Wheels of Empire
First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
"You know what they say about a job well done..." you trail off over a cup of Baratheon's liberated wine as you offer a smile to the officer before you. He had grown over the years, and not as the jest goes 'more around the middle'.
"My wife keeps telling me every night, Your Majesty," General Gerold Torchwood replies. You can see the gleam of a keen mind behind his eyes, the lines of many nights spent not in the company of his wife but seeing to his many duties, not only the first of your generals, but thanks to his posting, the one whom you know best on a personal level. Who better to hand the control of your house's former seat, and more to the point a city of half-a-million souls, many of whom could do with a much better life than the one they are currently living?
"You do not have to accept," you interject after a moment. "This is not a military deployment, and some of the lords may be slow to recognize how things have changed."
"Slow to recognize the knighthood of a former sellsword, given out by another sellsword in a company of traitors you mean?" he asks bluntly, looking out over the courtyard. You could not see the worst of the city from here, not the winding streets that barely got any light at midday, not the middens where hogs and goats scrounged among the garbage of the city, and not bloody Fleabottom where the waste of the city gathered like King's Landing's own overfull chamberpot.
You could still smell most of it, though, unless you were lucky enough to catch the wind from the sea.
"Given the looks being shared today in the throne room, I think most will have the whit to recognize the power and prestige of the Legion," you note. "If there is one thing that is universally respected from Ib to the Summer Islands, and from the Westerlands to Yi Ti, it is soldiers with weapons and the skill to use them. The Legion would take on the task of patrolling the streets as well as other transitional administrative tasks. To be honest, I suspect your day to day tasks are more likely to be interacting with the common citizens not the local nobility. The court will be staying in the Deep."
"And thank the Great Serpent for it," the general says fervently. "I accept, Your Majesty. The Torchbearers will see to it that this city will be delivered to civilian rule in a better state than we found it. The Dragonpit should be settled by the month's end as well..." He quickly recounts the major projects, though left unsaid is the fact that after more than two centuries of mismanagement, much of it can be laid at the feet of your own ancestors. They could hardly deliver it in a worse state unless it were suffering from a plague or some other calamity. Hells, Fleabottom's normal life might count as a plague by most Imperial standards.
You do not envy Gerold his task, but you trust that he can do it well.
***
On your return to Sorcerer's Deep, you are welcomed by a city both jubilant and weary, as Tyene puts it in jest, 'Happy Hangover Day'. Of course the truly dedicated feast goers, her father perhaps first among them, are not going to let something so insignificant as a hangover affect their ability to enjoy themselves. That is what alchemy is for. Though the sun is well past its zenith, you have no expectation of the celebrations ending anytime soon. In fact, with the many fine establishments of the Deep looking to reap a hefty profit off all the visitors, you doubt the festival atmosphere will truly be said to stop anytime this month.
There are, however, some visitors who will not be enjoying their stay, and for good reason. The delegation from Yin even makes a half-hearted attempt to delay the meeting, sending Hua Fen with news that their chief envoy will need to go into seclusion to ponder the wisdom of the holy Kami and how that reflects upon them.
"If I may speak my mind freely, Your Majesty?" the young woman noblewoman begins.
You know by now that it is more a form than substance, and she knows you value her counsel in this, but still you nod. Form is to be respected to keep face.
"I think the delegation is so mired in shame that you might find yourself facing a new Chief Envoy, even one sent specifically from Yin by the Son of Heaven, though that may place more of an eye on the whole affair than the dignity of the Azure Throne would allow." She snaps the fan in her hand open from nervous reflex, but does not hide her gaze behind it. "I suspect there is more than folly to those fools' gifts, though I cannot prove it. It just felt a bit too much like some of them were... what do you call it... playing a part."
"How so?" you ask, listening very closely indeed. "If you have an actual infiltrator, this has just gone from frustrating to legitimately dangerous."
"Ah, nothing like that," she says, guessing your thoughts. "More like the script of courtly ritual. Many of those I dealt with would not hear me because I am a woman and they had fit me into certain roles. They seemed inexperienced dealing with the broader horizons of the world beyond the palace walls. "
Which envoy do you summon first, and what do you say?
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OOC: I hope the transition is not too jarring.
