Amasai sheathed his sword, and gave me a piercing look. “Are you sure in this, woman?” he asked.

“Very sure,” I said. “All that is necessary is that I am made Firewoman, and that I announce the new laws Afterwards, I would be grateful if your soldiers took those laws to every place, and saw that they were enforced.”

“You already have my word on that,” he said Then he smiled, and added, with a sideways glance at the bowed high priest, “But I confess to being disappointed, Elsha. I was looking forward to a full firelord’s inauguration for a harsha of the Quelled. I would like to see a victorious celebration of a Chosen wrong made right.”

I smiled back. “You won’t be disappointed,” I said. “Victory does not always come with trumpet blasts and glory.”

In the full ceremony, I would have walked from the beginning of the road into the city, through the crowded streets, and up to the great temple gates. On that walk I was to have worn a simple white linen shift, symbol of the purity of the Chosen spirit. Later, when I had made my vows and relinquished my former life, that shift would have been replaced with the magnificent Firelord’s robe. I never intended to wear that white shift; I had planned to wear the grey garment of a harsha.

I don’t know where Laken got that garment from – it was tattered from use, and though she washed it several times, it remained stained from the mine. She had apologised for it, but I told her that for me this day it was perfect. Now, without the complex rituals and symbolic changing of clothes, I chose to wear only that Quelled grey.

Maelmor was furious when he saw it, and muttered something about the Firelord’s office being made a mockery. I told him I was wearing the garments of the noblest people I knew. He went deadly white, and in a halting voice began the ceremony.

We were in the Firelord’s private library, a place more meaningful to me than triumphal roads and halls. Here Maelmor put on me a newly-made Firelord’s sacred sign, and declared me High Diviner. And here I made my vows.

I wept when I made them, knowing that I gave up all my former life. I promised to serve unceasingly, to go always where I was needed, to divine whenever that was necessary, and to keep alive the warmth that sustained our people. I swore to be a fair judge and lawgiver, and vowed never to use my powers for my own gain, or to take any personal reward. I pledged my body to the firestones in the earth, my will to helping human life endure, and my spirit to fire.