Sheets of rain fell on Naesavarna, and Dronung Throdr – she would one day be Dronung the First Throdr, but at that time she was simply Throdr, the first of her name to sit on the Carba Throne – stared disconsolately out on the day.

She was in the Palace of the Three Shaars, but not the Palace of the Three Shaars that you can visit today; the Palace of the Three Shaars was much less of a palace, and much more of a house; Jutuneim was still a developing colony, after all. And the Carba Throne was a different chair. Okay, that is not exactly true; the Throne itself has been in existence since the fifth Imperial Century, but every scrap of wood and every Carba horn has been replaced at least four times in the nearly ten thousand Terran years since it was first constructed. Jotnar children are taught the paradox of the Carba Throne the way you may have been taught the paradox of the Ship of Theseus, except there are three extra Carba Thrones that have been constructed from the leftover parts of their predecessors. Which is the true throne? It depends very much on your point of view. For the Jotunn, they all are real, which may or may not tell us something about the way the Jotunn view the universe.

Throdr was just sixteen, and she had become the leader of the Jotunn literally by accident. She was the great-great-granddaughter of Dronung Miija III, through Prince Uđjjus, then his daughter, Princess Swipul, and then Swipul’s daughter, Hyrikken RajTromsø. Throdr had royal blood, but she had not carried the title of Princess until the waning weeks of Dronung Thogn’s reign.

Thogn had no issue, and had died at 39. She had taken the throne at fifteen, succeeding her mother, Dronung Yulissa II, who had died at 38 years old, with Thogn her only child. (Eventually, Jotnar scientists would realize that they both had a genetic mutation that caused rejection of the tissue transplants that were a regular part of therapy for the well-to-do at the time – the same mutation that has now spread to most Jotnar, and that has made them avoid cloned organs when artificial ones will work. But this is not a story about Rixie Carey’s artificial larynx; it is a story about Throdr.)

Yulissa did have a younger brother, Thur, but he had been gored during a carba hunt when he was 24. And so Throdr was the eldest of the of six living descendants of Miija, the other five being her younger siblings.

Throdr did not much care for the big city of Naesavarna, with its 75,000 inhabitants. Her mother and father had helped to found the new colony at Tromsø in an effort to build their fortunes. They did not expect Hyrikken to be in line to succeed to the throne, and frankly, would not have been very interested if they had known it was an option. They were true Jotnar, and they were much happier planting a field and building a cottage than living in a town with a spaceport. Along with Jans Annalie and his family, they had led the creation of a thriving farming community of almost 80 families, and they were excited to see where the city would go.

Of course and alas, if they had been alive to see it then Hyrikken would be alive to succeed. But living in a colony on the edge of civilization is not safe, and the farming accident that took both their lives – Hyrikken when the gu stampeded, and Lozar trying to save her – was hardly the only deadly accident that had or would occur in their colony. Throdr very much wanted to remain there – her younger brother, Logi, was doing his best to keep the farm going, but he was just fourteen, and even with Alla Annalie helping out with the farm and Laro Annalie helping with the youngsters, he was too young to manage it by himself.

But messengers for the palace had come to find Hyrikken, and found Throdr instead; they had told her it was of great importance that she come to the capital of Jotnarherath to lead their people. And so it came to pass that a farm girl of just sixteen years had been crowned and sat upon the throne and told to rule.

That had been two days ago, and Throdr had in that time come to some momentous conclusions, conclusions that would shape the destiny of the Jotnar people, and cause her to be remembered as a hero of the Jotunn. As her coterie of advisers — well, Thogn’s advisers, who had stuck around to advise her – came into the throne room, she turned to them.

It was time to share her thoughts.

“It is absurd,” said High Dronung Throdr, Queen of Jutuneim, “that you have made me your leader. Absolutely, completely, ridiculous. What in the name of Savarna were you thinking?”

“High-Born Throdr,” said one particularly unctuous adviser, “I know that you are young, and new to Naesavarna, but this is our way.”

“Good way. Great. Your way is to hand me the power to lead all the Jotnar, those here on Jutuneim and those suffering back on Archavia under the misrule of that arse-sucker Emperor Esarn? Me, a girl who you just agreed does not understand the ways of government?”

