Chương 182: Chapter 203: Harsh Portrayal

"What took you so long?" Lady Hanje snapped. She was frazzled, leaning over her desk, hands like claws on the blotter. Her hair was askew.

"I was... at church," I said. Maybe this was a bad time. Maybe I should leave the way I came in and find her at a better time.

"And before that?" she barked.

"You didn't go to church straight from the gala!"

"No, I went home and... slept," I said, and I looked at her frenzied posture. She had not slept. She's been up all night and all morning.

"Ah, should I have... come straight here last night?" She did some deep breathing exercises. I do those sometimes when the whole world is pushing me to my limits and one idiot too many has just tested my patience. I pulled the door shut and ignored the warning bells in my brain. She had her eyes closed, and she still leaned onto her hands on the desk.

"First question. Are you and Nathan working together now?"

"Hell no. Wait. May- Nah. I'm pretty sure not," I said.

"He just gave me some information, and then took the guy for recuperation and questioning."

"And you let him?! And you believed him!?" she managed not to shriek but I could hear the strain on her voice not to yell at me. I held up my hands in defense.

"I sent Bruce with him. I've got someone to confirm the results of the interrogation. I'm not entirely trusting Nathan's word at this."

"As you should," she said, her glare felt a little unfair since I had just told her I took measures to confirm the information. But she was not wrong. How many times in just the last six weeks have I gotten myself screwed over because I took his words at face value? And how many more times have I been sabotaged because he wanted to do something ordinary and harmless.

"Dammit," I said. Now I'm mad at myself. I wasn't when I walked in here. Now everyone in this room is mad at me. She made a noise in her throat.

"Fine. Whatever. You're not partnering up, I don't factor him into my plans. I do however need to factor him into my contingencies. He's your blind spot, your weakness. I used to think it was your honesty, or your temper, or your impatience. Those are personal quirks. Potentially charming idiosyncrasies. That twin of yours, that's your weakness."

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled, sinking into a chair. I slouched down.

"I did send someone to keep an eye on him."

"Take this as my advice?" she offered.

"When he tells you something, assume it's a lie. When he asks for something, assume it's a trap. When he wants to do something, do the opposite. Always zig his zag, always jump left when he turns right. Keep doing that until he starts reversing himself to compensate." Probably better advice. I sent Bruce to keep an eye on them, but honestly when Nathan suggested taking the guy, I should have insisted they stay put. If Nathan suggested an interrogation, I should probably have resisted entirely.

Not agreeing with contingencies, not sending some oversight, just outright denying him. But there is a problem with that strategy.

"I don't think I would ever have an accurate read on whether he's onto me or not, and whether he's playing opposite-day to steer me or not," I sulked.

"As soon as I try that, I've got to to wonder if he's feeding me his real intentions or if he's hiding those to trick me into doing what he really wants. It sucks, but a simple refusal to cooperate is not enough. If this was something easy to solve, I'd have solved it by now." She sat down finally, so she only loomed over me by a lot.

"Fine. Yes. You deserve that much credit. But from now on, please do be on high alert."

"I was on high alert!" I protested hotly.

"That was why I spotted Gharie before he got to me!"

"You were on high alert but you still trusted Nathan with the only source of information, walking out the door?" she sounded dubious.

"Natalie, please take constructive criticism. I do not believe your high alert is high enough." I pulled my hands down my face.

"I am going to take that away with me and work on that on my own time." Honestly, I cannot tell if she's over-reacting or if I'm under-reacting.

"That will have to be good enough," she said. She sounded tired.

"Let's move away from that. Now, the next six months."

"Some adventuring. Some essence temples. Some-""What?"

"They're a sorcery thing, sorry. Anyway, I'm still going to be busy with school and school-related matters for five days of the week. And I'm going to spend the next six months making myself the heir presumptive to the throne."

"I've been up all night. Go slow," she said. I gestured it out with my hands.

"Next summer there is going to be a revolt against the crown. My intention is to not only be on the winning side, but to be at the forefront of the winning side." Lade Hanje Toor reached out with her left hand, picked up a thick sheaf of handwritten notes and dumped them into the garbage. She pulled out a fresh sheet of paper off the stack, set out several pencils, and gestured for me to continue.

"Now, the revolt will fail, in that it is not going to turn over the crown or displace the Freckentops from their position," I told her.

"But it will mitigate a lot of their power. It breaks the image of their invulnerability. The military side of it should pan out, defeating their personal guards, and I'll try to limit the loss of life," I continued.

"But it does fail?" she said, looking over at me through her lashes, still facing down at her page and pencil that were furiously scratching away, writing faster than I was talking.

"The negotiations," I sighed.

"Everyone walks in talking about vindication and justice and an end to tyranny, but almost immediately they start bickering for concessions. Lands, rights, money, levies, tithes. End this treaty, sign this contract. It's all a ploy by the Nhullit, Kinghand, Grennick, Aumerje and Ebonder, to wrangle more power for their houses and their leaders. There's basically no groundswell support for this, most of the citizenry will not even learn about it until it's over, it will wave a populist flag but it's just for show.

In months it will become known as the Rapier Revolt, because the only people involved were aristocrats known for their dueling swords, not the peasants with a wood axe. The portrayal after the fact is a bunch of effete elites tricking a handful of expendable peasants into throwing themselves at the barricades so that they can demand no more taxes on luxury goods."

"That's a harsh portrayal," Hanje said coolly.

"Do you really want to be defined that way?"

"Because they do not displace the Freckentops, they leave the Freckentops in charge of defining the narrative after the fact," I said. I was disappointed and I sounded like it.

