Page 29 of Stranger's Choice
Rin made his way around the room, stopping here and there to chat with several people. He spoke at length with Evanie when he reached her table. Then he finally crossed over to Sebin’s table and sat down.
“I am Rin, earth sprite and leader of Chael.”
“Greetings, Rin.” Sebin debated how formal to be. He kept things simple. “I am Sebin Velor from Moial. I have traveled across the Mladin Ocean in search of trade opportunities.”
“You wanted to discuss direct trade between your people and mine?” Rin shrugged. “I’m not sure we have anything to offer you that you won’t get through the Emperor.”
“I find it is more efficient to go directly to the source instead of working through intermediaries.”
“I find it is better to only work with those I know and trust.”
“Then I can only hope to earn your trust.”
The earth sprite stood. “I will take you on a tour of Chael tomorrow morning. We shall see after that if there is any point in discussing trade opportunities.”
“Thank you,mehta. I look forward to it.”
With Sebin offvisiting the earth and wood sprites, Auraelie reverted to her usual duties for the Emperor. She had not been entirely relieved of those duties in all the weeks she had attended the prince, but had only used her powers for the Emperor in brief spurts when Sebin was touring the city. Returning to serve the Emperor for the majority of three days felt different. Like a tunic stretched tight across her shoulders, the role no longer fit.
Most of the time, she did nothing. She stood where she could watch the Emperor in case he summoned her and waited. Others stood with her, serving the Emperor in much the same manner she served Sebin when he was at court. Auraelie did not see to the Emperor’s needs—not his physical needs, at least.
When officials from different parts of the empire came, she would be the servant called upon to wash their feet, as she had with Sebin, but on a normal day, the Emperor did not care to put in the effort to make Auraelie’s presence an honor. When he determined he needed her power, Lhashiki left his side and gave Auraelie a target. Then she went and offered that person a goblet of whatever drink she found on her way.
The first name Lhashiki gave her after Sebin left was Marsone.
Auraelie poured a goblet of the crushed melon, milk, and honey drink Sebin liked so much and that Marsone had never touched to her knowledge. She rather hoped it was a drink he detested, but most likely he simply preferred wine. Not that he had to drink what she brought him. As one of the Emperor’s Will, he could not turn her away or refuse her offering of a drink, but once he accepted the goblet from her, he could leave it untouched.
Marsone was not like Sebin. He would not drink whatever she handed him with laughter in his eyes as he refused to react to her provocations. Marsone was not somebody into whose future Auraelie wished to delve. Simply standing nearby while Sebin chatted with the other man multiple times over the past few days was enough to make her feel unclean. She did not know how the prince dealt with the man with that easy smile on his lips, friendly and charming, and sounding like he agreed with every horrible opinion without ever actually expressing any agreement.
Sebin kept his enemies under his eye, but he never betrayed that he considered them enemies. He was subtle in a way wholly foreign to Auraelie, whose life for the past nine years had been as the threat the Emperor wielded against friend and foe alike.
“A drink, from His Imperial Majesty, Most Benevolent of Emperors,” Auraelie said as she held out the goblet to Marsone, her eyes carefully lowered.
Her eyes were not on the floor, but her hands, where they gripped the base of the goblet. She saw Marsone swallow. Watched his hands tremble as he accepted the drink. The cool metal of the goblet connected them and she fell into the vision. The future.
Hundreds of images flashed through her mind. Scenes of everyday life. Scenes of momentous events. She saw Marsone laughing, raging, dying. Dozens of each collided as her power pushed out and found the most likely path Marsone’s life would take.
This was the danger of her power and its strength. Most oracles instinctively cut off the visions before they became overwhelmed. Even if they tried, their minds blocked them from seeing every potential future, and when some futures remained hidden, the oracles could not always say with certainty which future would come to pass without intervention.
Auraelie, on the other hand, could not block the visions. Her magic pulled every future into her mind, overloading her senses and draining her power. But she always knew the path the future would follow and what triggers could push it onto a different path. The only control she had was directing her power to scan the near or distant future of her subjects. With Marsone, and most courtiers, she limited her scan to the next season—the Emperor didn’t care about the distant future, and he sent her to scan those who worried him often enough that her tighter focus would still catch anything critical.
Marsone finished pulling the goblet from her hands, and Auraelie fell back into her own body. She had not even touched him, merely held the same object for less than a heartbeat’s time, and even that was enough to threaten her balance. She took a breath, her eyes still lowered, her hands now tucking close to her body.
“Many thanks to His Imperial Majesty, Giver of Plenty,” Marsone said, spinning away from her.
Auraelie turned and walked back to her place behind the dais. She lifted her left hand slightly as she passed, a signal Lhashiki would note and pass on to the Emperor. Her left hand, not her right, for she had seen something worth telling the Emperor, but not worth pulling him away immediately.
As she stood in her spot near the wall, Auraelie wondered if she could have risked not signaling at all. She knew why the Emperor had sent her to Marsone, though. He still sought to learn Sebin’s future despite his immunity, and the prince had spent so much time with the other man in the past few days.
Even if Auraelie had given no signal, the Emperor would question her about what she had seen. He would look for Sebin in Marsone’s future. After deceiving the Emperor once already, she would not manage to trick him again. Not when the only thing she could say was that she had not seen Sebin in Marsone’s future.
No, Auraelie would have to tell the Emperor about the blank spaces, the flashes of gray interspersed between all she had seen. Better to signal to Lhashiki and give the appearance of loyalty, even if she had finally begun to hope that she might have an ally if she dared to rebel.
