It was a bit shorter and lighter than the current fashion of dresses, a bit more revealing, but still tasteful enough. I pecked her on the cheek as I climbed up into the carriage, "Pervert," I shook my head, I checked my watch, a Dwemer artifact that my sister had pulled out of a ruin somewhere in Morrowind. Since I had taken to wearing one, they'd become a bit of a fad in the upper echelons of the nobility, something my sister abhorred because it sent amateurs digging around her ruins without proper training or care.
According to the device, I'd used up any time we'd made up thanks to the light traffic. I'd partially expected that, Dibella is not a goddess for quick stops, she is a goddess that savors her relations with her followers. Still, "We'd best hurry along," I thought to Cassie. She obliged and pulled the coach onto the road. I settled back into my seat and started on the pile of papers awaiting me, again, gathered by Cassie during my prayers.
The first was a report detailing our current finances, very strong of course, no real changes but a daily update was a matter of course more than anything. The next was the final property transfer form for some land that I'd picked up, it was worthless now, but once the aqueduct project passed the Elder Council, it would be rich fertile land that would guarantee a massive return on my investment. The aqueduct project was ostensibly supposed to die on the Council table, hence why the land had gone for so cheap.
Then again, Dibella was also the Goddess of creativity, and some creative nudges to the right people on my part had turned the project from a dead proposal into a certainty. The next report was a request from one of the merchant houses we controlled for capital to invest in the long term sourcing of some type of fish that was considered a delicacy of Hammerfell and was being served at all of the major banquets right now. I'd tasted it, it was abysmal, the only reason it was being eaten was because the Countess of Chorrol and her cadre had claimed it to be a flavor that only those of a refined palate could enjoy. No one wanted to admit it tasted horrible and run the risk of appearing uncouth, hence it became a fad. Something new would replace it within a month.
I set that aside, scribbling a note in the margin to remember to write a polite refusal later. Another was an update from a small initiative that I was funding. A small research collective of mages, herbalists, farmers, and alchemists working on methods to restore land in Morrowind that was destroyed after the Red Mountain eruption. They still weren't having much success, but it was a no lose situation, my investment was tiny relative to most I made, it cost me almost nothing. If they were successful, it would be an astounding profit, if they weren't, they still might discover something of value, failing that, it still made for more allies that could come in handy later.
There latest idea involved a massive windstorm to blow the ash away, they were confident that with enough resources, they could do it. The problem was finding a way to keep it from blowing away the topsoil as well. I made a note to make another contribution and to speak with Larius, the head of the project to discuss other possibilities. At worst it would prove an interesting conversation.
This was what I did. Father and Laelia went off to war for the empire, little Aurelia dug history out of one ruin after another, and I played the games of coin and court to keep everything running smoothly. It was a job I inherited from my mother. Antonetta Gavius, scion of a merchant family, Factor of the East Empire Trading Company, Devout of Dibella. She had handled the family finances before me, using father's glory and her own wit to secure a seat on the board of the EETC, raising our family's wealth to a truly obscene level, and granting my father three brilliant daughters if I do say so myself. It was this last task that proved too much for her.
And since her passing, the duty fell to me.
I was pulled out of my ruminations by the jolt of the stopping carriage. Cassie opened the door and I stepped out onto the street in front of the Porticus of Lady Livia Cerona, niece of the Count of Skingrad, and fellow Devout of Dibella, the affair was ostensibly to raise money for young up and coming artists, it was the duty of the Devout to aid in the creation of beauty whenever possible after all.
"Will you be needing anything further for the event my lady?" Cassie's face was the picture of a devoted servant, very well masking what the fact that she was really asking me if I would be needing her to perform any of the usual black bag antics that accompanied these events. Theft, assassination, espionage, the usual background for these sorts of events.
"No, that shouldn't be necessary, it is my understanding that this is to be a simple get-together of friends." Translation, there weren't going to be any real power players there except for Livia and myself, thus there was no need for the usual behind-the-scenes work that usual occurred at these things.
Cassie nodded and took the carriage, presumably to go and share a skin of wine with the other coachmen. Gossip was like currency in the circles I travelled in and I never missed an opportunity to pick up an extra bit. Servants with a bit of wine in them could spill all sorts of interesting things.
