Chapter 258: Maneuvering

Liv tried to tell herself that Ilmari ka Väinis was simply angry - not necessarily at her, but at what had happened to his son. Still, it was difficult - when they’d visited Mountain Home, she’d felt like the elder had treated them well. He’d been friendly - or, at the very least, sympathetic.

What made it even worse was that he wasn’t saying anything Liv hadn’t thought herself. If she’d stayed for long enough to help Keri face the dowager, the two of them working together might have been able to finish the old woman off without anyone getting hurt. Julianne had died anyway - would it really have changed anything to have stood beside Keri, instead of leaving him to fight alone?hat you would trust more than yourself?”

After a moment of silence, he leaned forward. “I feel like I’m being maneuvered.”

“I suppose that if it had been Julianne doing it, you wouldn’t have noticed,” Liv admitted. “My apologies for not being her equal. But it doesn’t make anything I’ve said less true. The alliance isn’t simply a human thing, Keri. Everyone who fought at the pass knows exactly what sort of man you are. I don’t think any of them will give you anything but respect.”

“It can’t be Wren or Ghveris,” she continued. “That’s a bridge too far, as they say. Half the Eld still call Wren ‘turncloak,’ and most people aren’t sure what to think about an Antrian. Arjun’s from neither Whitehill, nor the Eld. He’s a healer, and he’s more useful to me on the front lines. Master Grenfell and Lia Every have all they can do to rebuild the guild and teach new students. The elders are going to Varuna. Give me a better name,” she offered, “and you can come with me.”

“Kaija,” he said.

Liv laughed. “She’s assembling my personal guard. Insists that I need one, now. And she’ll be leading whoever she rounds up to Varuna with me. You’d have to hit her over the head and tie her up to keep her here.”

“Miina.”

“My cousin, who I’ve known for less than a month?” Liv asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I like her. But she didn’t go to the bottom of the Tomb of Celris with me, Keri. Name me one other person I can leave behind with absolute faith that they will do their best to hold everything together for me.”

“If you set such neat traps with a blade, you wouldn’t need so many spells,” Keri grumbled.

“Stay here. Learn from Vivek Sharma. Handle anything that comes up. And take time to recover,” Liv insisted. She reached out and took his hand in hers. “Please.”

Finally, Keri nodded.

“Good,” Liv said. “I’ll let you have some time with your father before he has to leave for Varuna.” She stood up, then paused. “Perhaps Rei could come visit? I’m certain he’d like to see his father again.”

Keri shook his head. “Now I know how your enemies feel when you beat them.”

☙

The next morning, Liv, her father, and her grandmother ate atop the ramparts. At her request, three chairs and a small table had been carried up the stairs and placed between two of the siege engines, where there was enough space to fit everything.

It was cool, but not cold, and dew wet the stone beneath their boots. A pot of tea with a candle under it, along with steaming plates of quail eggs, bacon, and potatoes was enough to keep them warm - not that descendents of Celris had much to fear from the cold. There was a fresh loaf of bread with a jar of apple preserves for spreading, as well, and nearly every ingredient practically burst with mana on Liv’s tongue.

“No seal blood,” she observed. “My apologies for that, Granny.”

Eila snorted, and took a sip of her tea. “Somehow I doubt you’re mourning the absence,” she muttered.

“I never refused to drink it,” she pointed out.

“No, you just made a face like we’d put a plate of manure in front of you,” her father said, with a laugh and a grin. “It will be good to actually be in one place for a while. How long before you join us in Varuna?”

“A few days,” Liv said, after thinking it over. “Keri’s agreed to be regent in my absence, and I’ll make sure he has a good set of advisors to help him. Pandit Sharma can let him know if someone is lying, and has a remarkable talent for giving good advice. Sidonie has the genealogies of the Lucanian houses, their words of power, and most of their political histories memorized. Master Grenfell and Mistress Every can support him with the rebuilt guild. I’ll make certain he has the ability to draw funds from the bankers guild, and Mistress Trafford can help with his recovery. Between them all, there shouldn’t be anything short of a full-scale invasion they can’t handle.”

“You know this wasn’t how any of us expected things to develop,” her father said, setting down his fork and knife for a moment. “The humans are calling you a queen now, Livara. Some of them say you’re an archmage, and half our own people call you the Lady of Winter, as if you’re a new god come to protect them.”

“Speak for yourself,” Liv’s grandmother said, then paused with the rim of her teacup at her lip. Both Liv and her father were staring at her.

“I know great-uncle Eilis came south with some sort of plan about all this,” Liv said. “But I didn’t think you were part of it.”

“It was less a plan,” her grandmother said, “than a feeling. You were the right person, in the right time and place, to assume a position of power. A people at war need a single leader, at least until that war is over. The council could give that role to your father, but we couldn’t dictate who the humans would follow. You’re the only person of mixed blood with a high enough profile to fill the role. If you’d practiced more with Dā, you would have felt this coming, as well. At least pieces of it.”

“So what does this all end up looking like after the war is over?” Valtteri asked.

“I have a few ideas,” Liv admitted. “I don’t want to force anyone into anything. A council - something like the great council, or a council of elders. Where each barony, guild, or Elden house can send a representative. A new school, that will take anyone who wants to learn magic - Eld or human. And an actual, organized study of the rifts. We’ve left them to decay for twelve-hundred years; it’s time to take control of our own world, and stop being at the mercy of every eruption.”

“You’ll have House Däivi’s full support, of course,” her grandmother pledged.

“I’d better,” Liv grumbled. “After how neatly your brother set this all up.”

“He just gave you and your friends a nudge here and there,” Eila said. “Most of it was you. Nearly all.”

“That makes two Houses,” her father said. “You’re the darling of House Syvä - the lost child returned, the woman who brought the Crown of Celris back from his tomb, and let us give my sister a proper funeral at last. I think they’d tie me up and gag me if I tried to get in the way of it. Look at how Kaija’s come out of retirement for you.”

“To get the others, you’ll need to meet them at the Hall of the Ancestors,” Liv’s grandmother warned her. “That will be the tricky moment.”

Liv frowned. “I’m not doing this because I want to consolidate power,” she insisted. “I think we all need to be united long enough to deal with Ractia, but after that - I’d like to be on friendly terms with all the Elden houses, but I don’t want to force them into anything. Anyway, we can worry about it after we’ve won. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Agreed,” Eila said. “You’ll be with the elders, behind the front lines. I understand you’ve been rushing from place to place, but it's time for you to master a two-word spell. I hear you nearly blew yourself to pieces trying.”

“What’s this?” Valtteri narrowed his eyes and pinned Liv with his gaze.

She sighed. “I tried, and failed. I’d honestly be grateful for any help either of you can give me - but I don’t know how much time I’m going to have. We’re going to have to fight our way up the entire mountain range...”

“During which you will not be on the front lines,” her father stated, firmly.

“Rumors are already making the rounds about your difficulties existing outside a rift,” Eila said. “You’ll wait at the painted sands rift with us, until it's time to move out. It will give you a chance to preserve your strength, and to start to get a handle on casting using multiple words in combination.”

“We can talk more about it in Varuna,” Liv grumbled. “But there’s one last thing I need to do here before I leave. I need to attend my mother’s wedding.”