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When Vanyel is ready for the mad science tour, he shows him the monkeys. "They're monkeys," she feels it necessary to clarify. "I know they look very human at this point, because the whole point of them is that I'm going to move into one if I ever die, but they're not people, and I have forbidden the staff to name them. I could move into one now if I had to but I'd like to get one actually looking like me in particular first, and I want to stick more Gifts into them, I got Fetching out of some Changesquirrels but further work is needed." She shows him the mice, too. "Do you suppose Jisa'd like a winged mouse? What's her favorite color?" She shows him all her microbiology eggs. "That's a flu sample from the recent plague! I remembered to take one. Those there are other flus. The white eggs have more-alive microbes and the brown eggs have less-alive kinds - there's a cold one of the staff mages had a few months ago, there's food poisoning, there's the most common kind from healthy intestines - you could get your Sight this fine, you know, I don't do heavy Healing-Gift use apart from Sight for this work."
"Either's fine with me, or I suppose we could combine the ceremonies, save some effort."
Sure, combining the ceremonies is a good idea.
Do they want to get married in a temple dedicated to the Shadowgod? It's traditional for the monarch of Valdemar to have a state wedding at the temple to Kernos, and they'd floated before the idea of using a temple to Astera, but they'd understand if Leareth and Belrun have different preferences now.
Leareth hadn't really planned on being married at a temple period, but... :I suppose I would not mind. What do you think, Belrun?:
"I think I'd like to have a more comfortable conversation with the Shadowgod before even constructing such a temple, let alone planning to get married in one. We're doing most of it outdoors anyway, I don't think it will be especially marked if there are no temples per se involved."
Makes sense, that part doesn't seem urgent.
And, Randi argues, the exact setup for their marriage doesn't need to be run past a Council vote for approval. Are they ready to formally vote on the marriage and transition of power now? Does Belrun have any last comments?
Great! Then they can do a vote, and shortly later it is official and on paper that Randi will, in a month, abdicate the throne to Belrun.
You can practically see the tension leaving Shavri's body as she squeezes her partner's hand.
Randi is also looking quite pleased about this state of affairs! And tired. But satisfied.
Belrun is very chipper as they head out of the meeting. "Can you anchor illusions to objects that just need recharging, so you could maintain one long-term with enough mages around?" she wonders.
"Yes, definitely! The Eastern Empire has enough mages to use this - it was not worth it in most places, given that you still need a mage to re-power the artifact, but the powering part does not require great skill and we are soon going to end up with large numbers of trainee mages."
"If we can mass-produce useful artifacts then new mages can learn to recharge them - water purification everywhere, shields to hide behind if nasties come out of the Pelagirs, stuff to keep people warm in winter - maybe people can do a circuit recharging things to pay for their Gift and training -"
Leareth spends the rest of that day doing final checks on his avatar-building plan. And stocking up on cuddles and kisses with Belrun, because he's going to have to go more than twenty-four candlemarks without any of those.
"That is true! You can even stick your head in, sometimes, we are not moving a lot of power around so it is not especially dangerous, you will just need to avoid distracting me. Which will not be hard because I will be deep in trance for nearly all of it."
"I will be able to take short breaks occasionally, but it would probably be less gruelling if you did that."
"Thank you." Snuggle.
Leareth goes to bed early that night, to make sure he's well-rested for the process.
The next morning, Leareth munches his way through a large breakfast; he won't be able to do more than grab very quick snacks until he's done with this. He hugs Belrun.
