"The realm likes you? That"s… I don"t understand it. I"ve read about the realm in a couple of books, when they were talking about magic, and really big monsters, but it"s rare. I wish I had some of the books from the church"s library, so I could research more!"Aella looked up from the book she had been looking at, shocked that she hadn"t thought of that before.
"Bridgette, what if we could get some of those books?" she asked with a slow smile.
Bridgette froze, then turned to her with a hopeful look. "You mean us go in and steal them? If we went at night, and started from the back… I would need to clear a s.p.a.ce in here first, but…"
She turned and headed to the back of the library without another word to Aella. Glancing back down at the book before her, she left it and followed her. As soon as Aella saw that Bridgette was moving books around, mumbling to herself, she decided it would be a good time to check back in the throne room. Surely it was late enough that someone would be there now?
Looking around, after teleporting into the back of the throne room, she sighed. No one was here. Spying the notes left by the scribe girl, she decided to read up on what had been going on. Sitting down, she picked up the papers and began reading.
The n.o.bles had stopped coming in to report and request things. It didn"t look like anyone she had left in charge had asked about them, either. The sewer repair had slowed down to a crawl, with the freezing temperatures. People were complaining about food not tasting good, even though it was being offered in soup kitchens for free if they worked or had someone in their family working. The people running the orphanages had been reported treating the kids like animals, and it didn"t look like anything had been done about it. And it didn"t look like the master builders had turned in plans for the other side of the river, yet.
When her advisors showed up that morning, they didn"t even glance her way, moving over to their table and talking quietly about whether she would show up that day, or not. Even once they sat down, they didn"t glance at her, to realize it was her instead of the scribe girl.
"I wonder if something happened to her? There"s supposed to be some pretty nasty monsters to the north," said Varnin thoughtfully.
"I doubt it, with all of the magical items she acquired from the treasury," said Xathtak, shaking her head and straightening her papers before her. "She"s probably just lost track of the time. I imagine she"ll be back anytime now."
"It would be nice if she could figure out what to do with that orc. He"s causing a lot of headaches with the workers," grumbled Ernun, tapping his papers back into a neat pile. "He"s making the other people look bad, and they"re complaining about it, and refusing to work."
"I know what Her Majesty would say to that," said Orolon with a chuckle. "They can all starve, if they don"t want to work."
"Probably," agreed Xathtak, nodding as she checked her nails for any cracks or dirt.
The scribe girl entered at a run, skidding at the door when she saw Aella sitting in her seat. The Advisors glanced over at the commotion, and saw that Aella was the one sitting at the scribe desk. Their looks were priceless, and Aella wondered if they would be able to pick their jaws up off the floor anytime soon.
Before any of them could find something to say, Seifer, Frederick, and Alfred entered the room, glancing around to see what was going on.
Aella stood slowly from the scribe girl"s seat and turned towards the throne without a word. She was afraid if she said anything, it wouldn"t be received right, so she was holding her tongue for the moment. After all, the earrings had been whispering in her ears for the past month. Let them explain themselves, before she told them what she was upset about, and she would learn what they were concerned about the most. Sitting on her new throne, she looked over the regents and the hero she had left to oversee her kingdom while she was gone.
Seifer and Frederick didn"t hesitate to approach and kneel, before moving to the side and Alfred bowed. The Advisors came forward, not bothering to take turns in kneeling or curtsying. It was a mess as they all ended up in a bit of a clump before her. She didn"t say anything, only raised an eyebrow as they hurriedly picked themselves up off of the floor.
"Your Majesty! It is so good to have you back!" exclaimed Xathtak, bowing with her face to the floor.
Aella didn"t say anything, only watched as the demoness smoothed her skirt from the tumble she had taken, trying to curtsy a moment ago.
"Would you like for us to make our reports?" asked Destov, bringing up the rear, having managed to keep himself out of the Advisor pile they had made.
Holding out a hand for him to proceed, he cleared his throat nervously and looked down at his papers, while the rest of the Advisors fled behind him. If she wasn"t so ticked at them, Aella would have laughed.
