No Man Rules Alone

I keep on saying this, but it's because it's true: I am so grateful for all of you readers.

Also, there's a small, implied timeskip here, just long enough for the Stadtfelds to arrive in Italy. Cornelia and Lelouch have put off their conversations with their younger siblings for a bit.

They were in the Mediterranean, although it honestly didn't feel too different to the Atlantic they were sailing in previously. The ship was still swaying from side to side as it was rocked by the waves, and if the ship hadn't stopped in Gibraltar to resupply then she probably wouldn't have known the difference. Her father didn't let her wander the docks or anything of that sort, but she heard news through him.

The Viceroy of Italy had launched another expedition, this one against the lords of the North African coast. He didn't take land, but instead demanded an end to piracy in the region, which was a noble motive, she supposed. Her father was certainly building up a rosy picture of the man, and her stepmother was interested in what associating with him could do for their reputations. They seemed to be taking the entire trip in stride, and while Kallen certainly wasn't gawking or anything, she had to admit that they had seen some impressive sights- her actual mother was very impressed by the whole affair as well.

Afterwards, they docked in Sicily, where her father tried to get some information about the Viceroy's whereabouts. Apparently, he was staying in Venice instead of Rome, along with his younger sister. The Sicilian population seemed to like their Viceroy- they had spent the most time under his rule, after all- and their enthusiasm spread to her father. Kallen supposed the Viceroy truly could have won the hearts of the Italian people, but she suspected there was a crueler side to the man- you did not conquer a country through genteel diplomacy and a charming smile, at least not usually.

Her father had no interest in the Italian Parliament, which he thought of as something of a distraction more than anything. He was chasing Lelouch, the real power behind Italy- and as curious as this parliament sounded, Kallen couldn't deny the influence the prince had over his country.

They traveled up the Italian coast, around the heel of the Italian boot, and they hugged the land as they sailed north, passing by the mouth of the Po river as they traveled towards the city of Venice. It was something of a military frontier, she supposed- the border with the Danubians was at the Piave, which flowed into the Adriatic only a few miles east of the city. By the time their ship had reached the famed City of Canals, it was early November- more than enough time for the Viceroy to finish up his adventures, she hoped.

Venice was a bustling city, and they could all see clear signs that the Viceroy was here, or had been recently- those strange paddlewheel ships in the harbor couldn't have belonged to anyone else, after all. Her father was fascinated by the ships, and she had to admit that they were strange- warships were supposed to have big sides full of cannon, not one unusually big gun sitting on top of the decks. She had no idea how the ships worked, honestly, but it was clear that they did, considering that fact that shipwrights were repairing damage to the ships- that meant they were capable of sailing at least, and they may have sustained that damage in battle.

She was a little alarmed when she saw smoke rising from a nearby island, but apparently it was due to fires for glassmaking, which the Viceroy was trying to encourage. Navigating the city was strange, but eventually they managed to find their way to the Doge's Palace, where the Viceroy lived in comfort.

They had to do a bit of waiting around because the Viceroy was apparently busy- whether on actual business or idling around, she wasn't sure- but at the least the guards let them in to avoid the chill outside. There was a strange bit of disparity between the guards- some of them were very traditionally Britannian both in appearance and dress, chests full of gleaming medals, but some of them weren't. Compared to the finery of those guards, the others were wearing relatively plain red shirts without any special ornamentation- only two of them seemed to have any medals, an Italian and Britannian with bright red hair. Speaking of, there was a mix of Italians and more traditionally Britannian looking men among the redshirted soldiers.

Lelouch and Cornelia had been worried about this lunch for a while- not due to the contents of the lunch of course, neither of them had anything against Italian cooking, but rather because they planned on having a discussion with their younger siblings about their roles in the Italian government. Nunnally had already had some experience with ruling in Lelouch's stead, but Cornelia hadn't really delegated any responsibilities to Euphemia before.

