Hello and Welcome to The Missing Princess Book 2: Princess of Three Countries. This is the continuation of The Missing Princess Book 1: Obi's (Back)Story. This chapter summarizes somewhat, like all good books should, but I would appreciate it if you went and read Book 1 anyway.

The 'M' rating is for two short sections late in the book as the relationships of all of our favorite couples get a little more serious.

Thank you for travelling with Obi, Ilena, and me.

- Ryuu no Okaasan

CHAPTER 1 Lord's Court

Obi, personal knight and messenger to Prince Zen Wisteria, Regent of Wilant, Kingdom of Clarines, carefully assisted his partner into her padded wheelchair. Ilena had only just one day before finally been allowed to sit up. Three months before, her left hip had been crushed by a boulder in a landslide assassination of the Lady of her house that had left her the sole survivor. Just as she'd recovered from that, she'd undergone an experimental surgery to replace the torn tendon in the same hip in the hopes that she would be able to walk and ride again. It was because of that purposeful landslide and injury that they had been able to reunite after fifteen years and Zen and his chosen intended, Shirayuki, had yoked them together as partners.

Obi had resisted having Ilena as his partner at first. She represented a past he'd been hiding from for all of those fifteen years. Her previous master had been his oldest brother, the Earl of Farmor, Marcovik College, and the last time they had seen each other his brother had been about to kill him. Ilena had let Obi know that death wish hadn't changed in all the years he'd been running. What he found difficult to believe was that she also wasn't untrustworthy given what she'd been doing in that time. At the age of seventeen, she'd become the Steward of Farmor, running the household and manipulating the Earl. He'd learned during his time getting to know her that it had been at great personal expense, all for the sake of protecting Obi.

After she'd been brought by Zen to the castle to be protected until she could testify against Earl College, they'd learned she'd been doing much more than that, and that she was much more than a distant cousin to Obi. Ilena was actually Thailena Wisteria Polov, First Princess of Clarines and former Second Princess of Selicia, living in hiding at Farmore with her nurse, Leah, since her entire Selician family had been brutally murdered in a coup when she was seven. Since she'd run to Farmor, she'd been doing everything in her power to build up an intelligence network aimed at protecting Zen, Obi, and all of Wilant (and by extension, Clarines).

Zen had informed his brother, King Izana, that he'd found their cousin Princess Thailena, and that he intended to keep her by his side. Currently they were keeping her true identity a secret for several reasons. First, she still needed to prove to them that she should be acknowledged as a member of the house of Wisteria. Second, she was at the center of several political maneuvers. One was the Earl himself and his ally, an uncle of Ilena's, who'd wanted to use the military might of Clarines to reclaim the throne of Selicia. Zen, his personal knights Mitsuhide Lowen, Kiki Surian, and Obi, and Zen's soldiers had returned from battling them eleven days before, bringing with them the heads of both men. The third reason was one they would be facing after the Lord's Court against the former Earl and his allies was completed - the Lord of Tarc, leader of the country north of Clarines, Ilena's sworn enemy who was even now putting his plans against Clarines into place. Of course, there were all the other reasons that could appear if she was known, such as the current king of Selicia requiring her to be returned to them. Until Zen had sufficiently protected her within the place he wanted to keep her, they were keeping quiet.

Given her information network, Zen had already made her his Director of Intelligence, with the understanding that she would eventually become his Minister of Intelligence. Using the witnesses she'd been protecting and the knowledge she herself had from standing beside Earl College for the last fifteen years, Zen had been presenting his case against the Earl and his various allies to the Lord's Court for the last hour and a half. It was nearing time for her to show her face before the court of Wilant for the first time so that they could hear her testimony themselves. It would be her last action as the Steward of Farmor.

"Have you rested enough?" Shirayuki had decided to come and sit with Ilena while she waited to be called into the audience hall. She'd requested that the court be postponed even a week to give Ilena time to become stronger, but Zen had of necessity not been able to postpone past the time she could be allowed to sit up.

"Yes, Mistress Shirayuki," Ilena answered her properly.

