For a city with a little over eleven thousand residents, Kestra didn't expect to have fifty-some people running large trading, labor, crafting, or other professional associations, including those with ties to the upper realms. Her consideration for "large" was an organization of no less than one hundred people, and there were children in her population count. Then one of her newly won city aides pointed out that the associations covered the members within the villages tied to Sortalheim's City Stone, as well as the majority of the resident foreigners being represented by these associations, and the numbers became more reasonable. Additionally, several of the groups sent more than a single representative, one for the city and one for the dependent villages.
The room they were meeting in used to be the former lord's receiving hall, and he had taken advantage of the length of the rectangular hall to display favor by letting his cronies stand closer to the dais opposite the entry doors. The room still had a decent width, so Kestra ordered two viewing galleries set up to the left and right, with low banquet tables assembled in the center, with seating cushions.
She arranged the transmigrators in the gallery to the left of the Lord's Dais, and provided them with stacks of paper and pencils -- a close analog to the mark sticks of Moh. She had also asked that the slaves be given clothes appropriate for free people so they were no longer a breath and a hope away from naked.
Graemire decided to once more pretend to be her cloak, and his tendrils had infiltrated the fancier clothes the mansion staff had found and altered to fit her. The constant physical contact, even with vines instead of arms or hands, soothed a rawness in her soul that only seemed to grow with each day she spent dealing with all these people she didn't want to claim as her people. Her Mana Manipulation let her understand most of that comfort came from Graemire harmonizing his mana to her own, and she silently blessed him for the consideration. Better, he made sure not to distract her, the contact simply that, like a hand upon her shoulder.
The touch put her in a much happier mood, and helped her to feel connected to someone she did want to claim as her people.
Yorgin, Ralouf, and the other Divine Elementals decided that their obvious presence would be detrimental, so Graemire used the communication wires to share the proceedings as the rest of the Divines occupied themselves about Kestra's retreat realm.
As the attendees arrived, they milled about toward the back of the room, eying the changes with suspicion, and the transmigrators even more so. When the last of the invited association leaders arrived, Kestra signaled the gong boy -- a traditional trapping of official muckety-muck business -- to start things. The ringing of the gong brought all eyes to Kestra.
"Would all the invited guests who have obligations that would prevent them from taking part in the governance of Sortalheim please take a seat in the gallery?" she asked, gesturing to cushioned seats opposite the transmigrators. Seating in both galleries included shared low tables.
Eleven of the invited attendees moved, among them Manager Mardu.
When no one else moved, Kestra beamed at the remaining people. "Excellent! For those who are not bound by obligation to be observers, please take a seat at the central table. Steward, please serve the tea."
Another of the traditions of the Myriad Realms, drinking tea held the symbolic promise to refrain from violence. Many tense shoulders squared, not so much relaxed, but as if one burden of many had been lifted from them.
Kestra waited for the ceremonial first sips before speaking again. She addressed those -- mostly men -- seated at the table. "You are now Sortalheim's Low Council. You will find several scrolls at each seat. They are all identical, and contain the proposed framework for a restructuring of civic authority within Sortalheim. It gave me great joy to discover members among Sortalheim's city clerks capable of making these documents as consumables, so please take a moment to familiarize yourselves with their contents."
While the new Low Council sorted themselves, Kestra had copies of the proposed topics passed to the observers. To them, she said, "You represent organizations with an interest in Sortalheim, and with whom good relations have the potential to increase the prosperity of all involved. For this reason, I am giving you the same set of proposals that the Low Council will soon deliberate on.
"Something that may become obvious after going through these proposals is that I do not intend to be the City Lord of Sortalheim for any longer than is needful to peacefully transition control of the city to those better suited for leadership roles.
"Further, it is my understanding that Sortalheim benefits by being a vassal city of the nation of Oste. When I took control of the city, that broke the ties of vassalage. I intend to see those ties re-established, under certain constraints."
Kestra inclined her head to the gallery, then walked over to the back of the room. She opened a servant's door there and brought forward the now eldest son of the late Ramakith Ard.
The lad refused to wear "boy" clothes, or have his hair dressed in "boy's" fashions. To Kestra, clothes that showed off one's sex were an elvish custom, so she didn't care, and when the matter was brought to her attention by a harried servant an hour before, her response was, "He's a child still and this has been a trying enough change for the adults. If it makes him feel better, then so be it."
