"And, like chum to a pack of sharks, that little ol' announcement did nothing but stir the pot," reclining in his seat with fingers folded behind his head, Sawyer of Glintwell fixes Audrey with an appraising quirk of the brow. "What's your take on it?"
"Shiver of sharks, actually," Audrey says as she wrenches her attention away from her observer. Though the gaze still pokes at her consciousness, a conversation should do well to smother that sense, "and I'm not sure I quite understand your meaning."
"Your take on this whole dealio," untangling a hand from the finger-knot at the back of his head, Sawyer gestures at the gathered masses of Thanes and men of Chivalric virtue. "Like, obviously the Ealdorman has to know that he's just going to encourage people to screw around by bringing it to everyone's attention, yes?"
"And what else is he supposed to do?" Audrey asks with a tilt of her head. "One should not spend overmuch time consulting the mysteries of the iron fist to maintain order among your subordinates."
"What he should've done is," Sawyer leans forward at this point, both hands now tapping forefingers against the table. His eyes gleam with a vaguely concerning glee as his lips twist into a wild, sharp-edged smile, "saturate the assembly with mind-controlled triple-agents. These triple-agents would pretend to be spying on the Ealdorman for the secret factions that battle in the shadows, but would actually be feeding them false information while the Ealdorman gathers real, actionable intel. That way, he can cut any shenanigans out at the root!"
Both brows arched, Audrey swivels in her seat to give the Squire her full attention. "Would that not be double-agents, then? And how would the Ealdorman control thoughts?"
"They would be," Sawyer agrees with a fervent bob of the head, "if not for the fact that they're actually working for the moon-men! And the moon-men are the ones that gave the Ealdorman the technology to do the mind-controlling, obviously."
"Moon-men." Audrey's voice resembles a level with how flat it is.
"They live on the moon," answers Sawyer, much in the same way a teacher responds to a young student, "they hate the sun-men, who have secretly allied with all the world's rulers, and so want to destroy us all. But the sun-men won the last war and so the moon-men can't wage open war for fear of being destroyed by the sun-men."
Audrey blinks, slowly. "That's… Why would God make people on the moon and sun?"
"Because He didn't! They're both the spawn of the Devil!" Sawyer declares as he jabs a fork clean through a roast duck. "Just like the Troll-men, who spring up from the depths of the earth to devour the flesh of men, women, and children!"
"Troll-men?" Audrey can't help but prod the clearly insane man sitting at her side, "What, do they live on the morning star?"
"No, they live under the earth. Aren't you listening?" Sawyer squints as he shoves a whole duck leg into his mouth, his lips barely closing as he chews. "Besides, lots of things happen all the time. Take, for instance, your little voyeur there, don't suppose you're familiar with them?" A finger flick waggles in the unknown observer's direction, the little motion nearly giving Audrey whiplash from how abrupt a shift in topic it heralded.
Still, such a subject matter is far more coherent than 'moon-men', so Audrey grabs tight with both hands. "I don't believe we've been acquainted, no. My family's mostly rooted in Dorset" Audrey shakes her head, clarifying the matter further. "This is the furthest north I've personally been, so I don't quite understand the grudge here." Which wasn't to say she couldn't make a solid inference on the matter, but now that the conversation had properly begun, she may as well see what the sharp-eyed Squire might have noticed in his time here.
"Then either it's some forbidden prophecy that's stated that you're destined to break their back as a people, or they're just going after you because it's easy." Sawyer confirmed her thinking. "You're a safe target to needle because anyone who'd cuff them back is too far away to catch them, but if you get goaded into doing something reckless, they'll be able to wave that and show how the King's great experiment's not worth keeping on with. Sure, the whining of a few young Thanes isn't going to change anything, but it'll make him have to spend time ruffling feathers, which is time that he's not spending on his final adjustments… Couple that with his age and his failing health…" Sawyer leaves that dark remark unfinished.
Likely for the best, nothing summoned forth calamity quite like speaking of it.
"I can hardly let them go unchallenged though." Audrey changed the subject. "Nothing emboldens a heckler more than thinking they're being ignored. It just entices them to escalate further until they get the desired response." That was her experience, trying to play nice only worked for so long–eventually, you needed to swing your fist and remind them that you were being fostered for a damned good reason. Your own ability, your own promise in the field of battle.
"What do you mean? Isn't that exactly what we want right now?" Sawyer grinned, turning his head to meet her gaze. "If they want to escalate, let them! If they want to move from nasty looks and eyes on the back of their head to open challenge? Why not? At that point… Well…" He chuckled knowingly. "It's not you flying off to the moon and breaking the peace, but defending your own honour after it was grievously insulted. There's not a single one in the kingdom who will hold it against you if you feed them their own arses after they've lost their ability to hide behind reasonable doubt."
Audrey considered that factor for a minute, then smiled, showing perhaps a little more teeth than was truly proper. "Well now, that does sound delightful, I can only hope that they don't keep me waiting over-long then."
She had so many things to focus on–her training, the tasks she would undoubtedly be assigned in the months and years to come. The sooner she got this little pest out of her hair, the happier she would be. It was hardly like she would be spending all of her time in the burh though, Sir Vieux had already mentioned he would be taking her to acquire her Plate in the months to come, and would be making a thorough assessment of her strengths and weaknesses on the way. It would be a proper adventure.
It would also give her some time to work out a little stress with a little luck, and a chance to clear her head, which even now burned for recompense from the mocking eyes and smug grins aimed her way. She could sort out how she was going to resolve this problem when she had the full panoply expected of a Squire.
She only hoped that her Master would leave with her soon.
0~0~0
During the time before Audrey Eotenslaga's journey to receive her full panoply, Sir Reinald Vieux, as an experienced teacher of Squires, puts significant effort into helping her polish her existing skills in preparation for her first test under real-world conditions.
[Audrey receives 12 Training and 10 Zeal. In this specific case, her Training may only be spent on existing Prayers (not Feats or Shapes), rather than gaining new ones, as most of it is from Reinald's intensive training. Zeal may be spent freely.]
Please make a plan for spending this bounty, here is an example of what such a plan should look like:
[ ] Example Training Plan
-[ ] Spend 6 Training on Prayer Name #1
-[ ] Spend 6 Training on Prayer Name #2
-[ ] Spend X Zeal on ???
[Training may not be saved and must all be spent (though spending only part way to the next benchmark is fine), but Zeal may be saved and spent on various instant effects if so desired (though increasing stats with it may only be done during a Training Plan). All Zeal not used in the plan will be saved.]
