It had been inveo move freely among her fief before. While her knight certainly wouldn’t have pined, it certainly asked questions that could be answered by anyone however they so wished. An unwed woman was delicate, such travel unwarranted lest she injure her prospectives, especially without a father’s prote—or a brother or uncle or any other man from her family.

  However, she now had a husband, whieant she was not so delicate.

  That was not to say she travelled alohough. While he had o py the role of doting husband quite so well, she had no pints, harder to appear a doting wife without a husband to dote on. If nothing else, he provided an opportunity to refine her own thoughts.

  “A p the army for nursing?” he muttered, hand on his .

  She gave a lopsided smile, then peeked behind the carriage’s curtain. “It is necessary that women should apany the army unless dear would like to vihe men to eals and wash clothes and offer pany.”

  Whatever answer he had begun to sider, it died the moment he heard that st word, breaking into a cough. “Indeed.”

  “So it is that, if these womeo care for the injured and ill, it would be best if they are trained. Not only that, but there are those men who, despite being willing, are uo fight, or are otherwise unwilling to fight. To provide this alternative gives the former pride and makes hollow the tter’s objes.”

  A chuckle left his mouth, spilling over his hand. “I wonder how much pride such men would find in this pursuit. As, to pcate men’s egos is a Sisyphean task.”

  “Indeed.”

  Such a quick, shreement brought anh out of him.

  “We have arrived,” she said.

  Those words came seemingly without a cue, yet almost precisely preceded the carriage’s stop. Although not the first time he had been wito this trick of her, he found it no less impressive, that little gnce she took and a strong sense of time all she needed.

  That, or an unnoticed signal from the driver.

  Their arrival was at the edge of a modest vilge that fell directly under her domain. When the church had suffered in a storm, she had seen fit that a rger church should be built and chose this pce so it would be at the tre of the vilge’s eventual growth. As for the old church, it would eventually be properly repaired and opeo a sed gregation if there was o.

  The new church was not made of brior crete. No, her tribution was more subtle than that. Stone brought along roads paved to almost the standard she had set for her own projects.

  Though his valet opehe door, he stepped down by himself and then assisted her dest. It only took a handful of seds, yet the priest arrived in time to greet them, his hands politely csped and head bowed.

  “Your Royal Highnesses,” he said.

  She tittered behind one hand and waved him off with the other. “Please, Father Johannes, one has not the time for such pleasantries. We are merely passing through and I thought to che the stru.”

  He was not an old mae his age, his o of grey hair and wrinkles offset by the warmth in his smile and the energy beh his measured movements. “In that case, please do e in. I apologise that I don’t have the dots on hand.” He spoke with a heavy at of the area, yet a clear enunciation.

  Of course, the arrival of such a carriage—and its apanying guards—did not go unnoticed and, after the short walk to the church’s doors, she already noticed the distant crowd. Children peeked over fences, wives and daughters through windows, a few men that had been tugging along a cart now taking a break.

  This was only two days travel from the city; farther out, she wondered just how quaint her nd truly looked.

  While the outside of the church followed a simple aesthetic, the inside did not. Arches and pilrs along the sides gave the lower part an openness, spacious, and those architectural features gave more pces for detailing; some of that detailing was carved, some painted.

  High up, glowing ie-m’s sunshine, were the stained gss windows. Bohemian gss—another tributor to Venice’s dee.

  As far as churches it went, it was far from vish, yet she and the priest had been in agreement on what to prioritise, especially as it could always be further decorated ter on. Most important was for the people to have an unbroken churce more.

  While one could pray anywhere, and one could give sermons anywhere, the building itself held a certai that pressed into its gregation’s lives. Baptisms, firmations, marriages, fessions, funerals, and even simply the routine provided a fort. That, even as the world ged, this pce would always be weling and familiar.

  A church made of brick or crete would not do at all.

