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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8865868" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 143, cont'd]</p><p>Alistair meets with Lord Darben, the Kov’s nephew, personally. They know he loves horses, so they meet in the internal palace riding grounds, where he can ride a placid horse and Alistair can walk alongside.</p><p></p><p>As Alistair walks up to him, Lord Darben recognizes him and genuflects.</p><p></p><p>“First for the formal matter. We are pleased to accept you into fosterage to the House of Ashbury, and to the Imperial Court of the Empire of Southern Drucien, and are pleased to appoint you as one of the pages of the Emperor and Empress of Southern Drucien.”</p><p></p><p>“Thank you, Your Majesty. I bring you greeting from Pyr Aldritchgoth on behalf of my uncle.” He holds out a small leather bag, which Dame Brionna steps forward to take. It contains a fair sized ruby that's been incised with the seal of Snannurkaz. “Thank you for accepting this and me.”</p><p></p><p>“It is our great pleasure, and our great desire that your uncle will continue to do valiant work to bring peace and order to your homeland. I wanted to have a small chance to talk with you personally. You'll find that that pages to the Emperor do not actually spend that much time with the Emperor. You spend most of your time learning from the master of pages, and attending to your various lessons, and some being a runner around the palace. But I feel like I should know all my pages and of course, if there's anything ever anything of great importance, you can always come to me.”</p><p></p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p></p><p>“Also you should know that that young Lord Brightspan who you've already met is currently the personal page. And therefore, if there's anything that you think that I should know rapidly, and that you don't want to run through the master of pages, you can always tell him, and I see him daily.”</p><p></p><p>“Thank you, Your Majesty.”</p><p></p><p>“The master of pages will tell you a variety of rules and things that you'll need to to do. Of course, we expect you to listen to him and to follow your instructions. But at the same time we of course expect you to be a high spirited lad of high birth. Some rules it's worth taking your lumps for not following.</p><p></p><p>“I have a few additional rules for you personally, and those are not that kind of rule. They are serious matters, and other pages may say, ‘Oh, why don't we do this?’ And it will seem entirely reasonable. On those matters, you must not go along with them in their exploits. The most important of those is that until I countermand this, you may not leave the palace grounds under any circumstance. Do you know why I'm instructing you on that?”</p><p></p><p>“Because, Your Majesty, you think that the assassins may follow me here.”</p><p></p><p>“Indeed. There are powerful wards that protect the palace. There are Dame Brionna’s extremely capable guards, and there are various other means we have of keeping people safe within the palace. The City of Camberry is in general a very safe city. Much more so I think than Hanal City or Snannurkaz before the present troubles. But that's a safe city in general, that's not a safe city for you.</p><p></p><p>The sorts of assassins that the usurper might send would be well more than we could expect the city guard and the lady mayor's people to take care of.”</p><p></p><p>“They got by my uncle's men. My mother poisoned them.”</p><p></p><p>“Did she poison a weapon?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. He stabbed her first. I saw it.”</p><p></p><p>“I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to see that, but you also saw how brave your mother was.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, I miss my mother.” He looks very sad sitting there on the horse. “But my uncle says that I am the hope of the future now.”</p><p></p><p>“You are, but you're not alone here.”</p><p></p><p>“My uncle trusts you. He said, if you are allies, he believes that we will win.”</p><p></p><p>“And we believe that as well. I will also say that, were misfortune to befall the war in Hanal, you would always have a safe place here. I expect that by the time you are a young man, you will be called to take up duties within your homeland, but in the meanwhile, we can guaranteed your safety here. A number of the other pages come from similar tragic family situations to the one that you have faced. You may find connections and shared friendship with them.”</p><p></p><p>“My uncle says that we must win the war because it is against vile powers that seek to overthrow the whole world.”