Eighth Month of 1,266
- Somchar announced himself not long after K’brin returned, dressed nicely and accompanied by Jianya. He informed us that Queen Daiyusendi of gold Yunrongeth wanted to meet with us in an hour’s time.
- We were quickly measured for clothes for the meeting, and all the women in the Wing were asked if they were available. Mala was the first to affirm she was not, then ‘Zana, after flicking her eyes to K’brin. I was unsure of what to declare myself in regards to L’nos, but he urged me to say I was not, as it could lead to unwanted advances in a Dynasty we were new to. Our hair was styled accordingly, which is not something I would have thought meant anything.
- After we had donned our new clothes, we were escorted to what looked like more of a council room than a throne room. There was an oval table in the middle, with chairs along the side of the room for those not participating in the conversation. N’lan, B’dir and K’brin were seated at the table, leaving the rest of us to the side of the room.
- The Chancellor himself poured the wine as there were no servants present.
- Queen Daiyu was in her late 50’s, flat-faced and on the plainer side. She was tall, regal, and immensely graceful. Her makeup was skillfully applied, which made her reddish-orange eyes stand out. Straight black hair went all the way down to her waist, with the sides pulled up into a braided bun. She spoke in a well trained voice and she had a gold firelizard on her shoulder.
- Also present was Warlord Kriang of bronze Kingreth. He was a tall man, with a bull-like appearance and short cropped hair. He looked to be in his 60’s. He was wearing a leather breastplate with a tiger pattern on it, arm bracers, and a short sword in his belt that looked like it had been used.
- Both Lorekeepers were present at the edges of the room. They weren’t acknowledged because they were only present to do the translating.
- The Queen said she was impressed with our dragon’s performance in the mating flight, declaring that “the blood of Thusdo has returned, we must honor the sacrifice of generations that have brought us to this moment” and raised her wine glass.
- Garaam was summoned into the room once the Warlord mentioned him.
- Queen Daiyu quickly got to the main reason for the meeting – their interest in learning how to travel between as we do. “The Dark has been the shadow beneath our lands for as long as we remember”, she commented.
- K’brin brought up his concerns about making too many enemies in this new world by giving the Chingfa a distinct advantage over everyone else, and that his own Queen would not want to have our own techniques used against us.
- Kriang countered that the Chingfa would be a wise and valuable ally. There were none stronger than Kirengar.
- Garaam added that the chance of death, which K’brin warned would be higher than they may be used to, was their concern. “Those afraid of fire are unfit to lead.”
- Shian Zangli came into the room to “feel the truth of K’brin’s words” after he said that he was truthful and spoke with the authority of those above him. The woman was small and thin, perhaps 10 or so Turns older than us, and had the look of someone who had borne many children in quick succession. She had striking green eyes and raven black hair held up in a bun, with some fancy braided loops hanging down.
- I could feel a few people, perhaps four, outside the room probing us. B’dir’s mind was fairy opaque. I could tell M’din was getting some extra attention, but didn’t worry too much because I knew he had a phrenium stone to help with defenses. I shielded myself as well as I could.
- We seemed to be moving ever closer to an agreement as talks progressed. We needed allies if we hoped to return, and we were very short on them. I had similar concerns to those in the Wing, but had so far seen nothing to make me fear we were dooming Pern.
- The Queen pledged “We swear the Dynasty to honorable use of travel between using Pernese skills as long as we are allies.”
- They would use the new techniques we taught them for the betterment of their people and all people. I was still wary, but felt it was as good as we could possibly get of an assurance that they wouldn’t use their newfound skills to harm the Pernese.
- I did a bit of probing and, since the Queen, Warlord and Chancellor were all being shielded by the Talents outside the room, I focused on Garaam. He seemed to be feeling that this was a very important moment, more than just another step in negotiations. Valenth was still fairly unreliable in the aftermath of the mating flight, so I passed the information on to B’dir, who was sitting right beside K’brin. He took a moment, then leaned to K’brin and suggested they ask Jianya what she thought. “It’s more than the Zai would offer,” she admitted.
- K’brin nodded and agreed to renew bonds with the Chingfa, and that was that. We now had allies in this world. I wondered what we would be getting out of it, if they were to learn how to travel between with the quickness that we did?
- The Queen ordered all riders to the Satakam temple at mid-day. The Shian would go prepare for the gathering.
- The Warlord would choose trainees of the highest skill to learn how to go between, Pernese style. Garaam, Kriang and one other Commander would have 3 riders below each of them.
- Garaam had the look of someone whose world just got upended. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was facing the reality of what was said about learning to go between, or because he worried about what this might mean for his people and their way of life – just as we were wondering the same.
- We had some time to talk before the ceremony, but before long, we were headed to the temple. The ceiling was held up by gold dragon statues and tiled like the sun. There were three banners: one with the heraldry of Kirengar, one for Thusdo, and one white with golden flames.
- All the riders coming into the temple appeared solemn. There were at least 400 riders present by the time the ceremony began. We were seated in the front row. Queen Daiyu, the Princesses, other priestesses, and Shian Zangli were on the stage.
- The Queen opened her speech “Men and women of Thusdo, hear my words….” and declared that an alliance had been made with us. “Unity is strength”, she said, also mentioning something about K’brin having “pledged himself in communion” with Princess Siri. Well, that was interesting to hear.
- Priestesses in white went through the crowds with scrolls in hand. Riders made a mark on the scroll, and then cut their finger to make a bloody mark next to what they had written. Every single rider did this.
- Shian Zangli then burned the scrolls in a fire the Queen had lit earlier, so Shia would “witness the oath”.
- Riders filed out and Garaam told us they would be fasting all night and into the morning to show their dedication. To pass the time, they would be socialising and playing games together. I tried to learn one of the games, called Carabi, where they use tiles with various symbols.
- Eventually, we retired to our rooms after the very full day and I spent some time with Selenath.