Vignette:A Test of Wills
A Test of Wills
- Abdyrna, Colony of Alvastadt
February 12th, 1855
he sun beat mercilessly down on Abdyrna's bustling port. Faramond Graf von und zu Contwig, Governor of Alvastadt, watched from the Governor's House window as yet another vessel made its way into port.
Though Abdyrna was no stranger to foreign ships and their unusual cargoes, this one was different. He felt it in his gut.
Contwig had been a diplomat, navigating the treacherous halls of power. But out here, each day was a trial, an endless battle against heathens, disease, degeneracy. And for what? The scornful gaze of a dying Kaiser?
Onto the dusty docks stepped a diminutive figure, her emerald silk robes shimmering in the heat, they stood out against the drab dusty shades of Abdyrna.
A Kodeshi girl who looked young enough to be his daughter! Faramond scoffed. Was this there envoy? A child to speak with seasoned diplomats such as himself? This must have been their idea of a joke!
He watched as the Kodeshi envoy disembarked, a Miss Lü Xue his assistant told him. Behind her trailed an entourage of attendants and troop of Imperial guards. He frowned. Even a heathen priest too! What insult was this, to send someone who had not seen even twenty summers?
As the procession boarded their carriages and rattled away from the narrow harbour, he observed the stares, whispers and unease of the public. Their presence disturbed the fragile order he had so tenuously maintained here.
Finally, they arrived at the Governor's House, a towering symbol of Goetic power. The desert winds howled outside the gates.
Envoy Lü Xue dearly missed the reassuring presence of her late mentor, the venerable Minister Yao Zhi, whose wisdom was sorely missed at this moment. But with a deep breath, she gathered her composure, his precise guidance over long weeks of travel would now be put to the test.
Ushered at last into the Governor's great hall, Lü Xue gazed with barely concealed disdain, a far cry from home!
Contwig was deep in the middle of a dispatch, he looked up to study her, she looked even younger close at hand, but she was an elegant figure, wearing rich silk robes and a jade hairpin denoting her Imperial standing. Behind her flowed a procession of servants.
“Ah, welcome, welcome!” Contwig began, rising from behind his desk. "To what do I owe this...unexpected pleasure?” Though his words were courteous, his gaze was sceptical.
Her Goetic was passable, no doubt acquired through much training on her way here. “I am Lü Xue, acting envoy of her Divine Eminence, Her Majesty the Empress Tianchang.”
The Governor with undisguised contempt let slip. "Are you...a child? The Empress sends a mere girl? Come now, you cannot expect me to believe--"
"You may believe what you wish, Governor," Lü Xue interjected. “I am older than I look, but I speak with the full authority of the Empress herself."
She withdrew a golden seal, the insignia unmistakable.
Faramond raised an eyebrow. But protocol demanded he accord an envoy all due courtesies, regardless of age or sex.
“You have had a long journey, then. I was given to understand a Minister Yao would be accompanying you...?”
“Alas, my beloved mentor, the late Minister Yao Zhi - historian, general, philosopher trained me well before his unfortunate demise in the mountains.”
Her composure slipped for a moment, tears welling up. "I mourn him deeply."
“Oh, My dear child, how you must have suffered!” cried Faramond attempting a sympathetic tone.
Though in truth, he doubted her story and privately, was rather relieved to have no grand statesmen to challenge him. Perhaps, he could relax a little.
“Let us speak openly,” said Contwig. “We did not expect an embassy here. What does the Empress want with our humble outpost? Might you not have travelled to our homeland if you sought an audience?”
The girl's composure returned. "Mr Reimold, your esteemed envoy, spoke so very highly of your works here, last year in Tianchang's court when we signed treaties."
She smiled tauntingly. "My Empress was most impressed with tales of your colony's rapid growth. Reimold practically invited us to visit it directly.”
Ah yes, no doubt the fool had caused this whole mess. Reimold was given to enthusiasm about the colonial enterprise, clearly he had painted too rosy a picture of the colonial ambitions.
But did this child grasp the enormity of Goetia’s designs on this harsh land, the struggle to squeeze fortune from sweat and blood in the name of progress?
The meeting ran long. By its end, the governor realised she was no lost child, this Lü Xue was a sharp one.
This new assertiveness from the old Kodeshi Empire was not to be dismissed lightly, perhaps their missions into that nation had awakened the sleeping giant.
The sooner Contwig could dispatch urgent letters regarding this development. A mere colonial governor receiving a personal envoy from the Divine Empress Herself?
It would surely set the old halls of power roaring, no doubt.