Ambrose nods at that last point.  "Yes, do be careful.  I'll trust Ophelia to know what she's doing against demon cults, but whatever you saw in your dreams - I'm not sure yet that you'd know what you're doing well enough.

"I know someone tried a while back - around the time you were born - to try to organize people to recognize and magics by feel and report about them.  I think it didn't work for some reason?  Though I can't remember why.  If you've got a new idea, it might be worth trying again - maybe it'd make a good thesis project for you at the Royal Academy, if nothing else?"

He's been shaking his head in horror at the concept of Peabodies, but he can't really reject it.  It is, after all, possible... 

"...Yes, obviously, we move only in due time.  But we still must move.  Our kingdom needs us.

"...As far as whether I have a plan -

"I have tools, and goals, and uses of the tools I have in mind as methods to accomplish those goals.  That's both like a plan and also completely disjoint from the definition thereof."

And then, the comment from her father, which just...

It's probably not wrong, but neither is it really helpful.

"The problem is the Academy's culture in and of itself, and the influence of the Phoenix Kingdom on how most people think about Light-wielders outside the control of the Unifying Church.  Most Light-wielders don't burn the heretic!  Even our own Sunset Order has problems with that reputation.  So we don't have a real native tradition of Light-wielders, there will never be enough spiritual casters, and the nature-casters are insular so it's not like they'll come to us.

"Meanwhile, the Academy is all about arcane might.

"The thing is, culture can be shaped."

"That's good.  Do talk with people about it before you try to use those... strings.  Levers."

She likes those words better than "tools"; they're more appealing images.

(Well, the first part of it is good.  She frowns at Alicia's rant about the Academy, though she's not going to say it's wrong.)

"...People aren't tools."

She sniffs disapprovingly.  "I would not want anyone to describe people that way.  Especially not the people in her own kingdom."

Alicia just...shakes her head for a moment, honestly somewhat confused at where this discussion has gotten to.

"I'm glad we agree about that.  Are we also agreed that we should get Aunt Ophelia involved before we continue plotting, then?"

"Yes, but I don't want to wait to start putting some spies on the cultists."

He pauses and frowns.  The "Peabody" idea has been nagging at him, and that exchange about people as tools (which he'd never have heard from Alicia yesterday) just accentuated it.

"And is there... something that brought that 'peabody' idea to mind?  Did you see it in your dream?"

She shudders.  "No, not except for a thirdhand account, and I'm rather glad I didn't."

"Good.  I was afraid someone was planning something like that, even if it's too Orderly for demon cultists."

Queen Jethelia shivers.

"...If there's one thing I am very glad of, it is that the magic of our world doesn't really do subtle.

"...Most of the time, at least; a sufficiently competent shapeshifting infiltrator could exist.  Ugh, now I have to worry about that.  Probably you want existential countermeasures...  Checking that the right soul is in the right body, and stuff like that.  Also secure passphrases.  If we don't already have those, but knowing Aunt Ophelia, we absolutely do.  But even so, that's...

"It's nothing, compared to - as another completely fictional example - 

"Nice Guy, an unrepentant serial killer who just was, axiomatically, perceived as someone who was Supposed To Be There, or -

"- mm.  I'm not going to even talk about that one."  'Mama' Mathers, a viral cognitohazard, able to perceive and manipulate any sense that had ever perceived her.

"And boy am I glad that I've never seen the Berryman-Langford Death Parrot, even as rendered by people that could never have achieved such a feat of self-destructive creation."  She shudders, delicately.  "I don't like the idea of Things That Make Your Brain Explode By Looking At Them.

"It's just.

"There are things that are dangerous to think about too loudly," - Note to self: There is no Antimemetics Division - "and...  I think I've had rather too many of them dumped into my head, as part of the consequences of having had this vision in the way that I have had it.  There's too many... tangentially related things that were nonetheless connected enough to what I saw that I thereby came to know of them.  I know how to keep myself safe enough to not immediately explode," mostly through high-stakes Extreme Dissociation™, if she's being honest with herself, "but...I'm going to need to spend time working with Aunt Ophelia to get myself in order, I think.  She knows the right skills to handle this sort of problem."

"If you ever need to talk about any of this - not just for the kingdom, but for yourself - just let me know.

"But if not... I do have another meeting, and now I suddenly have some more meetings too."

"...Thank you. I - I'll do that, Father.  ...I hope your meetings go as well as they possibly can.  I'll be in my chambers, if I'm needed; I think I need some time to myself after everything that's happened today, but - you would know whether the needs of the kingdom overrule mine."

...She needs to go have a good cry and work up some spell formulae.  In no particular order.

...Ciara will see her charge safely returned to her rooms, by their Majesties' leave.

Meanwhile, in a solemn and foreboding keep that serves as a locus of secure intelligence services for the Kingdom of Villarosa...

