peerless_thayet | (no subject)

"I'm pleased to have the company," Thayet smiles. "Oh, yes. Only they don't just visit the palace; they stay."

Thayet slants a look at Amy. It is a very expressive look, similar to the one Jon gets when someone mentions crop reports in his vicinity.

"It is customary for nobles to send their daughters to court after the convent to meet a noble husband." Her eyebrows go up for a moment. "Some of them are remarkably silly."

But only some.

The others she rather likes.

Then, "Of course, their fathers can be remarkably silly, too."

"Can't they just?

"I've found that silliest girls either have fathers who accompany them and are every bit as silly as their daughters, or they have fathers who send them in the care of some dreadfully silly female relation, in which case I can only imagine some sensible father is safely at home, enjoying a break at our expense.

"Do you ever take upon yourself to play matchmaker?" Amy asks.

"Once or twice," Thayet admits. "I try to steer the best of the lot towards those I think will suit admirably -- men and women."

The Queen of Tortall rarely looks sheepish, but she's doing a good impression of it now.

"I'd hate to see a sweet, sensible girl paired with someone cutting and duplicitous. Or an honorable young knight ensnared by someone... not."

She nods, as if acknowledging the faults in her own meddling.

"Do you?"

"I do," Amy says, thoroughly unsheepishly. "On occasion, when I think certain people need to be made more aware of each other.

"I also keep any eye out for the kind, sensible girls who aren't receiving the attention of the Court because they're shy or their hair color is out of fashion this year or whatever reason, and sometimes I takes steps to raise their status a bit, if I think they deserve it.

"It's amazing how much more attention people will pay once you've been seen walking alone in the rose garden with the Queen.

"And most of them can take it from there, once they're given the chance."

Amy knows what it's like to be the girl no one wants. Even if you don't want any of them, either, it's far more pleasant to have that be your choice than theirs.

"Why is it that hair color can go in and out of fashion? It's not as if it can be helped. Much." Thayet wonders aloud, glancing at Amy with frank approval.

Again, she is struck by Amy's good sense.

"It is rewarding to see to someone's happiness."

Amy looks over at her own mouse-brown hair. "And if it must go in and out of fashion, you'd think brown would get a turn eventually. But, no, it's always gold, copper, raven, back to gold."

"Is is rewarding, isn't it? I do so like to find ways to influence things that matter. Since I doubt I'll ever bring mouse-brown hair, even if I were to make an effort to."

Which isn't really on her to do list.

"Sort of on that subject, I was wondering if I could ask you for more information about your university. I've been talking to Perry about it, and it's something we'd like to properly consider."

Thayet's eyes stray to Amy's hair. Chestnut she thinks, but knows enough now not to say it. If blonde can be gold (which it's not, she maintains) instead of yellow, then Amy's hair is chestnut.

And chestnuts are lovely.

She waves a hand through the air, dismissing the idea that fashion holds any real relevance. If one considers those who are slaves to it, can one really be surprised by such silliness?

The notion is quickly pushed from Thayet's mind, however. Her eyes brighten with enthusiasm and she nods, saying, "Is it? That's excellent news. I'd be delighted to tell you more."

A glance at her tea, then the lake, as her brow furrows in thought.

"Would you like to see it firsthand?"

Thayet, then, has more imagination than the Court Poet.

(Thayet has probably also never composed multiple stanzas to an eyebrow.)

"I would love to see it firsthand," Amy says. "If it won't be a bother or an inconvenience."

One does not assume openings in Royal Schedules.

Or at least, one should not.

Court poets (and minstrels) are notoriously terrible in Tortall. Thayet has been the subject of more than one ballad, though she has yet to match Alanna when it comes to idiotic songs and poems composed in her honor.

This is a competition she in no way minds losing.

"Not at all," Thayet smiles. "I'll be happy to escape most of my duties until this evening."

One elegant finger taps against her lips.

"The question is whether you wish to visit as a Queen or not."

"Well," Amy says, thoughtfully, "there may be advantages and disadvantages to both."

Queens do command a certain amount of attention.

Of course, that amount is frequently about six times more than would be useful or convenient.

