Of Whispers and Daggers ✓ [TLRQ #2]

Chapter 11.3 - Aster

Once everyone assembles, Sela's voice rings clear. "You may be seated."

Shuffling and murmurs of relief as Ladies settle bounce around the echoing room. My siblings and I remain standing.

Sela starts the meeting, going over routine matters, getting reports from Ladies, Mages, and Lieutenants. Underneath the mundane, a tension bubbles as we all wait for the real business to begin.

Finally, Sela says, "It has been brought to my attention that, aside from minor skirmishes, while there has only been one major attack on the wall, that attack did not end as well as we might have hoped. So, I believe it is prudent to look at new strategies. Does anyone have a word to impart?"

Reyan's head spins to stare Sela down. She looks straight forward, waiting on a response from the Ladies seated at the table. Not the army officers or the wizards, seated in the tiered stands. Not me or Reyan, who have trained for this our whole lives. No, the High Ladies and Inner Council, the first of which are politicians by birthright. The latter group is chosen by the Queen, but out of the ten, only two are Lieutenants and one a High Mage.

Sela has outsourced battle strategy to people who talk pretty for a living.

"Do you not think that battle was simply chance?" Inner Lady Temmarelle asks. "It seems unlikely that the northern savages can beat our men consistently."

"They beat our men all the way from the border to here," Reyan mutters.

Since the Inner Council Ladies tend to be the more dangerously intelligent of the two groups, I'm shocked at Temmarelle's ignorance—or arrogance, one. Then again, considering she owns a significant sector of N'veauvia's market, she's more built for business than battles.

"Even so," Sela says. "That's not a chance we want to take."

"The solution seems elementary to me," says High Lady Isaeda. "The soldiers simply need more motivation."

Murmuring arises among the wizards and officers in the tiering.

"What we need," Reyan says, "is less interference from women who sit on their—"

"Enough!" Sela hisses. He wasn't exactly loud, but I wonder how many heard him.

"I have a suggestion, Your Grace." Amidst the muttering, High Lady Aselle's voice carries like the tone of a pianoforte. Everyone turns to her. "If they want to fight us, then let us give them a real fight. Flood the wall with troops, no matter who's on duty. Throwing everything at them will make them spook, fall back, and think twice about coming at us again."

Reyan's voice rises over hers. "And leave us with nothing should we fail!"

"But we shan't fail!" High Lady Misanette says. "We have the wisdom of Jacqueline in our Queen and Princesse and the grace of her magic running through our people's veins. Morineaux will prevail."