DIPLOMATIC EFFECTS / CH. 28:RELATIONSHIPS
IMPERIAL PALACE, ST PETERSBURG, 9.30PM, MONDAY 24TH MARCH 2279
“Well, your Imperial Majesty, you have won your point, it seems. I'm not going to break off my relationship with my daughter, just because you've dragged her into the nobility,” Pyotr said.
“Ha! I'm glad you remember that one. You're not quite as radical as you used to be, are you?”
“I've grown up a bit you mean? Yes, its true. Though if you think you're being kind to my daughter...”
“You heard me apologise, didn't you? I've become a firm believer that experimental policy making gets results: those of almost unmitigated disaster. So it has been my policy over the past decade or so to only give noble titles to people who don't think they should be the person getting the title. Thus they go in knowing it's a tough job, and work at it. My son thought he deserved my throne and look where that got us. I should have acted sooner, but Svetlana needed to prove herself.”
“Why? Why did you decide she had to jump through some hoops?”
“Pyotr, I said Svetlana needed to, not that I wanted her to.”
“Ah. The need for a rite of passage.”
“Watch out for my daughter, Pyotr. She's an excellent actress, known to fool even thought-hearers. But until she went out in the world and started making waves she wasn't sure she was anything but someone playing a role.”
“When you say watch out for her,” Pyotr asked “Do you mean beware of her, or beware for her?”
“Yes. I mean she will give the appearance of listening to what you say most carefully Pyotr. And she might be following your every nuance or her thoughts might might be miles away, or listening to an entirely different conversation.”
“I don't know I need to be dissected quite so publicly, Imperial Father,” Svetlana interjected from the middle of her conversation with Alexandra. “What we're rather surprised about over here is either an ambiguous phrase not being used in its legal sense when writing laws or a shocking change from the expected pattern of Tsarist rule.”
“So, which is it, heir to the throne of this empire? And what do you see?”
“I see stability and peace, father. I see restrictions on the power of nobles, which everyone takes to mean nobles but not royalty, but is not the Tsar the greatest of all nobles? And I see I spoke deeper truth than I knew at the court-martial this afternoon, about not being able to give them orders.”
“Well done for sowing that seed. But... since you raise the point, you said you'd persuaded them to find him not guilty, but you'd say more later. What were you hiding?”
“Hiding? I was concentrating on flying in traffic, father. That takes more concentration than just pointing the ship at Mars, you know? I discovered something I hope our enemies don't know, father: there are less than half the controllers there should be.”
“Half?”
“Less. According to peace-time regulations, there should be two fully qualified people on duty at all times, and each controller should be taking quarter of an hour breaks every two hours. There was one, there is only ever one, and he was taking a ten minute break getting his brain thinking in straight lines again by talking to his girlfriend, after being on duty three hours. I asked if someone had declared war without telling me, and thus set in motion either the eventual off-peak closure of imperial airspace or a major improvement in air safety. The court-martial found the chain of command and recruitment guilty of dereliction of duty for letting things get that bad.”
“The entire chain of command?”
“Sorry, father. Not my idea.”
“I'd better write myself a stern reprimand, hadn't I?” the Tsar said, “Really, less than half the numbers?”
“Apparently. The commander was saying he had warned the controller a few times and knew it wasn't good for discipline to not punish him, but he didn't want to have to close the airspace. The watch officer's response to the warnings was to reply that without those breaks there'd be an accident. Someone else there told me that the stress of working to war-time regulations had made it really hard to keep people, so it had become a vicious circle. There's no slack father. Not just there, the whole system. Training people takes three years and retention is terrible; either people voluntarily seeking reassignment or get disciplined for taking unauthorised breaks they ought to be required to take under the peacetime regs they ought to be working under.
"I suggested they might want to set up a case-review panel to try to work out who to re-recruit after they'd been disciplined out of the service.”
“Good idea. Glad you instigated that trial?”
“Yes, as long as the need for change doesn't get lost in paperwork.”
“Wait a few days, ask questions, let them know you're not going to lose interest. Alexandra, that's called soft power. Taking an interest and letting people know you're going to be following up on them. It's far more effective than you might expect. I expect there were other reasons that nothing happened regarding the steel mill: try to find out what they were. But your more urgent issue is what to do with the domestic staff you've inherited.”
“Domestic staff?” Alexandra was taken aback.
“In your manor house.”
“My manor house?”
“It comes with the job, baroness. Since you didn't run away screaming when I said you'd sworn a oath of nobility and instead let me get to naming you baroness, you are a noble, and a noble needs somewhere to hold meetings, both formal and informal, and so on. Given the circumstances, the police will be crawling all over it for a month or so, but you'll need to visit sometime to decide what of the decorations stay and go, that sort of thing.”
