Chapter 12: Chapter 13: Why there is no Good in Machrae Diir

"Well," the priest said, "I'm glad we could come to an amicable arrangement for the common good."

The Lady sat straighter in her throne. Scarlet eyes of twin nova flared brighter in her shadows. "We don't use that word here.”

"Oh, of course," the priest said. "I suppose 'arrangement' does make it sound very banal and workaday. Would you prefer 'pact?'"

"No, you idiot," the Lady growled. "I will not hear you say that something is 'good' in my halls. Never use that word in Machrae Diir again. Ever."

"Most esteemed kshiinurzhalg," the priest said, "there is no need for this facade. I am well aware that, despite your airs, you are fundamentally a good soul--"

"Enough," the Lady said. "Stop saying that hateful word. Goodness and the weighing of it have no place here."

"Lady, please," the priest said. "You have nothing to be afraid of! Your moral virtue is not in question! You are good, and deserve to have some joy of hearing it. You aren't one of the wicked, selfish, cowering creatures simply too weak to be virtuous. You aren't--"

A mammoth hand seized the priest. Blood-red shadow and white fire washed over his mouth, muffling him. "Now, look what you've done," the Lady muttered. Her gaze drifted to the veiled figures of her handmaidens. The folds of their fine robes trembled. One whimpered.

"It's alright, girls," said she, in a thick and shuddering voice. "You don't have to be good. You can just be. I still want you here. I still love you." She released the priest, unharmed. "Please stop this," she said. "Please stop hurting people with that awful word."

Of that day, it is known that the Lady kept her bargain with the priest. Of the priest, it is known that he kept true to his word. He did not leave his church, but something changed in his sermons.

"Let me tell you," he began to preach, "about the most hateful word there is."

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