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- Oct 31, 2006
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Grey Tower, Cobham, West March
"The heat has been most unseemly this year, do you not agree?"
"Quite. I must confess, as much as I delight in summer on the March it will be a relief to return to Dulwich. Anna has been complaining incessantly of headaches since we arrived here."
"Poor dear, send her my best."
"Of course."
Lord Warden of Cobham Stefan de Vaux and his old friend Duke Aschetin of Lisle were reclining of the shade of the tower gardens, sipping sweet tea and vainly attempting to escape the heat. While the Duke was a member of the Lord Warden's privy council he was rarely in the country, instead he spent most of his time in Dulwich on his wife's estate. He was the Warden's unofficial proxy among the imperial nobility, ensuring his Lord would not be caught unaware by the latest intrigues of the upper classes.
The Duke placed the copy of the Cantignians reply on the table "Perhaps you should have a word with your secretary Stefan, you did sound a bit desperate in your letter. It was certainly a bold move, has the situation truly become that grave?"
"What is important is that I have their attention, at last" the Lord Warden sipped from his tea "This is not the first time I have felt neither Dulwich or Vesper is, how should I say...? Sharp enough about developments in our little corner of Occidentia. The crisis is still quite manageable; but by the time Dulwich woke up to it we could have a war on our hands! The world did not stop for the Expo, whatever they may think in the capital." There was bitterness in his voice.
"Be calm Stefan. I cannot deny that neither Dulwich or Vesper has been as responsive as we may like but as your friend I counsel greater tact in the future. I can assure you that you have no made no friends in Vesper by trying to go over Chancellor North's head like this and I am sure I will get an earful in the capital as well."
"Once the Expo begins I am sure they will have much more interesting things to talk about than the March. We meanwhile have a state combusting on our border and Free Occidentian troops on the move - and we do not even know how the Frescanians will respond. Aschetin, I must rustle some feathers to get support I need, so be it."
"Point taken. But if you must resort to these stunts at least wait awhile before you pull another. It just would not do to be sending the Queen-Empress letters every other day, I'm not sure her secretaries could handle that much official correspondence."
The two friends chuckled.
"The heat has been most unseemly this year, do you not agree?"
"Quite. I must confess, as much as I delight in summer on the March it will be a relief to return to Dulwich. Anna has been complaining incessantly of headaches since we arrived here."
"Poor dear, send her my best."
"Of course."
Lord Warden of Cobham Stefan de Vaux and his old friend Duke Aschetin of Lisle were reclining of the shade of the tower gardens, sipping sweet tea and vainly attempting to escape the heat. While the Duke was a member of the Lord Warden's privy council he was rarely in the country, instead he spent most of his time in Dulwich on his wife's estate. He was the Warden's unofficial proxy among the imperial nobility, ensuring his Lord would not be caught unaware by the latest intrigues of the upper classes.
The Duke placed the copy of the Cantignians reply on the table "Perhaps you should have a word with your secretary Stefan, you did sound a bit desperate in your letter. It was certainly a bold move, has the situation truly become that grave?"
"What is important is that I have their attention, at last" the Lord Warden sipped from his tea "This is not the first time I have felt neither Dulwich or Vesper is, how should I say...? Sharp enough about developments in our little corner of Occidentia. The crisis is still quite manageable; but by the time Dulwich woke up to it we could have a war on our hands! The world did not stop for the Expo, whatever they may think in the capital." There was bitterness in his voice.
"Be calm Stefan. I cannot deny that neither Dulwich or Vesper has been as responsive as we may like but as your friend I counsel greater tact in the future. I can assure you that you have no made no friends in Vesper by trying to go over Chancellor North's head like this and I am sure I will get an earful in the capital as well."
"Once the Expo begins I am sure they will have much more interesting things to talk about than the March. We meanwhile have a state combusting on our border and Free Occidentian troops on the move - and we do not even know how the Frescanians will respond. Aschetin, I must rustle some feathers to get support I need, so be it."
"Point taken. But if you must resort to these stunts at least wait awhile before you pull another. It just would not do to be sending the Queen-Empress letters every other day, I'm not sure her secretaries could handle that much official correspondence."
The two friends chuckled.