Joel Shepherd - Haven

Kessligh and Rhillian complained, but there was little they could do-Tournea, Meraine, and Rakani were formidable enough that invading them further without talmaad support would be unwise, particularly in the precarious state of readiness that the Steels still found themselves in, and without Lenay support. Besides which, serrin volunteers now comprised a large part of the occupation force in Elisse, Algrasse, and, most worryingly, Larosa, and Saalshen was even threatening to withdraw support there also.

Sasha had left then, wishing to be home before the next winter, and not wanting to be mired in Tournea, enduring Kessligh's frustration as endless negotiations with scheming feudals served only to preserve a force within humanity that would be far better exterminated for good. And so, Kessligh observed wryly, the well-meaning men and women of peace in Saalshen laid the foundations for future bloodshed and suffering, by ensuring feudalism's survival in the southern Bacosh. But in truth, he was not too upset-Elisse and Algrasse were small additions, but Larosa was an enormous prize. It needed now to be transformed, as Rhodaan, Enora, and Ilduur had been transformed, two hundred years before. The task was enormous, and if successful, the remaining feudal provinces would be no match for its wealth and power in years ahead.

But neither, somewhat worryingly, would be the other Bacosh provinces. The same old Bacosh problem-Larosan domination-reared its head again, yet in a different guise. Rhillian, however, had only laughed at the prospect. “If the next generation's largest problem is a wealthy and serrin-loving Larosa wielding too much power through its elected councils,” she'd said, “then I welcome them to it.”

Sasha had thought it all a rather grand invasion and expansion of empire, whatever the wise heads of Saalshen thought. She was proud to be a part of a conquering army that brought freedom to the peasantry and promised to end the bigotry and hatred of the serrin that had led to these awful wars in the first place. Two centuries before, Rhodaan, Enora, and Ilduur had been transformed vastly for the better, and now Elisse, Algrasse, and Larosa would be too. She hoped. It would be an awesome task, requiring the labours of countless men and women, human and serrin alike, and a great deal of sacrifice. Free nations were hard to build, while tyrannies came easy. But if there was ever an endeavour that was worth the cost, this was surely it.

Staying a little longer had been tempting, but she had plans for Lenayin, too, and Damon needed her support. Besides which, she desperately wanted to go home.

She'd not taken the direct way home, however. She'd stopped first in Pazira, in the foothills of her native Valhanan, and called upon Duke Carlito and his family, and the Lenay garrison Damon had left there. The garrison was not especially large, but the message it sent the King of Torovan, better known as Patachi Steiner, was simple-hurt Pazira, and your reign will end. Pazira was now surrounded by hostile Torovan provinces, and a very hostile king in Petrodor, but even the king did not dare ignore the threat of Lenay invasion.

Damon could quite likely not deliver on his threat, given instability in Lenayin, but King Steiner was a merchant, and knew what constituted acceptable risk of profit and loss on his accounting pages. He would wait, and watch Pazira and Lenayin with a beady eye, if for no other reason than the death of his heir at Jahnd, Simon Steiner. Sasha's brother-in-law. Sasha would regret the losing of brothers for as long as she lived, but she would never regret the losing of this brother-in-law, whatever pain it caused her estranged sister Marya.

Politics and threats aside, she'd enjoyed Pazira immensely, and the hospitality of her friends the Rochels. Family Rochel were patrons of Lenayin now, like it or not, as was Pazira. Well, if Saalshen could have an empire, however reluctantly, why not Lenayin? But she kept the thought to herself.

Also in Pazira, she'd reclaimed her beloved Peglyrion, whom she'd been scared might not remember her. But he'd practically trampled her at the stables, which made her cry, to the amusement of all. Riding up the slopes of Pazira to the Valhanan border astride her favourite horse was serendipity. Doing it in the company of such friends was even better.

Errollyn was with her, knowing well that she'd need him, in more ways than the personal, in what lay ahead. He'd been to Lenayin briefly, loved it, and looked forward to settling down for a while somewhere far away from cities and crowds, while still doing something important. As Saalshen's senior representative in Lenayin, he would certainly be doing that, even were he not based in Baen-Tar, the traditional location of such ambassadors.

Aisha was also with her. For what Sasha was planning to start, she needed not only serrin, but scholarly and educated people. Aisha was every bit the part, and Aisha loved Lenayin with a passion that rivalled Sasha's own. Linguistically, she opined, Lenayin was the most interesting place in all of Rhodia and, with what Sasha now attempted, had a greater potential for cultural amazements than even the newly expanded Saalshen Bacosh.

Yasmyn also came, following the formal ceremony that made her Sasha's uma. She was old for a new uma, and Sasha young for an uman, but Yasmyn had recognised that the only path for a woman in her position to gain the authority and respect she desired in Isfayen was through the Nasi-Keth. Sasha did not know if these motivations were the most desirable, yet if that was what it took to gain converts in Lenayin, she would take it.

There were many she left behind in the new Saalshen Bacosh whom she was sad to leave, yet happy for all the same. There were her precious, brave Ilduuris, five of whom also rode with her now, two of those with families sent for from Ilduur itself. It was imperative, all had agreed, that Ilduur maintained contact with Lenayin, and with Sasha in particular. Sasha thought it imperative for emotional and political reasons. The men who rode with her had fought with her in the Steel. Two had been wounded and could no longer serve, and all knew construction and masonry from their civilian lives, one of them to an exceptional degree. She needed lowlands builders with grand skills to fulfill her dreams, and best of all, as Ilduuris they knew how to build in mountains.

Kessligh, she had no doubt, would spend several more years as commander of the Steel armies, yet she thought it likely that the Steel's fighting days were done, for a while at least. He'd been so long in Lenayin, required by the Nasi-Keth to be so, yet he'd always yearned to see Saalshen. He'd have the chance now, and Rhillian had offered to take him herself, to learn and see, travel and talk, to all the places that had been largely forbidden to humans for as far back as anyone remembered.

Certainly he'd travel back to Lenayin at some point and see how she was faring. Whether he'd finally settle here, or there, as his years finally began to catch up with him, she had no idea. He'd rather teach, she knew, but it was nice to see him finally getting the respect he deserved, and she had no doubt they'd eventually build far more statues of him in the Bacosh than of her.

Rhillian was the person Kessligh had appointed to put the whole Saalshen Bacosh back together, in its new, enlarged form. The wise heads of Saalshen, reappearing now that the serious work was done and frivolous concerns could rule serrin minds once more, were displeased by this, but what her own people found disconcerting in her actions only recommended her more to human eyes.

Rhillian grasped human ways and minds to a degree that most serrin could not, and though her understandings were not always perfect, she had at least learned to know her own limitations. Even as the fighting had continued, she'd been spending long hours in a tent or borrowed quarters, scribbling notes on laws, or reading books. Many long evenings they'd all sat together with her-Sasha, Errollyn, Kessligh, and others, discussing their new provinces' structure of councils, the form of laws, the raising of new Steel armies, the disbanding of noble title, and how to stop the old nostalgias from flaring up once more as they had in Tracato and Andal.