</p><p></p><p>“We will give you an education about those foes, but not until you are older. Speaking of which, the pages are expected to attend chapel on a regular basis. Those who are not from Glordiadelian lands may remain silent and not participate in the rituals as they feel fit. Of course, those of them from Glordiadelian nations are expected to participate and learn those things. Ordinarily, we would make available the opportunity for Paranswarmian pages to travel outside the palace to where there are a small number of Paranswarmian churches within the capital city. In your case that will not be possible. but if you wish we will arrange for a priest to come to you to administer the basic rites of your faith. The high holy day celebrations of Paranswarm are not celebrated in Canberry and cannot be celebrated in Canberry."</p><p></p><p>“Do you have high holy days here?”</p><p></p><p>“We have many, and we celebrate all of the high holy days of Glordiadel. And indeed the other permitted religions--the other religions of the Economical Council, for example--most of them will celebrate their high holy days as well, although of course, the Empire takes little formal recognition of that. There are certain ceremonies that are required in Paranswarmian churches, on Paranswarm’s most holy days that involve acts that are forbidden within Canberry City. Even those are still practiced within the Paranswarmian domains of the Empire. For example, in Tang, they would perform those ceremonies. Hopefully in time, it might be possible for you to travel abroad to those within the Empire. That is impossible now.</p><p></p><p>“We do, however, have a sacred tree here within the palace grounds itself if you wish to connect with that other part of your inherited traditions. How much you visit it is up to you, but it can be very nice to talk to. I think you might feel better if you visited it. It is a young child.”</p><p></p><p>“You should know my cousin used to take me to visit their tree.”</p><p></p><p>“Is that a cousin from your great-grandmother's family?”</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna helpfully says, “If you could give us their name, we might be able to contact them…”</p><p></p><p>Alistair cuts in, “She means, if you could give us a way in which we may refer to them.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, yes, of course. That kind of cousin," realizes Dame Brionna. "Yes, sorry. If you give us a means of contacting them, then we might be able to reassure them of your safety, and find out about theirs. I'm sure they would wish to know.”</p><p></p><p>He pulls a chain up from under his shirt with a sigil on it that they immediately recognize as either fae or elven. “If you have anyone who has the accursed gift, if you just grip this tightly…”</p><p></p><p>“First, a bit of advice about living in Canberry-- We don’t call it the accursed gift. It's just a gift.”</p><p></p><p>“I've never heard it referred to as anything but ‘the accursed gift.’”</p><p></p><p>“Its proper name is psionics, or just the gift,” says Kit. “May I see that medallion? I have the gift as well.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, do you? I don’t know if I have the acc… the gift, but I can use that, so I fear that I do.”</p><p></p><p>“We will also introduce you to some elves who can determine your gift more fully. Depending on what direction your talent lies, we will likely ask one of them to help you.”</p><p></p><p>“I won't be able to go home after that, will I? See, I know I have the gift, but nobody else knows. Well, my cousin knows, because he came to me. He left me that so I could talk to him and we could do things together, and I think some people thought I had magic or something, because they kept losing track of me,” and he sort of smiles a little bit for the first time since they've met him.</p><p></p><p>“But also, given your rank in Hanal, they might have thought that you had a personal devil that attended to you.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. I don't like those.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, but many of the kovs maintain such things.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, yes, they do. My uncle doesn’t really have personal devils of his own, but he has people with him who can call them. He won't sell his soul, but he'll let other people sell theirs, and he'll use their devils.”</p><p></p><p>“There will be no need for soul selling here. There are a few people who do that sort of thing, but not very many. You won't have to deal with that if you don't want to.”</p><p></p><p>While the conversation continues, Kit is holding the talisman, which emanates energy to her. She opens up psionically, exactly the way she does when she uses her other communication tools, and instantly she is in contact with a somewhat immature, very startled mind.</p><p></p><p><<I'm sorry, Darben is right here, and he's safe, and he gave me permission to use this.>></p><p></p><p>Another more mature mind replaces the first one that she contacted.</p><p></p><p><<Darben is right here. He's all right. I'm a human friend who is protecting him.>></p><p></p><p><<His uncle is human.>></p><p></p><p><<His uncle sent him to Canberry.