I approached the entrance, this was an informal affair so there was no herald to introduce me, only two armed guards to keep the riff-raff out. After a cursory look at my invitation, they escorted me into the gardens where the affair was actually being held.
Almost as soon as I had set foot into the gardens, I heard her, "Bella!"
A second later I was wrapped in the tight embrace of a slightly shorter girl, an embrace that I returned whole heartedly. She went up on her toes to kiss me. "It's good to see you too Livie, I'm so sorry that I missed your twenty first, there was a situation in Sentinel that required my personal attention." I pulled away slightly and planted a kiss on both of her cheeks. "The Crowns and the Forebears," I said, shaking my head, "You know how it is."
She didn't actually, the girl had never been outside of Cyrodiil. It was a firm reminder of just how little my parents had sheltered us in comparison to other nobility. Granted Livia had been more sheltered than most. But my international experience was one of the things that Livia admired about me, and a little push on my more admirable aspects never hurt.
She stared at me, "Don't worry about it, you'll have to tell me everything. I did miss you though." Her doe eyes went wide with awe, how in Dibella's name would this girl survive at court without me.
"I missed you too, and I will, later." I released her and surveyed the guests, "But for now I have to work the crowd." I spun her by the shoulder, "And for that matter so do you." I gave her a gentle push on the rump, sending her off with a giggle.
I shook my head, a little more sincerity slipping into my smile. Unlike many of my political allies, I actually liked Livia. There was something about her innocence and awe of everything at court that I found rather refreshing. I'd initiated her into the Devout myself, so I suppose I felt a touch of protectiveness toward her.
The crowd was mostly made up of Livia's circle, nobles too old to be considered children anymore but too young to have any real responsibilities. Thus their parents handled all of the matters of importance while they played their own smaller version of the game. Livia herself was only a real player due to the passing of her parents in the last bout of the Red Death, leaving her to run their estate.
None of her friends held any real power, but they were good for gossip and entertainment. And the children of the powerful had much looser lips in the presence of a person of experience and scandal such as myself. Thus I made my way through their little cliques gaining their attention with an anecdote or a cutting witticism and picking up bits of knowledge out of their grumblings about their parents and their attempts to impress me in return.
And there was plenty to be gleaned from that, Lady Gratillin denied her son a trip to Elsweyr, meaning she was in trouble with the Skooma cartels again. Lord Krexer wouldn't allow his daughter to use the family summer home for her twentieth, so he had likely had another conjuring misadventure and was hiding it there. The son of the high priestess of Mara's temple in the Imperial city had apparently caught his mother in bed with a priestess of Dibella. I had to hold back laughter at that, we have much more effective ways of conversion than other Devout of the Divine. Particularly interesting was Lord Cedonia apparently demanding his eldest son take up more responsibilities of the family's seat on the EETC.
"Lady Augustus." The voice interrupted me as I was in the middle of regaling an enraptured cluster of nobles with the story of how I convinced a werelion to become the bodyguard of the merchant whose trade routes he'd been menacing. All lies of course, my oath of secrecy on the real story still holds for another five years.
I turned to see a young man, slightly older than the rest of this crowd, probably a year or two younger than me. He wore the exquisitely tailored clothing of high nobility, but appeared quite awkward and uncomfortable in them. He stood, most likely without noticing himself, at parade rest. The top of a tattoo of the sigil of Akatosh poked out of his collar. An educated guess, he was a junior officer fresh back from a posting abroad.
"Yes praefect?" He seemed taken aback for a moment, but regained his composure with admirable quickness.
"I was wondering if I could borrow you for a moment. A painter under my family's patronage recently finished a piece depicting the victory of the Fourteenth Legion at the Velothi Pass. He included the aid that the Vi Tempestatis provided, and I thought you might enjoy a private viewing." I offered him a sweet smile, he really wasn't good at this, his weak justification to get me alone was almost adorable.
I saw no reason not to see where this went, "I would love to see this." I made my apologies and joined the young officer in walking out of the gardens into a small side room with two couches placed across a table from each other. Without being told, I sat on one of the couches. On the table sat a carafe of coffee.
And on the opposite couch sat the Count of Bravil.
...
This one's a bit longer, but we're picking up steam pretty well.
Other than that, just R&R guys
Later people.