Chapter 65:

Chapter 65: Wealth is best masked in Modesty.


I walked through pleasant looking walls decorated in song and love until the prince and I reached a threshold which I passed without hesitation. The prince had prepared some nonsense for me and I welcomed it.

My Blades were not with me or anywhere they could be seen by the prince or his family, for I was welcomed into his protection on my entrance and to have him see that I would do anything but completely trust his protection would have insulted him and reduced his already diminished prestige and the man insisted on entering a competition with me for who had the least prestige and respect.

So they enjoyed his hospitality somewhere else while I was busy convulsing in relief on a very comfortable carpet. My muscles were no longer capable of supporting me for I did not control them still.

"Damned priest, let me pull you up you madman. I don't understand how or why you are grinning like a madman." The prince said as he noticed I was convulsing on the floor of his study.

He noticed I was smiling and I was not laughing because I was worried I'd choke in my own spit if I tried.

He put me in a rocking chair that shouldn't exist as I introduced the concept to the Divine myself when I put Slaanesh into one to calm her down. The chair was however older than me now, despite not being something that should exist.

The Old Bloodlines are complete and total nonsensical bullshit, and now I realized that my host was of the Old Blood. Only they had this sort of nonsense that I was just hit with.

"Why do you hide your monstrous wealth Reaga Namathuad? This room alone could see your family as candidates for the Phoenix Throne and there's a lot more you most likely keep hidden from me." I grunted as I tried to regain control over my limbs.

It's been decades since I could control them myself, and not merely guide them.

I am a priest, and my actions are guided by narrative momentum and as it increases I lose control over my body, and instead can only guide its movements and it is why I liken it to gravity. Past a certain point it is not my will that controls my actions, but my past actions combined with the momentum of others and this room gives me the freedom to do so while in it.

Priceless does not even begin to describe this beautiful thing. True Priests would sell their souls for the knowledge this thing exists, and they'd do a lot more for a chance at being in one and if you were to gift them a session inside then they'd beg you to be allowed to do whatever you wished for, and they'd do it for a chance at another session. I shudder to think what we would do for knowledge of how to make the rituals that went into making this room, for all priests crave the one thing our path robs from us, and that is complete control over our own actions.

The Empire of Ten Million Suns has two currencies it can be bothered with universally upholding, which are 'Debts' and 'Knowledge of Rituals'. Debts are for the masses, and knowledge of rituals are for nobility and priests to use and nobody with actual worth cares for physical goods, for with the right ritual you can just get as many trinkets as you wish and debts merely grant you access to them whenever you need them.

Reaga Namathuad and his family are of the Old Bloodlines of the Eldar, the Ancient Things older than the Phoenix King as an Institution, and this room alone was worth more to the True Priesthoods of the Divine than the crown of the Empire, for it gave us if only for a little bit, the ability to control our limbs again and not merely guide our bodies actions and to do so without losing access to our Narrative Momentum and the power we accumulated.

It is still there, I can feel it just beyond my touch and I know I will regain it if I just leave this room, but until then nothing I do in this room will affect it and that? That is extremely precious to me, for I have missed the sensation of complete and total control over my own actions.

The power of the path of priests is great, for I learn how to create rituals as easy as I breathe and gain immense boons that protect me and allow me to advance in my schemes faster, but I pay dearly for it in my daily life in control over my own body. This ritual room allowed me an entire room to myself where any priest could just be themselves and not feel that the reason they acted around their family was because of their momentum and not themselves.

To say a priest is willing to commit atrocities to feel this once they have gathered enough momentum is putting it lightly. We commit atrocities with ease and what this thing can bring us to do for access to it would make the gods shudder, and if its excitement and fear depends entirely on what the one possessing this room demands of us

They are incredibly lucky I am an actually good person, for if Reaga Namathuad actually offered anyone else access to it, the man would have gained a slave for whatever he wished. As it is I am just extremely well predisposed to him for now.

"What good is telling somebody else how wealthy you are? It won't keep my family safer or happier priest, so I don't bother with that nonsense. Now I'll await until you can stand and move before we negotiate how you will take my daughter with you away from whatever nonsense the Gods have planned for this world. I allowed your organizations to act in my realm and Pretended to Ignorance of whatever nonsense they were planning to see if the New Divine and her priests can cure the Wasting Disease. But now that they've proven incapable and Unnecessary I will not suffer their presence here anymore. Those of Cegorach can stay though, as they've been useful and I am not about to be ungrateful." He spoke as he moved to his own normal looking chair and sat.

