The illusory group smiled and waved and called out; “Happy birthday, Prince Mark!”
“Thank you!” he called and waved in return, which made him feel a bit awkward, as it seemed like he stood only ten feet from them. He realized it was because he felt the urge to walk over and shake hands or something, and he chuckled at himself.
“Permit me to introduce Citizen Willia Sneg, of Bhia, and her son Tog.” Sheramiv indicated them with a warm smile. “Less than an hour ago, Tog became the first child to be born at the Hilia-Heartwood Academy of Healing. Healers in Bhia doubted that either he or his mother could survive his birth, for there were severe complications, yet this team of Healers brought them safely through the experience, and fully restored their health and vitality as well.”
Mark and Talia went over to get a close look at the baby as his mother held him up a bit to proudly display him.
“He’s beautiful!” Talia cooed at the sight of the tiny sleeping infant.
“Thank you.” Willia grinned.
“Happy birthday, Tog.” Mark softly murmured, his grin as wide as his face could hold, then he straightened and faced the Healers. “Thank you.” he told them sincerely, and they smiled and nodded graciously before the whole group disappeared.
“And now, I present our university’s Faculty of Skilled Trades; The Hilian Trades and Crafts School at Juncture, where the borders of the three empires of Debivin come together, again, seen through overflying eyes.” Sheramiv announced as Mark and Talia moved back to their places.
An illusion appeared on the floor, showing a huge campus composed of two rings of twelve large buildings circling a round area of parkland. Though it was in the midst of the darkest hours of the night, the campus was extremely well lit by hundreds of elven Light spells. A gigantic banner covered the entire front of the building closest to the road that served the school, and read; ‘Grand Opening 07 01 01 AJA’.
“This school was originally planned with six buildings.” Sheramiv informed the gathering amidst another round of applause. “It is now complete, as far as its plans had progressed up to two hours ago. However, a third ring of buildings has been proposed and approved within the last hour, and they will be constructed tomorrow. With thirty-six of these structures serving almost seventy thousand apprentices, this will be the largest tradeschool on Kellaran.”
“What do the numbers on the banner mean?” Mark asked.
“That the grand opening of the school will take place on the seventh day of the first month of the first year of The Age of The Just Alliance.” Sheramiv explained. “This follows the new calendar convention that was proposed by Mileemi of Thon yesterday, and it eliminates a great deal of confusion, since almost every nation of every race used different dating before the founding of the Alliance, which is counted the first day of the new age. Adoption of the new dating has been swift, due to the pressures of impending war. Otherwise it would likely take decades to forge such universal compliance.”
“That’s good thinking.” Mark nodded.
“The fortifications and minor modifications at your other properties are also complete.” Sheramiv continued as she banished the illusion. “Including the modifications to The Queen of Waves. But since they are for the most part unaltered in appearance since you last saw them, we save the time of showing them. The facilities and modifications at Focus Mountain are almost complete as well, but you will see them in person a bit later.
“That leaves only the presentation of the completed facilities here at Hilia, but before we get to that, I present Prince Dizil of The People of Rain.”
That beaming tropical elf wore a white tunic and sandals that contrasted brightly with his black hair and skin, as did his pearl studded gold crown of office.
“Happy birthday, Prince Mark, and good day, Princess Talia.” Dizil grinned as he stepped forward, holding an ornate parchment clipped to a mahogany writing board. “I have here the treaty, based on our verbal agreement, that formalizes and finalizes the transfer of the property and sovereignty of the island of Hilia from my nation to The Principality of Hilia. Do you have the payment?”
“We do.” Sheramiv smiled, and waved forward two of the Atoning, who were towing a small and ornate marble chest that was supported by a Levitation. They presented it and opened the lid, revealing the glint of gold. “One thousand one ounce gold Hilian Crowns, the first coins minted as Hilian currency.”
“That’s a surprise to me, that we’re minting our own money!” Mark noted as he took a quick look at one of the coins, struck on one side with a bust portrait of he and Talia wearing similar ornate crowns and smiling into each other’s eyes, and on the other with a map of the island with the sword-star of Hilia in the center. “Nice!” he grinned as he replaced it in the chest.