As they sat down for lunch, Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Nunnally was handling some paper; although instead of having Sayoko reading it to her she was feeling it with her finger- strange. Of course, Nunnally noticed him before he could get a look at the paper. "Hello big brother, big sister."

"Nunnally, Euphemia." Lelouch sat down as Sayoko brought out their food, which was admittedly rather plain: just polenta and sausage, but none of them really minded. Both Lelouch and Cornelia had gained an appreciation for more common foods while out in the field (it was certainly better than hardtack) and it appealed to his own sense of frugality as well. Plus, good company made the food better.

After a few minutes of silence as they ate, Cornelia spoke up. "Lelouch and I had a conversation while out on campaign, and we wanted to discuss a few things with you."

Euphemia giggled. "That's funny, Nunnally and I wanted to talk about something as well." Her expression grew surprisingly determined. "We're tired of sitting around at home while you two go off and risk your lives!"

Huh. Turns out that Nunnally and Euphemia wanted exactly what Lelouch and Cornelia planned on giving them. How convenient was that? Lelouch grinned. "Well, that was exactly what we wanted to talk to you about, actually. We figured that we should be giving you authority, treating you with the respect you deserve. Especially you, Nunnally. If anything were to happen to me, you'd be the most logical successor, and I should be treating you like it."

"Lelouch…"

"So, if I can ask, what do you have there? The paper, I mean." Nunnally brightened- well, more than usual- and held it up to reveal that it was covered in a bunch of dots. They were raised and covered the paper in dozens of neat, tidy rows.

"I received some mail from a school for the blind in Paris. A student there, a Mister Braille, sent a letter detailing a system of writing where you make these little bumps using a slate and stylus." Lelouch could recognize the value of such a technology in helping the blind- heck, you might be able to use a printing press for such a purpose.

Lelouch chuckled. "Was his letter written in this… Braille style?"

"No, Sayoko had to read it for me, but with a bit of work we adapted it to Italian instead of French. Euphemia's been helping too, reading documents or transcribing them so I can read them."

"Have you been showing Euphemia the ropes?"

Nunnally nodded. "Some budgeting, mainly. You're really cutting things close with the budget this year, aren't you?"

Cornelia sighed. "How much did you spend on this campaign, exactly? Admittedly, while I know my way around logistics, I've never had to deal with the budgeting aspect."

"I will remind that we are still in the black this year."

Euphemia quirked her head. "In the black?"

Lelouch chuckled. "Sorry, It's an accounting term. Positive values are written in black, negative values in red. So if your final number is red, you're in a bit of trouble."

"How expensive is war, exactly?"

Lelouch took a sip of water. "Very. Every ounce of provender must be bought or looted, weapons must be procured and the men must be salaried. Guns, shot, cannon… powder is tricky too."

"Why? Doesn't everyone use it?"

"Well that's just the problem, isn't it? Some of the ingredients are hard to come by. Sure, any man with an axe and a nearby forest could get charcoal, but saltpeter and sulfur… well, Sicily's volcanoes mean there's no shortage of sulfur. The third ingredient though..."

Cornelia spoke up. "India is one of the best places in the world to get the stuff. Company ships use it as ballast, but even then there's still not enough. The other methods to get saltpeter aren't… that savory." Her nose wrinkled.

"What's so bad about them?"

Lelouch laughed. "It's… not the sort of thing we should discuss over lunch, so to say."

"Oh."

"You can find some in caves too. On an unrelated budget note, we're going to be sending steam engines to some of the Barbary Lords… Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. They might do some canning, we think?"

"Canning?"

"A Frenchmen discovered that cooking food in a sealed jars keeps it fresh, and it would certainly be better than hardtack on the march or at sea."

"How were the Beys… as people?"

Lelouch shrugged. "They all seemed fine enough. We had some issues with a few of them and had to fight off some pirates, but things turned out well."

Cornelia snorted. "Turned out well, he says. You threatened to shell Algiers and the Bey nearly hit you with a fly swatter!"

Nunnally and Euphemia both started giggling at that. "A fly swatter, really?"