“Could I have refused, your majesty?”
“If you'd really run away screaming, I probably wouldn't have insisted, no.”
“But baronial duties are a full time job?”
“It depends on so many factors. You're new to it, so you've got a lot to learn. You have the authority to delegate, and employ staff, as well. If you do, make sure you not only trust the person you delegate to, but that you make it clear what the time period is and what you'd expect them to bring to you or not. No one should expect you to work in the same way as the old baroness, and you are still a student, so no one ought to be expecting you to be dropping everything to answer their questions immediately, or without consulting.”
“But some will anyway?” she asked.
“Yes. And you have the authority to tell them to wait. You have, in fact, the authority to tell me to wait.”
“Really?”
“'No high noble can demand a noble under them to take unreasonable steps to provide an answer to a question,'” the Tsar quoted the law. Seeing her puzzled look, he added “In your case, since you are learning your role and a full time student, you are reasonably expected to submit your tax and expenses paperwork on time, you're expected to submit your university essays on time, and attend lectures, seminars, and so on. Anything that interferes with those things is unreasonable. It is reasonable to expect you to change some social plans once in a while, or to expect you to be at work in your barony during university vacation times, rather than taking a world tour.”
“Thank you for the explanation, imperial majesty. Not that I've got the resources to take a world tour.”
“I hereby present you with last year's accounts of the barony of Kursk.” He handed her a data-crystal. “Necessary modifications to the manor house to fit it to your needs are chargeable to the barony, as is a certain level of basic staffing, travel on official business — such as getting you to Kursk and back for any meeting during term time, visits to the palace, or to your duchess.”
He indicated Svetlana.
“And the domestic staff mentioned earlier count as barony employees?”
“Sorry, no one would be able to tell you for sure without reading and understanding the detail of accounts and contracts,” the Tsar said, “There is a chance that they are barony employees whose services were paid for by the late baroness, which would mean that their severance pay would have to be charged to the late baroness' estate. Or they might have been direct employees of the baroness, in which case they're automatically out of a job with her death, even if she claimed for the costs of employing them from by the barony. Or it might be more simple. But knowing the late baroness... expect something complicated.”
“Yuck. Good job I've got a wanna-be boyfriend who's studying accountancy.”
“Don't go that way, Alexandra,” her mother said. “OK for occasional advice, but for an on-going role, you don't want to give him the job just because you know him. Let alone because he has romantic feelings for you.”
“Urm yeah, it might get messy, mightn't it? But should I presume the current staff are there because they're good, or because of some tie to the baroness?” Alexandra asked.
“The late baroness, Baroness Kursk,” Svetlana chided gently. “I'd assume they got there because of some tie and stayed because they didn't upset her late ladyship. Would you agree father?”
“No. She was an absolute terror: I'd assume they only stayed because of some really strong tie, one way or another, that either meant she couldn't scream abuse at them or they couldn't leave when she did.”
“In which case... what do I do about the current staff?” Alexandra asked.
“You should probably call on your duchess for assistance,” Pyotr said, “based on what I've just been reading.”
“That sounds reasonable, yes,” Svetlana agreed.
“And also based on what I've been reading... you've done it, haven't you?” he accused the Tsar, “you've really done it! You wrap it up in camouflage about abuses of power by barons, but you've actually limited your power.”
“I have stated on a number of occasions that I'm very much in favour of due process. One end of due process is that a law is written and stands until it is properly revised, is it not?”
“Absolutely,” Pyotr replied, grinning.
“What are you grinning about, husband?” Alexandra's mother asked.
“We do not quite live in an absolute monarchy any more, dear. This document quietly grants us common people a whole slew of rights that large parts of the world say we don't have.”
“Things are not always the way they seem,” the Tsar agreed. “I retain the right to define laws, of course.”
“But this law states that to be a law, then a law must be written. You've given up the right to make up laws on the spot!”
“Did I really? How shocking!” The Tsar grinned at his old friend, “That law was passed three years ago. I can't have slipped that past the myriad of political commentators, let alone my own daughter, surely?”
“Father, you are a sneaky man, and I love and respect you very much. But I do need to sneak Alexandra away for a bit, to talk about devolved powers, how she can contact me, and such like.”
“Of course, daughter.”
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NEWS REPORT, KURSK DAILY, TUESDAY 25TH MARCH 2279
Baroness is dead, long live the baroness
Official press release from her grace the Duchess of Moscow:
After a rule of one decade before the death of her husband and almost three decades alone, her ladyship the baroness of Kursk suffered a total heart failure yesterday. In line with her often expressed desire, and the situation in which it occurred, no attempt at resuscitation was made.