"Obi, if she becomes too weary, you must excuse her and bring her back here to lie down and rest." They were in an antechamber separated from the audience hall by heavy curtains. Ilena had been laying down on one of the benches in order to relieve the hip bone of bearing weight.

"Yes, Mistress," Obi answered. "I shall watch over Ilena properly."

Kiki turned in her position of standing next to Zen and motioned to Obi that it was time to bring Ilena. Obi pushed Ilena's wheelchair forward as Shirayuki stood watching after them, her right hand held clutched at her heart.

"We will now present for your examination the witnesses to these deeds." It was the sound of Mitsuhide's voice. Mitsuhide was the Voice of Zen in all formal proceedings, save when the Prince chose of himself to speak. He was standing between Zen and the lords of Wilant to one side of Zen, where Obi and Ilena couldn't see him.

Kiki had Obi stop Ilena behind Zen's raised throne where they couldn't be seen by the court. Obi set his hand on Ilena's shoulder to strengthen her. She reached up and lightly squeezed it as she looked up over her other shoulder into his eyes. He was glad to see her eyes were clear and calm. The look helped him to steady as well.

Kiki nodded to Mitsuhide, letting him know Obi and Ilena were ready. "Our first witness is Miss Ilena, Steward of Farmor for the last eight years and resident of the same house for the last seventeen." Obi pushed Ilena out to the place Kiki indicated, to the side of the raised dais, then stood at relaxed attention behind her. He himself would not be called to witness at this court as he'd asked Zen to excuse him. He had no desire to be known as a College.

There were murmurs from the crowd of court and landed lords as they saw Ilena. There were many things to surprise them. She was supposed to have died after the landslide. She was a female steward, nearly unheard of. ...And, she was only twenty-five. Her long black hair and slightly dark features, which matched Obi's, were offset by the simple but well tailored clothing that were in the colors of the household of the Regent. She would have preferred the pants and jacket the other aides were wearing, as they were also what she had worn as steward, but her maids had shown her quite plainly that a skirt was much easier to wear until her hip was sufficiently strengthened.

As the Steward of Farmor for Earl College, Ilena was the direct eye witness of all the works of the Earl. All of the other witnesses that would follow after would only be supporting her words. Earl College had kept her tightly by his side in all things, as she'd been his bait to capturing Obi, and nearly all of his nefarious deeds had been traps to capture anyone who he thought might be Obi. Because of this, Zen had spent the last several days working closely with her on what her testimony would be. Ilena looked at him now, still calm. The look on his face gave nothing away, but his eyes asked if she was alright. Her eyes answered with a sparkle of a smile, and he looked relieved.

Ilena looked closely at the lords gathered in front of her. Just as it was their first time to see her, for the majority of them, it was her first time to see them. She knew all their names, their offices, even their family members and status. She hadn't yet had the opportunity to put their faces to their information, save for the very few she'd already known from her time as Steward of Farmor, as this was her first time out of her recovery room. She quickly identified those she already knew and was glad to see that the few who were her supporters were present. She felt she would need them, for she'd been told that if she was attacked here in this room, she was not to attack back - a thing she had a full capacity to do and often a natural tendency to do as well when angered. She was to only give her testimony and answer questions.

Mitsuhide turned to her and asked, "Miss Ilena, will you please tell the Court what you have personally witnessed of Earl College's actions from the time you entered the household until now?"

Ilena bowed slightly from her sitting position, then in her best lecture hall voice, began her statement. They had timed it. It took an hour and thirteen minutes to tell. Zen had hoped for an hour, but it hadn't been possible. When she was done, Obi handed her a cup of honeyed water. Just for her, he'd squeezed in the juice from an orange - her favorite fruit. She was grateful. It was both physically and mentally fortifying. The easy part was done. They were expecting another hour and a half to two hours of cross examination next.