>></p><p></p><p><<Ah, that's where he is.>></p><p></p><p><<You can talk to him if you want.>></p><p></p><p><<His great-grandfather was my brother-in-law. We do like to talk to him.>></p><p></p><p><<He gave me permission to use this. I didn't realize that it would put me in direct contact with you so quickly.>></p><p></p><p><<It put you in contact with my son, who is his friend. My son is young and panicked.>></p><p></p><p><<I don't blame him, and please apologize to him for me. I would be frightened, too, if an unfamiliar grown-up suddenly appeared to me in my mind.>></p><p></p><p><<I recognize your mind. You are an aide to the King, or the Emperor of Canberry.>></p><p></p><p><<Yes, that's right. Darben is safe with us at the Court of Canberry.>></p><p></p><p><<Good, good, no good could come of keeping him here. Give my regards for me to your Tor. They will know my Tor, on the Isle of Snannurkaz.>></p><p></p><p><<I will.>></p><p></p><p><<Now I must go and quiet my son.>></p><p></p><p><<Yes, please apologize. Before you go, have you heard why Darben was sent to us?>></p><p></p><p><<Presumably the human assassins became more effective.>></p><p></p><p><<They did. I'm sorry to say they killed his mother.>></p><p></p><p><<Is it proper to say I'm sure she died well?>></p><p></p><p><<She did, very bravely protecting her son. Which is why he has been sent here. Do you know of the threats and violence against people of your blood? Even in as isolated a place as it is, your Tor may end up being a target.>></p><p></p><p><<We have knights, and the Lord of Snannurkaz is not far from here. I think all will fall before we do, but I appreciate your warning. If these creatures come to our Tor, I can assure you that we will not go quietly. I will comfort my son. If I may have an image of the boy to take to him, it will calm him.>></p><p></p><p>Kit immediately projects an image of the boy, safe healthy, and as happy as possible.</p><p></p><p><<I will tell him he should not come to visit him. His visits were often to the great consternation of the tutors.>></p><p></p><p><<If you wish to visit, you can travel to the Tor, and then they have ways that he can come over land to the palace and visit. But it would have to be an open visit, not the way they are used to.>></p><p></p><p><<Yes, you must protect the child, and that is not possible if they are wandering around.>></p><p></p><p>Kit hands the medallion back. “I'm afraid I startled your friend pretty badly, but his father's going to go take care of him. You can, of course, talk with him whenever you like.”</p><p></p><p>“But of course, you also must not discuss anything that you see in the palace.”</p><p></p><p>“No, I understand. Matters of state.”</p><p></p><p>“Yes. We'll help you learn which things you need to keep secret, and which things you can talk freely to your friends about.”</p><p></p><p>“Good. Thank you. Lord Alden is very kind. Did he seem to you that way?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, he cares about you very much.”</p><p></p><p>“It would not surprise me if the local Tor wanted to send someone to watch and protect you, and if they did, we would certainly allow them to. I just want to let you know. I can't guarantee that they will. We are close allies.”</p><p></p><p>“That is good. Alden Tor is friends with my uncle. I think they're more than that to me. Well, they are kind of family to us both.”</p><p></p><p>“But he is a more distant relation and you're not.”</p><p></p><p>“You understand. And he is more religious than I am.”</p><p></p><p>“Believe it or not, my children are closer relations to our Tor than I am.”</p><p></p><p>“How old are your children?”</p><p></p><p>“Infants, really.” Alistair can see his momentary interest fade as soon as he hears that they are infants. “There are plenty of pages at or about your age, as well as some who are a few years older. They range roughly from your age until about fourteen, when they tend to leave service as pages and take on other responsibilities.”</p><p></p><p>“Squires.”</p><p></p><p>“Usually. Even that is dependent somewhat on their path. For example, a prospective wizard would at that point enter into a proper apprenticeship or tutorial, instead of becoming a squire to a knight like most. In some cases, they might become a squire in the most formal of senses, without actually learning the true trade of a knight.”</p><p></p><p>“I see that. You know what happened to the Hanalian chivalry?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes.”</p><p></p><p>“They were sent before it was clear what was happening. My uncle is loyal. And if he says Anastasia is Empress, she is.”</p><p></p><p>“Indeed, and she sends her good wishes. She is sorry that she couldn't be here to greet you herself, and she will be able to visit you within the palace sometimes, but, unfortunately, you will not be able to attend your monarch in her court in exile until matters are safer again. You will not be able to leave the palace, and together you are too risky of a target.”