(It should be noted that almost all historians believe that Throdr did not speak those words about Esarn. It seems too trite, they say, too unlikely that a farm girl would have known of Esarn or the way that the Jotnar were being oppressed in Savarna. But these historians are wrong; hatred of Esarn among the Jotunn was universal and intense, and in truth it would be surprising if she had not mentioned Esarn, as profane condemnation of him was an integral part of polite conversation on Jutuneim in those days.)

(It should also be noted that no texts today include the fact that Throdr called Esarn an “arse-sucker,” but she most assuredly did, and indeed, it would have been considered gauche for her not to have.)

There was some hemming and hawing among the group, with members trying to alternately flatter and condescend to the young queen, until one woman shouted, “Enough!”

Mylor NieUkko had earned the right to yell; she was a strong and vibrant 55, and had worked her way up over four decades to serve as head of all peacekeepers on Jutuneim. She had a reputation as both expansively gentle and expansively vicious. If you were part of the meek, the downtrodden, a non-Otnist in an Otnist town, or a Tannhauseran Jotnar emigré who was looked down upon for being an “aemet,” she was your friend. If you were a low-level thief or prostitute or drug dealer, who was violating the law not out of malice but simply to get by, she would try to help you to a legitimate career, rather than simply locking you away. But If you were a hardened crook or a killer or a bigot, she took great delight in harming you back. She is Rixie Carey’s direct ancestor, and the direct ancestor of all Jotunn alive today.

“Throdr, you’re a good and smart kid. You’d probably make the best ruler in this room, because you’re the only one who seems to understand that water picks up speed as it runs downhill. You’re young, and you didn’t train to do this. What we need to do is figure out how to keep things together until you learn.”

“And until then, what? Even though I would try to learn, I am right now the sovereign of the Jotnar, I already have the power to make laws.”

“Any laws you want, my Dronung!” said the unctuous man.

“That’s just the problem, Kulli!” Mylor said. “She’s smart enough to know that an inexperienced kid can break a lot of things even when they’re trying to help. Why aren’t you?”

“Wait,” Throdr said, holding up a hand. “I think Kulli may have hit on something by accident. I can make any law I want?”

“Yes,” Mylor said. “At least on Jutuneim, your powers are plenary.”

“I see. I had thought I would have to convince you all, but this makes it easy for me to do what I wanted. And so I make my first law. Do record this. ‘If a Dronung or Jofur shall, in their first year on the throne, realize that the job is too big for them, that another should serve in their stead, then they may yield the throne to a worthy successor, who shall create a new lineage of sovereigns.’ I can do that, right?”

“Uh….” said Kulli, but Mylor smiled.

“As I said, your power is absolute. You just did.”

“Then it is done.”

“Wait, wait! You…that is not our way! You can’t just make up a new law for succession!”

“Kulli, make up your mind!” Throdr said. Mylor burst out laughing, and Throdr smiled at the woman.

“You, I remember,” the young Dronung said. “You head the peacekeepers. You came out to train our volunteer peacekeepers in Tromsø.”

“Yes, I did,” Mylor said. “They seemed eager to help. I hope they have continued in the spirit of that training.”

“They have,” Throdr said. “I remember, you told them their job wasn’t to stop criminals, but to stop crime and help people. And that they should do that however was best, and if that meant that they help out a weak-willed lawbreaker rather than punish them, then they should do that.”

“It is true. But I’m surprised they shared it; I did warn them not to tell that to the general public, lest they think it was a general invitation to commit crimes.”

Throdr blushed. “My…my boyfriend, Alla…is one of the peacekeepers.”

“You are but sixteen, and you should….” began one woman, but Mylor cut through her.

“She is your Dronung, Savra NieAntero. And did you not have a boyfriend when you were fifteen?”

“Savra had a girlfriend,” another man grumbled.

“Oh, are we to start that whisper campaign again?” a third said. “It was decriminalized under Miija. I don’t care if she spends her entire life in a Tannhauser Gate Marriage, that does not make her incompetent!”