I slowly tried to regain control over my limbs. I could feel the glorious tingling of my organs again and it was a truly glorious thing when I lifted myself out of my own power for the first time since Walking-as-Khaine.

I was disheveled and barely presentable anymore as I turned to the prince and bowed while standing.

"I thank you prince for this favor." I said as I gave him the second-most heartfelt thanks I have given in this life.

"You have nothing to thank me for priest, now sit and let us talk as men. What is wrong with my daughter and what will get her to dance as you two did normally?" He asked as I did as he said.

I tried to think of how to frame the words properly before I spoke them as it would not do to allow my instincts of tricking and playing with others to interfere with what I am about to do and say.

"Your daughter's soul is human, they are a civilized race whose souls and bodies are out of sync and she requires a partner whenever she dances to do so with any Grace. Find her a sword shaped human or an eldar with experience with dealing with humans for her soul to play with, both of which there will be plenty in the near future, and she'll be just as graceful as any Eldar.

Why do you wish for her to come with me? You can ensure she can find what she needs easily enough, and she only needs a human playmate for dancing, as anything else she can do elegantly with the right rituals, rituals which you most likely do not lack for." I answered and asked my own question.

I looked into his eyes and he had the same red eyes as his daughter, but his hair was green and her features completely dissimilar to those of her father. It was only his white armor that reminded me of their familial connection as the girl probably wore her sundress to look like her father, for there is little reason beyond wishing to honor her father to wear such plain clothes, for she is the daughter of a prince.

I looked at my hand and luxuriated in the feeling of moving my fingers again as I awaited his response.

"My wives and I will go to sleep once the New Divine is born until she and her nonsense is dealt with. The rituals involved in it require our children to have left our home and went to their own homes or callings while we close our eyes and let them rest. We will call them back when we awaken anyway, so it doesn't matter what they are doing or in how much danger they are in." He answered.

I stopped looking at my own hand and considered his words.

Ah yes, wait for a few thousand years until divinity is born and dies and trillions die before calling your children back from their 'fun'. Absolute fucking nonsense of the highest degree that only bloodlines of the most filthy rich can get up to.

I was born poor in the streets and was taken in by priests into what to most would be an obscene amount of wealth of rituals accumulated since the War in Heaven. Time travel, Technological Innovation, Walking-as-gods, burning worlds to cinders, manipulating and moving stars and civilizations and even creating Royalty and Lesser Divines are all things an Older Brother of the Speakers of Apocalypse has access to freely. I can also use them whenever I please, provided I wish to bother with them and I can argue that they help our cause, and this man has access to nonsense that makes me look like a pauper.

The rituals involved in creating this room that separates priest from their Narrative Momentum without killing them or dissipating it was worth alone twice as much as the ritual my siblings undertook to elevate my wife to Royalty and it took far less eldar lives and time to accomplish most likely too.

"I will take her into the Priesthood of Hoeth then if you wish for it, unless you wish for me to arrange her entry into that of Cegorach for we consider ourselves distinct from one another. Is there anything else I can help you with?" I asked.

It was a simple enough thing to get her in, now that her father wished for her to join us. We normally adopt our members or allow our children proper entry into our organization if they prove to us that they actually want to suffer as we do. But receiving members because they are are Talented Children and their noble families wish for them to join us is a normal enough thing to do, as Noble Families have been sending their Talented Children to the White Towers of Hoeth since they were first built.

It's why we built them and allowed others in after all.

The Phoenix King may have burned most of them, and we dismantled the last few ones that he missed in order to build The Black Library of Cegorach which serves a similar role to it, but the tradition still exists for those that wish to undertake it. It's also how I got two of my three apprentices and it seems I would be getting a fourth today.

The man nodded at my words and took a thinking pose before responding

"Yes I find myself in need of your services for my family issues, as I do not understand my youngest daughter's actions and thought processes, and as you share a former species I believe you can help me help her. Also I will have her join the Diplomatic Corps, as Cegorach and his theaters are too clownish for my tastes. I will leave her actual position in them to your expertize." He said with disdain.

