Lenore gives a pleased, approving smile when Gideon proves to have at least basic competence on a horse, and is so obviously settling more into her role with every minute. Lenore doubts that there are many thoughts of rebellion still lingering in Gideon's head, not when Lenore has provided so very many reasons for loyalty.
They set out into the snowy landscape, moving slowly and nearly single-file, with the lead horse regularly changed out in a comfortable drill that barely needs any spoken direction. The soldiers simply rotate their positions so that different horses take the extra fatigue of breaking the path through the snow.
Everything is quiet for the first half hour, everyone settling into the journey and the pace, but once they're out of immediate sight of the castle, the strict drill formation relaxes a little and quiet conversations spring up.
Only one of them is unarmored, a dark-haired woman with light brown skin and a craggy face that's all sharp edges. Her black eyes never seem to do anything but glare, but she watches protectively over the group and often bursts up into a cloud of bats and swirls into the sky above them (her horse endures this with a surprising lack of reaction), then returns and gives a few words of report to the general or Lenore.
The woman who rides consistently just behind the lead horse is clearly the general, and she confers frequently with Lenore, who gives her friendly smiles (though none of the flirtation she has consistently aimed at Gideon) and easy conversation. Lenore calls her Zohreh, and she's a broad woman, though not particularly tall, with bouncy dark curls. Her round face is hard as stone except for when she speaks to Lenore and softens so much that she might as well be baked from cinnamon and sugar.
Lenore knows the names of every one of the soldiers and speaks to them with casual familiarity as they rotate past her position at the heart of the procession, just behind Zohreh. The maid--the only one who isn't a vampire--stays inside the sleigh and seems disinclined to conversation. She'd been lively when she'd been beside her fellow maid, but now that she's alone, she's quiet and withdrawn.
"There are quite a few logistical challenges to being vampire rulers over a mostly-human country," Lenore says to Gideon, seemingly apropos of nothing. "Stessl is an example of them, and that's the problem we're heading to resolve. On the surface, the city's mayor has informed us that due to several hardships, including a fire in one of the mills, they won't be able to make the full tribute expected of them. So we're going to assess the situation and to see what aid they may require.
"Where it gets more complicated is that the former mayor was very corrupt, so Carmilla--one of my fellow queens--killed him to make an example of him. But she didn't set anyone in his place, leaving the city to sort itself out. It's ... not how I would have handled the situation. So the man who took over and holds power now is simply the man who had the ability to seize power, whether through charisma, scheming, or force. The details weren't anything that we were all that concerned about as long as the tributes are met and there's no sign of outright rebellion or excess corruption and cruelty.
"So they've failed at the first part and I strongly suspect that we're dealing with a man who's corrupt and thinks he can consolidate power right under our nose, possibly eventually leading to outright rebellion." Lenore's tone is cool and with a hint of annoyance, explaining the situation mostly dispassionately but with flickers of empathetic concern. "We're going to investigate the situation. I'm looking for signs that these hardships are caused by his greed or they're part of a larger plan. This could even be a trap, which means I'm probably the worst of the sisterhood to deal with this. But for investigating the situation, handling it diplomatically, and knowing whether he's lying to my face, all those are things that I'm the best one to handle."
no subject
They set out into the snowy landscape, moving slowly and nearly single-file, with the lead horse regularly changed out in a comfortable drill that barely needs any spoken direction. The soldiers simply rotate their positions so that different horses take the extra fatigue of breaking the path through the snow.
Everything is quiet for the first half hour, everyone settling into the journey and the pace, but once they're out of immediate sight of the castle, the strict drill formation relaxes a little and quiet conversations spring up.
Only one of them is unarmored, a dark-haired woman with light brown skin and a craggy face that's all sharp edges. Her black eyes never seem to do anything but glare, but she watches protectively over the group and often bursts up into a cloud of bats and swirls into the sky above them (her horse endures this with a surprising lack of reaction), then returns and gives a few words of report to the general or Lenore.
The woman who rides consistently just behind the lead horse is clearly the general, and she confers frequently with Lenore, who gives her friendly smiles (though none of the flirtation she has consistently aimed at Gideon) and easy conversation. Lenore calls her Zohreh, and she's a broad woman, though not particularly tall, with bouncy dark curls. Her round face is hard as stone except for when she speaks to Lenore and softens so much that she might as well be baked from cinnamon and sugar.
Lenore knows the names of every one of the soldiers and speaks to them with casual familiarity as they rotate past her position at the heart of the procession, just behind Zohreh. The maid--the only one who isn't a vampire--stays inside the sleigh and seems disinclined to conversation. She'd been lively when she'd been beside her fellow maid, but now that she's alone, she's quiet and withdrawn.
"There are quite a few logistical challenges to being vampire rulers over a mostly-human country," Lenore says to Gideon, seemingly apropos of nothing. "Stessl is an example of them, and that's the problem we're heading to resolve. On the surface, the city's mayor has informed us that due to several hardships, including a fire in one of the mills, they won't be able to make the full tribute expected of them. So we're going to assess the situation and to see what aid they may require.
"Where it gets more complicated is that the former mayor was very corrupt, so Carmilla--one of my fellow queens--killed him to make an example of him. But she didn't set anyone in his place, leaving the city to sort itself out. It's ... not how I would have handled the situation. So the man who took over and holds power now is simply the man who had the ability to seize power, whether through charisma, scheming, or force. The details weren't anything that we were all that concerned about as long as the tributes are met and there's no sign of outright rebellion or excess corruption and cruelty.
"So they've failed at the first part and I strongly suspect that we're dealing with a man who's corrupt and thinks he can consolidate power right under our nose, possibly eventually leading to outright rebellion." Lenore's tone is cool and with a hint of annoyance, explaining the situation mostly dispassionately but with flickers of empathetic concern. "We're going to investigate the situation. I'm looking for signs that these hardships are caused by his greed or they're part of a larger plan. This could even be a trap, which means I'm probably the worst of the sisterhood to deal with this. But for investigating the situation, handling it diplomatically, and knowing whether he's lying to my face, all those are things that I'm the best one to handle."