It seemed to be a standard everywhere. You could give all the details in your statement, and they would all be forgotten and you would be asked for them all over again, multiple times. Ilena had little patience for this typically, but she'd been mentally preparing herself for it, so she just went right back into reporting mode, never varying in her answers. She distanced herself from the words, taking what she heard and regurgitating the appropriate response without emotional attachment.

The active part of her mind and her eyes kept busy memorizing the faces of the men in front of her and their general attitudes. When she heard names given, the two sets of data in her mind were able to finally merge. If a name wasn't given, and he knew it, Obi would whisper it to her. For the rest, the faces were being sorted into categories: these actively against the Regent, these for, many cautious. This was his first major official court action and they were judging his capacity and temperament. There were some faces that said it didn't help his case that everyone on the dais was under the age of thirty. Zen would listen respectfully to any lord who gave him useful advice, or had a concern, but he had yet to bring into his inner circle any older advisors. ...Though in that group Mitsuhide counted as one because he was so cautious, and was just about thirty. What the lords perhaps didn't realize was that it was in the main because Zen had yet to finish testing them and find someone suitable. Ilena was also helping him with that.

The day after they had returned from their campaign against Earl College, Ilena had sent him her first official report. In it she'd listed every court lord and staff member and their standing for or against him, based on the extensive research of her agents within the castle, and some from without. She also had listed every member of the same group that was committing offences against the crown, from fraud through treason, along with evidences of the same and the names of persons who could be questioned as witnesses. In response, Zen had finally scheduled a meeting with his Director of Intelligence. During the time he'd been hunting Earl College and she'd been recuperating from her injuries and surgery there hadn't been time to meet officially.

He'd brandished the report at her when he arrived. "I'm glad to see it didn't come bound in black." He was jokingly referring to her earlier comment that if she ever sent a report it would be bound in black and contain dire news. Then he'd asked her for all of the information about her network, how she managed it, how it worked, what he could and couldn't do with it, and the extent of its spread. Once he understood what he had, they'd worked out how she would use all of it to help him in the best possible way. She'd been grateful he'd been willing to listen to her advice about what she would and could do for him, and she'd also been happy to finally hear what it was he really wanted her to do for him. It allowed her to focus on the things he thought important.

During the Lord's Court, they were both paying close attention to who said what when it came to some very specific names. Some he would be addressing later in this court. Others he was looking to see if they could be considered worthy to test and bring into his inner circle. Ilena was glad to hear the voice of Earl Malkin speak frequently in favor of Zen's position, but with reason and caution. He was one of her few supporters, and both of his sons were currently working directly with Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki in the Rose office, training to be Kiki's replacements when she returned to her father's house for her own training. That wasn't winning the landed earl any points with the jealous lords in the crowd, but it appeared most of the reasonable lords already knew him to be fair minded and respectable. Zen and Ilena were both hoping that he had enough support among the lords to be an acceptable candidate for one position Zen was looking to fill.

Earl Sieran, another landed Earl with no other heir than Kiki, was the other one they were keeping an eye on. Zen wouldn't be able to call on him daily, as he was needed in his landed seat, but if he also was respected in the court even a small appointment would go a long way to soothe older heads. The hardest to find was going to be a court lord Zen could position to stand next to him daily. He'd selected five names from the list of supporters Ilena had given him of lords he'd visited with several times since he'd first come to be Regent nine months ago and thought might be good possibilities. How they acted here in this pot that would boil today would tell him who could truly be relied on. Ilena paid very close attention to these men.

After about an hour of questioning, the issues devolved into arguments against her testimony being trustworthy since she was the steward of the man in question, who had not been trustworthy himself. Mitsuhide had to put a stop to several of the arguers by saying that the further witnesses to come would prove it out. Finally Zen raised his hand and quiet fell over the room. He nodded to Mitsuhide, who thanked Ilena for her testimony and excused her. As Obi and Ilena passed Kiki, she whispered a reminder that they should stay until the entire proceedings were completed. Ilena's personal testimony against the other lords that would come under scrutiny this day might also be needed.

