Candor: The Coronation
(And lots of interpersonal drama)
As Banter had predicted, Regent Magicbane Minor has already begun making preparations for Malachi's coronation, but the event is scheduled in a month, which, he says gravely, is still "sooner than ideal. We will be able to invite the local rulers and send messages out, but not as many will be able to attend as I'd like."
In the meantime, however, the throneroom is being redecorated, a feast is being prepared, garments are being sewn, and the three boys are swept away to be properly outfitted, briefed, and displayed. They are constantly under guard, not only by the palace's crack troops but also by mages assigned by Magicbane Minor's political ally, the guildmistress Chrystostom.
The Company doesn't find itself bored, however; Candor is filled with politics, military preparation, clerical discussion, and, for Pip, at least, artistic exhibitions at which his works are welcome, should he care to arrange an exhibit. Caprice has been here before, so she is made the impromptu tour guide. Old acquaintances at the Candor church of Bel are amazed at how swiftly she's risen in the ranks, and the prestigious company in which she now finds herself. They are fascinated by her stories of the Swords. Caprice finds that many of them know Hari, who had been a paladin of Bel before choosing a more contemplative life preaching to prisoners, and greet him with respect. The fact that he has chosen to come out of retirement to guard her does her reputation no harm.
Over the following weeks, more fascinating people arrive in Candor -- adventurers both active and retired come to see the Destined King for themselves; rulers of the local realms appear too, and are invited to come speak with the regent and the young king-expectant. The Sun Rose Company meets some of those other heroes that The Onieromancer had predicted, and tentative friendships are made, though overshadowed by the knowledge of the hard times ahead.
Interlude: Caprice & Hari (Teenage Romance)
In the weeks leading up to the coronation, Caprice gazes increasingly
often on her constant escort, Hari, wondering if she is as important to him
as he has become to her.
The aseku's feelings are hard to read, hidden by his gentle, peaceful
manner. Hari had been a paladin for nearly a human generation before
retreating to Keephame to study in secrecy during the satamharanthu
occupation. During that time he became increasingly contemplative, musing
over the nature of good and evil, selfishness and selflessness, until he
decided that he could do the most good by mingling with the most evil, and
trying to change the hardest of hearts. That led him on the path of
fictional crimes and false confessions that finally took him to the worst
prison of all, Gedding Gaol. Only the gaol's destruction, and the church's
need, convinced the quiet aseku to take up his armor and weapons again.
Is his constant quiet service to her mere politeness? Does he, who has
lived more than five times her lifespan, see her as only a child? Those
mornings after the Yvernu Gorge battles, when she wept on his shoulder --
did his calm, solid comfort signify anything more than friendship?
A teenage girl could go crazy trying to work it all out.
Dying to know, but afraid of disappointment, Caprice begins to use her
limited teen wiles to find out. First she asks Elianora to find out for
her, and gets a motherly scolding in return. Finding that useless, she
turns to the more romantically inclined Valere, forcing him to swear to
never, ever, let Hari guess what he's fishing for. Valere smiles, agrees,
and does his best to probe Hari's feelings for Caprice, but the best he gets
is that Hari has chosen to serve and protect her unto death, which gives
Caprice a little thrill of pleasure but isn't quite the answer she wanted.
Caprice toys with the idea of having Pip read Hari's mind, then
reluctantly sets it aside as immoral. Not everything is fair in love and
war -- at least not to a cleric of Bel.
Trying to distance herself from Hari is gratifyingly difficult, as the
paladin simply refuses to let her travel through the city alone unless she's
with another member of the Company. Caprice snipes at him a little,
accusing him of not thinking she can take care of herself.
"None of us can take care of ourselves with the Metal Gods as enemies," Hari answers gently. "But we're stronger together than apart."
Infuriating! Caprice could just shake him. Instead, she sulks for a few
hours before forgetting her irritation and working on her next plan to get
him to confess undying love. If Grandmere were here, she could ask the loa,
or even give Caprice a gris-gris bag for love. But she's still in Cislunar
until the Coronation, and Caprice wants to know _now_.
