A new Day Dawns

"No, you haven't, but the enemy doesn't care. You will find that out here, there are far more hostile individuals than you would ever have found on your family farm." Lon said, taking out an arrow and whispering gently to the head. It glowed a brilliant white, then faded, and he slipped it into a secondary compartment in his quiver. "You're a threat, as are my own troops. Your entire family is in danger, which is why I wanted to sneak there and back myself. Fortunately, however, they did not follow me into the woods. However, they saw us crash into the camp. So while your family is safe, we aren't." He said, and turned to the door to call out the space. "Greduals decrum, fas en furms!" He yelled.

Lon sighed as the girl spoke, and motioned for her to follow him. Outside, the camp was a hub of activity as men broke down tents and made sure their arms and armor were on and ready to use at a moments notice. A few representatives of The Lucian house bowed to Keladry, but then quickly went about getting the camp into a state where it could be moved. "Go speak to Kazuk, he's by the kitchens, just follow the smell of Food. Tell him Lon said you were to help him pack up the rations."

A tall man was stuffing barrels full of various dry foods, rice, flour, beans, mostly unprepared morsels. He glanced up at the girl, and spoke in heavily accented Tarvannan. "You eat quickly or not at all. There jerkey rations not packed, those you eat." He said, and then went back to packing, now shouting swift orders to two smaller men, who quickly nodded and rushed off.

"Yes, you set aside rations. Two jerkey, one bread, one cheese, one apple. One each man, fifty men. You do math." He said, and pointed to the back room, where a series of travel rations were set up and neatly wrapped in cloth, ready to be delivered.

The men took the food and moved, the soldiers standing in formation, now packed and ready to leave. The Mess tent had already come down, and laborers were hauling food onto horse drawn carts. Lon rode out before the troops, mounted atop a black horse, sword in hand. He called to the troops, shouting more orders in Agasarian, and the columns instantly turned to the left, and began to march off along the road in that direction. "Keladry." He said, trotting over to the girl. "Ride with the supply carts, I'll be along shortly." He said, and pulled the reigns of his horse to trot off in another direction.

Lon got his final orders known, and then rode off to find the girl. She would likely be confused and possibly frightened, but it was better than her having an arrow through her forehead. Lon took note of the map, and said "We're heading to Daleria. Its the closest friendly city, and likely bigger than you've ever seen. We'll be safe there." He said, looking at the girl, wondering if she even knew about the war.

Lon looked at Keladry, and sighed. "The world." He said, realizing just how little she knew of, well, everything. "The Agasarian Empire and the Kingdom of Tarvanna have been enemies for a very long time, with four wars fought between them that you likely know of. What you likely don't know, was the recent end of a fifth war. Agasaria was the victor, but we have neither the desire nor the resources to rule over Tarvanna. Therefore, the church agreed to rule over the country, but by its own rules, can only do so for a year. After that time, the country will be turned over to the Coucil of Nobles...and absolute civil war will ensue. The people will suffer, and the country could very well collapses, as the lords are fairly even. To complicate things further, Desera seeks to conquer the nation, which would then place it in a position to attack Agasaria and drag us in to yet another war. The solution to all this was to place someone on the throne, someone the church, the nobles, and Agasaria could agree on. That person was a Haragiri." He said, glanceing to the edge of the woods, then back to the girl. "Of course, by nobles, I mean one of the Seven High Houses and less than a fourth of the Lower houses...that was the most we could get. The other houses...well, they want their chance to rule. Therefore, you and every other Haragiri is a threat to them. That's why they want you, me, and everyone else trying to instate your family as ruling family dead."

Lon looked at the girl, pity taking only a moment to grace his eye, and then he sighed. "Unfortunately...yes, that's the gist of it. Fortunately, some of these problems are one and the same. For example, ruling correctly will help keep the nobles in line, and therefore keep your family safe. As for them going to war with each other...Christ, I doubt that'd be possible at all. Of course, remember, you'll have help the entire time. Myself, Lord Rokku, Lady Lucia, Archbishop Arnald, and many lords to help teach you all you'll need to know. Its a hard task, yes, but not impossible, and certainly not one we expect to take only a year. Your training and our help will continue until you no longer need it."

"Firstly, you won't be crowned for an entire year. Secondly, even after you're crowned, you're still not ruling by yourself. It will possibly be decades before that happens. We just need to show someone that we're doing all we can to prepare you to rule, and that we will be there to guide you as you learn how to do so. We're not throwing you out to the sharks here." Lon said with a genuine smile. He made the scenario sound difficult, but far from impossible.

"that is all we can ask of you." Lon said, nodding simply. He scanned the trees, seeing only snow, and then returned his attention to the girl. "It's mostly a matter of common sense anyway. Making sure people don't kill each other, making sure there's enough food, balancing a budget, things I'm sure you're already at least slightly familiar with, aye?"

"Well, running a country is essentially a scaled up version of that model. Except you can buy food from other people and will have much more money coming in to load the scales. Mostly what you'll need to learn is culture and history, and possibly a bit of war tactics, though that's not really a monarch's job."

Lon looked at the girl, and concern pulsated through his entire being, though he did not show it. "Money buys everything a country needs. Food, roads, public buildings, schools, libraries, the military...the list goes on. Did your family not use money?"