When Obi and Ilena reached the antechamber and Shirayuki, she was very solicitous and made Obi quickly help Ilena back onto the bench to rest lying down again. After Ilena was comfortably laid out on the bench, Obi put his hand on her head. "You did very well, Ilena," he rewarded her with praise and touch.

"Thank you," she responded quietly with a smile.

"That was a long time," Shirayuki commented. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm glad to be lying down, Mistress Shirayuki, but the practice of sitting up will surely help me to be stronger as well," she tried to reassure while being honest. Ilena looked at Obi, looking in his eyes for his own level of strength, as concerned for him as he was for her. When she was content with what she saw, she allowed her eyes to ask a question.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Is it okay to rest for a time?"

"I'll let you know if Kiki gives us the sign to be prepared," he answered her.

Shirayuki nodded, giving her consent as well. "It would be good if you could. It would also be very nice if Zen didn't have to call you back at all, but perhaps that's wishful thinking. The lords didn't seem all that content."

"Well, it's as Mister told them. The other witnesses will support Ilena's statements and then perhaps they'll feel sufficiently answered." Obi said to calm her worries.

"I hope it's enough," Shirayuki said with a sigh.

Ilena smiled at Shirayuki. "Even if they do wish to speak with me again, because of the things that they will have heard from the others it should be much shorter." She caught Obi's eyes again. Neither of them was telling her that there were other reasons Ilena was required to stay. Shirayuki probably wouldn't like it when they had to stay even longer than she thought they would. Ilena wasn't sure that was a good idea. Her preference was always to let their Mistress know what to expect ahead of time.

-o-o-o-

Even Obi had bad experiences with not doing so. He finally gave in to Ilena's look. "Ilena, you must rest." He waited until she closed her eyes obediently, then he said quietly to Shirayuki, "Mistress, Master told us when he left yesterday that he also wanted Ilena to stay for the final part of the court."

"The final part? The passing of the judgement?"

"Ah, well that, but there's another part that's not related to Earl College." He looked at Shirayuki a bit skittishly, sure she was going to be unhappy with them and Zen, but perhaps she would be less unhappy if it wasn't a surprise. Indeed, Shirayuki was frowning already. "Master is intending to clean all of his court today at once, rather than call another Lord's Court. He desires Ilena to be present for that part as well. He'll use her own words and knowledge to present her to the castle today as his Director of Intelligence."

Shirayuki's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. "And just how long will that take?"

"It's unknown, Mistress, but Master thinks perhaps no more than an hour to an hour and a half," Obi was very respectful in the face of her ire.

Shirayuki was quiet for a while. "I see," she finally said. "I can understand not wanting to inconvenience the landed courtiers in making them come back again. It will be even more important then, Obi, that you make sure to let Zen know right away if Ilena's tiring."

Obi bowed slightly to her. "I will, Mistress." In reality, he wouldn't be able to do much. Ilena couldn't leave her position in front of the court until she was released, and for the final bit, she would have to play her part the same as Zen would. He would still let Zen know if Ilena tired so that he could shorten it if possible.

They fell into silence, waiting. Obi could tell that while Ilena rested herself she was listening closely to the testimonies of the other witnesses, all of whom were among those who she called her "Children" and who called her "Mother". This was the closest she had been to them since she had acquired them as witnesses.

Obi, listening to the witnesses as well, also recognized their names and voices because he'd collected them from their homes for this time. When the most shy of them was called, a young lad called Peter, Obi smiled. He looked at Ilena and saw she was smiling as well. He brushed her hand with his. She opened her eyes and looked at him. The look in their eyes was the same. "He's very strong today, isn't he, Mother?" he asked her, pride in his voice.

"Yes, he is, Father," she answered. "He's grown very well." Peter had been the first of the witnesses Obi had been sent to retrieve and one of the first she had found and protected.

Ilena took his hand in hers, holding it lightly. "Obi?"

Obi looked into her eyes that were beginning to tear. "Yes, Ilena?" he asked gently.

