It was moments before there were documents strewn across the table, Blas seated on one side and the guard captain on the other. Alister and Harriet were off to the side sitting with a side table between them. They had been given a couple of documents to look at too, which Alister imagined was just to placate and distract them. Harriet was twirling a finger in her purple hair, staring at the lightly stained invoices. Alister kept glancing between the document in his hands and his father. What he had to look at was nothing of substance, a trade writ talking about the amount of woolen trade goods one was allowed to bring into the country.
Alister gave a thin lipped sigh of mild annoyance. The captain had just looked at them and given them whatever looked small and unimportant. As expected for children. It was… unfortunate.
Blas hemmed and hawed over the pile he had, flicking through them rapidly to spot anything of interest, “Increase in outgoing grain, protective charms, and textiles. Increase in immigration and a slight increase to incoming ore. Poor things, it’s clear how much they’re struggling even just from these documents. How much the civilians in particular are struggling. None of these are state or kingdom purchases, but individual ones.”
“Ah, yes Lord Blas, it’s been really unfortunate to see them coming through,” the captain explained, “Whole families moving over. Last winter was apparently real bad, and so there’s a lot of people coming here to try to avoid another one. Even with the border tightening up after what happened in the capital, people are still coming in. There have been a few sad scuffles, but nothing serious, and always out of one source of desperation or another. Duke, the people coming through are awfully skinny.”
“I understand…”
“I heard… and excuse me, my lord, if I am speaking out of turn… but I heard that some people think the terrorist attack was related to what’s going on in Dusau… and now… well. You’re here and checking in on the border. As much as I appreciate all the ducal family does… that’s not usually something you just up and do without a reason,” he gave a sad smile, “Are things about to get a bit more difficult, Duke?”
Blas looked at him for a long moment, before giving a nod, “Probably. I think it will probably avoid this border, though. That said, I would never want to assume that. I’m just preparing for the worst.”
“Of course,” he bowed his head and glanced at the kids, “There’s been no strange movements on the other side. Not near here anyway. I can only hope it stays that way.”
“I am glad to hear it,” Blas looked to his son, “Alister. We will be offering some support to those who have immigrated here. I must imagine that they are struggling in a place they are unfamiliar with. In Dusau, dwarves and gnomes are more common than here, so that’s also likely a culture shock for them. This is good practice for you, though. I’d like you to try writing up a list of goods and funds for the city to use towards them.”
“...Yes, Father,” Alister said after a moment of contemplation, “I’ve got no clue how to do that, not with practical experience, anyhow, but I’ll do my best.”
“That’s fine. I’ll look over it after you’re done and adjust it with you to show you where to improve. Harriet you can help, if you’d like?” Blas grabbed a plain sheet of paper and pen for the two of them and motioned for them to grab it, which Harriet did with her usual sweet smile.
“Of course! I don’t like paperwork, but I like to help,” she said, patting the paper down between them, “Can we call them famine refugees, Uncle Blas?”
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“I suppose that’s what they are… Yes. That should be fine. I do wonder if it’s truly bad enough over there to be called a famine… Alliana should be able to get more information on the bigger picture with your father. We can ask them for details when we return to Rythwith,” Blas answered, sighing inwardly, “Just take care not to sound demeaning. Though this is an internal document, primarily, it does no one good to get in the habit of spewing pity. That tends to make people distrustful and resentful.”
“Yes, Uncle!”
“Yes, Father.”
Alister had absolutely no clue where to start for something like this. Food, obviously, was one of the key things. The major pillars to survival; food, water, and shelter. But people also needed clothes and sanitary things and medical care and so many other easy to forget things that could be assumed if not careful. General funds are easier, just a set of numbers, but what sort of math needed to be used to reach a consensus on that? Too little could ruin lives. Too much and it wouldn’t be feasible. He stared at the blank page with a quill in hand, silent beside his cousin.
Harriet nudged his arm, “Write down 1,000 per month to be divided among those who seek aid. I think it best if it’s given to those who take the initiative to ask for it. Yes, in an ideal world everyone gets everything, but that’ll break things. Expecting people in need to ask for help I think is not bad. But then we need to also write that it needs to be announced somewhere that that’s the plan. Otherwise people won’t know about it.”
“…Yeah… that sounds like a good place to start,” Alister muttered, scribbling the information down, “You’re an odd person, Harriet.”
“I’m a Severin, of course I’m odd,” she teased, “My sister’s the one who’s better at this kind of stuff, but dad’s a good teacher.”
“I wish I could say I’m a good student,” he sighed, “Ah… aside from funds to the city in general, maybe food? A soup kitchen sort of thing wouldn’t go amiss, I think. It raises people’s spirits and helps quite a bit to feed people. For many, it may even be their only meal of the day if they’re in particularly dire straits. If we can manage it, especially if the city can manage to round up a volunteer kitchen, then as often as it can run would be best. But really, even just once a week to fill people’s bellies would be good… I wish Wisteria were here. She was a refugee once. She’d have more insight into something like this.”
“I’m sure she’s having fun packing and being accosted by my mom and sister,” she nudged him again, “We’re fine though. Try to focus and then we can go do something more fun after we’re done. I wanna go run outside.”
“I swear you act like you have two faces. I can see the resemblance to your twin now.”
The paper took about an hour of writing things down, then adjusting them, then editing everything about a dozen times. He still wasn’t satisfied with it, but Harriet lost the focus she had for the task and was now her bored and fidgety self again. So much for that… he sighed inwardly.
Harriet handed the paper off to Blas. The two men had been discussing gods know what the entire time, and looked to be deep in conversation when the paper got put in his face. “All done,” she beamed, grinning wide, “Can I go play outside now?”
He blinked, taking a moment before he took the page from her and looked at her smiling face. Blas sighed, “Yes you may, but you must take two knights with you. This is a busy area, and I don’t want you getting lost or something.”
“Sweet! I can play with the knights!” she shouted, sprinting off outside.
Alister watched her leave with his mouth slightly agape, “Father my cousins are all strange people.”
“Her patience merely ran out, it’s fine. She’s only ten, it was good of her to last as long as she did. I’ll read this, adjust it, and tell you how you two did,” Blas explained, placing the paper in front of himself, “Thank you for taking my request seriously. This kind of thing is important for you to be aware of, even if you end up delegating it to someone else. You will likely have to at least approve such schemes, so being aware of the process and having a strong concept of numbers in reference to the issue at hand is key.”