The Council of Port Gaul

Cardinal Pujols and Cardinal Gibson walked into Emily's office together for the first time in months which caught Emily off guard. She sat up straight and asked, "Good morning, Your Eminences, how may I help you?"

They both took seats and then excitedly Cardinal Pujols brought out a letter and said, "There has been a great discovery! An explorer from Port Gaul has managed to discover a western pathway by Ocean to the far east. There will be a council on the discovery as well as rules for establishing colonies there and all nations under the Church are invited to attend. We would like for you to attend as well."

Cardinal Gibson nodded his head and added, " We feel that with your airship technology some of the perils of going by ship might be avoided so we would like to have you come as the representative for the Empire of Connaissance to express input in the new rules for the colonies."

Emily rubbed her chin and asked, "When is the council to be held?"

Cardinal Pujols tapped his fingers and said, "Well, the men from old Eurment didn't exactly consider inviting you to the council. They are holding it in three days. The message was late getting here."

Emily frowned and nodded, she picked up the far speak to the Airship port, "I need to fly to Port Gaul, which airship is ready to go?" She listened and then said, "Very well, prepare the William Smith for travel. We'll set off this afternoon once the ship is prepared." She looked up at the two Cardinals and said, "We leave this afternoon, meet us at the Airship Port."

*****

Teslaimia stared blankly at Emily and said, "Isn't this short notice? When will you be back?"

Emily shrugged and said, "It seems that our invitation was delayed. Or not issued in the first place. Would you like to come with me?"

Teslaimia shook her head no, "That isn't a place for me. The other leaders wouldn't bring their queens to something like that. Plus, I have important work to do here. I am preparing to launch a new line of evening wear and I need to be here to make sure that my product is up to standard before we ship it to the stores. I don't want to regret not looking at it first. I have a lot of capital tied up in it."

Emily sighed and said, "Alright, well hopefully it won't take very long then, I'll feel better knowing that you are here looking after the Empire anyway I suppose. Roland and Gertrude will bring you daily intelligence in my absence."

Teslaimia nodded and said, "I'm going to send Grace with you, we have a branch in Port Gaul, I want her to stop in while you are there since we have only ever spoken with them by carrier pigeon."

Emily nodded and said, "Grace will be my assistant for the trip then, that sounds good."

Teslaimia asked, "Who will be your military escort?"

Emily thought and said, "The knights are all still undergoing training, I am not sure who we have with enough training, I'll talk to the base commander and see who he can spare."

Teslaimia shook her head, "You should bring Andrew. he's a knight and he's not part of the training program."

Emily looked surprised, "Andrew? Why him?"

Teslaimia said seriously, "Who else is there that is better suited as an advisor and a military man for such a meeting?"

Emily frowned and said, "Alright, I'll bring Andrew."

Teslaimia grabbed Emily in a tight hug and gave her a powerful kiss, "I'm going to miss you so much. This is the longest I won't see you."

Emily nodded as she gently pressed her forehead to Mia's. "I'll try to make it short."

*****

Emily and her party walked up the ramp and boarded the CEAS William Smith, the Captain had a bright smile on his face, "Good afternoon Your Majesty, I'm Captain Simon Alyen, this is my first mate William Axe. William will show you to your quarters and see to your needs aboard ship. We are short on time if we want to get you to Port Gaul on time, so if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the bridge."

William Axe was a tall broad-shouldered man who while not dashingly handsome looked like the rugged sort of military man that drove women crazy. He gave her a winning smile and said, "Right this way Your Majesty. The Captain gets nervous around important guests so we won't be taking a tour of the bridge just yet." He chuckled, "We had to do some shuffling around because we have a lot of extra people on this flight. Your Majesty, this is General's stateroom, it's the nicest cabin on the ship, I apologize for its small size. We brought your luggage into the room already. The room across the hall here is the Captain's quarters, I am right next to that. Your guards are in the soldier's bunk room on the floor below, and your personal assistant will be in the room next door to yours."

Emily nodded and asked, "Cardinal Gibson?"

William smiled and said, "He understood the space concerns and choose to bunk with the soldiers in the barracks in order to let your personal aid have some privacy since she is a woman. The soldiers' barracks is a men-only area."

Emily nodded and then asked, "How long do you think the flight will last?"

William took a minute and then said, "Honestly we aren't entirely sure what our top speed is yet. Our best guess is that we should reach Port Gaul by tomorrow afternoon at full sail, the Captain wants to get you there early though because he knows that you will be eager to get down off the ship since there aren't many luxuries here."

Emily chuckled and then said, "Well thank your Captain for his concern. Where is the best view here on the ship aside from the Bridge?"

William smiled, "We have a great view up on deck, but at the speed, we will be travelling, I don't recommend above deck. This ship was built for ship verses ship warfare so we don't have the nice views they do on the Zealous."

Emily nodded and then said, "Since that is the case, I will need to intrude on your captain's safe space. It's my first time heading to old Eurment and I wish to see it from the air."

William smiled while in his heart he felt anxious because he knew that once she was off the ship the Captain would give him hell. He cleared his throat and said, "In that case, right this way, Your Majesty."

