Chapter 10: Cabinet Making

Greta found herself becoming less and less anxious of her place alongside Emily with each summons to the Tower. At first it felt odd to be offering advice to the Empress. After all, her area of study did not rest in politics like Bernice, but in history and the occult. But was not the purpose of the Oracular Order to guide the Abbey of the Everyman? True, it was a group effort more than anything else, and Greta was only one person. Even so, it was her duty to offer guidance where she could. Well, it was less of a duty and more of a pleasure.

Funny things happen when you create a corrupted rune together and later have the displeasure of seeing the Outsider naked. Funny things like being called upon to spend lunch together or have tea for no reason but for the pleasure of company. Funny things like becoming a friend and confidant. After all, together they held quite a large secret, so why not many smaller ones?

So here she was, walking across the Tower grounds and into the building itself like it belonged to her. Well, more like she belongs there; the thought of property management gave Greta a headache. One of the guards by the foyer smiled at her and gave a wave.

"Sister Manderly," he greeted. "The Empress awaits you in her office."

"Thank you," she replied with a thankful smile and a tiny salute. The tower was roving with a veritable army of maids and other such cleaning staff, stripping down and washing away the traces of Delilah. Greta dodged buckets of soapy water, and men moving impossibly expensive furniture to get to the office door. Once there she knocked on the door.

"Come it!" invited Emily, sounding somewhat distracted.

Greta opened the door and closed it behind her. Corvo leaned against the wall, his arms crossed and expression bored. Emily was standing at the desk, looking down at eleven stacks of paper. At the sound of the latch clicking, her head popped up and she smiled at Greta.

"Thank you for coming," she greeted. "I would appreciate your advice regarding some choices I have for my cabinet."

Greta blinked. "Oh, I'll see how I can help, but I am afraid that I am very much the wrong person for this." She approached the desk and looked at the stacks. They each were actually a series of silvergraphs, etchings, drawings, or just scraps of paper with names on them. Every pile carefully labelled at top by a sign of paper with a cabinet position written on it. Each image was of a person.

"Where on earth did you get all these?" Greta asked, baffled.

"My old spymaster files," answered Corvo. "It helps to have an image of the subject on file, but much to my dismay some of my files were trashed and I do not have the images of everyone up for selection."

"Still, everyone here is a known quantity," finished Emily.

"To you maybe, but not to me," retorted Greta, picking up one of the drawings in the pile for the Minister of Gristol. "Who on earth is this fellow and why is his mustache so amazing?"

That drew a laugh from Corvo and Emily.

"That is MP Baldwin from Driscol," Emily said with a suppressed laugh. "The reason that he is in the pile is that he has fantastic connections to all the important families on Gristol and decent human."

"You seriously will consider placing MP Baldwin on your cabinet?"

Greta sniffed the air, smelling the tell-tale ambergris. She scanned the room, and finally found the Outsider lurking overhead, regarding Emily from a particularly graceful backbend.

"He is a supportive fellow, and I have yet to find a powerful family in Gristol who deeply dislikes him," Emily challenged. "If you have conflicting information I would appreciate hearing it."

The Outsider drifted down, peering at the images of other candidates for Minister of Gristol. "While many families do regard him as 'annoying', it is not in any spite or true dislike. You are correct in gauging his influence as useful. But beyond that? The man is not capable of making serious decisions without constant input."

"You seem to think that I want someone who acts independently for this position," Emily thoughtfully rearranged the stack into a neat pile, a decision made.

Realization bloomed on the Outsider's face, and a quite the smile appeared alongside it. "In that case, Empress, you have made a very wise decision."

Greta returned the picture of MP Baldwin to the top of the pile and skimmed her eyes over the others. Some stacks had as few as two portraits or as many as five. Pretty much every face and name was unfamiliar to her, until she combed through the pile for Minister of Industry.

"I know of Sinjean DeLuc," Greta proclaimed with a great deal of excitement, picking up his labeled portrait. "He's worked with my Sister Eileen and her mentor in the past on new machinery and labor practices in factories."

"Oh?" Emily carefully took the portrait from Greta's hands. "I largely selected him because he is in favor of whale oil rationing. It is nice to know that he actively works alongside the Abbey."

"A word of warning," interjected the Outsider, holding up portrait of dark-skinned vulpine fellow. "If you select DeLuc, he will not accept the position if you also offer a position to Marius Silva."

"Does this have anything to do with that duel of theirs?" Corvo asked, gazing at the floating Outsider. The deity seemed to chew the inside of his cheek as he thought.