And Thayet would, presumably, be more than enough majesty in and of herself for that.

"What would you recommend?

"Would one or the other be better for you?"

Thayet considers for a moment, brushing back her hair when a breeze picks up and tosses it about.

"I think not, if you are not opposed to the idea." A nod. "And I will go forth with a minimum of fuss. I have had some success doing so in the past. Or else my people have grown more used to my ways."

They will bring Buri. Even Jon can not argue that Thayet has no better bodyguard.

"I don't think there will ever come a day I will complain about not being expected to wear a crown.

"A minimum of fuss sounds quite perfect, Thayet."

Amy's half-playful and half-serious as she adds, "Or should I practice remembering to address you as 'Your Majesty'?"

"Oh, I wish you wouldn't," laughs Thayet. "I suppose it can't be helped sometimes, but just Thayet does well enough, I think."

This will be fun. Thayet glances about and retrieves her tea, eager to be on their way.

"Would you like to leave a note? Alert anyone where you have gone?"

Because otherwise Thayet is going to sweep her inside and right out the door. She is already starting to walk that way.

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Amy says, falling in step besides Thayet.

She has every faith that she'll be returned in good order.

Sweeping inside and out the door works for Amy.

Then swept she is! Right into Queen Thayet of Tortall's closets and dressing room.

(Yes, closets. Queens, as Amy surely must know, have many, many clothes.)

Thayet pauses, brow furrowed into a delicate frown. Silk, velvet, brocade, all in sumptuous colors and elegant cuts, and yet... tossed about the room with little care.

"I really am abhorrently messy on occasion."

It's cheerful.

"The Milliways door seems to have a fondness for royal dressing rooms," Amy says. "My own is at the back of my wardrobe."

She looks around the room.

"It's lovely.

"If I tried to be abhorrently messy, I'd come back to find someone dreadfully helpful had tidied up."

It must be nice to have a chance to be abhorrently messy, on occasion.

"That seems an ideal place," Thayet tells her. "Easy to keep hidden."

She scoops up a scarf and tosses it on a chair.

"They do try," she sighs, before clapping her hands together. "Enough of this, though. You didn't come to Tortall to see the latest court fashions."

Horse Lords forbid.

Thayet smiles and leads Amy into her bedroom. Technically it is hers alone, and sometimes it can be just that, but generally Jon stays here as well; that's his dressing gown tossed at the foot of the bed (a very kingly robe, of course) and his stack of papers on the table.

"Jonathan is tied up in meetings the rest of the day, I'm afraid. I do hope you can meet him eventually."

It's the very regalest of dressing gowns, truly.

"I hope so, too, though I quite understand.

"There are days I don't see Perry for more than thirty minutes, he's in so many meetings."

And Amy usually has her own to attend as well.

"And occasionally, there are afternoons we have to run away and hide in the woods."

Very occasionally, these days. But they still work them in when they can.

"Perhaps that is a rule I should implement. One afternoon of escape in the royal forest per month. I wonder how much he'd argue."

It's breezy, teasing in tone, and yet the look in Thayet's eyes is wistful. She had at one time so looked forward to escaping royal life.

Holding the door, she smiles once more at Amy and asks, "Did you and Perry have any particular questions about the university?"

The bedroom leads into a sitting room, where a larger door opens to a grand hallway. Outside, a palace guard eyes the two women as they walk out and frowns slightly, certain that only one, the queen, had gone in.

Amy simply smiles at the guard and carries on walking.

(Queens are generally good at looking like they have every right and expectation to be where they are, doing what they're doing.)

"I really think you just have to insist on an occasional escape. After all, even kitchen maids get an afternoon off every other week.

"As for the university, my first question for in this sort of situation is always, 'What do you wish someone had told you before you started?'"

Thayet laughs quietly and takes the entire length of the corridor to respond.

"That Masters of Music and the Noble Arts need their egos stroked almost as much as diplomats," she answers, lips curving in a wry sort of smile. "You wouldn't believe how they angled to win the best classrooms, the best instruments, the best students."

She shakes her head and starts down a staircase, redirecting her thoughts toward a more serious subject.