“We are honored.” Dizil nodded. “The payment is made and accepted. Both the coins and the chest will be treasured by my people for their historical significance. We’ll leave them on display here for the next seven days, along with our copy of the contract, so that they may be viewed by your citizens and guests.” He held the writing board with both hands as he cast a quick spell to copy it, and when he moved his hands apart they each held one, complete with the treaty and a quill pen clipped on. “Our signatures will stand to seal our agreement for all time, and will be witnessed in the third party by Prince Yazadril of the High People, First Commander of the Militaries of The Just Alliance.”
He handed one of the boards to Mark, they each signed, then Mark passed his to Talia as Dizil passed his to Yazadril.
When they’d all signed both copies, Yazadril spoke. “Please remove both copies of the treaty from the writing boards and place them back to back, thank you, now the four of us shall grasp them both, one of us on each edge, with our right hands. Thank you.”
They held the parchments high, and Yazadril drew Mountainfire. He held it hanging point down beneath the treaty with his left hand, and loudly intoned; “As it is written, so let it be, forevermore!” and drove the great sword’s point into the floor with a loud clank, which triggered a bright wave of elven binding, and a round of cheering and applause from the gathering.
“It’s amazing that you don’t chip the floor when you do that, Yazadril.” Mark smiled as Sheramiv took the documents from them.
“Ah, well it’s magic, you see.” Yazadril grinned with a wink as he sheathed his sword.
“Now, since I agreed during our original discussion to furnish you with the history of Hilia, as far as it is known, I have had this fine book prepared for you. The last page is the best.”
The tome Prince Dizil magically Retrieved and held to Mark was finely tooled and gilded, the covers were two feet long and eighteen inches wide, and it was three inches thick.
“Why Prince Dizil, thank you!” Talia smiled as she stepped forward to accept the book. “How kind of you to gift us with this! Of course, we can’t give the appearance that you’re trying to tiptoe around our request to not give Mark birthday presents, can we?”
“Of course not, that wouldn’t be best at all!” Dizil laughed.
“The Illustrated History of Hilia.” Talia read. “Apparently, our island has a much more extensive history than I would have guessed!”
“Not really. The first chapter details it’s discovery and subsequent use as a storm haven and resupply source for fresh water by various ships over many millennia, and you should save the second chapter to read later. It’s the story of how Hilia came to be an outpost of my nation, and it’s quite an amusing story. The third chapter is quite slim, and details the various patrols our Sentries made here and the occasional pirates they rousted, the fourth is a detailed analysis of the development of the stone and the life of the island since its volcanic heart first rose above the sea. The vast majority of the book is a detailed accounting of events of note that have occurred here since you became Hilia’s monarchs.”
Talia opened the book to its last page, and Mark read over her shoulder, then they both burst out laughing.
“There is a subtitle at the top of the last page that reads; The Seventeenth Birthday Celebrations of Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider, thus identifying the chapter!” Mark whooped, relieving the puzzlement of the gathering. “There’s a nice picture of Talia receiving this book from Prince Dizil a moment ago, done to look like a masterfully realistic oil painting, as one would expect in a fine history book! The last words printed on the page are what he said just before she opened it; ‘The vast majority of the book is a detailed accounting of events that have occurred here since you became Hilia’s monarchs.’!”
“It will update when the book is closed, up to the moment before it is next opened.” Dizil explained.
“Thank you! It’s wonderful, and very thoughtful of you!” Talia laughed.
“You are most welcome.” Prince Dizil said with a bow, and turned to Sheramiv, who took up the thread of events again.
“All that remains to be done here, in your Hall of Thrones, is to display the finished facilities of Hilia.” she stated. “The spell of Illusion that will be used to display them is contained within two items. Here with the items is one of their crafters; Osbald, Emperor of the Humans of Thon!”
“Emperor Osbald! What a pleasant surprise!” Talia laughed.
