Log: Rooftops, at Dawn
Wed Aug 20 06:47:41 2008
--[ Lower City Rooftops ]-----------------------------------[ Amber City ]----
In much of the Lower City, a maze of rooftops enables the agile and
knowlegeable to navigate the lower wards without being seen coming and
going.
The only way out is down.
Addison and Beatrice are here.
--------------------------------------------------------------[ Exits: D ]----
Addison climbs up to the Lower City rooftops over Damsel's Rest in the bright and early sprarkling morning with his pack and his sword hanging precariously off his back. He levers over the wall and onto the flat rooftop with a small thud.
There is a fine mist from last night's rain rising all around. In it, one cane clearly make out Beatrice, who sits over a cup of tea. Benedict must have already gone off to do whatever-it-is-he-does for this is where he's been making camp and she is here and he is not; and she looks fresh enough to have slept in a proper bed last night.
Beatrice greets, "Lord Addison. Come join me for some tea?"
Addison looks rather surprised to run into... morning tea... up here. And this takes him a moment to wrap his mind around before he says, "Sure," and walks over to take a seat. "Good morning, Lady Beatrice. This is a little surreal."
Beatrice looks amused, fishes out a tin cup and tilts a jerrycan of pre-milked and pre-sugared tea to fill it. "It's starting to feel a deal like nearly any battle front, from where I sit. Except there's someone else coordinating the charge and defenses and I appear to be serving as more or less a foot soldier."
Beatrice says this with ease and good nature.
"Princess Deirdre is sort of like a bomb going off on the political scene--- oh, thank you," Addison says as he reaches out for the tea.
Beatrice goes back to focusing on drinking her own tea, though she tops it off first. "How do you mean?"
"Someone shows up and actually takes charge," Addison says. "Gives out orders that make sense. Talks with people. Tries to coordinate the city. I mean, we've not had that as long as I've returned to Amber."
Beatrice nods her head slowly. "I believe it's why they've made her Field Marshal."
"They is Corwin," Addison says, "and it keeps him from having to King the place up."
Beatrice gives a little, "Mm," then says, "I would be careful of what you say and to whom, regarding Corwin. There are those who have merely asked questions and discussed theory and found themselves suspected of treason." Her tone is unreadably neutral.
Addison shrugs a little. "I think they've done all they can actually do to me now. Fired me, dragged my name through the mud, humiliated me. Not much left, really, without getting into serious trouble with Feldane and we're the Banker of Kings. So, I'm not terrifically worried. Anyway. Do you usually take tea on the roofs?"
Beatrice responds to that, "This week I do." Then, "Speaking of the Field Marshal, by the by, I understand she's put you in charge of coordinating the anti-bug plans."
"No, she's given me writ to be foreign liason pro temp to the Field Marshall to contact various foreign and domestic powers and get their buy in for her assault," Addison says. "I am a water carrying foot boy."
Beatrice nods her head at that description. "That's coordination," she explains to him. "I didn't mean to imply you were necessarily in charge of execution."
"I am assisting with the coordination because Princess Deirdre cannot actually be in thirty places at once and fire off all the missives," Addison says, "and I can because I am unemployed and really have nothing better to do."
Beatrice half-smiles, half-grim. "I know the feeling." She's finished her tea and goes to refill.
"My mother in law put me in Deirdre's service," Addison says. "Because, I suspect, she is half-hoping I will get eaten by bugs. I'm just... trying to be helpful, I suppose."
Beatrice nods, "Yes. It's best to be helpful." Then, "I am going to say a few things to you, Lord Addison. They are just advise from a retired colonel -- they are not official and do not supercede any orders you've been given. You understand?"
"Sure," Addison says and he gets a look like he is bracing, a bit, for a yelling.
Beatrice's tone remains calm, even relaxed. Her eyes crinkle as she considers him. "Do you imagine I am angry at you, Lord Addison, for risking your life in the sink," she means their surroundings, "Every day since the bugs came, and taking initiative to get things done?"
"I assume," Addison says, "someone is quite irate with me somewhere every moment of the day for something because that is the way of things these days."
Beatrice gifts this a melodic yet somehow grunty sort of, "Hmph." She then says, straightforwardly, "If you cut the bugs off from lower city when you push against the hive, you'll drive them to the Upper City, or to swarm over the countryside. You can't clear the ground as too many can swim and wait you out in the water. Right now the Lower City is a buffer providing safety and time for the Upper City while we sort out how to deal the bugs to death once and for all; it's also possible that if we simply destroy the hive and destroy the one after that they will die of their natural lifespans."
"So, you are saying, we shouldn't bother firing on the hive at all. We should just, what, leave it there and wait ten months for them all to die and then rebuild the docks?" Addison says. "How are we supposed to eat?"
Beatrice frowns, "Where did you get that from what I said?"
Addison says, "I thought the implication is that we should abort the plan. Did I misunderstand?"
Beatrice says, "I am not giving you implicaitons, Lord Addison. You need to get rid of that hive. At once, preferably."
"But there are risks," Addison says. "Major, major risks involved. And several unknowns."
Beatrice nods her head, "Yes." Then, "I can only offer advice. Your orders are your orders. My advice is to go after the hive and the hive only, for now. I cannot promise I am right. I *can* promise that won't be the end of the infestation."