Next ploy: show him what he's missing. Caprice consults with Valere and the palace seamstresses and lady's maids, and allows them to dress her up for the next ball.
Success! The first time Hari looks up the stairwell at her, waiting for
her to descend so that he can escort her to the dance, he visibly starts. Caprice surreptitiously admires herself in the mirrors as she walks down to
him. She's hardly recognizable even to herself; no longer a poor island lass or a little clerical acolyte or even a black-clad warrior ... for the first time, she's dressed like a fine lady, and she does carry it off well, if she says so herself.
The rest of the evening Caprice secretly enjoys her triumph. Everyone
compliments her on her lovely dress and elegant bearing, but the compliments she savours the most are the ones that aren't spoken -- Hari's air of bafflement as he tries not to treat her any differently than before, and his obvious determination not to let his eyes drift to her decolletage.
That night she hugs herself in bed, grinning into the darkness. At last, he's seen her as a desirable woman instead of a little girl or a sexless cleric!
Discovering the power of fashion is like entering a new land for Caprice. At first she wonders if it's a proper new land, but Valere assures her that there's no sin in looking her best.
"Look, you already know that you have Hari's loyalty and respect," Valere says complacently. "Looking gorgeous doesn't change that. But it does wake him up to the fact that people are more than just brains and souls
-- that there are bodies to take into consideration, too. The man's been living like a monk for years. He needed a slap to snap him back into the real world. Now that you've slapped him...." Valere stops and considers. "Hmmm, maybe I'd better start escorting you, instead. After all, the man's been living like a monk for years...."
"Don't you _dare!_" Caprice snaps, blushing. "I can take care of myself!"
Valere laughs, and later that day Elianora tries to give Caprice an excruciatingly embarrassing lecture on men and sex, which ends poorly on
both sides, and by the time Caprice returns to her room to change, she's
thoroughly disgusted with the way nobody thinks she knows what she's doing.
"You look nice, Hari," Caprice says the next evening, at the theater.
She'd told him she'd wanted to see the latest romantic play and that nobody
else in the Company would go with her. It was an underhanded trick, but
she'd obtained a box from one of the nobles, and now she was thoroughly
enjoying being alone -- well, virtually alone -- with Hari.
Now it was intermission, and she had to say something to break the
lengthening silence between them.
And he did look better than usual, as if he'd finally taken some pains
with his appearance. Not that Hari had ever been shabby, but it had been
clear that fashion hadn't been part of his contemplative discipline.
"I didn't want to embarrass you," Hari says mildly.
"You never have," she protests, gazing into his eyes. Damn the unsteady lamplight! Was he blushing? She should have put a hand on his arm to help make her point. Too late now; it would just seem awkward.
"I'm pleased to hear that."
Oh, drat! Caprice scowls and looks out at the milling crowd. Maybe she was just imagining things. Maybe he's a eunuch, she thinks. Or gay.
"Can I get you something to drink? A refreshment?"
"No."
"Are you all right?"
"Yes." No, she thinks.
"No, you're not."
"I'm fine."
...
"Are you enjoying the play?" he asks, after a pause.
"It's all right." Her flat tone silences him again.
...
"I sympathize with the characters." It seems like a weak conversational
gambit.
"Why?" Because their emotions run away with them? Caprice wonders. Obviously something _you're_ not familiar with! She wishes intermission would end, in order to end this awkwardness.
"Because each one must weigh the responsibilities of family and society against their feelings of love. Somewhat like your friends Valere and
Elianora, isn't it?"
Caprice's ears perk up. "They're working things out."
"I hope so." Hari falls silent again. For a moment Caprice thinks
she's lost him, but then he speaks once more. "I feel the same struggle. When I set aside my sword, I thought I'd spend the rest of my life dedicated to my work, putting others before myself. Selfless love; the love of community over individual. Then, when I was called back to duty, I thought I could still subsume myself to others' needs. Be the perfect servant, the perfect bodyguard ... But it's not so simple."
