Captain Laren Mapstone sighed heavily as she leant backwards against the stone ballustrade. It had been a long week, with several Council meetings that had gone through the night, and they had just finished such a meeting that resolved some of the final decisions in dealing with this whole mess. But instead of being allowed to return to her bed, the king had dragged her up here for some fresh air.
Behind them the dawn was breaking with what was probably a spectacular sunrise, but she wasn't interested in that right now. She risked a glance at Zachary's profile as he stood beside her. He had what she called his Intrigue face on, and she couldn't detect any sign of emotion, apart from the way his shoulders sagged slightly.
"I can't believe I pushed you into nearly marrying that man's daughter."
"You were doing what you thought was best Laren, I don't blame you for all this."
You should, she thought to herself silently. When was the last time she really thought about what he needed as a person, as a man? She had done her best to think of what was right by the kingdom, knowing how he hated schemes and intrigues, so she had tried to scheme on his behalf, to somehow make up for what his utter nobility of character made so distasteful to him. She had seen it as a weakness. But had this contract of marriage gone ahead, not only would the kingdom have suffered from the manipulation and control of Lord Coutre, but Zachary would have suffered too.
"No Moonling, I should have trusted your judgement."
He appeared to accept this apology, and for a while they looked up at the starry sky in silence, each lost in thought.
Eventually, as he showed no sign of talking, she ventured a question.
"So… What now?"
"What now? We've dealt with Coutre. We get some sleep. We go back to looking after the interests of our people."
She acknowledged the gentle rebuke with an incline of her head, knowing he knew she'd been trying to look out for him. As she'd always done. That was why she had to ask this question; someone else would be asking it before long.
"No Zachary, now we've dealt with Coutre - towards whom I have to say you've been rather too forgiving - you know the council will still pressure you to marry?"
"True… But hopefully not today Laren. Perhaps eventually… someone from Huradesh?"
They both laughed, knowing that if there was anything the council liked less than the idea of the king marrying a commoner, it was the idea of the king marrying a suspicious foreigner.
Zachary looked thoughtful before saying, "You know, I think the council might relax their view on who the king can marry. I think it's occurred to some of them that the idea of one of the other nobles getting the upper hand is something avoidable here…"
Laren smirked. Of course the only time the nobles would be able to stomach progress was when they realised they could get a better deal for themselves.
It struck Laren suddenly that Zachary had been rather too accepting of the idea of not marrying Estora. So if not Estora, then who?
Zachary, apparently recognising that his old friend was beginning to look a little too thoughtful, began again.
"Laren, do you really think I was too lenient on Lord Coutre?"
Lauren sighed. Of course he would second-guess himself.
"As I said – As did half your advisors – you could have chosen to have him executed for treason. Even though no direct act had been committed, with the paper we, er, obtained, along with Lord Arey's testimony, it would have been perfectly reasonable to do so."
It was now the kjng's turn to sigh as he scrubbed his hand down his face wearily. "I know Laren. I hope my people know I don't make these decisions lightly. But from my experience with people like Alaistair Coutre, it is better to take away their power, split them from their allies, than to give their neighbors and loved ones a martyr, a reason to unite with the Crown as their common enemy. As much as I dislike leaving Coutre in charge of his province, we have taken away his provincial militia entirely, leaving him to the mercy of Lord Bairdly, who I think he will find has a new respect for the king."
Lord Bairdly's surprisingly timid son had been appointed apprentice Assistant to the Castellan, and was proving rather adept.
Laren's mouth pursed again, causing Zachary to laugh. "I know you don't approve. I haven't forgotten this game of intrigue is real. But isn't it better to have the players on the board where you can see them, rather than inviting new players with new, unknown rules to align against you? If there's anything I've learnt from this whole series of events, it's that you must take life and make what you will of it – because if you become intimidated by the other players in the game, you've lost already."
He gave her a sudden grin and turned abruptly to descend down the stone staircase, followed by two weapons who materialised out of the shadows. Laren stayed still for a moment, pondering. That last look on his face, it was different somehow, something in it that reminded her of a much younger Zachary, a lightness in his tread as he left her.
And she realized what it was.
Hope.
So that's the last little bit to finish off this idea - just a bit of fun really. Hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, review and let me know! I may come back to this Kitty-verse at some stage - or if there's some other part of GR that you wish Kitty had been there to save the day, let me know and I'll give it a go. I'm also open to any prompts for little drabble bits... I have to admit I'm rather fond of what I did with Lords Arey, Bairdly and Coutre so if I get some ideas for them that would be fun too. (did you notice their initials spell A, B, C? Don't know if our esteemed author did that on purpose, but I found it amusing anyway.) Bye for now - AM
