CivilServiceIndex | Time Under Chaos | Game Logs | Civil Service Civil ServiceIngrey emerged out of the place trump of the Embassy, his hand firmly on Tasha's as he pulled her through the connection. The place trump's outlet was a large room. It had a large bank of windows that let in the sunlight to the black marble floor below. A large bronze statue, a depiction of the Serpent itself, was the other dominant feature in the otherwise mostly empty space. A permanent glowglobe, now that it was night, gently floated in the upper reaches of the chamber, providing illumination now that it was night. "The Serpent Room is the first room that most visitors see." Ingrey said with a smile, stepping away to allow Tasha room to look about. "The Great Seal of the Throne is on the outside of the building. When you come here by means other than trump, you'll see that and the arcade that leads to the great doors at the entrance." Ingrey gestured toward a pair of large doors behind them. Tasha nodded and looked around, spinning slowly to take it all in. "Welcome to the Embassy, Tasha Minobee." Ingrey finished with a smile. "Thank you!" She sighed. And in childlike fashion she skipped up to the Serpent Statue and pressed her palms and a cheek against it just for a moment. Turning toward Ingrey she then asked, "Do you have to report to your," she hesitated before going on, "superior? Should I come with you?" "We should go together to her Excellency's office." Ingrey confirmed. "As the head of the Mission, she will be able to assign you a place to stay and assign someone to see you to your quarters. Afterwards, yes, I do have to make a report to her." "All right," Tasha looked around, wondering which way to go, though instinctively turning toward the doorway from which the most current 'odor' of the ambassadress was eminating. "However." Ingrey added. "I do think an interview, perhaps tomorrow, undoubtedly soon, would be in order." Tasha nodded. "I should like that." And it was then that Tasha realised she could scent another odour - one that seemed to have been in her nostrils most of the evening ... It was that of (Duke) Helgram. And he appeared to be in close attendance on the Ambassadress. Ingrey made a head nod toward a staircase. "Her Excellency's office is up that way." he indicated with a nod. "While my offices are well done, hers are larger and even more impressive." Ingrey smiled as he continued. "In a way, seeing hers will make you disappointed when you eventually see mine." "Shall we?" Ingrey offered Tasha his arm. Tasha took his arm, but then hesitated, holding him back, "She may not be alone." Her blue eyes looked concerned, and she whispered, "Duke Helgram is *here*." Ingrey's widened perceptibly. He said nothing, which likely made it quiet enough for Tasha to feel Ingrey's pace quicken where her hand touched his on the arm he held. He took a deep breath. "I thought he would still be at the Barracks." Ingrey said quietly. He took a deep breath. "All right." Ingrey said. "I have to report to him anyway." He looked at Tasha. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go see the both of them, together." Tasha nodded, "Together. Yes. All right." She tried a smile, "I guess now is as good a time as any." And so Ingrey led Tasha to the staircase that led to the second floor spacious office that marked the power and prestige of the Ambassador of the Courts of Chaos to the Kingdom of Amber. Ingrey confidently led the way, a professional smile on his face as he steered Tasha to and through the iron and glass doors which were emblazoned with the seal and sigil of the Civil Service. Ingrey nodded to the secretary in the room immediately beyond the imposing doors. "Good evening, Mihir." The Lady Tasha Minobee and I are here to see her Excellency." Ingrey paused a beat. "And his august Highness the Duke, of course." The secretary bowed. "They are both within," he said. "And expecting you both - please go right in." Tasha took a bracing breath and nodded to Ingrey that she was ready to proceed. "Both of us." Ingrey said with a nod to Mihir. He paused and then nodded. "Thank you Mihir." Ingrey strode to the door for the inner office. He opened it slightly, turned, gave Tasha a reassuring smile, and then moved so that she could precede him into Lady Paloma's office. Despite the lateness of the hour, the room was set for tea. The atmosphere was, indeed, almost convivial, with Duke Helgram and the Ambassadress seated on opposite sides of the table. There were two vacant chairs. "And here is Ingrey come to make his report," said Paloma. "And Lady Tasha Minobee," said the Duke, smiling warmly at her. "Won't you join us?" said Paloma. Ingrey's hesitation was on the order of magnitude of less than a hundredth of a second, nodding. He gave a single bow of respect, of equal weight and authority, first to the Duke as the senior vassal of the Emperor present, and then to his superior. "We would be delighted to do so." Ingrey said. He stepped to one of the chairs and gestured for Tasha to be seated before moving toward the other