Of Love and Valor

44: Private Audience

The Yrivvior leads us down a short hallway behind his magnificent chair, which was previously obscured from view by one of the elegant silk tapestries that adorn the Hall of Public Audience. The hallway is short and dimly lit with just a few sconces on the walls, flickering and smelling of stale lantern oil. About halfway down the hallway, the Yrivvior presses on one of the wooden wall panels, causing it to pop open. We follow him through the opening in the wall to a small but sumptuously furnished room, populated with several well-cushioned chairs facing a small platform, on which a chair of equal magnificence to the one the Yrivvior recently vacated in the Hall of Public Audience sits waiting for him. Next to this chair on the platform is a small table at which a very well-dressed young man with parchment and writing supplies sits, waiting expectantly.

"You requested that I scribe for you, Father?" the young man addresses the Yrivvior, rising from his seat. "I came as soon as I got your note." When did the Yrivvior have time to send a note? Maybe it was while I was trying desperately to scrabble together some sort of sensible reply to the Kazmiohn's request for strategy suggestions?

"Yes, thank you, Amzakhar. I would prefer you to any of the usual court scribes for this particular meeting," the Yrivvior answers. So this is the Yrivvilon, the match Thariyae's parents seek for her. He's not bad looking, to be sure, although I personally find Zelphinon more attractive. "Please, all of you, make yourselves comfortable." The Yrivvior gestures broadly at the chairs as he takes his own seat on the platform at one end of the room.

"You are most gracious, Your Imperial Majesty," Kazmiohn Ruokharismet answers for all of us. We all obediently find places on chairs, though I am quite hesitant to sully anything in this room with my touch. Zelphinon and I end up next to each other, in the front row of seats facing the Yrivvior with the Orenfior right behind us. "If I may be so bold as to ask, for what purpose have you brought us to your Hall of Private Audience, Your Imperial Majesty?"

"These new guards of yours, Your Excellency. Where did you find them?" the Yrivvior asks the Orenfior, straight to the point, nodding towards Zelphinon and me.

"Kazmiohn Ruokharismet would be better suited to answer that question than I am, Your Imperial Majesty," the Orenfior defers tactfully. "I only just persuaded him, about the last new moon or a little sooner, to let me borrow two a day from their squadron on a rotating basis."

"Their squadron comes from Andelxiao, Your Imperial Majesty," Kazmiohn Ruokharismet clarifies. "Kazmiohn Meskaiavin procured them when he was escorting Avizhaisken Eskovar to and from that city after their great battle against the Erivim."

"They let you have the strategist responsible for that victory." The Yrivvior seems to find this idea less than believable.

"They have already implemented her strategies in Andelxiao and proven that they work there. Six in their squadron are recent graduates of the Andelxiao Academy. I expect Kazmiohni Zuluthruyen and Askarinset expect they will have more of similar caliber in the Andelzhanim in the next year or two."

Through all of this, the Yrivvilon is writing furiously. His eyes rest on me with curiosity more often than I would like, and I realize suddenly that I am the only woman in the room; all the rest of the Fiorzhanim and the Viorzhanim present are men.

"And the whole squadron fought in the battle against the Erivim at Andelxiao?"

"All, and all acquitted themselves admirably, from what I've been told, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Any other military strategists among them?"

"No, but at least two future Kazmiohni, and all of them are excellent fighters. Some of the best I've seen, in fact."