“And an honor!” Mark added, as that worthy gentleman allowed himself to become noticeable, and stepped forward.
He bore a warm smile, and a black velvet covered case with about two cubic feet of capacity. “Thank you, I’ve looked forward to meeting both of you. Your nation and your reign have begun without your having been crowned in a grand coronation ceremony, but I’m one of those who think that the informal atmosphere you prefer may be a far more appropriate tradition for the nation you are building here. In that spirit, I give you these.”
He opened the case, and displayed on black velvet within were two magnificent crowns. They were identical except for size, and artistically encrusted with diamonds, rubies and sapphires, each centered with a huge dark blue star sapphire with the sword-star of Hilia centered naturally within the stone.
“The crowns of nations are items of power, due to their worth, the magic that imbues them, and their centuries of history.” Osbald stated, amidst the quiet oohs and ahs of exclamation. “They carry the history of their nations, and while the history of your nation is still rather short, they also carry the history of their crafters’ years of experience. And these were crafted by twenty-four Masters of Wizardry, each of whom is, like myself, a reigning monarch of long standing and experience. And besides, by dividing the work among so many of us, each of us needed only a short diversion from our busy schedules.
“I myself was a jeweler on the project and crafted the metals, and I contributed a few spells, not the least of which are those that ensure that these will always remain light, comfortable, and securely in place, no matter how long and eventful, or uneventful, your state occasions may be.
“I am most proud of a property I had no hand in endowing. They are certified by The High Circle of Spell Casters of The Just Alliance as Eminent Artifacts of Power and Justice, and as such, an oath of justice sworn upon either of them will be sufficiently binding to merit being denoted by the Marking spell that serves as passport to The Just Alliance. The pictogram that appears will be of your crown centered before the sword-star symbol.
“There’s a card from all of us in the bottom of the case.
“Now, if you will allow me, I will fit these to your brows, and I will establish a Link with you, in order to instruct you in the use of their spells.”
Osbald set the case aside and Levitated it, then visibly hesitated in the act of lifting Talia’s crown out as the Link was established. “My my, what an experience! The quality and depth of the Link you two share, and of Talia’s Link with Ria, are both quite refreshing!”
“We’re grateful for this chance to share your thoughts, Osbald.” Mark told him. “While we’re doing so, we have quite a nice selection of spells between us now, and I could pass you any of them in a usable form in a few seconds. Judging by your apparent skill, I’m sure you’d be able to take quite a few. Of course we hope that you have a few to offer in trade.”
“Certainly, and thank you. I have a few things I like to keep to myself, but you can have your choice of these, and the ones in your crowns are these. Now as for yours… Ah, you have an amazing selection! Of course I know many of them, or things that are functionally similar, but these magecraft works are intriguing. I’ll learn these twenty-eight… twenty-nine spells. Thank you! And you already have your selections from my repertoire! Masterfully done!”
“Thank you, Osbald. Your selection is formidable, but we managed to choose a few dozen things we’d like to work with. And it’s a genuine pleasure sharing with someone who can think over a Link even faster than I can!”
“Good selections you made, but on the other point, you’re a flatterer. I could neither pass nor retrieve spells with anything close to your deftness at the task, and it’s obvious you’re just stretching your wings. It’s been a pleasure working with you. We’ll have to do it again soon.”
While this psionic exchange had been going on, Osbald had placed Talia’s crown upon her head. Mark had gone to one knee to allow the same to be done for him, but he held his head high and grinned. Now he stood as Osbald ended the Link.
“Sheramiv waited to reveal the developments here at Hilia in order to allow you the use of the spells for the display of your realm that are embedded in your crowns, since they are of particularly high quality. Why don’t you try them now?”
Mark and Talia did so, and an eighteen foot long model Illusion of the island appeared floating two feet in the air in the center of the room.
“It’s adjustable in dimension, area of focus, and time.” Osbald revealed. “Why not make it bigger? Don’t worry about us, we’ll just wade through it.”
The Illusion grew until it filled the entire area between the pillars.
