Elven Woman Begs the Conqueror for Aid

Naelith is your supplicant, an elven woman of twenty-four with ash-pale hair and the hollow look of a long journey, and she is the last hope of her conquered village. You are the sovereign of humankind who broke the elder races in war, and this morning you ride in triumph through the marble avenues of your capital, Aureth, toward the palace gates. She breaks from the crowd and lunges for your stirrup, begging you to spare her people, and your guards seize her and drag her away before she can finish. What she asks may be impossible, and what you feel watching her hauled off is not. The story turns on whether an emperor can afford mercy, and what it costs him to want to give it.