“The timing of this is the important thing,” Aud said. “Are you sure that Gudtormr Nieadlgisl won’t outrun the start on this?”

“As I’ve told you, Gudda is an old friend,” Luviisa said, sipping her brewleaf. “And he knows that if he tries to break this early, I can share a few stories about him that would end his career. Don’t worry, the interview will be released precisely three hours into the conclave. Of course, you will be receiving a call from Rajenlif approximately five minutes later….”

“I expect that. But she can call and berate me all she wants,” Aud replied, smiling. “By then, it will be too late.”

“Indeed,” Luviisa said. “So are you ready?”

“I am,” Aud said. “I am.”

* * *

“I must confess,” Kullervo said, checking his notes once more, “I would feel better if you were chairing the meeting.”

“Nonsense, brother,” Rajenlif said. “You’ve represented the House of Throden at conclaves enough times to know how pointless they are. As for serving as chair, it’s yours to run, just as Tursas would run it while he was Regent, but you’re just following the script; anything of note on the agenda?”

“Eh, the usual. House of Umbas and House of Sjedi both have requested time at the start to honor Ljied and Tursas. House of Aljansen also wanted time for a matter of house privilege – that’s Luviisa announcing that Aud is pregnant, I would imagine. Otherwise just the normal order of business, nothing to worry about. Any announcements from you, my Dronung?”

“Yes, I’m sending through an announcement to close with, noting that under the combined rules of the House of Throden and ColVanos, Vallero is now first heir to the Carba Throne; it should be non-controversial, but….”

“One never knows how Protecting the Pure Savarnan Flesh will manifest itself. Don’t worry, Raja, I know for a fact that that Swipul has less than no interest in being Dronung, so unless they’re planning on putting forth Dagur Throden-Nielemeg or something….”

“I think it’s unlikely. They might grumble and argue for Swipul,” Rajenlif said. “Probably for the best that Rixie doesn’t want to be Dronung, though. She’d present…some problems, if she wanted to.”

“She’s smart. Smarter than I was at…any age. Raja…I don’t know as I’ve thanked you…for helping me meet her. It…it’s more than I deserve.”

“Not at all,” Rajenlif said. “I am just glad that when she got to meet her father…you were the father she deserved.”

“That’s another thing I owe you for,” Kullervo said.

“No,” Rajenlif said. “Yes, I jerked you up short, but…you didn’t have to learn from it. You didn’t have to recognize your faults. I haven’t kept you from alcohol, you’ve done it yourself.”

“Well, Tellervo has helped,” Kullervo said.

“Of course she has. But still…Kullo…when I was young and headstrong, I thought you were reckless and stupid. And you were. But I did not understand that you were not fully in control of your recklessness and stupidity. I did not understand that you were trying to fill a void that our parents had left.”

“You make it sound noble or understandable. It wasn’t,” Kullervo said. “I can’t blame mother and father for my faults.”

“No, and you do not, and that is why you have a wife who loves you, a family that loves you, and why your eldest daughter has been willing to try to form a relationship with you. I just…I wish I knew how to reach your second-oldest daughter.”

“I wish I did too, Raja,” Kullervo said. “I don’t care if she loves me, but I know her mother loved her. I sometimes think she’s too much like me, though – she needed more than I gave her, and she’s trying to find it by being Skor’s wife, by becoming Lady Aljansen. And I don’t want to tell her that it won’t solve it…I mean, I think she knows. She asked me the other day if I didn’t regret the end of the House of Throden, as it took my children out of the line of succession.”

“Did she?” Rajenlif said. “What did you tell her?”

“The truth. My children are all fine. Even the ones I didn’t raise. I mean, four of the five are in noble families, and if Kit wanted me to I could arrange a marriage for her tomorrow to one of the seventy-nine, if not one of the Ten – not that she wants me to. She’s too smart for that.

“And it’s not like ‘noble family’ is an important thing,” Kullervo added. “Rixie was a Hoplite, and she’s as noble as they come, and her son is Lord Carey because…well, he gained his honor in the same fight Antero did. He didn’t do it because he was of noble flesh, he isn’t even a Titan, he did it because noble flesh is no different from other flesh.”

“Well said,” Rajenlif said. “Rixie is glad, I know, to know who her family is. But while she carries a legacy from you and from Vwokhu….”