chair. Tasha took her seat, gingerly. She did not sit back, but remained perched on the edge. Her eyes darted from one imposing person to the other, as she tried to smile. "I think a cup of tea would be a most civilized way to set down to business." Ingrey said, making a slight questioning motion toward his boss, then the Duke, and then finally Tasha. "Thank you, but no. I think I've had enough tea for one turning." Tasha declined. She couldn't help but wonder about the tea at the barracks. Had there really been something in it? Ingrey nodded to Tasha, and looked back at Paloma and Duke Helgram. Paloma signalled a demoness (who had, experimentally, attempted almost successfully to chameleonise with the wallpaper), who stepped forward and poured the tea. Ingrey seated himself. "You should have a cup," Duke Helgram said suddenly to Tasha. Then he smiled. "Please." Tasha felt unexpectedly like she really did want some tea after all, "Oh, of course, Duke Helgram! How rude of me! Thank you for offering." Paloma was watching Ingrey. Ingrey took the offered cup from the demoness but did not take a sip of it nor did he linger over the scent of the steam. Instead he casually ran a finger along the outer edge of the cup and regarded his senior and the Duke. The scion of House Wererathe smiled. "Now that we have observed the social proprieties, unless there is pending business before hand, shall I begin?" "Please do," said Paloma, sipping delicately at her own tea. "I will begin in the middle, and through it all come to the beginning and the end." Ingrey said. He kept running his finger around the cup's edge "His Grace" Ingrey nodded toward the Duke "sent me from the Barracks to Castle Amber on an errand to the King of Amber. He wished me to convey that his Lordship intended to take direct measures to end the riots if the King were unable to do so." "I reached the Castle and met you, milady." Ingrey said, looking to Paloma. "And of course, the lady from Minobee." he nodded to Tasha. He then looked at the Duke again. "There, we learned that Merlin was gone, and that Morgan had been appointed Regent. We went to see him, and tell him of the Duke's message. Morgan had no return message for the Duke; his reaction was to try and send the Baroness Helgram to try and quell the crowd. I know not the success or failure of that attempt, although the fact that the Castle was not stormed by pitchfork and torch bearing citizens can be taken as some sign." "It was at this point, milady and milord, that the unexpected occurred. Lt. Pavlo Barimen, from the barracks, appeared on the scene. He was gravely injured and spoke cryptic words about a threat to Prince Chadwick's health. Your ladyship." Ingrey looked to Paloma "departed for the Embassy at this stage." Ingrey looked back to the Duke. "I thought it prudent to investigate this. After all, I had sent the Prince from the barracks to the Castle myself. And I thought that pulling on this thread might be useful in revealing the full shape of the tangled skein and web of events." "My efforts were amplified later with the help of the lady of Minobee." Ingrey gave a fractional nod of the head, fully respectful, to Tasha, before returning to alternate his gaze between the Duke and the Ambassadress. "Chadwick was found in his quarters. Some party had visited him for purposes unknown. I returned to where Lt. Barimen was convalescing under the watchful eye of his brother." He looked at the Duke evenly. "The Barimen, although certainly not in the halest of states, gave testimony, to his brother, Tasha, and I, that he believed Prince Chadwick, while he was at the barracks, had been served tea." Ingrey stopped running his finger. "Tea with some sort of deleterious effect." Tasha blinked as if suddenly recollecting that fact and that she had told herself she wasn't going to drink any more tea. She looked at the cup in her hand with a slightly confused look before returning it silently to the saucer. She didn't sense anything in the tea that she had sipped, however. The Duke gave a short laugh. "Not the most subtle of methods to have chosen, was it? But of proved efficacy. However, they should have noted that a Barimen was present. Ever a weaselly House." he smiled at Tasha. "And what, my dear, should we do with weasel blood?" He lingered almost lovingly over the last word. Tasha smiled and replied, as if by rote, "Bad blood is to be eliminated, of course. It weakens the bloodlines." But then she frowned, and tilted her head to the side as she looked from one and then to the other, as if puzzled. "But I don't think that the Barimen... the lieutenant at least... is necessarily bad blood. I mean he had lost a lot of it, and still survived." Ingrey resumed the motion of running his finger once Tasha had finished her explanation. His eyes flickered between the Duke and the Ambassadress and gave a nod of the head once Tasha was done. "I think his Lordship did not expect that a Barimen from Chaos would choose to act in that particular manner. In this situation, it was quite an unexpected gambit from the Barimen. I