The Consuming Fire (The Interdependency #2)(10)
2
The moment Emperox Grayland II had been waiting for came at the end of a long and frankly mind-numbing meeting.
“Your Majesty, perhaps we should further discuss your … visions,” Archbishop Gunda Korbijn said. Around the table, the heads of the executive committee, tasked with advising the emperox in her administration of the Interdependency, whether she wanted that advice or not, swiveled to look at her.
On those nine faces, Grayland registered various emotions. Some registered concern, which she appreciated. Some registered contempt, which she did not. Others registered, variously, amusement, irritation, disgust or confusion. Some faces registered some or all of these emotions combined.
Grayland II, Emperox of the Holy Empire of the Interdependent States and Mercantile Guilds, Queen of Hub and Associated Nations, Head of the Interdependent Church, Successor to Earth and Mother to All, Eighty-Eighth Emperox of the House of Wu, studied all these faces, taking in the expressions arrayed across the table, assessing the emotions of the nine arguably most powerful people in the known universe, aside from her.
And then laughed.
Which did not endear her further to them.
“You think us mad,” Grayland said, employing the imperial “we,” because in point of fact she was busy being the emperox at the moment and could use the imperial address without undue pretension.
“No one has suggested such a thing,” Korbijn said, hastily.
“We are very sure that is not true,” Grayland replied, lightly. “Certainly no one has suggested such a thing, here at this table, to our face. But we are not so naive as to believe that away from our presence, such things are not only whispered but spoken aloud, and perhaps occasionally shouted.”
At this, Grayland noticed several sets of eyes shift to Teran Assan, the newest member of the committee. This did not exactly surprise her.
“We are all loyal, Your Majesty,” Upeksha Ranatunga said.
Grayland turned to Ranatunga. “We have no reason to doubt the committee’s loyalty,” she said, kindly. Ranatunga was the one who had had a concerned expression. “To me, and to the Interdependency. Yet we are also aware where ‘loyalty’ can drive the concerned, if they believe the person to whom they are loyal has taken leave of their senses.”
“Your Majesty wishes our obedience, then,” said Assan. He’d been one with contempt on his face, although to be fair he’d worn that expression since he’d taken his seat, a few weeks prior.
“We are hoping for your faith,” Grayland said, and looked around the table. “You may believe we understand that this faith is difficult for you. No emperox since Rachela has claimed revelatory visions until now. For a millennium the emperoxs have been content to stay out of the revelation business. And even those of us who experienced delusions kept them out of the religious sphere. When Attavio II experienced alcoholic hallucinations near the end of his reign, he saw bejeweled chick ens running around the palace.” Grayland chuckled at this and then noted that no one else at the table was chuckling with her.
“Some of us worry your visions may be closer to chickens than actual revelation,” Assan said, and Grayland watched as eight pairs of eyebrows, attached to the other committee members, moved up in varying levels of shock and surprise.
Grayland laughed again. “Thank you, Lord Teran,” she said. “Would that all our advisors were so honest in their opinions.”
“I didn’t say that to gain your favor,” Assan replied.
“You may be assured that we did not think you had,” Grayland said. She turned to Korbijn, the head of the executive committee. “And as we had anticipated that this would be a matter of concern for the committee, not to mention the Interdependency as a whole, we have already ordered Qui Drinin, the royal physician, to make himself available to the executive committee, at its pleasure, to discuss our current physical and mental state. You may ask him whatever you like.”
“That’s good to hear,” Korbijn said. “We’ll call him very soon.”
Grayland nodded, and then returned her attention to Assan. “Our visions aren’t phantom chickens, Lord Teran. They are something else entirely. We can’t say we wanted them. Times are difficult enough at the moment without adding this spiritual aspect to them. But we are the emperox and a direct line descendant of the Prophet Rachela. The same blood runs through our veins as hers. This is the Holy Empire of the Interdependent States, and the empire has seen fit to keep the House of Wu on its throne for a millennium. Is it not reasonable to believe that one of those reasons was to keep open the possibility of revelation?”
“I am skeptical that revelation is a genetically heritable trait, Your Majesty,” Assan said.
“Well, if we are honest, so are we,” Grayland said. “And yet here we are. We, like Rachela, are the head of the Interdependent Church, a church that was founded on the basis of revelation. We, like Rachela, have had our revelation at the cusp of an immense change in the nature of humanity’s existence in space. We, like Rachela, are called to shepherd our people through crisis.”
“This is the collapse of the Flow your scientist alleges.”
Grayland smiled. “Have you seen the list of ships that arrived to Hub from End in the last month, Lord Teran? We have. The list is very short, because the number is zero. They’re not here because they never left End. The Flow stream from here to there has collapsed. If memory serves, one of the ships that has yet to arrive is one of yours, by which I mean, one from the house of Assan. Scheduled to arrive from End three weeks ago. I seem to remember my tariffs assessor mentioning it.”