The Imperial Palace, Eboracum
22nd December SY153
Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions. However, when the bride and groom are the Empress and Empress To Be of a multi-Shadow Empire, and the guests include gods and rulers of a variety of worlds, it can get a little interesting. The fact that Claire and I, along with Andrew, ended up on the dais with the gods of Aurellis, as did Rupert, wasn't quite what we'd expected when we had decide to attend. Thankfully, though, Rupert and Andrew decide not to slice each other into little pieces on this occasion. In fact, they were almost civil to each other, despite highlighting their differences by the respective uniforms they were wearing: SS dress blacks versus Sable Army dress uniform.
Representing the Kingdom of Sable in my stead were Dominic and his wife Kristin, as well as my daughter Emily, her son Edmund, and Andrew's son Thomas from the family; and my Prime Minister, Donald Caffrey, for the government. Andrew's wife Niamh and their children, Abigail and Jonathan, also stayed with the Sable party, although technically they were probably representing the Technocracy, which is also establishing a presence in Eboracum through Andrew's aspect as Aurellian God of Knowledge (the better one to mention in polite society than God of Vengeance and Advocate of Victims, which he also holds). Will had also been supposed to attend, but he sent his apologies at the last minute, citing some unspecified emergency. I presumed he wouldn't have done so without a good reason, and decided not to question him on why.
William O'Connor was also at the ceremony, although given his position as head of the Eboracum Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as his responsibilities within the Sable Forces, he was wearing a rather different hat to normal, and was lined up with the Aurellian military delegation in the uniform of the Magister Militarium of the Empire. It was strange to see him in that other guise, after so many years, but he's been consulting with both Sable and the Empire for a long time.
And then there were the Reich representatives. Wilhelm himself was there, not at all surprising given the deep friendship between himself and the groom, and accompanying him were Elsa, plus their son Johan and his wife Juliana. It was the first time I'd seen her since their wedding, a little over a year before, and she looked well, although as before on occasions when I'd seen her, I felt a nagging familiarity about her which I couldn't place.
Rupert's wife Annifrid, plus Reichskanzler Emmerich and Conrad Berthelmes as the representatives of the Reich Government, rounded out the official Reich presence. However, more surprising to me were the inclusion in their party of Jorge von Raeder and my grand-daughter, Elanor. I'm not sure Emily was entirely pleased to see her daughter in that group: it had always been a risk to allow Elanor to marry a Reich nobleman, given the propaganda possibilities on both sides. And sadly, it was beginning to seem as if her heart was moving closer to her husband's land, whether she realised it or not, although she greeted us warmly enough when she saw us.
According to Rupert, who kindly supplied the information, Jorge was in the Imperial Party in his capacity as a Priest of Protection, co-ordinating the Kaiser's security with the Imperial Knights under Herr Oberst Gebbert. Of course, the fact the he, like his boss, chose to attend in dress blacks, rather underlined our suspicions that despite his protests to the contrary, he was about as retired from active service as Rupert himself. However, his presence was also an interesting oddity from another perspective, given that Wilhelm wouldn't normally trust his well being to anyone as obviously aligned with the RFSS as an SS Brigadeführer.
As we took our seats, Claire commented to me, more icily than normal for her, that Elsa and Elanor had obviously
co-ordinated outfits beforehand. To me, that indicated a degree of contact I hadn't realised had developed between them. Then Claire added that she guessed Frida hadn't been included in their planning, quietly amused that her sister-in-law's outfit just didn't quite gel with the others. And certainly Frida spent most of the afternoon looking daggers at them. Rupert was in for an interesting time when he got home that evening.
Aurellian religious ceremonies are an interesting experience, and the wedding was no exception, not least because it was taken by both Roland's High Priest and Sian's High Priestess, and it was held in the Senate House, rather than any of the temples, but everything seemed to go smoothly, as far as I could tell. However, I couldn't help being slightly relieved that Sirius didn't actually invite Wilhelm to be his best man: both on my own observations and Gray's analysis there had certainly been a chance that he might, given the friendship between them, but perhaps he realised it wouldn't be politic to favour one of his allies over the other quite so obviously.
Once the official proceedings in the Senate were finished, we headed across the Forum to the Imperial Palace for the reception. The party was soon well under way - no doubt thanks to the Divine Morgan, who as far as I can tell is god of parties in Eboracum - and a good time was had by most...although I noticed Frida sticking with Rupert and looking less than amused.
Some hours later, with the party still in full swing, one of Sirius's servants...no, slaves, given the Empire's views on the subject...came over and handed me a message. The Emperor requested the pleasure of my company the following afternoon, Empire time. I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued. After all, shouldn't Sirius be off on his honeymoon tomorrow afternoon? However, I scribbled a reply in the affirmative, and made a mental note to be around at the appointed time.
