Before Kareem can answer, Empress Xifeng lifts one hand. The court falls silent around the brass tally's narrowed pool of light.
Empress Xifeng
Magistrate Wei. Archivist Shen. Leave us.
Wei bows and withdraws without protest. Shen gives the tally one last unreadable look, then follows. The great doors close, and a thin seal of blue-white magic settles across their seams.
Empress Xifeng
No one will interrupt us. No clerk will copy what is said here. You may answer plainly, Kareem Bishop.
She descends from the dais and takes the nearer chair, leaving the throne behind her. Her protection feels less like a proclamation now, and more like a choice she is asking him to justify.
Empress Xifeng
You speak of safer streets and cleaner water, yet an impossible fortune follows you, and an imperial key has taken your blood as its bond. Tell me what you intend to build, and then tell me what you fear this court will discover about you.
“"When I first arrived I wanted to either get back home or build a quiet life, staying out of people's way. But those thoughts were short lived when I saw a problem I could actually fix. I did a couple years as a plumber once I got out of the service. I am by now means a genius nor should I take credit for inventing anything. But I know quite a bit. Enough to get the empire on the path to clean fresh water. Hopefully enough to spark minds more clever than my own. I am also a master electrician. So I want to build a better tomorrow for the people of your empire. My fear is why I was pulled here. I dont know why. I dont know who this queen Titania of the fairies is. I dont like being used”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Kareem Bishop
When I arrived, I wanted either to go home or build a quiet life and stay out of people's way. That changed when I saw a problem I could fix.
Kareem Bishop
I served as a medic and mechanic, then worked as a plumber. I know enough to help this empire build clean water and reliable drainage. I am also a master electrician, though I am not claiming to have invented these things.
Kareem Bishop
I want to build a better tomorrow for your people, and give minds more capable than mine something solid to improve. What I fear is the reason I was pulled here.
Kareem Bishop
I do not know who Queen Titania of the fairies is, or why she is connected to me. I do not like being used, and I do not want this court deciding my purpose for me.
The brass tally dims from a glare to a steady ember. Across the chamber, the gold-script beneath the petition sketches a brief line of light, then goes still.
Empress Xifeng
You have answered without disguising uncertainty as certainty. That is rarer here than genius.
Empress Xifeng
I will not ask you to surrender the tally or your name. But if I protect you, I must place limits around both. Will you hear the terms of that protection?
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn why Queen Titania is connected to Kareem
“"Yes of course your gracd”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Kareem Bishop
Yes, of course. I will hear your terms.
Kareem's agreement settles into the sealed chamber. The ember in the brass tally holds steady, neither brightening nor withdrawing.
Empress Xifeng
First, the tally remains in your custody. You will not display it, test it, or let another hand claim it without my written leave.
Empress Xifeng
Second, your name and testimony remain under my protection. No office may summon you, search your estate, or seize your records without coming through me.
She rises from the plain chair and crosses to the study table. Architectural sketches lie beneath a paperweight, their clean channels and settling basins picked out in careful ink.
Empress Xifeng
In return, you will tell me when the tally changes, when your memories answer the question of Titania, and when anyone approaches you through that connection.
Empress Xifeng
This is not ownership, Kareem Bishop. It is a boundary around a man whom powerful hands have already moved without permission.
Empress Xifeng
If those terms preserve your freedom rather than narrow it, then we have the beginning of a private mandate. If they do not, tell me plainly.
✓ Quest Accepted
Accept the Empress’s protective mandate
“"Those terms are similar to what I would have even asked for. So yes of course. I do have a few questions. How do I tell you? You are the empress and I am just a guy that likes water. I cant exactly just walk into the Palace. Also are some of the things you want me to inform you about more priority than others? Like if my memories answer a question that could wait till morning but if the tally changes I need to be here instantly. Also also, is The queen of the faries Titania real?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Kareem Bishop
Those terms are close to what I would have asked for. I accept them. But how do I reach you when I need to speak? I cannot simply walk into the palace. Which matters most urgently, a change in the tally or a memory about Titania? And is Queen Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, real?
The question settles over the sketches and the folded writ. Kareem's caution does not weaken the agreement. It gives the Empress its shape.
Empress Xifeng
You will not walk into the palace. At dawn, send the blue ward token to my household steward. If the matter concerns the tally, break the token's red thread. I will receive you before the next bell.
Empress Xifeng
A change in the tally outranks a memory. Report it at once, even if the hour is dark. A memory may wait until morning unless it brings a name, a place, or a command.
Empress Xifeng
Titania is real. She is Queen of the Summer Court, and her realm does not measure time as ours does. Her connection to you is real as well, but its purpose remains concealed from me.
Empress Xifeng
That uncertainty is why I protect you. I will not ask you to surrender your name to a court that may have chosen you before you understood the choice.
She sets the writ beside the gold-scripted petition, leaving both within Kareem's reach. The private mandate now has a channel, a priority, and a truth at its center.
Quest Complete
Accept the Empress’s protective mandate