Her death occurred on hearing from the Tsar himself certain well-founded allegations against her; and her son, who was also present, admitted that he had perverted the course of justice — a capital crime which also requires the bulldozing of his primary home. The site, once suitably landscaped, will become a public space for the enjoyment of the people of Kursk. The late baroness's son, previously known as Wilhelm of Kursk, also stated to his Imperial Majesty that he'd been an accomplice after the fact in his father's murder, and that in the circumstances he felt it best to declare the barony vacant. He has since been declared legally dead.
There will be no period of official mourning for him or his mother, nor will there be a public funeral service. Once costs and reparations are duly paid, any remaining monies, possessions, shares, titles and land are forfeit to the duchee. Any person or organisation with documentary proof of outstanding debts against the late baroness and her son are requested to make these known to the duchee's administration office in Moscow. In line with common practice, such debts will be declared null and void unless registered within one calendar year.
On happier news, last night, in front of a grand lecture at the Imperial University of St Petersburg, his Imperial Majesty the Tsar stunned a student reporter and dedicated opponent of corruption, raising her to the nobility, and granting her the recently vacated title of Baroness of Kursk.
Baroness Alexandra grew up in Kursk without the benefit of powerful connections or wealthy parents and yet won a number of prizes for her creative problem solving skills. His Imperial Majesty and I are both convinced that the new Baroness will be true to her oath and oppose all forms of corrupt activity in every level of society, both in her domain and the wider empire. I commend her to your prayers, and assure the good people of Kursk that she shall have my every support as she learns the complex task his Imperial Majesty has laid upon her.
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KURSK, THURSDAY, 27TH MARCH 2279, 7PM.
The late baroness of Kursk had frequently and openly stated that she preferred so-called political parties to be arranged within 'natural groupings in the business community', that is to say, as extensions of unions or even just registering the union as a political party. 'That way', she'd say, 'I know what biases people are coming with.' Effectively she'd turned politics into a system of guilds. Normally, the different parties never met except across negotiating tables, in fact, a local law had been made some decades earlier prohibiting the parties from meeting en-mass. Alexandra had repealed that law as soon as she learned of it, and instead called for a meeting.
“I call this assembly to order!” boomed the head of the steel workers party.
“And who put you in charge?” asked the head of the union of independent retailers and local delivery agents, “I call for the election of a chairman for this meeting. Voting rights based on number of party members, of course.”
“Rubbish!” declared the representative of the guild of entrepreneurs, “the net contribution to the economy is a much more appropriate measure.”
Practically everyone else booed him.
“Her ladyship called us together to draw up a list of pressing concerns,” the head of the teacher's union said calmly. “Let's not forget our assignment.”
“Oh let's not forget our assignment'” mimicked the retailer's leader in a cruel tone. “We're not in class any more, teacher! We need to organise ourselves first. Otherwise there's no way that we can speak with one voice, and present our case for radical change of the status quo!”
“I see you're still a bully, Nikolai Nikolaievich, how sad.” the teacher's representative said, unflapped by the mockery. “I see I shouldn't have urged extreme lenience when you were almost expelled. So, other than you being in possession of a high school diploma you didn't merit, and therefore in a position you shouldn't have, what precisely is wrong with the status quo?”
The head of the lawyer's association stood and said “Her ladyship has discussed with me a future role for meetings of this assembly. She will inevitably consider our behaviour today as she further considers that possibility. I also declare to you that for the next year or so her ladyship intends to consider all voices here to speak with equal authority. I propose, therefore that we have some kind of rotating chair, or draw names from a hat.”
“Come on, out with it, what's this oh so exciting future role?”
“I do not have authorisation to disclose that information,” the lawyer said.
“I do,” an elderly lady said. “But only when we reach an appropriate point in our discussions.”
Her presence hadn't been noticed before and there were not just a few people wondering which portion of the city's workforce she represented.
The steel worker's representative, never one to beat about the bush, decided he wanted to know; “what workforce to you represent, maam?”
“Ha! Typical! Isn't it obvious young man? I'm party representative for the librarians, grandparents, and volunteer workers party. And if it ever does come down to a vote based on how many party members we've got, then you'd better be respectful, that's all I'll say. And while I'm on my feet, you almost certainly have no idea about the status quo, young Nikolaievich, all you really know is the status quo ante: the way things were before. We have a new baroness, and in case the very fact of this meeting isn't enough, let me spell it out for you: things are not the same. Old favours, grudges, bargains or arrangements are either buried with the late baroness, being reassessed or (in some cases) in the hands of the duchess of Moscow and the Secret Service's anti-corruption division. Now stop bickering like school children and let's get down to work!”
