“I could believe it,” the middle-aged woman said. “It could be her.”
The young woman was resting her chin on one fist as she eyed Mari. “Tiae has no ruler. The royal family has been wiped out.”
Mari once again saw Alain shake his head slightly. The woman was lying. But why?
“You come seeking to help,” the woman continued. “Suppose every word you say is true, suppose you provide the means to rebuild Tiae. Then what?”
“Then we defeat the Great Guilds,” Mari said.
“That’s not what I mean. Who is in charge of Tiae?”
Mari shrugged. “I don’t know. Whoever you decide should be in charge.”
“You?”
“Me?” Mari physically recoiled at the suggestion. “No. Absolutely not.”
“But the daughter could unite our people again,” the oldest woman said. “You could found a new royal family. The daughter of Jules would bring a proud and mighty lineage to replace that of the old royal family, which was destroyed in these years of revolution and lawlessness.”
“I said no,” Mari insisted. “That will not happen. Tiae finds its own leaders, and its choices do not include me.”
“Suppose we insisted, as a price for cooperation?”
Mari shook her head. She wanted to look back, to gain some insight or advice from the expressions of Professor S’san and Alain and her other friends, but that would be too obvious. And her own feelings were clear to her. “Then we have no deal. We’ll go elsewhere, try to find another place where we can begin to rebuild Tiae and stave off the Storm. My job, my only job, is to build up enough strength to overthrow the Great Guilds, free the common folk from being vassals to the Guilds, and allow change to come to this world so that the Storm won’t destroy it. What commons and their governments do with their freedom is their decision. I will not be a party to substituting one set of rulers for another, even if one of them is me. No, that’s not strong enough. Especially if one of them is me.”
“Your words are full of promises and ideals,” the young woman said. “But they are words. Mechanics have been known to lie. Mages are infamous for lies. Is there any proof great enough to demonstrate the truth of your words, Lady Master Mechanic?”
Mari nodded. “I understand why you would be skeptical. Someone once told me that nothing he could say would convince me he was being truthful. All I could do was judge his actions. And I do have that kind of proof available.” She turned to Alain and reached out. He gave her the text she had asked him to carry, and then Mari carried it to the table and set it down in front of the young woman. “Do you know what this is?”
“No,” the woman said, puzzling over the words on the cover. “Demeter Projekt?”
“This a text of Mechanic technology,” Mari said. “Technology that even the Mechanics Guild has for centuries banned Mechanics from seeing or using. Now I show it to you. Go ahead and read it. You may read anything in it. You may copy it and share those copies with anyone.”
The woman’s gaze dropped to the book again, her expression shifting to amazement. “I don’t believe it.”
“You wanted proof,” Mari insisted. “There it is. We’re ready to teach Mechanic skills to any person in this town. Any person in Tiae. We’re ready to install equipment here and build workshops. To build Mechanic devices faster and in larger quantities than anyone has seen before. Better devices, too. What would you say to a promise to provide every single one of your soldiers with a Mechanic rifle that fires faster, farther, and more accurately than anything the Mechanics Guild has offered? Along with all of the ammunition they can carry? And small devices that let those soldiers talk to each other across long distances. And medical devices that can save those who now die of their wounds. We will give you the means to rebuild Tiae. We’re ready to help, if you’ll let us.”
“Why would you do this for common folk?” the woman asked. “Why would you do this for anyone?”
“Because the chaos the Storm will cause began here, and we will heal that damage where it began to keep it from spreading. Because the Mechanics with me believe that our Guild has done a disservice not only to us but to everyone. They believe we’ll all, Mechanics and common folk alike, benefit from change. They don’t want to run the world. They want to be able to build and design new things. They want to be free, too.”
“And the Mages?”
“The Mages believe that the wisdom they were taught is lacking. They’re looking for a new wisdom which has more room for… well, for being human.”
The young woman looked at Mari, looked down at the text, then passed it to one of the middle-aged men.
The man looked it over slowly, page by page, then nodded and spoke in a wondering voice. “It looks real. This all looks real.”
Master Mechanic Lukas spoke for the first time, looking at the man. “You’re a Mechanic.”
“I used to be,” the man said. “When the Guild pulled out of Tiae, I… I had a family here. A woman I loved. One of the common folk. I decided that this was my home, and I stayed where my wife and children were.” He shrugged. “I stopped wearing the jacket when it became obvious how big a target that made me. I’ve done what I can to help people, but that hasn’t been much.”
“You can do more now,” Mari said. “You can call yourself a Mechanic once again, if you wish. If we can reach agreement.”
The young woman leaned back, tapping her chin with one finger as she thought. Mari realized that the dynamic in the room had shifted. When she and her friends had entered, the six leaders of Pacta Servanda had seemed to be equals. But now Mari felt a strong sense that the young woman was the true leader, with the others deferring to her and following her lead. “There would have to be someone in charge,” the woman observed. “You say that we will command Tiae? Then who directs the larger effort?”
“Only the daughter can do that,” Alain said. “Only she can command Mages, as well as Mechanics, and has the trust of the commons throughout Dematr.”
“Your words are wise, Sir Mage. I’ve never talked to a Mage before. I can barely remember seeing any. But I know of their reputations, which are unpleasant to say the least. Except in one case.” The young woman looked closely at Alain. “A small ship from the north visited us months ago, carrying mostly weapons and armor but also rumors. Rumors of the daughter appearing in the Northern Ramparts, slaying dragons, and accepting no payment for saving commons. The rumors said a Mage accompanied her, a Mage who was willing to sacrifice himself to save commons. Are you that Mage?”
Alain nodded.
“What makes you different?”
Alain gestured toward Mari with one hand. “She has changed me.”
“Because she is the daughter?”
“Because I love her.”
The young woman took a long moment to reply. “I… see. But I also see that she wears a promise ring. How does her partner feel about your love for her?”
“He is my partner,” Mari said. “Mage Alain is my promised husband.”
This time the silence lasted longer.
“I find myself lacking for words,” the young woman finally said.
The elderly man had been silent for a while, but now pointed at Mari’s armband. “You’re all wearing those, and your ships fly banners with the same design. We thought it just the emblem of a pirate, but you called it the banner of the new day. What does that mean?”