I nodded at that, that was a common view among many, for Cegorach and his jokes were an … acquired taste… and one few people wished to bother with.

What he asked for shouldn't be too hard as most humans interactions are easy to understand once explained plainly. Issues happen when one side does not play the same game and think they are or refuse to do it. Learning which is which is 50% of the problem solved and the rest is done by one side being willing to reach across the aisle, and assuming the good will between family members was not lost, then some concessions is usually enough to solve the issue and bring harmony back to the family.

The few situations when that is not the case are too complicated to bother with and almost always the cause of foreign action or illness.

"Tell me what she has been doing then. She seemed to me like a very respectful daughter, also you do know you owe Lammor for helping you with our contest. What does he want for it?" I responded with amusement.

Lammor is a farseer and he probably orchestrated the entire nonsense with their campaign now that I think about it. In our contest he told me of the mad farseer with a jet bike and a flamethrower that killed his Father-in-law he did not like and that spared him in exchange for the most humiliating tribute he could reasonably extract from him.

The man with the too sharp features nodded at that.

"I know, and I do owe him one for his assistance. Is there any way I can stop you from whatever plot you have against him? I noticed your priesthood favors Craftworld Anaen judging by the number of threats and nonsense you've thrown at them to sharpen them, and I doubt they would appreciate you killing one of their pet farseers. They only have two of them after all." He said with annoyance.

I had to shake my head at that. We owed Ulthuan too many favors to not deliver Lammor to his well deserved and too light beating. Ulthuan was willing to give him the lightest punishment we knew how to give too, so our hands were tied in regards to what we could do.

"No, Lammor was taken in by one of my peers as her caretaker in her last days before she died where she stood in protection and guidance of her birth world. He became a farseer and shamed his Mistress in doing so, and then ran before she could apply her punishment and Lammor thus abandoned her and his post and she had to take another apprentice to look after her and serve her last schemes. We are merely delivering the senior apprentice to the junior one for a beating, we are not punishing him or his new home in any way shape or form, as that's for his Mistress to do and she has rescinded her desire to do so and has chosen clemency for her wayward apprentice.

I can guarantee you that he will live, but that's only because Ulthuan the Unlucky, the apprentice in question, and Man Among Men said he does not wish to kill him and will merely beat him up for abandoning their Mistress. We will not save him from his punishment, especially one so light and we owe Ulthuan more debts than we can pay back so we can't be bribed to do it." I responded.

The too wealthy man that pretended he lived in a swamp shook his head at that. The farseer helped him, but it seemed that the most obvious way to help him back was not available to him.

"I tried and he can't blame me for failing. I'll just send the man some useful trinkets with my daughter to deliver to him when you meet him and have him return the gem he stole from my first wife's family and that should satisfy the debt I owe him. Now let me tell you of my daughter's behavior as it is quite worrying and I do not know why she acts like it but I can feel that she means me well as she acts."

The man proceeded to tell me of his daughter's behavior and an hour in I couldn't stop laughing at the nonsense I kept hearing. My old species were truly foolish indeed, for how could this girl think she was born poor?

My host did not seem to appreciate my maniacal laughter.

"Why are you laughing priest? This is a very serious matter." My host spoke in a tone that hid none of his annoyance with me.

I continued to laugh hysterically for several more minutes before I could calm myself down and explain myself before I was cut down for my insolence. This room severs me from my power, but it does nothing of the sort to princes so my life is still in his hands after all.

"You… you have been acting the way formerly rich human nobility acts just before they lose their titles, and she seems to think you are extremely poor and your family is in decline and wishes to minimize her expenditures to help… help her family." I explained among shaky breaths as I reigned my laughter in.

He looked confused and I proceeded to explain it to him in detail how humans value their social standing and how their behavior combined with their available resources influences it and in minutes he too was laughing just as loudly as I was and I started the second round of laughter, for laughter is infectious to both humans and eldar.

