Victor
We met again at breakfast. She was wearing her new clothes, which they finished for her yesterday. They were able to give her a couple of changes from existing stock, but these fit much better. The sight of her boots caused a small grin.
She was eating a berry-muffin, off a plate with eggs and sausage in waiting. Her attention is on her ebook screen.
"What's the topic today?" I asked. I believed she had more titles on that reader than were countable in this whole city.
"Huh? Oh, um, spider silk," she says and returns to reading.
"What's special about that?" I ask as a server puts my plate down. I notice he has a gash healing on his forehead. I thank him for his effort.
She puts her ebook in her pack, "It's amazing stuff. Stronger than steel, even stronger than human hair."
"Human hair? Sounds odd and creepy. Is hair really all that strong?"
"Stronger than any metal, when comparing similar thicknesses," she says in an instructional manner.
"Why don't we make things from it?" I asked, trying the eggs first. They weren't bad.
"It's a crap weave," she answers.
"Really?"
"Really. It's too thick, so the material would be coarser and itchier than coarse wool, with suck thread counts," she adds.
And we would be wearing human hair... which sounded creepy no matter how I thought about it. Odd.
"So spiders are the way to go," I said, wondering why that sounded oddly awesome, and human hair sounded so creepy? They were spiders, right? Spiders.
"I just can't figure out how you could mass produce enough silk to harvest for even a small amount of cloth," she said, and her frustration sounded genuine.
"You miss that, Internet thing, on your computer," I acknowledged. "What about social media?"
"God yes," she sighs, then she straightens up, "I feel so vulnerable without it."
That's an odd response, and I say so.
"All my life I've had the answers at my fingertips, and now I'm cut off from everything. I have what I have. I can't ask ... a source," she said, her hands coming up and splaying apart into claws, and she grrrs.
"Yes, very handy that," I said, finishing the eggs and stabbing a sausage. "Even have the voice commands now, don't they. Just call out your question and it gives you an answer. Very convenient. But we got that here. Not to worry."
"You... what? You have talking computers?" she asked, her eyes narrow, warning not to play with her needs.
"Well no, not computers," I said. "Hey Jeffery? What time is it?"
Jeffery, our server standing a couple of yards away said, "It's just after nine, sir."
"Jeffery?" I asked, "How many appointments do I have today?"
"Five sir," he reports, and I can tell he's trying not to laugh now.
"And what time is high-mark today?" I asked, finishing off my sausage.
"Two-fifteen this afternoon, sir."
"See?" I said back to her, and her eyes have narrowed so much they make Uncle Max's look wide. "It's fun. You should try it."
She shakes her head, but then sits up and turns to Jeffery, "Jeffery? How can you mass produce spider silk?"
"Brewer's yeast, miss," he responds.
"Except that... wait... what did you say?"
"Brewer's yeast, miss, " he repeats.
Her eyes go wide. Her hands come up to her cheeks. "Oooo... because you can... oh my god," she stammers, and grabs her ebook up again, and falls inside.
"Jeffery?" I said.
"Yes sir?"
"Well done. Bonus time."
"Yes sir."
"I think you actually gave her frisson. Impressive."
Out on the street I walked at a fast pace. A few people would follow, but I was on business and I didn't wish to be delayed. My errands took me to each of the five great dragon houses. Three of which had reasonable claims for the throne. I mean, if my Uncle and I were suddenly dispatched with prejudice. At each house I asked the butler to request an appointment for a meeting that evening after dinner, and gave a list of the others I expected.
It wasn't an official request, of course. I didn't sit on the throne, yet. But it was personally important, I stressed.
I hoped that would pass the message with a little 'fuck around and find out,' behind it. It was inevitable that I would be sitting there, on the throne, in the very near future. But it felt necessary right now to ensure that there would be a city to rule.
It was unlikely that any of them had not heard about Uncle Max's ... seizure ... last night. It wasn't common knowledge, however. At least the bulletin didn't have a comment on it when I checked.
After I finished with the last house, I had a decent understanding of their current minds. Serving staff are very handy for that kind of knowledge. They tend to show their disdain with greater expression when their masters are boasting strength and greatness.
I had the feeling that none of the three with clear claims for the throne were interested in a war. The two others, however, were either stupid or mad â perhaps both. I couldn't rule that out. It felt like they believed I was lacking in power without my Uncle.
