Changing of the seasons

"The leaves are changing. We'll have snow through here soon." Lucas said as he looked out the window of the Morely's bright orange carriage.

Beaux seemed distracted as he looked out the window, "Mm, leaves."

Lucas frowned and asked, "What's on your mind? You haven't been listening to me for the last half hour at least."

"I'm sorry, I was running things over in my mind. I am worried about what will happen if she says no. I am worried even more about what will happen if she says yes." Beaux looked Lucas in the eye and said, "I have never done well around women."

Lucas chuckled, "If Sir Lee is correct, these women aren't like the ones we usually meet. They won't be staring at us with those looks of expectation."

Beaux shook his head slightly, "Lucas, I'm not like you. I still get intimidated by beautiful women."

Lucas sighed and shook his head, "That's why I have said, just go visit a prostitute and get to know what women are like so you can clear your head of those thoughts."

Beaux frowned at Lucas before taking his hand, "I don't need to sleep with a woman to know that the one I love, is you."

Lucas stroked his cheek, "I don't doubt you, Beaux, I just want you to get past your fears. We're going to be on the road to Connaissance for another three weeks, you should use the time to enjoy yourself. We'll hunt some game when we set up camp this afternoon." He grinned at Beaux.

Beaux sighed and asked, "Elk?"

Lucas nodded, "This time of year is the best time to hunt for Elk."

*****

Amelia spent most of her time reading books these days. Unlike in the past, she had no desire to leave the city at all and only went to the public library when she was with Gorki and Nicolas choosing to stay at home to read whenever possible. Gorki noticed that Amelia had started to panic as a group of students moved to the area of the Library she was in so he walked up to her and asked softly, "Nicolas and I are ready to go back. Did you need any more books today?"

Amelia shook her head, "We can go back."

He offered her his elbow which she took and walked with him over to find Nicolas who was grinning excitedly at a book. He saw Amelia and Gorki and said loudly, "Gorki, they have dirty books here too!"

Amelia rolled her eyes as Gorki slightly facepalmed, "Nicolas, are you ready to go?" He motioned with his eyes at Amelia.

Nicolas smiled and put the book down and said, "Of course! I was just waiting for you two to be done." He noticed Amelia looking at all the people that were starting to crowd around, "The old man wanted us to pick up some copper tubing and glass containers on the way back, he said you would know the place to go, Amelia."

Amelia looked at Nicolas and smiled brightly, "Of course! We need to hit the shop by the scrap yard for that. Follow me I know the way!" She seemed much more confident in how she carried herself once they were all headed to a shop she was familiar with away from all of the strangers.

Nicolas and Gorki needed to step up their pace to keep up with Amelia. Gorki spoke in Kreussian, "We'll be able to leave in two weeks. I have enough knowledge now to build our airships and many other weapons of war, but I still want the secret to the Helium."

Nicolas nodded and asked, "Are you sure that you can leave her behind?"

Gorki had a complicated look on his face, "I don't think I could justify asking her to come back there with me. What we did to her... I don't think she would ever choose to leave here again."

*****

Emily sat at her desk drumming her fingers on her desk when Jon and Teslaimia burst through the door laughing and chatting away. Teslaimia smiled at Emily and held up a lunch box, "Are you hungry yet?"

Jon answered instead, "You bet I am!"

Teslaimia glared at him and said, "Then go to the cafeteria like the other employees."

Jon frowned and said, "Cruel."

Emily tapped her finger on the desk and announced, "The Nobility have decided on the next monarch of the Windsor Kingdom."

Jon's eyes opened wide and Teslaimia looked interested as well. Jon asked, "One of the Dukes?"

Emily shook her head, "Duke Morely was assassinated just before they were to make the decision. Duke Hassard decided to name himself as the next King which caused the rest of the Nobility to back the new Duke Morely."

Jon shook his head, "Then it's to be Beaux Morely?"

Emily shook her head again, "Beaux Morely and the rest of the Nobles decided that I am to be coronated."

Jon looked flabbergasted. Teslaimia smiled softly and then she asked, "What will you do then?"

Emily shrugged, "I don't know what I should do... I feel that this is my responsibility in a number of ways. Only, the more I think about the Kingdom the less appealing being it's Queen sounds to me. For one, the Nobility itself is a major problem. Each of the Noble fiefs is like a separate City of Connaissance loosely allied with each other under threat of war from the crown."

Jon frowned and said, "Just after I was knighted by your father he said to me, 'My daughter will be the queen of this Kingdom one day, I hope that you will never fail in your duty to protect her against foes foreign or domestic.' In my hotblooded youth, I assumed he was giving his blessing for me to marry you and become King. It wasn't until Andrew started to pull the military to his own side that I fully understood what he really meant. The more I interacted with the Nobility the less I could stand the politics of the Kingdom. That's why I reformed the Red Lion Brigade as a mercenary company rather than stay a Knight Commander of the Royal Army."