Truly, all Eldar children are adorably nonsensically foolish. I was adorable in my Murderous ways when I was just born, and so is this child born in obscene wealth and that she can't see.

~~~~~~~~

My father was calling for me to his study.

I was not coming alone, but was instead escorted there by the bodyguards of the priest that managed to scare my father so much that he used our hidden signal for my life being in danger.

I remember the story of my past life, where my grandmother told me how her own grandparents lost the family titles and condemned her to living on the streets and had my father build up back to actually owning his own home from the hole he was raised in.

I remember how my own descendants started acting like how my own grandmother described her own grandparents acted after my own son managed to build up on what his own mother built up upon what my father had built and made us wealthy again. From poverty in my grandmother's era, to basic dignity in my father's, to being well off in my own and back to wealth in my son's was a story as old as life, and yet I saw the seeds of poverty and ruin at the end of my life in my own grandchildren and great grandchildren. And now I see it again in this life.

I am not human anymore, but Eldar, but the signs are unmistakable and what the signs tell me is that my father's domain is in decline.

We were not getting any richer, my father suffered a catastrophic defeat and barely returned with his life after having to pay for his return in voidships! The craftworlders demanded voidships and we don't even have a voidyard!

My new people may have been void-faring for a long time compared to my old world but voidships can't be cheap, and my father refused to let me look over our finances, and refused to let me even think of looking over our debts and I do not even know what we use as payment. Our servants are serfs, they don't receive any goods, but instead have access to free medical care, shelter and food and education for their children should they choose to take it.

No money, no nothing and I cannot see the cash flow and I know there is one. There is always one and all my instincts are screaming at me that we are in the red.

I looked behind me at the priest's guards. They were tall things of black armor and weapons with only their face visible and even their hair and eyes and lips were just as black as their armor with only their eyes offering any contrast.

They looked quite funny when compared to my small self dressed in a simple sundress.

They remained at a respectful distance and acted as my own guards now while I was walking towards my father, but I knew a shakedown when I saw one. I saw it plenty of times when my son did it and I had to learn to clean the blood off one's clothes so that they are presentable next day.

It was a pity his father wasn't very good at that aspect of our business, but I married him for his charm and accounting know-how not for knowing how to break bones and feed them to the red pigs.

"What is your name?" I asked the legbreakers of the priest.

They were escorting me to my father's study and did not brandish any weapons, or really hold them or look in any way as they were about to use them, but our march felt like a hostage situation and I needed any advantage I could get. Getting their names was better than nothing and it might allow me an opening.

"I am known as 'Swift Strike' I am the leader of Bessar Agail's hired blades. My subordinates would rather not be involved in our conversation." The black haired man answered as I considered his words.

His name was Sang in soul-song and not speech which was strange as I had not heard such before.

"Why do you sing your name?" I asked him again in my best impression of an innocent tone.

Playing up the innocent noble girl is my only card and while I am not exactly the best at it, a few decades of experience have to account for something and that something will have to do.

He and his fellow blades winced at the question and remained silent for a few moments as they thought of their answer. I just noticed they all looked roughly the same and it made me wonder if they were related by blood.

"We were born without a name given in speech. It is common in certain parts of the webway to have a spoken name be given only by one's parents and as we had none to raise us and take us in after we were abandoned. I took my own fools in under my wing but they refused to take a spoken name when I offered and I had nobody to give me one." He answered.

So they were not blood related, at least the leader to his subordinates.

I took his words into consideration as I realized they were an excellent source of information. My new race seemed allergic to giving a straight answer and these ones were giving me such. I could exploit that.

I just needed to find out how.

"What are you being paid for your services to Bessar Agail? I can't imagine him being cheap with paying his guards." I asked them.

Finding out what they are paid helps me figure out what my new people use as money and if I can figure out how much they are paid I can perhaps find if I can outbid him. Legbreakers work for money and stability but they will take one big payday and flee and if I can find what they treasure I might be able to sow discord or just pay them outright if the man is cheap with his help.

These don't strike me as professionals, which means they are grunts picked off the street and if I am lucky it will mean they will work for the highest bidder and not have formed bonds of loyalty to their employer.