It would be foolish to not question that myself. But also, I learned long ago, that if your enemy is making a mistake â let them.
My confidence in the Guard was solid. If they had any question about my ability I'm sure I answered them well over the last few days. Last night didn't hurt either. Uncle Max tossed a few of them around, and poorly used the others. The challenge changed when I added myself into the fray. Thus they knew they could count on me.
By extension the military, and also the citizenry were also behind me and supportive. Neither of them wanted war. Especially against ourselves.
Alicja helped with all of the rest of my good impressions. Her knowledge about â everything â is unending it seems. Talking with the guards, and servers about the questions of the realm and to the council, with her beside me was unnervingly easy.
We were a patriarchy, at the moment. It could be just as easily a matriarchy if I were born female. A constitutional monarchy, in any case. There was the throne, which acted as the Executive branch of the government. I had a few more powers than other-worlders would be accustomed to. We then had the Council made up of fifty councilors. These were elected from the populace to serve four years. Then we had twelve senators â which were appointed by the throne â combined with the council made the Legislature. Our high court had three judges. There were five courts under them covering criminal and civil matters.
Senators and Judges were appointed to four year terms, which could be continued in four year increments. My father told me it was best to shake those two up a bit every four years. Never let it be felt that they were sure to be continued. Which sounded legit.
On the throne I had veto power over the legislation, and the power not to enforce or to minimally enforce what they passed as well. They could pass a new tax, but I didn't have to collect it, though I probably would in that case.
We were always running out of money.
Appeals could be made to the Throne for clemency in legal matters. I could also intervene, and there were other variations of that, which were mostly boring and I didn't pay attention to.
I did not want to be on that throne until I completed locating and bringing in the men responsible for the attack on my father. This felt important to me â yet at every turn I'm blocked by events which are unconnected, and out of my ability to predict.
This thing about me Not Killing, was out of hand. I heard several bits of conversation which described me as a pacifist. That I abhor violence â which, was true for the most part. I didn't long for violence or adore it, certainly, but if it was at hand then I would join in.
It was a mistake not to address those questions before this. It was the most likely source of any challenge against me, and could be the source of the two lower houses being overdrawn. They believed I wouldn't go to war to defend the throne. They were wrong. Criminally wrong.
Of course they could be basing their pomp on guessing I didn't have the knowledge. That mistake would be felonious.
Why was it such a huge change in concept to want the men who murdered my father to face the city's justice, rather than to take the blood debt on my own?
Back at the manor house, I located Alicja and put the question to her. Why the choice of justice over vengeance was such a issue raising decision?
"Well," she said, off-handedly without looking from her notes, "It makes for a crap story."
"What a shame," I said, sitting down in the padded chair I usually used in her room.
"What?" she said, looking over to me. "This is a serious question?"
"It was," I said.
"Oh, I didn't mean to... um ... well let me get a fresh cup of coffee and get out my head," she said, getting up and kissing my forehead â which was nice. Made it difficult to brood however.
She came back with fresh coffee, handing me a cup as well. "Thanks," I said.
"You're concerned with your public face? Seriously? You're like the most popular man in the city. You know that right?" she said.
"Being talked about constantly is not necessarily an indication of popularity. At least not approval of the populace. Being discussed as a pacifist and unable to stomach a war isn't helpful. I know how to quell it, I just don't understand why it is so prevalent. It's the go-to opinion when the matter is addressed."
"Hmm," she said, sipping her coffee. "I can see that," she offered, looking out across the patio. "I kinda did the same thing when I first heard you say that you didn't kill."
"Yes?" I said, looking up to her, "why? Do you recall?"
"Not really," she said, as she scrunched her nose. "Like you described, it was the obvious conclusion and I didn't question it until later."
She shifted her weight to her other hip. I studied her curves for a while. "That's the rub though. We â humans â don't question our beliefs very often. We don't ask ourselves when we recite an answer â where did I get that information? What was the source? Do I still trust that source? We just continue forward, and continue using it."
She looked down to me and then sat on my lap, "And the way this town talks... I've never heard of anything like it. I love it."
"You're talking about the debates, I'm assuming," I said.
"Hell yes," she said. "Besides the two we went to, I've been to three others. All of them were amazing. And the memories these people have! How is that even possible?"
I can't help but smile. Sometimes it feels like she's had more fun in my city in a few days then I've had in my entire life.