His mother was Ramakith's surviving official wife, and she trailed behind her child, her expression carefully blank and placid.
"Esteemed Observers, I formally present to you Lady Vasali Nar, regent for Lord-In-Waiting Ramakith Astril, and the young Lord-in-Waiting himself, eldest surviving son of Lord Ramakith Ard of the Oste Nation. Upon their shoulders rests the reintegration of Sortalheim with the Nation of Oste."
Lady Nar blinked, but young Astril sucked in a surprised breath, not quite as good at keeping up a poker face as his mother.
Kestra had had the first copies of her proposals presented to the pair, so they had had more of a chance to get used to the topics about to be discussed. She personally escorted them to an observer dais at the head of the deliberation table and, at Graemire's hushed prompting, served them tea from her own hand.
Most of the new Low Councilors watched the exchange with interest, only a few still looking pained and dazed as they absorbed the documents. All of the observers were serene, their cultivation high enough that the flood of information struck them more like the splash of a stream than a river. Kestra gave the councilors with lower cultivation a few more minutes before she had the gong-boy call for attention.
"Members of the Low Council, let me open these discussions with some additional points for clarity's sake.
"First: I have no intention to retain the title of Sortalheim's City Lord, nor will I remain when we are done. If you convince me before I step down that any of you can be reasonably trusted with the governance of this city and its territories, that's great and I just walk away. Fail to do that, and I will shatter the City Stone and any Village or Town Stones still subordinate to it."
Every native of Gossalt jerked in shock at the declaration. Sputtered questions and comments poured out, mostly, "Why!?" and "Barbarous!"
Kestra let the new councilors react for around a minute so they got the worst of their shock out of the way. Then she let out the weight of her levels, which silenced them.
"Yes, removing the safety of the various Stones will lead to some deaths. I doubt as many as you may expect, as by shattering those Stones, the leeching of mana and E.X.P. they take from their bound residents will also cease. Not only that, but it clears the way for a new organization to come and plant their own Stones -- organizations that will need the consent of the existing residents to tie them to these new Stones, to carry on the practice of leeching E.X.P. for safety. Residents, I remind you, who were already rebelling against the excesses of the late Lord Ramakith's Fiat Rule.
"And before anyone asks what gives me the right to do this, that would be the Rule of Fiat I claimed from the late lord's corpse. Whining about what is will not convince me of your ability to govern. Is my first point clear enough?" Kestra swept the table with a falsely cheerful smile.
No one spoke up.
She subtly relaxed. "Good. Now, fortunately for you, I know how you can convince me of your capabilities. The documents you have all just used contain the legal code templates that are part of the current City Stone interface, as overseen by the Heavens. These are templates that are intended to be amended to the unique needs of each city. More than that, you also received a report in there on the various methods for reducing the burden of mana that each Stone's residents are currently bearing in the Low Mortal Realms, and one on the additional benefits Stones of up a City level can provide.
"I'm going to moderate daily sessions where we all work out a new template of legal codes that makes the most of the benefits to the Stones at the least cost the residents. If, at the end of a month, we have something I'm willing to submit before the Heavens for consideration to add to those templates the Heavens already oversee, and we have successfully negotiated the return of Sortalheim to the nation of Oste, you will have convinced me the people of Sortalheim are safe in your care.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Oh, and do keep in mind that the legal code you propose to me, if I accept it, that will become Sortalheim's legal code, enforced by the City Stone just as surely as Ramakith Ard's Fiat Rule."
"Our first topic shall be residency classifications, including rights and responsibilities. We can stay general to start with."
----------------------------------------
By the end of the first day of wrangling, Kestra was certain she would never want to be a City Lord in truth. She had Inspri taking notes for her and keeping a rough outline of the laws from the templates that were discussed, needed to be discussed, and might potentially conflict with other discussed topics. Kestra wouldn't have kept track otherwise. She felt mentally wrung out and still had to deal with meeting the city's bureaucrats.
Passing one of the late lord's widowed slave-wives also made Kestra realize that none of the slaves brought before her for sorting had been slave wives, which made her kick herself for the oversight. Calling the chief of the city guards to explain that at least gave her a new, easy edict to send out the next morning.
