Alex had become very adept at reading his wife’s moods; he had done so for over a hundred years before she had become his wife. He was less adept at dealing with her when she was down, and helping her through it. Not that Rixie spent much time down – but those were the times that Alex most wanted to help her. When she was mad or frustrated or annoyed, she was fine, she’d find a way to make it constructive. Or it was his fault, and he wasn’t going to help anyhow. But he hated to see her hurt, hated it more than anything.

Rixie was down, and he wanted to pull her out of it. He had debated for a long time how to start this conversation. It wasn’t that he feared Rixie’s reaction, it was just one of those sorts of things where his first instinct was to turn it into a joke, but his higher brain knew better. He knew that she didn’t need to joke; she needed to vent. So eventually, he just decided to come right out with it.

“Rix, are you sure this is a path you want to go down?”

Rixie, who had been quietly stewing at her desk in their apartment, suddenly snapped her attention toward him, her eyebrow rising incredulously. “Aren’t you the one who is always trying to encourage me to explore my heritage and look into my past?”

Alex, who was been sitting at his desk, which sat on her desk, nodded. “Yes, I am, and I still believe you should. I’m just doing my job of helping you sort out what you want to do.”

Rixie snorted. “And here I was under the impression your job was to annoy me.”

“No no.” Alex corrected. “That’s my hobby. And don’t think I haven’t noticed your attempt to distract me away from my point.”

Despite herself, Rixie laughed. “Caught me.” Then she sobered. “Look…I don’t know if this is a good idea or not. There are a hundred ways that this could blow up in my face. Hell, before Pryvani met with my relatives…whoever they are…I fully expected to be fending off an assassination attempt or two.

“But I mean…even though I’m pretty sure my relatives don’t want to kill me, that doesn’t mean they’re going to want me to drop by to celebrate the next Distingfest either. And if that’s the case, I’m going to have to deal with that.” Rixie shrugged. “Or maybe they will, and I’ll have to deal with that, too. I can’t ignore the fact this won’t just affect me, either. For all I know my family could be the kind of people who still think you and Ryan should be spending your lives in a glass box.

“But at this point I’m not sure any of that matters,” Rixie continued. “I’ve rung the bell, as it were, and Pryvani’s been in contact with my relatives. They know I’ve been poking around looking for them.

“The next move is theirs, really. I suppose that if Pryvani’s right and they know about me, that means they know about you, Ryan and probably Asteria too…so if they are bigoted, they know to keep their distance.”

“If they do, then they absolutely will keep their distance,” Alex said.

“They will if they know what’s good for them,” Rixie said. “Whoever they are, I won’t risk my family’s safety.”

“It’s not our safety that’d be at risk, Rix,” Alex said. “It’s theirs.”

* * *

Karral had taken the kids down to the lake for a quick swim. Meanwhile, Liss, Nest, and Xele met in the common room of Liss and Nest’s small cabin, which was right next door to the Vilums’.

“I love this! So rustic! Not even a microwave!” Liss said. “Just one vid screen, basic networking…just like colonizing!”

Nest laughed. “Liss, I have told you that my house didn’t have running water or electricity when I was growing up, right? If you’d shrunk this down and dropped it in Gla back then it would have been the envy of the town.”

“Oh, you know what I mean. Even the resettlement camps in Ostia are better-provisioned than this now. But that’s great! It lets you connect with nature. I’d kind of forgotten being out away from the city. I mean, you get there in space, but it isn’t the same.”

“Breathing’s hard if you open the door in space,” Xele said, poking at her pad. “Sweet Emperor’s balls, less than a petabyte of data per second? How did people live like this?”

“Believe it or not, pretty well,” Nest said. “Turns out that the data stream isn’t necessary for living.”

“Says you,” Xele said to the man on the table. “All right, so Namø…that must be the subject’s son, Vynamønen. That would check, he had a wife, so Messenger Katri…his dad is laid up, so I assume the subject is here.”

