Emperor Nicholas
A knock at the door from his chamberlain signaled it was time get moving. As he opened the door however, it was not the face of his chamberlain he saw, but instead the stern face of William Conthric the Captain of his guard.
"Good morning Emperor" he said with a curt bow.
"For the last time Will, Sir will suffice, and the bowing is just strange" Nicholas chuckled.
"Of course Emperor" he said with another bow.
From behind the Captain the faint voice of Martin Ronland, Imperial Chamberlain came through.
"Good morning Majesty. I came to wake you, but I see the Captain has taken care of it."
"He has indeed; were you out there all night Will?" Nicholas asked.
"No Sir, the Empress woke me at half past four. She is out for a run with a few of the household guard."
As William moved towards an open chair, Nicholas realized to his shock that he had hardly noticed that half his bed lay empty.
"Oh, very good then. Did she say when she would be returning?" "No sir." William said. "Just that you should get a start without her."
"Alright then I suppose, lets get started. Read the Agenda Martin."
"Certainly Sir, the present members of the Imperial Council will be meeting with Lord Lenneth at 10:00 this morning to discuss the possibility of lowering the tariffs on maritime trade." Martin said, handing Nicholas a folder detailing the specifics.
For faithful service to Former Emperor Michael, Lenneth had been allowed to absorb the shipping companies of less loyal Lords into his own business venture, and now controlled something of a monopoly over imports and exports by sea.
"What else?" Nicholas said.
"After that meeting, your father has requested to meet you, and the Empress for lunch, and following that I have cleared the rest of the day, as we need to finish polishing your speech for this evening."
"The Council comes first of course" Nicholas said with a healthy dose of sarcasm. "What does Lenneth plan on saying?" Said the Emperor as he lazily leafed through the papers.
"The same as always Sir, 'taxes and trade do not match!' I am beginning to suspect that he is using these speeches as some kind of war of attrition, to make us just give up."
The Emperor gave a laugh, and replied "That may be, but it is better to keep the nobles occupied on speeches, than on planning rebellion."
"Quite right." William chimed in, "quite right." "Maintaining the support of the nobles here in the heartland is of unfortunate importance" William continued.
"Indeed...well send a message to my Father to join us for lunch here at the palace, he'll probably have a few ideas for maintaining that support. and as for the speech, we can get there when we get there." Nicholas said as he motioned for the two men to leave him.
"There is in eight hours sir." Martin said as William pushed him through the door.
"Details" the Emperor yelled after him, "Details!"