Anyone who had been sold into marriage was not a slave under Oste's definitions, even if they were denied standing to set aside their marriages. Kestra rectified that by proclaiming that any marriage registered under the City Stone, regardless of how it was formed, could be legally broken by any party to the marriage. She instructed the city's magistrates to accept "I don't want to be married to my spouse" as a valid blanket reason for divorce, and set up a divorce fund for the women who had been sold into marriage so they didn't have to return to the families that had sold them off in the first place.
----------------------------------------
The second and third days of law making went more smoothly than the first, if only because they were tabling anything that looked to need more consideration for after all the easy agreements were made. The current city's bureaucracy was set as a basis for how to implement the laws. The city magistrates' jobs were expanded from mostly handling only the civil arbitrations to taking over the more petty criminal cases needed adjudicating. Kestra absolutely was not interested in doing any more of that.
Senior magistrates were tasked with codifying reasonable punishments for the crimes they would soon be sitting in judgment over, as well as standards for evidence of the crimes. These evidentiary and sentencing guides were scheduled to be reviewed by the Low Council in a week or two.
----------------------------------------
At night, Graemire introduced Kestra to two forms of paired cultivation. Paired breathing was a mnemonic means of cycling mana, or essence, between partners, and once Kestra got the hang of that, she quickly discovered that her battered meridians felt a lot better when Graemire held more of their shared essence on his inhale.
The other kind of paired cultivation involved what Graemire had not so euphemistically called "tasting the essence" of her orgasms, and was relaxing in an entirely other way.
Both types of cultivating led to Kestra sleeping -- and dreaming -- more. Her dreams brought her to her tribulation realm and the growing World Seed. She examined what she could perceive, and then flipped through the book of revelations to help her dreaming self make sense of what she had examined.
Kestra came to understand that her World Seed was somehow made to restore, or maybe enforce, a habitable order on blights. That led to an idea forming over several nights. She would need the consent of those who ran the Heavens of the Myriad Realms to enact it, though.
----------------------------------------
By the second week of deliberations, Kestra had privately met with and denied the representatives of the off-realm associations. The meeting with Manager Mardu was one of the more civil ones, but they all came for variations on the same theme of special privileges.
After the pleasantries were seen to, with Graemire deigning to let Manager Mardu know of his involvement, Manager Mardu started his pitch. "The Zonzhi Association values our allies."
Kestra jumped in at that point. "And is a quite honorable organization, by the reputation known among the Honored Divines it has been my great fortune to befriend. Let me assure you that I am denying all requests, from all sources, for privileged status during my limited tenure as Sortalheim's City Lord. It would simply be base profiteering on my part because any such agreement would need to be renegotiated with the forming Regency Council. In fact, given that the Council has argued for special non-citizen resident statuses, I'm sure those negotiations are already ongoing. Frankly, given the importance of trade to any sapient habitation, I find such official recognition to be a wise course of action."
Manager Mardu pursed his lips, then offered a probing, "Such blanket denials could make you a very unpopular person."
The Cloth Guild meeting flashed through Kestra's mind, and the very pompous, sharp faced representative that had tried to threaten to boycott Sortalheim over Kestra's refusal. It made her smile a smidge sharper than she had intended as she said, "Oh, I've received the threats from such short sighted individuals. What they overlooked is that I was brought to Sortalheim by a quest I'm certain was issued under the Blessing of Benevolence. I am not an administrator. That's why I intend to step aside once the Regency Council has finished creating the legal codes the city will operate under. I feel quite challenged on the points I am already interfering in with Sortalheim's governance, and those are only the matters I can clearly understand being tied to the reason I received that quest in the first place. It strikes me as an act of hubris against the Heavens to seek out my own profit while acting under the directions of a Beneficent quest.
"And, as I said, I won't be here. The Regency Council will be the ones to enforce any such negotiated privileges. How dishonorable would it be of me to promise things I fully intend to give up the power to deliver?"
That got her message through, and all Manager Mardu had to verify after that was, "And you are sharing your position with all the associations and guilds?"
"The representatives who are polite enough to hear me receive more of my thoughts behind my conclusions. The rude ones only hear my denial of their requests," Kestra stated.
That got a satisfied gleam to brighten the auction house manager's gaze. He began to make polite noises toward ending the meeting.