“I wish Pryvani had given us clearer instructions,” Liss said.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Nest said. “The times she’s sent you all into harm’s way, she’s been as clear as she could be. So if she isn’t being clear, there’s a reason for it. Right?”

“That makes sense,” Liss said. “She’s told us all sorts of things that would have had the potential to break bad against her. Why wouldn’t she tell us anything here?”

Xele leaned back. “Maybe this wouldn’t rebound on her. Maybe it’s about someone else.”

Liss looked up. “Of course,” she said. “But who?”

“Whoever it is, they’re important enough for Pryvani Tarsuss to want to gather intel, but be worried about the fallout if we knew why,” Nest said.

“Right, if it was someone like me, she wouldn’t care if we knew,” Liss said.

“Powerful enough to scare Pryvani. How many people are in that category? Maybe five or six, right?” Nest said. “I mean…the Emperor, the Empress, the Floor Leader….”

“Stop,” Liss said. “Let’s stop going down this path. Because this woman has a connection to one of them. And we don’t really want….”

“It’s the Empress. Or her family,” Xele said. “Her mom worked at the palace on Jutuneim. Maybe this woman has dirt on them. Or maybe this woman is the dirt – she could be a lost heir or something.”

“And tell me, kid, is it good for us to know that this woman could be a threat to the Empress? Or that she might be threatened by the Empress? Or is it better if we just keep our heads down and do our jobs?”

Xele stopped cold. “Like you were saying…it’s impossible to know why we’re here,” she said.

“Right. My guess, if I was guessing, is that Pryvani wants to know what type of person this is because if she’s relatively happy and content, then she’s not likely to be a threat. But if she’s surly and seems ready to pop off at a moment’s notice, it might be a good idea to contain her.”

“And if she needs to be contained, nobody could do that better than Pryvani,” Xele said.

* * *

“Namø, you could have called for help, your dad is just resting, I can leave for a bit.”

“Mother, I worked this camp every summer from when I was twelve until I finished school. I think I can handle a couple check-ins. Besides, they were interesting folks, it was nice to meet them.”

“Hmm. So they’re in 13 and 14?” Vwokhu said, as she reached for her pad.

“I already marked them off, gave them information packets, and told them how to contact us if they need service at their cabins.”

Vwokhu brought up the manifest anyhow, and raised an eyebrow. “One of them is human?”

“I warned him about potential dangers, but I don’t think he’s gonna have trouble. He’s a soldier from Avalon – well, sounds like he’s semi-retired, but still, they were able to kill insectoids, I wouldn’t give a kipp much chance against him.”

“From Avalon, you say?” Vwokhu studied the manifest closer. “The other one in his cabin has an Avalon address too.”

“Yes, she said she has a flat there.”

Vwokhu flipped to the other cabin. “Vilum. She one of the Vilum Vilums?”

“She isn’t – she’s a Federationer. Don’t know about him, but I don’t think so, he didn’t seem stuck-up. They just seemed like a nice family, and friends of the human-titan couple. Couple of cute little kids.”

“Not all rich people are stuck-up, Namø. Don’t be bigoted,” Vwokhu said. “Some are quite cognizant of their status.”

“I suppose so.”

“And if she married a blueface, she’s not a bigot either. Well…probably not.”

“Mom!”

“What?” Vwokhu said, rolling her eyes. “I’m Jotnar. I can say I’m a blueface all day if I want to. If your father did, that would be different.”

“Just…don’t do it around the kids. We’re trying….”

“You’ve said. I know, you’re trying to raise them to be a bit less uncouth than their grandmother.”

Namø sighed. “No, mom, I just…haven’t ever been comfortable using that word.”

“Well, you’re half-islander. And their mother is a Messenger, and it’s not uncommon for even bluefaces like me to pull out the epithets around them. I’ve never used the word around Katri, or Hill, or Peppi. I won’t start now.”

“I know,” Namø said. “Sorry, I just….”

“Namø, you are allowed to set boundaries on me when it comes to your children. But be glad I am your mother. Your grandmother, Otna protect her, was far less willing to back off than I am.”