"But while the revolt as a whole may come away with a bad image, the leader of the revolt gathers more support from this. The popular perception is that the Houses pledged support but then betrayed their principles, bought off by Freckentop gold. There are several people who could be that leader, but those events as I've laid them out are stable and will not be affected by the particular person whose face is on the posters. I intend to make it mine." She looked at me suspiciously.

"Is one of them Nathan?" I barked a bitter laugh.

"Hah, wouldn't that be something? Oh, I'd be playing a very different game if that was an option. No, there is no combination of events that can put Nathan in that position. It is entirely possible for him to become the face of the opposition, however. He cannot join the doomed revolt by the squabbling opportunists, but he might distinguish himself as the champion defending the crown against would-be usurpers. Or he might not. He might just stay out of the politics and focus on surviving the fighting."

"And knowing that, you would still choose to distinguish your self as the leader of the would-be usurpers?" Shrug.

"If my side of it goes well, it literally does not matter to me whether he steps up or not. The revolt starts the same way, ends the same way. I'm here to streamline the process so there's less people dying unnecessarily. I can do the most good if I'm in a position of control. Nathan can make several material changes to the process, but not the outcome."

"And your plan for the next six months is to assure your place in that role?"

"By summer I should be the only candidate for the job," I said firmly.

"I see. And how do you feel about assassinating other contenders?"

"A time-honored tradition." To be clear: I would not be nearly so cavalier about that subject but absolutely everyone in the running are all such bastards. The reason the game doesn't let Nathan support them is that they're unsupportable. Creeps, hatemongers, sadists, bullies, sure- but also every one of them is openly lusting after the chance to be a tyrant and oppress all the people. This was one of the parts of the game where "nuanced and complex characterization" was abandoned entirely.

I know my opposition, and every one of them is poisoning the world every day they spend in it.

"Understood. We will assume that they are rather assassin-resistant though, and we will build a schedule to amplify your suitability as a leader just in case they survive. No sense putting all our eggs in one casket. And I presume further that you would like to count on the assistance of the rest of the Harigold family in this endeavor?"

"I'm going to say yes, but also to point out that the benefits here cover far more than just my own ambitions. This will in fact be a huge boon for not only the citizenry but the aristocracy of Meadowtam. I told you the revolt gets bogged down by looting? My primary demand going was going to be for the Freckentops to reverse their tax policy, the one my father's been fighting in courts and appeals for five years. But I'm not sure how that would play with the rank-and-file.

I know it would be popular with the citizenry, but the aristos..." She nodded.

"I don't really follow politics much. Honestly, it's outside my sphere. But I overhear things. And I know that your Harigold nobles are split about fifty-fifty on that issue. The ones that are most in love with the new tax plan are the ones who have figured out how to scam the most money for themselves from it. The ones who oppose it.. mostly do so out of loyalty to your parents. Which is a complicated issue to you, I know."

"Not particularly," I said.

"My parents are great at their jobs. And under most circumstances they'd be really great parents. I just got lost in the cracks. My bad experience is not representative," I said, as if I'm not horribly bitter about it. I had to put that aside. I tapped a finger to the desk.

"But, back to business. I've got about eight months to figure out the right move, and that's more than anyone else is getting. If you, Lady Hanje, if you were to test the waters? All your customers are used to keeping secrets in this room anyway. You could ask around. Find out what people would ask for if they could coerce concessions from the royal house." She spun the pencil around her knuckles while she grimaced. I could see her considering her response.

"I trust the secrecy here under normal conditions. When I am asking normal questions. You and I have had several meetings, but I don't think you've got a firm idea of what we do and do not do here."

"If you don't imply that we will have coercive authority. If you ask them what they would demand of a boon if they could?" She hmmed. She rolled the pencil again.

"They would assume you had a scheme to extract a boon from the royals. Probably related to what you've established so far. Maybe blackmail, or extortion. They would not assume that this is the work of an armed mutiny. So, you could sample their answers without giving away too much. For a while. The more obvious it becomes what the future holds, the more people will draw the connection."

"And that's a good thing," I asserted.

"If it does not tip them off too early, if it does not prompt them to think about that before the path becomes apparent. The thing about having foreknowledge is that you have to find ways to prove that you had the foreknowledge without giving away more than people are supposed to know. This is a good method for that."

"You're still concerned with whether people believe? You've given plenty of evidence."

"And I've convinced plenty of people. And the more evidence I provide, the more people I convince. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And in the next few years I'm going to ask a lot of people. Too much. But if they believe, if they have that faith in me? If they understand the future the way I do? We just might make it." She winced. I've told her that I'm here to save the world. That's one thing. That's a framework that people can absorb easily.

But 'we might just make it' emphasizes the danger, the consequences. Well, tough. I live every day with the full knowledge that I can fail. And that I have to work hard for this. I've always seen the steps between "save the world" and "we might not save the world". That's the space I live in. But maybe, with the right moves, the right help... I'll get some slack, some breathing room.

"By the by," I said, "I've got a ton of gowns taking up space in my wardrobe that I won't be able to wear again without some catty little harpy calling me a broke bitch. So, if I bring those back, would you be able to make anything of them? Maybe alter them for another member of the family? Or use the materials for something? If it helps I can restore them to raw fabric first."

"What?"

"I can shift and manipulate materials. So, I can take a dress and turn it back into the fabrics that it's made of. If you've still got the bolt I could probably fuse it back on." We continued that discussion. I could tell that she really wanted to kidnap me, but at this point my disappearance would definitely be noticed and investigated.