The walk from the General's quarters to the bridge was short, unlike the bridge of the Zealous the bridge on the William Smith was more compact with the duty stations laid out logically for an airship rather than taking the design of a sailing ship's bridge. The front of the bridge has the helmsman with two observers on either side of him. The captain's chair was raised up off the floor allowing the captain to see each duty station and look out the window. The weapons officer was to the right of the captain directly beside the engineering officer. On the other side of the bridge was the signal officer and the sails officer. The first officer had a chair next to the captain's chair on the above deck operations side. William stretched out his arm and presented his own chair, "Your Majesty, please have a seat here. You'll be able to get a good view from here."

The Captain sent a strong glare to William who shrugged apologetically as Emily spoke, "It's not Mr. Axe's fault, I insisted on coming to the bridge." She found a spyglass in a holder at the edge of the chair back and took a look from her seat out the window, "Tell me Captain, have you discovered any problems with the William Smith that the designers haven't been able to correct?"

The Captain stared at Emily curiously and then said gruffly, "It's a good ship, the only complaint we have so far is that she isn' fully tested. We had to press her into service seven months ahead of schedule."

Emily nodded and said, "Very true, consider this the shakedown cruise, be sure to test her limits when time allows. I intend to spend time here on the bridge because I have never been to Old Eurment and would like to see how the cities there are designed." She looked at the Captain and gave him a soft smile, "Just go on with your normal routine as if I am not here."

The Captain looked on edge, looking over at William as if to say, 'Can't you do something about this?' He swallowed hard and then tried to concentrate on the normal operation of his ship. Even though she wasn't doing anything that should bother him, he kept glancing her way. It was on one of those glances he spotted a small gold pin hanging from a gold chain at her waist. His eyes shot wide open. He quickly looked forward. His thoughts went into a panic, 'That can' be what I think it is...' He looked down at the silver pin on his lapel and then cautiously looked down at the gold pin at Her Majesty's waist and saw the same symbol on each of them. The theatre masks for comedy and tragedy, the sock and buskin. He swallowed hard wondering which jackass had the audacity to gift the gold pin with chain from the Green Door to Her Majesty.

Emily had no idea that the Captain was struggling with whether or not he should advise her on the pin as she looked down on the ground as they flew she casually asked, "Is this your first time seeing the alps as well, Captain?"

The Captain took a moment to register that he was talking to her but managed to answer, "I used to be a sea trader in my youth, I ended up heading north after nearly losing my life to a freak wave. The experience gave me a profound fear of the sea. I crossed over the alps back then because I wanted to get as far from the sea as was possible." He chuckled, "And look at me now, I picked another stupidly dangerous place to work."

Emily smiled at him and said, "In terms of safety, no place is really safe if you think about it. Natural phenomenon like a freak wave, are things that just happen. I would say that since you survived such a chance encounter, you have the perfect level of luck needed to Captain the flagship of my Air fleet, don't you?"

The Captain smiled and nodded, "Perhaps you are right, Your Majesty." He stared at the pin and couldn't contain himself any longer whispering, "Your Majesty, I believe that the person who gave you that piece of jewelry may have been playing a cruel joke on you."

Emily looked at him curiously and noticed his silver pin she whispered back, "Oh, is that right? Is it possible that you were also given such a piece of jewelry as a joke?" She motioned to his lapel pin.

The Captain blushed looking around to make sure that his crew was all watching their own stations, he whispered again, "No, it's just that, Your Majesty, did they tell you what that piece of jewelry is for?"

Emily smiled at the Captain and then looked through the spyglass again and said as if she was unbothered, "Oh, Captain what is the first major city over the Vernmont pass to the southeast?"

The Captain cleared his throat, "That should be the city of Mulhome. It is famous for its cotton cloth."

Emily nodded and smiled she leaned closer and whispered, "Then tell me, what is your lapel pin for?"

The Captain swallowed and replied in a softer whisper, "It's for a members-only club in Connaissance, certainly not the sort of place Your Majesty would ever be found."

Emily smiled and whispered back, "But you will be found there?"

The Captain sat up straight regretting ever mentioning the pin. As his mind started to work he suddenly had a terrible thought, could it be that she really is a member? He slowly turned to look at her his heart racing. He had been avoiding looking at her for the most part but now that he did look, she was certainly young and attractive. He swallowed hard. Speaking out loud, "Helm, what's our current heading and estimated time for arrival?"

"Captain we are headed are still heading due south, according to the charted course, we are one hour ahead of schedule." The Helmsman replied.

The Captain turned to Emily and was about to whisper to her again when Grace walked up to Emily with an itinerary and said, "Your Majesty, Cardinal Gibson mentioned that you might need this, it's the official itinerary put together by the Church. The leaders of Old Eurment tend to follow these guidelines to the letter."

Emily smiled at Grace and said, "Thank you Grace, could you let the others know that we are ahead of schedule, so we should have time to find a hotel once we reach Port Gaul."

The Captain noticed a gold pin placed on Grace's lapel and his eyes opened wide.