“I know,” Namø said. “I remember.”

“Yes, you do, and you don’t even know the worst of it,” Vwokhu said. “I loved my mother, but you have no idea how difficult she could be. And not just because I committed the sin of marrying someone from Archavia.”

“Dad’s lucky you’re a sinner. And so am I,” Namø said. “I’ll go take a swing though and make sure 20 and 21 are ready for the group coming tomorrow. You have things here?”

“I was running this camp before you were born. I think I can manage,” Vwokhu said with a slight smile.

But as her son left, Vwokhu turned back to her pad, and dropped the placid demeanor that she’d affected the moment he had mentioned the word “Avalon.” Dividing her screen, she jotted down names – Vilum, Peten, Themego. It didn’t take her much searching to find the connections she knew would be there – including some that would have shocked her if she’d found them in a vacuum.

They weren’t here by accident. That much was clear. But who had sent them? After all this time…who was checking up on her?

“Gorram,” she said softly, to nobody. “Why now?”

* * *

If one wishes to see the difference between the cultures of the broader Empire and the Jotunn, a very quick way to do it is to visit the Palace of the Rising Sun in Tuaut, and then travel to visit the Palace of the Three Shaars in Naesavarna. While the Palace of the Rising Sun is situated in the middle of Tuaut, the Palace of the Three Shaars is on the edge of Naesavarna, with wilderness surrounding it, and a large lake at the center of the palace grounds. As for the palace itself…it is not that the Palace of the Three Shaars is not impressive or beautiful or opulent – it is all of those, for it is a palace. But its opulence is understated, with the occasional rough edge to remind everyone, and especially its rulers, that the Jotnar are not soft people.

Rajenlif was not a soft person, but she did sometimes lament that her predecessors had felt the need to remind her of it. She was on Jutuneim, and as such she had duties to attend to. She had held court, sitting in the hard-backed, ancient Throne of the Carba. It was not gilded, nor festooned with jewels; the seat was decorated with the horns of the carba that the early Jotnar settlers had hunted here. There was a cushion…of a sort. But she was old enough that her back ached when the short, three-hour session concluded.

She stood and looked enviously at the chairs that flanked her. The one at her right, empty for the moment, was Tiernan’s; he had often accompanied her here, and sat quietly beside her as she ruled over her people, interjecting only so much as a consort was allowed, and rarely even that much. Not because Tiernan did not have thoughts on the items brought to her; he did, quite as much as she did on the items brought to him. And he would share those thoughts, in private, when the day was done. But he had always respected that this was her palace, and these were her people, and while he was de jure sovereign even to her…he knew that he best served his people and her people by respecting her position. And more than that, he showed her love and respect by deferring to her in this place. He showed her, repeatedly, that he viewed her not as a subject, but as her equal.

The other chair, the smallest of the three, was being vacated even now by a heavy-set man who was just a bit younger than Rajenlif. He had tanned skin, long gray hair, and a long gray beard. “Cousin,” Rajenlif said, “as always, you have steered Jotnarherath well. There is little for me to do but to ratify your decisions.”

“High-born Rajenlif,” said Lord Tursas Sjedi, “that is only because whenever there is a difficult question, I have the sense to immediately contact you. And because wherever you may be, you have always been our sovereign.”

“That may be. But Riggu Aljansen was not always as careful in his actions as you have been these past twenty-four years. My faith in you has been rewarded a dozen times over. I can think of nobody I would prefer as regent.”

“I am honored, but as always, my sovereign, I await the day when you may ask Princess Vallero or Princess Rhionne or some other worthy soul to stand for you instead. And should that day come, I will be honored to step aside for them.”

Rajenlif nodded. “It is appreciated. Tursas…my brother will be arriving at the palace for a short meeting with me. Will you please direct your staff to erase him from the logs?”

Tursas Sjedi did not so much as raise an eyebrow. “As you wish, my Dronung,” he said. “Shall I have him directed to your personal apartment?”

“Please,” Rajenlif said.