"I do wish I'd been better prepared to fight for students of reduced circumstances. Providing aid for them turned almost as controversial as allowing girls to train for knighthood."

"I've known some masters of whom I'd easily believe that," Amy says.

As for the more serious matter . . .

"Hmmmm. Yes, I can see that. People can be quite . . . stuffy about that sort of thing. And it can be hard to challenge too many conventions at once.

"What did you do about it in the end?"

There are moments when Thayet feels her hands are tied. Oh, to have the freedom to institute all the sweeping reforms they wish, but that isn't to be.

Amy understands, she knows. It's comforting. Not for the first time, Thayet thinks how nice it is to count another queen as a friend.

"Compromises elsewhere," she answers, a tad rueful in tone. "And we had to agree to build it on the north bank of the Olorun so nothing too 'important' would be lost if it happened to blow up."

"Compromises are a necessary evil of government. And maybe that's a good thing, in the grand scheme of it all."

It tempers extremes.

"Is the university likely to blow up?" she adds, curiously.

Thayet directs Amy down another corridor, the briskness of her motion setting her skirts swirling as she turns. She slows a bit and inclines her head when several nobles cease their conversations and bow, waiting until they are out of earshot to continue their conversation.

"Surprisingly, yes." A short laugh. "There is a mage school."

Untrained and beginning mages are notoriously explosive under certain conditions.

"Ah," Amy says, nodding.

"Well, that at least I shan't have to worry about. We haven't enough magicians to require a school. There probably aren't five in all of Ambergeldar."

And she'd be surprised if there were that many.

"Are most people pleased that you have a university, now that it's built and running and all? Even with the objections and compromises along the way?"

"So few?" Thayet looks shocked. Magic is by no means taken for granted in Tortall, but nor is it rare. "They must be in very high demand."

"Pleased might be a stretch. I suppose some critics have been made to realize the advantages to properly training mages and then hiring them. Healers, in particular. We have had fewer deaths from improper healings, if my sources in the Lower City are to be believed."

She holds open a door, still considering her answer.

"What objections remain will fade in time, generation by generation. The nobility never like handing over power, of which knowledge is a sort, but the longer it exists the more common place it will seem."

She very sincerely hopes.

"They're almost all in the employ of Kings," Amy says. "We're fortunate to have a very talented one as our Court Magician."

There are a few witches, and of course there are fairies, but fairies have their own society, and Kings do not employ witches.

Amy nods. "Every way it's always been was once a terribly daring thing someone insisted on trying.

"Do you find that the part of the population not comprised of the nobility approves?"

Thayet likes that Amy chose to ask that question. So many in the Tortallan palace don't consider it, as if it simply doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

"Yes," she breathes out, smiling. "I do. It has opened many doors for those who felt permanently locked away from opportunity."

Throughout Tortall Jon and Thayet are considered terribly strange rulers, but not bad ones.

"My Riders sometimes have friends at the University. I hear about it through them."

It's amazing what a few months as a kitchen maid will do for your ability to look at things from different angles.

(To say nothing of regular trips to the end of the universe.)

"I would think it would have positive effect on traffic and commerce in the area as well," Amy says, thoughtfully. "Benefits for more than just the students."

"Oh, yes." A wicked grin. "Though our reports on the number of pickpockets goes up and down. There's more honest opportunity, but I'm afraid some see the influx of people and goods as an opportunity of another sort."

Like Alanna, Thayet has a soft spot for certain thieves.

"Here we are, then," she says, as two attendants, moving in perfect harmony, open a set of double doors.

The sun is bright, making the queen blink rather a lot. Beyond, the royal stables, where Jon and Thayet's personal mounts are kept. There aren't as many people here as in the main courtyard, but there are still quite a few liveried servants hurrying about. Thayet approaches one such man, who snaps to attention and bows.

"I'll be needing a carriage brought around. We'll be visiting the University today."

The man blinks. "A carriage?"

Thayet nods patiently. "A carriage."

"Very well, Your Majesty." He sends Amy a curious look and turns toward the stables, shouting orders.

"I usually ride," she explains. "Buri should be down with the trainees. We'll stop there first."

