"But if I was a Sulva I could be older," you ask.
Kali breaks out into laughter. "You are a Sulva Will, remember," she tells you, using your old name. The one you used before you became Chelsea. "Sulva and Kenandandra, and you did not so much be discovered by the Stellae as stumble upon us by chance. Admittedly you have more than made the most of that chance child," she adds with a smile.
"So I could join with my original ousiarchs," you ask.
"Yes and no," replies Kali cryptically. "It would be quite possible for me to discover a Sulva on my trip here, and I would certainly try to persuade them to join the Stellae, but you could not join as a Sulva and Kenandandra Chelsea."
You pout. "Why not? I thought Sulvae could be discovered at any age."
"They can, that is not the problem here," explains Kali. "The problem here is that you do not make for a convincing Sulva Chelsea."
"Ah," says Frank.
"Ah?"
"This is difficult to explain, or difficult to understand fully," continues Kali. "One or the other. Remember when you decided that Glundandra would be perfect for being Chelsea?" You nod. "Well it's to do with her personality. You do make an excellent Glundandra, and an excellent Eldibria too for that matter, because Chelsea naturally gravitates to being in charge and she liked playing with people's emotions already. The ousiarchs are a perfect match for you. Just like Malacandra and Lurga make Frank dour and dull, and like Arbol and Viritrilbia made Joe dazzlingly witty" Frank groans and covers his eyes with the palm of his hand.
"But..." you say. "There's a but in here isn't there."
"Well, Will Prescott had a Sulvan and Kenandandran personality," continues Kali. "A little bit shy, a little bit invisible. Goofball. Intuitively analytical and with a knack for problem solving. The first problem is that Will Prescott and Chelsea Cooper are nothing alike." You nod in agreement. "The second, and bigger, problem is that the method that we use to decide what ousiarchs a member of the Stellae has is, in part, a personality test. Or possibly it tests your ousiarchs and your personality is an expression of that. Nash could explain it fully I suppose."
"Oh," you say.
"We don't know that a horoscope doesn't work," says Frank.
"But it probably won't," counters Kali. "Still we can try it easily enough. I need some paper and a pen," she explains, looking at Frank.
He puts another forkful of food in his mouth. "What."
"Go get some," she tells Frank.
"You're not the boss of me..." begins Frank.
"Joe was not your senior Frank," replies Kali. "I am not Joe any more, are I? Go and get me some paper." He looks at you and you give Frank a slight nod to confirm the instruction. Kali slips into his vacant seat and pushes the half empty plate to one side. "A horoscope allows us to identify an individual's ousiarchs by asking them a series of questions, if that was what you were about to ask child. You would usually be asked to answer each question instinctively. What I want to see is if you answer just as Chelsea would, would I be able to identify Sulva and Kenandandra as your ousiarchs. Make sure you have them selected now."
You nod and close your eyes for a moment to concentrate. The shining disc of Sulva and dark polished orb of Kenandandra waver into view. "I'm ready," you tell Kali.
"And here is Frank with the paper, thank you Frank," says Kali as he places pen and paper on the table in front of her. "Now, let us begin. The first question is your date of birth. Remember to answer instinctively and as the original Chelsea would."
You nod again and reply. The questions come thick and fast. They start off making sense, asking about your family and relations. Then, as Kali progresses, the questions become more and more nonsensical: 'What do you prefer, bananas or umbrellas', 'which is your favourite sound, yellow or red' and other nonsense. After thirty minutes of questioning, your head is pounding and you start to complain.
"It's no good," says Kali. "The answers are slowly pushing you in the right direction. Perhaps if I sat here for another half hour and kept asking eventually I would settle on Sulva and Kenandandra, but any other member of the Stellae is going to want to know to want to know why it takes so long to work you out. We can't afford to have that level of attention on you child."
"Couldn't we just lie and say you did her horoscope," asks Frank. "No one is going to gainsay Kali's opinion on that."
"Say it Frank," she mutters. "Say your opinion." She sighs and places the pen down on top of the piece of paper. The wild scrawls, arcing curves and strange formula jotted there look nothing like any horoscope you have ever seen. "We could, but what if Charles asked to see it, or worse asked to do it himself. He might. Especially if Chelsea decided to be a Glundandra as well as Sulva. She is likely to receive more scrutiny as a Sulva in any case."
"Can the horoscope be tricked," asks Frank. "You said Eldibria and Glundandra was a good match for Chelsea. What if she switches to that and you try again?"
"That might be worth trying," admits Kali. She flips over the paper. "Switch to your other ousiarchs for me Chelsea." You find the little catch that lets you flip between essentias and change to the Glundandra / Eldibria combination. "Ready," asks Kali with an encouraging smile. You nod.
This time it progresses more smoothly. You aren't really aware when, but at some point your answers diverge from the ones you gave in the previous attempt. Kali only has to ask a handful of the nonsensical questions before putting the pen back down.
"I have a fix on your ousiarchs now," she says, passing you the paper. In truth, the complex equations and diagrams make no sense to you, but you nod and try to look as if you understand anyway. "Glundandra and Eldibria."
"But we know that," you say.
"But now we can prove it," says Kali. "The original Chelsea must have been predisposed towards Glundandra - Yes Frank, that can happen, you can be predisposed towards a planet without having an ousiarch or special essentia. Now that you have Glundandra as a ousiarch as Chelsea, the horoscope is accurate. That means that it is possible for you to become a Stellae as anyone, provided their personality is a close enough match for the ousiarchs you choose."
"But not as Chelsea," you say.
"No," Kali shakes her head. "Chelsea is not a natural Sulvan, and the only way to enter the Stellae as someone your own age is with Sulva as one of your ousiarchs."
"Sulva is the rarest ousiarch," interrupts Frank. "It's going to be hard to find someone predisposed to it."
"It is the hardest to find Frank, not the rarest" corrects Kali. "And I suspect that there will be quite a few people with leanings towards it. Just look for shy, retiring types with a quiet inner strength. If you are still stuck, there are two people we definitely know to have Sulvan personalities - Will Prescott and Rosalie Stewart."
Frank bursts into harsh ugly laughter. "Funny that after all you've done to change yourself, the best identity to join the Stellae with is your original self."
"I hate to agree with him, but he is right child," concurs Kali. "Though Rosalie would be more difficult as it would be possible to trace her back to the mess we left in Cuthbert. Another Sulvan identity is still perfect possible, it will just require a little work to find the right face to go with it. The only limitation is that you could not combine Sulva with Perelandra. It has been too soon since Hélène died for there to be another with her ousiarchs. There is one way to avoid this problem entirely though," she adds.
"Go on," you tell her.
"Rather than join the Stellae as someone new, you could replace an existing member just like I have. In fact, you could replace Hilda child. That way you could grow close to Malaika as one of her mentors.
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