“Wow!” Mark breathed. At this size the volcano was ten feet high, and on its shallow slope was the cottage, the patio, and a tiny but easily discernible view of Stripe laying there and grooming himself.
“Now use the interior view.” Osbald suggested, and the Illusion became semi-transparent.
They could now see within the cottage, and through the stone to the stairs that led down and the chamber they were in. Mark waved his arm, and the tiny illusion of him did the same simultaneously.
“Your crowns don’t know the land yet, so they only show the parts that you two are aware of.” Osbald explained.
“Most of these gathered here are representatives of the crews who have worked on the constructions here, eager to see your reaction at the unveiling.” Sheramiv smiled. “Allow me to pass you my knowledge of the facilities. But not all at once. Here are the hotel facilities and apartments for staff members and residents, all excavated beneath the surface of the outside of the volcano, all equipped with hidden doors and windows to the outside to maintain the existing natural look of the mountain. The top third of them on the south side are reserved for diplomats and their staff.
“As you can see, we have chosen to use various shades of white marble throughout all of the facilities, in order to brighten the ambiance and to contrast with the black obsidian of which Hilia is composed. This also gives every facility in the nation a certain stylistic unity. On the other hand, there is a great variety in the ways that the marble and the obsidian have been decoratively shaped and carved, and the representative styles of stonework of every nation can be found here. The emplacement of abundant indoor plant life is the other feature that we have insisted be included in the décor of every facility. It adds the warmth of life to the stone of the rooms and corridors, helps purify the air, provides pleasant scents, and improves our balance of trade, since every indoor plant produces food or useful products, and none are purely decorative.
“Here you see the library, university, and embassy facilities that have been excavated from the wall inside the crater, the entire surface of which is now emplaced with concentric layers of balconies, each accessed by arched doorways and double glass doors. The floor of the crater is now manicured parkland, and the plants that grew there naturally were used in the landscaping. Within the mountain, we have recreation and entertainment facilities, and below that retail shopping and trade, below that manufacturing. All told, over one hundred and sixty levels from the rim of the crater down to sea level.
“Now apart from the great beauty and scale of these works, do you notice anything in particular about all this?” Sheramiv asked with a teasing little smile.
“Only that they’ve pretty much hollowed out the entire island, clear down to sea level!” Mark exclaimed in wonder as he and everyone else walked through the Illusion, looking it over. “Those doors at the bottom of the crater wall are huge! The rooms inside are big enough to house dragons!”
“True. Those facilities are indeed meant to be usable by our draconian guests. And we have removed almost seventy percent of the volume of the stone.
She grinned and waited ten patient heartbeats before Mark asked the question. “So what did you do with all the stone?”
“In order to show you that, you will need to shrink this illusion by half, then expand the focus to show the sea for a mile in every direction around the island. Thank you. Now I give you my knowledge of the contours of the seafloor and the reefs that surround Hilia.”
“I take it the stone was dumped into the ocean beyond the reefs?” Mark asked.
“Not quite dumped, but set into the sea by a consortium of crafters of the Selkies, the Kwetkerthok, and The Hidden Nation. They first excavated these tunnels from the lower floors of the manufacturing levels inside the mountain, to the surface of the stone twenty feet below the sea, and they built this.”
The illusion showed a long stone building almost a hundred feet in length set into the gentle slope of the sea floor outside the ring of reefs. It had an arched profile and rounded ends, and was connected to the interior of the island by one of the tunnels. Much of its surface was made up of large round windows that emitted a cheery yellow glow.
“Its tunnel and interior were allowed to fill with water during its construction, then upon completion it was pumped out, and is now completely sealed and dry inside. Once the consortium had proven their concept, they used the rest of the tailings from the excavations on the island to build these. Every time excavations inside the mountain were expanded, they were provided with more building materials with which to increase the scale of their project.” Sheramiv continued, and a city appeared in the sea all around the island.
