Ash 72, 122
The Office of Imperial Revenue
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Valentin Valentin stared at the edict, dismayed.
The edict itself wasn’t the cause of the dismay, to be clear. For one thing, that would be an unacceptable display of arrogance. These were the words of the Emperor himself, or some proxy whose identity made no real difference to Valentin’s assessment. What His Imperial Majesty commanded could not be unwise in any event- and, unofficially, it seemed like a pretty good idea to Valentin, too.
By the following proceeds, be alerted every citizen and resident of the Imperium; his Majesty, the Emperor of Gelrand and every outlying colony, by the grace of the Divines rightful master of Karnor. Greetings!
By this writ, the magistrates of the Imperium are empowered to offer the following prices to each individual for the collection and transfer of the following dragonshards, at the following rates:
The numbers didn’t matter, really. They were laughably low, compared to private markets, but the Imperium could afford to underpay because it could also afford to bust anyone who tried to sell or buy at higher prices during the crisis. Doubtless the news would be abuzz with busts made against panicked mages trying to buy the shards for thousands of gold in order to maintain their own powers. It would be spun as a scandal, an act of supreme selfishness, to drive up prices in a time of national emergency.
And that was the cause of his own concern. Ever since the damnable eclipse had risen, he’d found his tie to the slipspace growing frazzled, uncertain. From time to time it returned, and each instance filled him with renewed hope that perhaps the strange astronomical catastrophe was ended- but each day, when the shadow rose anew, his powers weakened unto nothing.
"Outrageous!" Valentin said to his empty office, his voice pregnant with anger, "I spent years to obtain and master this power, and the stars simply snatch it away?"
Perhaps these seem like the words of a self-absorbed mage, more jealous of his personal powers than of the workings of the greater universe. That’s not the right framework, though; Valentin Valentin was many ill and loathsome things, but he was concerned with the workings of the world to a fault. Yet, while it might seem that Traversion was nothing but a luxury for a Claims Adjuster at the Office of Imperial Revenue, it was a vital lifeline.
To begin with, it allowed him to work more efficiently than any of his coworkers. His power to simply skip between places of interest saved him tens, if not hundreds of hours of travel each week, and that was time he could effectively dedicate to hard work, plotting, scheming, and occasional acts of blatant betrayal.
More importantly, it permitted him to maintain a great network of contacts, to service business interests hundreds of miles away as easily as in Gel’Grandal, to meet discreetly with a wide array of individuals. Without this power, he would surely find the range of his influence rapidly contracting, his circle of friends (well, acquaintances), contacts and useful connections dropping away as communication with him took longer and his services became commensurately less valuable.
But worst of all, it would make him quite vulnerable to his enemies upstairs, of which there were many. An OIR agent’s job was, on average, boring. They had a lot of routine paperwork which was repeated day in and day out, meetings with representatives of other departments, meetings with desperate people off the street who were too easily-cowed to start anything in a government office with a few burly guards at the door.
…but it didn’t have to be.
Just two months prior, Valentin had been tasked with auditing two separate Family businesses, and in one the proprietor had actually gone so far as to put his hands on Valentin’s neck. The year before, he’d twice faced down desperate businessmen pointing rifles at his head. He’d lost count of the number of clubs, knives, and other sundry weapons he’d had drawn on him. (Though he could look that information up if it somehow became relevant)
In each case, however, Valentin had essentially faced no danger at all. A competent Traverser, like himself, could effortlessly handle such mundane threats, in a wide variety of ways. He could phase out, of course, making knives and fists and caster shells pointless. He could snatch weapons away, pluck projectiles from thin air, remove hostages from the scene with a wave of his hand. Even in the worst cases, where the debtor turned out to bear a rune themselves, Valentin could simply exit the scene and escort in backup.
Not now, though. In the shadow of that baleful darkness in the sky, Valentin’s rune was nothing but a gaudy tattoo. He could still sense the slipspace flowing around him, but he couldn’t… do… anything!
And it wouldn’t be long before someone upstairs realized what that meant and found a way to schedule Valentin for a dangerous audit. Divines knew he'd pissed off so many people that one of them might even pay to make sure the job got done. Even with his low assessment of his superiors’ collective intellect, he doubted he would last to the end of the month if something didn’t change.
So. Obviously, he needed his rune back, the quicker, the better. And the only way anyone seemed to know to access them were stones- illumite and the new ones, lunicite. Either would do: with the Kathar still flying overhead, Valentin wasn’t terribly concerned by the reports of “shadow beasts”, not yet.
But with this decree, he doubted there would be any legal sources soon. The Emperor had not yet moved to seize privately-held supplies, and Valentin thought (hoped!) that such an extreme measure would make enemies of enough mages in Gel’Grandal that matters would not come to that, but if Valentin could not get his hands on a shard soon…
Unfortunately, the market prices had already skyrocketed. For all the work Valentin had been putting in to try to reverse the Valentin Family’s lost fortunes, he currently had little to show for it. Neither he nor his parents could afford to spend the money for the newly-inflated costs of magical trinkets, however useful they might be.
Even if he avoided death through all of this, though, it would certainly sink his plans for Anton-
"Anton Michaelis!"
The bureaucrat shot to his feet, the thought striking him like lightning. The bureaucrat rushed to his filing cabinet, throwing open drawers with reckless abandon. After a moment he seized the relevant file and returned to his desk, muttering quietly to himself.
"Where is it… where is she... ah!"
The OIR dossier on Anton lay open in front of him, papers describing the young scion and his wealth and holdings in Zaichaer temporarily disregarded for a one-page briefing which was suddenly much, much more important.
Captain Vanessa Quill - Registered “The Every Waking Moment”
The file went on for a while, detailing her (admittedly sparse) activities within the Imperium, and listing a hodgepodge of records and rumors about her dealings in Zaichaer itself. It was missing a lot, and files missing a lot of details usually annoyed Valentin- it mentioned her great skill with gonne and sword, but did not mention where she came by it. It mentioned off-handedly how she seemed devoted to Anton’s service, but could not quite explain why.
None of that mattered. What Valentin cared about was the little synopsis, where he’d scrawled a tiny note in himself:
Notes- Cpt. Quill meets the criteria for suspected Confederacy ties, mybe frmr privateer. Follow-up with customs on Ash 75. - VV
It was just possible that Captain Quill was a pirate, reformed or otherwise, though he couldn’t imagine what she’d be doing at Anton’s side in that case. He’d been wrong about such hunches before, but infrequently; if Galetira were not a perpetual enemy of the state, people would have said that she’d blessed the bureaucrat in such things.
And if Vanessa was a pirate, she could get him a Moonshard, or get him to someone who could, and not at market prices. Even if that required a bit of… unconventional negotiation.
Valentin pulled a small cord on his desk, ringing a bell in his secretary’s office. Alfred entered a few moments later, looking leery. His unease deepened when he saw what appeared to be a smile on Herr Valentin’s lips.
“Err… yes, Herr Valentin? Is this about the payments for the miners?”
"No, no, calm yourself, Alfred, there’s a good fellow. I need you to schedule me an appointment with Michaelis delegation, urgently. This week."
Alfred blinked, perplexed. “The Michaelis delegation? Of course, but isn’t this rather a bad time…?”
"There is never any time like the present, and you’d do well to remember that too, Alfred. Carry on, thank you.."
The secretary left, still blinking, and had gotten all the way back to his office before realizing that this was the first time Herr Valentin had ever addressed him by name.
“...well, what the devils was that all about, then?”