RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred and y-Five - In This Solemn Hour

  “Everything is terrible and I hate my life.”

  I gnced up from the paper I was reading to stare across the room.

  Amaryllis was standing over her desk. It was a desk that Mister Jared, the innkeeper, had brought in with the help of a few manservants.

  Mister Jared had been nothing but nice since we arrived at the Dewdrop Inn. I think having Bastion escort us over had helped a lot, though he did seem like a good and friendly person from the start.

  Having two princesses show up at his door though? That had really made him pepped up aed. I retty sure that any one of us could ask him to draw twelve baths in a row and he’d do it all himself with a smile and a spring in his step. Asking him for a desk or two so that Amaryllis’ paperwork could stop crowding the dining table had been easy.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, setting aside mental tas about ninkeepers.

  Amaryllis wiggled her wings at the desk. “This,” she said. She groahen started pag.

  “Uh, yeah, that,” I agreed.

  She nodded her head, and I retty sure that we had unicated something that I didn’t mean to.

  “But besides... that, are you okay?” I asked again.

  She huffed an irritated, tired huff of frustration. I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at me or the papers. “This is a lot more plicated than I thought it would be,” she finally said.

  I was happy that she was back to using words. “It’s all political stuff. Aren’t those usually pretty plicated?”

  “Yes, of course. But... well, as loath as I am to admit it, I suspected that I would have a much easier time with all of this. I grew up in the Harpy Mountains, I studied Sylphfree’s politics as a hatg! This should all be stuff I know!”

  I nodded. “You’re doing just great,” I said.

  She puffed out her chest and pced talons on hips. “Oh don’t patronise me, Broccoli, you don’t have a clue what’s going on here.”

  It was my turn to huff. “Well, I’m trying to help, that’s all,” I said. I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to start arguing with her. We didn’t hat, and it wouldn’t be productive at all. “I’m sorry I ’t help you more. But that doesn’t mean I ’t help you at all. What’s the matter right now?”

  “It’s,” she started, then waved her wings at all the papers again. “All this. It’s too much.”

  “Expoial plication,” Awen said. She was sitting on a big poofy chair o a bay window at the end of the room, a rge tome on her p that nearly hid her entirely.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  She gnced up from her book. “Suppose you start with a small, simple problem. It has one variable, only ohing to keep track of. If you add a sed variable, however, you must traot only the two variables, but also the retionship between them - three things you must keep in mind. If the variables increase to three, then the number of things to tracreases to seven--"

  "Wait," Amaryllis interjected before I could my head around that. "I only ted six. Three variables and three unique pairings that each yield another iion."

  "There's a seventh iion because all three variables could have a trinary iion." Awen paused. "I think."

  "Hm," Amaryllis leaned ba her chair and crossed her arms. "Now that I think of it, couldn't iions alser more iions that don't otherwise occur? Some kind of cascade?"

  Awen frowned. "It might depend on how you philosophically model the cepts of variables and iions. I haven't studied this that much."

  "Uh ..." I trailed off.

  She shifted ba her seat. “Alright, imagine... imagine fuel for an airship.”

  I nodded for her to go on.

  “If you’re the quartermaster in charge of fuel for one ship, then all you o know is how much fuel that ship needs every time it es to port. You also o know how long the ship’s trips are so that you have enough fuel waiting for it when it arrives. That’s one factor--the ship’s fuel--and two variables--how much it needs and how much it used.”

  “Alright,” I said. “That sounds pretty easy.”

  “Yes, because it’s just one ship. Now, add in oil ption as well. That’s a bit trickier, but you probably guess how much it needs every trip, so it’s just one more little thing to keep track of.” Awen licked her lips. “Now, let’s say that you also o keep track of rations onboard the ship. And it’s a ship that has passengers. It doesn’t always have them both ways. Now that’s three things to keep track ht?”

  “I guess so, yeah,” I said.

  “Now, add another ship. You’re not just keeping track of fuel and oil and food for one ship, but two. Plus, maybe those ships trade those things on the go, or the number of passengers and how far they travel ges depending on which of the two ships arrives at port first.”

  “Uh,” I said.

  “Now instead of two ships, make it thirty. Also, you o keep track of crews now. And the ships trade crewmates between each other. Oh, and there’s another small port that they use sometimes, but they won't tell you if they do or not, because visiting that port is teically illegal. Also, you o keep track of repairs and maintenance schedules, but you only have a limited number of meid they all o work on each ship for a different amount of time. Yoal is to make it so that each ship is ready to leave port as quickly as possible with the right amount of fuel, oil, food, enough crew onboard to work the ship, a good load of passengers and cargo, and that the ships are at tip-top before they leave.”

  My head inning and my ears were wilting like unwatered flowers. “Huh?”

  “Exactly. It’s a lot of stuff to keep track of, and every added faakes it expoially more plicated. That’s Amaryllis’ problem right now.”

  I g Amaryllis. She was staring at Awen, a little shocked. “That’s... yes. Exactly right, and suctly put.”

  “That was suct?” I asked.

  “It would have been if you didn’t need a whole analogy to make sense of it,” Amaryllis said.

  I closed the book I’d been reading. It was a history book, something that I didn’t often read bae, but this one was about harpy s and it had talks about magid politid romand all sorts of hings. Learning about world history bae would have been way more engaging if there were more dragons involved. “Alright, so everything’s getting too plicated.”

