Chess

Seraphina calmly moved her bishop into position. “Your move my lord.” In the months since her return Seraphina had settled in to court life, including her weekly game with her elder cousin. His Excellency Lord Julius Swann. She was getting better, but so far, he’d won every game.
 
Julius quickly moved his knight in position to threaten the bishop. He played conservatively this time, protecting even his knight with a pair of pawns, and perhaps daring her to probe his defenses. "Feeling aggressive today, Seraphina?" he asked.
 
She studied the board and his face, trying glean what his plan was. Seraphina positioned her rook carefully, ready to take advantage should he take the bishop. “My lord, one must take risks to learn,” she said with a smile.
 
"It seems to me, you've done a great deal of learning already, at the Imperial City," he said with a smile. "Did you like it?" He advanced a pawn, preparing a route to expand on the other half of the board. Distraction? Feint? His plan was murky at this stage.
 
He’s planning something. Always planning. “Yes my lord. The Dréama Lodge has grown to be amongst the most prestigious centers of musical and rhetorical training my lord. Sadly I didn’t get to see much of the city itself outside courts, theaters, and the odd trip to the Forum. I did travel though to other Lodges. And the races…just once.”
She moved her bishop to potentially threaten the king in two moves, blocking that row my her rook.
 
Seraphina added, “My lord. I did see a debate in the Senate once. Nothing weighty, but enlightening. The Forum often has various philosophers and experts each with their own point of view. I wish I had had more time to study them.”
 
He moved another knight, blocking her intention. "Is politics truly where your interest lies?"
 
“My lord I have not decided. But I do know I need to discover and learn more. I love theatre, poetry, and acting. Perhaps someday I will built my own theatre here. I also love rhetoric and making a case, so politics is also a possibility, like mother. Some of the most the most famous Dréama used their wanderings to gain experience in the wide world. Experience to back up my education. I’ve actually considered making an unusual move.”
 
She carefully saw his defensive play. She moved a pawn to either threaten his piece or force it to move.
 
He let it threaten, and instead chose to slide his rook across the board. A move to take his knight would expose her own rook to a chain of counterattacks that would strip her of first a rook, then a bishop, and then a knight, though at the end he might lose that rook to her queen. A very good sacrifice for him, if she chose to take the bait.
 
"The thing about education is that it cannot account for everything. Life doesn't stay within the bound of the board, nor even will it always play by the rules of the game. Yet it remains the best way to prepare one for the world.
"However, there are ways to gain experience without risking everything." He gestured to the board. "Some obsess with this game, seeing everything in terms of a certain set of rules. Within those boundaries, they might be masters. But change the landscape and... they fall flat."
 
"My son has a head for this game," he said as he gestured to the board. "But he doesn't adapt well to the real world." It was a little surprising to hear that from Julius. By all accounts, the younger Swann was making a name for himself at the Swannport Archive. It was said he brought wonders to the battlefield -- not that there was an immediate need for it.
 
“Then my lord,” she said with a smile, “would you like to know what I’m considering?” She knew he wouldn’t like it.
She also knew he was much better at this game than she, though she was no slouch though he used strategy and she a form of deception. Maybe, just maybe…
 
She reached to take the knight, but subtly hesitated. She drew her hand back. Something was wrong but she couldn’t see it right away. He should think her hesitation was weakness. Instead, she castled. Bringing in another rook to back up her first. If anything, he might wonder what she was doing and give away his plan. (edited)
 
He looked up from the board. "It sounds like you want to tell me." He raised an eyebrow and waited so that he could give it attention.
 
She nodded, “It would be proper my lord. Can you tell me about the Adventurer’s Guild. I should like to leverage them in my studies and in gaining experiences. As you say, education cannot account for everything.”
 
He sighed. "To some, the Fieras Adventurers Guild is a haven for bandits and ruffians. Looters. Seekers of fame. To others, they are sharp-eyed investigators, tools to use against forces of evil. But to everyone, they are dangerous. Even to themselves. Why would you want to associate with them, except to throw yourself in harms way for a little extra gold?"
 
She weighed her words carefully. “My lord, is it not true that we are not born to greatness, but to be great one must build merit and reputation through accomplishments? A noble name isn’t enough. I’m a Swann, but I’m no warrior, but I can see the human heart and, given experience, may be able to do much to aid those seeking knowledge or even at first apprehending criminals.”
 
She added, “I do possess some skills that may aid in these endeavors. And when not doing that, I could lend my skills to helping our family and other nobles and guilds like mother does.”
 
He seemed prepared to answer this response. "Have you considered more traditional routes to success and power? In Swannport, I'm sure you know that the assembly is made of the GuildMasters of the various guilds across the city. With your skills you might excel in management. Or better yet, if you wish a true challenge for you, you could establish a guild where there is none as yet.
 
"You could form a guild of performers. Actors, musicians, and other performers currently lack the protections, benefits and representation that a guild provides. Gather them, unite them, and then convince the other guilds of the city to recognize your guild." What he was saying was not easy, nor something that could be achieved quickly. "If you could get the other guilds to recognize yours as a guild as well, you'd have a seat of your own in the Assembly."
 
Experience informed Seraphina that such a task would be a lot like herding cats. Most performers moved a round a lot, city to city, town to town, catching whatever festivals they could. She would have to establish a network that spanned all the colonies of Duskh, just as the Adventurers Guild of Fieras had done. That was no part time job, but an entire career.
 
Still, he wasn't wrong. If she were successful, it would earn her a seat in the Assembly. From there it was a step, possibly a difficult one that took years, to then lead the Assembly. Then, with time and experience, she could even make it onto a short list of candidates when the Viceroy next decided to choose a new Senator to send to the Imperial City.
 