...The Potentiometer, one of Azerosa's greatest advantages in the field of intelligence and strategic planning, is finally starting to settle down from its state of flux, and - hm.  Agent Steel and the Duchess's official presence?  This is quite an event.

She shall have to make herself ready, then, and delegate activating contingencies for BROKEN RELIQUARY in her absence.  The balance of futures showing a consequential raid on the Royal Archives has risen to unconscionable levels in the wake of whatever just happened, and she needs to know more about it.  ...At least the pesky 3% chance of world annihilation they couldn't properly track seems to be decreased.  Small mercies.

...Even the best operations can be blindsided by false assumptions, and she's quite concerned that she missed something in her threat model.  So when the King calls for his contact with the Villarosan Intelligence Service...

...It is their Director themself who comes to meet him, disguised as they often are in a servant's garb and a face not their own.

"...Your Majesty."

The Director's sheer presence is frankly inimitable, when it is revealed, but there are signs and countersigns exchanged nonetheless before the Director speaks of anything but trivialities.  Vigilance is key.

"Something happened.  I presume by the existence of this meeting that you know what, or have at least pieces of the puzzle that we have not gathered.  VIS would appreciate the information you have; Stratplan works much better when we know things than it does when we don't, and there's inexplicable positive events in our crystal ball.  We are confused.  I do believe I saw one of my analysts literally tearing his hair out."  (...Ophelia takes humor where she can find it.  Living under a constant threat of apocalypse does that to people.)

King Ambrose has had a long day, and it's not over yet.  And he'll have another long day tomorrow, with all the meetings he's had to bump from today... even if he doesn't need to bump anything again, which he's sure he will.

But that's what it takes to rule a kingdom.

"Director," he says with a smile.  (After all, she's in disguise, even if they are in private.)  "My daughter - Alicia - had a prophetic dream.  Fortunately, seeing the future - among other things, a future in which she had descended to helping a demon cult - seems to have greatly improved her character.  If not, I would've feared for the future."  He shakes his head, with a smile.  "But, she's eagerly helping us make the best use of the future knowledge.

"The urgent thing, of course, is that future knowledge itself.  I've already started planning some things, but I can of course use your help."

"Of course."

(Even though Ambrose knows better, helped set up this role - Ophelia Ferrule has appeared side-by-side with the Director before, so really, who's to say who's beneath the mask?)

"To start with, we know the names of some demon cultists," he taps a paper, "including Baron Morimer and Lord Ratrimir.  In about four years, they'll be plotting to release K'xabriguthak; we don't know if they're doing that yet.  I've already alerted some servants to keep an eye on Ratrimir, and gotten some mages ready, though of course I haven't told them for what."

"...Your Majesty, why -"

She exhales, forcefully.

"I should hope that you recall the importance of counter-intelligence when dealing with subverted assets.  It is imperative that the cultists not know we know of their existence until we are ready to strike.  Although, given Ratrimir's involvement...

"We do have plans in place to take him off the board, if we can but find someone who'll testify against him.  That his backers are a demon cult...

"I believe we can use this information.  The going theory was that he had some sort of blackmail on those who are supposed to check him.  Demon cultists are...Simpler to resolve, than blackmail that we can't find.  So if we launch something like QUEENSIDE CASTLE on Ratrimir, we could actually lay a trap for the cult, and infiltrate some of our own agents in the wake of their cleanup attempt."

(QUEENSIDE CASTLE, for the record, is an op plan that revolves around calling an important figure to the literal castle, ideally under some less-spooky pretense, and arresting them for crimes they've definitely committed, while agents of the Crown raid their abode for evidence of ones they need further proof of.)

"Of course.  But Ratrimir must realize there're enough reasons to be checking up on him already - as we discussed when you were laying your plans.

"And yes, I'm much less concerned about Queenside Castle now that I know he's a demon cultist rather than a blackmailer... but what crimes do you want to arrest him on?  I don't yet have any evidence of his cultism outside Alicia's dream, and I'd like to keep that secret as long as possible."

"Perhaps there are, but he is arrogant.  He will not notice the trap, if it is baited correctly; he's too confident in his image to believe it pierced, even if he's clever enough to take some precautions.  If the King calls for his presence, with a flattering word or two, he will come.  His ego demands nothing less of him.  And then, we can nail him for tax fraud."

She has a whole folder of things like that.  A million little lies that Ratrimir probably wouldn't notice himself making anymore, all painting a grand picture in the negative space they define.

"My compliments, by the way, to the auditors and the census bureau.  It was a pleasure to work with them."

He grins.  "Absolutely.  And then, I take it, I will have already sent people to his manor so no one can hide evidence of the tax fraud, and they will just happen to stumble across evidence of the demon cult..."

It's so good when he can work with competent people.

"I can get that in place... for a summons tomorrow, and then an arrest the next day.  It would be nice if they also find evidence about the other cultists whose names we now have, but I don't know if they're all linked already."