As Varre and Treasurer Johan sat in the Council Room, going over financial reports together, the other advisors slowly trickled in. Benjamin sent messengers to each one, informing them that the monarch was ready ahead of scheduled and already sat inside of the chamber. The meeting wasn’t supposed to begin for another hour, but if the other councilors were ready earlier, they were encouraged to show up ahead of time.

  The first one to join was Captain Hakon. He didn’t drink during yesterday’s feast, too focused on ensuring a high level of security. With so many important people gathered together, he couldn’t rest easy for a second. Even now, the only reason why he wasn’t already waiting together with Johan, was that he’d been busy going over patrol routes with his soldiers.

  The leader of the Royal Guard walked through the doors and bowed, as etiquette dictated. Noticing that the two men were working on something important, he tried not to interrupt them. He listened intently to their conversations and contributed with some advice whenever he could, but he was well aware that the same information would be repeated once everyone had gathered.

  Next came Chancellor Anastasia. She showed up a reasonable twenty minutes before the scheduled time. Varre recalled that the woman was one people who lasted until the very end of the feast last night. She hid her tiredness well. The king only noticed some bags under her eyes when she finally took her seat nearby. Her make up covered most of that up.

  “Impressive. I thought you’d be worse for wear,” the former student commented, “do you even remember what time we finished last night?”

  “Six in the morning, your majesty,” Anastasia replied, as if proud of herself, “but attending gatherings like that is my job. I needed to learn how to act properly and pace myself. Otherwise, I could commit some dangerous faux pas when meeting foreign dignitaries. Especially in their homes,” she pointed towards the monarch, “but you look perfectly fresh as well.”

  “I’ve cheated,” Varre admitted with a wink, “Elvira helped me out.”

  “Really?” the chancellor glanced towards the door, “perhaps I should talk to her later. If she managed to develop some alchemical remedies, they could come in handy at some of my diplomatic missions.”

  Before they could delve deeper into the useful aspects of the Court Mage’s invention, two more men entered.

  Head Merchant Lester arrived with Nilo. Varre had already announced that the young aristocrat would be selected as the new Alderman during his victory speech at the town hall. Though this wouldn’t be his first meeting, the last time he was invited, he was still suspected of supporting his father’s rebellion.

  Nilo would still need some time to properly get used to his role and provide useful advice, but the earlier he started the better.

  The two companions were clearly more affected than Anastasia. Probably just as bad as the king was before he took the potion. They had sour expressions, and nodded towards the monarch, instead of bowing. Clearly, they were being careful to not upset their stomachs too much.

  “Are you two doing alright?” Varre teased.

  Lester sat down first and immediately facepalmed, holding his head steady. “No. Last night was a mistake.”

  Nilo confirmed with a groan. The new alderman ended up putting his head on top of the table, much to Johan’s shock and Anastasia’s amusement.

  “What happened to you, Varre?” the head merchant asked, “you had just as much wine as we had. Are you still drunk or something?”

  “I suppose I’ll need to help you out if we want this meeting to get anywhere,” the king chuckled, “Benjamin, could you please tell Elvira to bring some more of her miracle potion, please?”

  The chamberlain confirmed and left the room. He returned with the Court Mage a few minutes later. The meeting was scheduled to start any moment now, so to have Elvira show up this late on any other occasion would be almost scandalous. After all, a king never waited for anyone. Fortunately, since she had to return to her lab to pick up the concoction, she had an excuse.

  Which is why it was especially strange that the normally meticulous Steward Marna was still missing. By the time Elvira applied the potion to both Nilo and Lester and they were well on their way to recovery, the king’s right hand woman was absent.

  “Alright, does anyone know what happened to her?” Varre asked, with a slightly worried tone as he glanced at the clock.

  “She retired to her room last night, at the end of the feast,” Hakon recalled, “and there has been no incidents since.”

  “Would you like me to go look for her, your majesty?” Benjamin offered.

  “Please do,” the king replied.

  “And take a couple guards with you, just in case!” Hakon added.

  Unwilling to start without her, the rest of the councilors talked about less important gossip to occupy their time. They recalled the funniest situations that occurred during the celebration, and what they had been up to this morning. Finally, about twenty minutes after the scheduled hour, the woman entered the room.

  She definitely was the worst for wear out of all. Her hair was disheveled and she had bigger bags under her eyes than any of the men. She was dressed for the occasion, but Varre assumed that Benjamin must have assisted her. There was no way she’d be able to button her vest correctly in this state. The outfit was elegant, but too complicated for that.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Marna looked mortified, even despite her addled state. She tried bowing and almost fell over in the process. Luckily, the chamberlain was there to hold her steady.

  “Your majesty, I am so, so sorry,” she slurred.

  “This is absolutely unacceptable, steward!” Johan roared, “to meet with your liege in this state?!”

  Varre cut him off with a gesture. “Oh relax, cut her some slack. It was a difficult morning for all of us.”

  “Your majesty, I swear this will never happen again!” the steward assured him.

  “I forbid you from swearing that,” the king joked, “it was a great night for all and I hope we’ll all have just as much fun the next time around. Now Elvira, go and help her.”

  The Court Mage tried to tease the steward a bit, but she couldn’t be that cruel for long. She guided Marna towards a seat in a dark corner of the room, gave her the potion, and covered her eyes with a cool cloth. Then, the woman was left to recover alone for a few minutes, while the rest of the councilors returned to their conversation.

  When she finally felt better, the steward removed the cloth from her face and sheepishly joined the other councilors. In her disorganized state earlier, she even forgot to bring any of her notes and paperwork. She quickly told one of the servants to visit her room and deliver it.