would not find much fault, sir, in missing it as a possibility." And then Ingrey stopped his finger and raised the cup to his lips and took a short sip of it. "I would agree with the implication from the lady from Minobee that retribution against Pavlo Barimen now would be unwise. I present a slightly different and complimentary argument, however. Its a matter of practicality. Right now, he has turned into a target who is aware and active. And has at least one ally, in his brother, and probably more." "Pavlo is a hanging pawn on the edge of the chessboard, there are..." Ingrey took another sip "far more interesting and important pieces to capture on the board. Later, milord Duke, when victory is more assured." he turned and looked at the Duke directly "Then, milord, there will be plenty of time to dispense justice, and extirpate those who have made unwise choices." "Indeed," said the Duke. "And who, instead, should be my target now?" He looked from one to the other of them. Ingrey glanced at Tasha thoughtfully for a moment, and then returned to glance at Paloma. He gave her a nod and then fully faced the Duke. He cleared his throat and began to speak. "There are a number of things your Lordship might do instead of knocking off scions of weasel blood. Much more interesting things." Ingrey smiled slightly. "The Baroness may have tempered the crowd for now and stilled the city somewhat." Ingrey continued. "However, Amber lacks a King, and I've not seen any recent sign of its Prime Minister, either. All we have is an underachieving Regent in their place." Tasha nodded, following Ingrey's reasoning. She wondered where the King and Prime Minister had vanished to at such a time as this. And she wondered what was to become of her, since the PM was her sponsor in coming to Amber, and hadn't her mother said that the King was lonely and she should try to become one of his friends? "Thus there is, however briefly, a power vacuum in this city." Ingrey continued. "If it has occurred to me, it will occur to others. Massaged and managed properly, with subtlety, your lordship, with the aid of myself, her Excellency, and your protege from Minobee..." he smiled to Tasha. "might help you be a hand within a velvet glove to act as a focus of strength and power for the Chaosians here, and for the wise amongst the Amberites." "A strong hand within that velvet glove." Ingrey emphasized by slowly curling his hand into a fist. Lost in her wandering thoughts, she missed part of what Ingrey had said, but the visual caught her eye, so she heard the last part, "I like velvet!" Tasha brightened, "Especially red velvet. Reminds me of blood." The Duke gave her an indulgent look - and then turned his attention to Ingrey. "So you are advocating filling the vacuum? You believe the little Baroness would help?" "Even so if your lordship wishes to simply destroy the city." Ingrey replied evenly. He took a sip of tea and then continues. "Controlling the city would be a necessary first step in making any wholesale changes to it." "As for the matter of the Baroness, she would be a difficult tool to wield." Ingrey said. "Undoubtedly powerful, more powerful than even she knows. Trying to manipulate her, though, would be a dangerous mistake. The Baronness would take such efforts, subtle or overt, badly." "No, we must be perfectly polite and let the Baronness to roam as she will. If she soon sees that aiding us in bringing stability to Amber, then so much the better for her, and for us. Much like Amber itself, we must show her a velvet glove, and allow her to come to US." "I think, given our past relationship, and your blood relationship to her, and the lady from Minobee's passing acquaintanceship with her." Ingrey smiled to Tasha "that we have avenues for her to approach the centre of power." The Duke smiled. "And why should I place her at the centre of power when I already hold it in my grasp? Surely that would but delay the moment of its annihilation?" Ingrey shook his head in a motion of respectful disageement. "The point is, milord, that you do not hold it in your grasp." He paused and smiled slightly. "Yet." "Arcane power, you have demonstrated tonight, and vividly. Arcane power alone, however, will not give you, us, Amber to hold, change or destroy. It is in the end not enough." "With apologies to your lordship, you have indeed moved your queen on the chessboard into a powerful position, and yet even the most powerful piece on the board, in a prime spot, is but one piece and one part of the board." "In order to conquer the board, you need to marshal all the forces you have available, neutralize the opposition forces or move to do so with a gambit or two, win those in the middle to our side, and then with tactical brilliance, make victory a fait accompli." He nodded to Paloma, smiled to Tasha and then looked at the Duke. Tasha smiled back, encouragingly, though in truth she didn't have much of a head for politics. Her brow furrowed with concentration as she tried to follow the twists and turns of the arguments. "The Arcane, the Political and the