</p><p></p><p>“They won't stop just because I came here.”</p><p></p><p>“But you'll be safe in the palace, and again, some of the other pages here have also been the targets of attempts before they came here, and they've all been safe since coming here.”</p><p></p><p>“My uncle says you're very powerful. He said that now that you've all of the proxies that you could, your empire is more powerful than her now.”</p><p></p><p>“I think that that is indeed the case.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, thank you, and thank you for letting me ride the pretty horse.” He gives the horse a pat.</p><p></p><p>“When unified, Hanal will likely be once more the most powerful human empire north of the Barrier Mountains. Note that I use that qualifier, because it is wise for all great human leaders to understand that the great elven kingdoms and monarchies and suchlike operate in a different level of power than any human lands. Now, they they show little interest in human lands for the most part, and the major elven forest of the north is a close ally of Canberry. But occasionally humans will think that the great wealth of the elves and their lack of obvious martial prowess might mean opportunities, and then things go really poorly for them.”</p><p></p><p>“Singing Leaves berthed a man of war and two schooners near Snannurkaz. I've seen them fire those energy things. I wouldn't want to be on the other end.”</p><p></p><p>“Those schooners are probably each more than a match for the greatest human vollers. The man-of-war is simply beyond us. We cannot build ships of the line from the perspective of the elven peoples.”</p><p></p><p>“The Queen-Empress’s vollers stopped bombarding us after they were stationed there.”</p><p></p><p>They bring Darben along to visit Lord Silverleaves.</p><p></p><p>“We would like to introduce you to one of our new pages, Darben of Snannurkaz.”</p><p></p><p>“Hello.” Darben seems almost in awe of Lord Silverleaves, despite having almost never seen an elf before.</p><p></p><p>“The Kov’s heir-presumptive?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, Lord Darben is going to be staying with us. And Lord Darben, this is Lord Silverleaves. He is one of the Eldar, which is like the high nobility of the elves.”</p><p></p><p>Darben genuflects, for he knows that when you meet high nobility, you genuflect.</p><p></p><p>“And we also often refer to Lord Silverleaves as Grandmaster Farsensor in recognition of his great skill in the psionic arts.”</p><p></p><p>“He's my teacher,” adds Kit.</p><p></p><p>“There are very few humans who can ever reach the level of mastery that Lord Silverleaves has achieved.”</p><p></p><p><<You know the boy will be a farsensor,>> sends Lord Silverleaves privately to Kit.</p><p></p><p><<I hoped so.>></p><p></p><p><<There’s also a level of power that is not often seen among humans. Does he have fae blood?>></p><p></p><p><<Yes, that's why they sent him, because his family's enemies are also aligned with people who are attacking the fae and the elves.>></p><p></p><p><<So they sent him here for safety.>></p><p></p><p><<You should also know that he has some awareness of his psionics. but in Hanal, they call it the accursed gift. So we're going to have to work on that. We're getting past it. He is in touch with his fae cousins, and they helped him understand it a little, but he's going to need a lot of help. I'm glad that its farsensing so that you can be the one to teach them.>></p><p></p><p><<It will be 2 or 3 years before—such short periods of time--before he reaches threshold. We should make certain that we have well distilled kerif at that time.>></p><p></p><p><<Sorry, what is kerif?>></p><p></p><p><<I’ll order some from my homeland. It's a flower that is useful for many things. One of them is to help children through threshold. Given his background and the combined bloodlines, threshold could kill him. It probably kills 2 out of 3 humans who have mixed ones, so we will make sure that we're very, very well prepared.>></p><p></p><p><<I had no idea…>> thinks Alistair.</p><p></p><p><<Oh, yes, threshold sickness is a terrible thing.>></p><p></p><p><<I remember mine was pretty awful, but not like that.>></p><p></p><p><<Your people would have more psions, I believe, if they understood the use of kerif. Many humans die of threshold sickness. I believe that may be deliberate among his people. They've not been unfriendly to our admiral, who the Queen has stationed there to protect them. But their fear of psionics is unreasonable. If you've gotten the boy to say he may have the ‘accursed gift,’ he's well on his way to accepting it.>></p><p></p><p><<I think it's a really, really good thing that he's here.>></p><p></p><p><<Yes, we must get kerif.>></p><p></p><p><<We should have kerif here anyways, now that we know that it is a possibility.>></p><p></p><p><<Do you have adequate—forgive me how that sounds—alchemical facilities?