"Why?" Caprice breathes, hardly daring to move. Why won't he look at
her?
"Because I'm finding it very difficult to serve you without wanting
something back. I shouldn't let my own feelings get in the way of my duty, but I keep stumbling over my self. I find myself wanting to be the one you keep turning to for help and comfort, and that's egotistic. I find myself
wanting to be someone special to you, not just another sword in this war.
And I fear that these selfish wants compromise my ability to bodyguard you." At last he looks at her, calmly. "I think you should dismiss me."
Score! Score?
"No!" Yikes -- too emphatic. Caprice takes a deep breath and tries to
recover. "No. I need you. You're -- my friend." NOOOO! she shrieks to
herself. Wrong word! "I mean, you're special. To me." Argh -- this is NOT
the way she'd planned the conversation to go! Bel help me, he's going to
really think I'm just a child, now! Erzulie, don't forget your daughter!
Hari studies her. The intermission noise outside the box seems to fade
away, leaving them in a timeless moment. Caprice gazes back at him, studying his faintly alien, but very familiar, aseku features. Too much? Too little? Had she misunderstood? Oh, Bel, she'd misunderstood!
"I'm afraid that your youth may lead you to make a poor decision--"
"Don't you dare treat me like a child!" Caprice snaps, chin rising, body
recoiling. Hari catches her hand in both of his.
"I fear doing otherwise."
"I may be young, but I know what I'm doing. I'm old enough to be trusted with Bel's vision. I'm old enough to risk my life fighting against the Metal Gods!" She suddenly finds it hard to concentrate on her argument with his fingers pressing against her hand.
"I apologize. I'm still trying to protect you. But this time, against myself; and I seem to be handling it poorly."
"Are you a threat?" she whispers, hardly able to speak for the sudden lump in her throat. The lamps are being turned down, the audience returning
to its seats. Intermission is almost over.
He lifts her hand to his lips and brushes a kiss on it. The heat of his breath on her flesh makes her tremble and, for a moment, panic. What's she
getting herself into?
"No." He looks intently into her eyes, as if trying to read her thoughts. "At least, I'll try not to be. You'd still be wiser to dismiss me."
"Well, I'm not going to," she says, staring back at him, daring him to
argue any further.
"All right," he acquiesces, quietly.
The play begins again, but to Caprice's great satisfaction, Hari holds
her hand for the rest of it, except to hand her a handkerchief during the
sad parts. And even if his kiss goodnight, at the foot of the stairs, is
little more than a shy brush of lips against hers, it's enough to keep her
warm for the rest of the night.
Interlude: Pip & Amandiel (Adult Tragedy)
Pip is going to attempt to get Amandiel to come to the ceremony. "You need to witness this. You need to understand."
He will also make certain that his father and sister are in attendance.
Amandiel is reluctant to see Phillip again; she is at home again with
the children and the healed and resurrected Marie-Catherine, who is a pale,
disassociated imitation of her former self. But Amandiel's family forces
her to meet with Philip, setting them in the Thongolir parlor together.
"I just can't _be_ this," Amandiel whispers, avoiding Pip's eyes. "I
can't be an afterthought. Dusk ... Dusk would have treated me like a queen.
I was everything to him. But you ... I don't even know you. I don't know
who or what you are. Everyone says you're a hero. But ... these bad things
follow you, and when you aren't here, they feed on us. Poor Benedict ...
The children!" She bursts into tears, burying her face in her skirt.
"Is that what you think Amandiel?" Philip quietly asks his sobbing wife, perplexed by her words. "That you are an afterthought?"
He will gently put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
"You are now and have been the only thought on my mind since the day we first met. I love you and I will never stop loving you."
Pip carefully lifts her face out of her dress and stares into her swollen eyes.
"I'm not Altair Dusk. But I had hoped that you would come to love me as much as you once loved him...."
