or merchants, but from those servants of hers who were able to do so. ‘Less than half those cheers are truly for me, the rest… for how they think I can be used, or to disguise the intent to harm me.’ Nua masked her thoughts with a warm smile as she turned to address them. “Now, if you’ll follow my servants to the dining hall, a feast awaits that may kill even the hunger of the most ravenous of appetites, and given what I know of your, our city’s appetites? Believe me when I say that is no idle boast!” She laughed at her bit of lewd humor, which was well received with chuckles of the same.

They made their way out, and Nua added, “Don’t wait for me, I want to savor this moment! Eat, drink and be merry, and tomorrow, do it again!” Enthusiastic cheers met her statement, and the hall slowly emptied.

Rasgen was about to go as well, but Nua held up a hand and touched his shoulder, he nearly asked what she was doing, but her earnest blue eyes looking up into his green, made him stop to listen. “Wait, Rasgen… there is… there is someone I want you to meet. I don’t know how you’ll react to what you see, but you deserve to know. Please, follow me.”

All he could think to do was follow her in silence as they left the hall together, and walked ‘away’ from the direction from which the smell of food and wine was coming.