>></p><p></p><p><<Yes. I mean, I don't know how to judge the quality of alchemical labs. But when you're up to it, I'm sure our palace alchemists would be happy to let you take a look to see if it has what you need.”</p><p></p><p><<I could train them to do the distillation if the lab has adequate equipment. The flower is easy to grow, and we have the tree here now. Growing kerif flowers would be possible near the tree. I’m not much of an alchemist, but I'm competent on the creation of a few compounds.>></p><p></p><p><<You can teach them what they need to know.>></p><p></p><p>While the mental conversation is going on, Alistair continues a light oral conversation for Darben’s benefit. “It is likely that in a few years we will ask Lord Silverleaves if he would be willing to take you on as a student.”</p><p></p><p>“A great elf might take me on for learning?”</p><p></p><p>“Yes, your arts will be of an appropriate school for him to work with you. You will meet a variety of elves while you are here. Eldar and high elves and wood elves, and some other varieties.”</p><p>[End Session 143]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8865868, member: 7030144"] [Session 143, cont'd] Alistair meets with Lord Darben, the Kov’s nephew, personally. They know he loves horses, so they meet in the internal palace riding grounds, where he can ride a placid horse and Alistair can walk alongside. As Alistair walks up to him, Lord Darben recognizes him and genuflects. “First for the formal matter. We are pleased to accept you into fosterage to the House of Ashbury, and to the Imperial Court of the Empire of Southern Drucien, and are pleased to appoint you as one of the pages of the Emperor and Empress of Southern Drucien.” “Thank you, Your Majesty. I bring you greeting from Pyr Aldritchgoth on behalf of my uncle.” He holds out a small leather bag, which Dame Brionna steps forward to take. It contains a fair sized ruby that's been incised with the seal of Snannurkaz. “Thank you for accepting this and me.” “It is our great pleasure, and our great desire that your uncle will continue to do valiant work to bring peace and order to your homeland. I wanted to have a small chance to talk with you personally. You'll find that that pages to the Emperor do not actually spend that much time with the Emperor. You spend most of your time learning from the master of pages, and attending to your various lessons, and some being a runner around the palace. But I feel like I should know all my pages and of course, if there's anything ever anything of great importance, you can always come to me.” “Thank you.” “Also you should know that that young Lord Brightspan who you've already met is currently the personal page. And therefore, if there's anything that you think that I should know rapidly, and that you don't want to run through the master of pages, you can always tell him, and I see him daily.” “Thank you, Your Majesty.” “The master of pages will tell you a variety of rules and things that you'll need to to do. Of course, we expect you to listen to him and to follow your instructions. But at the same time we of course expect you to be a high spirited lad of high birth. Some rules it's worth taking your lumps for not following. “I have a few additional rules for you personally, and those are not that kind of rule. They are serious matters, and other pages may say, ‘Oh, why don't we do this?’ And it will seem entirely reasonable. On those matters, you must not go along with them in their exploits. The most important of those is that until I countermand this, you may not leave the palace grounds under any circumstance. Do you know why I'm instructing you on that?” “Because, Your Majesty, you think that the assassins may follow me here.” “Indeed. There are powerful wards that protect the palace. There are Dame Brionna’s extremely capable guards, and there are various other means we have of keeping people safe within the palace. The City of Camberry is in general a very safe city. Much more so I think than Hanal City or Snannurkaz before the present troubles. But that's a safe city in general, that's not a safe city for you. The sorts of assassins that the usurper might send would be well more than we could expect the city guard and the lady mayor's people to take care of.” “They got by my uncle's men. My mother poisoned them.” “Did she poison a weapon?” “Yes. He stabbed her first. I saw it.” “I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to see that, but you also saw how brave your mother was.” “Yes, I miss my mother.” He looks very sad sitting there on the horse. “But my uncle says that I am the hope of the future now.” “You are, but you're not alone here.” “My uncle trusts you. He said, if you are allies, he believes that we will win.” “And we believe that as well. I will also say that, were misfortune to befall the war in Hanal, you would always have a safe place here. I expect that by the time you are a young man, you will be called to take up duties within your homeland, but in the