"All of the funds we have managed to acquire have been used for the repairs to the water system, after a section ruptured two weeks ago. It"s fully repaired, and the reason for it failing has been determined to be age, not sabotage. All of the n.o.bles" a.s.sets, you had wanted liquidated, have been sold to the other n.o.ble houses. Apparently, they have enjoyed having pieces of their rival"s estates. I only need to know what you want done with their land and houses?"
She looked at him for a moment, then turned her eyes to the next Advisor, waving to let Varnin know she could proceed. Destov bowed again, confusion plain on his face, as Varnin stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, I have had reports back from the south. The army I had stationed down there was almost completely wiped out. The report states that your two generals, I believe you named them, were helping the few survivors and had built fortifications against any future attacks, but that there hasn"t been an attack from the mountains since the incident.
"General Brimsey has reported that he reached the northern mountains, and the portal does not seem to be active any longer. He has killed several humans, trying to sneak around the wall, and his troops have started constructing a fort.
"The report from the west has that there is widespread destruction. The few survivors have been banding together to salvage what they can, and now that the storms have ceased to rage, they are actually able to function outside their homes. The fishing is good, and there is plenty of food. I don"t know how the winter weather is affecting them, as that"s not included in the report."
Aella continued to watch Varnin for a few moments, and when the Advisor cleared her throat and turned to look at Xathtak, Aella turned her attention to the next Advisor.
"My King, it is good to have you back. However, the orc you left us has been causing quite a ruckus. The workers have been slowed in their efforts, because of the frigid temperatures and dangerous work conditions, yet the orc continues to work harder than any of my other workers. They are complaining that he is intentionally trying to make them all look bad. Fighting has broke out a couple of times, with him always ending up being the winner, and my workers unable to work from their injuries. I need my workers to get the sewers repaired before the spring rains. Our city is going to be flooded, and that water is going to cause buildings to fall."
Xathtak looked at her with worry in her eyes, but Aella didn"t care. She remained silent, waiting for her to give the rest of her report. With no response, the Advisor looked down at the papers she held and shuffled them before continuing.
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"As Destov already mentioned, the water coming into the palace was damaged two weeks ago, from a rusted support beam. It has been repaired, but I fear more beams may give way, as the inspection you wanted showed the entire system is aging. I don"t know how I"m going to get enough workers to replace the entire thing, if it starts to crumble.
"I have enough metal workers to make new pieces, but our source for ore was in the northern mountains. With the food you have provided, we have been keeping the soup kitchens running, but those running them have not kept the food safe from rodents. Because of that, the food has started having a rancid taste. No one is getting sick, yet, but I fear it isn"t far off."
Without making eye contact, Xathtak turned to Orolon.
"I have nothing to add, to what has already been said, Your Majesty," he said, bowing again, and stepping back.
Silence reigned in the throne room for several moments, as a few people cleared their throats and fidgeted nervously. When Aella had thought over her comments carefully, she stood up and looked around at all of them.
"I am beyond angry. I left you all in charge while I dealt with a personal issue, and you have failed me."
None of them could meet her eyes, not even Alfred and the regents.
"My guest has been put in the sewers, working like the common folk, and doing an excellent job of it, I hear, yet you complain that he is making the other workers look bad? The food we need for our very survival, has been allowed to go to waste, and now it threatens the people"s health. My city is falling apart, and yet people will be starving because you are all incompetent." She looked around at them, rather pleased at herself for using such a big word, but kept it off her face.
"Why are there no reports from the n.o.bles? Is my absence enough for them to fall back to their way of doing things, without consent from the crown? What of the plans that were supposed to come from the Master Builders by the end of a week? Did you all think that since I wasn"t there, it wasn"t important? What of the orphans? Do any of you even know if they still live, if their caretakers aren"t tending to them? Do I still have people living in my palace, as freeloaders? Or have they worked out a way to live out in the city? Are any of you capable of doing anything? Do you have reports from the wall? Are the humans that have been trapped here, been taken care of? They are in the kingdom, thus they are my people now, whether any of us like it or not. If they want to return to the other side, have any of you made arrangements to get them there?"
She paused, to calm herself down, and turned as Josephine entered the room.
"Aella! It"s so good to see you again! Did you have a good time? Where did you go?" she asked with a wide grin on her face, oblivious to the chill in the room.