A/N: It's time for my annual birthday present to my beta: a collection of stories written for them and shared with you. This year, you'll be getting about eighteen of them, published at a rate of six a day. All are tied to a prompt, and the prompts were chosen by selecting words from Ed Sheeran's excellent song, "I See Fire."First prompt: Mountain.

Gen didn't regret the plan that had brought Sounis and Eddis more or less under his control. If the Peninsula was going to survive, the three countries that composed it had to stop squabbling. If Eddis was going to survive, itss people had to have access to lands away from the volcano.

History, he was sure, would vindicate him. In the meantime, he would simply have to deal with Eddis's furious people, a reality, he thought sourly, that was much more immediate than history.

Up until now, that fury had at least been helpfully abstract. He hadn't been back to Eddis since his marriage.

But now it was his cousin's turn to wed, and he was back in the mountains. He would see Helen again within the hour.

And he would be on an Eddisian street again in only a few moments. While riding a horse, just to complete the moment's hideousness.

Attolia raised one perfect eyebrow beside him. His mask of indifference had slipped. He threw on a careless smile and kept riding.

They rode through the gate. Banners flapped from it; Helen, at least, was making an effort.

The streets were packed. Gen tensed, and the guards around him did the same.

The crowd erupted into cheers.

"So," He asked Eddis later when they were alone. "So, so, so. How much did you pay them?"

She rolled her eyes. "They think you're a hero. We've had this discussion before."

He lounged in his seat, a move that would have been less concerning if his seat hadn't been one of the low rafters that divided the ceiling. "But that was before - " He waved his hand to encompass everything that had happened since: his marriage, his power grab, his absence.

"Before you married a monster to end the war, repeatedly stopped Mede incursions, and gave us a three way alliance?" Eddis said dryly.

His mouth closed with a snap. "That is," he said carefully, "not quite what happened."

"No," Eddis agreed with a shrug, "but it is how they perceive it." She considered it for a moment. "There are a lot of reasons we never could have gotten married - "

"Like the fact that we'd both have been mad or dead within a week."

" - but the people's acceptance was never one of those reasons. As they see it, they're getting you as a king after all with a few bonus alliances on the side."

Gen was quiet for an uncharacteristic moment. "Oh."

"Oh," she agreed and stood to leave so that he could have some space to think.

"She's not a monster," Gen called after her despite knowing that she already knew this.

"Convincing them of that can be your next impossible feat."

If he managed to convince the Minister of War, it really would be a feat worthy of legend.

A/N: I could never bear the idea of Eddis coming to hate Gen, so I wrote this. Probably not very realistic, but . . .