"I assure you, I dodged it."

"They don't sound as regal as I expected…"

"They're men first and foremost, and I met them in bad circumstances. I wouldn't expect perfect decorum, considering they were staring down an enemy fleet."

Euphemia sighed. "There isn't a better way?"

"They sponsored piracy, Euphemia. They had made their peace with using violence for economic ends."

Nunnally and Euphemia were silent for a moment, before the former spoke up. "So, what do we plan on doing now?"

"Well, quite a few things, but in the short term I want to focus on public works and the economy, as broad as that is. I've put some money into it, but I think we could work on the rails, perhaps?"

"You have a lot of faith in Asplund, Lelouch." Cornelia said.

"He hasn't disappointed me so far. Rails are already used for cargoes- maybe one day we could travel the length of Italy by rail? It would be an enjoyable trip."

"But running a country is more than just numbers, isn't it? I mean, I can do my sums already, and I presume it's more than that." Euphemia chuckled.

"No man can run a state by himself- even our… venerable father depends on thousands of other people. I suppose if one boils it down, government is the matter of keeping those people with power below you happy with you."

"Father certainly likes to give the impression he rules alone… his word is law and all that."

"Am I not a Viceroy? I rule Italy in father's stead, don't I? Father can't be passing judgment for every crime committed in all of England, can he? If he had to personally send every thief to van Diemen's land, nothing would ever get done. The parliament does a lot of those things for me, admittedly."

Before any of his sisters could respond, they were interrupted by knocking at the door. Lelouch turned. "What's the matter?"

A soldier peaked in. "You have visitors, your highness. A noble and his family."

"Let them in in a few moments, would you?" Lelouch turned to Euphemia and Nunnally. "Well, keeping people under you happy would include the nobility, even if Italy doesn't have nobles like in the homeland. Let's see what they have to say, shall we?"

After some waiting, they were lead to the Viceroy, and Kallen was a little surprised to see that he was accompanied by three women- presumably his sisters. The Viceroy rose from his seat and greeted her father. "Lord Stadtfeld. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm flattered that you've traveled all this way to see me."

Her father's chest puffed up with pride, happy to be recognized, although Kallen suspected that Lelouch didn't know his family name off the top of his head and instead just had someone look it up- her father was proudly wearing his coat of arms, after all. "Your highness. We've heard so much about your exploits."

Lelouch chuckled. "I suppose you have- was it at Gibraltar?" He gave another one of his smiles, and admittedly he was charming and even fairly attractive, in a sort of effeminate, delicate way. The black hair, the purple eyes, the Italian features- Kallen hadn't seen anyone quite like him before.

"We heard news of your more recent exploits in North Africa as well as tales of your victories in Italy. Did you truly defeat one of Napoleon's marshals in battle?"

"Beauharnais? Yes. It was one of the only major battles I've participated in, near Siena, but if you really want to hear war stories, I'm sure my sister Cornelia would be happy to regale you." The woman with the purple hair- that was strange, although Kallen supposed she couldn't go throwing stones- chuckled, although Kallen couldn't help but notice the sword at her hip: a long, practical looking saber in a plain sheath. Lelouch himself was unarmed.

Her father scrambled to properly greet the Viceroy's siblings, and Lelouch introduced the three. Of course, Cornelia was the martial looking woman with purple hair, the gentle looking girl with the beautiful pink hair was named Euphemia, and the last girl, the one with brown hair and Italian features, was named Nunnally, and she was Lelouch's full blooded sister, and not just a half sibling. Kallen noticed that Nunnally hadn't so much as opened her eyes during the entire time- was she blind?

"So what brings you and your family to Italy, Lord Stadtfeld? I'm sorry to say that if you're looking for a role in the administration or even a fief, you'll be disappointed."

"It took quite a while for news of your conquest to reach Japan-" The Viceroy's eyes seemed to widen at that, "and I wanted to see if I could get into the Italian trade." Lelouch smiled broadly.

