Location: Armathane – The Solar of the Duchess, Midgard Company Strategic Annex
Time: Day 351 After Alec's Arrival
Elira and the Duchess
The solar hadn't changed.
Same vaulted ceiling, trimmed in black oak. Same oil-burnished tapestries of old Midgard triumphs. Same arched windows filtering the early spring light with deliberate softness.
Duchess Vaelora sat near the hearth, legs crossed, a crystal decanter untouched beside her.
She didn't rise when Elira entered.
Elira didn't curtsey.
Only nodded.
"You haven't aged," Elira said.
Vaelora's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "You've grown into everything they whispered about."
That broke the ice.
Just a little.
They didn't embrace. They weren't those kinds of women.
Instead, Elira sat across from her, pouring her own glass from the untouched wine.
"You sent the invitation for Alec," Elira said calmly. "But it was addressed to me."
"Because Midgard still breathes through its strongest lungs."
"You didn't need me to attend. You needed me to be seen."
Vaelora sipped her wine. "Correct."
Elira nodded, as if they'd rehearsed it.
There was a silence then, long and not uncomfortable.
Vaelora studied her.
"You held Oslo longer than I thought possible."
"I was always more than my marriage."
"I know," Vaelora said. "But some forget. Even now."
Elira's fingers traced the rim of her goblet. "Your court watches me like I'm either desperate or dangerous."
"And which are you?"
"I haven't decided."
That got a real smile out of Vaelora. "Good. Keep them guessing."
Then Vaelora leaned in slightly.
"Dain is funding destabilizers. I've had confirmation. He's even reached out to a Selvanis proxy."
Elira stiffened, just once. "Then he's moving faster than I thought."
"I've read your incident scrolls. You need more than deniability."
"I need fire that won't burn me."
Vaelora stood. Crossed to the window.
"Then perhaps it's time we give you flint."
Elira rose as well.
"You're offering me Alec?"
"I'm offering you results. What he does with them… is his choice."
Their eyes met again — two rulers without crowns.
"Let him see your mind," Vaelora added. "Not just your strength."
Elira turned for the door.
"I wasn't planning to lead with either."
Alec and Elira — Again, But Alone
Later that afternoon, Alec stood in Midgard's Company Strategic Annex — his domain of scrolls, schematics, half-completed weapon models and ledger maps. Dust-free, precise. Even the quills were aligned.
He sensed her presence before he heard her voice.
"Elira."
She leaned against the threshold. Not posed. Just present.
"I asked for a tour. They pointed me here."
"Curious?"
"Always."
He gestured her in.
Elira's eyes scanned the space. "You don't surround yourself with symbols."
"I surround myself with control."
She walked slowly through the room, pausing at a draft for Midgard's new canal schematic.
"You altered flow distribution by field angle?"
"Yes. Less loss by lateral run-off."
"You're not just an administrator."
"No."
She turned to him.
"So tell me — what are you building here? Really?"
Alec didn't blink.
"A power base."
"Why here?"
"Because the rest of the world is too addicted to history."
She stepped closer.
"And what's your currency, Alenia? Coin? Fear? Worship?"
He held her gaze.
"No," he said. "Competence. Amongst others"
That made her smile.
And that smile stayed.
She picked up a piece of parchment. A record of resource flows. Clean. Efficient.
"You'd run a kingdom like an engine."
"I'd run it like a system."
"You know that frightens people."
"Yes," Alec said. "But not you."
"No," Elira agreed softly. "Not me."
They stood at opposite ends of the table.
Then Elira said, "Oslo's bleeding. Quietly, but steadily. I can hold it… for now. But I don't want to be remembered as a woman who managed decay."
"You want resurrection."
"I want ascension."
Alec stepped forward, placing a sheet of folded vellum on the table between them.
A charter draft.
Blank except for a title: Midgard Company Expansion Plan(Draft) – Sector Oslo
Elira looked at it.
"Is this a test?"
"It's a beginning."
Final Beat
They didn't shake hands.
But when she left, Alec stood at the window long after.
Not because of her beauty — though he registered it again.
But because he had just seen something in her walk.
A certainty.
A momentum.
Elira didn't come to be helped.
She came to build with him.