Interview With the Warchief

"So, do you think you'll be doing any more movies?" Her question was sincere, but also obviously absurd. At least, Ariadne thought so, as she interviewed the recently-ascended Warchief of Droaam.

"Sure, why not? I'm busy, but not that busy. Once the war is over, nobody needs a chief, but people will always need stories." Selina took a cheeky drag from her pipe, but it was clear that she truly meant it. Apparently among the qualities that propeled her to such heights was an insatiable workaholism.

"Battle for the Skies: the Rise of the Warchief?" She suggested playfully.

"Maybe it's the third act of a trilogy. Droaam Origins, The Coven, and then Rise of the Warchief." Selina laughed, but she was still guarded. She was wise enough to expect much more hardball questions than this from the Korranberg Chronicle's finest reporter. And now was the time to start ramping it up.

"So what will be your demands from the King? What's the minimum you're willing to accept in a peace deal?" She gazed levelly at her, having never entered a full Soulgaze, but confident in her ability to resist it if pressed. Selina didn't, although there was a tweak of her eyebrow that suggested she didn't want to have to spill any state secrets. This will inevitably come between us, Ariadne thought at her--not in the way that she'd hear, since that's definitely an option, just in the normal way. May as well get it out of the way early.

"He invaded my lands, unprovoked. I don't care if he was fooled by spies and malefactors. It's his job not to be. Perhaps if he spent less time getting replaced by dopplegangers and getting rescued from assassins by adventurers--"

"That was never proven, the doppleganger thing." Ariadne knew she was being provocative, but it was deliberate. And obvious. Too easy. But it still worked.

"We both know the truth. And the people do as well. He's a relic of a bygone era. His family fought for a century to make good his claim, and all anyone got out of it was genocide. Maybe it's time for him to retire." Warchief Selina gave a satisfied glower, realizing, perhaps for the first time, she truly had a platform to speak her mind. Speaking truth to power had never been out of vogue in Breland--and certainly not in Sharn--but nothing lends legitimacy like winning a war. If the King wanted to respond, he'd better bring a better army next time.

"In your career, you've been an outspoken advocate for democracy in Sharn, and especially for equal rights for all demihumans and sentients. How does that fit with your reign as Warchief?"

Having been buttered up with politically-sensitive nonsense, she was ready for the right hook. Her confidence was plain, as was her realization of the maneuvering Ariadne had been undertaking. She seemed to receive it as the favor it was, and a tiny note of appreciation made its way into her tone.

"The people of Breland have been calling for those things for years, and I wanted to amplify their voice. Self-determination is a fundamental right. The people of Droaam have different traditions, different values. I would argue we already have more self-determination: we have no hereditary monarchs, no born lords. Every position of privilege demands merit and proof of worth. No son or daughter is guaranteed to inherit anything without doing the work. I'm not saying Breland should adopt our ways--they're a result of thousands of years of life in a very different landscape, with different rules. But our system is what the people want, and I'm not sure that's true of our neighbors to the East."

"But you did help a monarch, did you not? You personally saved the life of Aurala, Queen of Aundair, and secured her position on the throne. Is that an endorsement of monarchy? Is that consistent with your world view?" Ariadne's gaze was level, and Selina's was steel. She could tell the Warchief saw her next move coming, knew exactly what she was setting up, and wanted to take command of the situation. She was going to bring this up on her own terms.

"In that instance, no. I was saving a life, and thwarting the will of evil people trying to accomplish something abhorrent. This wasn't a case of the people's will, or some sort of judgment for a crime--it was nothing more than a coup, and an attempt by evil, contemptible individuals to profit from murder, treason, and fel magic. I'd do it again."

She waited the exact amount Ariadne expected before continuing.

"And before you ask, my relationship to King Kaius is also not a referedum on the concept of monarchy. He's been duly confirmed by the Warlords of Karrnath, according to their traditions and laws, and won his throne by merit, with all its rights and responsibilities. My interest in him is entirely different. You see, we're going to be married. Neither of us will gain any claim over each other's land, mind you. I can't stress enough: this is love, and sex, and deep, powerful connection. I would make him mine if he were the humblest serf in Karrnath, and he would fight for my hand if I was the lowliest peon in the Horde. We're just that good together."

The printing press was decades old, long since duplicated and spread to every remotely civilzed corner of the world. Similarly, any worthy press could handle photographs--at least the black-and-white ones--and only the lowest-grade rags bothered to print newspapers without photographs these days. But, since the invention of the motion picture, and especially the talking picture (about 10 years old) and color film (hardly a year old now, in wide circulation that is), the obvious question was: "when will we get moving pictures in the news?"

The answer was the favorite word of every artificer: Now. Tyburn was operating a color camera, and automated variety with no hand crank, along with all the sound-capturing equipment. Selina had watched this technology develop from its very birth to an unfathomable evolution in her recent career, and now it was being used to capture this interview in living color, to be distributed exclusively in the Korranberg Chronicle, the only paper with color moving pictures built into every Sul-day edition. (And black-and-white on the weekdays!)

Who better to usher in this new age than the world's greatest actress? Of course, the idea of Kaius finding out via newspaper seemed a bit too modern, so she planned to rope him in shortly afterward, long before the film was developed and sent to the presses. He may or may not disagree with her take on the situation, but she said what she said, and believed it.