"You have experience with trade? Do you perhaps know a Lord Ashford? He's been a great help in establishing trade with the homeland. In fact, he's there now, selling glass and wine."

The Viceroy and Kallen's father descended into chattering about trade goods and tariffs- her stepmother was thoroughly uninterested, and Kallen had to agree with her on that front. Cornelia didn't seem interested, but Euphemia and Nunnally were paying rapt attention.

As their conversation drew to a close, her father perked up. "Oh, my apologies! I had a gift for you, your highness!" He pulled out a fine book and gave it to the Viceroy, who accepted it with a bit of a confusion.

"The Art of War? The gift is greatly appreciated, but if this is the work of Machiavelli, Dell'arte della guerra, I already know it well."

Lord Stadtfeld chuckled. "What a coincidence! The title may be the same, but this a translation of a famed and ancient Chinese text, by a Master Sun."

"Interesting. Your gift is appreciated, Lord Stadtfeld. I hope your business fares well, and do look out for the cholera- boiling your water would help."

At least the Viceroy valued brevity, Kallen was honestly expecting this whole meeting to last a little longer, but Lelouch was an efficient man- or maybe he just wanted to be alone with his family without her father interfering. Kallen had to wonder what it was like, having siblings; technically, she did have an older brother, Naoto, but he died as a baby.

They were preparing to leave when one of the Viceroy's house servants came inside the room, carrying drinks. That wasn't the sort of thing that would normally be unusual, but Kallen could tell immediately that the woman was from Japan, and she spoke out to the woman, in Japanese. "Are you… Japanese?"

The maid's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, I am. I was born and raised there before I moved here. Were you raised in Japan?"

"Yes, in Dejima." Kallen could feel everyone else in the room staring, but finding another Japanese person, in Italy of all places- what were the chances? It was probably a little rude to speak in Japanese when no one in the room could speak it other than her father, but she couldn't really bring herself to care.

"The Ashfords employed me at Dejima- I suppose that's not much of a coincidence, considering it's the only European port." Kallen was tempted to ask her more questions, but she could see the looks her father was sending her. Maybe staying in Venice wouldn't be so bad after all.

After the Stadtfeld family had left, presumably to find some more permanent lodgings to base their enterprises from, Nunnally turned to Sayoko. "Was that Japanese?"

"Yes. The young lady Stadtfeld was at the least raised in Japan, in Dejima to be more specific. And, if I may be honest, I suspect she's Japanese by blood as well."

"Curious. I suppose the young lady must be Lord Stadtfeld's heir?"

Euphemia smiled. "She's awfully pretty, isn't she?"

Lelouch shrugged. "I would suppose so. I'm too busy to be married, if that's what you're implying. Not to mention our father's policy on marriage." Lelouch stood up. "Plus, my one true love is paperwork, after all."

Having three extra pairs of hands did help with the paperwork, even if Nunnally required a bit of assistance from Sayoko. As amazing as something like standardized use of Braille's system would be, he had to admit that it would be a tremendous change for very little reward.

Nunnally looked up at him. "So… what about these letters you're getting from the Empire of the Danube, Lelouch?"

Lelouch chuckled. "I have… some friends across the border, you might say."

"Lelouch." Cornelia gave him a look.

He sighed. "I have some contacts in the region- Italian dissidents. Metternich asked me to crack down on those sorts of societies in Italy, but instead I just encouraged them to be less violent. Information from the inside would be a lot more useful to me than any short term chaos caused by rebellion."

"That's… pragmatic of you." Cornelia was currently reading through the reports as well. Lelouch had to admit she was the resident expert on this sort of large scale military operation.

"The structure's already there. Better to exploit it than let it go to waste."

Nunnally turned to Lelouch. "Do you think there will be war with the Empire of the Danube?"

Lelouch sighed. "I suppose that either side would have a cause for war. I could probably claim land past the Piave, which is mostly Italian, and the Habsburgs still have a claim on lands like Lombardy, but I think they're content with that they have now."