“…her genetic heritage did not make her the woman she was,” Kullervo said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Rajenlif said. “We are all a blend of genes and environment. And she has some of your insight, brother. And some of your willfulness.”

“But thank Otna,” Kullervo said, “that she used it for a better purpose.”

* * *

Gudtormr Nieadlgisl sat in a chair across from Skor and Aud Aljansen, with Luviisa off to the side. Two camera drones were recording – Gudda had long ago programmed the AI to zoom and cover as needed, and with two drones, they could always patch a shot together later. It was helpful; Gudda preferred interviewing with as few distractions as possible.

Still, Gudda was a respected journalist, and so before he began, he decided to go over the ground rules one more time, as he was still not entirely sure he wanted to agree to them.

“Just to be clear,” he said, “me running this depends very much on what you have to say. I know you’ve said it’s important, and the timing is important, and for that reason I’ve agreed to it – but you’ve said it needs to be completely embargoed until after the start of the conclave. Luviisa, we’ve known each other a long time….”

“I know, you will not be a party to inter-house sniping…at least, not without good reason,” Luviisa said. “But I think you’ll agree when you hear from Audara…there is good reason for secrecy.”

“And if I disagree…then I do agree to keep this off the record,” Gudda said. “All right, before we start the interview…what is it that’s so important and so secret you can’t just issue a release like normal people?”

Aud squeezed her husband’s hand. She’d thought this would be easy, but it was not; her stomach flip-flopped, and her conscience briefly tried to waive her off of her path. But she took a deep breath, and smiled, and said, “Mr. Nieadlgisl, my father is Kullervo Throden. And I am the oldest living grandchild of Dronung the ninth Hirera. As such, I am asserting a claim that I am the rightful heir to the Carba Throne.”

Gudda stared at the young woman for a long moment. “I assume you have proof?”

“Yes, obviously,” Aud said. “Mother Luviisa has genetic documentation, and I can show a number of transfers of money directly from my father to my accounts.”

“Why do you want to wait until the conclave begins to release this?” Gudda asked.

“Because I have been asked, for many years, to keep it quiet. If you go to my father now for confirmation…there will be intense pressure on me to recant. To deny the truth. And I do not wish to deny it. With the conclave in session and the Ten sealed from outside influences, they will not be able to ask me to hide this. They will have to react to the truth after Jotnarherath has been told.”

Gudda looked at the two, then over to Luviisa. He liked her, and he’d known her for decades, but he knew this was potentially explosive. “I will embargo the story until the agreed time, and will not breathe a word of it until the conclave starts. But as soon as the conclave begins…I will have to contact the Dronung for a response.”

Aud frowned, but Luviisa smiled genially. “I expected as much; you can hardly run the story without a statement from her.”

“And it goes without saying….”

“Obviously,” Luviisa said with a smile, “if we are lying, you will be only too happy to attack us for it.”

Gudda took a deep breath. “Let’s hope the Dronung doesn’t execute us all. All right, let’s begin. Countdown countdown countdown.” The drones bleeped three times, and then a long tone; when it was complete, Gudda said, “Today I’m speaking with Sen. Skorsjad Aljansen and his new wife, Audara Aljansen. Ms. Aljansen has a startling claim, one that could impact Jotnarherath forevermore. Ms. Aljansen, tell me about your father.”

* * *

It was a pretty laid back house party, which was about Siru’s speed. Sure, there was dancing and drinking and making out, and Siru was happy to engage in two of the three, but it wasn’t a rager. Still, she was enjoying her time there, and was getting nicely buzzed with an eye on the clock; Aleks should be waking up in about two hours, and she had a plan in place to show up at his place just a little bit drunk, but not, like, super-drunk, and then drag him back to her place. She knew it wasn’t really a good plan, but she thought it was a fun plan, and honestly, he’d probably go along with it.

Sipping an alut, Siru walked around a corner and nearly collided with a man a head and a half taller than her. “Decanus Tam, good to see you,” she said cheerfully.

“Can you at least call me Axed, so it isn’t totally obvious why I’m here?” the large man grumbled.

