Lillene

Enjoy!

Once they were inside the inner wall, Themrys City looked far better maintained. The buildings still showed some damage that hadn’t been repaired; it was clear that there was currently no stone mage in the city repairing the buildings. The damage was mostly superficial, probably from fights with monsters that had broken past the gate at some point in the past; it disappeared as they moved farther into the city.

Serenity found the Imperial construction less depressing than Lyka’s almost institutional style, at least. It wasn’t quite the same as anywhere he’d been on Earth, with solid stone construction that was used like concrete but wasn’t. The overall style reminded him of East Asian architecture, though Serenity couldn’t quite say why. It was definitely all built at about the same time and had all the flair of military construction, but the way it was laid out, with large walled open areas and buildings grouped together, still made it seem a little less bleak.

The World Governor’s main public building wasn’t just a city hall; it was a full palace. It was gigantic, with an expansive set of gardens that were divided by a wall into inner and outer gardens. The wall was only about three feet tall, more ornamental than actually restrictive but still tall enough to make it clear that there was a division.

Lord Cymryn stopped the flyers at the path that led into the gardens. “We have to walk from here. Oh, and Serenity? For what it’s worth, I’m sorry; I didn’t expect this to be as difficult as it was.”

Serenity wasn’t surprised by having to walk; making others walk was a fairly common way to establish dominance, after all. It was common enough that he simply expected it around major buildings; the only people who were likely to be able to fly up to the building were the Governor and the Emperor, if he ever visited. It was the rest of the statement that worried him. “Why are you sorry?”

Lord Cymryn gave an uncomfortable shrug. “I had to reveal more about you than I like. The Governor is … not pleased with the request and was quite unwilling to accept it without something more than a promise to look into the problem Themrys has. I promised you’d mention his help when you meet the Emperor.”

“When I meet the Emperor? Why would I meet the Emperor?” Serenity stared at Lord Cymryn like he was out of his mind. Why would Serenity even want to meet the Emperor?

Lord Cymryn frowned at Serenity. “Of course you will. You’re the shield for what might be the most important Human planet discovered in the last thousand years; of course the Emperor will want to meet you.”

Serenity blinked. Cymryn didn’t seem to have put together the fact that Serenity was the Sovereign for not only Earth but Tzintkra, Lyka, and Aeon. Even without that, he’d come up with a reason Serenity was important that Serenity couldn’t really refute. Worse, Serenity would probably have to agree to meet the Emperor. If he didn’t, the odds of the Emperor either taking it as an insult or assuming he didn’t want to meet because he was too weak were too high for Serenity to ignore.

All he knew about the current Emperor was what he’d heard as Vengeance, and that was a vague impression that he was a decent Emperor, at least to the core Imperial worlds. He probably remembered far less than he’d heard; it simply wasn’t important at the time. It certainly wasn’t enough to know anything about how touchy he was or how he treated worlds that were newly inducted.

They were nearly to the wall between the gardens when Senkovar broke the silence. “I thought you said your Grand Imperial Warrant would let you arrange everything?” 

“It should have,” Cymryn muttered. “Unfortunately, the Governor knows no one wants to spend any time on this world; he considers his position a punishment instead of a reward. He wanted a guarantee of a better position or at least the use of a quickship; neither of those are within my Warrant, not for this. A mention to the Emperor is all I could manage to get him down to.”

Serenity wasn’t thrilled about that, but he supposed it was harmless. If he didn’t meet the Emperor, it wouldn’t matter; if he did, he could give details. It might not work out the way the Governor thought it would in that case, but that wasn’t his problem.

The procession that came out of the palace’s double doors just after Serenity and Cymryn crossed the gate from the outer gardens to the inner gardens, however, was definitely Serenity’s problem. The man in the lead appeared to be in his late fifties, probably once a warrior but clearly not one anymore by the amount of weight he carried. The other people with him were clearly all guards; they wore armor with both the Empire’s sigil and something that had to be either a personal sigil or the symbol of Themrys. 

“Eight people, just like us,” Senkovar muttered from behind Serenity. “The Governor’s meeting you as an equal. Do you know the protocol?”

Serenity shook his head. He’d never moved in that sort of circle in the Empire. 

“Of course not.” Senkovar’s whisper wasn’t just quiet; it seemed strained. “There isn’t time to teach you, either. Why did Cymryn have to spring it on you here? No time. Be cold, formal, and polite. That will have to do. Oh, and don’t speak first. This is his land.”

Serenity gave a sharp nod. He wasn’t particularly good at cold, formal, and polite but he could give it a try. 

Lord Cymryn stepped back a step so that Serenity was leading. A step later, Serenity heard Senkovar whisper to Rissa to go stand with Serenity. She hurried to catch up to him.

The Governor couldn’t seem to decide which of the two of them to look at. Slightly before Serenity would have felt comfortable talking, the Governor stared somewhere between Serenity and Rissa as he spoke. “You are Lord Serenity of Earth?”

