The Dream Oath

Chapter 5.3

The King, Queen, and General all waited quietly while the servants brought in cold meats, cheeses, breads, and wine for their luncheon in Ralse's study. They had months of catching up to do and nobody wanted to put it off.

As the last of the servants vanished from the room, the King began to eat signaling the other two to join him. Maria had mentally thanked Edgar for teaching her how to build a network among the staff to organize things for her. All she had to do while the king was bathing was instruct someone to find out what he liked and make it happen. It was a large change from agonizing over every detail of organizing things for Draco where she would agonize with Gwen over every detail. Gwen always seemed to know what he liked, while invaluable she couldn't possibly memorize what everyone preferred.

"Maria, I wanted to thank you for arranging everything while I was gone," Ralse began. "I learned a lot that I believe will help rebuild the kingdom, but I could not have afforded the time away without you here. I arrange some small tokens of my gratitude to be sent to your conservatory.

"Thank you," Maria replied. "The only gift I needed is seeing my, excuse me, our people begin to prosper."

Ralse smiled. Maria's mistake was welcome to him. He liked knowing where he stood in relation to his goals. Edgar pursed his lips.

"And we shall. I think you'll be surprised at our potential."

Ralse went on at length about how he was feasted, gifted, and courted by nobles he visited through his tour. He showed Maria the list of the ones he expected to send their daughters to court ostensibly to serve the queen, but realistically to secure a match with Edgar. The King's brother was a good catch in anyone's estimation. Maria laughed at Edgar's increasingly horrified face as Ralse delighted in describing the artifices of each family to secure his good opinion on each match.

It was the first time either brother had heard her genuinely laugh. It held more force than most ladies and expressed a genuine delight with the situation. At their faces, Maria had to explain.

"I could not help it. From your description, one should think that the commander is my sister waiting to be married off for profit rather than my brother-in-law."

Edgar harrumphed. Ralse laughed in agreement.

Ralse continued with his explanation of ideas, potential resources, taxes, and trades among the small kingdom's regions. Maria felt that while she was by no means an expert, none of these ideas were guaranteed to work. They needed something more concrete than something should lead to something.

"My King," Maria interjected when she couldn't take it anymore, "none of this can definitely get it through the winter. We need a surer thing than depending on the honesty of the noble families or hoping old mines are still viable. Even if we did all of these things, the people may still starve!"

Ralse narrowed his eyes at his wife.

"Then what would you have us do?" he responded.

Maria sat quietly for a moment, thinking.

"We could cut back on the castle's needs," she finally replied.

"But then the staff would lose their positions and their families would starve too," Edgar pointed out.

"We will not be cutting back on the castle staff. It's already stretched thin and we aren't currently hosting anyone. The families won't send their delegations until spring as we hunker down for a difficult winter," Ralse stated.

"But your measure are not enough!" Maria cried.

"Then think of something else!" Ralse countered.

Ralse watch his wife's wall slam down over her face. He closed his eyes and forced deep breaths into his lungs. He couldn't afford to fight her right now too. The part he'd left out was that every single family had offered to bail out the crown - if he agreed to marry Edgar to one of their daughters. He refused on ever account. He wouldn't force his brother into his position, neither would he indebt the crown to one of its territories. They had to come out of this together and establish precedent.

"Maria," Ralse started after several moments of awkward silence. Her eyes met his with the blankness he remembered. "I apologize. I wish I could offer guarantees or sure plans. But I cannot. There will always be elements out of our control. I have been wracking my brain for weeks and these are the best I can come up with. Let's all take a break and think over the information. If we reconvene tomorrow morning, perhaps we'll have better ideas. Surely if there is a better way, the three of us can figure it out."

"As you wish, your Majesty," Maria automatically responded.