Katress:

  Ten weeks later:

  Katress, the daughter of one of the last nobles to have run away, was now back in her original home. She was eating dinner with her parents. Her parents were not happy.

  "This is an utter travesty of justice. We left our place for a few months, and when we returned, most of our properties were stolen!"

  "Dad, they need the housing for all of the extra ex-slaves they are now looking after," said Katress.

  "So what about the extra slaves? They can live in tents! How dare that woman just take away my belongings! What right does she have?"

  "Perhaps being the acknowledged ruler of 60 million freed slaves gives her the right?"

  "Katress! What has gotten into you? Why should that woman Eleanor have such acknowledgement? She's ignored all proper protocols! She has none of the qualifications for being an Empress!"

  "Dad, that woman went and fought the Slaver Emperor. Just her and seventeen others. She risked her life. And then, she had the raw courage to put a slave collar on herself, without knowing if it would work or not."

  "She got lucky! That does not give her the right to casually throw away the nobility, the court life, and all of the proper trappings of a kingdom. I can't even get to talk to her! And that blasted Treasurer! He nods and says he is sorry but can't do anything about it!"

  At this point, Katress got up and went to her room. This wasn't the first argument she had had about this topic.

  The room was messy; the unpacked stuff from her travel suitcase still hadn't been put away. Because the maid that used to look after her had never come back. The fact that that maid now lived in one of her father's spare houses was also a cause of considerable anguish to her father.

  Good on you, my former maid!

  Now, where the Voice did my cleanest underwear go?

  She found them on the floor. She stuffed them into a small bag, along with some toiletries, took one last look at the mess in her room, and left.

  "Mum, Dad, I'm walking through town."

  "Well, stay away from any slaves and be aware of the commoners. Try to find your friends, OK?" said her mother.

  Katress didn't reply to that out loud.

  In actual fact, I'm sort of going to be seeking commoners and ex-slaves. And I'm certainly not going to associate with my so-called former friends.

  On a previous outing, she saw a notice outside the castle asking for volunteers for the newly created cadet force. For older teenagers and young adults, it aimed to be part police force, part military, and part exploratory. Experienced guards led them to conduct surveillance missions into the former slave lands and set up communication lines and trade links between the Empress and ex-Slaver communities.

  An hour later, she was nervously sitting in an office in the castle. A woman walked in.

  "Hello, I'm Jane. I believe you wish to sign up for the cadets?"

  "Ah, y-yes, Ms Jane."

  Jane looked closely at her. Katress vaguely recalled that there was a woman guard who could tell if one was lying.

  "So, you're a noble, correct?"

  "Yeah, but my parents ran away while Empress Eleanor and her companions stayed. I'm really impressed by that, and well, I thought I could do something to help, for once. Instead of staying at home listening to Father raging about how my former maid quit and now lives in one of his houses."

  Jane appeared to be somewhat amused by this last statement.

  "And you think you might have something to contribute to us?"

  "Ah, I don't know. I mean, that young girl Evereena did so much, and she's totally amazing. She's my age, and, well, compared to her, I'm pretty useless. Sorry..."

  Jane appeared to be evaluating her. She also seemed to get even more amused.

  "Tell me, did you tell your parents you would enlist?"

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "Ah, no. I bought some stuff with me and wondered if I could start training straight away? Otherwise, they might lock me in my room or something if I go home."

  A raised pair of eyebrows from Jane.

  "Fine, fine. The initial training is for three months; then, you will be evaluated. OK?"

  "Yes!"

  Eleanor:

  A year after the fight:

  "Anyone want any more soup?" asked Lena, transferring half a bowl's worth to Aragon's soup plate.

  Of course, she was using the non-lethal version of her Ladle of Death.

  Aragon didn't say anything as he was preoccupied. The others, having already stuffed themselves, murmured their refusals.

  Eleanor, Lena, their children, Esther and Evereena and Aragon and Jane were coming to the end of their evening meal. Evereena was already standing, holding a baby. Esther's and Aragon's baby. She knelt and let Mason and Becky say hello to the little thing. Having just been fed, the baby was happy to wave his arms around and make little noises - everyone else was relaxing.

  Except that Eleanor was getting somewhat tense. She knew what was going to come next.

  "OK," said Lena, "It's time for our little therapy session."

  Evereena stood up, holding the baby, walked over to where Eleanor and Lena sat and gently transferred the baby to Eleanor's arms.

  This is still painful. Perhaps if I leave my [Emotional Control] fully on...

