The ancestors chanted.
"CHOOSE!"
"JUDGE!"
"CONDEMN OR REDEEM!"
The High Priestess stood before me.
Waiting.
Demanding.
My murdered ancestor expecting verdict on her executioner.
Astro knelt.
Head bowed.
Accepting whatever I decided.
Ready to be condemned.
Ready to be damned.
Ready to pay for centuries-old crime.
I looked at them both.
At the victim and the murderer.
At the faithful servant and the failed assassin.
At my ancestor and my bound companion.
And I understood the trap.
Luna wanted me to judge.
Wanted me to choose condemnation or redemption.
Wanted me to prove I could make impossible decisions.
Wanted me to become the judge she designed me to be.
The vessel that would one day judge her.
But if I judged Astro now.
If I condemned him or redeemed him.
I'd be accepting Luna's framework.
Playing her game.
Becoming the judge she wanted me to become.
So I chose differently.
No.
The word through the thread was firm.
Clear.
Final.