"Now that--" she paused for effect, "--will be the wedding of the century, no doubt. I have you have an amazing entertainer booked." She didn't need to wink, it was implied.

"No offense to the architects of Korth--I've seen the ballrooms in his castle, and they're quite lovely--but this is going to happen in Great Crag, and everyone who's anyone will be here." Her claim was as audacious as it was tantalizing. Hardly a single noble in the world had ever traveled to Droaam, but who could miss the wedding of the recently-widowered bachelor King of Karrnath? She had no doubt Aurala and her brood would show--she owed them that and far more. Would Boranel and his plus-one dare to show up in the capital his army besieged? Would he dare not? Rarely could any social engagement be both so scandalizing to even be invited to, yet so unthinkable to miss.

"You're sure he doesn't need time to grieve? His wife passed hardly a week ago." At this point, it may have been easier to literally lob an actual softball at the Warchief, but...well, this was fun.

"Can't imagine why. I killed her myself, because she was a murderous blood cultist necromancer who was trying to become immortal by stealing souls--not to mention ensorcelling the good Queen Aurala and who knows how many others. Kaius knew, and he helped me overcome her. He is a virtuous man, and would never abide the tiniest fraction of the evil Etrigan was guilty of. He grieves, but for her soul, and for the harm she did, not for any lost love. He loves good, and justice, and his heart is too full of love for the common folk and for the cause of peace for any false temptress to find purchase. And that's why I love him."

She wasn't going to subject Kaius to the camera--he hadn't consented to it, and it would just be unfair--but damn if Ariadne wouldn't be there to see him learn of everything Selina was saying to, in effect, the entire world.

Not that she doubted anything the Warchief said. She could tell there was affection there, even if "deep, powerful connection" was a little hard to believe after a couple of weeks. But then, she wasn't about to cast stones about rapidly-developing relationships, less than 24 hours after her last bout with an instinct to seduce, be impregnated, and consequently murder a half-dozen men to serve as incubators. It isn't our instincts that define us, after all, but how we handle them.

But despite the sincerity of Selina's emotion--something Ariadne could directly sense, thanks to her psionic ability--she couldn't forget the political advantage of all of this. It was quite true Aurala owed Selina much, and Kaius--well, she did kill his wife, so his reaction could justifiably go either way, but intensely so in any case--and even the Church of the Silver Flame was eating out of her hands. With three of four great powers solidly on her side, and the fourth solidly defeated, what could the Warchief do but take a victory lap? Breland would be over a barrel in this peace treaty, and Droaam was being lit up like a rocket engine, ready to soar. In fact...why not ask it? As if audacity had ever stopped her. What good is an intrepid reporter if she can't ask the really incendiary questions.

"Moving back to the question of peace--I can only assume the wedding will have to wait until the war ends, after all..." She let the silence hang for a moment. Selina barely--but visibly--flinched, because she sensed the hardball coming. "Are you going to demand recognition by the Four Nations? An amendment to the Treaty of Thronehold?"

And boom goes the dynamite.

The greatest diplomatic coup Droaam could achieve, at least in prior imagining. The feat Katra herself couldn't achieve. But why not? Aurala and Kaius were the greatest proponents of peace, the virtual parents of the Treaty of Thronehold. And they wouldn't dream of opposing her in this.

Selina's mind recalled--as it so often did these days--a lesson, long ago, which she assumed was totally irrelevant to her magical future. Maenya had wanted her to understand the concepts of defeat and of victory. Not merely the achieving of them, but the realization. Defeat is an opportunity to learn, to grow, to remember. And victory? Victory must be harnessed. It must be exploited to the fullest. Every drop of blood, every ounce of sweat, every mother who lost a child...what was it all for, without gains in victory? "You will be defined by your failures, but also your victories. Never, NEVER, let a victory go to waste."

The iron was hot. And it begged to be struck. It simply must be so.

Selina gazed levelly at Ariadne, then at the camera itself. "Absolutely. Droaam is a nation, by all natural right. Every other nation must respect that. I will accept nothing less."

Ariadne nodded to Tyburn, who cut the film, and stopped the camera's motor. Selina was silent, basking in the moment.

Vision, Might, and Guile. Her mothers had long pressed into her the pillars of strength, the strength of one, the strength of two, the strength of many. All people and peoples must have all three in order to survive and to prosper. In war, she proved her might. The vision of Droaam was as it always had been, yet indelibly changed by Selina, and not from hours of long contemplation, not from planning and plotting, but just in her very nature. She'd meant every word she said, even if she hadn't made up her mind about most of her audacious claims until the moment she said them.

And Guile? Well, she trusted her own, but Ariadne's was truly impressive. She'd coaxed the truth from Selina's very soul, all without ever seeming hostile, or even seeming to have a specific agenda. Selina meant to propose to Kaius, but she'd not dared to imagine saying what she'd done in such a public forum. Let alone her staring the world's leaders in the face, and basically daring all of them to give her the respect they wouldn't even give to Katra ans her sisters. But it all felt right, because...

Because it was true. As the Chronicle's slogan went, "the Truth will set you free."