The Fire Queen

Chapter 43

The Governing Council, the body responsible for debating the issues confronting the kingdom, could only be convened by a ruler that has been officially placed on the throne by the Overseer. In the past the Governing Council was merely the nobles getting together in the capital to tell the king what they wanted him to do, but things were different now. After the purge of the nobles the citizens of the seven states were granted the opportunity to select a representative to sit on the Governing Council and advocate for them in the palace. The Governing council that I presided over for the first time consisted of eight representatives, the new addition being the Okwari representative. The person who the Okwari had chosen to represent them on the Governing Council was Uraia, a logical choice, given how close we were and the fact that she would have no problems with the language. To assume the position of the Okwari representative on the Governing Council Uraia had to relinquish her role as Captain of the Royal Guard. I had Klara take her place and told Uraia to apply all of her focus to thinking of ways in which the kingdom could help the Okwari in the north. Traditionally state representatives were furnished with a residence in the capital city but Uraia chose to remain at the palace. Understandably Uraia was nervous about sitting on the Governing Council, but I assured her that nothing would happen during the council sessions that would make her feel like she didn't belong.

The council met for the first time two weeks after my coronation. The celebrations that were held in the capital city after my coronation lasted a week and another week was allowed for the cleanup and for everybody to return home. The meeting was held in the throne room. In attendance were the members of my court and the eight representatives from the kingdom's eight territories. The representatives in attendance were the same people that the citizens had chosen as their representatives when the king had subjugated the nobles. They had the citizens' trust, so it made sense to invite them to rejoin the council. The main items on the agenda were the proclamations that I had issued, specifically my proclamation that all of the children in the kingdom were to receive an education. Implementing such a policy brought with it many logistical challenges that the state representatives weren't sure of how to overcome. Ferland had warned me about this and had advised me to formulate a proposal for meeting these challenges. The representatives were broadly in agreement with my proposal but were anxious to know how I planned to make it a reality.

"First of all, everybody needs to understand and accept that this is not going to happen overnight. The implementation of this plan is going to require the successful completion of three phases: building a schoolhouse in each village where the children will have their lessons, crafting a curriculum that will teach them everything that they need to know, and training teachers to teach that curriculum. The cost of building the schoolhouses will be covered by the Royal Treasury, I will personally oversee the crafting of the curriculum, and there are two large residences here in the capital that used to belong to two of the noble families that I plan to convert into an educational facility for training teachers. Work on building the schoolhouses can begin immediately, as can crafting the curriculum and establishing the teaching academy, however finding people that are literate enough to become teachers and training them at the academy is going to take a bit longer. My goal is to have everything up and running in two years at the latest. Is everybody happy with that?" I asked.

"What do you have in mind for the curriculum?" The representative from the state of Kalta, Nolan Ren, asked.

"We'll start with a foundation of literacy, mathematics, geography and history. After that the course of their education will be determined by their aptitude and the needs of the kingdom. Engineering and Agricultural Science are to be the two main fields of study made available to them, with other fields of study to be introduced later."

"The farmers depend on their children to help them work the fields, if the children are in school then who will help work the fields?" The representative from the state of Novarda, Claude Wemler, asked.

"The children will attend school during fall and winter, and I plan on introducing some new farming techniques that will make working the fields less labor intensive."

"Such as?" Representative Wemler asked.

"Shifting away from small scale subsistence farming to large scale farming through greater use of livestock in plowing and improved water management for irrigation."

"That is also going to require significant capital investment."

"Which we have after Dranii turned over the nobles' wealth that they had been storing for them."

"Where is the livestock for plowing going to come from? The only livestock that we've been raising has been for beef and milk."

"The Okwari have herds of domesticated buffalo that are perfect for farm work, we used them when we were living in the north, I'll ask them to start bringing some south so you can see for yourself how useful they can be to the farmers."

"And the water management?"

"We dig furrows and line them with clay to transport water that will be scooped out of the rivers by waterwheels, this will allow for the cultivation of larger fields and for expansion further inland from natural water sources."

"That's another big undertaking that's going to require a lot of manpower."

"Bear in mind that the potential of this kingdom has been largely untapped due to the nobles' needs being the sole focus of all of the work that was being done, now that we are focusing on projects that are intended to benefit the ordinary citizens I believe that there will be enormous enthusiasm for these projects among the citizens."

In the weeks that followed the beginning stages of my plans were put into motion, and as I expected there was great enthusiasm for my proposals. We made the announcement that all who had been fortunate enough to be educated by the nobles were invited to apply for the teacher training program expecting to receive dozens of applications. We received hundreds. The response to my plans for improving water management and agricultural productivity were received with similar enthusiasm. The state representatives came to me with proposals from villages all over their states for expanding their fields. The Okwari brought two hundred buffalo down from their villages and we sent roughly thirty to each state for them to give to a small number of farmers for them to use and evaluate their usefulness. The farmers were impressed with the potential of the buffalos and after hearing about the teewahs from the soldiers that returned from the battle with Volstaff people were interested in acquiring some for themselves too. I spoke with Uraia and told her that if they were open to it, livestock trading could be very lucrative for the Okwari. Uraia said that she would speak with them about it but that they would most likely not be interested as they didn't care about material wealth.

"Material wealth doesn't have to be their reason for trading, there are a lot of everyday items that would make their lives easier that they could trade for."

"You'd have an easier time convincing them."

I didn't need much of an excuse to travel north; with Chief Kendor being so old I had resolved to visit him as much as was possible. Bandor was being readied to take over as chief and it was with him that I spoke about the Okwari trading with the rest of the kingdom. As Uraia predicted, the Okwari had little appetite for trade. The Okwari had a way of life that they were comfortable with and which they saw no reason to make changes to, but because it was important to me and my ambitions for the kingdom they agreed to help. In exchange for us sending chickens and pigs up north for the Okwari they would send breeding pairs of buffalo and teewahs down south. Of course the buffalo and teewahs were worth a lot more than pigs and chickens. The difference would be held for the Okwari by the Royal Treasurer for them to avail themselves of whenever they so chose. I also promised Bandor that I would make good on my father's promise to share with them the innovations that he had worked on at the settlement, like the waterwheel and the sawmill. I also informed him of my plan to educate all of the children in the kingdom, and of my wish to extend this opportunity to the Okwari children as well. The problem was that the Okwari villages were sparsely populated and spread far apart; the most sensible solution to this problem was to build a boarding school in the north where we could educate all of the children. Bandor was a lot more skeptical of this idea. He told me that he understood that I wanted what was best for the Okwari but that the changes that I was proposing were too much. The Okwari were open to change, but it would have to be done slowly.