Chapter 32 Faron #2
“What is it you want?” Reglia asked, his voice slicing through the noise.
“We are all guided by our desires. Yours, however, frighten us. You claim it is the goddess’s will you serve.
What, then, does the goddess require? Tell us her will, we who have spent all our lives studying it and praying for it to occupy our hearts and minds? ”
Isabelle pulled back her shoulders and stood tall before them.
“The goddess must rule Kaus, for it is her creation, and we her beloved children. Yet belief in her is threatened by the Church of Stars, and the Astral Kingdom, which would reenact the crimes committed upon us during the reign of the Heartless King. Grant me your blessing, Council, and I shall form Leliel’s Protectorate, a union of all little kingdoms under one banner, whose faith in the goddess shall be unquestioned, and whose purpose is forever defined as a servant to her holy will. ”
The five priests were stunned by the grandeur of her desires. Some were shocked, others openly aghast.
“You would anoint yourself empress?” one asked.
“We are not meant to sway the fate of thrones,” the blue-headed priest insisted.
“We have watched Doremy swallow up the west,” a third priest shouted. “You move in greed disguised as faithfulness to our goddess of peace.”
Isabelle let them ramble for a few seconds before she clenched her fists and bellowed out her response.
“I shall have silence!”
The words rolled like thunder across them, radiance threading her cry into a command, golden and undeniable. The priests rocked in their chairs, eyes wide and uncertain.
“Greed, you call it, as those who trust in me march their feet to bone and bleed out upon the battlefield,” she continued, slowly turning in place to meet each of their gazes in turn.
“It is not greed, priests. It is necessity. Are you deaf and blind to the fate our beloved suffer within the Astral Kingdom? Mitra Gracegiver burns our temples. He banishes our priests and priestesses. His preachers and shepherds spread west like wildfire, and if left unchecked, they will consume us all with a hollow, wretched faith in their sin-obsessed Father.”
Reglia was the first to overcome the command, and he leaned forward in his chair.
“We have sought ways to counter him,” he said. “But why should it be you, Isabelle? Why should we grant you unprecedented power to build your protectorate?”
“Because I have been chosen by the goddess to lead her people.”
The five were calmer now than before, but they still showed great distrust at such a claim, and the lone woman dismissed her entirely.
“History is rife with charlatans and liars who would claim the goddess has given them her blessing,” she said. “Why are you any different?”
Isabelle lifted her arms and tilted her head.
Faron smiled at the sight. There it was, the dwelling power within her.
This was how it should have been from the start.
No exchanging of words. Just Isabelle’s truth, and the undeniable blessing she possessed.
Gold light crackled across her arms like lightning.
Her irises shone as if lanterns burned behind them.
“Because I am .”
The four ethereal wings burst from her back, golden and translucent.
Brilliant light swirled about her like a dress.
Her feet rose off the ground, and she rose before them, her hair fluttering in a silent wind.
Though she had surrendered her sword, she held her hand aloft, and when her fingers closed, she held a gleaming blade that looked capable of piercing the heavens.
“Since the moment I lay in the cradle, I have lived with the goddess’s power within me,” she told the stunned council. “And no man or woman can deny the truth I know. I shall sit upon a throne to reign all of Kaus. It is not greed, pride, or vanity that shall put me there. It is fate.”
“The stories,” Reglia said breathlessly. “We thought them lies and exaggerations.”
Isabelle lowered herself to the ground. The blade vanished from her grip, and her wings faded away like brilliant smoke. Only the glow in her eyes remained, golden and beautiful.
“I am truth, followers of Leliel. Foes of the goddess await, and I shall lead the assault against them. Abandon your fear. Believe not in limitations and defeat. Believe in Leliel. Believe in me . The protectorate shall march upon Racliffe, and by my hand, the Luminary shall be broken and his church cast like refuse to the sea.”
The council had the trio depart for a cozy waiting space decorated with standing statues of deceased priests and priestesses among the many wicker chairs. Reglia was the one who came to them with the news, the deliberations lasting less than an hour.
“Thank you for your patience,” he said as he joined them in the curtained room. “Not only in waiting for our decisions, but also for our stubbornness and doubt to your claims.”
“I ask for much,” Isabelle said. “Reluctance is to be expected. But tell me, what is the council’s decision?”
The priest crossed his arms and spoke firmly, as if reciting a religious decree.
“We of the Council of Worship acknowledge Queen Isabelle’s unprecedented status as chosen of the goddess.
In the name of saving our faithful from the evils of the Astral Kingdom, we will grant our blessing, as well as our financial support, to the creation of Leliel’s Protectorate.
” He paused, a bit of his guarded nature returning.
“With the belief that, in her desire to serve the goddess, the queen shall consult with the Council of Worship and always put the needs of the faithful above her own.”
Faron fought down his chuckle. He should have guessed. The council sought power should Kaus be unified as Isabelle desired. Perhaps they even thought they would be a safeguard against potential tyranny.
“Thank you,” Isabelle said, and she gestured to Aubert. “My family adviser here is familiar with the status of my army’s logistics, and well-versed in my plans for the protectorate. He will help with its establishment, and the council’s role within it.”
“I am eager to be of aid,” Aubert said, bowing low.
“We shall start immediately,” Reglia said.
“Time is of the essence. Mitra has been strangely dormant in responding to your wars across the little kingdoms, but I suspect he will finally awaken when he hears of the birth of Leliel’s Protectorate.
On the bright side, our decree will grant you legitimacy, and it may ease the fears of those yet to bend the knee to your rule. ”
“If it avoids bloodshed, then all the better,” said Isabelle.
Faron clapped his hands, glad for this business to be concluded.
“All right, let’s head back to our army, share the good news, and then prepare to march,” he said, and then turned to Reglia. “Thank you for the escort to the temple. May we meet again soon.”
“Oh, I suspect it will be much sooner than you expect,” Reglia said, and he bowed low to hide his much-too-pleased smile. “For I am coming with you.”