Amy's smile to the man is equal parts Hello and Graciousness and Of Course I'm Meant To Be Here.

It's a skill.

"I'm more than content to let you set the itinerary," she tells Thayet with something of a grin.

"And I suppose that's something else to consider. What sort of things would have to be provided to support a university, and the area it's in. Like security."

Though Ambergeldar really has very little crime.

"I almost feel as if I should be taking notes."

"Security, educational supplies, room and board..." Thayet nods, a smile in her eyes if not on her lips. "Planning committees for each was the answer."

She nods, amused at Amy's comment.

"I have many left over of my own I am more than willing to share."

As they wait, Thayet tells Amy of how they decided on different programs, how they recruited instructors and how they began providing regular meals for the vast quantity of people who were suddenly occupying that part of Corus.

She is still talking about the food when the carriage arrives and they climb inside.

"Do you have a location in mind?"

"There's a spot, not quite on the edge of Amber, lovely site. Just along the river, right where it turns, and just a little way from the last of the bridges in the city. Nice sized piece of land, just a few buildings currently standing on it. It used to be an estate, but it was forfeited to the Crown not too long ago.

"Our Protocol Officer's. He was in on a plot to take the throne.

"He'd be completely horrified that that's what happened to his lands. It's just not what's done. Of course, the same can be said of high treason.

"I shall have to make sure he hears about it . . . "

"Horse Lords, I should think so!"

It would pain her to admit, but Thayet's expression turns from interested friend to Very Indignant Royal at the mere mention of treason.

High treason is something she has witnessed first hand. Amy might have heard the highlights from Alanna or even from Thayet herself, but as they wind their way from the Royal palace to the banks of the Olorun with only a brief stop for Buri, Thayet recounts what happened the day of Jon's coronation just as she experienced it.

It isn't something she talks about much, but it's important to establish what was and what might have been while Amy sees for herself what is.

The tour itself is a success. The staff of the University -- even the most persnickety masters -- are eager to impress, and Amy does the same with practical questions about everything from how it is run to daily budgets and construction costs. Thayet answers when she can and seeks out others to answer when she cannot.

A good two hours later, the sun is high in the sky and Thayet takes the Dean of Magic up on his offer of tea service on his office balcony.

"I think you've made a fan of Harailt," Thayet smiles at Amy, waiting for her tea to cool, "even though none of your questions pertained directly to the Gift."

Amy smiles. "Genuine interest and fairy-given Charm do have their uses," she says, Cheerfully.

"Thank you, Thayet. I suspect I am about to go home and talk Perry's ear off for a few days, but I think I have a much clearer idea of what we'd need to do and arrange and so on."

"I do hope he won't be cross with me before we've even met," Thayet teases. "But I'm glad it helped. I'll give you my mountains of notes when we return to the palace. Hopefully they will be of use."

She lifts her cup, smiling over her tea.

"You know, I was thinking while that Master of Legal History was rambling at you about the establishment of the Provost's Guard: you're the first proper friend I've brought here from..." her eyes dart to the room behind them, checking that it's clear "...Milliways." Her smile widens. "It's fun."

"Isn't it? I love bringing people to Ambergeldar. I notice things I'd never notice otherwise, talking to people for whom everything around them is new."

And Amy's Court is rather used to the Queen's odd friends materializing from the ether.

"I'd love for you to come visit some time.

"Certainly once there's a university to show you, but before then, too, if you'd like."

Because it's likely to take a little while to pull together.

Her smile wrinkles up her nose. "The Master of Legal History did ramble a fair bit, didn't he? I'm reasonably certain he reached his point in the end, but not completely."

"I would," Thayet smiles.

Perhaps Jon and Perry would also enjoy getting to know someone with similar royal responsibilities.

"At least we aren't required to attend his lectures," she notes, "though he looked rather hopeful that we would. It would be entertaining to see his face, should you tell him why exactly you've no need of our detailed history."

The thought very nearly makes the Queen giggle.

"Yes, a rather successful day, I think." Holding her tea higher, she toasts, "To the universities. Long may they fulfill our hopes for them."

"To universities," Amy repeats.

"And to friends.

"Wherever we are so fortune as to find them."