darker and
shorter fellow and took a single, very deep, breath.
"Right. I'll put the word
out. I know, you can lead them, Countier Lairdgren! A students brigade of the
High Servants, perhaps?" She tried to say it seriously. Gerent was nearly
certain that wasn't being said to tease him or as a joke. It was meant as a
flat offer. She'd give him workers, drawn from her body of school children.
Unfortunately for her, she broke up after she said it, laughing uncontrollably.
Watching her for a second, he
nodded, knowing a comedy bit when he saw one.
"I'm sorry, but I must
decline. I honestly don't know if I'll have time, or I'd give it a go. We
really can use all the help we can get. That, and of course, have you work on
your presentation. I mean, if you could have held that last bit, with the
sputtering and doubling over until I left, it might have worked. I know, I'll
talk to the King tomorrow and see if he has anyone he wants that foisted on?
That isn't me , I mean." He let himself go still, but the reaction
in the room was pretty mixed.
It was the Dowager Ward that
cleared her throat. He expected that to be for his scolding, since he'd been
pretty flip with a sitting Countess, but she sounded relaxed about it all,
really.
"That... Might work. Thank
you Countier Lairdgren. If you could have him connect with Countess Printer
about that? Things are... Strained at the moment, but regardless of who comes
out on top in the end, we need to see to the safety of all, or what was the
point of it to begin with?" She looked at Petra, who stood up, her face
slightly stubborn seeming.
"That is a very good point,
mother. I'll head out and see to that myself, since the Royal Guard hardly ever executes me on the spot, unlike the rest of you. I love you all, and won't
betray you, but I think you're wrong to go against Richard. He's a good and
fair man. You all think you can do better, but it took you this long to
remember Soam, didn't it? No one is suggesting Gerent to replace the
King though, are they? I bet that he'll have something in place." She
crossed her arms and glared at everyone, claims of loving familial regards or
not.
Holly made a hard face at the
other woman, and then waved a hand.
"I have my reasons, Pet.
Still, we can do without you for a few days, if you can set that up? Martha
isn't wrong, after all. In the end we need to do the right thing, or there was no point to this. If the people with... contrary views, won't stand for good
and right, then we deserve for the world to turn its hand against us."
The words were a speech, and the
lady held her head high, as if they were a crowd, and she were winning them
over to her way of thinking. It worked too, since everyone started nodding
along. It was a good effort really, but a little off, which Gerent mentioned,
clearing his own throat.
"Look off into the horizon a
bit more. Eyes up. It gives the sense of looking into the future. Otherwise,
that was well done. Did you have classes in that? I had some, after a fashion,
from a High player that had fallen on hard times. He taught me to play the part
of King Valiant the Bold." They all looked at him, so he shrugged.
Everyone knew the classic piece, which he'd done straight, but it was still
comedic. Or had been. "Lo! There, off to the East, the fleet of the seven
arrives! Hold fast, for by morning we will see if the Austrans are men, or mere
wind, to be scattered from shore to shore!"
He did the whole thing, body
posture and all, which got a small clap from Maria.
"That's not bad! You know
the whole thing too, from memory? We'll have to have you perform it sometime.
In private of course. Since your station is too great for that sort of thing in
public." She moved toward him, and reached up, for another, if briefer,
hug. "You make it seem very noble and manly!"
He crossed his eyes and stuck his
tongue out.
"But imagine it, as it was
even a few years before... I stood barely to most men's... waists, that is what we call that
shorter fellow and took a single, very deep, breath.
"Right. I'll put the word
out. I know, you can lead them, Countier Lairdgren! A students brigade of the
High Servants, perhaps?" She tried to say it seriously. Gerent was nearly
certain that wasn't being said to tease him or as a joke. It was meant as a
flat offer. She'd give him workers, drawn from her body of school children.
Unfortunately for her, she broke up after she said it, laughing uncontrollably.
Watching her for a second, he
nodded, knowing a comedy bit when he saw one.
"I'm sorry, but I must
decline. I honestly don't know if I'll have time, or I'd give it a go. We
really can use all the help we can get. That, and of course, have you work on
your presentation. I mean, if you could have held that last bit, with the
sputtering and doubling over until I left, it might have worked. I know, I'll
talk to the King tomorrow and see if he has anyone he wants that foisted on?
That isn't me , I mean." He let himself go still, but the reaction
in the room was pretty mixed.
It was the Dowager Ward that
cleared her throat. He expected that to be for his scolding, since he'd been
pretty flip with a sitting Countess, but she sounded relaxed about it all,
really.
"That... Might work. Thank
you Countier Lairdgren. If you could have him connect with Countess Printer
about that? Things are... Strained at the moment, but regardless of who comes
out on top in the end, we need to see to the safety of all, or what was the
point of it to begin with?" She looked at Petra, who stood up, her face
slightly stubborn seeming.
"That is a very good point,
mother. I'll head out and see to that myself, since the Royal Guard hardly ever executes me on the spot, unlike the rest of you. I love you all, and won't
betray you, but I think you're wrong to go against Richard. He's a good and
fair man. You all think you can do better, but it took you this long to
remember Soam, didn't it? No one is suggesting Gerent to replace the
King though, are they? I bet that he'll have something in place." She
crossed her arms and glared at everyone, claims of loving familial regards or
not.
Holly made a hard face at the
other woman, and then waved a hand.
"I have my reasons, Pet.
Still, we can do without you for a few days, if you can set that up? Martha
isn't wrong, after all. In the end we need to do the right thing, or there was no point to this. If the people with... contrary views, won't stand for good
and right, then we deserve for the world to turn its hand against us."
The words were a speech, and the
lady held her head high, as if they were a crowd, and she were winning them
over to her way of thinking. It worked too, since everyone started nodding
along. It was a good effort really, but a little off, which Gerent mentioned,
clearing his own throat.
"Look off into the horizon a
bit more. Eyes up. It gives the sense of looking into the future. Otherwise,
that was well done. Did you have classes in that? I had some, after a fashion,
from a High player that had fallen on hard times. He taught me to play the part
of King Valiant the Bold." They all looked at him, so he shrugged.
Everyone knew the classic piece, which he'd done straight, but it was still
comedic. Or had been. "Lo! There, off to the East, the fleet of the seven
arrives! Hold fast, for by morning we will see if the Austrans are men, or mere
wind, to be scattered from shore to shore!"
He did the whole thing, body
posture and all, which got a small clap from Maria.
"That's not bad! You know
the whole thing too, from memory? We'll have to have you perform it sometime.
In private of course. Since your station is too great for that sort of thing in
public." She moved toward him, and reached up, for another, if briefer,
hug. "You make it seem very noble and manly!"
He crossed his eyes and stuck his
tongue out.
"But imagine it, as it was
even a few years before... I stood barely to most men's... waists, that is what we call that
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