  The priest spoke the eime that they walked through, apanied by gestures towards whatever he spoke of. What few others were present in the chur the middle of the day uood not to interrupt and, o of the church’s public area, the only other one present quickly addressed their own presence, practically scurrying out with his Bible in hand.

  “I hope My Lady uands that, even if she does not have time for pleasantries, I still must be polite,” the priest said, his smile broad even as his tone cooled.

  She returned his smile, then gnced back to her husband. “Of course, Sir Friedrich is aware of my correspondences,” she said, her hands politely csped. “There are s between husband and wife.”

  “I am gd to hear that,” he said, tone back to cheery. “So then, how may I assist My Lady?”

  “That is rather the question, is it not?” she said, her head tilting. “I shall put forward this matter frankly out of sideration for you. It is like this, Augstadt is pgued by merts. There is no she of food ahe poor struggle to feed themselves. If I intervehe merts would no longer bring the food. If I purchase the food and distribute it, that only ences the merts to further raise their prices.”

  The priest nodded along, eyes narrowed in sympathy, a hum here and there. Once she finished, he let out a long breath. “My Lady certainly has a difficult issue at hand. If I could offer any help, I most gdly would.”

  “Well then,” she said with a small smile, “as I see it, the merts only charge these prices because of how much food they bring. That is, if we supplied more food ourselves, then we need not rely on them.”

  He spread his hands apart and said, “So My Lady would ask this old man about the families of the vilge.”

  A note of ughter touched her lips. “I said I would speak frankly, so I shall. Oter is that I have found Dutch farmers have had good success with four particur crops in a cycle without needing to leave a field fallow for a year. Moreover, we already have issues with some ndowurning farmnd into sheep pastures for profit. This Dutch pattern provides fodder and graze for livestock while still produg grain.

  “A seatter, traders have alsht uhoughts back from far abroad. Such a refi is for those ploughs pulled by animals. Instead of requiri oxen, one or two will do for these designs. It should be clear how beneficial this is.”

  She paused there, if only to give her words time to settle in his ear.

  “In both these cases, it is also clear to me that, although farmers prefer to own the nd they work, this does also straihat is not to say I wish to seize their nd from uhem. Rather, I wonder if it would be possible for these farmers to e to an agreement with each other to, in a sense, hold and work the nd unally.”

  He gave a chuckle, a hand on his , eyes pinched. “I empathise with My Lady’s plight. Every day, I ask myself hoeople allow the poor to go hungry and still call themselves Christians.”

  Pausing, his eyes widened, but that simply returhem to normal, not leaving him wide-eyed.

  “Not that I am calling My Lady into question. Our Bishop loves nothing more than to boast of how wonderful it is to once more have a pious ruler for the ty.”

  She raised a hand, stopping him there. “Of course I would not doubt you.”

  After a broad smile, he returo his ptive look of before. “At these times, we uand our fathers plight, both our Father who art in heaven, and our fathers who now join Him. eak the good word, but it is up to others to learn.”

  With that, he bowed his head, a touch of trouble to his expression.

  “So My Lady seeks my help. What help I offer, I wonder,” he said, merely thinking aloud.

  “There is o wonder. I have shared my thoughts and now they may stand on their ows. If others disregard these merits, that is unfortunate. If there are those who would embrace them, then I would gdly assist. That is all.”

  His gentle nodding-along slowed to a stop in the silence, his mouth thin. “Well. I do see the merits, but I am unsure if others will listen to this old man.”

  “All it takes is ohehers shall see and copy,” she said, her voice gehe Lord is good, that what is difficult to discover is easy to learn.”

  He gave a small chuckle. “Indeed, how good it is that we may all find salvation in Christ’s example.”

  The two shared a smile that soon faded, hers into polite, his into the natural one he usually wore. In that silence, he seemed to age until he finally spoke up.

  “I hope My Lady does not mind me saying, but it seems that a visit was… unnecessary for this little versation,” he said, barely above a whisper.