The scattered domes in the shallow water between the beach and the reefs were fairly small, half the size of the cottage and just extending into the air above. Corridors shaped like tubes, their surfaces almost half window, branched out and wove through the reef to the huge domes in the deeper sea beyond. Though the water there was over one hundred feet deep, the tops of most of these great installations also extended to slightly above the surface, each with six to eighteen floors or levels contained within.
“Sweet mother of all! That’s incredible!” Mark breathed.
“We do like to think so.” Sheramiv stated proudly. “Take some time to look it over, for when you’re done that, Talia will lead us to the next stage in today’s festivities.”
“There’s as much room under the sea as there is on the island!” Talia marveled as she waded around in the illusion, looking down at it and holding Marks hand. “What will we have in it?”
“More hotels, homes, halls, public spaces, classrooms, embassies, entertainments, businesses, factories, and warehouses.” Sheramiv answered. “At capacity we will have a population of almost two million, counting staff, faculty, residents, students, and of course, paying guests. And we’ll fill that capacity within two days.”
“It’ll take us a year just to explore it all!” Mark stated in admiration.
“If you wish to see every inch, perhaps, but to see it in general would not take long. Over two hundred Plane doors have been installed throughout the nation, some of them of large size, so one can get directly to where one is going.”
“Why not just use regular Translocation Plates?” Talia inquired.
“The Plane doors are far more convenient for movement about the island, but standard floor-mounted Translocation Plates are used in several places for their greater security and magical efficiency, to connect places on the island to distant locations around the world. For instance, rather than try to obtain a copy of every single book for your library, not to mention building facilities to store them all, we have Translocation Plates within the library that allow travel directly to the other great libraries of the world. Similarly, they connect our university to other institutions of learning all over Kellaran. Practically speaking, they are all now one great world library, and one great university. And the embassies here are each supplied with a Translocation Plate to the seat of government in their home country.
“Frankly, you would not believe the cost of all these installations, or rather what they would have cost us if purchased on the open market. The Plane doors, Translocation plates, and Illusions of outdoor exposure are particularly expensive. I’m an experienced government financial officer, and even I’m flabbergasted at the intense concentration of wealth that your nation now represents! You could build half of the city of Bojoston for the cost of what you see here, and that metropolis is home to twenty-three million people!”
“By the source.” Talia breathed as she looked around the display. “How do we even begin to express our gratitude for all of this?!!”
“Simply say thank you, and let it run.” Yazadril advised. “The educations, diplomacies, vacations, and lives that will be enjoyed here will allow Hilia to give back to the world all the value you have received, and more.”
“Wise advice indeed.” Sana agreed as she and Mark’s grandfather rejoined them.
“Then we’ll accept it gratefully.” Mark grinned, and turned to the builders’ representatives. “Thank you. We thank you with all our hearts, all of you who’ve worked on and contributed to this wonderful great city you’ve made of a tiny island paradise.”
“And the best part is, so far as you can see from outside, it’s still a tiny island paradise, pristine except for your cottage and its grounds!” Equemev commented as she and Silaran entered from one of the double doors, their shoes no louder on the stone than many of the boot heels of some of the humanoid guests.
“Notwithstanding the inside of the crater that is.” Silaran added. “But then, that can’t be seen from the rest of the island, unless one is flying quite high.”
“Hi, Silaran, Equemev.” Talia called as they approached, the seafloor of the illusion at their ankles. “I take it our red and silver friends are following this as well?”
“We are, from inside the crater.” Povon psionicly informed them. “We were smart enough to secure unobstructed views while it was still possible to do so!”
“Pardon me?” Mark asked.
“It’s time to move on to our next activity, before Povon gives away the surprise!” Talia laughed, and she addressed the gathering as she and Mark dismissed the Illusion. “Please follow me, if you would. We’ll take the Plane door to the crater floor.”
As they approached it, a sentry of the Atoning in a white and gold uniform closed the Plane door, reset the sapphire to the address of the crater floor, re-opened it, and preceded them through into bright early afternoon sunshine.