  "Eleanor... You know the rules. Turn it down," said Lena. Softly, but very firmly.

  Lena can be a real bother sometimes.

  But she did what she was told. She sat there, cuddling a baby as he went coo coo. She leaned forward, gently touching her face to the baby's.

  The pain hurts. Real bad.

  But the pain is getting less and less. I don't know if it will ever disappear, but I suppose this is doing me good.

  "OK, my dear. That's enough. And, ah, I think I can smell something..." said Lena.

  Eleanor returned the baby to Evereena, who sniffed and checked the baby's nappy.

  "Yep, his nappy needs changing!"

  She promptly gave him to their mother.

  At least Lena hasn't made me change his nappy. It's probably because Lena has never changed a nappy.

  Be thankful for small mercies.

  And Evereena only changed his nappy once, just to prove she could. But only once.

  Upon receiving her baby back, Esther glanced at Aragon. "It's your turn."

  Aragon, like the true man he was, took this command well. He put down his soup spoon, then, smirking at everyone present, he took the baby, kissed his head, and left the room.

  Ahh, now I can fully relax.

  "Say, Jane, how is that cadet going, the one your daughter was once a maid for?"

  "Katress? She is doing well. She trains diligently, she never shows off about her nobility, she deals with commoners and free slaves as equals, she is enthusiastic about her future career, and she seems to be a nice person as well."

  "That's good. Did you know her father tried a few times to get me to discharge her from the cadetship?"

  "No. Somehow, I don't think Katress wants that. How did you fob him off?"

  "Oh, I handed the job over to the Treasurer."

  "Err, the Treasurer? Why should he have authority in this matter?"

  Eleanor smiled broadly.

  "Because the Treasurer, using his new Voice of the World ability to [Always Knows the Numbers], merely adds up the cost of training Katress and points out that if she were discharged early, then the country would have lost its investment in her, so he would have to repay it."

  "Oh, right, and let me guess, somehow the numbers always add up to a considerable sum?" said Jane, looking as if she was enjoying the thought.

  "Ooh, yes. Isn't it amazing how the costs pile up? And I'm sure the Treasurer enjoys himself immensely. He smiles, nods, and then says that he can do nothing since this is what his queen has ordered."

  Jane laughed at this. "Passive aggression at its finest!"

  "Also, I appreciate the Voice giving the Treasurer that ability. It only cost me 230,000 points."

  "Oh, that's all."

  "Anyway, I asked because I think it is time for Evereena to join a real mission. And we can assign Katress to be her companion. That OK with you, Evereena?"

  "Ah, well, I don't have any experience with people my age..."

  "Precisely! This will give you that needed experience. It'll do you good, being with Katress and going on missions. Of course, there will also be a bunch of very experienced guards going with you."

  "Then, I suppose so."

  "And also, tomorrow I will be making a big official announcement, but I'll tell you now: The Voice of the World has enabled me to activate the Ringworld's inbuilt transportation system. It will cost hundreds of millions of points, though."

  "What is that?"

  "You remember that story that Drayden told us about how the original Felixians made the Ringworld? It's something about escaping an exploding sun or something. I'm a bit vague about that part. Anyway, since they built the whole damn thing from scratch, I suppose it is natural that it would have some kind of transport system built into it."

  "So, why hasn't it been available until now? Or even visible?" said Jane.

  "Because, apparently, there was a population crash at one stage, and we lost a lot of technology, and the transport system is only activated when enough people with enough technology and enough points and Voice granted abilities exist to allow it to be operated."

  "I see, so don't tell me, but those billions of points you have ever so accidentally acquired are sufficient to get the Voice to do something about it," said Jane.

  "Yes! I'm still not sure of the details, but generally, such a restart would have been spread across the entire Ringworld, with many people getting abilities from the Voice to activate the transport system in their locality, but, of course, in our case-"

  "In our case, you're the only one. So, you're already the Empress of 60 million freed slaves, and queen of Manifestoria and starting to influence Crysteth. And your [Address an Individual] and [Address a Group] abilities have already been vastly extended to [Address a Whole Country]. And now you will be in charge of a Ringworld-wide transportation system. Hmm, I can see there will be consequences."

  "There certainly will be. As of now, I only have a very slight understanding of how the transportation system works, but I'm sure the Voice will provide. And, when it does, well..."

  "I foresee a lot of extra meetings, with a lot of very important and powerful people, coming to you in the near future," said Lena.

  "Oh, you bet."

  "No disrespect or anything, but I'm really glad you made those extra vows," said Jane.