Claire and I remained in Eboracum overnight, although most of the others headed home to Sable. Many years before, when I was still Deity without Portfolio, Roland and I had found an iteration of Millbank in Shadow which had seen better days and wouldn't be missed, and he'd woven it into the Temple Deorum complex in Eboracum: a huge ways where the Aurellian gods have temples and residences for when they're in town. I'd obviously had it restored, and in more recent times, after I had finally taken an aspect (teachers, Trump and investigators), it had been used more, both as a residence and a training facility for my priests, so it seemed the best place to stay over.
The following day, Claire and I allowed ourselves a lazy morning before getting up in time for brunch. After all, for once we weren't in a hurry to be anyway, and we didn't have anyone relying on our every move. It made for a relaxing change. After brunch we went and visited our respective temples (she having been Goddess of Healing for far longer than I've had any official responsibilities down there), and I eventually presented myself to Sirius's office in the Imperial Palace at the appointed time. I was shown into a formal drawing room, and then settled down to wait, still none the wiser about why I was there.
Then, a couple of minutes later, Wilhelm was shown in...sans Imperial Knights, I noticed. I think he was probably as surprised to see me as I was to see him. The house slave asked if we wanted refreshments, which we duly ordered, and then headed out again, leaving us alone. A few moments of awkwardness passed before we shook hands and exchange pleasantries. At which point Sirius arrived.
"Ah, you're both here," he said brightly in Anglatine, the language of the Empire, "good."
"I seem to remember you getting married yesterday, Sirius," Wilhelm commented, his Anglatine accented but competent, much like his English when he speaks it, "shouldn't you be with Sirenna rather than refereeing a conversation between Robert and myself?"
"She agreed with my inviting you to this meeting, given that you were both conveniently in the same place" Sirius answered, "have you both been offered food and drink?"
We looked at each other, nodded, and he indicated for us to sit.
"So what..." I began to ask, but as I did there was a knock on the door and he indicated for me to wait a moment.
He called for whoever it was to enter, and the slave returned bearing a tray on which were a flagon of cool white wine, a jug of what looked like fresh lemonade, fruit, and cheese and biscuits. These were laid out before us in silence, and then the slave departed, leaving the three of us alone. As we served ourselves, I could see Wilhelm was as puzzled as I was, and almost as one we turned to Sirius.
"I have a question for you both," he said, finally, after taking his time to savour the first few sips of a glass of wine, "when are you going to end the war?"
I'm not sure what I'd expected him to say, but it certainly wasn't that. Still, I managed not to choke on my own drink in surprise, although Wilhelm wasn't quite as lucky.
"Pardon?" he asked as he recovered himself, obviously trying to figure out if he'd heard Sirius correctly.
"It's a simple enough question," Sirius answered, looking first at Wilhelm, and then at me, obviously noting the incredulous looks on both our faces. Unabashed, he continued.
"Well, why not? Your countries have a lot of similarities. Far more than either of you have with the Empire. Why can't you make peace between Sable and the Reich?"
"Similarities?" Wilhelm asked, as if he was unsure how to react, and I'll admit to having some sympathy for that position.
"Of course," Sirius answered, "your nations are both strong, hereditary monarchies, not that either of you seem in any hurry to let your respective heirs inherit. You're just as closely tied by blood as Queen Victoria was to most of Europe in the Nineteenth Century on your mutual home Shadow. You have the backing of an aristocratic class, as well as an elected government. Neither of you condone slavery..."
I almost argued that one, given the slave labour camps I knew the Reich ran, populated by its captured enemies, but Sirius continued before I could say anything which I might have regretted afterwards.
"Your social attitudes, if not the same, at least have common roots...both being based around Anglo-Saxon virtues. They're certainly closer than either of your countries are with the Empire. And yet you can find it to be allies with the us. Why not with each other?"
I thought about his words for a few moments, unable to disagree with at least part of what he was saying, and considered my own answer carefully, before finally vocalising it.
"I'm not sure we can," I said, quietly.
"Why ever not?" he asked, apparently genuinely surprised.
"Because of the nature of the universe," I answered, "the impression I had from my teachers was that if you take the path I took to Create, the nature of the Creation is such that the two parts of it will be in conflict."
"But is that because it's true?" Sirius asked, looking directly at me, "or merely because no-one had thought of doing it a different way?"
As he spoke, I could feel my own discomfort. My own fears and concerns about the course of action I'd taken when I had created were not being helped by even voicing the possibility that perhaps it was all for nothing. That all, or even a major proportion of, the people who had died in the intervening years had died for no reason.