“Why was the barony vacant?” someone asked, “What happened to the heir? Did the Tsar execute them both?”
“I don't know where these rumours come from,” the lawyer said, “The papers were entirely accurate: the late baroness collapsed while the Tsar was confronting her about severe irregularities in a certain case her son had tried and some other serious accusations. Apparently her heart stopped. The son then admitted perverting the course of justice under pressure from his mother, and a whole book of other cases of corrupt practice. So far, no one has been executed, and since the old baroness died before being found guilty of anything the manor-house will not be bulldozed. Returning to the subject of this meeting, I suggest our esteemed leader of the teacher's union as chairperson.”
“Why him?” demanded the head of the steel-workers.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Because I note he has the well proven ability cope with a class of bickering school-children we've just been compared to, and also I'm pretty sure our new baroness will want an account of this meeting; from what I've seen so far, I don't want to be the person to have to do that.”
There was some laughter at that double response, and the motion was carried. Then they got down to trying to identify the problems of the city, and the serious bickering began.
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PHONE CONVERSATION, 10.30PM, 27TH MARCH, 2279.
“Thank you for your speedy report,” Alexandra said to the assembly's chair, “I must say I'm quite pleased with the overall result for this first meeting, even though I deplore the unpleasantness you spoke of.”
“And what was mentioned, your ladyship? That the assembly might come to have a formal role in your administration; is that really your intention?” He hadn't wanted to sound incredulous, but he realised that he did after it had come out.
Alexandra chose her words carefully. “I don't know exactly what was said, and think that perhaps intention is too strong a term in any case. But I will certainly be considering the details of your report and recommendations most seriously over the next few weeks. Please do thank the assembly members. As to the future... I wholeheartedly approve of your suggestion that the assembly reconvene in two weeks, and I can indeed imagine this way of working becoming more formalised, since as a student it is hard for me to be physically present in Kursk for much of the year. I am also assured by her grace, the duchess of Moscow — and the Tsar himself, actually — that I have the authority to delegate matters to any individual or committee as I see fit. So, I know of no legal impediment to prevent me from having a committee or assembly representing the needs and concerns of the people to me and even drafting by-laws, it's just a case of working out if that's the right way to go, or if something less formal will be more efficient. If one were formed, I would, of course, take a very dim view of anyone attempting to use their membership of such a committee for personal gain. And legally speaking of course, as I now have a direct link to the Tsar, and as I envisage being in contact with all assembly members, it's not just me who'll be taking a dim view of such stupidity. Perhaps you should warn the members how suicidal trying to use that contact would be.”
The chairman gulped audibly, “thank you for the warning, your ladyship.”
“And thank you for encouraging me to apply here despite my father's politics, doctor. I know you did it without any expectation of reward, and I do not know I can give any reward, I'll have to ask her grace. But nevertheless, know that you have my deepest thanks.”
“Your ladyship... thank you, but I'm not entirely sure I know who you are, or were.” He thought he'd recognised her voice, but it couldn't be the girl he thought it sounded like.
“Before his Imperial Majesty changed my name, doctor, I was known as Alexandra Yurovna, after my grandfather.”
“His Imperial Majesty raised the daughter of Pyotr Yureivich to the nobility?”
“Yes, doctor. And what's more, dad is still talking to me.”
“I wonder what the prison guards think of your elevation.”
“Oh no, doctor, it was father's case that led to the Tsar investigating the baroness. If you hear of anyone else imprisoned in the way father was, please do let me know. Her highness the Tsarevna was shocked to think there were any political prisoners in our empire. His Imperial Majesty was not shocked, but he was upset that laws repealed in his father's time were still being used to put people under house arrest.”
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR, KURSK DAILY, FRIDAY 28TH MARCH 2279
Dear Editor,
please do make your readers aware the visit of his Imperial Majesty the Tsar to Kursk on Monday was a direct result and immediate consequence of his becoming aware that the late baroness of Kursk had abused her authority and influence, and thus imprisoned the political philosopher Pyotr Yureivich without due process or fair trial. Moreover, I ask that they be made aware that addressing a registered intellectual debate on any subject has not been an offence for more than thirty years, nor has failing to report a spouse for 'deviant thought' (the charge under which his wife was placed under house arrest). These offences were removed from the statute books long before the coronation of his Imperial Majesty our present Tsar.
