"I'll keep an eye out." Sheppard agrees.

"Joy, pickpockets." Rodney briefly checks his pockets and moves anything important to ones with zippers.

As promised, the market is pretty grand. Lots of things are for sale; weapons, rugs, tapestries, tea, coffee, highly-guarded small magical trinkets, and many samples of other goods which the hawkers promised were present in much larger quantities nearby.

Also, a lot of buyers and sellers are... kind of shady. Constantly looking for people at their back, sizing people up as targets when they're not looking. No one seems to actually be attacking anyone, but it looks like they're constantly expecting attacks. Not the natives, generally, the foreigners.

That puts Sheppard on his guard more than the warning about pickpockets did. "A lot of people seem on edge."

"Pirates, mostly. They don't often pick fights here, it's a free port and they don't want to lose it."

"Huh, I don't think we have those, or maybe we do but they're just in other nations I'm not as familiar with."

"Free ports? It's not common, but for Kislev it was the solution to a puzzle. We're here at the eastern edge of the Sea of Claws, and its whole north bank is Norscans, who mostly worship Chaos and all raid over the sea. Kislev's coast is poor and barely worth raiding, so patrol ships are hard to justify, but we still need warning if they're massing in large numbers. Several generations ago, a tzar - probably a tzarina, actually, this is an Ice Witch decision if I ever heard one - decided to make use of the pirates, who are very unwelcome everywhere along both the north bank and the south, which the Empire defends heavily, but sail the Sea anyway to raid raiders and Marienburg, the port where the Sea opens up to the Great Ocean, which is the richest human port in the world. So they, and even some Norscans, have the freedom of Erengrad, as long as they don't get caught raiding Kislev, worshiping Chaos, or committing treason against the tzar. As long as they pay the docking fee, which is a modest charge in gold and a thorough account of recent sightings of ships in the Sea."

"That's an interesting solution. I guess it works as long as nobody else is too annoyed by you being friendly."

"I'm sure the Emperor in Altdorf expresses his displeasure to the Tzarina whenever something notable happens. But what will he do, invade? I'm not sure he could if he wanted to, the Elector Counts would squabble endlessly. Not my job, thankfully."

"It does seem like it would be short-sighted; with you being on the front lines of the fight against Chaos."

"Yes. We're the shield of the Old World. If the worst we do is provide a market for slightly-subtle pirates to fence stolen goods, it'll be tolerated for a long time. Though I think I heard a story that when the policy was new the Elector Count of Nordland - that's most of the coast - assembled his own fleet to raid Erengrad in retaliation. Fortunately for the city the tzarina was wise and repaired all the sea fortifications before declaring the port free."

"Smart plan."

"But cold as ice. Ice Witches get like that. Well, half of them, at least."

"I feel like half of leaders in general are like that. Maybe more when they're under pressure."

"Maybe? I think most leaders with responsibility I've met - I suppose I haven't met any other monarchs or Elector Counts or such - and those I've heard of from those who knew them personally, see ruthlessness as something they make compromises with. An Ice Witch deeply steeped in the Frost sees it more like algebra. Let a be the lives lost by a delay and b the price in gold to replace horses lost by a forced march, c be the trade and future favors secured by keeping a promise and d the weighting of those over years for their present worth, and then e the lives and gold won now by breaking it. Calculate a solution for each action in whatever ledger you are weighing and take the higher number. It gets results and protects us, and I'm thankful that Tzarina Katarin does what I never could in her place, but many more people fear her than feared her father Tzar Boris, and as much for her mind as for her mastery of magic."

"That sort of political math is more common in my experience. Though sometimes people pretend to be better at it than they really are. And when people are looking for support, well it's not a popular way to argue most of the time."

"It's hard to keep people's loyalty, that way. I'm sure Tzar Boris did some ruthless things in his life* but he behaved - traditionally. Rewarded loyalty and faith with loyalty and faith, supported those who supported him, led from the front ranks before he asked anyone else to. And boyars, peasants, and everyone in between loved him for it and would have followed him into Za if he asked them to without asking his reasons. He was exceptional, but his methods were not."

(*He didn't have his father assassinated undetectably to ensure Kislev was more ready for the next Everchosen, because Mathilde Weber died too soon for him to ask. But, you know, he would have.)

"I don't think the leaders in my nation have led from the front for a long time more than a hundred years. It doesn't make sense with the sort of wars we've fought. I do as the leader of the military for the Atlantis Expedition but it's a much smaller group and communication is harder to maintain so it makes more sense."

"I suppose if your cannons have advanced as much as your guns, let alone anything else, that would change a lot. ...Are your democratic not-kings still military men? I've heard that's true down in Tilea, that it's mostly successful mercenary generals who are chosen for leadership."

"It used to be, they haven't been lately though. War hasn't come to our shores... well at least not as far as the public knows, so it's not something they prioritize."

"It's come to your shores in secret? From where?"

"When we first started travelling through the gates. We got into conflict with a nasty group of people called the Goa'uld System Lords. For the most part our fight with them has been on other worlds but twice now they've sent ships to attack us. I don't really understand how we kept that secret, and I don't really agree with the decision, but we managed it."

"The Empire keeps a bigger one. I mentioned Skaven? In the Empire they don't believe they exist. Deliberately, as I understand."

"Is there a goal behind that strategy?"

"The Skaven are very proud, and very fractious. So long as the Empire believes they don't exist, they feel very superior to them, and do not need to prove it with constant attacks on the largest of the human nations, and so will instead fight each other. And a small number of people in approximately my profession still know, and can keep an eye out for any large movements and draft in others as needed."