  “Alright, now if everyone is ready, it is time to begin our meeting,” Varre said and looked around the gathered advisors.

  “As the first point of order,” Anastasia commented, “I would like to officially congratulate his majesty on achieving a resounding victory. You managed to crush two rebellions and even stop a foreign invasion in a span of mere two months!”

  In order to continue the positive mood and take some of the attention away from Marna’s earlier embarrassment, the king decided to play it up a bit. He bowed theatrically, as the other councilors applauded him.

  “Thank you chancellor. Now, don’t forget that this was a team effort and we all,” he focused his gaze on the steward, “did an excellent job. Well done. Now, I would like to start by introducing Nilo. You’ve already met him before, several times in fact, and you also heard that he will be our new Alderman.”

  The young aristocrat received a second round of applause.

  “Nilo’s first task,” Varre continued, “will be to help sort out the chaos after the war. Before we can begin restoring the nation, we first need to figure out what to do about the remaining rebels. Some could still pose a threat to the kingdom, while others merely followed their direct liege as their oaths demanded. We need to sort them out and decide who amongst them should be punished and how.”

  “They’re traitors,” Treasurer Johan shrugged, “I don’t care about any extenuating circumstances. If they turned against the crown, then they shouldn’t expect any mercy.”

  “We specifically want to avoid any more bloodshed in the future,” the king argued, “of course we need to weaken the troublemakers, but if we come down too heavy handed, we might just be planting seeds for another civil war. Of course, they shouldn’t be let off without any consequences, but we have to be smart about it.”

  Nilo brought his hand to his chin. “I am familiar with most of the nobility in the Western province. Of course, I don’t know every single knight, but their allegiances shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out if I ask around. I should be able to find out who amongst them truly hates you and would be willing to join another rebellion, and who can stay.”

  “Excellent. Of course, since that province will now be your duchy, the people there will be loyal to you. You can use that fact as well,” Varre suggested.

  The new alderman nodded. “I will start working on it, but it will take time.”

  “What about Charles?” Hakon asked, “we managed to capture his sons after the battle, but his widow is still holding in her castle. Will we go after her?”

  “It would be expensive,” the king frowned, “and it’s almost winter too. We’d have to wait until spring or risk losing a lot of good people. I’d rather negotiate, if we can.”

  “I’m not sure about that. It could be difficult,” Nilo admitted, “especially this early. Those two sons have just lost their father. And trust me, I know that they aren’t in a very good mindset right now. I wasn’t, and I was against my dad from the standard. The only thing they can think about now is revenge.”

  “I know I said that traitors should be punished,” Johan added, “but we might need to make an exception here. Executing your own relatives would look a little…” he petered off.

  “I’d rather avoid death penalties as much as possible,” Varre agreed, “especially since we’d need to apply them very unevenly. It would be one thing to get rid of the leadership, but to just pick and choose a few of the most dangerous people… it would look very tyrannical.”

  “But if we leave them be,” Hakon said, “they’re likely to hate you forever. I mean you did kill their father. Most people do not just forgive such a crime,” he glanced at Nilo, “no offence.”

  The alderman grimaced.

  “I have a suggestion,” Anastasia spoke up, “we probably should give them some space for now, but there’s a way where we can weaken their position and still keep them somewhat loyal. Or at least, unable to scheme against his majesty.”

  “Go on,” the king urged her.

  “Well, the first problem is the widow,” the chancellor explained, “she will not surrender unless her sons are returned to her safely. That’s a reasonable demand. Of course, if we do that, we’ll be creating a problem for ourselves in the future. Humber Duchy may be far away, but it isn’t some poor backwater that could be ignored and forgotten about. We need to release those two princelings, but we also need to make sure they’ll be busy somehow.”

  Hakon raised his eyebrow. “You want to assign them new responsibilities?”

  “No,” she smiled, “I want to turn them against each other.”

  “How so?” the captain asked, “I think they’d jump at the chance to avenge their father.”

  “I’m sure the question of succession had come up many times in their household,” she continued, “after all, Charles was a duke. And only one of the children could inherit that title.”

  “That’s right,” Nilo confirmed, “as far as I heard, the older one was selected as the heir. As usual.”

  “I thought so,” Anastasia nodded to herself, “in that case, the second son was probably going to be left with some scraps. Maybe a county, maybe not even that. I’m certain that deep inside, he is still very jealous. Maybe he hates his brother even more than he does your majesty.

  “We can offer both sons a deal. They know that they need to be punished somehow, and in their anger, I bet they’re expecting something harsh. Maybe even the death penalty, from the terrible tyrant who murdered their father. If we come to them, and tell them that we just want to take the duchy title away, they should be eager to accept such a generous offer. We can even let them keep the family home.

  “And here comes the trick. We will divide Charles’ land. Maybe take some away for ourselves, and give each of them a county. To spark jealousy even further, I’d say we give the castle to the older one, but we give wealthier and more productive lands to the younger. And let’s mix them as much as possible, so all these different villages are bordering each other and encroaching on their territories.”

  “The older son will be insulted that he is now at the same level as his brother,” Nilo theorized as he scratched his chin, “while the younger one will still be jealous, since he didn’t get the family home. And he’ll have more resources at his disposal to try and take it back somehow. They’ll be plenty of things to argue over.”

  “Exactly!” the chancellor beamed, “now you’re thinking like a real alderman. Right now, they’re sitting in prison, angry, and disappointed. I’m sure they’ll jump at the chance to take that deal without realizing the consequences. And when they finally do,” she closed her fist, “it will be too late.”

  It affected all of them, but to different extents.

  Let's hope it works!