"Robert, I've never claimed to be the arcane expert either you or Wilhelm are. But I do know a little bit about military history. And I am well aware that throwing away pre-conceptions and thinking outside of the box often brings some interesting results."
"Interesting results..." Wilhelm echoed, cauriously.
"Come on, Wilhelm. You've played that game yourself...Robert, I can't believe you haven't either."
"It's not as easy as it sounds to change such a long-established position," Wilhelm replied.
"Why not? After all, in this last few years you've acquired common enemies. The Machine. The Federation. And the Empire shares those enemies. If our three nations worked together against them, we'd all be stronger for it. But that can't happen while a state of war exists between Sable and the Reich. Isn't it time that changed?"
"I acknowledge the argument," Wilhelm commented, "but I'm not sure we can even have this conversation with someone else present."
"Rupert or Andrew?" I asked him.
"I was thinking of Rupert..." Wilhelm answered me, then turned back to our host, "even laying aside the pros and cons of your proposal, Sirius, there's a more fundamental problem. While technically I could unilaterally decide to take such a step...which by the way, I don't think Robert could because of Sable's constitution..."
He glanced at me and I nodded in confirmation before he continued.
"...if Rupert didn't agree with it, it wouldn't happen. It's as simple as that. The balance of power is too fine. And there's also always the danger from the hard-line groups on both sides who think the war should be fought to a final conclusion, rather than a ceasefire. Too much blood has been spilt to give up now, and all that."
"Hmm," Sirius pondered, then turned his attention to me, "Robert...you've gone very quiet. Surely you have an opinion on the subject?"
"What if you're right?" I answered, "what if the war was never necessary? What of all the people who've died...on both sides. I don't like what that would make me: either an incompetent fool, or a monster."
"You're certainly not a fool," Sirius commented, "and nothing I've heard of you has led me to think you were incompetent."
"Which leaves monster..."
"Or someone who wasn't given all the facts when he made the decision to Create," Wilhelm interjected, "as I understand it, you Created earlier than many, and were one of the first to take the route you did...to whit giving your Dark-side his head. And I doubt any of the others had grabbed somebody like me out of obscurity to act as a foil to a manifested Dark-side, rather than letting him rule. Perhaps lessons have since been learned which can be applied here. Certainly the universe as you built it has changed dramatically."
I looked at him, surprised at the apparent confidence and knowledge with which he spoke, then remembered that he is far from a slouch himself as far as universal mechanics are concerned. He might not be as good as I am with the Pattern, but he's certainly better than anyone else in the Reich bar Rupert.
"There was no Aurellis back then, if I remember correctly," he continued, "the system which built the Inside was set up later: you originally Created in open Shadow, so presumably rules which you had no control over applied. Then Roland built Aurellis and the pair of you formed the Inside, and however many years later, my brother made the Technocracy. So what we have now is much closer to the dynamics of the Outside than anything you originally anticipated: a far more complete system. And given we have our own macro-system on the Inside, why should Outside rules apply at all any more?"
"Which comes back to incompetent. I was too hidebound to consider an alternative to what I was taught. So I doomed us all to a perpetual war."
"You didn't start the war, Robert," Sirius commented, "you only set up the two different factions. And I understand that Rupert gave the Reich form."
"From my template. But it was inevitable there would be conflict between our countries, because of their very nature," I answered, glancing at Wilhelm who nodded.
"Really?" Sirius retorted, "I thought there was at least a train of thought that hostilities between Nazi Germany and Great Britain were far from inevitable, because of their shared Anglo-Saxon heritage. And indeed, that at least one side was caught out when events overtook Europe."
He paused a moment, took a drink, and then carried on.
"Or perhaps to offer another alternative view: perhaps you're right, and war between Sable and the Reich was necessary then. But is it now? You've both commented to me in the past how things have seemed different over the last few years. Maybe now you have a freedom to act which you didn't before?"
I shrugged, not sure what to believe just then and not trusting myself to speak.
"If Sirius is right..." Wilhelm commented, looking at me, "then besides you and I, I suspect that the key players in whether this would ever get off the ground would be Rupert and Andrew. And even I can testify that Rupert has changed. He's been far less of a pain in my backside in the last three or four years than he was before."
"You seemed very wary of him at his wedding," I pointed out.
"Largely because I had a suspicion he was working to an even more obscure agenda to normal, especially given your presence there. Even though he'd mentioned that he'd invited you, I didn't expect you to accept. Indeed, in past years, you wouldn't have done. Which, I will admit, led me to mistrust your motivations as well: had you finally decided I was expendable, and that maybe Rupert could be trusted with the job of running the Reich after all?"