The “personal apartment” of the Dronung is rather like Pryvani Tarsuss’s apartment on Tayas Mons, in that it made up about twenty percent of the palace complex. Of course, most of that was in guest bedrooms, which Rajenlif had assigned to her children and their grandchildren long ago. She passed by the room that Antero had shared, the one that still belonged to Gunvjer; it shared a hallway with the rooms for Kaleva and Vellamo, and was on the way to her personal office. It was, of course, kept fastidiously clean by the staff, and she appreciated that…but she did briefly wish that it was the unkempt wreck that it had been when her son was sixteen, and that he was there for her to berate.

She settled into her desk in her private office, and mentally rehearsed for the conversation. She did not want to come off as imperious, as telling Kullervo what to do. He was not the reckless boy he had been when she brought him back to the palace. He was a better man than the boy he had been. And this was an old wound, one he might have thought closed completely.

Above all else…this was his daughter. She had advised him to bring Aud into the family officially, but she had not forced him. She hoped he would show Rixie at least as much respect as he had showed Aud…but she would not force him to.

There were some things she could dictate, but not that.

“High-born Rajenlif, well-born Kullervo is here to see you,” said the intercom in her desk.

“Send my brother in,” Rajenlif said.

The man who entered the room was old, she thought. Of course, she was old, so naturally he should be. His goatee and hair were gray, and he moved a bit more slowly than he once had. But he wore a conservative coat and pants, and when he smiled there was still a glint in his green eyes.

“Raja, you didn’t have to summon me,” he grumbled through a smile. “I always will drop in when you’re at the palace.”

“Kullo, I just wanted to make sure you were warned that this is a business meeting,” she said, hugging him tight. “Though we can have a drink afterward.”

“As long as it’s juice or soda, I’m up for that,” Kullervo said, sitting a beat after his sister did. “So which of my past mistakes is rearing its ugly head? I hear that Aud is dating Skor Aljansen again. I’m hoping Luviisa isn’t being too hard on them.”

“Remarkably, Luviisa does not seem to know. Or perhaps she’s being willfully blind. You know what I think you should do.”

Kullervo shook his head, but gave her a rueful smile. “If it comes to it, Raja, I’ll talk to Luviisa. Let her know who Aud’s father really is. I don’t know if it would help or not, of course; it’s always about the show for Luviisa. But if that’s what this is about, I’ll do it.”

“It is not…but I am glad to hear it, because that may be necessary. After all, we both know Luviisa would never let her son marry a commoner, even on the third try.”

Kullervo snorted. “’Commoner.’ Like it’s a dirty word. Way Skor’s going his kids won’t be able to marry any of the noble families, they’ll be related to all of them. I’d tell Aud that she could do better, but I doubt she wants to hear it from me.”

“Probably not,” Rajenlif said.

“So if it’s not her that’s the issue, what is? If it’s images of me being a drunken idiot back in school, tell them to go ahead and run with ‘em; I’ve been working with alcohol addicts for decades, it won’t be a shock to anyone.”

“It’s not that,” Rajenlif said. “It’s about your other daughter.”

“Who, Swipul? You heard she was expecting again?”

“I…no, I didn’t. I thought she was done after Dávgen?”

“She was. But unfortunately, her implant failed. She got tested afterward, turns out there’s a genetic anomaly she has that makes the implants less effective. It appears she inherited it from me, and it probably caused my…well, I wasn’t always right on top of getting my implants refilled, and with this, you have to get them filled about half again as often if you don’t want to risk unplanned pregnancy. I’ll give you the information about it; Kaearte doesn’t have it, so you may not either, but if you do you probably want to chat with Rhionne and Vallero. Last thing potential heirs to the throne need to go through is that.”

“I…will. And this is, sort of what I’m here about. Not Swipul, though tell her I am both sympathetic and delighted that I’ll have another grand-niece.”

“Fair enough. As for Kaearte, she’s doing well, so I don’t know….”

“No, not Kaearte,” Rajenlif said. “Your other daughter.”

Kullervo leaned forward in his chair, and looked down. “Ah,” he said. “I see. What…what about her?”

