The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 200

Part 27

"Let the record show that Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth; Ranger of Finitra, Knight of The High People, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance, and key to the imminent nexus of Kellaran, has won The Tournament of Governors! His is the best leadership we have available. We now propose that he be elevated to the position of Ruling Governor of The Just Alliance until such time as the demons have been defeated."

"Now just a minute...!" Mark protested, but Somonik just over-rode him.

"Let the record show that one is against the proposal, being Mark, seven have abstained from declaring an opinion, and the rest are in favor. The proposal has passed." The white dragon god happily declared. "Now just hold on here!" Mark growled as he set his wives down. "I mean, what the hell are you doing?! I just proved that we're all better off with independent nations!"

"True, but that's irrelevant." Grakonexikaldoron dismissively stated, still grinning. "In your scenario, all of the crucial elements were your doing. Immediate remediation of destroyed wilderness and poisoned water was your suggestion, and you debated masterfully in order to convince The Assembly to allocate the resources. The same is true of the overall battle-strategy; waiting until the demons were preparing to deploy, then attacking with every resource. It was almost entirely your doing. The speeches you made were crucial to maintaining morale and informing the populous of the state of things, and the people followed you, specifically you, Mark, regardless of whether or not you had any legal political authority over them.

"The same situation exists on Kellaran today.

"Your insistence that you don't lead Kellaran and that your brilliant wisdom is simply common sense are very humble and noble and charming, and we don't want you to change in any way. But at the same time, you're not fooling anyone. You already lead Kellaran, and this is just a formality and a token of our appreciation.

"Now, you need a token of office. I know you won't want anything too ostentatious, so I've made up this ring, and I think it's rather nice. You'll notice it has the symbol of The Just Alliance on it. And since I think you might be reluctant to wear it, I'll just put it on you myself."

With a move as quick as thought, she reached out and slipped it onto his right middle finger.

"I won't wear it, and I'm not accepting the position." Mark bluntly stated as he tried to take the ring off.

"You can't take it off, since myself and at least fifty other new gods want you to keep it on." she chuckled. "In order to remove it, you'd need to develop or recruit more will or more power than we have, and frankly, you won't be able to find enough to help you.

"Furthermore, the proposal has already passed, so you can't refuse it. We refuse your refusal."

"Then I'm abdicating!" he yelled, starting to lose his temper as he failed to remove the ring. "And let me take this damn thing off! It's a crime to force me to wear it!"

"Is the ring uncomfortable or inhibiting of your movement in any way?" she pleasantly asked.

"Well, no, it's perfectly comfortable, but..."

"Then it's not unjust to force you to wear the insignia of the rank that you so obviously deserve." she patiently insisted. "As Falgaroth, who now guides all our morality, would agree. Right Falgaroth?" "Right." Falgaroth agreed with a whinnying laugh as he momentarily appeared stage, then vanished again.

"There, you see?" Gran continued. "And we refuse your abdication."

"Let the record show that all except Mark are in favor of refusing his abdication!" Somonik laughed. "No abstentions, one against!"

"Now hold on!" Mark said as he momentarily gave up on removing the ring. "Before you said that seven had abstained, and now you're saying that no one else voted against refusing my abdication! Show me one person who abstained and then changed his mind!"

Gvetwa, first god of the Sylvan, appeared on stage wearing his cockiest grin and his most arrogant stance. "I changed my mind, and so did Amirgath."

"Well by all that's sane, why?!!" Mark demanded, trying hard to not lose his temper completely.

"We abstained because we didn't see any point to it, really." Gvetwa informed him. "And we changed our minds because it's so much fun watching you squirm about it."

Then he vanished.

"Damn it, this is ridiculous!" Mark yelled.

"Yes it is, deliciously and wonderfully so." Tithian agreed with laughter in her mind and a toss of her mane.

Mark took a deep breath and

conquered his anger, but still spoke with great determination. "Look. This is absolutely futile, because it's not going to make any difference at all. I don't care if you declare me emperor of all of reality, I'm still not going to do one single damn thing any different than I would have

otherwise!"

"Exactly." The gold dragon goddess giggled. "We wouldn't have it any other way. You won't do anything as Governor until you really have to, and then you will. That's why we love you, you know. Part of it anyway."

Alilia couldn't help but giggle, and Mark looked to her and Talia with surprised realization. "Hold on, you two are members of The Assembly! You mean even you two voted against me?!"

"Of course!" Talia giggled as she

floated up and kissed him on the tip

of his nose. "We're almost all

monarchists at heart, you know. Councils are a fine thing for preventing the tyranny of a single despotic sovereign, but we prefer a wise and noble ruler who can get things done without arguing about it all year. And when we have a monarch who really inspires us and who truly deserves our adulation, it's a wonderful thing to give it to him.”

"Remember on the first day we met, when you asked Yazadril how elven Princes were chosen?" Alilia teased as she hugged his left thigh and smiled up at him. "He said; Generally, if most everyone thinks you can do the job then you're stuck with it, whether you like it or not!

"And sometimes that's just the way it is. Just humor us my love. It'll make us happy."

"If you accept it, and then use your authority to over-ride the vote of The Assembly and abdicate, we'll just vote to reinstate you again." Gran laughed. "We're prepared to be quite stubborn about it. Enough of us to carry the vote, anyway."

He stared at her a moment, and finally shrugged as he shook his head and smiled in surrender. "All right fine."

"Good citizens," Somonik grandly declared, "I give you Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth; Ranger of Finitra, Knight of The High People, Prince of Hilia, Lord of Serminak, Key to The Just Alliance, key to the imminent nexus, and Governor of Kellaran!!!"

Mark grinned and shook his head as the audience roared again, then just spoke over them.

"Thank you all very much. I suppose

I'm quite flattered, now that I think about it, and so I'll accept this temporary and completely honorary honor. give you all my permission to party like Sylvan adolescents in my honor if you so choose, but try to keep the adulation to a minimum. We'll probably join you here later for a few dances or some such, but for

now I'm going home for lunch."

The crowd laughed and cheered like drunken fools as he took his family home.

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