And they'll start training for the war. He finds this very emotionally satisfying. 

Miles finds it very emotionally satisfying too! He is extremely efficient about the whole thing. This army is going to be very well-trained in the processes and ethics of combat and related disciplines, including deescalation and the use of nonlethal weaponry because those are important things for any army to know.

While he trains the first batch, he works on a version of his father's illegal orders lecture in his spare time. It's not going to be as terrifying as the original, but it's... definitely something.

If he announces when it's happening, it can be attended by more than his current batch of trainees.

Oh, he's definitely going to announce it well ahead of time, but at this point he doesn't know exactly when he's going to give it. Sometime between the middle and end of the first training cycle, which means at least a month from now and possibly more. In the meantime his trainees will learn how to handle all their weapons and get preliminary lessons in tactics and strategy and logistics and military history, and he'll get to know them and take notes on which ones will go on to help him instruct the next batch, and the power generators will finally come online and charge his shuttle and he will be able to fly it out of the lake and land it in a less silly location! He is so happy about not having to wade across the lake floor twice a day!

Everyone cheers at the shuttle rising up from the lake under Elven power. Well, sort of under Elven power. They definitely cheer. 

The power is definitely Elven in immediate origin! Miles congratulates the engineers.

The sound recorder project has their first successful test the next day. Miles congratulates more engineers.

Songs: magic at a significant speedup. Magic when artificially amplified. This is ridiculously powerful and the Elves are delighted and sing a lot in celebration.

Miles is so happy! He doesn't sing, but he grins a lot.

Ténië sings.

Maitimo does not sing. He does dispense lots of glowing compliments. 

Ténië is very very happy about the glowing compliments! It is so good to make useful things and then be complimented about it!

Half a day into the celebration, she gets a brilliant idea for how to make the recorder more efficient and goes straight back to work.

They're going to eventually want loud, lightweight, and easily reproduced. Also maybe some sturdy ones to blast things at the Enemy from a safe distance.

All these criteria are doable! Ténië will be so busy, and it is the best kind of busy.

And then it shall be time for the coronation. It is going to be one tense coronation. There'll be people with stunners on hand, just in case anyone decides to take the occasion to try something stupid.

Miles is glad that attending the event in armour isn't going to make some kind of subtle statement about his confidence in the peacefulness of the populace. He attends literally everything in armour; he's not sure anyone but Tyelcormo has seen him out of armour in the entire time he's been here. At some point they'll have the technology to build him a command headset that will filter and amplify sight and sound for him as effectively as his helmet does, and then he'll have to make actual decisions about when he does and does not want to walk around armoured, but that day has not yet come.

It's going to be an outrageously pretty event, isn't it.

Yep.

They don't quite have the resources to rival the Cetegandans but they can put everyone else to shame. The music is stunning. The event itself is choreographed rather meticulously in advance by Maitimo and Nolofinwe, who both seem to be thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to go all in on political theatre for the greater good. The rest of the Nolofinweans are less happy. A lot less happy. Maitimo suggests to Miles that he go around to various people and tell sincere stories where it might help.

Miles can do that! Miles can definitely do that. Miles is very good at both sincerity and storytelling.

And he has an audience of people who are less than thrilled that the side who did everything wrong pays nothing for it.

There are actually kind of a lot of stories in Miles's life that touch on the theme of it sometimes being a good idea on moral or practical grounds to let someone get away with something.

The Solstice Massacre: an example of the urge to not let someone get away with something genuinely horrible that they did, and how it can go horribly wrong.

Kyril Island: that time he nearly died because of a stupid prank, and could absolutely have gone after the pranksters for attempted assassination, and it would have been a clear-cut case and he would have won, but they had not meant him to die and did not deserve to die for it themselves, so he kept his mouth shut.

Cavilo: that time he had to work with one of the most morally indefensible people he has ever met to save the planet Vervain from an invasion she herself orchestrated for her own personal gain, and he did it, and guaranteed her safe passage out of the system to gain her cooperation, and it worked. They both got medals for their participation, and she showed up to the ceremony in a perfume she knew he was violently allergic to. Now there's a person who manifestly did not deserve to be rewarded for her success, and yet, if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't hesitate to make the same choices if they led to the same outcomes. Vervain never suffered Cetagandan occupation, and that is more important than whether or not Cavilo deserved to retire to the pleasure domes of Mars with her medal.

Okay, okay, the soon-to-be-King isn't subtle, is he, but the stories are appreciated anyway.

Miles is as always happy to help.

The unsubtle soon-to-be-King is going over the script with his uncle and cousins. He looks occasionally through Miles' eyes to get a feel for his audience and then it occurs to him he should tell Miles he can do that, in case no one's thought to, and calls him in to explain sensory osanwe.

"Explain what?"

"We can use osanwe to share what we're seeing and hearing at the moment. It occurred to me that I don't know if anyone explained this to you."

"I don't think anyone did," he says. (And suspects he can guess why Maitimo is choosing to mention it. Yes, of course he may borrow Miles's senses to spy on people, or continue doing so, whichever. It's not like this gains him substantially more ability to spy on people than already having access to all of Miles's private thoughts.) "I'm now kind of curious what Elven senses are like."