Sadly, the late baroness felt that she knew better than the Tsar to whom she had given her oath. His Imperial Majesty asks me to reassure the good people of Kursk that a review of all cases tried by the legally dead son of the late baroness is underway. However, we are aware that a serial abuser of power such as the late baroness is unlikely to have had only a single corrupt judge ignoring the rule of law.
I therefore ask anyone who has reasonable cause to believe that a friend or relative is in prison due to an abuse of power or wrongful conviction to come forward with whatever details of the case they know (I have no objection to receiving duplicated information from several sources).
This is an information gathering exercise, aimed at triggering an independent review. Responses may be by post, anonymous note or in person at the baronial mansion tomorrow, Saturday. Please do not engage a lawyer, it'd be a complete waste of time and money; I do not have legal training, so all I can do is pass on details of potentially unsafe convictions and demand that someone with sufficient legal knowledge review the cases.
What I do have is a strong desire that others do not suffer the same fear and isolation I have experienced of having a father in prison for speaking his sincerely held beliefs in what was a totally legal debate.
His Imperial Majesty knows of no political prisoners in his empire. The law does not allow, of course, for unconstrained speech that brings revolution and chaos; the Tsar is no fool. But nor does it ban a philosopher or politician from speaking of ideals in an environment where people expect to hear strange and impractical ideas, or where wild theories can be turned into workable policy. There are, of course, people in jail for destructive words or actions, but membership of a registered political party or speaking at a registered debate against one form of government or in favour of another is not a crime. Corruption should have no place in this empire, but there should be no one with a choice between eternal silence and a prison cell. So if you know of a political prisoner, I hope to hear from you. Of course, I hope I will not hear from anyone, and that my father was a one-off. The oath of nobility lays upon me a duty to rectify injustice, but if good people hide the evil of others, then they bind my hands and those of his Imperial Majesty. Please make injustice known, so that it can be rectified.
Alexandra Petrovna, Baroness of Kursk by the will of his Imperial Majesty.
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EDITORIAL PIECE, KURSK DAILY
A cynical observer might claim that the adage of not speaking ill of the dead is not being applied to the late baroness. Well, we could not speak ill of her while she was living, could we? Or rather, we did not dare. The late baroness ruled with a rod of iron, and we are learning that she often went beyond her authority and gave no attention to the Tsar's laws. We sometimes assume that the Tsar knows all our problems, that the secret service is aware of every secret conversation. But we also all pray that is not so, and it seems the late baroness did too. To whom, I wonder?
There has been a lot of speculation over which student it was that had been raised from among us and put over us, all of it, it turns out, entirely incorrect. Our uncertainty has been put to rest: our new Baroness has revealed to us her lineage. Every one of us who has heard her father's philosophical arguments was shocked to learn this truth, I am sure. Is the Tsar impressed by those who speak against Tsarist rule? The answer is clearly 'no' if you mean in a way that leads back to the age of chaos, but if you refer to those who speak from a philosophical point of view, then... it seems that there is far more tolerance than we'd thought. His Imperial Majesty did, after all, graduate in philosophy. So, the words expressed by visitors to our city, that it seemed we were living in a time-warp, are brought home to us. Our new baroness is bringing us into the present, let us honour her for that.
In her first days of office, our baroness has repealed a law that described discussions between political parties as a criminal waste of time, and instead requested they meet. She has given a simple reason for this: she is well aware of the adage that nobles make laws to solve the problems they imagine their people have, and she'd much rather concentrate on real problems than waste her time on imaginary ones.
She has also raised the possibility that she could delegate some authority to the assembly of political parties. From her ladyship's comments about her predecessor, it should be clear that our new baroness is not planning on continuing old policies. She has given the people of Kursk an invitation to talk to her about injustice, she has also given us the opportunity to raise problems through the parties that exist now. Furthermore, she has also stated she no objections to the forming of other parties, if you find you are not represented by any of the presently existing ones. Our baroness is a busy young lady, but she wants to hear our voice.
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KURSK MANOR, SATURDAY 29TH MARCH, 2PM.
“I'd like to register an injustice,” the young man said, removing his hood.
“Ivan? “, Alexandra exclaimed.
“What do I have to do to get an answer from you, Alexandra? I know you're even more busy than normal, but I first asked you out almost a year ago now. Every time you've said, 'I'm too busy to think this week. Not a no, but let me think about it,' or something like that. Are you really saying yes but not yet, or are you waiting to see if someone else is going to ask, or are you just trying to say no?”
“You came all this way to ask me that?” Alexandra asked, shocked.
“Well, my grandparents live here, I'm often here in the summer, it's gran's birthday tomorrow...”
“So you'd have been here anyway,” she said, relieved.