"Will I be allowed to go and see them?" All of the witnesses were being kept protected in a safe house south of the castle until this court was completed and the judgements carried out, though today's subset had been brought to the castle the night before in secret. This had been one of her requirements to Zen in exchange for her giving him the witnesses he needed for this court - that he continue to protect them as she had always protected them.

Obi was glad he could answer her positively. "Yes, Master has said it would be acceptable after today and after the judgements are carried out. He also wants you to be protected, but when he's sure, he'll let me take you to them." Her tears of happiness and relief spilled over, and he tenderly wiped them from her face.

-o-o-o-

Shirayuki, watching this exchange, felt her heart warm. It had been a long time in coming, that Obi could trust Ilena and be kind to her. It had been her that had forced Obi to become partners with Ilena in the beginning to make Obi face his past properly so that he could move forward, and because of a thing Ilena had told her very early. Shirayuki had asked her what Obi was to her. Ilena had answered, "The man I love and wish to stand next to the remainder of my days." Today, she was very happy for Ilena, but there was a personal reason she had asked Zen to approve Ilena to stand behind her, next to Obi. During the seven days Obi had run from Ilena and the past she reminded him of, the two young women had spoken frequently about their goals, until Shirayuki began to feel that Ilena was like the older sister, and sometimes mother, she had never known.

When she'd asked Zen for Ilena, it was because she'd come to desire very much that warm hand at her back, gently pushing her forward in the direction she wanted to go. Since that time, Ilena had continued to be that warm strength behind her, helping her go in whatever direction she desired to go. Because Obi opened the way for her in front and Ilena strengthened her from behind, she could finally see and walk the path before her swiftly. She was very glad to have both of them, and that both of them were strengths to each other as well. They'd become very good partners, her loyal aides, and friends.

Shirayuki was also listening to the proceedings of the court. She was trying to learn as much as she could as quickly as possible. Already she and Zen had been together five years, but she was barely upon the path she wanted to be on. Everyone in the inner circle understood that within the year the lords would be pressuring Zen to pick a princess candidate, and Shirayuki needed to be recognized as the best candidate by that time, or before if possible. Zen had already begun to move to position her and Ilena was helping her to learn what she lacked.

Since Ilena had come, Shirayuki had moved from being in the pharmacy as only a Court Pharmacist to being Zen's adjunct, handling all of the petitions that came before the Regent. This had put her before the lords directly and shown them her capabilities. She'd also run the Rose office while Zen, Mitsuhide, Kiki, and Obi had been away for the battle against Earl College. Zen had begun to be more affectionate to her in public, and with Ilena's encouragement she'd allowed it. Today was a rare opportunity to learn how the court worked as a group, even though it was a bit tedious. Even more important to Shirayuki was how Zen was handling the group of lords. If she ever had to work with them as a group, she would need to understand her limitations and the power that could be wielded acceptably.

Having now heard that there was going to be more than just the case against Earl College and his allies brought before the court, she decided that when Ilena and Obi had to go out again, she would go as well. She'd been given a title by the First Prince of Tanbarun, Raji, so by right could stand with them, though she wouldn't be given a voice. If she were there with them, she would be able to see better what the full proceedings were. Then she would know better how to react in the future if she should need to. ...Except she'd forgotten to bring her medallion of title. "Ah, Obi, I'll be right back. I forgot something."

"Mistress!" Ilena called quickly.

Shirayuki stopped. "Yes?"

"Please, send Thayne." Thayne was Obi's man, given to him by Ilena, and was one of her top tier agents known as 'Fourth Son'. He had come with them, of course, but was waiting for them outside the audience hall. Ilena was reminding Shirayuki that she wasn't to be her own errand person any more. She'd been encouraging Shirayuki to hire at least a personal maid herself now for several days. Shirayuki had to agree that in this case, having someone else do the running did make sense. She just was having a hard time coming to the agreement that she shouldn't be doing the simple things for herself yet.