Teslaimia shook her head, "Jon, you have so many excuses for why you quit. Emily, you are in moving into your third year as a leader. A leader respected by everyone. Your legacy after two years is so impressive it is already being deified. You would have had to conquer that Kingdom in a few more years anyway. Just take it now while it's weak and run it your way. In a year, you'll have it running as well as Connaissance and the Nobility as meek as the business leaders here."

Emily looked at Teslaimia with big eyes, "How will I lead them from here, Mia? If I do this, I would have to spend most of my time there until I could build up the proper infrastructure to lead from here."

Teslaimia took her hands and moved up close to her, "Am I not here? You once promised to make me your Empress. Let me run the city while you run the Kingdom. We can build a far speak and a Rhinoceros that will allow us to travel to and from the Capital can't we? I spoke with James and Thomas, they told me they could have a Rhinoceros line from here to there built in half a year and that with just the trade alone it would pay for itself in the first year."

Emily started to cry, "I just don't want to be separated from you for that long."

Teslaimia shook her head, "It'll be hard for me too, but that's why we'll shorten the distance between the cities in any way we can think of so that it's no worse than when you and I go to work. A month by wagon, an overnight trip by Airship. if we get the Rhino line built too, we can even travel back and forth together, right?"

Jon cleared his throat, "Your Majesty forgets, the Capital of the Kingdom is decided by the King... Er Queen. If you say the Capital is Connaissance, then it moves where you are. King William moved the Capital to its current location because that's where his smithy operated from. The prior capital was in Windsor county. In fact, I am sure that the Nobility will soon appear here in Connaissance. They will most likely start construction of country estates near the external villages. I don't imagine many of them will want to have apartments here in the City."

Emily frowned and then sat back down at her desk. She tapped her finger as she started to think again, "Mia, I am an idiot."

Teslaimia smiled and shook her head, "No, you aren't."

*****

"Duke Morely's group left for Connaissance this morning. That's ten of them with at least a day's head start on us. Why are we still here, Johnson?" Duke Hassard paced around the room.

The Duke's knight kneeled down and replied, "My Duke, you wanted to wait from the official response from Lady Connaissance. It's been two weeks already but a message from Connaissance would normally take this long. Perhaps the reason the others have all left early is that were informed before us?"

A messenger came running into the room and kneeled down, "A message from the Princess!"

He held a scroll out to Sir Johnson who read through it, "My Duke, the coronation will be held at the Connaissance City Hall. Chief Cardinal Albert Pujols himself is holding the coronation!"

The Duke shouted out, "Prepare to leave this instant. We can't be two days behind Morely!"

Sir Johnson stood up and saluted before quickly gathering his men.

The Duke paced around the room and then shouted out, "I need someone to go and prepare a gift for the Princess. A gift fit for a Queen! That Morely brat wouldn't have remembered something like that. Someone get that oaf of a son of my mine ready, he's coming along as well. If he's smart, he'll try to woo the girl and become King!"

*****

Andrew was dragged out of his cell, washed off, given a clean set of clothes before being dragged into a large open courtyard, and sat at a small table. On the table was an old chess game set with a game about to be played. A servant brought over a small plate of cookies and a glass of milk. A few minutes later Emperor Asoka walked out and sat down at the other chair, "I have some very bad news for you, Andrew." He moved a pawn out to start the game, "It seems you are now a criminal in the Windsor Kingdom. They are going to be crowning their new monarch in a few weeks." He motioned his hand for Andrew to make the next move.

Andrew's hand shook as he reached for a pawn and moved it out to counter the move made by Asoka. His teeth chattered and then he asked, "D-did my men?"

"Return? Yes, the Kingdom paid the Sprite to see them home to their families." Asoka moved another pawn and continued, "You have no more value, it would seem, which leaves me with a small dilemma. Do I release you back to the Kingdom you are no longer welcome or do I just have you killed?"

Andrew shuddered when he heard those words. His eyes darted around and then he asked, "C-Can you s-send me to Connaissance?" he moved another pawn.

Asoka laughed, "I can do anything I want, I'm the Emperor!" He moved his knight out, "I just need to know from you, what's there for me to want in sending you to Connaissance?"

Andrew shuddered once again before he reached out his hand and moved a bishop out, "I-if I have my N-Niece's support I will take back the throne. I can send you g-gold."

Asoka laughed and then smiled, "It just so happens that I am going to attend a social function in Connaissance in a few weeks. I can certainly bring you along. In fact, that sounds delightfully fun. Darius will be in attendance as well, I am sure the three of us can enjoy some laughs. I wanted to ask Darius for a political marriage while we were there. This should be even more fun than just that."