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I was there.

I have been there for it all, since her creation, but I was there for that, which was one of the more important events in her history.

I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?  Perhaps I should say what the ‘that’ was.  That was when Quatre assumed the title of emperor.

I was there as he traveled through the desert with his friends, of course.  I gave him a hint when he needed it, as a lizard was only too happy to oblige.  I admit I might have cheered a little when he killed Zerixco, and might have made the council a bit more susceptible to his pleas, and planted in their minds the idea that the rage-necromancy could be healed.

I’ll admit it.  I like this boy.  You can’t choose them all—Zerixco’s a good example of that.  I would never have chosen him.  But sometimes Fate herself—fickle though she is—picks a nice one for me.

Thanks Fate, I owe you one.

I was there as he began the long and doubtlessly tiring process of setting this country back on the right path, and I was there as he and the beastmage saved that secret prison of menagerie animals left to die.  I was there when they had to bury his father, and I was there when he had to bid his friends goodbye (except for that beastmage of course!), not even able to see them back over the Piratiki Ocean because of some banquet he had to go to.

I was there for all the hard decisions, granting him a sense of peace so that he might see the correct way to go (he’s never steered wrong yet.) I was there when new Lords were chosen and when Zarisnia was once again returned to the country she ought to be.  I was there when she made her alliances with other countries, and when her emperor hugged his friend, the king of Marenia, right after signing the alliance agreement.

I’ve been there for it all, but this sticks right in my heart.  I guess I’m getting soft, for a protector-goddess, but all I can say is I’m glad that finally Zarisnia is on her way to freedom, and has a new crest—of a gryphon rampant, as it rightfully should be.