A Dubious Peace

by Olan Thorensen

  “I hesitate to ask what the other two conditions are, Paramount,” said Feederk, a smile lurking at one corner of his mouth.

  Yozef’s voice turned warmer. “I think you’ll find these two conditions relatively more tolerable, although there will be some level of resistance to the first. The education system within Nyvaks will conform with the rest of Caedellium. No more of the foot-dragging that’s been going on. If anything, I will require Nyvaks to more closely adhere to what’s happening in Orosz, Moreland, and Keelan provinces than in most of the others. That means mandatory education of all children, including female. You will also have to begin opening up more opportunities for women, although I accept this will have to be done under a timetable to minimize discord with the most conservative elements of your clan.

  “Finally, Nyvaks Province must more fully integrate with the other provinces. On a practical level, that will mean more trade and travel than before. Whereas Janko discouraged interaction with the other clans, I expect Hetman Sildor Nyvaks to encourage it. Wherever possible, I will do what I can to help by directing economic developments to Nyvaks. There should be ample future opportunities for the people of Nyvaks Province, although I can’t promise specifics at this moment.”

  “Assuming I agree to your four conditions,” said Sildor, “there’s still the problem that I don’t believe Father will ever agree to abdicate being hetman. It’s just too foreign a concept for him. Then what do we do?”

  “That’s up to you,” said Yozef. “If you can’t solve the problem, I will. In that case, the outcome will be bad for everyone, but especially for Nyvaks.”

  “I think I can see a way forward,” said Feederk, “but it will require bringing a select few boyermen in on this.” Feederk waited to gauge the Paramount’s initial reaction.

  “Go on,” Yozef said impatiently.

  “Janko believes he would have the unwavering support of all the boyermen. He needs to be made to see that this is not the case, that there are boyermen who will not support him. At the same time, he needs to believe there is a serious threat of the Paramount’s intervention. That’s the only way I think we can make this happen peacefully.”

  He turned to the heir.

  “Sildor, I propose we show this evidence to Gubral Elek. As the Montron District’s boyerman, he’s in an especially strategic position. He’s also highly respected by the other boyermen, and I’m sure Janko takes his support for granted. At the same time, if the Paramount gathers a significant force near the border with Pawell, this will help convince Elek and a few other boyermen we select that the Paramount’s threat is genuine. Once Janko is faced with Elek and other boyermen turning against him, combined with the threat of the Paramount’s intervention, I believe you, I, and at least a few of the other advisers can convince him of the inevitable.”

  Feederk paused briefly, then continued. “And this is something that I know seems dishonorable but under the circumstances is warranted. If necessary, you can tell your father that his abdication is all a ruse and that once the Paramount withdraws and time passes, he will be reinstated as the hetman. He could also be made to believe he still controls the clan secretly through you. Once he’s isolated somewhere, there will somehow never be the right time to reinstate him.”

  “How you get him to step aside is up to you,” said Yozef. “I’ll have to talk with our military leaders on how to arrange a fake show of force. I’m not mobilizing a major force and moving it toward Nyvaks unless you fail to act. If we can orchestrate something, fine; otherwise, it’s up to you. The Nyvaks Clan created this problem, and it’s up to you to make it happen peacefully, whether or not I can give support.”

  “Do you think Sildor will act?” Maera asked when Yozef returned to Orosz City.

  “I hope so. No . . . that’s not right. I’m not that pessimistic. I believe he will. The most likely problem is it doesn’t work. Janko might learn of the plot or simply refuse to go quietly. One way or the other, Nyvaks is getting a new hetman. It’s a lesson to us not to let a clan remain too isolated from the rest.”

  “Then what about Seaborn?” asked Maera. “Nyvaks at least has the narrow isthmus connecting them to the rest of us. Seaborn doesn’t have that. I confess I don’t have a good sense of that clan.”

