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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 3311795" data-attributes="member: 10689">Kit hesitated slightly as she looked back up from the halfling’s credentials. All right. Time to get down to actual business. “Dame Pressa?” Kit began, more slowly than before. “You understand that my position at court is…somewhat delicate? I have to walk a fine line…”The halfling broke into a wide smile. “Oh, I understand, dear. I was good friends with a…close friend of the Archduchess. I understand your position better than you might think.” Dame Pressa patted Kit’s arm maternally.“Right,” Kit nodded, with a sigh of relief. “So you’ll help me figure out where to stand so I won’t be seen, and the proper place to sit at all of those big dinners and things?”“Don’t worry about it at all, dear. I’ll take care of everything once your privy secretary gives me all the invitations.” Kit looked at Dame Pressa blankly. “You do have a privy secretary, don’t you, dear?”“Er. Well. I have a scribe?” Kit ventured hopefully.”Does he or she take care of your social calendar?”Kit sighed. “No, not really. Um – I guess I’d like you to do that, too?”The halfling beamed again. “Of course! And what about a guard?”“Do I need one of those too?” Kit asked, with a sinking feeling. A scribe, a protocol officer, a ladies’ maid, and now a guard? How many people do these nobles have to have?“Oh, yes,” Dame Pressa said, nodding quickly, but her expression was much more serious. “Who’s guarded you before this?”Kit lifted her chin, a little defiantly. “I have.”Dame Pressa shook her head. “Well, that won’t do. As soon as the coronation is over, the Archduke will become practically invulnerable as long as he’s in the palace. You and the rest of the court will become the targets, dear. You’ll have to have a guard whenever you leave the palace, and it will be best to get one soon, so that you can get to know him or her.”“All right,” Kit sighed, and hastily changed the subject away from the all-too-common topic of people wanting to kill Alistair and the various members of the court. “Is this the sort of thing you did for Lord Brendan? What exactly was he doing, when you were sent away from Haven?”The halfling sniffed in remembered indignance. “Well, they claimed that he was spying - having people watch the ranking nobles of Haven, and keeping track of their comings and goings.”Kit sniffed too, but it was in an attempt to stifle a laugh. What could he have been playing at? That’s the least competent spying job I’ve ever heard of! But he is still a Brightspan, and we can’t rule out any connections when it comes to that family… Out loud, she said, “How long ago was this?”“Well, they sent us away five months ago, but we didn’t return to Canberry City until recently. The leader of Haven sent us across land! Right through the middle of the orcish tribes. You’d think they were trying to kill us!”“But clearly, you made it back all right – and so did Lord Brendan?”Dame Pressa nodded. “Oh, yes. He’s here in the city, still.”“All right,” Kit said, with a decisive nod. “The Archduke will want to speak to him, I think.” And so will I. Either he was pulling a brilliant feint by looking that incompetent, or he really is that incompetent. And either way, I want to know if he actually found anything out. --Here ends my section of the Story Hour. Tomorrow, it's back to your regularly scheduled Cerebral Paladin <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=":)" /> Thanks for reading!</blockquote>

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