19 — OnwardsSheam, the secret of her nature kept as a coveted secret, slipped through the cracks, with the artifact that the delegation seemed to no longer care about safely in hand. She finished cleaning it and transcribed the story; though its significance remained unclear.

  Johnathan never gave up on the investigation, but was true to his word. He pulled together some leads and found Sheam a new job assisting a clothing merchant with his shop. It wasn't enjoyable work, but Sheam was good at it. This afforded her a new home in the city's outskirts, far, far away from both Daelus' estate and the museum.

  The museum was fully staffed by entourage, and seemed to finally take on the role it was always meant to be: propaganda to boost support among the citizenry for the Benefactor’s ongoing, endless wars of conquest around the world.

  Time marched on with a new normal ossifying. Sheam settled into her new life, her time as Daelus growing to be just a distant memory.

  Then finally, one day, something new happened, as they tend to eventually do.

  — end part 1