"Alright. I'll do that." Shirayuki left the antechamber out the back way and found Thayne. She explained what she needed and gave Thayne her key to her personal room, then returned to the antechamber. Thayne returned to the antechamber with Shirayuki's medallion of title and key just as Mitsuhide was giving the closing summary of the case. It was interesting to Shirayuki that it was necessary for Zen to hold the court in the first place. He'd already passed judgement and carried out the penalty. It seemed more like it was to explain to the lords of Wilant why he'd done what he'd done and convince them he hadn't made an arbitrary choice. She wondered what the next part would be like.

-o-o-o-

Mitsuhide wrapped up the summary, then listed off the offenders, beginning with Markovic College, and their respective punishments. Half of Markovic's allies had had their houses wiped out by the man himself. Not only had Markovic wiped out the first three families who had been his allies, way back when he had begun his nefarious deeds, but when he had run from Zen, he had wiped out the three who had been his current allies. The other half received punishments of prison sentences for the heads and demotion of the families. It was rather a great blow to the region to have seven noble families wiped out, including the College's, and six more brought low, but nothing else could be done.

Mitsuhide then called for a five minute recess. There was a bit of surprised murmuring from the room. It was already nearing the dinner hour, and many of the lords had expected their dismissal. For this next part, Zen didn't want any lord leaving the room. If they returned to their offices now, they would learn what he was doing and would escape from his justice. During this five minute break Mitsuhide traded out his documents and took a drink of honey water. Obi moved Ilena to be near the front side of the dais at the proper respectful distance from both Zen and the lords. Shirayuki moved to stand at the opposite side of Zen from them, and additional soldiers moved into the hall. Behind, in the antechambers, the witnesses to the first case were removed to be taken back to the safe house, and the witnesses to the new cases were brought in to wait their turns. The lords wondered even more what was going to happen as they observed these rearrangements.

Zen, through Mitsuhide, opened his cases against the lords of the court beginning from the lowest staff members. In the main these were sons of lords who had shown through their fraudulent behavior they had not been properly trained as pages or as junior staff members to understand how to support their liege. They were not in the room, but several fathers were, and all of their management was. Three of them were banished from the castle, the remainder, about twelve in all, were demoted back to page for retraining for a probationary time. If they were able to demonstrate appropriate progress, they would be reconsidered for reassignment as junior staff again. If they were unable to be reformed, they would be dismissed after that time.

Obviously, if their initial training had been problematic, the Head of Pages must take responsibility for it. Zen's answer to this was to retire the current Head of Pages, who looked very relieved that he hadn't received a stricter punishment and accepted his fate as his due. Zen then instated an older, conservative staff member he felt would be very good for both training new pages and for being strict with the retraining of the ones now on probation. Just this move was sufficient to make several lords begin to sweat. It was obvious to them all what Zen's intentions were. He remained calm, not looking at any particular lord.

The next set of people who were arraigned were mid-level staff. Again, this level of staff was not present in the room, save for a very few who had come as secretaries for their lords. Those who'd committed lower level crimes, where Mitsuhide began reading the records, were merely removed from their offices and fined. As the crimes moved up in scale, so did the punishments. There were individuals who were personally corrupt, but as the court proceeded, it began to become apparent that there were several offices that were losing more of their personnel than others. The Ministers of those departments began to be very nervous.

When the last of the mid-level staff judgements was told, Mitsuhide went to the next page of his statements. Two of the ministers who had not sufficiently kept watch over their subordinates were retired, along with one assistant minister. The other assistant minister was moved up into the position of minister. Then Mitsuhide paused and looked towards the back of the hall at one of the doors there and nodded. The guards at the door opened it and allowed a guard-escorted man to enter. When he had been brought before Zen, Mitsuhide called him by name and titled him as an Assistant Minister. This man's direct Minister stood frozen in shock, then moved as if to protest. Zen looked at him sharply, and he subsided, turning pale. In the end, this department lost it's assistant minister, but not it's minister. Even still, the minster was very shaken, and also received probation as his punishment for not realizing what his direct report was doing, being moved down to the level of his removed subordinate until he had re-proven his capabilities.