"Protection from the wrath of a prince we have offended, a way offworld as we continue to serve him, food and water, training and teaching in the skills we lack and a purpose we've lacked, and also lots of danger and gear. We won't be leaving his service young lady, he already offered us a way out and to safety and we've decided we'd rather not bother with that nonsense." He answered.

His own subordinates sang their approval of their superior's words and I felt my mood darken but I said and showed nothing of it as I thought of the implication of his words.

He was not paying them in money either and they held true loyalty for him too. Oh and they knew I was trying to turn them against their employer too now, which made my position worse.

I sighed and abandoned that avenue of attack, I would need to talk to father and see if I can't figure out how to trick him into telling me what the damage was and how I could help. I refuse to let history repeat itself and let my new family be brought down by meddlesome priests.

My family welcomed me with open hearts and I am heiress to a long legacy and I will not let this legacy be brought low if I can help it. I can't use my experience in my past life thanks to local customs on reincarnation but I need to trick father into at the very least letting me know the damage so I can plan ahead.

I reached the threshold to my father's study and passed it and awaited for a heartbeat to see if the legbreakers would follow. I turned towards them and their leader just shook his head.

Smart fools, they weren't invited in and the mystical protections of my family would have skewered them if I or my father did not invite them in. I closed the door behind me and looked inside.

My father and the priest looked at me severely and I took the priest in properly.

His face was plain, the plainest I have seen among my people and it was so plain compared to the chiseled looks of everyone else I'd seen that it made me almost overlook his gray eyes and hair.

I didn't know our hair could get grey before I'd seen him.

I bowed to my father as is tradition and remained silent until addressed as I felt I was in some sort of official ritual and mother told to never speak during things that smell of being official unless I knew what was happening.

"Your guards song confirms your diagnostic my friend. She truly is as you've described to me and I am man enough to admit and bow to your wisdom and experience on the topic." My father said as he spoke to the priest.

I was very confused at what he was speaking of. With the exception of my lack of grace I was perfectly healthy.

"I know, she tried to get my guards straight out from under my nose much to their amusement. I told you this would happen and do you agree with my diagnostic now?" The priest asked.

My blood froze in my veins.

'This is bad, this is very very bad.' I screamed inside my mind.

We were already in trouble and we did not need whatever organization he represented think we slighted them.

"Yes, I will allow you to explain it to her, you are the more accomplished medicine man between the two of us and more experienced with reincarnated individuals of other races so you can help my daughter more than I could on this matter." My father replied.

I was this close to breaking ritual and trying to get my father to shut up. We don't need whatever scam he tries to sell us and claim it medicine.

"Very well, Laciena Fiora I am aware of your past life as a human and the social expectations it carries and I am breaking a lot of taboos by talking about it as you are a minor and by your father's word a filial daughter that does not deserve what I am about to do to you, but I owe your father quite a lot and so I will break some taboos in the service of those that have come to me for help as is my prerogative as a priest. Please sit down and explain to me what do you think your position is properly and in the same way you would explain to another human, to fully confirm to your father that yes, I know what I am talking about." The priest spoke and I felt myself weak to the knees.

I sat down with my father to my right as I faced the priest. He took my hand and gently held it with both his hands as I sang to him.

"Father?" I sang to him.

My song was filled with doubt and hope and confusion.

"Do as the priest asked my daughter, it took some time to get you the help you needed but you are safe now." He sang back and I relaxed.

Father would not lie to me.

"We are not in any debt or troubles?" I asked the priest.

Debt is a cancerous tumor. When it is small it is manageable but the more you allow it to grow the more it will destroy you and all you held dear as it hollows you out of all that you have and allows your creditors to steal everything you own. I despise the word, I despise the very concept of it and if I hear one accountant tell me to ever get into debt I will kill them.

One accursed creature told my grandmother's grandmother to get into debt to fuel the 'growth' of her assets and all it ended up doing was destroy a legacy that lasted for seven generations and before my death I was powerless to stop my own descendants from entering into debt for the same reasons as after my husband died there was nobody to handle our finances without getting into debt as none was interested in going into accounting.

The priest gave my father a knowing look as my father sighed and nodded in defeat.

"You are not in any more trouble than any eldar alive is, and you and your family do not have any debt you can't repay with ease, here do you recognize this item?" He said as he handed me an item I picked with my free hand.