Martial. Gain an advantage in all three, and victory is assured. Having advantage in two is not enough to assure victory, if the third is opposed. You already have shown some mastery of the Arcane--but does not the Pattern in Rebma remain not under your control? The Political I have already spoke of--that is where the Ambassador and the velvet glove comes in. The Martial has already begun when I deployed troops in the city." "We bring order and stability to the city, show that politics and strength and discipline come from here, and not the Regent. You, the Lady of Minobee and I travel to Rebma as you already planned..." "Does that programme sound more adequately explained now, milord?" "Indeed," said the Duke. "But I am not convinced that it needs us all to travel to Rebma. In fact, if I can send a trusted associate, or even two, I could remain here to watch developments." He raised a questioning eyebrow at Ingrey before he turned and smiled at Tasha, "What say you, little one? Would you like an adventure?" "An adventure?" Now, that was something she could certainly understand. "Rebma? Is that the watery reflected city?" She had been curious about what type of beings resided there, and she would love to find out. She also wondered if she'd like the taste of fish. "It is." Ingrey agreed with a nod and a smile to Tasha. He then pivoted his attentions toward the Duke. "I suppose that if you wanted us to go without the grace and guidance of a more direct appearance, I would be pleased to serve you in this capacity, my lord. And, if I may say, I would be appreciative of the company of the Lady from Minobee." "Then it is settled," said the Duke. "Tomorrow you shall set out for Rebma." Paloma leaned back in her chair. Unseen by the Duke, she was looking extremely worried. "She is so young!" she said. Ingrey raised a fraction of an eyebrow in Paloma's direction. He then glanced to Tasha, to allow her first right of response. She? Tasha felt her hair bristle. She being the only other female in the room to whom Paloma could be referring. Frowning, she asked, "Do you believe that I am too young? For what? I assure you, I am perfectly able to take care of myself. I have been doing so for years." She felt a pang of loss thinking about her old Gram, but the woman who had raised her hadn't really done much in the way of raising, leaving Tasha to her own devices more than not. She really was quite self-sufficient. Ingrey cleared his throat, took a sip of tea and then looked to Paloma. "Tasha here is certainly youthful. And innocent..." he paused, glanced to Tasha, smiled to her and then looked back to Paloma "in appearance." "However, her youth and vigor and most importantly, those combined with her gender, would make her an invaluable companion to me in Rebma." "While men in Rebma aren't treated quite as they are in, say, my House, or to use Amber terms, treated like stallions to be bred to the best mare, the position of males is somewhat weak." Ingrey paused and then continued. "If I were sent alone, I would not have the access that a young and interesting woman, like Tasha here, might have. If she were too old, Ambassador, the doyennes of Rebma might see her as a *threat*. She's just old enough to perform admirably, and youthful enough to be underestimated." Tasha looked pleased, though not exactly sure if all of that had been a compliment. She turned and smiled at Paloma and the Duke to see what they thought of Ingrey's glowing words. "I could not have put it better myself," said the Duke. He rose to his feet, a subtle grace in every gesture. "So ... let us retire. And in the morning, your journey shall begin." Ingrey gave a nod. He moved behind the Ambassador's chair and laid a hand on her shoulder. "A very wise decision, Lady Paloma." Paloma's face suggested this did not make her happy. Ingrey glanced toward his superior,a glance that bespoke the classic ambassadorial atttiude that 'We have to render unto the Emperor and always thus'. He then rose from his seat, pivoted and bowed formally to both in succession. "Milord." he murmured to the Duke respectfully. "Your Excellency" he murmured, in a brighter tone, to Paloma. Tasha glanced from the Ambassadress to the Duke, not sure why their body language bothered her. But the thought of retiring and finally getting some well-deserved rest cheered her and she rose from her chair eager to be on her way toward whatever bedroom she'd been assigned. She paused however, "I don't have any of my luggage here...." "Your luggage can be retrieved." Ingrey said confidently, turning to Tasha. "A servitor can see to that. Unless there is something needful you need before resting, you can have the luggage waiting for you when you awaken. If not, we can see to it now." "Whatever you need, we can provide," said Paloma, rising to her feet. Let us find you a room, Lady Tasha." The Duke nodded a dismissal to Tasha, then looked more questioningly at Ingrey. Stifling a yawn, Tasha curtsied to the Duke and turned to follow Paloma out of the room. She glanced back to see if Ingrey were following, or not. |