meanwhile, we can guaranteed your safety here. A number of the other pages come from similar tragic family situations to the one that you have faced. You may find connections and shared friendship with them.” “My uncle says that we must win the war because it is against vile powers that seek to overthrow the whole world.” “We will give you an education about those foes, but not until you are older. Speaking of which, the pages are expected to attend chapel on a regular basis. Those who are not from Glordiadelian lands may remain silent and not participate in the rituals as they feel fit. Of course, those of them from Glordiadelian nations are expected to participate and learn those things. Ordinarily, we would make available the opportunity for Paranswarmian pages to travel outside the palace to where there are a small number of Paranswarmian churches within the capital city. In your case that will not be possible. but if you wish we will arrange for a priest to come to you to administer the basic rites of your faith. The high holy day celebrations of Paranswarm are not celebrated in Canberry and cannot be celebrated in Canberry." “Do you have high holy days here?” “We have many, and we celebrate all of the high holy days of Glordiadel. And indeed the other permitted religions--the other religions of the Economical Council, for example--most of them will celebrate their high holy days as well, although of course, the Empire takes little formal recognition of that. There are certain ceremonies that are required in Paranswarmian churches, on Paranswarm’s most holy days that involve acts that are forbidden within Canberry City. Even those are still practiced within the Paranswarmian domains of the Empire. For example, in Tang, they would perform those ceremonies. Hopefully in time, it might be possible for you to travel abroad to those within the Empire. That is impossible now. “We do, however, have a sacred tree here within the palace grounds itself if you wish to connect with that other part of your inherited traditions. How much you visit it is up to you, but it can be very nice to talk to. I think you might feel better if you visited it. It is a young child.” “You should know my cousin used to take me to visit their tree.” “Is that a cousin from your great-grandmother's family?” Dame Brionna helpfully says, “If you could give us their name, we might be able to contact them…” Alistair cuts in, “She means, if you could give us a way in which we may refer to them.” “Oh, yes, of course. That kind of cousin," realizes Dame Brionna. "Yes, sorry. If you give us a means of contacting them, then we might be able to reassure them of your safety, and find out about theirs. I'm sure they would wish to know.” He pulls a chain up from under his shirt with a sigil on it that they immediately recognize as either fae or elven. “If you have anyone who has the accursed gift, if you just grip this tightly…” “First, a bit of advice about living in Canberry-- We don’t call it the accursed gift. It's just a gift.” “I've never heard it referred to as anything but ‘the accursed gift.’” “Its proper name is psionics, or just the gift,” says Kit. “May I see that medallion? I have the gift as well.” “Oh, do you? I don’t know if I have the acc… the gift, but I can use that, so I fear that I do.” “We will also introduce you to some elves who can determine your gift more fully. Depending on what direction your talent lies, we will likely ask one of them to help you.” “I won't be able to go home after that, will I? See, I know I have the gift, but nobody else knows. Well, my cousin knows, because he came to me. He left me that so I could talk to him and we could do things together, and I think some people thought I had magic or something, because they kept losing track of me,” and he sort of smiles a little bit for the first time since they've met him. “But also, given your rank in Hanal, they might have thought that you had a personal devil that attended to you.” “Yes. I don't like those.” “Yes, but many of the kovs maintain such things.” “Oh, yes, they do. My uncle doesn’t really have personal devils of his own, but he has people with him who can call them. He won't sell his soul, but he'll let other people sell theirs, and he'll use their devils.” “There will be no need for soul selling here. There are a few people who do that sort of thing, but not very many. You won't have to deal with that if you don't want to.” While the conversation continues, Kit is holding the talisman, which emanates energy to her. She opens up psionically, exactly the way she does when she uses her other communication tools, and instantly she is in contact with a somewhat immature, very startled mind. <<I'm sorry, Darben is right here, and he's safe, and he gave me permission to use this.>> Another more mature mind replaces the first one that she contacted. <<Darben is right here. He's all right. I'm a human friend who is protecting him.>> <<His uncle is human.