"Still, their army is much bigger than ours, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but solving that will take time. The military is still one of our big expenses, and while we could afford to increase the army's size if we stopped paying the Danube their dues equipping more men would be an issue."

"Have you considered distributing rifles more widely?" Cornelia questioned.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"If you can't form a larger professional army, then the least you could do is encourage militias or the like. Integrate it closely, of course, but make sure that the average Italian knows his way around a rifle. You could encourage sharpshooting, maybe?"

That was a pretty good idea, honestly. He had encouraged production of rifles in Sicily to make sure his initial Italian campaign was well supplied, and even then demand outpaced supply and he had to depend on muskets. Ramping up production to sell to the Italian people would definitely be a good idea.

Euphemia spoke up. "That idea might work with other things too. Militias are managed on a more local level, right? What if we encourage the same sort of… cooperation with other things?"

"Like…" Lelouch encouraged her.

"It would almost be something like a guild, maybe? Encourage, say, all the farmers in a region to get together and cooperate, not only so they can help each other, but also because it would make communicating with the farmers a lot easier."

"Something like the unions back in the homeland? If I remember correctly, trade unions are still illegal."

Euphemia grinned. "Lots of things are allowed in Italy that aren't allowed in Britannia, aren't they? It's like a militia, right? Wouldn't you want these sort of organizations connected to the government, if they have to exist?"

"That would definitely be a way to help the south."

"What's wrong with the south?"

"Nothing's wrong with it per se, but the Mezzogiorno is more rural, and I don't want it to fall behind."

Euphemia looked up with excitement. "Do you think we could visit, maybe? You know, show the people that their Viceroy cares enough to visit?"

Lelouch smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea. We'd have to take some precautions, of course, but I'd love to show you Italy. Oh, and you and Cornelia might want to learn the language."

"You're not going to teach us?"

"It would be a pleasure to."

It took a bit more convincing to get Cornelia to agree to a trip down south, but Euphemia's enthusiasm was so obvious she couldn't refuse. Lelouch figured that if he was going to visit, they might as well make a trip of it, really get some work done.

Normally, if he wanted to get to Naples as fast as possible, Lelouch would use a boat to travel at least part of the way, but if they were going to do a tour he wanted to see more of the country, towns like Padua or Ravenna, maybe? The eastern coast of the Italian Peninsula may have been most famed for Venice, but it was dotted with a number of towns that were under his rule, with the exception of the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. They weren't really a threat, but fostering good relations with the microstate couldn't hurt.

He supposed that for a trip like this, the best thing to use would be a carriage, and they would probably bring one along for Nunnally's sake, and in case the riding got too rough. Cornelia and Lelouch were more experienced riders who rode for long stretches during campaign, and Euphemia herself had some experience with riding as well. Even Nunnally had done a bit of riding before, although Lelouch would probably be fretting down the length of the country if she spent too much time outside of the carriage. They might be able to wrap it up with a trip to Rome- if his sisters were going to get involved in the government, they needed to see the parliament in action.

Of course, they were going to bring a great number of guards along, Jeremiah included, and Lelouch was grateful that most of Cornelia's men knew how to ride- unsurprisingly, Britannian peasants tended towards not knowing how to ride horses.

It was going to be a while before they departed, so Lelouch had a few more discussions with Lord Stadtfeld, who was looking into Italian goods, hoping to find something he make money off of. He was fascinated by the glassworks in the same way Lord Ashford was (not that Lelouch could blame him) and Lelouch hadn't given him a monopoly or anything, so Stadtfeld hoped to get in on the business, as well as exploiting recently opened North African markets.

By the time Schneizel had arrived, Ankara had long since fallen to the forces of the Pasha, who had apparently decided to winter at the city before making his way to Constantinople proper. His army had set up camp around the city, and it was certainly a sight. This confirmed it- there was no way the Sultan could push him back as things were. The soldiers looked competent and well drilled, and were clearly in high spirits as they waited to march on the Sultan.