“You would say that, Balter, we all know you and your wife have an open….”

“Enough!” shouted Throdr. “I see many children here, and one adult. I am a child, and though I know I will soon be old enough to be on my own, I am not now. If my mother or father was alive, I would be grateful for their guidance. I had hoped that there would be adults here to guide me, but the only one I see is Ms. NieUkko. Is there only one grown-up in all of Naesavarna?”

“There are many,” Mylor said. “Not enough in the court of the Dronung, I fear. But among the people…there are many wise people. I have always thought, the one thing they do well on Archavia – they have the Legislature.”

Throdr nodded. “Yes, my father told me about this. A place for citizens to have a say in their government. This is wisdom, for who has to live with the laws? The powerful? No, the powerful can ignore the law, they have no need of it, they have power aplenty. The people who live with the law are the citizens.” Throdr nodded. “So let me make a second law: ‘My successor must design and create a body of citizen-advisors to the sovereign. Once this body is selected, they can advise the sovereign on any issue. Their advice may be disregarded, but may not be ignored.’ I do not know the best way to select that group, but I am sure wise people, in careful consideration, will come up with a means. ‘And let no sovereign ever stop this group from giving its advice. If the sovereign disagrees with their advice, let them explain why.’”

“You have a group though, that’s what we’re for,” Savra said. “To provide advice.”

“You’re doing a bad job of it.”

“Dronung Throdr, these laws…I do not know….”

“Kulli, you told her she can do anything she wants, and she just did,” Mylor said. “As she told you earlier…make up your mind. She is your Dronung. You obey her.”

Throdr smiled at Mylor. “Not anymore. My third and final act as Dronung is a simple one. By the law I made earlier today, I declare that I am not ready to be Dronung, and that this job does not suit me. So I pass it to someone who has demonstrated wisdom, not just here, but in her understanding of the role of the peacekeeper. Mylor – are you named for Geastomylor Herjas, the pilot?”

“I am, Dronung Throdr.”

“You will be the last to be. Because the next Geastomylor born will be named for you. I declare you, Mylor, to be High Dronung Geastomylor, Queen of Jutuneim.” And with that, Throdr bowed to her queen.

“Wait,” Mylor said. “First, Throdr – you have strong instincts. You would make a good Dronung. And second…why me?”

“You care for the people as a leader should,” Throdr said. “You care not for power – you want people to be happy and safe, and that is what a leader should want above all else. As for me…I just want to go home.”

Mylor nodded, and took a deep breath. “I will try to be worthy of this.”

“You are the worthiest person in this room.”

And so Geastomylor NieUkko – her surname has since been modernized to Ukkoson – became Dronung Geastomylor I. She is remembered by history as a wise and beloved queen, who founded the Jotnardiggi, faithfully fulfilling her predecessor’s second and final law. She would rule for twenty-three years, and the House of Ukkoson would rule Jotnarherath until Antero Throden took the throne 497 years later.

As for Throdr, she is the shortest-tenured Dronung in Jotnar history. But don’t feel bad for her. After choosing her successor, Drozha Throdr returned home, and married Alla, Jans Annalie’s eldest son, the peacekeeper. She was something of a celebrity, of course, but she did not put on airs, she simply helped to continue the work of her parents and the other colonists in Tromsø. And though Alla wanted his children to take their mother’s last name of RajTromsø, or perhaps Iiskuson, Alla was already known around the village as Al, Jans’ son – or Al, jansu senr in the Jotnar language – and Throdr did not care what her children’s surnames were. And so their eldest son, Ilmarjnen, was known as Ilmar, son of Al, Jans’ son, but the first “son of” was dropped more often than not.

Whatever his name, Ilmar, the son of Throdr and Alla, grew to be a respected leader in the community. And it was recognition of his work, his grandparents’ bravery, and most of all, his mother’s wisdom, that would lead Dronung Hirera II to name Ilmar as Hersja of Tromsø, the Dronung’s representative in that colony, and the head of his house, the first noble house in Jotnarherath, the first anywhere in the Empire, the House of Aljansusenr – or as we know it today, the House of Aljansen.