“I have been contacted by a powerful friend of hers,” Rajenlif said. “Your daughter is seeking out her birth family…and came up with a null hit in the database. Her friend is smart enough and connected enough….”

“You talked to Pryvani Tarsuss is what you’re saying.”

“Yes,” Rajenlif said. “If it had been brought to me by anyone else, I would have denied it, I suspect, but Pryvani…Pryvani has earned my honesty. To be honest, so has your daughter.”

With that, Kullervo’s head snapped up. “You know her? You know who she is?”

Rajenlif had not been expecting that. She had thought that Kullervo could be angry, worried, scared, confused. But this…this was hope he was showing her.

“I…I do, Kullo.”

“Who….”

Kullervo ran a hand over his face. “Who is she?”

“Rixie Carey,” Rajenlif said. “The mother of Lord Carey, and the Director of Security for Lady Tarsuss. She’s also a flag officer in the Imperators’ Corps; she’s overseeing the 67^th Special Analysis Group.”

“Carey. I remember her. She was at the swearing-in for the senate. Her husband’s a human, right?”

“Yes,” Rajenlif said. “I’m surprised you watched it. You hate politics.”

“Historic moment,” Kullervo said. “First human in the senate. And he spent his speech talking about her, right? How good she was?”

“Yes,” Rajenlif said. “And I have gotten to know her…and he is, if anything, underselling it.”

Kullervo leaned back, and covered his face. “Oh, thank the Thunder,” he said. He looked back at Rajenlif with his eyes raw. “You know, I’ve worried, all these years…I sent her to the Hoplites, and never even saw her. I know that Aud…I know she resents me. And should. And I feared that she…that…Rixie, yes?”

“Yes,” Rajenlif said.

“I just wanted her…wherever she was…I wanted her to be happy. You say you’ve met her. She’s happy?”

“She is very happy,” Rajenlif said. “She has a good family, she has done good for the Empire. You should be proud.”

“No, I shouldn’t,” Kullervo said. “I’m glad, and relieved, but proud? She did it in spite of me, Raja. She did it in my absence. I might get credit for Swipul or Isku or Kaearte. Maybe just a pinch of credit for Aud. But Rixie…my oldest girl, and I did nothing for her. And I’ve hated myself for it for fifty years. I just wish I had known sooner.”

Rajenlif put her hand on his, and swallowed hard. “Kullo…I didn’t know. I suspected I had the answer, many years ago, when she was still a Hoplite cadet, but….”

“What?” Kullervo said, pulling his hand back.

“I was touring the facility in Chirae Ankelos. I came across a Jotnar Tam cadet, the exact right age, with green eyes. I didn’t know for sure….”

“Why didn’t you…why didn’t you tell me?” Kullervo said.

“Because you were barely stable. Swipul was five or six. You were finally becoming the man you are. And I did not want to undo that. Besides…mother had sent Rixie to be with the Hoplites. And I was too young to know that mother was not always right.”

“Still, you should have told me since,” Kullervo said. “You say you’ve met her, so you had to have known….”

“I didn’t know for certain until a few years ago,” Rajenlif said. “A bit after First Contact. She was at First Contact, you know. Played a key role in saving Titan Station. I did not know that you would want to know, after all these years….”

“You should have asked! Raja, it’s my daughter! Everything I did leading up to her was a stupid mistake, and everything for years after that was me trying to forget that stupid mistake. And when I finally learned to accept it…I never was able to forgive myself. Even Vwokhu forgave me, eventually, but….”

“Wait, wait,” Rajenlif said. “Vwokhu? Her mother? You…you talked with her?”

Kullervo stopped short, and it was his turn to feel sheepish. “Yes, I did,” he said. “A few years after I got married…I was on Sininentavas for a meeting, and I traveled to her camp. Didn’t know if she’d want to see me or not…but she was good. Better than I expected, really. We both talked about what we hoped our daughter would be. She wasn’t married, said she’d worried that she could be a good mom after all of that. I told her she would be, that she shouldn’t let me be the reason she didn’t move forward. I wasn’t worth that.