>> <<His uncle sent him to Canberry.>> <<Ah, that's where he is.>> <<You can talk to him if you want.>> <<His great-grandfather was my brother-in-law. We do like to talk to him.>> <<He gave me permission to use this. I didn't realize that it would put me in direct contact with you so quickly.>> <<It put you in contact with my son, who is his friend. My son is young and panicked.>> <<I don't blame him, and please apologize to him for me. I would be frightened, too, if an unfamiliar grown-up suddenly appeared to me in my mind.>> <<I recognize your mind. You are an aide to the King, or the Emperor of Canberry.>> <<Yes, that's right. Darben is safe with us at the Court of Canberry.>> <<Good, good, no good could come of keeping him here. Give my regards for me to your Tor. They will know my Tor, on the Isle of Snannurkaz.>> <<I will.>> <<Now I must go and quiet my son.>> <<Yes, please apologize. Before you go, have you heard why Darben was sent to us?>> <<Presumably the human assassins became more effective.>> <<They did. I'm sorry to say they killed his mother.>> <<Is it proper to say I'm sure she died well?>> <<She did, very bravely protecting her son. Which is why he has been sent here. Do you know of the threats and violence against people of your blood? Even in as isolated a place as it is, your Tor may end up being a target.>> <<We have knights, and the Lord of Snannurkaz is not far from here. I think all will fall before we do, but I appreciate your warning. If these creatures come to our Tor, I can assure you that we will not go quietly. I will comfort my son. If I may have an image of the boy to take to him, it will calm him.>> Kit immediately projects an image of the boy, safe healthy, and as happy as possible. <<I will tell him he should not come to visit him. His visits were often to the great consternation of the tutors.>> <<If you wish to visit, you can travel to the Tor, and then they have ways that he can come over land to the palace and visit. But it would have to be an open visit, not the way they are used to.>> <<Yes, you must protect the child, and that is not possible if they are wandering around.>> Kit hands the medallion back. “I'm afraid I startled your friend pretty badly, but his father's going to go take care of him. You can, of course, talk with him whenever you like.” “But of course, you also must not discuss anything that you see in the palace.” “No, I understand. Matters of state.” “Yes. We'll help you learn which things you need to keep secret, and which things you can talk freely to your friends about.” “Good. Thank you. Lord Alden is very kind. Did he seem to you that way?” “Yes, he cares about you very much.” “It would not surprise me if the local Tor wanted to send someone to watch and protect you, and if they did, we would certainly allow them to. I just want to let you know. I can't guarantee that they will. We are close allies.” “That is good. Alden Tor is friends with my uncle. I think they're more than that to me. Well, they are kind of family to us both.” “But he is a more distant relation and you're not.” “You understand. And he is more religious than I am.” “Believe it or not, my children are closer relations to our Tor than I am.” “How old are your children?” “Infants, really.” Alistair can see his momentary interest fade as soon as he hears that they are infants. “There are plenty of pages at or about your age, as well as some who are a few years older. They range roughly from your age until about fourteen, when they tend to leave service as pages and take on other responsibilities.” “Squires.” “Usually. Even that is dependent somewhat on their path. For example, a prospective wizard would at that point enter into a proper apprenticeship or tutorial, instead of becoming a squire to a knight like most. In some cases, they might become a squire in the most formal of senses, without actually learning the true trade of a knight.” “I see that. You know what happened to the Hanalian chivalry?” “Yes.” “They were sent before it was clear what was happening. My uncle is loyal. And if he says Anastasia is Empress, she is.” “Indeed, and she sends her good wishes. She is sorry that she couldn't be here to greet you herself, and she will be able to visit you within the palace sometimes, but, unfortunately, you will not be able to attend your monarch in her court in exile until matters are safer again. You will not be able to leave the palace, and together you are too risky of a target.” “They won't stop just because I came here.” “But you'll be safe in the palace, and again, some of the other pages here have also been the targets of attempts before they came here, and they've all been safe since coming here.” “My uncle says you're very powerful. He said that now that you've all of the proxies that you could, your empire is more powerful than her now.” “I think that that is indeed the case.” “Well, thank you, and thank you for letting me ride the pretty horse.” He gives the horse a pat. “When unified, Hanal