  “I’ve been thinking about them ever since I heard the report about Janko Nyvaks. An idea came to me one day when I was in the Pit looking at the relief map. Seaborn as an island province will always be less connected to the other provinces, but I think there’s a way to improve communication, which should give them a better sense of belonging to the rest. It doesn’t help that I’ve never visited Seaborn. There never seems to be time, but I’ve alerted my staff to the intent to somehow get to Seaborn in the next year.”

  Yozef sighed and sat back in the veranda swing he shared with Maera. “More planning to do. It never ends. Sometimes I think I spend more time thinking about what needs doing than actually doing it.”

  Maera shifted closer to Yozef and put her head on his shoulder.

  “Speaking of planning. It seems we’re going to have a busy coming year in Kolsko Manor.”

  Yozef waited for the punch line he assumed was coming. Maera didn’t drop such comments without something else behind it. Plus, when he turned toward her, there was a “look” in her eyes, and her mouth seemed to want to curve upward at the corners, despite her efforts to resist.

  “Okay. I give up. I won’t even guess. Why is the next year going to be busy?”

  “Well . . . Ana will give birth in about five months, and, if all goes well, I will do the same three months later.”

  The rest of the evening was spent in joyous celebration that involved the entire Kolsko family, plus the Puveys and the Kaldwels—the arrangements had been made by Anarynd, Gwyned, and Maghen. Maera was the center of attention, which was fine with a bemused Yozef, who spent hours simply looking at the most important people in his world and already thinking about two new names he would have to decide on . . . after checking with the mothers.

  On the second Godsday of the month of Makothon, attendees to services throughout Nyvaks were shocked when they were read a letter from Hetman Janko Nyvaks. Due to ill health, the strenuous requirements of leadership, and his love for his clanspeople, he had decided to relinquish his position in favor of his son, Sildor Nyvaks, on a temporary basis until his health improved. The abbot at St. Vilblos’s cathedral in Montron led a prayer for the health of Janko and beseeched God to give Sildor the strength to carry on his father’s legacy. Reports persisted that bells rang in many towns, and impromptu celebrations in many villages were ascribed to mere hearsay.

  It was later reported that Janko was recovering at a mountain retreat in eastern Nyvaks, though few Nyvaksians could subsequently confirm ever seeing Janko again in person. Rumors were denied that in the Nyvaks family, father and son never spoke to each other again, starting a year after his abdication.

  Penmawr, Pewitt Province

  A wry smile graced Frenko Holuska’s face as he waited for the train station clerk to check the latest mail deliveries to Penmawr, the Pewitt Clan capital. How kind of the Caedelli to provide a more efficient means for Holuska to receive communiqués from a person whose name remained unknown but who lived in the island’s capital, Orosz City. It wasn’t necessary for Holuska to know the person’s identity to carry out the mission—an instruction given to him personally by an official close to the Kolinkan ruler. It had not been the first time he had been assigned sensitive missions. In the past, they had been either within Kolinka or a secretive excursion into other members of the Iraquinik Confederation adjoining Kolinka in the northern part of the Confederation. The exception was a year he spent in Preddi City during the Narthani occupation—a time and travel handled sensitively because of the official state of belligerency with Narthon. Though not stated by the official he met, he assumed his fluency in Caedelli led to the current mission.

  As for his unidentified contact, messages did not come o
ften, as was appropriate because communication should occur only to transmit important information. Otherwise, someone might wonder why a Caedelli from Orosz City was engaged in one-way correspondence with a Kolinkan trader in Penmawr.

  Kolinkan trade with Caedellium had ceased when the Narthani subjugated Preddi Province and resumed once the invaders left. Holuska was formally the trade representative of his ship, the Sunrider, that originally made regular port calls on four capitals in northwest Caedellium: Brudermyn in Seaborn Province, Penmawr in Pewitt, Shullick in Swavebroke, and Devanyo in Farkesh. He was not told why he and the Sunrider were assigned to these four provinces, but he suspected other colleagues and ships had similar stations in other sectors of Caedellium.

