sacrificial magic, but one could live a normal life with only one kidney and, perhaps equally important, give the impression of being whole and unmaimed.
—From A Chronological Survey of the Last Great Rebellion
3. THE TEXT of the note Seabourne left in Titus VII’s laboratory before she departed Britain is as follows:
Your Highness,
I am going to kill you—eagerly and with great satisfaction. Perhaps I am speaking figuratively; perhaps not. You will find out. Likely too late.
But if it should be that both I and Fate somehow spare you, and you return here one day, victorious and in one piece, know that I meant what I said: I have no regrets about going to Atlantis, deadly prophecies notwithstanding.
And know that I have loved you all along, even while I plot your imminent demise. Maybe especially as I do so.
Now and always,
The one who walks beside you
—From A Chronological Survey of the Last Great Rebellion
4. THE PRACTICE of wearing troth bands goes back almost a millennium. Once a pair of lovers seals their pledge to each other and puts on the troth bands, the bands cannot be taken off unless one or both of the wearers pass away.
This irreversibility is likely the reason troth bands never became popular. Even the most sincerely devoted couples could drift apart over time. What, then, to do about this no longer meaningful symbol that cannot be removed unless one is willing to give up an arm too in the process?
—From Encyclopedia of Cultural Customs
5. THE TEXT of the entries Commander Rainstone read in Princess Ariadne’s diary:
6 May, YD 1012
Why do I so seldom see good news? The lonely finding love and friendship. The just and brave rewarded for their courage and sacrifice. Or even a rapturously received new play—at least that would be something to look forward to.
No, instead I see death and misfortune. And when I am lucky, things that I cannot quite interpret one way or the other.
Now on to the vision. It is a hospital—or at least it looks like the maternity ward of a hospital, with a number of newborns in rows of bassinets. A man, in a nurse’s white overrobe and white cap, his face covered by a protective mask, checks all the babies one by one.
He stops before two bassinets and looks at the babies inside for a long time. Then, with a glance to the window that looks out to the corridor, he quickly switches the babies.
So frustrating—the man is clearly committing a terrible misdeed. Yet because it has not taken place yet, I cannot do anything. Nor can I recognize the hospital, though I toured a number of hospitals last summer, especially in the provinces.
I will wait for the vision to come back and hope for more identifying information.
19 August, YD 1012
The vision came again. This time I could see that there are fireworks out the window, a steady shower of golden streaks.
Father’s birthday or a feast day?
—From A Chronological Survey of the Last Great Rebellion
6. Commander Penelope Rainstone:
Sometimes the reports make it seem that my rupture with Princess Ariadne was permanent. That wasn’t quite the case. Her Highness did dismiss me, since I read her diary without authorization and then refused to give a reason. But six months later I went to see her.
I made it clear that I could never confess why I’d snooped—Callista didn’t want anyone to know that we were related, that her mother had indulged in an affair with a gardener during her marriage. But I asked Her Highness to please understand my dilemma, as a woman who also had secrets she couldn’t tell the world.
She was silent for a long time, but then she nodded slowly.
I can’t tell you how much that meant to me, her forgiveness. I offered to take a blood pledge, as a gesture of my gratitude and loyalty. She declined it, but said if I wished to, I could make that same pledge to her infant son.
I did. At the time I had no idea that years later the pledge, which bound me to His Highness, would enable me to break through the siege of the bell jar dome in the Sahara Desert.
The threads of Fortune weave mysteriously.
—From The Last Great Rebellion: An Oral History
7. Vasudev Kashkari:
I was twenty when I left home for the Sahara Desert. There was never any question that I wanted to be part of the resistance—even if my uncle hadn’t been Akhilesh Parimu, I would still have wanted to contribute.