“Given that you’re drinking water and keeping a close eye on everything that guy does, it’s pretty obvious why you’re here, Axed,” Siru said, “and I don’t think anyone’s here to kill Ulysses. Hi, Ulysses, how are you!”

Prince Ulysses laughed as he saw Siru. “A few drinks behind you, is how I am. You seem happy, though, so I’m guessing you and Aleks made up?”

“Yah, we did, it was all a silly…you know…he was being sweet, really, he thought me dating him put him in danger or something, and worse, put me in danger. But that was silly.”

Ulysses bit his lip; Siru was a little bit drunk, and if she was more sober, she’d be a little more circumspect about what kind of trouble dating a human could get you in. No, she’d never have to go through what his parents had…but Aleks wasn’t wrong to worry. Sill, he was genuinely glad that they’d made up, and he almost just dropped it…but he was half-human, and his innate human curiosity got the best of him.

“So what made him think that you were in danger?”

“Oh, he overheard grandma and Aud, and grandma was being grandma, and talking about Ljied Umbas dying, but like, how it would affect the Almighty House of Aljansen, you know. Stupid and annoying.”

“To be fair, your dad did kind of swoop in and grab the legate position from your brother. No offense.”

“Nah, that’s…I mean, I don’t like that he did that, it’s kinda weird, but that’s the thing, like, grandma always would worry first about what’s good for the House, and then for dad, and maybe after that worry about Riggu and me, so if you’re not used to that it sounds bad. And I mean…it is bad, but I’m used to it,” Siru said, gesturing and spilling just a bit of alut as she did.

“So hearing that, he must have been worried you’d get cut out of the family or something,” Ulysses said.

“No, it’s silly, that’s the silly part, he thought that they’d, like, kill me. Can you believe it? And it was all because of how they were talking about Ljied, and something he must’ve misunderstood about Aud.”

“What’s that?” Ulysses asked.

“He said she was trying to get corri…carri…made Dronung. But that’s the most silly part, she’s a commoner, how could she be Dronung?” She laughed, and looked down. “Man, I may have overdone it on the alut, I’m drunker than I thought.”

She looked back up at Ulysses, and it took her just a moment, in her inebriated state, to recognize that he wasn’t laughing, or amused, or finding this silly. His eyes had gone wide, and he took a very deep breath.

“Siru,” he said, trying to keep his voice even, “where is Aleks right now?”

“He’s asleep at his dorm, I was gonna go wake him up in a bit, but I think I may be drunk enough that it won’t be fun and it’ll be more…like…scary. What’s wrong?”

Ulysses looked over to Axed Tam, and said, “Can you call in additional support, to meet us at Barreda Hall?”

Tam nodded, and grabbed his pad.

“What’s wrong, Ulee?” Siru asked.

Ulysses leaned in, swallowed hard, and whispered, “Aud is my Great-Uncle Kullervo’s illegitimate daughter.”

Siru stared at him as she took a step back. And then, before she knew it, she was headed for the bathroom, where she would vomit profusely.

* * *

“My concern is for Jotnarherath,” Aud said, as the interview wound to a close. “I have no personal desire to be Dronung; if I had, I would have announced this long ago. But we are being turned into just another province of Aement. And I fear that when the Carba Throne is just another chair for the Empress to sit on, well…what is left of Jotnarherath when there is no more Dronung? No more Jofur? No, we must commit to defend Jutuneim, as we always have before, and to maintain our separate, co-equal status. Anything less ends our fight for freedom in defeat.”

“You certainly make a case for that,” Gudda said, “but as you acknowledge…this will not be easy.”

“Of course not,” Audara said. “But I am Jotnar, and we are not a soft people.”

“Thank you for your time, Well-born Audara,” Gudda said. “End end end,” he added, and a marker tone sounded. “I must say, this is going to get…significant pushback from Dronung Rajenlif.”

“I expect it,” Luviisa said. “But Aud is right; what the people want is what’s important. She is giving the Jotnar people the chance to demand a Jotnar leader. That is all she is doing. If they ultimately elect members of the Jotnardiggi who support Vallero….”

“But of course, I do not think they will,” Aud said. “I think that, knowing the stakes, the people of Jotnarherath will do what we’ve always done, and stand for our independence.”

Gudda took a deep breath. “Well, we’ll see soon enough. This will air tomorrow; Otna protect us all.”