She looked away from him, out the window facing the lake.
He waited, wishing he could see her face. Outside noises came faintly to them, and on the lake the lights of boats moved leisurely across the water, but Mari remained silent and motionless as even the stars swung unhurriedly overhead. Through the window, Alain could see the moon very slowly crossing the sky, forever chased by the two small dots of light known as the Twins.
“Alain,” she finally said, “can you imagine what this is like for me? It’s not just that so many people will want to kill me, but the idea that I’m some…I don’t even know how to say it. If I believed for even one minute that you have deliberately avoided telling me about this until now, I…I don’t know what I would do. But I have been trying to remember every conversation we have had, and I can see how you and I thought we both knew what the other meant, when actually we did not.”
“What can I do?” Alain asked.
“Just tell me one thing.” She finally looked at him again, her face drawn, eyes haunted. “Are you with me because of that? Did you stay with me in that blizzard because of that? Because I’m…her?”
Alain shook his head. “I resolved to be with you before I knew of that. I thought of nothing but you during that blizzard. I would be with you now and always even if that vision had never come to me.”
Mari began laughing and crying at the same time, a mix of emotions that dismayed Alain as he watched it.
“You’re not lying,” she said. “You really mean it. Oh, Alain, what am I going to do?”
“What you were already planning on doing,” he said, feeling helpless.
She shuddered with the effort of regaining control, took in a long, slow, breath, then exhaled, her expression calming somewhat. “My plans just hit a brick wall, Alain, remember?” She wiped her eyes roughly. “You heard Professor S’san. Even if I had an army, it couldn’t prevail. What you call the storm would blow it to pieces before it could get strong enough. And what would I do if I had an army? Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds to me? I wouldn’t know the first thing about leading an army. I don’t know how to fight battles. Where would I get an army, anyway? And why would an army follow me?”
“You wish me to say what I believe?”
“Yes,” Mari said, “and from now on if I say let’s not talk about something, talk about it anyway.”
“Then I will say that from what I saw in the Northern Ramparts,” Alain said, “someone believed to be the daughter of Jules could raise an army of commons simply by calling for it. The same forces that would help drive the storm—the anger and the frustration of the commons—would cause them to flock to the—to the one they believe could save them.”
Mari was still breathing deeply, still looked stricken, but she was also frowning in thought. “Redirect the force? Employ it for useful ends instead of destruction? I can understand that. It makes sense. We talked about attitudes and emotions among the commons as being like pressure in a boiler. If it just keeps building with no outlet, then the boiler explodes. But if instead I use that force to accomplish work…” She bit her lip. “How can they believe that I’m that person, Alain?”
“The soldiers of Alexdria were eager to believe it,” Alain pointed out. “I was told by General Flyn that long ago the children of Jules were hidden among the commons, so that when word of the prophecy reached the Great Guilds they could not slay every child in the line of Jules. No one knows who carries her blood.”
“How many centuries ago was that, Alain! How many daughters would have already been born to the descendants of Jules, and how thin would that blood be by now?” She started pacing back and forth through the room again, though this time in a much more controlled way. “Even if blood mattered, when it came to what a person could do! It’s ridiculous. Me, the daughter of Jules. Am I a pirate queen? Am I an explorer? Have I founded any cities or countries? Have I fought the Empire itself to a standstill? I have nothing in common with Jules. I can’t afford to believe such a thing. You know me better than anyone except myself! How can you believe it?”
“Because I know you,” Alain said. “You are smart and you are brave. You help others find new strength. You give them hope. You do not give up.”
She stopped and stared at him. “Alain, I am scared. I’d gotten used to the idea that my Guild and your Guild were hunting me, but that is nothing compared to what will be sent against someone who claims to be that person.”
Alain nodded. “I know. I long ago resolved that I would die to defend you. That will not change.”
“Oh, great. So if I die, you will, too. That doesn’t actually make me feel better.” Mari flung her hands toward the ceiling. “Just what do I do now? You heard Professor S’san. Her whole plan hinged on my getting access to the Mechanic Guild vaults and the banned texts inside them. That’s impossible now. What can I do without that knowledge?”
“These texts exist only in those vaults?” Alain asked.
“Yes! At Mechanics Guild headquarters in Palandur! Supposedly kept safe for use in emergencies when the tech in them might be critically needed, but no Mechanic believes those texts will ever actually be made available, no matter what happens. Everything is so tightly guarded we’d need an army to get at them. A very big army. That’s even if a Mage were helping me get through some of the defenses. I wouldn’t put it past the Senior Mechanics to destroy those texts if they thought I was trying to get them.”
“Palandur?” Alain shook his head. “That city is not much more than a century and a half old. Surely there was once another headquarters for your Guild. Might something not still be in that place and perhaps not as well protected?”
Mari laughed bitterly. “The old headquarters was in Marandur, Alain.”
“Perhaps that is the answer.”
She gave him a startled look. “Marandur? How can Marandur be the answer? I don’t know all that much about it, but I do know that after the city was destroyed the Emperor Palan declared it off-limits for all time. It’s an automatic death sentence to set foot inside the old city. Even Mechanics were warned not to mess with that prohibition.”
“Yes,” Alain agreed. “But you do not know the story? The history of the end of Marandur?”
Mari finally sat down again, still looking very worried but eyeing him with interest. “Please tell me. It was some kind of rebellion, but that’s all I know.”
The change in her mood heartened Alain. “A fanatical underground movement arose. It gained thousands of followers who worshipped their leader. The Imperials had become complacent and did not realize how powerful this group had become. Over time, the rebels by trickery lured away the legions which normally guarded the capital and in a bold nighttime stroke seized Marandur, closing the gates before the legions could return. They captured most of the Imperial family along with the capital city.” He shook his head. “Then, as the returned legions watched along with Prince Palan, who had by chance been out of the city, the rebels brought the Imperial family to the walls and murdered them all.”
Mari made a noise of disbelief. “I’m not the smartest person in the world, but even I know how stupid that must’ve been. Everybody talks about how loyal the legions are to the Imperial family.”
“Yes. Palan proclaimed himself the new emperor and ordered the legions to retake the city at all costs, ensuring no rebels survived. Many Mages were called upon to assist in the assault, and I assume many Mechanic devices must have been used as well. The city was destroyed, building by building, as the legions advanced and the rebels fought to the death.”