Pip's voice becomes strained. "Its time to open your eyes Amandiel. If you don't know who I am, it is because you don't want to know who I am. Any more than you want to know who Altair Dusk really was."
"Everyone says I'm a hero Amandiel. Do you know why that is? Because its easier on them....easier to believe that I'm somehow different than they are...and that they shouldn't be held to the same impossible standards. Its quite cowardly really. But they wouldn't like the truth...that I'm just an ordinary man -- a man just like them, fallible and imperfect, but doing his best to make a difference -- to keep those I love from being harmed by the terrible forces loose in this world."
His tone drops to a whisper "To keep you and our babies from being hurt...."
Pip stops. He closes his eyes for a moment, too upset to continue. "I failed Benedict and his children. And many others before them.... I will not make excuses. There are none. I can only strive to do better, and pray that my efforts will be enough...."
Pip stops again. He studies his wife, looking deep into her eyes, resisting the need to hear her thoughts, to see if there is any point in continuing.
"Come with me Amandiel. Come to the coronation. Please. You *can* be this Amandiel, and so much more. You are strong -- stronger than you know. Come see what we are fighting for, and why we all must strive to be more than we thought we could be."
"Please my love, see for yourself and then decide....and I will honor your wishes."
Amandiel stands and walks away. For a few minutes she simply moves around the parlor, touching things, face blank and tearstained.
"What am I supposed to say?" she asks at last, in a shaky, despairing voice. "All of this, now...." Fresh tears leak from her eyes. "And after telling me all of this, what will you do next? Go back to Candor. Fight your Metal Gods. And leave me and the children here again. Do you have any idea what you're doing to me? If I hate you for leaving me, I'm unpatriotic. If I'm angry at you for keeping secrets from me, I'm unsympathetic. But I _am_ angry, dammit!" She begins to shake and hastily sets down the china figurine she was holding. She turns. "I _am_ angry! I deserved better than lies and secrets! How dare you say you love me and trust me and then not tell me everything! And I deserve better than someone who sires two children on me and doesn't stay around to help raise them! You married a Thongolir, Pip, not some shy little mercantile doormat like your friend Halkem! I'm not going to sit around the house waiting for you to return so I can coo over what a hero you are! I have my pride, too!"
"So don't sit around!" Pip shouts back at her. "Our world is crumbling to pieces Amandiel. Wake up and do something about it! If I had wanted a doormat I would have married one."
He regains control of his temper. "You want to be angry, good. Be angry. Be angry at the Metal Gods, the Sacrament Sanguis and even Lord Finster, but I am not the enemy. I am working to destroy the enemy -- those forces that are working feverishly to obliterate our dreams of ever settling down and happily raising our children."
"I'm sorry I kept secrets from you, but you weren't ready for the truth. Not these truths. I think you are now. I was a vampire. I *am* a coryphei. And I *must* go back to Candor to fight the Metal Gods. They are coming to Saldon, Amandiel, and they will destroy everything we hold dear."
Pip gives his wife an odd look. "And I am not having an affair with Querida."
"Come with me to Candor. Come see for yourself what is happening."
Suddenly weary, Pip sits down. "I need you to come with me to Candor. I'm not sure I have the strength to do this without you. Without you I'm not sure I can maintain hope -- and without hope.....all is lost."
Amandiel's tears have dried under Pip's onslaught. Her voice is cold.
"Funny how you _need_ me to come with you to Candor, but it didn't make any difference when I _needed_ you to stay home with me and the chidren. You don't think you can do this without me, but you expected me to do just fine without you. How _dare_ you call me a doormat? Because I've been here at home? Well, how in _hell_ did you expect me to travel with two babies?"