  The mission parameters changed six months previous with instructions delivered on a Kolinkan ship fresh from Onunza, the main Kolinka port. He was to concentrate on the Seaborn and Penmawr provinces. Although given no reason for the change, Holuska assumed information sources determined the mission objective was most likely achievable by narrowing the focus.

  The Caedelli had been perplexed when he announced the intention of the Sunrider to provide regular trading service between the two provinces. No such service existed before that time, and the local population doubted the need for it. There was no rigid schedule. The Sunrider waited until there was enough cargo to justify the hundred-mile sail. Holuska and the captain accepted losses from meager cargoes to establish frequent-enough trips that they would be taken for granted by the Caedelli. However, as predicted by Holuska’s superiors, once the service existed, the need developed. By now, Caedelli on both ends of the route were appreciative and would have been disappointed were the shuttle service to be discontinued. In addition to material cargo, an unexpected demand developed for passenger traffic. Caedelli with personal or business connections between Seaborn and mainland provinces now had an efficient-enough means to travel. Holuska had stopped counting the times he had made the Brudermyn/Penmawr circuit. He wondered how long he would have to remain traveling between Penmawr and Brudermyn before his mission was complete.

  A man bumped Holuska by accident, interrupting the Kolinkan’s daydreaming. Holuska yawned. He looked forward to retiring to the room rented for his use while he was in Penmawr. It was too late in the day to make himself available for securing cargo and passengers for the return trip to Brudermyn. The Sunrider’s crew had finished unloading this evening, and tomorrow morning Holuska would be at the dock working on cargo for the next trip. Until then, he intended to nap in his room, change clothes, and spend the evening touring three of Penmawr’s pubs he’d found to be the best sources of local and island-wide news and gossip. He would buy rounds for individuals or groups he judged most useful, all the while carefully husbanding his own drinks.

  He was on the verge of becoming irritated at the clerk taking longer than expected to search the latest mail packets. Suddenly, the elderly man returned from a back room and held out a sealed envelope.

  “Just this one piece,” said the clerk.

  Holuska took the mail and handed the man a small coin, not that it was needed. The cost of sending mail was paid by the sender, but it never hurt to curry favor. It also served to foster rumors that Kolinkans were not as disagreeable as thought.

  He casually tucked the mail into his coat and returned to his room to read the message. Whatever it was would join other messages to be relayed to Kolinka on the next available ship heading home. Most of the contents were not directly relevant to Holuska’s main mission. Yet, each time he checked a new message his pulse quickened. Today was no different up to the point he began reading, and then today was different. His heart beat faster and he smiled. He had begun to doubt the mission’s intended action would ever be implemented. Too much depended on what could not be predicted . . . until now. Holuska would send a highly priority message home on the first ship. Wheels would be set in motion.

  CHAPTER 26

  AUGURIES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION

  Neither Yozef nor Mark tried to change Heather’s mind when she informed them she was moving into a second-story apartment two blocks from the Orosz City cathedral complex.

  “I think it’s time,” said Mark later. “Her initial reticence to be away from my family and then yours seems to have faded. She’s become part of the St. Wyan’s community with her music, and she’s made new friends.”

  “I agree,” said Yozef. “I’m glad. She’s too naturally sunny to let her time in Sulako overshadow the rest of her life.”

  “You know, Yozef . . . I forget whether it was after first hearing her sing or later on the Buldorian ship, but I had a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment. I had those grandiose plans while I was in Frangel. Plans that went to shit. It occurred to me that I might end up contributing nothing to Anyar. The pins and the springs were obvious products that someone would have come up with in the next few years. I first thought the loom and spinner machines might never be used by the guilds. I envisioned them destroying the machines in fear of losing their monopoly. But then I thought either the guilds would eventually put them into use, or they would be developed elsewhere. No one would know of Mark Kaldwel.

  “Heather, on the other hand, had already made an impact on Sulako. The music she’d introduced was obviously popular and probably slowly spreading. Even with her escape, she’d left signs of her existence. She also thinks she passed on some music theory to a few musicians she had contact with. So, who knows? Maybe in a future Sulako, she will be known as a mythical figure who brought the basics of musicianship to western Anyar.”

