"It will be done," She says. "After the Resurrection - I set some of the ancient dead aside, to await... Future emergencies. They span every age range, though most are young; a third of the whole have necromantic potential."

"They are the Ninth's, in memory of those services rendered for the Nine Houses by Anastasia the First, Saint of Mysteries, and in anticipation of what service will be given in time to come by Her heirs: Ellynhark the First, Saint of Mysteries, and Gideon the First, Saint of the Tower."

She bows her head in thanks.

She does as well.

Though, unlike Ellyn, she's not particularly good at remaining quiet. "The Tower?" she asks.

"O garment not golden but gilded,/ O garden where all men may dwell,/ O tower not of ivory, but builded/ By hands that reach heaven from hell - a symbol from before the Resurrection. Defense of what is precious; defiance against even those much greater than ourselves. The Tower whose fall heralded the great divisions and wars that eventually tore the human race apart; the Tower whose building emerged from our eventually fatal hubris."

(Also, after Ivy, she has firmly given up on assigning virtue names. Especially with all the cavaliers ascending to make for a wholly unanticipated seven Lyctors, only three of whom she had previously pondered futures for - Tarot cards it is. Not like anyone knows to call her on that anymore.)

Huh. That's halfway appropriate, even.

Also this implies there are poetry books she hasn't read - probably not entirely relevant except actually, "That poem - what's it from?"

"A much longer poem - I'll show you my library after we finish here."

Slow nod.

Oh no, a library. Gideon's done for.

Soft smile.

Then, more seriously: "And what would the Sixth and Third Houses ask?"

"Knowledge is all we ever seek. The Sixth asks permission to document your House, that its lessons might be transmitted to the future."

Her lips thin, and She shakes Her head, albeit slowly. "That world is dangerous now, to any who walk its surface," She says, quietly - almost sadly, "And the secrets it holds are more dangerous yet - I would in truth be more inclined to give such access to the Ninth, for some things must remain in the domain of Mysteries, and not the domain of Truth."

"The Sixth does understand that there is a difference between untruth and confidential information, my Lord - and we understand and accept that our profession may have risks, and we could very easily limit any investigations to only the most skilled and respectful teams."

"That graveyard has rested undisturbed for a myriad; even the feet of My Lyctors did not touch but a miniscule fragment of its sacred ground. You presume much."

"I presume very little, my Lord - the Sixth House is as you have made us. To pursue the truth is who we are. And what is a graveyard without mourners? What is a tomb without a headstone? That world is sacred; should we not know who lies buried there?"

"To what end? You may guess at every story of that annihilated place - you may carve an inscription for every fragmentary life you uncover into the very stone - but nothing besides will remain. They are dead."

"But they lived once - and they deserve to be remembered."

She sighs. "With such strange aeons as these..." She murmurs under Her breath, before shaking Her head again. 

"Provisionally - I grant your request. The Sixth House, so long at they observe My law, shall have My permission to document the mysteries of the First House - and so shall their Warden and Scholar serve as Palamedes the First, Saint of Truth, and Angerona the First, Saint of the Veiled Lamp."

"Your indulgence honors us, Lord, and we shall honor it in turn."

Angerona bows her head in silent agreement. 

"And what of the Third?"

She answers almost immediately with: "The right to resettle refugees from outside Dominicus's light within our own House's purview, including funding for the construction of new orbital facilities to house and provide for them, and funding to set up educational systems to ensure integration into our own system." (Kinder than crowding them on the few technically inhabitible colonies left by the Empire's scorched planet strategies - something that in theory meets Imperial needs and should reduce unrest - but also something that will over time dramatically boost the Third House's powerbase, both through connections to groups outside the Empire and through direct population increase.)

"So granted - the Third House will possess dominion over resettlement efforts, and the funding to match, in honor of the service that has been and will yet be given to the Empire by its scions - Phaedelia the First, Saint of Justice; Phoedelia the First, Saint of Fortitude; and Naberia the First, Saint of Temperance."