“No, probably not. So I've had to do some explaining and now grandad has started telling me how wrong it is to go asking a non-Christian out. But I still want to know, OK? I need to know. Please?”
“Dinner at the palace was delicious, and the Tsarina was very convincing,”
Alexandra said. “She also told me how hard it is being married to a non-Christian, but I grew up going to church camps and things, so I'd heard that before. If you're a Christian, then don't start dating a non-Christian, Ivan; it'd be proclaiming to the world that God comes second or lower in your life. And if you say that you don't mind doing that, then my answer is going to turn into a firm no.”
“You've become a Christian?” he asked, full of hope.
“No, not yet. But I expect I will. You are one?”
“Yes. I backslide quite regularly, but I am.”
“So. We both know it would be wrong for us to start going out before I've come to faith, don't we?”
“Yes,” he said glumly.
“Does that answer your question, Ivan?”
“There's no one else?”
She sighed, “there was someone else who I think was showing an interest. But I'm pretty sure he's not a Christian. I thought you were, which really didn't help the case for God.”
“Me asking you out made you doubt God?”
“I was doubting before, especially when dad got imprisoned. You asking made me pretty certain that a relationship with God wasn't everything it's hyped up to be,”
“Oh dear God!” it was not blasphemy, it was prayer from his heart, “What have I done? I'm sorry, Father, I'm sorry, Alexandra. Please don't judge God by me, I'm a stupid sinner.”
She could see the tears in his eyes. The body-guard outside, knocked politely; another person had come to make a report.
“Ivan, I have said the Tsarina was convincing,” she said gently. “But someone else is waiting. I must listen to them now.”
“You must, I'm sorry for taking too much of your time, Baroness.”
“You may have more of my time, Ivan. Just not now. Are you free at six? To discuss faith, with some others.”
“Six tonight?” he asked, in surprise.
“Yes. A meal, and then a Bible study.”
“Here?”
“Not this office, but yes,” she thought a bit, “bring your grandparents, too, if they can come.”
“Who else will be there?”
“My brother, and a few of his friends from the university Christian Union. I guess you know them too.”
“I'm not that regular at C.U., so maybe not. But my grandparents might feel a bit out of place if it's all students.”
“Sorry, I thought you meant who else our age. My parents and grandparents will be there too; feeling out of place.”
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KURSK MANOR, 5.30.PM
“The barony has no staff at all?” Nadiya, Grand Duchess of Kaliningrad and Smolensk asked.
“Everyone was directly employed by my predecessor, and it seems was either implicated in her illegalities, is upset about the way her reputation is being destroyed, or was doing menial work to pay off some debt or favour, and is very greatful not to have her dire threats hanging over their heads. I have a secretary and a couple of body-guards all on loan from the Duchess of Moscow, and the rest of the manor house is still being treated as a crime scene by police from Moscow. And the kitchen staff are on loan from the army barracks.”
“But you're not going to be here much, so no staff is good, isn't it?” Alexandra's mother asked.
“I think I need someone who'd be able to live on-site, to act as body-guard when I'm here and security guard when I'm not, unless that's two separate jobs. I'm told I need a secretary, and there's no way I'll be able to keep this place clean. And by the time the police and secret police are moved out, I'll need someone to redecorate. Oh, and the flat for the guard has been unused for about a decade, so that needs redecorating before the guard moves in.”
“What did the past baroness do for guards, then?” Nadiya asked.
“A private security firm.” Pyotr said.
“Rumour says the police rounded up the whole lot when they heard that the manor house was being treated as a crime scene,” added his wife. “Whether that's just to show themselves in a better light or because they genuinely couldn't arrest them while the baroness was in power, I don't know.”
Nadiya shook her head, “and nobody dared to speak up?”
“With the Duchy being run by the Tsar until the duchess came of age,” Pyotr said, “people were probably afraid of going that high. I'd have dared, but I was pretty sure all my correspondence was being intercepted.”
“Nadiya, could the baroness do that?”
“Not legally. but....” she looked at Sebastian.
“Secret Services can easily get something installed on your wrist unit which makes it trivial,” he said, “I expect the baroness had the right underworld contacts so she could get it done without all the boring paperwork.”
“You really believe it likely she was that involved in outright illegality?” Pyotr asked, surprised.
Sebastian looked at Nadiya, who turned to Alexandra. “Baroness, have you told your father the charges against your predecessor?”
“Didn't you, Adam?” she asked.
“I thought the Tsar had.”
“His imperial majesty would have left it to you Alexandra. It's one of your prerogatives to decide how much to tell people about such matters.”
“Ah. Oops. Dad, the thing which made her collapse was being told the Tsar had witnesses to her being grudgingly persuaded to have you arrested rather than assassinated.”