"Which duel do you mean? Was it the one where Silva shot DeLuc's pinky off or the other were DeLuc cut part of Silva's ear off? Or the one that ended with the two men catapulting a cannon ball into the Inchmouth Garden Party? I can go on for days, as could you," The Outsider raised his eyebrows and reclined in the air. "Both men have been rivals in thought and honor for years and will not work with each other for any reason. They are both very capable men, but they rabidly despise each other. So choose the person you prefer and work with them."

Emily frowned mightily at that information, and took the picture of Silva from the Outsider's hands. "Now that is truly a pity. They are both best suited for the positions of Industry and Agriculture. There must be some way to make their rivalry work in my favor."

"You could frame it as a competition," Greta suggested, somewhat uncertain. "When offering you also could imply that the other man tried to dissuade you from reaching out."

Corvo hummed. "That is not such a bad idea," he murmured, pensive. "What do you think Emily?"

"I think it is worth a shot," she replied while jotting down notes on the back of the portraits. "What do you think Outsider?"

The Outsider blinked and went from his reclined position to a sort of arms free headstand, peering down at Emily's notes.

"I think it would be interesting to observe," his answer was evasive. "Perhaps their mutual annoyance with MP Baldwin could heal their decades old rift."

"I was not aware they had met," Corvo added, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"They have not," the Outsider distractedly replied, his dark eyes fastened on the pile labeled 'Minister of Morley'. Intrigued, Greta looked into the pile as well.

There were five candidates, three women and two men. Or was it two women and three men? She picked up the drawing that was confusing her. A striking person with high cheekbones and long blond hair peered back at her with mischievous eyes and lips quirked in a playful smirk.

"You seriously are considering Wyman Fitzpatrick for the position of Minister of Morley?"

The Outsider sounded very displeased and even a little disappointed. Greta blinked and looked at the image again. So this was the Empress' preferred companion. Not a bad choice, if one considers looks alone.

"He's a charming representative," Emily remarked as she reshuffled the piles for Minister of Transport and Medicine, eyes focused on those stacks. "Wyman knows the royalty of Morley very well and has steady ties with the aristocracy."

The Outsider pulled himself upright and drifted down to the other side of the desk, across from Emily. "That is indeed true, Empress. But while his talents lie in being the most charming person in the room and best guest at any party, they fall woefully short in politics. Did you know that Morley was planning a revolt until they got word of your actions?"

Emily's head shot up, a look of surprise on her face. Corvo pushed himself off the wall and strolled over to her side.

"He is right," the Royal Protector said. "It was something I was planning on briefing you on alongside the new Spymaster, but I see that the information should have been revealed sooner."

Greta coughed. "It sounds- to me that is- that Mr. Fitzpatrick is a personable human and fun to be around, and you are trying to direct his talents into a position where he would make an ideal political ally." Emily turned her gaze to her, a blank look on her face. Greta continued to talk. "I can understand wanting to make your partner more supportive, in this case making him a more effective political ally, but that is honestly a terrible idea. The last thing the Isles needs is the Minister of Morley being a fun-loving aristocrat."

Emily only nodded at her words, seeming to take a moment to process them. Greta slowly returned the picture to the pile. It honestly was a terrible idea to install your lover into an official position, especially if you broke things off. Such a move felt uncharacteristic of Emily. Perhaps she was blinded by affection, or was it something else?

"Unless, was he agitating for support in Morley on your behalf?" Greta asked, trying to make sense of Emily's decision to include Wyman in the running for Minister.

"No, that would be Elys Cassidy," the Outsider said, pulling out the picture of a round-faced woman with a mop of curls from the pile. "Fitzpatrick was characteristically silent on the matter."

Emily retrieved Wyman's picture from the pile, a look of consternation appearing on her face. "Characteristically indeed."

Then much to Greta's surprise she folded the drawing in half and tossed it into an open drawer, scowling. Corvo tried and failed to hide his approval behind a mask of bewilderment. The Outsider did not even try to hide his pleasure, his chin tilted forward as he leaned on the desk, arms folded.

"It is good indeed to see you correct that lapse in good judgment," he commented, sounding rather smug.

"Lapse in good judgment indeed," Emily grumbled, discarding the torn picture. "The next time we see each other we will have to talk."

