30th Ash, 123
Though the negotiation with General Lang, or, really, the discussion with him that had led to his acceptance of the need for him to take up the role of Grand Marshall, had been a surprisingly frank and swift affair, the aftermath had been anything but. Mrs. Dornkirk's rapport with Commander Vonnegut had allowed representatives of the Minister and High Sentinel to approach the other two Fort Commanders from a position of relative power. Any desire they had to negotiate for power or consideration had to be directed through Lang, as their now presumptive commanding officer, which relieved the Dornkirk Contingent of the need to participate.
It had been some weeks before Lang's representative, Vonnegut, as it turned out, had arrived at the Sky Island with final terms of agreement, placing the whole of The Riverlands to join the Capitol and the Eastern Forest regions under the control of the new government.
Lang was sure in his decision to approach the remaining generals and commanders within Zaichaer himself, a decision which neither Stefan nor Eitan felt like arguing, though Eitan did wish to be the one to negotiate with any high-level Air Commanders that might be located.
Since the fall of General Overmann's Government in Exile upon his death, little had been heard through official channels of what had become of the soldiers and Order members who had severed under him in Kathiid. Unofficial channels were abuzz with rumors of the group having broken into several small ones and disappearing, either to return to their fatherland or try to find a new one.
Stefan could only hope that most of his countrymen would find their way home. He couldn't blame any of the enlisted men and women for following the orders of their commanders in a time of chaos and instability and could only hope that the varied groups would be able to consolidate themselves back into a single whole under their new leadership.
There had been a single meeting of the Triumvirate, which was what they were calling the new tripod form of government they were attempting. Stefan, as First Minister, Eitan, as High Sentinel, and Lang as Grand Marshall had met several times in pairs or all three but they had their First Official Counsel meeting to mark the start date of the new government for the history books on the 15th of Ash. There had been more ceremony than discussion, Titles being officially granted and accepted, notes taken, sketches done. They hadn't had much to discuss on that day, because they'd been discussing it all for months, but it had felt important, so they had done it. When they did speak it was to lay out the structure of the Triumvirate for the journalists, chronologers, and official government records.
When much hand-shaking, signing of documents, and posing had been completed (much to the displeasure of the First Minister and Grand Marshall alike), they had adjourned.
Lang was heading to Northern Zaichaer the next day to meet with the various commanders to claim his rights as head of the military. There would be very little change in the structure of the military complex or hierarchy, it was a system that had been tried and tested for centuries.
This left the First Minister and the High Sentinel to work together to work out how the civilian Ministerial branch and the expanded Order branch were to be run. They had, of course, been working on these two issues for months but now that they had the mandate of the people, implementing their ideas, putting them to the test of reality, could begin.
~~~
The day Lang left, escorted by three of the largest airships the Sky Islands could provide, the First Minister, jointly with the High Sentinel, held a conference of his closest advisors.
To either side of the First Minister and High Sentinel were their wives. Though both women were again pregnant, as far as Stefan was concerned, Delia Dornkirk and Lucrece Angevin were as much a part of what brought everything together as Stefan and Eitan were. Similarly, both Deinerin's were on hand and asked to sit at the round table Stefan had found for them, rather than standing in attendance. Neither man looked wholly comfortable in their positions but they had earned them a thousand times over. Beeman was there, along with several high Order officers that Stefan did not know on sight, though he had probably heard Eitan speaking about them.
The complex plans they had all been making for more than a year had been written out and copied for everyone present, the details would be hammered out there between them. No one knew better than those seated at this table what was needed to start again. Many more people would be needed before the machines of government could fully function, but these were the minds that would set it in motion.
"Well," Stefan said, clearing his throat, "Let us begin."
