Near Satesoria, Karnor
25th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
25th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
The forests of Zaichaer blended seamlessly into the forests that Satesoria claimed. Some inconsistent dialogue had been maintained between the riverland forts and the city-state, but Searing Victory and an official visit from one of the Brass City's top brass was overdue. The knights of the so-called City of Stone were vaunted monster-killers, and while they had suffered losses, they had survived. After all, they only had the eclipse to survive, and it hadn't come on the heels of a terrible act of war.
But these were allies, and necessary for Zaichaer to reclaim not only the sanctity of its capital city, but its place in Karnor's web of power and at least the illusion of safety against such potential foes as the Gelerian Imperium and Dalquia. While it was the flagship of the Air Defense Corps that flew, it was a diplomatic mission, a tour of western Karnor, and Eitan Angevin was the proper man for the job.
He had personally corresponded with the Marchioness, Vamilla Stonekeeper. While noble houses had been abolished in Zaichaer, one had merely to read the surnames of the powers that be in Zaichaer to know the noble houses had never stopped ruling the oligarchy. That was changing somewhat now due to the population shift (read: terrible loss of life), but the Marchioness had replied with florid interest in his "royal" lineage. Of course, he demurred with all due humility, but leveraged her interest. It couldn't hurt to have "royal" as an adjective that a ruler applied to a diplomat.
Thankfully, their nations were already quite aligned. Satesoria was staunchly New Atheist and desirous of strict controls upon magic. Angevin brought in a single package: Admiral flying the military flagship; High Sentinel of the Order; civilian diplomacy. To more fully manifest the latter, he had brought his wife and children, and, of course, a few servants. Thankfully, flagships were generally quite large.
Lucrece would have no trouble playing the part of uncrowned princess, Brenner was generally considered charming for a toddler, and while little Hänschen remained an infant-in-arms, the people had been calling him and Delia's twins the "Glade Princes" for the past sixth months.
Though Angevin considered his sister's family the other half of his own, this nuclear family would certainly put Zaichaer's best foot forward.
"Take us in, Becker," he said as they approached Satesoria's sky quays. "You have the conn."
That said, he went to collect his family and stand on the deck where they could begin this rainbow tour; as he walked, he chuckled to himself, imagining Stonekeeper offering him an honorary knighthood. He wondered whether Lucrece would appreciate his spurs.
He smiled at the thought.
*~*~*
Near Haqs, Karnor
35th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
35th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
The high winds funneling through the mountain passage west from Satesorian territory to Haqsian made for rough travel. Lucrece complained privately, but the boys seemed to consider it the much the same as the rocking of their cradles.
"Future masters of the air, my boys," he told her proudly, and she smiled through her sallow discomfort.
All he could do was offer the anti-emetics kept onboard, suggest standing on the deck with the fresh air and a horizon to sight, and spend time with the boys so the nanny could nap. The airship worked like the well-oiled machine it was, and he was able to delegate the passage to their pilot and executive officer.
Later, when turbulence returned to normal, one was able to witness mountain give way to a relatively narrow band of forest not dissimilar to Satesoria's. Here, he could see signs of progress into the woods: a hunting lodge here; a lumber camp there. Then, the yellow smudge on the horizon became a neat patchwork of golden fields, edged in careful roads, with occasional patches of untouched forest; from what he understood of such things, agricultural fields did better when they were bordered by natural land.
Haqs' land claims weren't backed up by a military, and that was why Admiral Angevin flew there on the flagship: to prove that they could still depend upon their ally should Dalquia test them or, more likely now than before, the Gelerian Imperium with their saber rattling "aid."
Angevin intended to offer to set up a permanent garrison there, either in the form of a military base or fortress. It would act as a deterrent, as well as give Zaichaer a strong presence there. Zaichaeri soldiers might marry Haqsian locals, and their children would rebuild Zaichaer and Haqs. Perhaps one of Reichart's siblings or their children might even like a bit of adventure, farming in an entirely new place, but still under the aegis of Zaichaer's military might. Certainly, such civilian exchanges of best agricultural practices would cement their good relations.
Perhaps someday, they might even absorb Haqs or have enough influence to make them a client state...
In any case, the Viscount, Uther Gondral, was expecting him and there would be much to discuss. From correspondence, he didn't seem as impressed by the Angevin name as the Marchioness, but for all that he had a vaunted title, he was just the wealthiest of a collection of farmers himself. Perhaps he ought to have brought Reichart from the eastern border for this trip as well.
One way or another, though, Angevin would ensure that Haqs' golden fields, healthy once more in the autumnal sunlight, would be a secure bread basket to feed Zaichaer and its allies as well. Zaichaer for security, Satesoria for building materials, and Haqs for food. While Zaichaer could be self-sufficient, if she wanted to rule Karnor, she would have to expand to fill it.
Angevin wanted to live to see her borders, both physical and influential, spread.
*~*~*
Near Kathiid, Karnor
45th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
45th of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
Admiral Angevin was ready to go home, as was his family, but duty called. Even though his wife could brat with the best of them, she knew when to set aside her personal wishes for the good of the State. And that was part of why he loved her. Thankfully, after a week or so in Kathiid, they would be able to return. He hoped there would be time to take little Brenner to the beach on their inland sea.
That sea provided different sorts of fish and other goods that weren't otherwise readily available to Zaichaer, of course, and could act as a more palatable intermediary between Zaichaer and the economies of Zythura, the Imperium, Dalquia, and the merchant princes of Blackwater Bay. More importantly, though, it was a major source of abjinurium, and a means to have backdoor channels into Shemashk.
The oligarchy of mages ruling the City of Pale Gates would not truck with Zaichaer, but had a more pragmatic truce with Kathiid as they shared that border with the Ashlands. The High Sentinel intended to stack the deck more in Kathiid's favor. As one of the worlds preeminent warders, he could help bolster their wards against the storms that rolled out of the Ashlands, making them less dependent on help from the self-governing mages.
The Order was strong there, and he would meet with its chapterhouse even as he had done in Satesoria and Haqs. He wanted Watcher Lessnau's senses to survey the scene where Overmann was assassinated. It was a stroke of luck for the Dornkirk-Angevin axis of power, but reports had been inconclusive and Angevin wanted answers, the better to defend against such assassins. He could handle himself, but now he had a wife and children to care for and protect as well.
His code-switching would continue. Angevin meant less in Kathiid than the name of admirals before him, such as his late father Leir. But having captained airships, he was a sort of colleague to the Grand Admiral, Judas Calderon, and hoped to learn a thing or two about ships that plied the waters rather than the air. He even had a blueprint from one of his brother-in-law's tangents, an amphibious sort of craft that could fly, sail, and even sink below the water and still travel and support life.
It seemed the sort of innovation that would work best as a gesture of cooperation between their nations.
As he finished his notes on the time spent in Haqs and considered the correspondence he had received from High Admiral Calderon and the Sentinel of Kathiid, he unconsciously set his palm against the wall beside his compact desk. It thrummed almost subliminally with the engines that ran on alchemical fuels and artificed clockwork systems. Their ships weren't truly conscious, but like most sailors, he did somewhat anthropomorphize the ships that had been his home and work. Searing Victory had felt cooped up merely sailing like a banner in the breezes above Zaichaer.
On this tour, she had a Purpose, and when the end of this tour came and she returned to Zaichaeri skies, her homecoming would be brighten the day for its citizens.