An Irresponsible Knave
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How did Ornon feel about his role as Ambassador of Attolia to the Mede empire? One-shot, post TaT, so SPOILERS!
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Eugenides, when he was only The Thief of Eddis, had been wont to complain that he was always the dancing bear at the centre of the circus. He never seemed to have any consideration for those who were obliged to watch as his appearance reduced conventional, decorous, respectable court life into the sort of low circus which had dancing bears, or a scene from one of the raucous new farcical comedies. He certainly showed no consideration at all for those who, however reluctantly, found themselves thrust into the role of showman for the dancing bear.
Ornon closed his eyes, but the memories were as persistent and unavoidable as the Thief of Eddis himself. The Day With The Sheep. Eugenides' scandalous arrival after months of absence, waving Hamiathes' Gift and clad in nothing but a grubby over-shirt and bandages. The terrible day of trying to enrage the Queen of Attolia enough to have the Thief hanged, not tortured, with the all too real risk of enraging her enough to have the Ambassador of Eddis hanged too. The weeks of fraught marriage negotiations. The awful months of watching Eugenides play the buffoon as King of Attolia. His stunt of continually "forgetting" the name of the Mede ambassador...
Ornon had hoped it might be better if away from Eugenides himself. But given that months of absence, the loss of one hand and the imposition of royal duties had not relieved the situation, he should have known distance was a vain hope. Even here in the Mede empire, the dancing bear seemed to take a delight in featuring, and in obliging Ornon to display him. Ornon's hopes of a quiet time had been dashed with the addition of what Aulus had named "Gen's pet guard" to his retinue. Then there had been the delicate renting of the river boat; the hours talking round the Mede slave woman Eugenides had somehow known about; the difficult day in which Gen's pet guard had vanished along with the Emperor's heir's brother's slave (a mouthful in any tongue and even more in Mede); the more difficult day when the said slave had been reported arriving safe and sound in Attolia; the most difficult day when the Imperial navy had been destroyed.
And now – Ambassador Melheret had returned, and the dancing bear had more than ever appeared in the circus of the Mede court.
The entire Imperial court had rocked with laughter at the King of Attolia's theft of Ambassador Melheret's statue, those who disliked Melheret for his unheeded advice over the navy laughing the loudest. Little though he was growing to like any Mede, Ornon had to admire the way Melheret held his head high, and maintained his austere and determined smile. The glares he fired at Ornon, the representative of His Deceptively Irresponsible Knavishness the King of Attolia were entirely understandable.
Ornon sighed. It would not be welcome, or diplomatic, or polite, or ambassadorial, or politic, or even possible. But it would be nice, in a way, to be able to stop Melheret one day in some quiet corridor and say: "I know exactly how you feel."