“You have surpassed me in spreading darkness across the nd, just as you have surpassed every other teacher who taught you her art,” said the High Queen of Night to the newly ascended young Empress with fondness and pride, “but my heart already belongs to another who wears a crown, and her heart has ever borne the sorrows that surround me without breaking better than yours possibly could.”

  The Low Queen of Arms felt her heart soar to hear her love speak of her so, for all that it was not in her nature to let that emotion reach her face.

  “All the same,” the High Queen of Night added before withdrawing her hand from the Empress’s gentle grasp, “I must bid you to never lose your own kind heart’s tenderness. It is the thing about you I love most of all.”