With Tremulous Cadence Slow
by EstiRose
Hilda watched her advisers as they came in and out with reports. She’d known it was grim, but not this grim.
So many people had died when the Emperor had tried to take over the world, and only a few cities were intact. Fynn had been fortunate, as had Mysidia, but Gatrea, Paloom, Poft, and Altair were gone, and many more had died on the Empire’s bombing runs even as the other cities were spared.
The world would need to rebuild and repopulate, have people from Altair, Mysidia, Salamand, and Bafsk move into the ruined cities and rebuild. She would have to - through her people - convince the survivors to have a few more children, or marry someone from another town and then have children, just to make the population stable again.
She was well aware of the dangers of childbirth. Her own mother had died in it, despite the White Mages assisting her. But she had no choice. The Emperor would win in the end if humanity died out.
So, she issued the orders. Hoped her people would comply.
It was all that she could do.