This ends both the Redding arc as well as the entire tour of Graf and Pai to look into veneration of not just Ildi but now also some of her decendents. We also get more from Pai about why Graf might be important. I’d like to explore that futher in the next section

Which should be rather bucolic, back on his family farm and the surrounding area. I’ve had Alix and the kids off-screen for too long and so foresee a big family gathering while in the background, people such as Aurie and Reina consider their next moves. And Pai gets a makeover.

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“As a Russian, I am not a neutral in this affair.  We have a very old, longstanding claim to northern California.  And, of course, an army just across the border to the north,” she confessed.

“You are married to an imperial subject – ” Luce began but was stopped.

“Graf was born and raised in former Wisconsin.  While when still a going concern, the Canadians considered that a part of their hegemony, but he is technically stateless,” she clarified.  “Have he and I done some contract work for the imperium?  Sure, that’s a matter of record.  Know this, Fusion goddess:  it is not just our personal and sexual relations which are complex.  Graf is at a nexus of forces we seek to understand and no, husband, we’ll talk about it later.”

He closed his mouth he’d opened to ask.

“To me, which is what I’ll tell mother and the empress,” Pai said, looking at the slowly healing scars on her hands, “make Graf king of this small region.  He’s neutral; a balance.”

“What!” Now he spoke up.

“Interesting idea, Machine.  Come up with that by yourself?” Luce asked, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin and waving at a waitress.  When they tried to say she didn’t have to pay, her frown came back and told them never say that to her again.

“He might have to take one of my siblings – a girl, of course – as a wife.  That fact you are Russian and the mother of his children is of the imperium is a huge hurdle,” she admitted.

“Huge?  Yes, he is!” Pai smiled.  “Back when we did that sort of thing.  So, huge, but not insurmountable.  I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“I…” Luce stood and retrieved her rifle and stick.  Colors flared behind her.  “I welcome working with you.  Pai Winstead.”

They stood as well.  “Let’s go report, then home, Husband,” she said, nodding at the Fusion before walking out and over to their ship.

“You’re mad at me,” Pai said once they were aboard.

“I didn’t think we kept secrets from one another.  Is something wrong with me?” he asked, still not happy.

“Wrong?  No.” She blinked as she pre-flighted Caper.  “You have a destiny.  I see it; Aurelia sees it.  Hell, even Alix has a notion.  Probably why she puts up with me, I suppose.”

“What the hell does all this mean?” Graf asked, going forward.

“I fell on you for a reason,” she said, settling in next to him.  “What I said was what little we see:  you matter.  Look at the last three years, simple farmboy.  You are going to matter more.  Do I know?  My kind do not even plan, much less plot.  You are not here for me.  I am here for you.  I just don’t know why.”

“None of this makes sense.”

“I’m aware.  Lifting now.”