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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2899474" data-attributes="member: 10689">Here commences Session 5, which took place in February. As you'll see in upcoming episodes, there's quite a different cast of characters for this one. I can't promise to live up to the diligent posting schedule set by Cerebral Paladin, but I will do my best <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Enjoy!--Two weeks after the death of Archduchess Amelia, the court of Canberry was still in mourning. Black draperies muted the gleaming white marble of the palace walls, and somber mourning clothes replaced the usual finery of the courtiers.Kit didn’t mind. She preferred wearing black anyway.And Kit was one of the few people at the court who had broken out of the endless cycle of memorials and prayers. Although she wished she could remain at Alistair’s side to comfort him – the new Archduke was already being noted for the sincerity of his grief at his grandmother’s passing, something rare in an heir who benefited so much at a relative’s death – Kit had other things to do.“There are slavers at work in the south,” Dame Esmeralda said. For now, the small room next to the archducal audience chamber still belonged to the older knight, and provided a comfortable and private meeting place. “We’ve got a group of people heading out there, and you’re going to accompany them.””Aren’t there always slavers working south of the border, m’lady?”Dame Esmeralda smiled at Kit’s quickness, but only a little – the Mouth had been as subdued as the rest of the court these last two weeks; perhaps even more so, since she had been so close to the Archduchess. “Yes. But these may be different ones. If they belong to the Sixth District, we want to know if they’re still active – but we think that these slavers may belong to a different group, perhaps even a non-Noldar group. They haven’t come too near to the border yet, but it’s still close enough that we want to know about it.”Kit nodded, but a little more slowly this time. “Yes, ma’am,” she said carefully. “But…are you sure that I’m the one who needs to go? I mean, if you need me to help fight slavers, I will, but…I think there are a lot of other things at court that need to be taken care of.”Dame Esmeralda smiled again, with a knowing little lift of her eyebrows. “I understand that you’re reluctant to leave the prince – the Archduke’s side.” Her voice skipped a beat, as she corrected herself on Alistair’s new title. “But there are other things that I think you in particular need to investigate. First, even though the heir to Brightspan has been taken care of, and his father’s allegiance secured, there are still doubts about the loyalty of the rest of the family. You’ll be passing through the duchy of Brightspan on your way south of the border – check out the rest of the ducal family, and see if there are any other potential threats to Canberry.”“Right.” Kit nodded firmly, her expression darkening a little at the memory of the previous assassination attempts on Alistair, and her mouth set into a determined line. “What else?”“Farther south, in the refugee lands, there seem to be some people setting themselves up as nobles. They’re only the strong-man type of noble – might makes right, without any kind of governmental power or organization. Still, if they are going to be the new power base south of the border, we need to make sure that their loyalty is to us. You’re to investigate them, make sure of their loyalty, and place some agents within their boundaries – we will need continuing sources of information on these new nobles. You’re authorized to draw on 25,000 gold from the privy purse, in order to compensate your new agents.”Kit’s eyes nearly popped out. “Twenty-five thousand?” she gasped, before she could stop herself. “I’ll be able to bribe the whole bloody south, and half the eastern barbarians besides!”“Compensate,” Esmeralda corrected, an amused light dancing in her eyes, overcoming her subdued grief for a moment. “And really, it doesn’t go nearly as far as you think it does.”“Um. Right.” Desperately struggling to regain her composure, Kit nodded, chattering hastily away. “Twenty-five – right. Compensating them all. Anything else to look for? As long as I’m in the neighborhood, you know?”“That should be all,” Esmeralda said. “And of course, if you do happen to encounter any of the slavers, your group is authorized to use whatever force is necessary to defeat them.”“Yes, ma’am,” Kit replied. “And report to you when I get back?”“No, dear.” The Mouth’s smile was unusually gentle, and infinitely sad. “You should report to the Archduke. I won’t be here when you return.”“Wait!” Kit burst out. “You mean that you – you’re really going to – while I’m gone!” Even though the Mouth had said many times that she would be following the old customs of Canberry, Kit had never really been able to bring herself to understand, or believe, that Dame Esmeralda would be committing suicide“Yes,” Esmeralda said gently. “I’ve already taken longer than I should, but if I’d done it any sooner, my true position might have been suspected. Nobody is supposed to know who the Mouth is, and it would create suspicion if I acted at the same time as the other close advisors. As it is, I’ll just look like a loyal knight taking my place by my lady’s side. By the time you return – and you must return within two weeks, so that you will be back in time for the coronation – everything will be taken care of.”</blockquote>

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