PoV Moiraine
Your Majesty,
You are cordially invited to an intimate dinner I am hosting this evening. Lord Barthanes Damodred and Lady Colavaere Saighan are the only other guests. It is my hope to discuss a sensitive matter with you, after the dinner.
Sincerely,
Moiraine.
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Lord Damodred,
You are cordially invited to an intimate dinner I am hosting this evening. His Majesty, the King Galldrian Riatin and Lady Coalvaere Saighan are the only other guests. It is my hope to discuss a sensitive matter with you, after the dinner.
Sincerely,
Moiraine.
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Lady Saighan,
You are cordially invited to an intimate dinner I am hosting this evening. His Majesty, the King Galldrian Riatin and Lord Barthanes Damodred are the only other guests. It is my hope to discuss a sensitive matter with you, after the dinner.
Sincerely,
Moiraine.
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Moiraine reread the three letters, nodded to herself in satisfaction, succinct and a bit mysterious, they will do.
Moiraine embraced the True Source, weaved together miniscule Flows of Air and Fire, dried out the ink, released Saidar. Sealed the letters with bright blue wax, impressed the wax with her Great Serpent ring. And handed the letters to Lan.
Lan took the letters, but raised his eyebrow in a sardonic manner, his unasked, 'are you sure?', hung in the air between them. Moiraine gave a crooked smirk and shrugged in answer. With an exasperated sigh Lan stuffed the letters in his coat pocket and left the room.
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For the past month, Galldrian and Barthanes have been avoiding her. Several of their cronies among the Lords and Ladies came by for a cup of tea and conversation, the conversation which is mostly about subtly questioning her intentions for coming to Cairhein. Several of two men's eyes and ears keep a watch on her constantly.
But the men themselves were very careful not to step within a hundred feet of her. Moiraine would have been flattered if it was not so annoying. Even so, she put the time they gave her to good use. Moiraine got a handle on who these men are.
Apparently Barthanes is a fitting heir to Laman, not just materially, but spiritually too. Barthanes has the same flaw Laman did, he is consumed by the present, it does not matter to Barthanes what he is losing tomorrow, if he can 'win' today, and that attitude made him 'friends' in places both low and high, the type of 'friends' who apparently helped in making him the second most powerful man in the Kingdom, when less than a decade ago he was just another irrelevant scion of House Damodred among many.
Moiraine wondered what price those 'friends' would demand of Barthanes, once the time comes. Moiraine already decided to put Barthanes under greater surveillance.
Galldrian on the other hand is quite opposite of Laman, Galldrian is obsessed with legacy, apparently the folly of repairing the Topless Towers came about in pursuit of such legacy. The king wants to be remembered as the Greatest King of Cairhein there ever was. The free food and the endless entertainment for the Foregaters was not just a policy to keep them placated, but in a way, it is Galldrian's attempt at buying the peoples love. Another foolish endeavour, a king buying their subjects love, the best any leader can hope from is his followers respect and loyalty born out of that respect.
Even so, Galldrian and Barthanes alongside Colavaere will do for what she planned. And they would be coming to the dinner. Nobody and nothing can stop Lan from delivering those letters, there is a quality of implacability to Lan, like a boulder rolling down a mountain. And it is near impossible to say no to Lan's face, not when he had that look in his ice-chip eyes that said, 'do you have the backbone to look me in the eye and say no? Really?'.
They won't say no to the invitation anyway, not when their rivals might just conspire with an Aes Sedai, she did say the dinner is to be an intimate affair after all, and when an Aes Sedai wanted privacy, she has the means to ensure it.
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Moiraine stood outside her rooms with the doors open at the appointed time, with Lan at her shoulder.
Barthanes was the first one to arrive, dressed in tuninc striped with Damodred house colors of red, green and white.
Moiraine gave him a nod of her head and said before he can can say anything, "Cousin, so good of you to come. Please, enter and take a seat, Lan will keep you company."
Barthanes struggled with saying something before giving an admissive nod, and strode into the room head held high.
Colavaere came next, within a few minutes of Barthanes, Moiraine gave her the same nod she gave Barthanes and said with a smile, "Lady Colavaere, please go in, and join Cousin Barthanes and Lan. His Majesty will join us soon, I believe."
Colavaere gave a respectful curtsy and said softly, "Thank you for the invitation, Moiraine Sedai. I look forward to our talk."
Moiraine gave another meaningless smile and said, "So do I, my Lady. Please, go in."
And the Lady went in.
Galldrian took another fifteen minutes and arrived with an entourage of four guards and a few minor lords.
