Chapter Forty-Three – Part Three
Epilogue
Chavon was a prosperous place. It was able to employ a large and well equipped, if strangely new, standing army. This was more than enough to discourage those on the mainland with a mind to try and take the new continent by force. For now, at least, they had thrown off the shackles of empire and it seemed better to trade than to fight with them.
Lady Josette had benefitted from the glowing reputation of the heroism of the dead queen. She had been a close advisor to Empress Alessandria as well as several rulers before her. People wondered how old she was. Anyway, the people seemed to have felt more able to trust an experienced woman with power. So Josette had been swept to her new position at the head of the former empire.
Information and rumours alike trickled throughout the mainland. It was all listened to with an even greater than usual interest by a particular young woman. She was clothed from head to toe in white. Her only decoration was a sunburst broach that was picked out in shades of orange, blue and green. A wry smile played across her lips for no one’s particular benefit but her own.
A question broke her out of her private contemplation. “Say, Lessa, you’re a prophetess-“
I mean, prophet would work perfectly well too. There’s no real need to slap gendering on everything. I think that people would still be able to tell that I’m a woman. It’s not like I refer to him as male tavern owner. Barkeeper man? A few months now spent as a wandering priestess had taught Lessa that it was better to keep such grumbles to herself.
The people around her saw her as they wanted to. Folk didn’t expect to hear social commentary from a holy woman. Certainly not one who told people she had been sent forth by the gods themselves to spread the word of the Ancients. Four of them anyway. No one would even believe her if she said she used to be a queen.
Still, it was a booming time to be a preacher in service to these particular gods. The news of the discovery of Chavon had done plenty to spark interest in her teachings of Kalama, Iri, Taron and Moselle. Her congregations were getting larger with every new boatload of news from the new continent.
Part one of this chapter can be found here.
Part one of Privileged can be found here.
The Ros Martin Archive 