"I know this is not the main event, Lady Beatrice," Addison says. "It cannot possibly be the main event. My focus is to have the naval ships and Pathi blow the hell out of the hive, but I need a firebreak for when the bugs all come crawling back up on shore when they do fire on it. The rest of the current bugs in the Lower City will stay in the Lower City to die of their own accord."
Beatrice shrugs. "It was advice offered unsolicited, and I know that. You might be able to get more out of my prince."
Addison says, politely, "Yes, ma'am. And I absolutely appreciate the advice. It is possible this will all go horribly wrong, and you will be in a nice position to say 'I told you so.'"
Beatrice looks at Addison severely and says, "I hope not."
Addison chews on his lower lip and then says, "I am not in control of the military on this. I just talk to people and hope to get them to show up. If you have some advice on how to best position the military, please let Princess Deirdre know."
Beatrice may have already spoken to Deirdre but certainly seems disinclined to discuss it. "It may be your plan will work if the intention is just to create a fire break." She's mulling. "Again, my advice is to speak with my prince." She stands then, stretching.
Addison looks up at Beatrice. "If I can find Prince Benedict, any advice he can give me at all would be appreciated. You know, when I was fired, he asked if I wanted to join the military. I told him at the time no because I didn't really see what I could do. I'm a lawyer and a historian, at the end of the day."
Beatrice looks amused. "You might be surprised. The military is full of historians."
Addison says, "Yes, well, military history. Not so much with Early Amber history."
Beatrice repeats, "You might be surprised." A pause, "It's a topic I've been delving, myself."
Addison says, "It's a bit of a mess, really."
Beatrice asks, "How do you mean, a mess?"
Addison says, "Some of the things that happened before the Kingdom was really settled down is... I'm not sure I should talk about any of it. I was going to write a book but now, not so much, I think."
Beatrice wonders, "Why not so much?"
Addison says, "Because some of the things Oberon did in the early Kingdom, some of the things that happened that were lost and are old and dusty, are pretty terrible."
Beatrice seems unsurprised by this statement. "Do you believe they were justified?"
Addison thinks through some things for a moment, fingering the now cold tea. "No," he finally says. "I am not convinced that everything Oberon did was justified."
Beatrice tilts her head a bit. "What, particularly, troubles you?"
Addison says, "The treatment of his eldest two sons. I have a fairly good understanding of what happened, and why, but I just believe that Oberon's pride got in the way of things a bit. I am sure Prince Benedict has told you all sorts of stories by now."
Beatrice's expression is a bit flat. "Some. I know more of details than I do the grand picture. I do not press on topics that pain him, and there are some memories of his that..." she pauses on that. She sits back down then, and looks at Addison. "What went wrong there, do you think?"
Addison says, "His first two sons and his wife could not make the transition. I am not sure why, really, but neither could an awful lot of other people from that time. Oberon did, obviously. Dworkin. Benedict was born afterward. But Finndo and Osric just couldn't stop being the Sun Killer and the Earthshaker. They could not just be Finndo and Osric."
Beatrice murmurs, "He did not kill suns, you know. He was a killer as bright as the sun." A pause, and she might be about to say or ask something more, but she stops herself.
Addison says, "Yes, well, Finndo killed Gods. He was bright and beautiful and he killed Gods. And I think he's still out there, somewhere."
Beatrice says, "Still. You should not let them stop you from writing your history. You may find in the writing some questions answer themselves."
Addison says, "I am beginning to believe things were buried for a reason, and not just to cover Oberon's shame at his original family failing and having to start over again with Faiella."
Beatrice's silence becomes a tight and disciplined thing. Perhaps at the word 'failing'.
Addison says, softly, "I am not calling Prince Benedict a failure, Lady Beatrice."
Beatrice says, briefly, "I understand." Then, "Do you know what eventually became of Cymnea, or where she came from?"
Addison shakes his head. "No," he says. "I think he killed her. Oberon, that is. Sometimes I also suspect she was one of the dragons, but that is just absolute wild conjecture based only on a name simularity and nothing more."
Beatrice asks, "Similarity to what?"
Addison says, "Cymhendod, but like I said, that is just complete wild and baseless conjecture."
Beatrice nods her head, and may agree on wild and baseless conjecture.
Addison says, "I know he went out of his way to annul their marriage, declaim any sons from that marriage to be unable to claim the Throne, and got rid of his wife. I personally believe Oberon killed Cymnea. I don't think he sent her away. But again, no proof."
Beatrice says, "If you believe her sons live, might she not have gone whence they went?"
Addison says, "I haven't the faintest idea. Gone mad and rampaged off into Shadow, perhaps. I just do not know, Lady Beatrice."
Beatrice just nods, once. Perhaps fitting this with other things she knows. "Thank you, Lord Addison."
Addison sighs. "I feel like I've been a bit squeezed for information. In a nice way possible. I would like to get something /back/ one of these days."
Beatrice lifts her brows. "If you wrote your book, people would stop squeezing you and likely come to you more readily with the light to shine on your lacunae."
Addison laughs a little, but it is a dry laugh. "More likely the Crown would take off my head."
Beatrice looks doubtful on this score. "I doubt that, for the very reasons you've outlined."
Addison says, "Oh, I think they'd make an exception if I started publishing Oberon's buried secrets."
Beatrice says, "Ah," softly. She may have some opinions on that score but, again, keeps them to herself. "I should go," she lifts her two-by-four, "Kill some bugs."
Addison says, "Yes, yes, of course, Lady Beatrice."
Beatrice nods, "Good day to you, Lord Addison," and she's off, over the rooftops.