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Maire strides right up to the guards at the floodgate entrance "We’d like to go inside," she says

"That’s not allowed," one says "You don’t have Council and tenation in her voice convinces even ain

"Now," she says, just a single word

It’s cold and hot, a slice, a knife through one’s brain and body I step forward involuntarily

The guards have already started to open the doors, as if they began to obey her before she finished speaking Is that possible? Is her power so strong?

"Stay," Maire tells them

And then, to me, she says, "Co her voice or o inside

"I think," Maire says, "that we should go down"

Down Into the floodgate cha area This is strictly forbidden unless you’re a priest or have come with one to prepare a body, but Maire acts as if she has every right to be here

We go through narrow, dank hallways, the ones that eventually lead to the uards don’t follow us They’re likely calling for reinforcements, ill arrive in a matter of moments But will it matter? How many people can Maire command?

"Not an army," she says, as if she’s heard uards who are immune to the sound of my voice, and they’ll take me away The Council will find it necessary to reprimand me and lock me up for a few days, so you and I should accoet over the sound of that Now My heart pounds And I realize how sillya match for Maire in some way Her voice has been honed and cultivated for years It is a weapon, a beautiful one

"Ah," Maire says "Here we are"

She puts her hand on the door in front of us It is metal and heavy, pressurized for when the water co," Maire says, stepping across the threshold There’s no command in her voice, but I’m not sure I trust the invitation I pause for a ate cha the carved buttresses supporting the ceiling sit ancient stone figures representing the gods Like the ones in the teo I look up at the screa eyes The floor is daineers years to perfect the technology of the floodgates, to h that they could let the water in to this cha the city wide open It’s a little terrifying to watch a body go up--it feels as though, at anyarea But of course that has never happened

The water of the sea pushes against the top of the gates, presses down all around us I think I hear the ether here at the floodgates, and ere together before that when the priests and representatives of the Council asked us their many questions after they found our mother’s body: Had she been unwell? Did she tell you of any chronic illnesses in your family, ones we don’t have here in ourno over and over again

"What do you think happens when the dead reach the surface?" Maire asks "Do you believe that their bodies become foam and their souls fly free?"