“It might have just been in jest, surely?”
“When negotiating with an arms-dealer?” Sebastian asked. “That's not a good time to joke.”
“I don't doubt you, Sebastian, but...” Pyotr left his sentence hanging.
“How do I know more details about your arrest than you do?” Sebastian asked. “Because I had quite a mis-spent youth, and your name is very well respected in the circles I was spending my time in. The arms-dealer in question asked me for advice. Between us we decided that if she refused to lift a finger against you the old woman would find someone else to put her in contact with an assassin, or slip you some poison herself, failing that; but if you were safely behind bars you'd be pretty safe from her goons and there was always the hope that you'd get let out. And then I helped make sure that it was our guys who took you to the court and not the old woman's goons who she'd sent with a view to breaking a few of your ribs, or maybe your back, as you 'violently resisted arrest'.”
“Me? Violently resist arrest?” Pyotr said, totally confused.
“It doesn't need to be true to be accepted by a corrupt court, reverend academician. It never occurred to us you might have friends in high places as well as low places, and we thought that jail was safer than being target practice for sniper rifles. Sorry for what you all went through, it was the best we could come up with at the time.”
While Pyotr was digesting that, Nadiya changed tracks. “I'm curious about something you just said. Did the previous baroness say that the Duchee was being run by the Tsar himself? Because I assure you it wasn't true. She might not have been fully involved while at school, but Duchess Svetlana's been taking key decisions since she inherited the title. She told me she was shocked and deeply embarrassed that she had no idea what was going on here.”
“What was going on here... it only really started getting bad about three years ago,” Alexandra's mother said. “The son became a judge, the baroness employed the private security firm, and, with hindsight, that was when things started going wrong. But yes, for years the baroness has been saying things like 'I'd have raised this problem with the old duchess, but of course the new duchess isn't of age yet, and the Tsar is such a busy man'.”
“And no one thought to challenge her, or at least, no one succeeded,” Pyotr said, “and she became the very thing I've spent my life warning about: unaccountable authoritarian rule by whim. But Sebastian, are you saying you were actually a leader in a band of arms smugglers?”
“No. Urm...”
Nadiya jumped in to help “Sebastian ran away from home and got befriended by some principled members of an extreme social experiment, Pyotr. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets registered as a debating house, if it hasn't been yet.
It's a very eclectic gathering of individuals. Some only agree to a few basic principles, most are trying to do the right thing as they see it, a few are trying to do what's right in the eyes of God, too. I think they'd laugh at you if asked if Sebastian was a leader, but they do tend to talk things through.”
“And as a grand-duchess of the empire, you know about his history, his old contacts, and yet are not at all afraid of what the Tsar say when he finds out who you've named as your boyfriend?” Adam asked, unable to restrain himself.
“I was afraid of that,” Sebastian admitted. “Then I got collared by the Tsarevna and told in no uncertain terms that she knew all about it and to make sure Nadiya didn't over-work herself.”
“So the Secret Service have a spy in the group?” Pyotr asked.
“Yes,” Sebastian said, “Unfortunately he wasn't around when we were discussing how respond to the request to assassinate a hero, or I'm quite sure the Tsar would have heard about your imprisonment much earlier.”
“It sounds like you know who the spy is.” Adam said.
“The real world is far more complicated than fiction, Adam.” Nadiya said, “which is why I'm going to make the outrageous suggestion that your sister might want to consider employing the star witnesses in the case against her predecessor. They've been living a hunter-gatherer existence in Kamchatka for a year and a half, thanks to Mer justice. They've now put their faith in Christ, have an imperial pardon, and apparently are interested in some sort of steady, legal job where they can settle down, raise their unborn child and use some of their skills: which include weapons-expert, Siberian survival, handyman, and negotiator.”
Alexandra looked at her in amazement. “You think I should offer a job to the people who put my father in jail?”
“The woman who convinced your predecessor not to have him murdered, and the man who was her body-guard, yes.”
“And this doesn't count as them using their connections?” Alexandra asked.
“No, it counts as me, knowing a bit about the case, making a suggestion that other than someone ex-military who owes you a favour, you'll be hard-pressed to find a handy-man who's not going to run from danger, doesn't have a problem applying force when necessary and you can trust. There are plenty of people who are good bodyguards, but most of them would really be insulted if you asked them to guard an empty building, and act as painter and decorator too.”
“Why don't you employ them, then?” Adam asked.
“I don't have the vacancies. Or the same problem of an baronial mansion sitting unoccupied large chunks of the year,” Nadiya said, adding “There hasn't been a ducal palace of Kaliningrad and Smolensk for a long long time.”