They emerged from a freestanding marble doorframe on a flat-topped hillock beside the small lake, close to the center of the floor of the bowl. Every inch of space on the white marble balconies that rose one row above another up the bowl’s steeply sloping wall was covered with people of every race, as was much of the parkland around them. The lake was full of selkies, and all the way around the crater’s rim high above, hundreds of dragons perched shoulder to shoulder.
As Mark and Talia came out the door, the huge bowl resonated and shook with the cheering and applause of all those assembled, and the ring of dragons above supplied fire and smoke with their roars of approval. Mark and Talia smiled and waved all around as they moved away from the door to clear space for those who followed.
“We are over here!” Kragorram called and waved, his great voice unmistakable above the gradually-quieting roar of the crowd, and Mark waved back. Kragorram and Povon were ensconced on the patio before one of the dragon-sized pairs of doors on the lowest level of the wall, surrounded by half the Volunteers and a quarter of the Atoning. Equemev and Silaran trotted over to join them.
Once everyone had emerged from the throneroom, Gorsh approached Mark and Talia and held up his arms for silence. He waited for a few moments while the noise barely faded, then cast a quick mass Speaking to everyone present. It was an impressively casual display of prodigious ability, since Mark estimated that there were over half a million people watching.
“Your attention please.” Gorsh called by voice and spell, and his Speaking was of sufficient power to gain him the silence he desired. Yazadril came and stood beside him as he turned to face Mark and Talia. “Hello Talia. Happy birthday Mark.
“Prince Mark, you see assembled around me some one hundred and twenty male elves, all of whom care deeply for my son Bezedil, or Yazadril’s daughter Dalia, or both.” Gorsh sincerely announced. “We are deeply indebted to you for their lives, which you have saved. As a meager token of our deep feelings of gratitude and joy at their return to us, we have chosen to offer you an event of companionship, celebration, and entertainment, which we have provided by organizing a great tournament in your honor. A great tournament deserves a great audience, so you see here assembled on the balconies and above them, and swimming in the lake, those who worked to build the facilities here, as well as many who are your faculty, students, staff, diplomats, and guests. On the floor of the bowl here, along with our group and yours, are leaders and monarchs of the nations of The Just Alliance, together with the young warriors and spell-casters who have been chosen to represent their nations in the tournament, and their trainers and teachers, who will advise them.
“The greatest tournaments are held in Felion, contested for the crowns of empires, and we went there for their advise on the enterprise. They gave us excellent suggestions on how to proceed, and Empress Emeroth of Verzaclon suggested the format for the tournament that we eventually adopted. She spoke of a conversation that she shared with you just after the founding of The Just Alliance, where it was suggested that it would be nice if all the martial races in The Just Alliance were equally represented in the elite forces of Hilia by two from each race, a mated male and female, as your companions in The Six of Hilia represent the races of dragons and unicorns. I believe that you allowed the possibility that you might form such a unit in the future.
“The idea prompted a great deal of spirited debate on the question of fighting beside one’s closest loved one. Would it be a detriment; the danger to the loved one’s life distracting from effective combat, or a benefit; each couple’s love and close relationship motivating them to fight harder for each other than for any others, and with better co-ordination?
“Perhaps we will shed some light on the question, for today’s tournament will pit young mated couples against other mated couples of their own race, for the completely hypothetical right to represent their race in that non-existent Hilian fighting unit.”
They all shared a bit of a chuckle at that.
“The People of Morning and The Just Draconians know that their races are already well represented in your military by your companions in The Six; mated couples of warriors whose skill is proven, and whose place is guaranteed by their personal friendship and contracted service, so those races will not be represented in this tournament. This is fortunate from an organizational standpoint, since even this arena is far too small for such contests among those mighty peoples!
“Some contestant couples are a warrior and a wizard, each a specialist, but more often they each have some skill in both fields. We have pairs of giants, dwarves, gnomes, gargoyles, and selkies, but there was some question as to how humans and elves should be represented.
“Some said that you two are commanders, and that all of the races should be equally represented among your elite soldiers, and so we will have pairs of h