As Rojez Lafwe, Primate of Exquaestio, sat and waited for his advisory council to arrive, he considered the room he was in. Though Exquaestio had managed to purchase a relatively large area around the sacred ground created in 1447, priority had gone to constructing shelter to serve the needs of the homeless, not to furnishings. Still, though the room was bare, the document boxes could be used as chairs, tables or other furnishings at need. Rising as the three members of the advisory council entered the room together he returned their bows. He noticed that the espiri councilor was looking somewhat green. She must have had a bad bout of morning sickness that morning. As he had many times before, Rojez studied her carefully. When he had suggested that the council be formed of younger, more flexible members he hadn't imagined that someone might put forward a 14 year old newlywed. He wondered again if the elder espiri was trying to tell him something. If she was, it escaped him. After the necessary preliminaries he turned to the rohain representative. "What's the situation here in Cormenaera?" "With the early harvests coming in it looks like we have the problem of disease under control. There have been no deaths in the past week. The summer trade is starting, and with that and the early harvest people should be able to start earning again. People haven't starting leaving the shelters we set up, but people are talking about it. With any luck we can start turning the shelters into proper church buildings around mid summer." Rojez nodded, "Keep in mind that people are still going to need help putting up buildings. Don't monopolize all our construction people." The squire nodded and continued, "Opinion of Exquaestio is very good in the city, and even in some of nearby farms. Confidence in the Church of the Sea is down." The espiri member interrupted. "That doesn't make sense. The Church has put far more into Cormenaera than we have." "But it's spread much more thinly. People can also see how we've tightened our belts, and if there's a priest of sea who lost a pound this winter I haven't seen him." He thought for a moment. "Let's see . . . People are impressed with our magic. Maybe not so much the magic itself, as how we use it. I guess that's all" "Do we need to put any more effort into Cormenaera's recovery?" Rojez asked. "Frankly Primus I don't see how we can. Last year every bit of help was useful. This year the city is going to need things we just can't supply." Rojez frowned, "What about the Pantheon?" The squire shrugged, "All the factions may have agreed to build near Cormenaera, but we still need to pick out a specific site. It will be a while before we can actually start spending significant amounts of money." Rojez nodded and turned to the anradan representative, "What about our political relations?" The anradan scowled. "Parglug appreciates our knowledge of magic, but they don't see any reason to change the things that they think have worked for years." The squire shook his head. "They're training their peasantry in weapons while not making common cause with the Laresian Church. Can't they see they'll be facing civil war soon if they don't change the situation?" "Apparantly not, and the situation in Junder is only slightly better. The divisions between the various factions continue to be too deep for our people to do anything about. In a way the fire here in Cormenaera was a blessing, the Free Cities are too busy sniffing around here to make Junder into a battleground." The espiri councilor made a disgusted sound, "Tell that to the people killed in 'bandit raids.'" "If Junder goes up in flames the heart will go out of Exquaestio!" "Enough!" Rojez commanded. "You two have argued this enough, we don't need to hear it again." "What about the rumors about the Ice Demons?" "They're not rumors any more." "What!" "We have definite word from some members in The Burcany. The Ice Demons are definitely moving, and there are refugees crossing into The Burcany from Torphan." "Do we know any more than that?" Rojez asked. "No." "What about the Ice Demons in Tanimbar?" The anradan councilor blinked in surprize. "I haven't heard anything. I'll send a message to Tanimbar's overpriest today with the question." Rojez raised a hand for silence and thought for a moment. "We need three missions. One to the government in The Burcany, one to the church, and one to gather information about the Ice Demons themselves." After some discussion it was decided that two missions would have to do. The rohain would deal with Burcany's government and try to gather information about the Ice Demons. They would try to find an espiri to go with them but keep in the background. The anradan would send representatives to the Church. Rojez finally turned to the espiri councilor. "What's the the situation with the Cult of Demerhaze?" The councilor smiled, "We got lucky. Even though we were unable to keep our negotiations secret, the response has been mainly positive. The appeal of vengeance seems quite popular with our members. We'll keep trying to expand relations, but progress will probably be slow." "Have our ambassadors . . ." "Oh yes, there have been dreams on both sides to make it clear that Demerhaze and Feroze both want this. But we can only move forward so fast if we want this alliance to last." Rojez leaned back on his box. "Thank you all . . ." The anradan councillor interrupted, "I'm sorry Primus, but there's another matter." "Yes?" "The Conclave is discussing reorganizing the anradan. Apparantly there are difficulties getting people who can do everything we need done." "What do they intend?" "They haven't decided yet. I'll let you know when I learn more." Jefferson (Exquaestio) http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/Exq_Main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