She's working herself into a fine rage, face flushed, eyes flashing. Pip
realizes simultaneously that she's gorgeous when she's angry, and that this anger must have been building for a long time. "I needed your help! I needed your support! But you just went your own merry little way saving the world and I ended up turning for friendship and support to Marie-Catherine and Benedict, who might have been a mute cripple but at least he took turns with Marie-Catherine raising his children, AND he never kept secrets from her, and now what? Her babies are gone, Benedict's dead, and she's half-mad with grief and what the hell have you done about any of it? I've been spending the last month trying to convince her that life's worth living in between taking care of the children and managing my share of the family business, none of which I'd be able to do if I'd stayed in that empty house of ours, and now you have the balls to come here to my own family home and tell me you NEED ME TO COME TO CANDOR WITH YOU? And that I'm a DOORMAT?
"You listen to me, Pip -- I'd much rather hang out with a bunch of heroes and collect magic swords than stay here changing diapers and paying bills and running around on suicide watch for my best friend! You just say the word and I'll trade places with you and you can stay here and find out what kind of a 'doormat' I've been! And don't tell me all of this is nothing because of the threat of the Metal Gods blah blah blah, because ALL OF THIS is the real world, the one you're trying to protect, and if it isn't important, than neither is your stupid quest! So get out of here, and when you come back, IF you come back, you'd better have about two dozen roses, half a dozen sincere apologies, and one hell of a better plan for being an
attentive husband and equal marriage partner than anything you've shown me so far! And THEN we can talk about how I'm going to find time to go to Candor with you!"
Pip stands up and collects his hat. "I have done what needed to be done
Amandiel, not out of any desire to shirk my duties as a husband and father, but to see that you and our children will have a world to live in when all is said and done. I won't apologize for that. I am sorry I kept the truth from you Amandiel. And I am deeply sorry about Benedict and the babies. Benedict's death will forever haunt me. I failed him and Marie-Catherine both...." Pip puts on his hat and takes one last long look at his wife. "I don't know what else to say. I love you. Take care of the children. If I don't return, always tell them how much I love them."
Pip bows slightly. "Goodbye Amandiel. May Bel watch over you and our children in the dark days ahead."
Pip leaves, picks up his father and sister, and takes the ship back to
the coronation, along with the rest of the Sun Rose Company and their loved
ones.
Interlude: Valere (Warm-hearted Reunions)
Valere will have gone to visit his family, and invited them to the
ceremony as well.
He seeks to make peace with his family, in particular his father and
his elder brother. Hoping for forgiveness, but willing to settle for
acceptance.
His love for them is real, and he will let them know that.
Valere stops first at his younger brother's house. Phillipe greets him
warmly at the door, then pauses as he pulls his brother inside. Suddenly
Valere realizes that he hasn't had time to visit his family since the slow
changes that began to overtake him in Yvernu Gorge.
"Good heavens -- Valere, what happened to you? Is it a Polymorph? I
mean...." Phillipe walks around his brother slowly, "it's striking. I can see where you'd keep the look, but...."
"I think it's very attractive," says Phillipe's wife. Iris leans against the wall in the hallway, her own golden eyes twinkling as she looks Valere up and down. "But has your father seen you yet, Valere?"
"Father!" Phillipe exclaims with a grimace. "By the way, he finally heard about Iris and me. He threw another fit. For what it's worth, now he
says you're his only worthwhile son. If he finds out you're ... what _are_
you, Valere? It's not the hierodule plague, is it?"
"No," Iris says instantly. "It's something else. Something..." she
cocks her head. "Like the streak in his hair."
Phillipe draws in a quick breath, gazing at his brother with wide eyes.
"She's right. So ... what _are_ you, Valere? Or should I ask, what are you _becoming_?"
"I am the Fire from which Light springs. I am Strength with Grace. I
am the Lion and the Flame. I am a servant of Bel, and will become
whatever he makes of me." Valere smiles a winning smile. "And I am
glad to be here with you Phillipe, you and your lovely wife. It is so
good to see you."
Valere will embrace his brother for a long while, and then embrace
Iris with deep affection.
"THIS" he says, opening his arms slightly in reference to his new
look, "began sometime during the assault on Yvernu Gorge. It happened
subtly, so subtly in fact that I didn't notice it until the final
battle was won and we had returned to Cislunar. I believe it's tied
to the prophecies, and our quest, and my unique relationship to Bel."