Mitsuhide nodded again to the guards at the door and this time the room held its collective breath. Both the assistant minister and the secretary of the Minister of Interior were escorted in. As the Minister of the Interior turned white, then red, two guards approached him and 'invited' him to join them. Using both the evidence from Ilena, and also from Kiki's first assistant, Tairn, Earl Malkin's oldest son and an agent of King Izana, who had been one of his subordinates before, Mitsuhide read off the case against the three men.

This time, because the minister himself was being convicted of crimes against the state, he had the right to defend himself and demand evidence be presented. He did so with all his might, and Zen presented the witnesses Ilena had suggested, and finally did have to present Tairn as well. When the Earl realized that his subordinate who had been taken by the prince had betrayed him, he went into a rage. Zen allowed him to have his say briefly, then raised his hand. The guards restrained him. Tairn presented his evidence, then was excused. Mitsuhide read off the punishment - imprisonment of all three and removal of their peerages. They were then removed from the room for the judgment to be carried out immediately.

Following this there were two more departments that were removed of their top three officers. The room was starting to feel the strain. It was not so much that the other ministers and lords were surprised he was cleaning house, per se, it was more that the holes were adding up, and that each time it was a somewhat unexpected surprise as most had come only expecting to hear the case against Earl College. While all of the cases were well supported, and Zen was being very careful in each case to not be overbearing, it was still stressful on the group as a whole.

When the last set of offenders had been led out of the room, Zen looked at Kiki. She walked over to Ilena and leaned over to speak to her privately, then returned to Zen and spoke to him privately as well. Every eye in the room followed her and every mind surely wondered why Ilena had been consulted. Zen motioned to Mitsuhide and he took one of his papers to Zen and handed him a pen. Zen made several notations and handed the pen and paper back to Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide then return to his place.

"Thank you for your patience with these overly long proceedings," he said to the remaining lords. "We will now assign the new appointments." The tenor of the room changed to one of tentative relief mixed with just a bit of suspicion that an unknown, unranked female had been consulted first. Mitsuhide read off four names and their appointments to the offices of the ministers that had just been deposed. It would be up to those ministers to find acceptable assistant ministers and their own secretaries. There did not seem to be any dissenting to the appointments, so Mitsuhide continued.

"Earl Malkin is hereby appointed as temporary overseer of all the lands between his own earldom and the Earldom of Farmor." Earl Malkin went slightly pale. That was a lot of work, and he certainly hadn't been expecting it. The total land was at least that of a duchy, being two baronies, one viscounty, and one earldom on top of his own. "Earl Seiran is appointed as advisor to the Regent in the matter of training the new landowners as they receive their appointments." Again there was a surprised face in the crowd as Kiki's father received an appointment he wasn't at all expecting. "Viscount Aiden is hereby appointed to assist the Regent in the Rose Office. Ilena, previous Steward of Farmor, is appointed to the office of Director of Intelligence." The first three appointments received tacit approval as all three men were sufficiently respected. As expected, the room went into an uproar with the final appointment.

Zen and Ilena both listened carefully to the complaints being called out, listening for the main points, then Zen raised his hand for order and the room gradually settled. Because she wasn't titled, being appointed as a director was not a conflict, where being appointed a minister would have been. However, she was completely unknown to them, and was a very young woman in their eyes. Once the lords were still, they seemed to form ranks and spokesmen from the higher orders were silently chosen. The highest ranking moderate stepped forward. "Regent Zen, please explain your appointment of Miss Ilena."

Zen nodded and Mitsuhide answered with the prepared statement. "Miss Ilena has provided all of the evidence presented here this day through her carefully created information network and her own personal efforts. From the time she entered the service of Marcovik College until this time, she has already been the Regent's Head of Intelligence. However, due to the sensitivity of the position she held, in order to obtain the information necessary to convict the ex-earl, her position as the Director of Intelligence was kept secret until this time. As the Earl and his allies have now been convicted and judgement carried out, the Regent is now free to publicly acknowledge her."

The room was still. Then the spokesman of the dissenters standing against her appointment stood forward. "How can we know that this is truth?"