It was a Sunheart, my mother gave me a very cute snake plushy with one on its head on my first birthday and I have slept soundly under its warmth for my entire life as it gave me a good sleep and always made me feel refreshed when I awoke with it in my arms. My mother's sister-wife kept making the plushy bigger as time went on too so that it grew with me and so I could hug it properly in my sleep.

The Plushy was very precious to me, but the stones themselves were not.

"Yes it's a Sunheart, it gives you good sleep and makes you feel energized when you wake up, we have thousands of these somewhere in some basement." I told him as I looked it over.

It was just a Sunheart, it was a somewhat useful artifact and the only thing I found interesting about it was that they gave you a good sleep and father said there were thousands of such artifacts in existence.

"This is indeed a Sunheart, and it holds the mystical power of an actual red dwarf and among its many uses is indeed the fact that it can give you a good night's sleep. It is also an extremely powerful artifact I will take to Craftworld Anaen to exchange for the gem they stole from your grandmother and as thanks for their farseer helping your father win the contest the two of us had in your dining hall." The priest said extremely seriously.

"What? Why is something with the power of a star used as a plushy!?" I asked shocked.

I did not care for the stupid contest, mother explained it was something father arranged to get the priest comfortable in our home and while it was embarasing it was not important.

"Father?" I all but shouted as my head swiveled towards my father.

"The priest is correct, the artifact is hardly that important, it's greatest use is truly as I told you the fact they make a good sleeping aid for my daughter." My father said with a shrug

I… I needed to process, this as nothing made any sense.

"Young lady, your family is not on the decline or in any sort of serious debt or danger. Your family is fabulously wealthy by the standards of the Empire, the type of wealthy that could buy yourself a position into royalty if you were interested into it, and the reason you live modestly is because your father and the family heads before him could not be bothered to flaunt their wealth. You are not in a human family in decline, as we do not value the same things and our economic system is entirely different from human ones and so is the way our wealth works as we do not value physical things." The priest continued.

I nearly jumped out of my own skin at his words

"Explain please, because each time I try to figure out our 'finances' nobody would explain anything to me!" I all but sobbed.

I don't know if it was relief, fear or anything in-between, I just knew that my emotions were a mess.

"Calm her down my prince, I will explain when she is calm, and I will give her the details of her situation and about the deal we have made." The priest said softly.

My father immediately hugged me and I felt myself slowly relax as whispered encouragements and soft kisses into my soul.

I don't know how much time passed before I was calm again. I thanked my father in song and awaited for the priest to explain.

"Now in order to understand your situation a bit of an explanation is necessary. I will start with our economic system, the reason you most likely find our society confusing and a bit of a history lesson before going towards our deal as the two are intertwined. Is that alright with you?" He asked me softly.

I nodded as I still did not trust myself to speak.

"Excellent, now our financial system is separated into three parts and each interact in different ways depending on the world. Those parts are local systems of wealth, debts and favors and knowledge of rituals. The local money system is whatever a given world or system values and is usually determined by the local population and it can be food, a certain item such as gold coins, virtual currency, fiat currency, bones or even ammo blocks. These systems are only locally recognized and do not matter that much in the grand scheme of things as far as our people and you are concerned and your family does not bother with them as you are too rich to care.." The priest explained.

I nodded at that as I stopped trembling and I did not even notice when I started.

"And the other two?" I asked.

"Debts and favors represent when you owe someone an act, a service or a good, or they owe you something similar. It is mostly the commoners and priests that bother with keeping exact track of them as the nobility does not bother. The nobility and priesthood mostly use knowledge of rituals among ourselves as thanks to our psychic might, rituals are how we build anything and everything, including weapons, ships, clothes, armies and so much more. Your family does not have to worry with local currencies and debts are of little concern to you as your family decided to isolate yourselves from the rest of the Empire and you have an obscene amount of rituals going on at any given time and some of which can do things I never knew possible. If ruin is to come for you it will not come from debt or poverty of all things." The priest explained.

I felt a weight that has been crushing my shoulders lift off of them.

A treacherous thought jumped to me to ask exactly how rich we were but I squashed the thing with ease. I did not care of the details and they were irrelevant for now. I knew we were well, there was no debt and our wealth was based on knowledge and manufacturing knowledge and not money based.