"So when you leant me the services of Hauptmann Friedman as a bodyguard...?"
"It wasn't entirely for your benefit, no," he replied, with a wry smile, and in his eyes I could see the intelligence and cunning which had allowed him to stay Kaiser all these years, despite Rupert's better efforts, "partly, certainly, as I wasn't sure you hadn't been tricked into a trap, but it was also to keep an eye on you."
"Well played," I said, quietly.
"Papa de Lacy isn't in the habit of fathering fools," he answered with a chuckle, "what I don't understand is why your offspring always seem to end up with a better grasp of politics than your own."
Unsurprisingly, I couldn't think of a suitable retort to that one.
"So..." Sirius asked, "to go back to Wilhelm's point about key figures, what about Andrew? Is there any chance he could be bent to the idea of peace?"
"He's been better since the whole running Rupert through incident," I had to concur, "I don't know...maybe..."
"And Rupert...?" Sirius continued, "what changed three or four years ago?"
"The main thing I can think of was the fight between Andrew and Andreas," I answered, "or perhaps, more accurately, Rupert betraying Andreas's plans to Andrew so that they could actually come to blows, which I think had been brewing for some time. It was the break in the ranks of the two Dark-side Creators..."
"It wasn't that long afterwards that you and Rupert started to move closer together, was it?" Wilhelm commented.
"Ish... I'd put the change a couple of years later. Around New Year 152. "
"Ah, the business with Alban."
I looked at him surprised, and in return he gave a knowing smile.
"Robert, please," he replied, with a chuckle, "I wasn't born yesterday, and neither were my intelligence people. And your increasing ability to work together has been gathering pace....faster than I had realisesd if you're right on the timing, and I'd assumed wrong. Riversend was just the latest example of a level of co-operation between you which just wouldn't have been possible ten years ago.
"No, it probably wouldn't."
"In fact, I suspect that if it came to broaching the subject of a cease fire between the Reich and Sable with Rupert - or even a full peace- you've got a better chance of persuading him than I have."
"All of this is irrelevant if it can't be done...if peace is impossible," I pointed out.
"Yes. But you're the one who can figure that out if anyone can," Sirius answered, "would you be willing to try?"
"I'm morally obliged to try," I answered, knowing it to be true with utter certainty, "nothing will ever change the number of deaths I have on my hands from a hundred and fifty years of a war I caused to happen. But if you're right, I have to do what I can to try to prevent further unnecessary bloodshed. Perhaps I'm forever doomed to atone for the sins of my past."
I suspect Wilhelm would have pushed that line of conversation further, but thankfully Sirius stepped in.
"It sounds like we've made a start...Wilhelm, would you be willing to hold this up from your side if it can be done?"
"I've been on the wrong end of a war with multiple fronts before. If my father finds that a cease fire between Sable and the Reich is possible, before full-blown hostilities erupt with the Machine or the Federation, rather than the phony war we're currently all...enjoying...then if I have to, I will make an Imperial Decree on the subject."
I looked at him and smiled.
"Thank you, Wilhelm," I said, "I'll do my best to this figure out ...or dammit, I'll try to make it possible if it isn't currently. And I'll let you both know as soon as I know one way or the other."
"Excellent," Sirius said, positively beaming, "Now, I should go and find Sirenna. We're due in New Yorvik for a ticker tape parade tomorrow, and after that, we can escape for a well-earned honeymoon. But thank you both for coming. I think it was a worthwhile meeting."
""The aim is certainly laudable," I replied, "even if my own feelings on the subject are decidedly mixed at this point."
"If it can be done, you will do it, Robert," Wilhelm said, quietly, and for a moment I thought I saw sympathy in his eyes. But then it was gone, and he was businesslike once more. "However, until we know more, I'm not taking this to anyone at home. I can't afford to."
"Understandable, and probably wise," Sirius said, getting to his feet, "if you wish to stay here and continue talking, then by all means do so. But if you'll forgive me..."
"Of course," I answered, getting to my feet as well, with Wilhelm following suit. I think we both knew that the discussion was ended, for today, and we needed to get home to consider what had been said, even if Sirius didn't.
"I hope to hear from you both soon," Sirius said, finally, and with a slight bow to each of us, bade us good day and headed out, leaving my son and I together. We looked at each other for a few moments, the awkwardness of earlier back once more. Then, before the silence got too deafening, we said our goodbyes, and he reached for his Trump deck. Moments later, he disappeared in a haze of rainbow light and I was left alone with my thoughts.