Moiraine gave the barest curtsy to the King and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for coming. I ask that your entourage retire to those rooms and enjoy the refreshments provided", Moiraine gestured towards the doors to the rooms opposite her own, and briefly channeled Flows of Air to open them, and continued, "and your guards to take up their posts outside my rooms. For the duration of the dinner, I assure your well-being."
Galldrian gave her a long look, no doubt deciding between accepting and refusing. He made the sensible choice and said imperiously to his men to follow Moiraine's requests.
Moiraine gave small bow, barely more than a nod of her head, and gestured the King in.
Once the King entered her sitting room, Moiraine strode in and channeled the doors closed, they shut with a solid thud.
Barthanes and Colavaere who were nursing a goblet of wine, while standing obviously apart in her relatively small solar, gave swift bows and curtsy's to the King and murmured soft Your Majestys.
Moiraine theatrically snapped her fingers and unravelled the Folded Light Warding in the centre of the room, finally making the plain table and four equally plain chairs visible.
The table carried a steaming cast iron pot, a woven basket with two loaves of bread, four wooden bowls, four wooden plates and four wooden spoons.
Indignation started to bloom on her guests faces at what they no doubt considered an insulting set up.
Moiraine used another weave, to make it so that her voice seemed to be coming from directly behind their ear and said, "I insist that we eat before we talk".
Moiraine has been blatant with her channeling in front of her guests, yes they intellectually knew there is nothing to fear from her as long as they don't threaten her first, but it is hard not be conscious of the sheer disparity in power between them. They might have money, armies and political power their titles give them, but a channeler can end them in the blink of an eye.
There was a round of surreptitious gulping of suddenly dry throats and licking lips before the King took a seat and two other nobles followed.
Lan, seemingly lazily leaned on a wall by the doors.
Moiraine took a seat in the remaining chair and channeled Flows of Air to fill the four bowls with barley stew with a few thin pieces of meat and divided the bread into four and deposited it in the plates. And said, softly, "Eat, please, I insist."
The King reluctantly tore a piece of the bread, dipped it in the stew and popped it into his mouth, Barthanes and Colavaere followed suit, and Moiraine started to down her own food with gusto.
Seeing her speed, her guests exchanged a look and sped up to match her rate.
In five minutes the bread is gone and the bowls are empty. Moiraine once again channeled to clear the table, carried in four bowls of warm water to clean themselves and four hand towels to dry themselves.
Silence descended on the room, after a few awkward moments, the King, confused and a bit infuriated, started to
open his mouth, but before he could, Moiraine obviously, falsely cheerful cut in, "What we just had is called the Foregate Regular, five copper pennies will get you a bowl of stew or a half a loaf of bread, but for nine pennies you can get both. An average Foregater lives on two Foregate Regulars a day. All of it is relevant because, you three are the most powerful people in Cairhein, and you have two enormous problems. If you do not do something about them soon, your heads will probably end up on a spike at some point."
Their faces paled at those words, their possible fate pronounced by an Aes Sedai.
It is Galldrian who pulled himself together first, and asked gratingly, "What do you mean by that, Aes Sedai?"
Moiraine looked each of them in the eye before settling her gaze on Galldrian and said calmly, "Your first problem, Cairhein is too dependent on the grain barges coming in from Andor and Tear. Imagine for a moment, Your Majesty, Queen Morgase Trakand and High Lords of Tear reach a secret accord, and suddenly demand twice what you now pay them for the grain. You can not refuse to pay, they can store the grain for years, but your city would run out of stockpiled grain in a week, and it would start to starve in two. You could command your lords to send grain from countryside, at the sword-point, if need be. But that would just delay the inevitable. You can not buy from someone else, nobody has any surplus to sell. Now, imagine this too, the raised prices are just a ruse, to keep you distracted with your starving, rioting subjects. The real thrust is the marching armies coming to conquer Cairhein. And they have food with them, which they distribute to win over the starving populous, in the meanwhile they are negotiating with your nobles, secede from the Sun Throne, join Andor or Tear", here Moiraine snapped her fingers and said, "Just like that the armies you hope to call upon to defend the Kingdom have melted away. Such an invasion force would surely know, keeping around any of the Royal Houses of Riatin, Damodred and Saighan is just asking for a rebellion later on, so what do they do? Off with your heads."
Sudden sheen of sweat appeared on all three of her guests foreheads. Galldrian asked with gritted teeth, "And my second problem?"
"The Foregate", Moiraine answered, "and the people that live there. They hate you, not you personally Your Majesty, your class, the nobility. They are placated for now, but their resentment grows, their fury is simmering, but it might flare up at any moment. It will take just one charismatic demagogue, one ruthless opportunist who takes the easy shot, or just one overbearing noble who has a commoner beaten in the streets for getting in his way, add in the previous scenario of starvation, you will have a hundred thousand strong mob braying for your blood. Only too happy to tear all of you limb from limb and burn down the city in the process."