"And it does look fairly striking, doesn't it"? Valere winks at Iris.
"I see that no matter what else you are, you're still long-winded,"
Phillipe says wryly, returning Valere's embrace.
"There are some truths that do not change, even WITH Divine
intervention, little brother." Valere grins again and hugs Phillipe
further.
Valere sits and gets more serious with his brother. "Father has not
seen me since before the family left Cislunar. But I am planning on
paying a visit. How are they doing Phillipe? Is Cleante recovering?
How is mother?" Valere seems eager to get whatever news he can about
his family. "And most of all... do you think Father will forgive me?"
"Father's gonna have an apopleptic fit when he sees you," Phillipe
predicts. "You'll have to talk fast to convince him you haven't come down with the plague." He gives Iris a wry smile. She returns it. Clearly Lord
Hunabar has had some pithy things to say about hierodules lately. "Mother's all right. She took our news better than Father ... I think she's just happy that _one_ of us is settling down, even if it's not exactly the way she'd expected."
"She and I talked," Iris adds. "Your mother's actually very sweet. And
she really, really wants grandchildren."
"Cleante, well, he's still off in Candor doing whatever he's doing. Sends letters, I guess, but I don't get them, and all Father does is grunt and put them away. So I guess the news isn't too bad.
"As far as Father forgiving you..." Phillipe laughs. "You're a hero, big
brother! The Hunabar who's put our names into the history books. After the
success at Yvernu Gorge, and now all this fuss about the Four Swords and the Destined King that we're hearing about -- and I expect you to pull an invitation to the coronation out of that waistcoat of yours, so don't disappoint me -- well, I don't think forgiveness even comes into it anymore. He's probably forgotten the whole argument by now. Just ease him into the
gold skin, all right?"
Valere laughs out loud. "I'll do my best." Valere pulls an invitation
to the Coronation for Phillipe and Iris from his waistcoat. "This is
for you." He smiles. "Be sure to dress your best." he winks. "And I
have one for Father and Mother as well. Do you think that will help
'ease' Father into it a bit?"
"Sure. Want us to go along to distract him?" Phillipe grins at the
invitation and hands it to Iris, who gazes at it as if she can't imagine
it's real.
Valere grins, remembering happy exchanges like this one with his
brother that seem to have happened several lifetimes ago. "I would
love it if you would both come along. Perhaps with all of us there
together, he will be distracted and only entreat us to the short
version of his rant." Valere grins. "Shall we?"
"Hullo, Father, guess who's here?" Phillipe calls out as the three of
them walk into the Hunabar mansion. "It's Valere, back from being a hero and all marked by Bel and everything!" He gives his elder brother a wink.
The Hunabars have had to let many of their servants go, but the few who remain look curiously out of hallways and open doors, eyes widening as they see Valere's golden skin.
Lord Hunabar emerges from his study, smiling, loses a beat for a moment as he registers the changes in his son, then holds out a hand.
"Marked by Bel, is it?" he asks, as Valere grasps his hand. After a split-second of hesitation, the two embrace. Then Lord Hunabar studies his son more carefully. "Strange things you've gotten yourself into, Valere."
"Valere!" Lady Hunabar rushes up and takes Valere's face in her hands. "It doesn't hurt, does it? You're all right?"
Eventually the fuss dies down and the group settles around the dining
room table to listen to Valere's tales. Whatever rancour had existed
between father and son before seems to be forgotten now.
At an appropriate moment, after the first round of tale telling.
Valere will remove a golden sealed invitation from within his
waistcoat. He will lay it on the table in front of his father.
"I brought this for you and mother. It's an invitation to the
coronation. You are to be my guests, and the guests of the Destined
King himself. I hope that you will come and see what everything I've
been doing has been for." Valere smiles warmly.
...
"Minimin Trask will be there, and he and I have been discussing some
interesting ideas for some new lines. I think you'd be interested.