  She shook off his words with a flick of her wrist. “On paper, it be hard to judge a person’s siy. I am sure of my own siy and so I would show it. In a simir vein, on paper, it is rather easy to lie and mislead,” she said, her voice drawing a sharp point with those st three words.

  However, he still met her gaze ly. “I have never had any doubt for My Lady’s siy or words.”

  “Of course,” she said, then her smile brightened. “What I am ied in is how the city may be of assistao this vilge. That is, these sorts of things are best when both sides help one another, no? The vilge has no she of food for itself, so why should it ge?”

  At the end of her speech, she leaned forwards, a fio her lips.

  “Pray do not tell me that there is no need or that the vilge othing. In person, it is easier to judge siy and harder to ceal lies.”

  For a moment, he simply stared back with an amused smile, then lowered his head as he took off his gsses, giving them a polish. Once he put them ba, he raised his head to meet her gaze once more.

  “I see now why My Lady wao meet. No, of course I won’t lie. We’ve lost many youo the city, especially i years. The farms still run, but we have to go to towns for every other little thing, and good luck getting a master to e out here. It would be a waste to put that down on paper, but since My Lady is here, I’ll say it, even though I know there is nothing to be done about it.”

  His words didn’t e out heated, yet his frustration carried a heavy weight. A burden made heavier by tless remarks from his gregation—and himself.

  Her lips curved into a small smile. “Very well.”

  Soon enough, the carriage shuddered to a start once more with the couple fortably seated. What silehere was did not lole.

  “This detour, I wonder how necessary it was?” he said, not a whisper, but quiet.

  She tittered at his attempted teasing. “If dear is curious, he need only ask,” she said with a certain humour.

  At her teasing, he dared not answer.

  “No, I am sure to dear this is unclear,” she said, her voice cooler now. “That is, dear is a man and I am a woman. My word naturally holds less authority. To rule, it is necessary that I establish such bonds. Although I say that, even men should endeavour to rule by means other than authority, that authority is best at being a tool to maintain the current state than to enact ge. Naturally, a ruler should aspire to ge. ge will eventually e to pass regardless of our authority and so, in idleness, we would naturally lose power.”

  In her pause, he found time to say, “Such as with the sheep pastures?”

  Her lips curled. “Indeed,” she said, gehis is in part my own failure. Little wool es from the south while the improved roads bring mrain, and demand for wool has certainly grown under my influence.”

  This time, he did not interrupt the pause and so it became a silence, apanied by the sound of the carriage’s wheels on cobblestoually, he brought together his thoughts into a question.

  “Do you believe he truly shall speak to the farmers?”

  Her answer did not e quick, a sigh falling from her lips as she peeked behind the curtains at the gentle farmnd. “This area has particurly suffered. Instead of sidering what they may do to recover, they would protect themselves, whily worsens the issue. Still, I uand. It is the instinctive response. However, that does not make it the natural response.”

  “Pray tell, what is the natural respoo suffering?” he asked lightly.

  “It is to ask for help.”

  She gave that answer without hesitation, had spoken it so pinly. Somethiher obvious nor obscure but simply true.

  “Still, my question remains unanswered,” he said.

  She tittered, her hand over her mouth. Once she fihat hand drifted to the spot between her eyebrows, pressing there for a moment, then drifted back down to her p. “To the clergy, I must appear pious; to my peers, I must appear traditional; to the oner, I must appear sympathetic. Today’s topic did not lend itself well to piousness.”

  “Which is why the emphasis on its ows,” he said.

  “Dear truly uands me, that we are a blessed couple,” she said sweetly.

  His ugh wasn’t quite so sweet.

  “Now that I have been asked, we shall see if I may bring some work there. So I would gain a measure of power. Not as their ruler, but as their neighbour and as their er and as their employer and as their supplier.”

  He fiddled with the cuff of his shirt. “Such as by introdug a local demand for wool,” he said.

  “What a wonderful idea! Oh, my husband is so wise,” she said, her hands ing together in a cp.

  He could only give ay ugh.