“I guess she took my advice, because I looked her up a few years later and she had married a guy from Melpomene Reef. She was still running her wilderness retreat, but had him with her as a partner. I should have told you, Raja, but….”

“No,” Rajenlif said. “That was something you needed to do, for yourself. And for her. I should have told you I had identified Rixie; I did not know that you wanted to know. I should not have made that judgment.”

“No, you should not have. She is my daughter, Raja. Even if I did not raise her…she is my daughter.”

Rajenlif swallowed hard. “You are right, and because you are right…I have more that I must tell you. First, Rixie is an honorary member of the House of Throden and ColVanos. She wished to get married as a Jotnar, and as I was in the process of awarding her the Sword of Savarna when I heard, and…I wanted her to have a Jotnar family that she could claim. It is honorary, and that need not change. But whether she knew it was her true house or not…I wanted her to be a part of it.”

“That was…that was gorram kind of you,” Kullervo said.

“And more than that,” Rajenlif said, looking down. “I attended her wedding. I was there as a friend, at the request of Lady Tarsuss, officially…but….”

“You were there as family,” Kullervo said.

“Yes,” Rajenlif said. “She did not know, she does not know. She would not be seeking her heritage if she was. But much of the Imperial family was there, and helped with the ceremony. Only Tiernan knew the deeper reason behind it – I have told nobody else but him, and I have told him only because I know he will not share the information with anyone if I do not give him permission to. But….”

Kullervo sighed. “I am not happy with you, Raja. But…I am not as angry as you deserve me to be. She had someone from her family there, and that….”

“Believe me, Kullo, if I had known…and I should have asked…I would have wanted you there too.”

“If you had known, and you had asked…I may not have gone,” Kullervo said. “I was not a part of her life. She has, it appears, grown up to be a uniquely strong and talented woman. I am the father who was absent from her life, who left her to be raised by the Hoplites, knowing I could have brought her back to safety, to luxury, at any time. She became strong in spite of me. Had I been there at her wedding, I might have told her then…and clouded a happy day with my presence, and a reminder of what I was not.”

“Perhaps,” Rajenlif said. “But perhaps, after all this time, she would have been relieved to know. Because she does want to know.”

“I’m guessing you brought me here to ask if you could tell her?”

“Yes,” Rajenlif said. “And perhaps, to set up a meeting. I do not expect you to claim her, not when you have not claimed Aud. And I will not tell Tellervo, but….”

“Tellervo knows literally everything,” Kullervo said. “Including the age gap between me and Vwokhu. When we’re done here, I’ll head home and tell her what you’ve told me. I have no secrets from her; I can’t.”

Rajenlif nodded. “Tellervo has been a wonderful partner to you, Kullervo.”

“She has,” Kullervo said. “As for Rixie, I would love to meet her. There are good reasons not to make it public; it would embarrass you, my Dronung, and you snapped me to attention when nothing else would. I won’t risk hurting you. But I would like to tell her…in person…that I am sorry, and I am glad she has been happy in spite of me.”

“Lord Carey is Rixie’s adoptive son,” Rajenlif said. “She understands that there are times when a child’s birth parents cannot raise them. I cannot promise that she will love or respect you, but I doubt she will hate you.”

“If she does, I can accept it,” Kullervo said. “I’ve hated myself for my entire life.”

Rajenlif put her hand on his, and he did not pull away. “You should not hate yourself, Kullo,” Rajenlif said. “You are better than you think you are. I am proud to call you my brother.”

“That…means more than you know, Raja.”

Rajenlif nodded. “Very well, I will make the arrangements. I do need to know whether Vwokhu will want to be known.”

Kullervo sighed. “I don’t know. It’s been many years. I can ask her…if you want.”

“Pryvani has sent some people out to check her out,” Rajenlif said. “We’ll see what they say. But for now…I will give her back part of her heritage, with your permission.”

“Please do,” Kullervo said. “And I will definitely take a soda now.”