Serenity took one more step forward to reach a comfortable conversational distance. The title wasn’t right, but it was close enough for these purposes. “I am.”

The Governor of Themrys focused on Serenity and smiled. “I’ve heard a great deal about you from your guide to the Empire. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to Themrys, jewel of the Empire.”

Serenity started to smile in return until he remembered Senkovar’s advice. Smiling wasn’t cold, even if he used a formal smile. He knew there were cold smiles but it wasn’t something he was good at. It would be better to stay expressionless. “I appreciate the welcome.”

:Blaze says not to let him touch you,: Ita forwarded silently to Serenity. :He says he’ll explain later.:

Serenity tried not to react visibly to the silent message. He couldn’t come up with any good reason for that warning; every reason he could think of was bad. Come to think of it, he’d never thought to ask if diehar could sense each other.

“Is this lovely lady your wife?” The Governor stepped forward and reached out to cup Rissa’s cheek. 

Serenity didn’t even have to try to stop him; Rissa stepped back away from him as fast as he moved in. 

“Did she say you could touch her?” Serenity spat the words out without evaluating them. He wasn’t thinking about his expression anymore; it would take care of itself. No one was going to impose on Rissa that way.

The Governor froze. A puzzled look crossed his face and he glanced back and forth between the two of them. He seemed more confused than offended. His musing tone of voice reinforced the impression even as it stoked the flames of Serenity’s anger. “Oh, right. Warrant Cymryn said that you were from the frontier; you would not know proper customs and honors.”

Serenity tried to rein himself in. It wasn’t easy.

Rissa intervened before Serenity said something that would probably make things worse. “Why don’t we all go inside? That’s the point of this trip, after all. Serenity and World Shaman Senkovar Et’Tart need to spend some time working with your World in a nexus. While they do that, the rest of us would be happy to pass some time speaking with you.”

The Governor tilted his head back a little and seemed to consider Rissa’s peacemaking attempt. “Very well.” 

The Governor passed between his soldiers; they then formed up into pairs with a single man in the rear and led the way into the palace. The man in the rear asked Serenity and Senkovar to follow him while the Governor led the way to a room for the others. 

The guard led Senkovar and Serenity to a comfortably furnished waiting room. Tapestries covered the walls while three overstuffed chairs sank into the deep carpeting. A rope hung from the ceiling near one of the chairs. “This is the room that has been set aside for you. Pull the bell if you require assistance or when you are finished.”

When he left, Senkovar chuckled and seemed to relax. “That’s probably the best result we could expect; well done. You’ve made an enemy, but one who isn’t worth worrying about.” At Serenity's raised eyebrow, Senkovar waved a hand at the door they’d entered from. “A single guard to guide us when the Governor met us? It’s a deliberate slight. If this were at the Emperor’s Court, you’d need to defend your honor or lose any standing you had. Since this is a backwater planet, your options are broader; as a barbarian, you can simply pretend not to understand or you can quietly sabotage him. Either is acceptable.”

“Both sounds good,” Serenity answered. “He wanted me to mention his help to the Emperor, I believe? I think I can manage that.”

Senkovar chuckled. “His help. Yes, that should work, especially if he tries anything at the little gathering he’s hosting on the assumption that no one will stand up to him. Cymryn might or might not; it’s hard to tell about him.”

Serenity shrugged. He didn’t really care what happened to the Governor after this as long as they were all able to get off the planet safely. “Ita and Legion will and Blaze can pick up the pieces. Quite literally if necessary. The Governor is Tier Eight, but he’s out of shape. If it’s bad enough, they can call for help; I can be there quickly if necessary. With luck, though, he won’t try anything that bad.” 

Serenity was thinking of Ita’s portals, of course. It was the work of a moment for him to throw out a token so that Ita could lock onto it and make a portal and they were well within her range anywhere in the palace. It was large but it wasn’t that large, especially given that they were on two ley lines.

Senkovar shivered. “Even if there’s a champion here, you’d be able to handle him, and I doubt there is. There’s little to attract anyone to Themrys yet and now I doubt there even will be.”

“Unless we can figure out what’s happening here and stop it.” Serenity knew that Senkovar had already written off Themrys but Serenity hadn’t yet.

Senkovar sighed. For a moment, he looked every year of his age, whatever it was. “Yes, unless we can fix it, as unlikely as that is. Maybe you will see what I’ve missed.”

Lillene

I strongly considered using consul or proconsul (or even praetor) instead of governor to indicate the level of independence the Empire gives to the sub-rulers of its worlds, but eventually decided to stick to the more familiar English term. Note that this is different from worlds given away in fief, such as the one Baron Restali owns. The Empire’s setup is just as messy as any other large historical empire… or even a modern one, even if we rarely use that term anymore. There are worlds with vastly different levels of oversight and types of governance depending on their history.