Greta awkwardly stood there, not exactly sure what to say. Knowing that Wyman Fitzpatrick did nothing to aid Emily against Delilah left a bad taste in her mouth, and she certainly agreed that even putting him in the running was a lapse of judgment. Even so, it felt somewhat strange to see Corvo and the Outsider so pleased seeing Wyman slip in regard. She almost felt badly for a man she did not know. In order to ease the nerves that were beginning to grow, Greta turned her attention to another stack, one that only had two options.

"Who are these two?" she held aloft a newspaper print and a silvergraph.

"Those are Marcell Blinker and William Tanalski," Emily replied, a hand on her hip.

"Why choose these two?" Greta pressed. The Outsider tilted his head, very much like a wolfhound, his dark eyes fixed on Emily.

"Both are highly respected judges, and both supported me during the coup at risk of their own life and assets."

Greta opened her mouth to ask another question but Emily held up a finger, prompting her to be silent.

"I find myself preferring Blinker," she continued, pulling her hand back to stroke her chin. "He was the far more vocal out of the two, and he has participated in many high-profile criminal cases in the wake of the Rat Plague."

"In one of them he knowingly condemned an innocent man to death," added the Outsider firmly, a frown on his face. "He might be supportive Empress, but I do not consider him to be a lawful man."

Emily turned to him, a befuddled look on her face. "Nonsense. There is no way Pierre Brown was innocent."

Greta's eyes widened. "Wait, is this the Harpooner's Pub Murders case?"

Corvo grunted in affirmation. "I did not realize that the Oracular Order followed sensational crimes."

"We usually get wrapped up in them because sensational almost always ties into "occult"," Greta replied. "Sister Trotsky asserted in prediction that it was a "Brown shadow" that committed the murders, but since nothing occult was going on, the Abbey did not see fit to report the prediction to the police. She pretty much follows every case we hear about and her words often mean the interference of Overseers or not. "

The Outsider quite suddenly directed his considerable attention to Greta, an incredibly frustrated look on his face. "Your order had a clue that would have meant the capture of the true culprit!"

"Like who, his twin brother?" she suggested half in jest.

"Yes!" cried the Outsider, slamming his hand onto the desk, causing several piles to flutter into a mess. He turned back to Emily, who was trying to fix the stacks. "Blinker knew about Pierre's identical twin, as did the prosecutor. They both knew that his twin had skipped town soon after Pierre was taken in for his crimes. And instead of serving justice, they sent the wrong man to the gallows. He does not deserve his position as high judge, let alone Minister of Justice."

Emily feverishly wrote down everything that was said into a notebook. "Thank you for your input," she muttered as she finished writing. Greta put the two pictures back down on the desk, and Emily sorted them.

"Seven positions narrowed down, seven more to go," she announced cheerfully, gathering up seven of the piles and stacking them one atop another.

The Outsider picked up the label to one of the remaining piles. "Minister of Transport?"

"Somebody must mind all the roads and seaways across the empire," Corvo said as he took a seat in the deck chair and folded his hands across his stomach. "They are also in charge of regulating mail."

A sudden look of amusement appeared on the Outsider's face. "Why I see that MP Anderson has been snubbed from a position he is born to fill."

Emily laughed and Corvo rolled his eyes, while Greta stood there while accepting that this was a joke she was not privy to. Emily turned back to her, her eyes alight in merriment.

"MP Anderson of Poolwick proposed a road from Poolwick to Driscol," she explained cheerfully.

Greta snorted, getting the joke. "Truly he is the best man for the job."

There was a knock on the office door, prompting the Outsider to vanish from sight. Emily looked at the door, somewhat confused. Corvo shot out of his chair and stood beside her, looking rather scary.

"Come in," she invited, her bemusement making it into her permission.

The door swung open and Greta was surprised to see Marzia standing in the threshold, looking very awestruck.

"Begging your pardon Empress!" she squeaked, dropping into a curtsy. "I have been sent to fetch Greta back to the Chapel."

"Oh, alright!" Greta replied, surprised. She thought she had a free afternoon but perhaps she misremembered? She turned to Emily and gave her a wave.

"Thank you for calling upon me Empress. I hope my advice was of use!"

Emily inclined her head and smiled. "It certainly was. Good luck on whatever is taking you from me now."

Greta gave a short bow and joined Marzia. As the two Sisters left Greta turned to her and asked:

"Why were you sent to fetch me anyway?"

"Oh you must have forgotten!" Marzia replied. "We are being asked to meditate on our possible next High Overseer, and write in our predictions to the council in White Cliff."

Greta groaned and smacked her forehead. "That is today! I thought it was happening tomorrow."

Marzia laughed. "You might want to check your calendar after this."

"Definitely."