"Indeed this is a difficulty, it seems," Mitsuhide answered. "Would an example of some sort provide sufficient proof?"

The spokesman was surprised, then shook his head. "No, that would not. She could have learned anything from the past within the last several months. Rather, hearing from one who is respectable as to the truth of the claim would be acceptable."

Zen nodded again. Kiki motioned to a person standing behind his dais and Lord Barkley, the Queen Mother's Minister of Intelligence walked to stand before the lords. Mitsuhide asked, "Would the word of Lord Barkley be sufficient?"

Every lord in the room knew that he could not be influenced by Zen or anyone else. The spokesman nodded. "It would be, Regent."

Mitsuhide looked at Lord Barkley. "Lord Barkley, do you recognize the woman in the wheelchair?"

Lord Barkley looked over at Ilena, who looked at him mildly. "Yes, I do."

"Will you please tell the Lord's Court what her name is?"

"Miss Ilena."

"Has Miss Ilena been in the service of the Regent as his head of intelligence since she entered the service of the deceased Earl Marcovik College?"

Lord Barkley looked at her with a faint smile. He looked back at Mitsuhide. "She's been that since before then, but that would be an acceptable official date, yes."

"Is there someone who could be called upon to be a second witness to that fact?" Zen had wanted to be thorough. He knew they wouldn't consider him to be an acceptable second witness.

Lord Barkley considered. "There are two. King Izana himself, and his Minister of Intelligence." The lords in the room were completely stunned. She had been accepted by both Ministers of Intelligence of the kingdom and by the King and the Regent. Not just at this moment, but for many years previous.

"Are there any more objections?" Mitsuhide asked into the quiet.

The current spokesman looked behind him to see if anyone else had anything to add. He received no support. Looking back at Mitsuhide and Zen he shook his head. "No, Regent." He stepped back into his place.

Mitsuhide thanked Lord Barkley on behalf of Zen, excusing him. Then he said, "Regent Zen calls Sir Obi to come before him."

Obi straightened in shock, then stiffly walked up to stand facing Zen on the very edge of the raised platform and knelt before him on one knee.

"For your bravery and many deeds in the effort to bring Earl Marcovik College to justice, including the final subjugation of the same, Regent Zen hereby advances Knight Obi to the order of Court Baron, with all of the attendant rights and responsibilities thereof." Obi was further awarded a coat of arms of a sleeping black cat upon an ermine field, and was granted Falcon's Hollow as his deed of land. Falcon's Hollow was the safe house that he'd taken all of Ilena's witnesses to. It had been his understanding, from the information he'd gained and Zen had agreed with, that Ilena had planned on Zen granting that land to her for her use. The majority of the witnesses brought there were planning on staying there from the beginning to be the householders. Obi was perhaps finding it difficult to reconcile why Zen had granted it to him instead.

-o-o-o-

Zen looked at Obi with a smile in his eyes. Obi looked back in complete shock, unable to wrap his mind around what was happening. When he was released, he properly thanked the Regent, stood, bowed and returned to his position behind Ilena. When he was finally there and it seemed the attention had moved away from him, he very quietly whispered to a proud Ilena, "Isn't Mister going to kill me for being raised up before he was?"

Ilena looked up at him and whispered back, "Wouldn't he already have done it before now? Besides, Master Zen has bigger plans for him."

Obi looked down at her in surprise, but nodded. It was true. Mitsuhide would have already known Obi's peerage was going to happen, and if Mitsuhide was going to be able to marry Kiki, he would have to receive a greater peerage. That would take more time and maneuvering. Ilena chuckled. "What?"

"It's funny how your stunned mind works," Ilena smiled up at him. "Congratulations."

"Ah, thank you, I think."

"I hereby appoint you as my Deputy Director of Intelligence."

Obi stared at her, his eyes going wide. "Can you do that?" he finally asked.

"Yes, now I can," she answered mildly.

They turned back to pay attention to the court. Mitsuhide had closed it and Zen was now leaving the dais, Kiki and Mitsuhide close behind him.