A suffocating silence descended, Galldrian and Barthanes adjusted their collars as though it was difficult to breath and Colavaere fanned herself with a tiny folding fan.
After a few minutes, Colavaere looked towards the two men, when it seemed they were unwilling to ask the obvious question, she took it upon herself to ask, "Surely, if you have thought of this, as extensively as you seem to have, you have some advice on how to rectify the situation."
"I do indeed have some suggestions that can potentially solve your problems, if implemented properly. None of them are easy or quick, I should warn", Moiraine answered serenely and fell silent.
Another awkward silence descended, Colavaere and Barthanes exchanged looks, no doubt guessing what Moiraine is waiting for.
After long few minutes, Galldrian leaned forward and demanded, "Well, what are they?"
Moiraine raised an unimpressed brow at his tone and he hastily added 'Moiraine Sedai' in a much more respectful toneat the end.
Moiraine gave a quirk of her lips at Galldrian's addition and said, "Your problems are your solution. In the Foregaters you have access to a huge pool of cheap labour. Put out a call for volunteers, ask only for men with families. Subsidise their living for at least a year, and pay them well for their work. And have them start clearing Cairheinin portion of the Braem Wood. The village Jurene is a good starting location, there are several other such locations. Set up lumber mills to process the felled trees. Jurene is near river Erinin, the river will help in powering the mills, and transporting the finished product. There is always demand for good lumber somewhere. After a year of logging, I would imagine they would clear up a few hundred hectares, now put out a second call for volunteers, same as last time, men with families, but now they are going to farm the cleared forest, give them the land, subsidize this crop of volunteers too, at least until their first three crops come in. Then you repeat the process, until at least half of the population of the Foregate is gone. By the fourth year of this, you should be able to show profit. All the while you start pressuring other nobles to employ a few hundred Foregaters each, to expand and work the farmlands they oversee. In ten years you can whittle down Foregate's population down to a fifth of what it is today. Then leave them be, a city needs access to cheap labour, and if there is a need, those Foregaters are prime material for recruitment for your armies."
Her three guests digested what she said, and Barthanes spoke for the first time and asked, "All of this is going to cost a lot of coin. How do you suggest we pay for it?"
Moiraine gave a shrug and said, "The White Tower would be willing to extend a loan to cover the costs, especially if it is to help the common citizens of Cairhein, at a very reasonable interest rate, with a long repayment tenure."
All three stiffened at that, they know why the White Tower would be so willing to fund a venture, that in her worst estimates accounting for mismanagement and corruption, might cost a million gold crowns, the Tower does not care about the money, but it cares a great deal about the leverage that such a loan would give.
Everybody knows Tar Valon is the richest city in the continent, but a fact only known to Aes Sedai is that the White Tower is richer than every other nation on the continent combined. It is the only institute that stood for three thousand years after all. The White Tower operates by proxies, half the biggest and most reputable Banking Houses in the continent, the City of Tar Valon alone generates half a million gold crowns a year in taxes, after accounting for all the expenses for maintaining the city.
Galldrian gave a considering nod, stood up and said, "I will consider your advice, Moiraine Sedai. Thank you, it was an enlightening conversation."
Barthanes and Colavaere were only a second behind on standing up themselves.
Moiraine followed him in standing up, curtsied and said, "It was an honour to host you, Your Majesty. I have one minor matter of personal interest to settle before I leave Cairhein. I would like to convey my gratitude for housing me in the Royal Palace for this past month."
Galldrian mouth twisted bitterly for a brief moment, before he regained his control and said smilingly, "Think nothing of it, Moiraine Sedai."
And her three guests left and she saw them off at the door.
As she closed the doors to her rooms, Lan poured them wine, handing her the goblet, asked, "Think he will take your advice?"
Moiraine took a sip and hummed consideringly and said, "He might not have, if I had advised him in private. But his two biggest rivals heard the same thing, even if he ignored it, the other two might not, till now they saw those hundred thousand Foregaters as a nuisance they dealt with by throwing money at it. But now, they see them as a danger to fear and an opportunity to exploit. If the King doesn't do anything, Barthanes and Colavaere might, if only on a lesser scale and longer time span. So the King has to act on my advice. The only way not to, is to conspire with both Barthanes and Colavaere, which he would not do."
"What's next then, your work here seems to be done faster than you expected?", Lan asked.
"Shienar", Moiraine answered simply.
And Lan answered with a beautiful smile.