Chapter 1069: A True Queen
The Shaman Elders quickly ca to the sa realization that the servants had. Remi was a true Naga Queen, and she had dismissed their opinions as less important than the stabilization of her advancent.
The best that they could hope for now was to convince her people to bring her back for a visit, where they could try to recruit her again, or at least convince her to stay for one clutch so that they could spread Royals to so of the declining tribes.
Without intervention, they would surely fail. But there weren’t many options when most of the Royal lines could hardly produce a successor at all.
So, they tried to convey the urgency of the situation to Karl, who appeared to be her closest ally.
{Totem Karl, please relay an urgent request from us to Queen Remi. I know this might be very forward, but it is imperative to the survival of many of the tribes that they find a new Royal Lineage to continue.}
He paused as if unsure how to phrase the next part.
{We would like to ask Queen Remi to part with a clutch of Royal eggs so that they might repopulate the Royal Families of our declining tribes.}
In her space, Remi snorted in amusent. They thought that they could just pass her eggs around like party favours? That was not how it worked at all. A Queen could only be born in circumstances that were worthy of them.
If the tribe was disloyal and had forgotten the old ways, they would never have a Queen.
The Goddess had said so.
If they weren’t so stuck on their delusions that the Shaman Elders could ‘guide Naga society’ they would realize that it was their Divine Mistress, Serpent Lady of the Swamps and Seas, that was the true deciding factor behind Naga Society’s future.
Karl caught most of her thoughts, though she was too drowsy to relay them clearly.
“I have relayed the ssage, and Queen Remi has a response, of sorts. She says that it might be possible in the future, but no Queen can be born to a weak tribe, or one that puts others above the will of the Divine Mistress of the Swamps and Seas.” Karl relayed.
The Shaman Elders all froze in shock.
{That na, how do you know it?}
Karl blinked slowly, wondering if the day’s events had shocked them too much. There was, after all, a massive battle raging through their Temple complex, and they were more concerned about getting Royal eggs.
Before Karl could answer, Lotus snapped her fingers and gestured wildly as she ca to so realization.
“I get it now. That’s why this place feels funny. It’s a zoo. A Naga Zoo, where the young are raised in captivity and dosticated.”
The Shamans looked sowhere between horrified and offended.
{We are not zookeepers. We are raising the future Royals to know their duties to the people and Naga Society.} One of them retorted.
Lotus shook her head. “No, I am right. They’re being taught to follow orders and submit. That’s not right, it goes against the Divine Magic of this place.”
The Elders were about to explode with rage, but the senior among them, raised his hand in a cautioning gesture.
{The Green Dragon’s Priestess speaks her truth.
Indeed, the Naga have beco civilized with the tis. No longer are we feral tribes building shrines in the swamps and seas. We travel, we trade, and most importantly, we have forgotten that the Shaman Elders are not leaders of the Naga.
We are servants of our Goddess. First, foremost, and only.}
Lotus nodded happily. That was the right answer, even if he didn’t believe it or intend to give up his power.
Karl patted Lotus on the shoulder. “Queen Remi agrees. The tribes no longer follow the ways of their Goddess, so they are losing her blessings. Even with the System active again, if their patron doesn’t favour them, then the Royals will continue to fail to beco Queens.”
A glimr of soul energy caught Karl’s attention, and he motioned for Rae to grab whatever was hiding in the corner.
It turned out to be a tiny Spirit Snake, a hatchling that had hidden from the battle in a corner of the roof, then made its way inside.
Karl took the startled snake from Rae and gently stroked its head as he considered the next step.
“Can you tell who is attacking your Temples? It could be important.” He asked the Elders.
The Shaman Elder looked embarrassed. “It appears to be one of the Naga Tribes that was visiting. I don’t have a reason for the attack yet, but they appear to be targeting one of the dormitories and a secondary temple.”
“A particularly traditional tribe?” Karl asked, leading the Shaman Elders to the desired answer.
The Elder nodded. {As you say, they were resistant to the idea of having their young Shamans trained at the Temple. The council determined that they had strayed from the Goddess’ teachings, so their next generation of leaders was brought here for proper education.}
Deve sighed and shook his head. “You realize how that sounds from our side, right? It sounds a lot like you abducted the heirs to their tribes, to indoctrinate them into your version of the Naga traditions.”
The Shaman Elder shook his head. {It’s not like that. Their tribe was falling into savagery. If we didn’t act, they would have been wiped out by their neighbours.}
The Mythic Ranked Druid shrugged. “Sounds like they don’t agree. But as the matter doesn’t concern us, we won’t get involved in Naga Politics.”
The tiny snake in Karl’s hands bobbed its head in agreent.
{Well spoken, Druid. The Goddess approves of your stance.}
Karl considered setting the Spirit Snake down so that she could properly address the crowd, but she seed to have a high level of affinity for head pats, and actively rubbed against his hand when he stopped.
For a mont the Shamans were confused, then one of them realized what had happened.
{Princess. Call off your tribe. Violence against the temples is not the way of the Goddess.}
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