Arista Nomarche

It has taken you many years to understand, but at last it has become clear. There is a greater force at work in the universe than any human will can withstand - call it Fate. Fate will have its way, and it will do so by breaking all that would oppose it. You have seen this in your own family, in the love and hate that your brothers bear for each other, and in the storm that even now sweeps across the Hegemony.

You wage your own rebellion against Fate, subtle and illusive though it is. On some things you will be moved, so there is no resistance, but on other things you are inviolate. You came to Heidelmere to place yourself in the most out-of-the-way of places, accompanied only by your Elite, Garthain, and but two of your ladies in waiting, Melody and Ilse.

You thought to remove yourself from the political chaos, to give Fate no lever to use you with. But even here, you were not immune. In the few times you have seen him, the Prince of Heidelmere, Steffan Sturmkonig, has lost his heart to you. You know this has nothing to do with your own charms - Fate seeks another Nomarche to throw into the mix. You will not give it one. In another time, as another person, you might have loved Steffan, but you have vowed to give Fate no more tools. Even Melody and Ilse, you fear you have grown too close to, though you know you would not have stayed sane through these times without their companionship.

You brought the Book of the Hegemons here, your intent to keep it safe and guarded, to leave for the future. But now, as the castle fills with others, swept on this eddy of possibility and destiny, you realize that this is by no measure safe and guarded enough. It is still in play here, which means that Fate will maneuver it through drama into brief safety - and how many lives will be destroyed over the course of generations, while Fate has its eye on it?

No, that will not do. It has to be somewhere safer. Somewhere where no one will ever know of it again - because even so, in the end, when it is needed, Fate will ensure that it is found again. Let it be out of the storm until then.

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