will likely be once more the most powerful human empire north of the Barrier Mountains. Note that I use that qualifier, because it is wise for all great human leaders to understand that the great elven kingdoms and monarchies and suchlike operate in a different level of power than any human lands. Now, they they show little interest in human lands for the most part, and the major elven forest of the north is a close ally of Canberry. But occasionally humans will think that the great wealth of the elves and their lack of obvious martial prowess might mean opportunities, and then things go really poorly for them.” “Singing Leaves berthed a man of war and two schooners near Snannurkaz. I've seen them fire those energy things. I wouldn't want to be on the other end.” “Those schooners are probably each more than a match for the greatest human vollers. The man-of-war is simply beyond us. We cannot build ships of the line from the perspective of the elven peoples.” “The Queen-Empress’s vollers stopped bombarding us after they were stationed there.” They bring Darben along to visit Lord Silverleaves. “We would like to introduce you to one of our new pages, Darben of Snannurkaz.” “Hello.” Darben seems almost in awe of Lord Silverleaves, despite having almost never seen an elf before. “The Kov’s heir-presumptive?” “Yes, Lord Darben is going to be staying with us. And Lord Darben, this is Lord Silverleaves. He is one of the Eldar, which is like the high nobility of the elves.” Darben genuflects, for he knows that when you meet high nobility, you genuflect. “And we also often refer to Lord Silverleaves as Grandmaster Farsensor in recognition of his great skill in the psionic arts.” “He's my teacher,” adds Kit. “There are very few humans who can ever reach the level of mastery that Lord Silverleaves has achieved.” <<You know the boy will be a farsensor,>> sends Lord Silverleaves privately to Kit. <<I hoped so.>> <<There’s also a level of power that is not often seen among humans. Does he have fae blood?>> <<Yes, that's why they sent him, because his family's enemies are also aligned with people who are attacking the fae and the elves.>> <<So they sent him here for safety.>> <<You should also know that he has some awareness of his psionics. but in Hanal, they call it the accursed gift. So we're going to have to work on that. We're getting past it. He is in touch with his fae cousins, and they helped him understand it a little, but he's going to need a lot of help. I'm glad that its farsensing so that you can be the one to teach them.>> <<It will be 2 or 3 years before—such short periods of time--before he reaches threshold. We should make certain that we have well distilled kerif at that time.>> <<Sorry, what is kerif?>> <<I’ll order some from my homeland. It's a flower that is useful for many things. One of them is to help children through threshold. Given his background and the combined bloodlines, threshold could kill him. It probably kills 2 out of 3 humans who have mixed ones, so we will make sure that we're very, very well prepared.>> <<I had no idea…>> thinks Alistair. <<Oh, yes, threshold sickness is a terrible thing.>> <<I remember mine was pretty awful, but not like that.>> <<Your people would have more psions, I believe, if they understood the use of kerif. Many humans die of threshold sickness. I believe that may be deliberate among his people. They've not been unfriendly to our admiral, who the Queen has stationed there to protect them. But their fear of psionics is unreasonable. If you've gotten the boy to say he may have the ‘accursed gift,’ he's well on his way to accepting it.>> <<I think it's a really, really good thing that he's here.>> <<Yes, we must get kerif.>> <<We should have kerif here anyways, now that we know that it is a possibility.>> <<Do you have adequate—forgive me how that sounds—alchemical facilities?>> <<Yes. I mean, I don't know how to judge the quality of alchemical labs. But when you're up to it, I'm sure our palace alchemists would be happy to let you take a look to see if it has what you need.” <<I could train them to do the distillation if the lab has adequate equipment. The flower is easy to grow, and we have the tree here now. Growing kerif flowers would be possible near the tree. I’m not much of an alchemist, but I'm competent on the creation of a few compounds.>> <<You can teach them what they need to know.>> While the mental conversation is going on, Alistair continues a light oral conversation for Darben’s benefit. “It is likely that in a few years we will ask Lord Silverleaves if he would be willing to take you on as a student.” “A great elf might take me on for learning?” “Yes, your arts will be of an appropriate school for him to work with you. You will meet a variety of elves while you are here. Eldar and high elves and wood elves, and some other varieties.” [End Session 143] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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