I don’t need to ask her what she wants to hear from me. They want to know if I will help them lead the Karensa Federation into its new era. What will it become now, without its late Premier? What comes after the Tyrus family?

I look from the mayor to my mother, to my Striker companions, and then to Red. I envision a lifetime living in the palace of Cardinia, walking the same halls that I had once walked when I was trapped under Constantine’s rule. I imagine a future undoing the travesties that Constantine and his father before him committed, to spend the rest of my life revisiting grief over and over again. I see a life defined by my past, haunted by dreams of burning homes and boys with guns and bridges collapsing into the night.

I think of how far the Federation still has to go, and what it will take to bring it there.

When I answer, I respond through my link with Red. He voices my words aloud in steady Karenese to the others.

“I happily accept the task of leading the Karensa Federation into its next life,” I tell them.

The mayor smiles, and the others nod along, ready to bring their hands together for me, eager to work together.

“And my first command in leading this effort,” I continue signing as I meet the mayor’s eyes, “is to break the Federation apart.”

The few scattered claps that had started now pause, silence. I see a few surprised blinks.

They weren’t expecting this.

“This is your world, not mine,” I sign to them. Red’s voice rings out strong. “I don’t want to be a part of this. I never wanted to be a part of this, and neither did any of the nations that Karensa conquered. None of us were asked to join this. We were brought here.”

The mayor nods at my words, even as her lips tighten. After a lifetime in her position, it must be surprising to her to see someone refuse power. Beside her comes a faint murmur from the advisory council.

“Then what do you want, Talin?” she asks me.

What do you want, Talin? It is a question I have heard so rarely that for a moment I’m not even sure how to answer.

“What I want,” I sign, “is for the Karensa Federation to free every territory that it has ever conquered, restore to each of them their autonomy. I want the people of Basea to be able to return to Basea, if they so choose. I want Mara’s borders to be restored. I want Karensa to give back everything it ever took—every statue, every structure, every piece that ever belonged to someone else. I want every former nation to become its own nation again, ruled by its own government, free to do as they will. As they always should have been. Take the power you want to grant me, and give it to those who should have had it all along.”