  “It’s not getting too plicated, Broccoli. It was plicated all along, I just didn’t know how plicated it was.”

  “Right, a ‘good old days’ problem,” I said. At her fused look, I expined. “People often say that things were easier in the good old days, but things were just as plicated back then, it’s just that we don’t know all the things that made it plicated.”

  “Strange, but alright,” Amaryllis said. “I need a good speech for the summit, something that will make sure that everyohere takes me seriously.”

  “Isn’t the fact that you’re the representative enough?”

  She shook her head. “Not after rumours of the fight with Francisco circute. The sylph might e to believe that whomever fights better gain the spot as representative. I o make it clear that I’m not just there because I’m personally powerful and somewhat well-ected. I o make it clear from the ohat I have political a.”

  I hat made lots of sense. “And that’s why you’re trying to cram every st bit of political stuff you get your talons on into your head all at once.”

  “... An oversimplification of what I’m attempting, but irely wrong,” Amaryllis said.

  “You know that knowing stuff won’t make it easier to talk about the right stuff.”

  “I’m aware,” Amaryllis said. “This is all just preparatory. There will be questions asked, and the representatives will have the opportunity to ask their owions iurn. I should at least know enough about the desires and fears of the various harpy fas that I make a point ing them up.”

  “And you o sound fancy while doing it,” I said.

  “I’ll be going up against people who have entire csses dedicated to politid diplomaot to mentioire skillsets that revolve around charisma. In that regard your own skills might trump mine once behind the podium.”

  I sidered it for a moment, then slowly nodded. “If we’re just ting skills, then yeah, I guess. You ’t use puppetry htning to get your way in a debate. Well, not fairly at least. But those are just skills. You’re pretty great at this kind of stuff, even if you don’t have skills around it.”

  “Those skills I don’t have are a huge force multiplier,” Amaryllis said.

  “Then I guess we’ll have to work real hard to make up for it.”

  She sighed. “Which is exactly what I’m doing. And why I think my feathers will fall right off of me. This is a lot to take in. I’m dipping into sylph history too, there are plenty of books arouhat tou that. A few reports on the cervid, some on the grenoil, though not as many there. This is... a mess.”

  I bouo my feet, walked over to Amaryllis, then gave her a good hug. She really . “It’ll be fine,” I said. “Maybe we start on the speestead? Just a first draft, we overhaul it once you learn more. Besides, how much do you want to say?”

  She frowhen nodded. “You’re right. Less might be more here. A shorter, more cise speech. I tou the wants of the rger harpy popuce, maybe mention our fears of what a war would mean.”

  “Not all the harpy want to avoid a war,” I mentioned. It wasn’t a hought, but it was true.

  “You’re right... maybe I mention as much? Aowledge that a lot of harpy are revelling in the possibilities brought on by eologies, but insist that they shouldn't be turowards sughter?”

  I nodded along. “That sounds like a good start.”

  Amaryllis rushed over to a desk, muttered something rude as she brushed aside some papers to find an inkwell, theuro the dining table and pulled out a seat for herself. She looked around, then said something very rude to no one in particur before plug a feather out of her wing to use as a quill. She scribbled a bullet list on a piece of loose leaf.

  “Alright, that’s a very rough outline,” she said. “I also o ftter the others, though not too much.”

  “That would take up too much time,” I said.

  “No, the time isn’t the issue--well, not the only o least. If I spend even a word too much fttering the cervid they might think that we’re in a weaker positioive to them. They’ll fuse humility for weakness. At the same time, I o praise and pliment the others. But I ’t si any one of them. Well, perhaps the grenoil, they’re ostensibly allies in this.”

  “Don’t,” Awen said. “Try to keep it even. Fav the grenoil would insult the cervid. There’s still some old animosity betweewo, I’ll bet.”

  “Right,” Amaryllis said. “You’re pretty keen with all of this, Awen.”

  “My mom made me take lessons about this kind of stuff,” Awen said. “I thought I’d fotten a lot of it, but I guess it’s all still in the bay head.”

  “That’s handy,” I said. I don’t think I had any awesome secret knowledge to rely on.

  Awen shrugged. “It doesn’t e up very often, but it’s not bad to know.”

  Amaryllis scribbled a few more things. “What else,” she muttered. “ht.” She bent down and added a few more lio her list. “And a bit of... of course...”

  “Uh, you alright?” I asked.

  “Yes. Now give me about eight hours to write this, then we start the revisions aes,” she said.

  I held back a sigh. This was very important, to the world and for Amaryllis, so I wasn’t going to tell ahat I found it a little bit b.

  Sometimes it was hard to be there for a friend, but that was okay too!

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Are You Eained?

  Poor bun, her head is spinning.

  Some of my stories are on TopWebFi!-amon Bun-Stray Cat Strut-Lever A-Dead Tired-Heart of DorknessVoting makes Broccoli smile!

  The following books are avaible as paperbacks (and as Ebooks) on Amazon. Oh, and there’s an awesome audiobook for amon Bun Volume One and Two, and also Love Crafted!

  (The images are links!)

  All proceeds go to funding my addi to buying art paying for food, rent, and other ies!

  Thank you so much for all your support everyone! And thank you extra hard for allowio do this for a living; I’ll do my best to keep you eained!