With the Hunabar name, some clever design, and some help from my
magically talented friend, I think we can make a splash in the coture
world in Candor AND in Cislunar. After the coronation, we should sit
down and talk."
Back to the central storyline
At last it is the day of the coronation. The Sun Rose Company is resplendent in its finery, Valere and Elianora brilliant in gold and white armor as they escort the young candidate to the dias. All that night they'd spent with Malachi in prayer in Candor's temple of Bel, but they look fresh and alert this morning as they pace watchfully through the assembly. The coronation fanfare sounds as they enter the throne room.
The other four stand at each point of the dias, the cardinal points of the compass. Before each is a covered sword. Regent Magicbane Minor set each one in its place at Malachi's instructions; as of yet, the Company does not know which is which. They stand before the swords, waiting: Halkem, looking unexpectedly respectable in his clerical robes of Carrick; Caprice, slender and deadly in her robes of Bel; Minimin, with the Watchful Order's hand over his heart; and Phillip, newly ornamented in coryphei jewels provided by Candor's enclave of psionics.
Regent Magicbane Minor stands before the throne. Behind him, the high priest of the Candorian arm of the Church of Bel bears the covered crown. Mages -- including Banter and the guildmistress Chrystostom -- and Heliochrys circle the dias, something more than mere honor guards. Nobody has attacked a dominarch's coronation ceremony in centuries, but nobody dared predict what the Metal Gods might do.
The words of the coronation have not been heard in this hall for over a hundred years, since Dominarch Tandal declared the Dominarchy broken and left the Palace. Now Magicbane Minor and the priest of Bel declare the old-fashioned words loudly, and they resound through the chamber with the echo of splendours past. Malachai replies in a clear, confident boy's voice, and now more than ever it seems that his role as Destined King hangs about him like a golden robe, giving his youthful build strength and power.
Then the cloth is removed from the crown, which shines like a small sun. Caprice draws in a soft breath -- she has seen this crown before, in her vision. Together, Magicbane Minor and the cleric of Bel lift it and hold it over the boy's head as he turns to face the assembly.
And then another man is there, his face half-hidden by a black domino mask. The assembly stirs with alarm as his fingers touch the crown, and light bursts forth from it, a golden effulgence that brings, for a moment, the sun itself inside of the throne room.
Then the crown is lowered, and the brilliance turns to normal gold once more. The man in the mask touches the seat of the throne and then vanishes. At the same moment, Magicbane Minor turns and smiles joyfully at the Sun Rose Company, scarred face peaceful at last. And then he vanishes, his robes falling on the coronation hall floor, empty.
A horrified murmur fills the hall, but the archmage Chrystostom steps forward and lifts a hand.
"The Paladin Minor has discharged his duty," she says calmly. "He has gone to his reward after centuries of guarding the throne."
"And Dominarch Malachi Raventree has been accepted by the spirit of Dake Half-Masked," the cleric of Bel breathes. His eyes are on the seat of the throne.
Malachi turns, slowly, and lifts the great bastard sword that has been left there. The blade bursts into flames as he turns again to face the assembly. It is Coron, the sword given to Dominarch Darion Sun-Blazoned by Bel himself, and removed from Darion's tomb before Dakrion Avis could steal it.
Applause echoes through the throneroom, and nobody there doubts anymore.
The rest is an anticlimax, as Malachi names the Sun Rose Company and his brothers as his bodyguards and councilmembers. Halkem is given Viris, which purifies what is profaned. Pip is given Pavonine, which dazzles what attacks. Minimin is given Nyctor, which hides what is hidden. Caprice is given Palladios, which routes what is evil.
For hours Malachi takes oaths of loyalty from rulers and from individuals. At last it's over and the Company escorts him out of the hall and to his chambers, where he promptly curls up on the bed and falls asleep. Olivar and Gaetano are soon snoring beside him. The Company decides to let the three boys rest for a few hours; and then they are awakened, dressed in yet another set of finery, and the celebrations commence.
