A forest that was not there yesterday

[unprophesied_of_ages]

The Lord Ruler is in his palace, when he sees a sight he hasn't seen in centuries. Trees, sunlight...is he hallucinating? The fact that there's a forest in his living room isn't the surprising part. The fact that there's a forest on his planet is. As soon as he walks through the door to where his living room isn't, it's definitely not a hallucination.

His stores of Allomantic metals abruptly disappear. They're still physically there, but the power is completely gone. He immediately turns to go back, only to see more forest.

At least his Feruchemy still works—he can tell because he's still alive—but that won't last him forever. He only has so much stored youth, and without both sets of abilities he can't replenish it. He hasn't been in so much danger since the beheading that one time. Returning to Scadrial is the highest and currently only priority. If spontaneous forests are a thing, he needs to find someone who can explain them and more importantly how to get back.

The next few hours are spent walking in an essentially randomly chosen direction, with the sun to his right. He's quite certain that suns are supposed to be moving across the sky, but that's not a pressing emergency. He already knew he wasn't on his own planet when he saw proper trees and plants instead of ash-covered monstrosities. Whenever he calls out, nobody responds. If it's an empty spontaneous forest, he's probably doomed.

After some time, he hears his stomach growl. He hasn't seen much that looks edible, but possibly that's just because he's not used to real plants. Berries. Berries used to exist. Those berries look tasty, and if they're poisonous it's not like he needs to worry about it. As always, he has a truly ridiculous amount of stored health in his gold jewelry. Tapping gold just in case, he eats a handful.

Comments

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi can't really tell which fairies would be highest-ranking, so he asks some who they answer to and questions the person they point out.

"Where is Thorn."

[imeanforever]

"Sir," Veracity interrupts, snapping her fingers at the fairy who was about to answer and shutting him up, "we've got all the sub-courts already. According to Arcane, Thorn is in the one south-southwest of here."

Promise giggles.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Oh." The Flight and the Nine are good. "Have him brought here, then, locked down enough to be safe to a vassaled mortal.
Er, pass that on," he directs to Veracity's master.

[imeanforever]

Veracity spirals up into the air and aims bright light in short bursts towards the south-southwest, presumably as a message. She lands.

Arcane streaks into view with Thorn in tow. They land in the garden. Thorn is still and silent and has his eyes closed.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"Without letting anyone else hear, tell me his name." Alendi approaches the fairy who knows it close enough for her to whisper.

[imeanforever]

"Me too," adds Promise, fluttering closer.

The queen whispers, "Syracerix."

Promise relaxes.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Alendi looks at Thorn and orders him.
"When Promise or I ask you something, answer honestly and without trickery.
Now, to start with. What would you do to me if our positions were reversed?"

[imeanforever]

"Your question is underspecified," says Thorn. "Probably whatever you had in mind my reaction would involve mocking you for how terrible you are with words."

"And a good thing, too, why do you want to listen to that? I can guess what he'd do if our run on the Queenscourt had failed and he'd just collected us after the attempt, for example," says Promise. "You'd probably die slowly, you wouldn't be worth the risk after surviving and escaping a go at the Queen."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I wanted to make him admit it," Alendi says. "Without the protective layer of abstraction. I'd make him contemplate what I'm sure are worse tortures than would occur to me, and then allow him to beg for mercy."

[imeanforever]

"Would you beg for mercy if allowed?" Promise inquires of Thorn.

"If commanded to," says Thorn, "or if within sight of a loophole, or possibly if being tortured is more unpleasant than I currently expect."

Promise glances at Alendi with a raised eyebrow.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

That sounded like it might have been insulting. This was not how the Lord Ruler expected this to go. "You don't need to impugn my torturing capabilities just because I don't have much use for it usually.

Would you like to hear my suggestion for dealing with people like you?"

[imeanforever]

"No," says Thorn.

"Ugh," says Promise.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"We announce to Fairyland that all mortals are under my protection. And that nobody is to try to take one as a vassal. And we let you go.
We leave you somewhere far away, and let you run farther, and you do, because your face and name are on signs wherever we can reach. We make you an example, so that nobody attacks a human again.

Promise convinced me that the person we capture might not be acting against us of their own will. But it was you who enslaved me, not one of your vassals, wasn't it."

[imeanforever]

"Yes," says Thorn. He doesn't look impressed.

"Do you have," says Promise, "any idea how terrible an idea that is? Publish his name? Let him move around? He's a manipulator. He makes allies as often as he makes victims. There's a better than fifty percent chance that he'd find someone to rescind all the restrictions on him and set up new."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I believe you. But it's not about him; it's about terrifying future opponents.

What were you planning, throwing him in a dungeon for eternity?"

[imeanforever]

"Alendi. If. Thorn. Gets. His. Orders. Rescinded. He. Can. Order. You. I will turn him into a bird and keep him in a birdcage."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I'm not worried about orders; we rule multiple worlds and can exile him to whichever I'm not on.
And a birdcage sounds boring. He might as well make himself useful in the atium mines."

[imeanforever]

"We have the queen! We are not short on manual labor! We have sorcerers including me! We are not short on metal! Thorn does not advertise being a sorcerer himself but he spends enough time around them that I would not be in the least surprised if he could eventually figure out gates or already has the ability as an ace in the hole! Your plan is insane! You are not good at this. You are not used to thinking in terms of masters and vassals and orders and sorcery. If you do not take my advice on this Thorn will get you and the queen and everything follows from that."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"I have been ruling an empire for longer than you've existed!
I'm not used to this system of orders, but I'm not going to actually tell him anything risky until I am. He can spend a few years in a cell with orders to do everything to himself that he'd make an escaped vassal do, and when I'm confident I can do it safely I'll let him out then. I'm not stupid."

She's probably right. He's not going to admit it.

[imeanforever]

"Thorn, what do you hope Alendi will do?"

"I hope he'll ignore you," says Thorn, "like the experienced emperor he is."

Promise turns Thorn into a sparrow.

[unprophesied_of_ages]

Well, that could have gone better.

"Now that Thorn's out of the way, there aren't any serious threats on a scale of years, are there? No matter how many courts we conquer, it'll take time before it's safe to move forward with the next plan."

[imeanforever]

"Queen, your assessment?" asks Promise.

"I do not know your next plan, but there is nothing that comes to mind which might threaten you if you make no serious mistakes," says the Queen.

"And what if we do make serious mistakes?"

"There are courts the size of Thorn's and larger whose leaders may be tempted to exploit them and collect my court and yours."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"If it's size that's the problem, can't we just send you against any noticeable courts?"

The Lord Ruler can't immediately think of any reason the Queen hasn't done this already, if only to award positions at the top of different courts to loyal vassals, but there could be one.

[imeanforever]

"Yes. But I do not know how many there may be far-flung across Fairyland," the Queen says.

"We're in a very defensively viable position right now and unless we," Promise diplomatically pluralizes, "do something dumb we won't get any worse off offensively; Arcane and the Flight and the Nine will go on existing until we've got things consolidated among the huge number of vassals we've already acquired, most of whom are standing stock-still where they were when the Queen recently yelled at them. We need to - or at least I need to; feel free to delegate" she says diplomatically "this entirely to me - need to figure out the structure of the Queenscourt and be able to handle it less clumsily and with less indiscriminate hold orders."

[unprophesied_of_ages]

"That sounds entirely uninteresting. Make sure everyone ends up answerable to me and send me some sorcerers, and you can consider as much of it delegated as you like."