vord supply caches lying all over the place. And I don't like our chances in Canea anytime in the next thirty years or so. It's huge over there. We don't have enough bodies to get the job done."
"But you do acknowledge that it must happen."
"Probably," Tavi said. "Eventually. But for now... the vord in Canea are just too bloody useful."
Fidelias frowned. "Sire?"
"Right now we've got something the world has never seen before: a working alliance among the Canim, the Marat, the Icemen, and Alera. Over the past century or three, how many Alerans have been killed fighting them, hmm?"
"Using the vord to hold the Alliance together. Risky."
Tavi spread his hands. "The fact of the matter is that none of us can stand up to the vord on our own. The only way we have a chance is together. And the only way we'll ever be able to take the battle to them in Canea is to live in peace with one another now and build something capable of defeating them."
"Build something. Like this universal Academy you've been talking about."
"That's one element, yes," Tavi said. "Our peoples have a lot to teach each other. The Academy is an excellent way to do that."
"I don't see what we can teach the Canim or the Marat, Captain. It's not as though we can give them lessons in furycraft."
Tavi suppressed his own grin. "Well. You never know when some furyless freak is going to develop talent. Do you."
Fidelias eyed him for a moment, then sighed. "You aren't going to explain, are you."
"It's a First Lord's sacred right. I get to be cryptic whenever I want. So there."
Fidelias huffed out a short laugh. "All right. That's an argument I'm not going to win." His face sobered. "But... sire. Given my sentence... I thought you'd have settled my account by now."
"Haven't I?" Tavi asked him. "Fidelias ex Cursori is dead. His name is black and ruined. He betrayed a dead First Lord for the sake of a High Lord and Lady who are also dead. All that he wrought for either patron has been destroyed. The labor of a lifetime, gone."
The man who wore Valiar Marcus's face looked down. There was bitterness in his eyes.
"I sentence Fidelias ex Cursori to death," Tavi continued quietly. "You will die in service to me, laboring under another name, a name that will be heaped with well-deserved honor and praise. I sentence you to go to your grave knowing how things might have been had you never strayed from my grandfather's service. I sentence you to die knowing that the First Lord who should have crucified you six months ago is instead granting you trust, a staff, and an expense account that a fictional man deserves far more than you do." He leaned forward. "You have too much talent to throw away. I need you. You're mine. And you're going to help me build the Alliance."
Fidelias grunted. Then he asked, very quietly, "How do you know I won't betray you?"
"The question is," Tavi replied, "how do you know I won't betray you?"
Fidelias looked a bit taken aback by that logic.
"I'm arrogant sometimes, but I'm not a fool. Don't think that I'm not watching you very carefully. I'm simply willing to invest in the paranoia it takes to make sure I get full use out of you. The Realm needs it." He lowered his voice. "The Realm needs heroes. The Realm needs you, Marcus. And I have no intention of letting you go to waste."
The other man blinked his eyes once, and nodded. "Crows," he said quietly. "If only Sextus had your courage."
"Courage? He was no coward," Tavi said.
"Not physically, no," Marcus answered. "But... the courage to look at the truth and admit to himself what it was. The courage to strive for something that was right even if it seemed impossible. He never walked out of the bounds set for him by his father's fathers. Never even considered that our future might be different than our past."
Tavi smiled slightly. "Well. He didn't have the benefit of my fine education and upbringing."
"True."
Marcus squared his shoulders and faced him. "For what it's worth, I'm yours, Captain. Until death takes me."
"That's been true since the Elinarch," Tavi replied quietly. "Please return to the party below and tell them that I'll be down in a moment."
Marcus saluted Legion style, despite his lack of uniform, and departed quietly.
Tavi sat down on a chair and closed his eyes for a moment. Now that the day was