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Bella keeps her empire humming. Her staff swells; her population booms. Earthlings solicit more and more tweaks here and there until it's nearly as safe and pleasant as Saturn in some places, although the realities of economics, prejudice, and politics mean that Saturn continues to be particularly inviting to certain classes of people. Bella receives Earth's tired, its poor, its huddled masses yearning to breathe free. There are political cartoons with spikes on her halo-crown, a torch in her hand, and her telling Uncle Sam, "Well, someone ought to do your job."
People on the Internet complain that she is technically an absolute monarch who has not, in fact, limited herself with a Constitution of any kind, only posted about what she does and does not expect to want to do on her website. Other people on the Internet point out that she seems to want and not want to do those things just as predicted and that it doesn't really affect anyone's quality of life if she happens to wear a ringcrown while she does it. Still other people point out that even if she wrote up a Constitution and swore to uphold it, this would not, in any way, shape, or form, cut her magical power in such a way that anyone could make a practical objection should she change her mind.
A lot of dead people come back to life. She does not make a particularly big dent, but it's enough to give hope, and the fact that the resurrected immortals don't suffer unusual levels of existential dread or lose their ability to appreciate classical music leave a lot of those who have never died more willing to try immortality.
Time passes. The Empire of Rings is the new normal. She still gets attention, but she's not nearly as memetic anymore. Her spotlight continues to shed spare interest on Ripper and his musical career.
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bellfounding
bellfounding
Bella tries to catch up with Sarion a minimum of twice a year if nothing she just has to tell a fellow Bell about comes up in the intervening time. After about six months have elapsed, she asks Aianon and Ansharil if either of them (and, of course, Sarion herself) are free for such a catching-up.
bellfounding
Excellent. They meet in Bella's palace and Bella conjures elf tea and she starts talking about the latest batch of escapees from Arkham - the Joker's old prison-asylum - who got out, started causing trouble, eluded local police, and now live on Ganymede.
small_magics
Isibel listens, and replies with the enchantments she has been doing - and also what Lycaelon and Liselen have been doing to help. Lately she has adjusted the parameters of her enchanted village to accommodate the needs of centaurs, a few families of which have moved in. It sounds like both of their worlds are doing quite well.
bellfounding
It's a few weeks after that when Bella says to Ripper, [Renée wants to meet you. Charlie probably does too, but Renée is the one who thought to ask.]
bellfounding
[It took her this long to ask because I was kind of dead for kind of a long time and I think she has some sort of weird hybridized view of me where I am only partially real and only partially her kid, but yeah. When's good?]
bellfounding
[Okay. She moved to Saturn the other week, so she's on your time zone, does lunch tomorrow sound good?]
bellfounding
[Oh. No, not mine particularly, they're not particularly interesting. Renée's been divorced twice now, broke up with my stepdad while I was dead, is that a relevant warning?]
bellfounding
[Golden's identical stepdad also eventually ceased to be married to the Aurum Renée but under somewhat different circumstances. Even though that Renée totally thought Golden was dead for like five years,] hmms Bella. [I wonder why.]
bellfounding
[Not by much. Me and Golden share a birthdate; I died the February I was seventeen and she faked her death the subsequent October. I suppose it could be relevant that she was pretending to have died in a fire and I kicked it in a hospital after getting creamed by the same car that got Stella and almost got Golden. Might be relevant that Golden was married and telling her mom that she was pregnant at the time, I guess, although I can't see how that would help.]
bellfounding
[Well, I mean help the relationship stay together. I never liked Phil all that much but Renée sure did at one point.]