  “I don’t know about that,” said Yozef, “but she’s already made her mark here. I managed to introduce a few melodies and sections of pieces I remembered, either with Pernel Horton from Abersford or in pubs. But since Pernel moved to Orosz City, he and Heather have started what I’m sure will be referred to in centuries to come as a new music school. You know . . . school as in type or genre or whatever. That’s why the brother and sister scholastics of St. Wyan’s have agreed among themselves to accept her as a scholastic candidate in music. Supposedly, that’s the first scholastic of that specialty on Caedellium.”

  “I suspect you had a finger in that,” said Mark.

  “Maybe a finger, but not a whole hand. I simply pointed out to Abbot Parwyn that he should talk to Pernel and some of the other music people gathered in Orosz City since Heather arrived. Then also talk to the head scholastic. I figured where it might go, but it was quicker than I predicted. Parwyn told me they were expanding the cathedral complex into some adjacent buildings and how some of the space would be used for a music school. I think Parwyn might have been thinking mainly about liturgical music, but I sweetened the idea by offering to pay for any renovations.”

  “Well, try to remember our previous talk about not keeping her completely out of the loop,” said Mark. “She’s made several suggestions for when we start producing patterned cloth. She’s providing drawings of the main styles and patterns from Sulako. When combined with your new dyes, it’s possible in a year or so we could be producing cloth that would bring premium prices in Sulako and maybe elsewhere. Something to think about is obtaining similar information about the Iraquiniks and Landoliners. I’m also getting a bit ahead of myself, but if we make powered looms, we could look into card-specific patterns.”

  “Yep. At that point, we could stay ahead of any competition for who knows how many decades, and that’s without any further innovations. It’s not too early to look for potential markets. As you say, Mark, we’re a bit ahead of ourselves, but I’ll keep textile markets in mind the next time I meet with the ambassadors. I’m also glad you think Heather made a contribution. I’m pleased she’s found her place here. As for the textile development in Moreland and Brell, you’re satisfied you aren’t needed there anymore?”

  “Yes. After we got the looms and spinners going, I really had nothing more to offer. The teams there have already made several modifications beyond what I knew, so until we want to think abou
t powered production, I’m superfluous.”

  Yozef saw Heather regularly, though less and less often with time and usually around the cathedral complex, in accidental passing within the city, or when she was invited to occasions at Kolsko Manor.

  The Kaldwel family remained living in a house near Kolsko Manor. Maghen had become genuine friends with Anarynd and Gwyned. Her relationship with Maera was good, but Maghen admitted feeling reserved with Yozef’s wife, whom Maghen saw as being from social strata far above herself—a view she held despite Mark’s objections and Maera’s goodwill.

  Alys made no such distinctions with any children, including those of the Kolsko and Puvey families. They were all friends and playmates, at least those old enough to perambulate. Alys was readily accepted as a fourth member of the previous triumvirate of Aeneas, Dwyna, and Morwena.

  Yozef’s interactions with Mark took a different route. They saw each other most days when Mark was in Orosz City, which was about two-thirds of the time. By the time the day came that marked a year since Mark and Heather had arrived at Preddi City, Yozef had to think hard about what it was like not to have someone to remember Earth with. Over the following months, Yozef’s early impatience with Mark’s concentrating on infrastructure faded. He acknowledged to himself and Mark that the focus on tools as a foundation was correct. Once Yozef felt Mark was established enough as another Amerikan expert, though in different ways from the Paramount, Mark was left in total charge of his projects, and he gave Yozef only occasional updates. Yozef requested such an update after reports and rumors led him to decide that personal tours and demonstrations were in order. This meant they would take a trip to the developing Pewitt and Swavebroke industrial centers. Maera wanted to accompany them to see Mark’s newest miracles, but Anarynd was having a bout of morning sickness—unexpected because her term with Xena and Odysius had passed with relatively few of the early trimester symptoms.