diplomacy and knights

[cellio]

June 5 (Thursday)

I introduced Tobin to Agondre today. He was, predictably, awe-struck. Agondre took to him quickly, though, and Tobin lost his apparent apprehension. There's something about being nuzzled by a baby dragon that snaps you out of that, I guess.

We spent some time talking about Tobin's future. He left the rat-kin in Shepford because he wanted to help cure the sickness in the land; now that this has happened he said he's not sure whether he should return to Shepford or set out on his own for good. I asked if he could return to Shepford now, and he admitted that he's not sure he could. I told him that in a way being named empress was a relief for me, because I'd realized months ago that I couldn't go back. I'd become too much of a "somebody" for that to be fair to the other people there, and I'd also seen enough of the world to know how limiting Shepford would be for me. Most of the people from my hometown have never gone as far as Duvik's Pass or Covanion; they have no idea what the larger world is like, so they don't know what they're missing. But you and I know, I said, and that makes it hard to climb back into the box. He nodded. As I suspected, it's pretty much the same for him, except that he hasn't been invited to be emperor.

I told him that I am very impressed with him and have grown fond of him, and if he would find it fulfilling I would like him to stay in Cardior. When I said I could use his counsel he semed surprised and said "you want my counsel?", but he knows much more of religion than I do and he is more mature than many people assume. And, he has become a friend. And Agondre approves of him, and that's certainly an endorsement!

He said he would be honored to stay. I said there is one condition -- he has to stop bowing every time he sees me and look me in the eye. I can't have a priest who's constantly bumping into things. He smiled and agreed.

June 6 (Friday)

Today we had an audience with Duke Lareth. Liandra joined us for this visit. He was excited to hear about the healing of the land; he had certainly felt something change but he did not know what it was. He is still rather ill, unfortunately. But he was strong enough to make sure that most of his court saw us with him and knew that he knew us previously.

He had heard about the emperor's death and was eager to talk about the succession. While Draneken is a small duchy, he pointed out, it is quite old and that should count for something. Mustering every diplomatic technique I knew, and some I didn't know I knew, I convinced him that the empire will only get off to a good start in this new age if all of the dukes remain equal -- none presiding above the others. I pointed out that this is good for him; he need no longer fear being dominated by Tergia, and I will make sure that his having exiled his son there will not pose a problem with them in the future.

Lareth still has no heirs with Mellan gone, but I did learn that he had asked Kaylin, his seneschal, to train her assistant to do her job. Apparently he was grooming Kaylin to be duchess Draneken should he be otherwise occupied as emperor. That's gutsy, but it does help us in a way because Lareth is ailing. After the coronation Kaylin, as likely successor to Lareth, will stay on a while with us.

When we were done making arrangements with Lareth we went to Oakhame to see Mairead. She, too, is thinking about successions; she would like to hand over her responsibilities to Liandra soon. Liandra assures me that this will not be the big production that coronation will be; Oakhame is very casual about such things. From what I've seen, Liandra will still fetch her own mead when she presides over Oakhame. I think Mairead is looking forward to having no official responsibilities, though being Mairead she won't stop being generous and helpful.

I used the crystal ball to check in on the flying ship again. Turok tried to use it to speak with Dorla but could not make a connection. Nathan reports that all is going well and they've picked up speed since figuring out more of the controls. He's pretty sure they're going in the right direction, too.

June 7 (Saturday)

Turok spent much of the day with Agondre and then came to me with an intriguing idea. He pointed out that while an army has many men, dedicated knights of an empire are a rarer thing. Both Agondre and I will need constant protection, he said, and we need a group of people who can be absolutely relied upon as guards, diplomats, and commanders for the empire.

So his suggestion is that, once I am empress, I create a new order of knighthood, which we'll call the Order of the Dragon (or perhaps the Dragon's Claws). It will be a small order made up of the noblest, best knights in the land, and they will swear lifetime service to Agondre. (Publicly they will swear service to the empress, but their first mandate is Agondre. Most of the time these will not conflict, of course.) Each knight will have to be approved by Agondre personally (as Tobin was a couple days ago), and false knights will probably find out how sharp Agondre's real claws are.

I think this is an excellent idea, and I asked Turok to head the order and propose candidates from among those he's been working with. We agree that Karameikos and Tobin, who have already proven their loyalty and their skill, should be invited. We will invite Karameikos to meet the young Agondre; this should be a formality as the elder Agondre approved of him, but we must not take shortcuts. Renard possibly took shortcuts, after all.

Comments

[cellio]

Ah, ok. Somehow I had the image that Renard witnessed the act but was unable to stop it, adding to his personal tragedy. But now I don't know why I had that impression, so consider it corrected. :-)