“Why not?”
“It got bulldozed, about a hundred years ago.”
“A ducal palace?” Alexandra asked, in surprise.
“Yes, with the duke inside. There's a lovely public park where it used to be. And then then his successor lived to a ripe old age but spent all his efforts on trying to prove his father was innocent and never married. The barons got on with their jobs and no one felt the lack when he died. With no palace, no one was pressing to be granted the position and it remained vacant for a long time.” Seeing their confused looks she added, “a baron or baroness is more important a job, really. My job is much more watching over the barons to make sure that things are going well, and being accessible for their subjects. Where the barons are doing a good job, there's not much for me to do. If there's barony in my duchee that's unfilled, I'd have to step into that role, until I find a replacement, but if there's no duke or duchess, it's not normally a problem. Except if the baron or baroness manages to convince people that living in fear is perfectly normal.”
There was a knock at the door, and the secretary on loan from Moscow said, “there's a young man outside who said you invited him and his grandparents to dinner, your ladyship.”
“I'm sorry, yes. I told the guards and the kitchen, but forgot to tell you, didn't I? Please, do let them in.”
When they'd entered, Alexandra asked,
“Ivan, do you know Nadiya and Sebastian from the University Christian Union?”
“I'm not there very often."
“Oh well, let me introduce everyone properly then. Her grace, Grand-Duchess Nadiya of Kaliningrad and Smolensk, Sebastian heir to the barony of Smolensk, my parents, and my brother Adam. Mum, Dad, this is Ivan, and his grandparents. Just so we all know where things stand, as I understand it, Ivan's grandparents aren't impressed that he's been trying to persuade a non-Christian, i.e. me, to go out with him for the past year. Just after lunch he claimed I was doing him an injustice by keeping him hanging on and not saying yes or no, and then I just about reduced him to tears by saying his asking me out had done quite a lot toward convincing me that a relationship with God wasn't all it was cracked up to be if he was so eager to put going out with me first. So, I'm now ninety nine percent convinced about God, but I would really like to talk about what was going on there.”
“It's called backsliding, or wandering away from the truth, or falling into sin, Alexandra.” Sebastian said.
“And I'm right glad it struck so hard at his conscience, your ladyship,” his grandfather said, “because that shows he's still got one.”
“Bible study on the parable of the sower, perhaps?” Adam suggested.
“I think we can have a look at that, but then let's go on to some other passages,” Pyotr said.
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IVAN'S GRANDPARENTS' HOME, 9PM
“Well, Ivan,” his grandfather said, “You have a choice to make.”
“What's that, grandfather?”
“Are you going to listen to your grandfather's advice, or not?”
“I don't know what it is, grandad.”
“Get right with God. You've heard what being half-hearted towards God can do to people, and you've seen what God thinks about it. I can see why you think she's right for you, she's a pretty girl with her head screwed on right. I'm not convinced you're the right person for her, though. So get right with God, trust, obey, and don't just think of yourself. Work out if you're willing to be the sort of man she needs.”
“And stop trying to impress people,” his grandmother said. “If it fools her, it doesn't fool me, and I'm not going to sit by and let her get duped.”
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HYPERSONIC TRANSPORT TO NADIYA'S HOME
“What do you think?” Nadiya asked.
“She likes him far more than she's saying,” Sebastian said, “but she doesn't trust him. I think that's why she's not said yes before now. I saw a lot of suspicion whenever he was talking about how he's going to turn over a new leaf, and disappointment when he was just saying what he thought people wanted to hear.”
“And him?”
“I'd say the baroness knows him pretty well. He was trying to say things to please, like I said.”
“I got that too.” Nadiya agreed.
“He was feeling a lot of guilt about how he'd hurt her faith though. And he's not got anyone else but her on his radar. Maybe those two will act as something to help him sort his relationship with God out.”
“Maybe.”
“But on the positive side, you were spot on with the recommendation of Tibor and Spike, sorry, Freya. I'm pretty sure that's not just my opinion.”
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ALEXANDRA'S HOME, 9.30PM
“He can be so genuine sometimes, Mum. I wish he hadn't been trying to impress everyone. It was so hollow.”
“I'm very glad you noticed that, dear.”
“Partly it's a growing up thing, Alexandra,” her father said, “learning that trying to impress doesn't.”
“I hope he does grow up. But tonight has helped me decide something.”
“Yes?”
“If he asks me out again, I'm going to say no, not until he grows up.”
“Not just a straight no?”
“I've seen glimpses of him being different, Mum. Serious, clever, caring. I like that bit of him too much to say no. Not until I know that's not who he's going to grow into being.”