We were safe, what we had would not be taken from us by greedy loan sharks or the government and that's all that mattered. How much richer I was compared to other people never mattered, only that I wasn't about to lose it all.

The priest started to speak again.

"Excellent, that's one problem solved young lady, now that this misunderstanding is solved we need to talk about our civilization. Do you remember the games of your past life? Those everyone in power seemed to be doing and that if you ever tried to do among your friends you would be punished for, but they could do with impunity?" He asked me.

I looked at him properly and realized that his eyes were as soft as his voice and knew that he meant me well.

"Y-yes, I remember them, they always acted like children and did things that were against the law and whenever they were punished, it was a slap on the wrist unless they fell out of favor with their cronies." I replied.

I've had my run in with the upper rungs of society and those few runs made me realize that all of the triumphs of our species were achieved in spite of them and not because of the childish parasites that ruled over my solar system.

The man nodded.

"Yes, my perspective is probably skewed on this but your old people's civilization was based on the idea of playing games. Children learned better when they were having fun and playing games, people worked harder when they were having fun, and things just ran smoother when people were happy and motivated, do you recall it?" He asked of me again.

"Yes, I would not say that our society is based on games but they and fun were important. You can't have a civilization based on fun and games." I said with mirth.

That was a childish fantasy that all children had, where they could do the things they found fun for all eternity, but reality was not like that. You do what you have to do to survive, not what you wished for. Only the extremely rich could do that nonsense and even they could lose it all if they were not careful.

The priest sighed at my words and I could feel that he disagreed with my words.

"Let's agree to disagree on that point, but back to the topic at hand. Trickery fulfills the same role in an eldar society as games do in a human one. We learn through trickery, we make friends and rivals through trickery and our social interactions are determined by it. Your father has noticed the way your mind worked and thought you were turning into a dragon, a being of fury and envy and power that collects shiny things that it keeps hidden as it plots people's demise and he is at his wits ends on how to stop your from being one when you become an adult." He continued with far more seriousness than his words demanded.

I wanted to laugh, but my father's words stopped me.

"This is not laughing matter my daughter, dragons are very much real and turning into one in spirit is disturbingly easy. The priest I managed to get to help you is the only one in the empire that is familiar enough with your former people to help, so please take his words seriously." My father said softly as if I was a cripple.

No, there was just some misunderstanding we can easily solve. Also on the trickery part… that did explain some things I guess.

"I am not going to turn into some avatar of destruction and might father, I am not power hungry or violent enough for it, and I am blessed by Gea, not Khaine and Khaine is the one all dragons are born from." I replied.

"Not quite true, as all Dragons are born from Khaine's actions, and your father is blessed by Khaine, so the symbolism remains as it is his actions and rituals that would have turned you into one. I know of humanity's tendencies to stockpile for emergencies and know that this is what you have been doing as you prepared a safe house and your best guess as to what would constitute funds for after some catastrophe hits. But to your father your actions looked like those of a dragon desperate to increase its hoard of shiny gems, weapons and a safe cave and he is desperate to not let you live a life of misery and fear as all dragons do." The priest continued.

I don't get the issue but it should be easy to fix. Father did tell me that to break a ritual you must break its fundamental logic. The issue is that I hoard things in a cave? Then I must give it to somebody else and be happy about it. I am sure giving it to mother or father is enough.

"Sounds like a simple enough fix, I'll just let go of my safe house and give to mother to do as she wishes with it, and I'll only keep some of the stuff with sentimental value in it for myself." I replied.

"And you'll wear the pretty dresses we've made for you, no more of the sundress. You are the daughter of a prince and need to dress like one." Father demanded.

I sighed and I nodded, I liked wearing sundresses, they were cheap, easy to make and reminded me of my old life, but if it made him certain I wasn't turning into a dragon I'll stop… wearing them as much. I still like them, and while I'll wear the other dresses I won't give up on sundresses.

"Good that's one bit of nonsense done and that explains a bit of the nonsense I've been through, but never mind that. I need to ask you something that is incredibly important young lady." The priest said as he looked at me with a greater intensity I've seen any other look at me.

"What do you wish to know?" I asked him.

It was probably something about whatever history lesson he wished to impart on me. If I recall he was a priest of Cegorach and they were all about remembering the lessons you forgot.

"What do you know of the founding of the Empire of Ten Millions Suns?"