Promises of Russian or Britannian support could definitely impact the Pasha's plans, but even then they couldn't stop him if he just decided to throw a coup- they would eventually stop him, but not immediately. Schneizel hoped to bribe him into submission- the revolt had originally started over the Levant, so giving him control of Greater Syria while still keeping him under Ottoman rule might work out. If he started demanding regime change or independence, things would be getting dicey.

Securing all of Egypt and Syria for himself and potentially his descendants would be no small feat, and hopefully Schneizel could spin it in a way that kept him happy with Britannia. The Sultan wasn't accompanying them for fairly obvious reasons, but they did bring along a few diplomats who would be acting in his stead.

The Pasha had taken residence in the city proper, and held court with a collection of officers and advisors that helped maintain his tremendous campaign. Schneizel and his companions were ushered in, under guard.

Funnily, the first thought Schneizel had when he looked at the Pasha was that he had a beard that put Emperor Charles to shame. The Pasha had a similar sort of air about him as well, and his subordinates clearly revered him.

The Pasha smiled. "Welcome. I suppose you must be representatives of the other powers?"

Schneizel nodded. "Yes. I am Schneizel el Britannia, Britannian ambassador to Russia, and my companions are representatives of the Sultan and the young Tsar's regent, respectively."

"A pleasure. Have you come to negotiate terms?" Schneizel was suddenly reminded of his younger brother Lelouch- the Pasha had the same sort of swagger that Lelouch had when he was confident in winning a chess match. Of course, that same heady confidence could be misplaced- Lelouch had never won against Schneizel after all- but Schneizel didn't know the Pasha the way he knew his brother.

"You started the war over Syria… is that all you want?"

"Greater Syria along with making my rule over the region hereditary." That was certainly a demand, but it was manageable. The Pasha knew when to stop, which was a fairly good sign, but that sort of long term planning and ambition… Schneizel didn't like it.

Well, Schneizel couldn't raise too much of a fuss without irritating the Pasha so he was probably going to have to agree just for the sake of the Suez. Of course, that didn't mean that they couldn't come back and sabotage the Pasha later- wouldn't want the man getting funny ideas.

Bonaparte received mail from the mainland once more, although it was also accompanied by a strange package, long and cylindrical. Unwrapping it revealed a sort of cylinder composed of a number of small, spinning disks which were marked with letters of the alphabet in random order. Idly, he noticed that each disk had a number on it, one through thirty, and they weren't sorted in numerical order. Curious, sure, but the best way to find out what the object's purpose was to read Lelouch's letter. He opened it up and…

LAKMVOLPD, SL JKIEZQ MNBZXCV YUNH…

He put the paper down, his brows furrowed in confusion. Okay, clearly something was up, and the letter was written in a code, a code that the writer believed he had the tools to crack. His first thought was that it was somehow related to the collection of disks he had been sent, which had letters on its side. He took a look at the length of the letter and then the thirty disks on the cylinder, this was probably going to take a while. He grabbed a pen and got to work.

If you're reading this then you've used the disks to decrypt my message. This is a code system I hope to introduce in the future, and the key to it all is the order of the disks. As long as only you and I know the correct order to put these disks into, we can speak of more sensitive subjects with ease. You can mess around with the order of the disks if you please; although you must make sure that you know the proper order to put them in, but don't just leave it lying around either. In large part, this letter is devoted to making sure you have everything in order. I wouldn't want to put anything incriminating here, where the decryption tool is basically attached. Please respond- in code, of course.

Bonaparte chuckled and grabbed some paper. This was a curious system, and he did have to admit that it would be very useful, and it would be even more interesting if he had more people to write to.

The Alps were an incredible defensive asset- sure, they weren't impenetrable, but Lelouch wasn't going to let such a massive advantage pass him by. Mountains were naturally unwieldy, but that was something that you could work around.