“I agree my lord. I think my mother, my teachers, and the Dréama elders would also agree with you. And it is within my skills I think. I could slowly build up my reputation. But…,” she paused.
 
“I could in theory jump start that reputation, building wealth and influence enough to have people come to me and not the other way around. It is risky I admit. But life is risk. Most Saia wouldn’t. They’d find a patron or a lover and build up from there. I’m less patient. Nothing great comes without risk.”
 
She added, “And my lord, if I didn’t, I think I’d regret I hadn’t done so. And…I want to earn your respect. It is important to me.”
 
He frowned, but looked thoughtful. "Have you discussed this course with your mother?"
 
“Once. She agrees with you, but did not say no. My teacher, my lord, thinks I can do more. She says I have great potential and author my own story. My own myth. Humbly, my lord, I’d like to see if that is possible. To excel, gain prestige, and respect from my actions. Even if they seem foolhardy at this time.”
 
"Where do you see this take you in five years?" he asked. He seemed honestly curious and wasn't trying to be critical.
 
“The Mistress of the House of Bards, my lord. To do so, I must build up contacts in many places, build up a reputation worthy of a Swann who raised me and of the Dréama who taught me. In five years I hope to be ready to build the first amphitheater, having gathered sponsors and patrons to realize that dream. Your dream for me and my dream are not dissimilar, my lord,” she confessed. “But I may be able to do this faster and bring glory to our name. In my way, of course.”
 
"All right. So, you've set this goal for yourself and have decided that working with the Adventurers Guild will be the way to get you going in that direction. You'll need to support yourself, and there will be risks and dangers in far greater supply than any other profession. Adventurers often end up acting as investigators and troubleshooters in situations that are just too dangerous for other people to handle. How will you handle dangerous challenges?"
 
She nodded, “I don’t intend to go alone. I hope to join up with some like-minded people. I can use a blade, though that isn’t my strength, my lord. Truth is I am proficient in some magic. Magic of sound and music. I can taunt, persuade, encourage, and more. I can also, my lord, weave music that shapes a story around me, letting me play a character such that I may learn more of my quarry.”
 
She added, “And, when not adventuring, mother has agreed to help me get work with the Assembly as a junior advisor, advocate, and rhetorician. But I’d also look to entertain, as Saia do, for the powerful for the right price. Conversation and song.”
 
“All of which, my lord, will help build influence, intuition, investigation skills, and contacts, making me more valuable to my team, and by extension, to you. My lord.”
 
"You sound to me like you are more adept in moving through high society, not dismal caves and dark forests hunting down beasts warped by miasma, uncovering bandit camps, or retrieving stolen items. But very well, if you insist on trying anyway, I won't stop you. But at least let me help you help yourself." He sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. "And just maybe, you could do something that is of benefit to this province as well," he mused.
 
She smiled broadly and then said, “My thanks my lord! What so ever do you have in mind?”
 
"Minari tribes still remain resistant to settlement or Duskhan expansion, yet they still possess the most strategically important lands. Relations have never fully recovered since the unfortunate first contact. They will trade from time to time, although they do not welcome us. But there may be an opportunity to show them our kind and theirs can coexist very successfully.
 
"Father Bernard brought it to my attention that some years ago he had opportunity to take in a Minari orphan. Nigh wild, she nonetheless took to the life offered by the Temple.
 
"You may not be aware, but our kindly Father Bernard also guides the Holy Order of Ilana's Gift at the Temple of the Three here. What's more, that young girl has taken up the morning star in service to Ilana and was accepted as a novitiate to the Order. I'm going to suggest to him that pairing her with you could be good for everyone involved -- especially if that doting old man's boasts about her are even half true. I swear he spoils the girl..."
 
He shook his head. "Anyway, it's not easy to convince a hostile people to forgive and forget. But if you can help forge our novitiate into a successful example of what we can forge together, it could go along way toward mending old rifts."
 
She nodded, “Yes my lord. You may not know, but I speak Minari and know something of their history. I would partner with her and make her a success in that light. Your will be done.” She smiled at the opportunity before her. A Minari holy novitiate! A peace mission! Adventure. Yes, she’d do this.
 
She paused and then added, “I respect Father Bernard. His kind words at my father’s wake were welcomed. May I ask my lord, what do they know of me?” She joked, “Perhaps they think I was spoiled?” (edited)
 
"Father Bernard? Or do you mean the girl?" he asked.
 
“Oh, either my lord. I must be a mystery to them if they know of me at all,” she replied.
 
"I don't know what she may or may not know. All I have is the impression Father Bernard dotes on her too much. The priest would know who you are, but likely not what you've been doing. I'll have Father Bernard advise her to share her... gifts with the Adventurers Guild. I'd rather her be unaware of our intention. She isn't like the other novitiates." He spoke of the way she looked. An armored Minari novitiate would stand out like the bright red berries in a patch of nightshade. Just getting her accepted around town might be a challenge. "I think it's time to get her out from under Bernard's watchful eye.
 
"Let things develop naturally if you can, but keep the goal in sight." He leaned back, apparently having lost interest in the game. "I need to prepare to go to sea. I'll return in two weeks." As he climbed to his feet, he said, "I look forward to seeing your progress in that time. Good luck."
 
She turned down her king. "Duty calls my lord. Anyway, you would have won in five moves. I thank you for the conversation, the game, and your best wishes." She rose and formally curtsied to her lord. "Until your successful return. I will keep my eyes out for her."