Chapter 10: Taking Sides

Three Weeks Later

Bash was deep in conversation with General Perault, a high ranking noble and commander in the King's army. Bash had been building up to this conversation over the prior weeks, approaching first those landed gentry and nobleman whose support was easily won – men newly raised themselves from the ranks of the lower class, who were not so enamored of their current privileged dauphin nor so opposed to seeing someone step above his status. But General Perault was a different matter. The commander came from a long line of nobility and had been a stalwart supporter of the King. Perault also held considerable sway with the other French military leaders. Bash had needed some practice before he approached the General.

"This is a dangerous moment to be playing your game of thrones," General Perault warned. "England has started to become dissatisfied with merely sitting on our doorstep in Callais and looks for any chance to press on toward us. The King risks much by poking at them with his little forays. It is as if he wishes to provoke them."

"Yes, which is why this country needs a strong Dauphin," Bash pressed, "One who has the battle experience to support his king and can rally the troops to fight for God and country."

"Interesting choice of words," the General said. "There are whispers, you know, as to whether you are in fact on God's side."

Bash's eyes narrowed. There had been no murmurs about his pagan ties for quite some time. He sensed Queen Catherine's hand behind this, and wondered what new plots she had in the works.

"I am at Mass every Sunday," Bash said. Or at least, he had been since Mary plucked him out of the dungeon and asked him to marry her. It had seemed important to keep up the appearance of piety – and it was genuinely important to Mary. "Perhaps if you attended as regularly yourself you would know that. But worrying about whether I say my prayers properly at night seems a waste of time. What you should be worrying about is who has the strength to lead this country out of these uncertain times. It is precisely because the English are knocking at our doorstep and the king is taking risks that you need me, not Francis, as heir."

"I have seen you fight, and I have even seen you lead men," General Perault allowed. "I know that you are capable. But do you have what it takes to quell the unrest, should it rise? To squash those who will see you as a usurper and refuse to follow? Can you win the respect of the nobles and the people? That I do not know. And until I do know that, I will not give my support to this legitimization scheme."

Having made his position clear, the General walked away. It was just as well, Bash supposed. There was little else to be said. He sighed, turning, just as his mother reached him.

"I take it General Perault did not give you the answer you were looking for," Diane commented.

"No. And without his support, it will be nearly impossible to get any of the other generals on my side," Bash grimaced. But there was some hope, at any rate. "He didn't refuse me though, so I suppose that is something. Lord Barrineau brushed me off entirely yesterday."

"General Perault is more important anyway. The Vatican will not agree to the legitimization if they think it will cause unrest. The Generals are the ones who would be responsible for putting down any unrest; the Vatican will believe their word."

"So I'm stuck courting the generals and other noblemen so the Vatican will believe I have support in France. Yes I know." Bash said impatiently. The tone of his voice made it clear how little he liked the task.

Diane smiled fondly at her son. "I know this all goes against your nature Sebastian. But just remember the reward at the end for all of this. And here comes a nice reminder," Diane said, as Mary drew near.

"Lady Diane," Mary inclined her head in an acknowledgement. "How are you today?"

"Better than my son," Diane said. Bash flashed her that look sons give their mothers when they express their worries. "I think you are a welcome distraction from his political maneuverings. So I will leave him to you."

Mary smiled as Diane moved off, and then turned to her secret husband with sympathy. "I see you were speaking with General Perault. What did he say?"

"That I need to show I will have the support of the populace. He is worried about legitimization causing unrest. It's a reasonable concern but I can't for the life of me think how I'm supposed to go about getting the support of the populace without committing open treason, which will hardly help the situation."

"Poor Bash," Mary said, placing her hand on his arm and standing a little closer than strict propriety would allow for a supposedly unwed woman. She lowered her voice on the next words, making sure no one was close enough to hear. "Our union was supposed to force the Vatican's hand, to prevent all this. Now here we are, stuck waiting for word from the Vatican while every day the political situation grows more precarious."

Bash smiled that special smile he reserved only for her. "I don't regret that choice for one moment. You are worth the effort Mary."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "Every morning I wake up and wonder if today is the day when you will change your mind about that," she said. There was humor in her voice, but it was not entirely a joke, Bash knew.

"Never," he said. "You are mine and I am yours forever. Or at least until someone decides they've had enough of this and tips off Francis I've already married you. I suspect I would be quite likely to find a knife in my back shortly after."

"Yes, I know what that feels like," Mary said darkly, "metaphorically speaking."

"I take it you and Lola still haven't come to terms."

"She's apologized, but I'm not in the mood to forgive."

Bash steeled himself. He had been hoping this would blow over on its own, but it seemed his wife was determined to hold a grudge. And it bothered him. He didn't care to examine why, but he knew it did. "Mary, why are you so upset at Lola? She knew you were with me. She knew Francis was free. What was wrong with the situation?"

"It was my best friend and my former love. The wound was still raw. I still didn't know which of you I would choose. And she just went ahead anyway and . . . and did that." Anger laced her words, and she pulled her arm away from Bash, drawing herself up with that haughty look she got when she was truly riled.

Unfortunately, her words had piqued Bash too. Jealousy flared in him at the ease with which she referred to her allegedly former love of Francis. It didn't help that over the course of the past few weeks, he had watched her iciness toward Francis thaw a little more each day as she was "forced" to receive the younger prince's attentions. In the night, she was wholly Bash's, but as much as he enjoyed, even ached for their passionate encounters in the dark, it only made him chafe all the more at having to keep his distance in the light of day. And made him seethe whenever Francis came near.

"I noticed you don't direct any of that anger toward Francis. He flouted more than one woman in front of you while you were engaged and yet you are perfectly amiable toward him. But Lola who has been a loyal friend and supported us with our situation you spurn." Bash said. Some part of him vaguely sensed this train of conversation was unwise, but he couldn't help himself.

"Francis probably saw his encounter with Lola as excellent revenge," Mary said a little bitterly. "The perfect way to get back at me for breaking the engagement and trying to steal his crown. And could you blame him?"

"No," Bash admitted, "But I also can't blame Lola. And I don't think you should either. Your relationship with Francis was over, and Lola couldn't control who she was attracted to any more than you or I could."

"Well perhaps she should have tried," Mary snapped, abruptly walking away.

Bash sighed in exasperation and turned to walk in the other direction. This day was not going how he hoped. He didn't see Lola slip from behind a pillar and follow Mary.

Author's Notes: Hello again everyone! Just a quick note to say I'm still here . . . and thanks for the reviews in my absence. They do make a difference.

I needed a long breather from the story to kind of get my groove back, and also honestly I was kind of curious to see what they would do with the rest of the season. I thought the twist with Bash was good – nice to level the playing field with him and Mary a bit – but then it felt like they just entirely dropped the MASH storyline which sucked. Plus Bash's material has been a bit bland the past few episodes. Since this started out as a Bash-centric story (way back in my fic Crooked Path . . . ) not having good Bash scenes of any kind has been making me lose my mojo for writing him a bit.

BUT, the good news is that I have a couple of the later chapters already written, and have kind of outlined what's supposed to happen before I get there, so my absence from fanfic world wasn't in vein! I wish I had a happier chapter to put up – you know one with lots of Mash gooey goodness that we all love - but this is where we are in the story. It's also kind of my "get back in gear" chapter. There's going to be some unrest in the countryside in the next chapter that both sides are going to try to use for this legitimization plot, and Mary is also finally going to get her head on straight, after having been a bit whiplashed the past couple chapters and not acting her finest.