While he probably wasn't going to start on these projects immediately, there were a lot of things you could do to adapt to mountains. Getting heavier artillery up there was a tremendous pain, which was both a blessing and a curse, considering that the enemy couldn't do the same. Rockets were easy to move around in the mountains, much easier than trying to haul a siege piece up a massive slope, but there were other solutions if rockets weren't your style.

In the rugged lands of Persia swivel guns, like those mounted on ships, were occasionally mounted on camels, presenting an intimidating combination of maneuvering ability and firepower. Of course, you weren't going to be knocking down fortresses with swivel guns, but it was something. Lelouch thought that was interesting- he may now have camels on hand, but he had other ideas.

Perhaps they could use a mule to carry something like a Coehorn mortar- a comparatively light piece that could still be used for sieges- in a cart, perhaps? The pieces could weigh less than 200 pounds- maybe they could move the mortars around on a mule's back? Of course, firing a mortar on an animal's back was a bad idea, but that sort of flexibility would be powerful, especially in the Alpine passes.

Artillery did not win battles alone, of course, and infantry would be key as well. Perhaps they could specially train some men (or just recruit them from villages and towns near the Alps) to work as Alpine soldiers… Alpini, possibly. Focusing on marksmanship would probably be a good idea as well, and they had rifles to spare for this sort of thing.

More long term, Lelouch wanted to equip the men with tools like shovels and hatchets, and they could make a factory for that sort of thing, but that probably wasn't going to happen in the short term. Lelouch had an interesting idea about what the army could do with lumber, something more than just defensive works…

Britannia, or at least its government, had a long fascination with military technology and making sure that they were as well armed as they could possibly be. They generated no shortage of military inventions on their own, but weren't afraid to… borrow from their enemies, in cases like Congreve rockets.

A prince from the region of Mysore had adopted rockets to fight the Britannians, and while he didn't succeed the rockets proved effective enough to be adopted. Of course, they weren't perfect weapons- they were very unwieldy, and even the smallest size looked more like a pike, the body of the rocket on top of a stick that was at least eight feet in length, if not longer for the larger rockets. The sticks were required to aim the rocket and keep it stable, and even then they weren't very accurate. In fact, the strange shape of the rockets was the reason behind their names- they bore a passing resemblance to a spindle you might use to spin thread, and the Italian word for "little spindle" was rocchetto. Of course, rockets were a little harder to manage than spindles were.

"Damn things are as wild as bucks."

"If only there was some way to make the things more accurate."

"Maybe all we need to do is spin them like bullets in a rifle."

"That… might just work."

Stabilizing a rocket without the guidestick would be incredible, and would make the largest rockets a lot more practical. The question was what to replace it with. They might be able to just it get spinning using the rocket's own fuel- have a bit of the exhaust go off to the side in a way that would send it into a spin. Or was it possible that some sort of specialized fletching at the end could achieve the same ends?

Of course, they knew that the Britannian government would be very interested in rockets that were more accurate than usual.

Discovering that Machiavelli wrote his own Art of War was wild- it's also written as a dialogue, weirdly enough. There was a 1770s translation of the Chinese one into French by a Jesuit, but it took longer for it to be translated into English, or at least for Wikipedia to note one.

I was considering using the word "sidelines" during the sibling's conversation… but it's a soccer term and rules weren't really codified for years our story. Clubs existed and the like, but no football association. Plus, would a royal know the terms of a sport like that?

The discussion of unions, other than addressing an issue that would get big in the future, was also inspired by this thing called the Grange. It's a very US history thing, basically a sort of fraternal organization for farmers. I'm not going to start talking about my personal politics here, but I think there's a lot to be said for letting people manage themselves, to cooperate together. Plus, Solidarity Forever is a bop. I hope to write a fic that will let me explore syndicalism one day, as if anyone would read that- or maybe I just need to bait everyone in before hitting them with them with the trade unions, like how I reeled you all in with Lelouch before smacking you with 1820s trivia.

About Nunnally riding horses- riding is an Paralympic sport, so there's that, and I suppose if the horse is guided there's not an issue with the blindness. Some blind people ride horses recreationally.