Look. If it was absolutely anyone else, he'd be delighted to let Alfirin do the talking, but Alex won't listen to her and if there's going to be another civil war he wants at least three hours' notice.
He'll catch him between committee meetings. "Cansellarion. Do you have a moment?"
"Somewhere private, I think, if you don't mind." He holds out his hand for the teleport.
They're in a comfortable drawing room. Walnut furniture, green silk drapes, a tasteful but still distinctly Galtan quantity of wainscotting. The only sign there's anything usual is the fine layer of frost on the deep bay windows, and the snow on the ground outside.
"I'd apologize for taking up more of your very valuable time, but as time passes here at ten times the rate it does outside, I won't occupy very much of it." He waves a hand. "You can see I haven't gotten the seasons quite lined up yet."
"It's very nice, apart from that.
...I was not trying to start a civil war or tear the country apart. I just misjudged how much the tax exemption would do that."
He really does sigh.
"...I'm very glad to hear that.
You know, I had a whole speech ready. I was going to ask you if you wanted to be king, and explain in some detail why all of the other options were worse. It's resurrected 46th century monarchs, and they're pretty uniformly dreadful, or Cyprian, or a real Republic – which would please me, but, I'm afraid, nobody else."
"Judging by the past year and the past day I think I would not make a good king of Cheliax... Iomedae advised me to weaken her influence but not to try to overthrow her. I would not accept your offer, and I think it might be foolish of you to be willing to make it."
What an absurd, impracticable set of instructions.
"I know you don't have any particular reason to believe me" – except for the fact that he's never lied to the man in his life, which doesn't count for anything – "but I was not happy about putting the immortal archmage who ate my friend's soul on the throne of Cheliax. You can blame me for that, if you like. I made the decision, more than anyone. I did it because I thought it was the best out of a set of very, very bad options. And if I'd known – well, I thought this morning, if I'd known that you were willing to cause a civil war to try to bring her down, it wouldn't have been the best option. I'm not sure that you would have been, but you might at least live with the consequences.
If you'd just told us from the beginning that you couldn't live with her on the throne, we'd have figured something else out. I had imagined, before, that we were working towards the same goal. I would like to find a way for that to still be true."
"I believe you. I can live with her on the throne. Like I said, I've been ordered to not try to remove her from it... That might change, if by a miracle we triumph over Geb. Or if he decides not to retaliate for whatever reason. But if it does I'll certainly tell you all before trying anything on my own.
...She offered to step down herself after Cheliax was put back in order, if I agreed not to cause her trouble until then. And to what amounted to letting her kill me after she did. Do you believe she'd keep to her end of that, even once I was gone?"
"I'm sure she'd step down, she doesn't have any particular interest in ruling Cheliax to begin with. .
...I don't think she wants to kill you? If anything, I think she rather likes you. If you're worried she wants revenge for your killing her as Myrabelle, you shouldn't be, she arranged all that for your benefit."
"She offered to duel me in the ruins of Sarkoris, and I'm under no illusions about who would win. I would of course do it anyway if she really would abdicate and that was the most important thing I could be doing, but - it didn't seem like a negotiation as much as a way to get rid of me."
"...I am struggling to imagine the circumstances under which dueling Alfirin in the ruins of Sarkoris would be the most important thing you could be doing."
"I was not going to accept that deal without a much better reason to think I should than I've yet been given, no. I was assuming it was the price of her abdicating but -
- I am unsure how to interpret the things you've told me about Myrabelle - Alfirin - in light of my orders from Iomedae, and I would like to spend some time thinking on that after I've slept. Would I be imposing on your hospitality too much if I asked to rest here for a couple hours?"
"I was hoping you would.
Let's speak again after you've slept. Your orders from Iomedae and your understanding of your priorities here are both frankly very confusing to me, and I'd rather avoid more confusions like the one this morning."
"Good morning - or I suppose it's still mid-afternoon. You thought my instructions from Iomedae were confusing? Or just my response to them?"
"All of the above. I certainly don't believe that Alfirin's interests align with your goddess's in the long run, but I can't see that opposing her is the best use of your time for, oh, the next decade or so. And if it was – well, you know what I think of tax policy as a means of going about it."
Again, Élie is using that name. He knew it was one of Myrabelle's former identities but he's starting to suspect now that it's her real identity, inasmuch as such a thing is meaningful.
"The tax policy was a mistake. I think - while we have different reasons for it, I think you agree with me that limiting the powers of the monarch is a good thing? If not, I am not sure why you're holding a convention at all. I agree it's fairly limited in how much it can actually restrict Alfirin, but it seems like something that might meaningfully limit her without provoking overt conflict."
"I support restricting the power of the monarchy in the general sense, but a weak central government with an all-powerful aristocracy is hardly better and probably worse. If you must weaken Alfirin, don't let it be at the expense of the people of Cheliax."
"I am not sure what is in the best interests of the Chelish people here, but - I think in the short term empowering the nobility - largely selected for being good people, especially at the top levels - against the queen - who is evil - doesn't seem likely worse. If you have suggestions for something better than that I will hear them gladly."
"I'd disagree even in the short term, but I don't think it matters – we're not making decisions for the short term. If this works, we're making laws not just for the nobles we chose but for their children and their children's children, and I'm afraid that they'll end up much like nobles always do." Right, Alex is a noble. "Present company excepted. It's not that I expect there to be anything particularly wrong with them. Aristocratic privilege by its nature encourages rapacity, indolence, petty tyranny, obsession with rank – you're from Molthune, you must have seen it. Much better to centralize power in the hands of an elected body."
"I have not observed centralized elected bodies being generally more stable or better for the people under their rule. I'll grant you Andoran, but Galt? Rahadoum? The Shackles?"
"I don't think the Free Captains of the Shackle are elected by anyone except themselves. Rahadoum is no worse than anywhere else, except for the lack of healing. And Galt – "
Galt did more to fight Cheliax at the height of the terror than the Glorious Reclamation did in all of its existence. He's not going to say that.
"Galt tried to do too much, too fast, in the middle of a war. I'm not advocating abolishing the institution of the nobility" – Because Catherine and Naima and Alfirin and Shawil have all independently and on multiple occasions talked him down – "only reminding you that the vast majority of Chelish citizens have more to fear from their lords than a distant Queen in Westcrown, even if she is an archmage."
"I don't mean to say that Galt did not accomplish a great deal of good. Only that the government also did a great deal of evil, to its own people, and that it wasn't stable. But I take your point about the aristocracy. I'm not eager to leave more power in the hands of the queen, but I'll try to make sure any reductions in her powers come at the benefit of less corruptible institutions." The churches, probably, except that Iomedae is busy, Sarenrae was never popular here and may not want to empower Alfirin and Élie's country, Erastil doesn't have an organized church, and Abadar is... not Good.
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