Redana knows this story. How can she not? The great battles were always her favorite to read about. In her mind’s eye she can see the [i]Logos[/i] holding fast between the ruins of the First Fleet, allowing the [i]Seoul[/i] and the [i]York[/i] to withdraw behind that sheltering curtain of debris, releasing lifeboats until the captain and his husband’s brotherhood stood alone on the bridge, the guns stilled and the prow splintered, until the [i]Light of Autumn[/i] drew close enough for a full broadside. And it would be easy for her to shrug and tell the girl that it’s Redana who knows the [i]real[/i] story. But she doesn’t. Because the story isn’t hers.

There’s something vital, something real, something god-breathed in the story. Something that justifies the pride of the Alced girl in telling it, that brings Hera to touch [i]her[/i] cheek. Something that makes it shine in the same way as the best stories from Redana’s childhood, stories of imperium and struggle and virtue displayed in battle.

[i]”And through the gaping hell revealed
Vatmoral drove their frigate spent;
To stop the mouth of hated kings
the burning spear on wings they sent—

“On wings of fire and plumes of ash
the lupine arms flew straight and true;
through star-made plate and gunning lines
they pierced the Adelaide full through—

“Until the Alced reeling fell
in ruin on the golden sand,
and Nero wept to see the work
done by her ever-loyal hands—

“For night was then on Ridenki,
the night and doom of falling stars,
and black the sea and black the sky
from ruin of the Alced cars.”[/i]

“...that’s how we tell it. Part of it, anyway. The full poem is [i]very long,[/i]” says Redana, who once managed to remember an entire sixty stanzas for the Day of Liberation, to recite before the court. “We call Ne’ro and Mengelisk Nero and Molech. And there’s a whole war they fought through space, but you’re right that she was hungry, Nero, because she needed to feed many, many mouths, and Ridenki was a Class 9 Agriplanet.”

She takes the girl’s hand in both of her own, looks her in the eye (with the one she’s got on display). “And our version of the story has Ne’ro finally trapping Mengelisk in his own cave, and then she gathered up all of the humans everywhere and trapped them underneath her wings, until she decided that if she was ever to die she wanted another version of herself to keep humanity in her nest. So she made a, um, a golden chick, and locked her in a cage to keep her safe. But then the chick escaped and now is fluttering from star to star, trying to win a boon from the gods.”

The words stumble out before she can even think of stopping them. “And then a girl of the Alced met the golden chick, the daughter of Ne’ro, in disguise as one of the Hermetics who revere her mother, because if they found her, they’d call for Ne’ro’s hunting-cat to pounce on her and take her home. And that daughter thinks that the Hermetics really do mean well, they want to understand the entire universe, but also she’s worried about the way they’re running around with guns and those portable generators because they don’t have [i]anything[/i] like that back home, and they’ve got some sort of temporal cannon up in orbit, and, [i]Kindly Ones,[/i] what if they fire it?” This is well past the part where she’s actually talking to the girl. “Because the Alced are still here, and they’ve got a unique culture and their own way of remembering the Battle of Ridenki and why are they [i]kidnapping[/i] people?”

Then the thought strikes her and she grins infectiously, finally focusing on the girl again. “Unless, say, this Alced girl knows someone who can talk to my mentor, the Magos Iskarot, and convince him to speak on your behalf! That’s perfect! Then we can negotiate a fairer arrangement for the Alced, and nobody needs to get kidnapped, and everybody who wants to join the Order still can!” And she shines like the sunlight on the sea, irrepressible and joyful at seeing a way she can make everyone happy. Right?

[If the Alced girl is willing to listen to Actual Golden Retriever Redana Claudius, that’s an 11 (with Grace) on convincing her to introduce Redana and Iskarot to someone with pull in the Alced community, assuming that she does not see Redana as the child of the devil and someone to punch and run away from.]