moonshadows

Varian hurries into the small royal dining room and flashes me a slightly-harried grin as he sits down. “Sorry I’m late. Had an emergency meeting with Marshal Dughan. The bandits in Elwynn are getting out of hand.” He begins slicing bites off of his venison steak and wolfing them. “The Royal Guard are stretched thin as it is, even with the army back from Nothrend, and the Stockade is full to bursting, so I authorized the use of deadly force.”

I butter a roll with short, violent strokes. “It gladdens my heart to hear that the king of Stormwind has shifted his policies away from war on the Horde and towards war on his own people.” My tone is sharp enough to slice through both my steak and the plate beneath it.

“Damnit Taretha, what do you want me to do?” One fist slams into the table, making plates and cutlery jump, and he glares fiercely at me. “These bandits are attacking innocent civilians. My people have enough trouble scraping by without being robbed in broad daylight! I can’t build more prisons; there isn’t enough manpower or material. They broke the law, and they have to pay for their crimes!”

I meet his fire with ice. “Indeed, my lord. Pray tell me - how are they paying for their crimes now? By having their freedom revoked in exchange for three meals a day and a place to sleep?” My glare is no less fierce. “How many meals a day does little Maddie eat, my lord? What are the prisoners in the Stockade fed?”

Varian blinks, then glowers. “Prisoners are fed better than farm children, and they give nothing back for all the taxes spent on housing them. I see your point; it’s not right. How can we change that?”

Satisfied that he’s going to listen, I allow my hackles to lower again. “What was it that you were complaining about not having the manpower for last week?”

“The Jangalode mine in Elwynn.” Calmer now that he is not under attack, he resumes eating. “The kobold infestation was taken care of, but now we have a mine sitting empty and all the miners who used to work it are dead.”

“Coincidentally, we have a large force of men with idle hands and unpaid debts.”

He puts two and two together immediately. “Conscript the bandits. Hard labor will take the fight out of them, and the Crown will get compensation for their room and board. But where are we going to put them? Wait-” he rips into his roll and chews thoughtfully for a moment. “The prisoners currently in the Stockade can provide the workforce to build a barracks, and Eastvale has plenty of lumber but nothing to do with it now that we’re not building a fleet of ships. I’ll send orders to Marshal Dughan to capture the bandits instead and have them start hauling wood. We’ll need architects, though. People with construction experience.”

I say nothing, waiting for him to follow that train of thought to its obvious conclusion. His eyes search my face, then unfocus as he thinks about the problem.

“Latest reports say that Moonbrook is looking decidedly less shabby,” Varian says casually. “All the ruined buildings have been repaired. I wonder if there could be any experienced architects or stonemasons there who would like to be paid handsomely for their help in this.”

“You won’t know until you ask, my lord.” I give him a small smile, which he returns threefold.

“You see, my lady? I can be taught.” He sobers slightly. “This opens up all kinds of possibilities. I’m going to send surveyors and clerks out to take a tally of which farms are owned legally, which are abandoned, and which are being worked by squatters. As you pointed out to me, many of the homeless in Westfall do have skills, but no chance to practice them. I have no intentions of stopping the Queen’s Bread, but I’d like to add to that. Let those with skills earn more than just bread by exercising them for the Crown.” Varian grins crookedly at me. “Think that will undo some of the anti-king sentiment?”

“If it doesn’t, it will at least keep the complainers too busy to stir up trouble.” I prod a piece of potato with my fork. “The latest report from Vanessa states that they have a crude barter economy set up in Moonbrook, but they’re hampered by a lack of equipment. While our conscripted laborers build their barracks by Jangalode, you might consider hiring some of the….residents of Moonbrook…to work the mine in their backyard.”

Varian looks at me intently. “What are you edging around, my lady?”

I meet his gaze steadily. “Bring the Brotherhood back into the kingdom, my lord. Make Vanessa the mayor of Moonbrook. Authorize her to create a militia to protect the town. They’re already established enough that it will seem to be exactly what it is – a concession to the inevitable, a recognition of their victory. You will gain sympathy for conceding defeat so graciously, and gratitude from the ones who were conflicted between loyalty to kingdom, and loyalty to king.”

“It goes against my nature to admit defeat,” he says grimly, “no matter how graciously.”

“The only defeat is death from behind. Everything else-”

“-is an alternate victory. You have a way of throwing my words back in my teeth, my lady wife.”

I smile slightly at his rueful tone. “No more so than you do, my lord husband.”

“Alright. I can concede an alternate victory; your points are well and discreetly made. Vanessa VanCleef will be mayor of Moonbrook if she accepts the role, which I’m sure you will make certain she does, and I will get to work immediately on the arrangements for mining equipment and a pay rate. If we can get Westfall stabilized and returned to even half of its former prosperity, I’ll-“ He breaks off suddenly, chewing furiously on a mouthful of venison and staring at nothing. “With the Brotherhood no longer attacking Sentinel Hill, Westfall really only needs military support for the gnolls. If we put a bounty on gnoll heads, the Brotherhood’s hotheads will take care of that for us. Then we could redirect some of those men and supplies to Redridge. Shore up the defenses against the Blackrocks.”

The tension from earlier is gone, replaced by the restrained energy of a hunting wolf.

“My lady, if you will excuse me for being late to lunch and leaving early, there is much to be done.” He gives me a lopsided grin. “I suspect you would prefer solitude to my company anyway. By your leave, Taretha.”

I suppress a wince at how calmly he accepts my dislike of him as he bows. Well, there’s no reason for me to wish him ill just because I don’t like him. “Good hunting, Varian.”

He looks startled at the lack of frost in my tone, but nods once and leaves.