Before he left, Kestra passed along a mana-sealed letter. "This is for Master of Alchemy Sung Eliza's eyes only, under the honor of the Zonzhi Association. It pertains to a matter Manager Holla of Matala said she was interested in. Until the matters of my quest are resolved, I won't be able to meet with Master Sung again."
The flash of a golden glow was faint enough that Kestra could almost write it off as a stray sunbeam. Manager Mardu respectfully took the letter and secured it in his storage device. After that he left, satisfied with the results -- and curious, she thought, perhaps even happy.
Kestra took a moment in the privacy afterward to lean her forehead on Graemire's silent shoulder. He patted her back before resuming his charade as her vine cloak. She put on her client face and got ready for the next meeting.
----------------------------------------
Three days later, the daily legal code wrangle was interrupted by a runner. "Army approaches from the north-east, City Lord!"
That was good. Oste lay to the north-east. From the south would have been the neighboring nation, and if they had tried to poach Sortalheim, that could have led the nations into war. Kestra wasn't interested in inciting wars. She asked the Low Council to continue discussing matters and headed to the walls.
It wasn't hard for her to spot the silver and scarlet standards of the Ostian forces. She let her guard captain assemble their delegation to go out and meet their representatives.
A similarly sized group rode out from the army to meet them. Kestra could see the signs of pomposity approaching, and she was already at her limit for that. She smiled brightly, clapped her hands, and let a little of the presence of her levels leak out. "Wonderful! You're finally here!"
She waved her hand at the army. "Your entourage will need to camp outside the walls while those of you who came to help me reintegrate Sortalheim into Oste will be housed in the lord's donjon. You are welcome to bring your personal servants, but I was brought here by a quest provoked by the late lord's profligate practices of enslaving people, so it would be more politic to leave any slaves in the camp of your entourage."
"Who are you?" the fanciest man present asked.
Kestra gave him a sharp toothed grin and announced, "I am, at present, City Lord Kestra Boom-Smiter the Harmonious." Her Identify spell wasn't sufficient to get the man's name, but it was enough to see that he was level 12, and the highest leveled of those present a level 16 graybeard in militaristic armor. "You are representatives from Oste, are you not? Knowledgeable of the laws and politics of that nation?"
A slightly less fancy-pants man spluttered, "How dare you address Great Lord Dalaman so disrespectfully!"
Kestra looked to the man with an act of bemusement. "Is your Identify spell really that low? Or are you just stupid?" She turned back to the fanciest dressed fellow. "You are Lord Dalaman, I presume?"
He nodded, obviously reevaluating how to handle things.
Kestra grimaced. "I will leave you to discipline your subordinates, but please do not bring such fools into my presence again. The Blessing of Benevolence brought me to Sortalheim, but that doesn't mean I want to be stuck in this blind backwater all that long."
While Kestra gave her impression of an elven client, the splutterer opened his mouth to splutter some more outrage. Fanciest Dalaman cut him off with an imperious raised hand. Speaking with some probing hesitations, Dalaman said, "Honored Transcendental, you wish to surrender the city of Sortalheim?"
She heaved a put upon sigh. "I wish things could be so easily resolved, but the Heavens issued a quest against Ramakith Ard for his practices of unjust enslavement. Now that I've taken the city, allowing it to be governed under the same Fiat Rule is just contrary to the very spirit of the quest that brought me here, and there are enough Divines still running around down in the Mortal Realms, lured her by the notice of the Divine Seed, that it would be foolish to court the Blessing of Benevolence prompting a quest against me!
"I've instituted a Low Council and they're selecting a Regency Council for the oldest surviving Ramakith boy. He's sitting in on their deliberations for a new legal code. I've challenged them to incorporate as many ways to offset the experience burdens of the City, Town, and Village Stones as possible." She paused as if just thinking of it. "You do have the authority to negotiate on Oste's behalf, don't you?"
"I do, Honored Transcendental," Lord Dalaman said. The spluttering flunky had paled now that he began to understand the difference in levels involved.
Kestra called up copies of the scrolls she had provided to the councilors from her storage and passed them to Lord Dalaman while Inspri put the finishing touches on the notes of the meetings so far. "These are consumables covering the templated information from the City Stone interfaces that have been provided to the Low Council. In a moment, I'll pass along the notes to date. As Oste's representative, you will, of course, be joining the deliberations for the new legal code."
She kept up her elven client impression as she bamboozled the Ostian representatives all the way into legitimizing her Council with their participation.