15 February 2020
4:08 pm
On a Saturday
Býkonsviði, Prydania
He'd seen more than he ever wanted to see during the Civil War. More than he could share, or find comfort in. The death, the destruction...but the otherworldly as well. He still didn't fully believe what he'd seen or heard, but it was with him. It was always with him. And the dead? Jörn had made it clear. The dead were dead. The living were living. The planes they inhabited could not be crossed in any significant way. He'd gotten glimpses the few times he'd been privy to the fantastic. Voices or brief visions of his mother and father, or Krista. That was all though. Not due to a cruel twist of fate but because...that was just how it had to be. The dead and the living....bound by cause and effect but separated by cosmic vastness.
And yet Tobias swore he could hear voices. Not really, of course, but...Anders, Robert. His uncle, his father. He never knew them beyond the way a young child knows their adult family. Still, he felt like he knew them. Or at least what they stood for. What others told him they stood for. His imagination ran wild, but he let it run. Let himself hear what he imagined each would be telling him.
"You're the King. Like me, Vortgyn and Hróarr's blood flows through your veins. This malcontent threatens everything you've built. Everything you've done. You think she'll stop at Kanada? She's a spark, looking to set blaze to a wildfire. It will burn you alive if you let her. Like the Syndicalist spark burnt me. Speak to Marten and Grace, you're their family now. Use them. Crush her."
"You're not the sort of man to 'crush' anyone. You didn't inspire a movement through fear and intimidation. You helped people. The simple act of talking to people, of personally handing out supplies and food to those who needed it....people saw you. They believed in you because they saw you doing good. You fought for people to have a voice. Not to silence the ones we don't want to hear."
"I left Thomas Nielsen alive. I could have snuffed him out, but he did that to me. Don't make that mistake, Tobias. Your father, well meaning as he was, was even more trusting. You cannot trust a scorpion not to sting, it's in their nature. Eventually Anne Ulbrug will become too big for you, Grace, or Marten to deal with. End her."
"There's a reason your mother and I arranged for you to come to William if anything happened to us. Not any of your uncle's handlers. We wanted you to be better. He ruled through the appearance of strength, but a strong King shouldn't fear a renegade voice. I know you've been raised to recognize your uncle's shortcomings. Don't lose sight of everything just because you're afraid and angry now."
"She'll destroy you. She will. If not her then some fool inspired by her. Everything you've done. Your in-laws. Your wife. God forbid your children. Imagine if she festers like the plague she is, and she comes for you after you've had children. My daughter, your cousin...I know you remember Astrid..."
A loud clap echoed through the room and the dialogue between his uncle and father he had imagined stopped. His hand stung, having brought it down on his heavy wooden desk. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples, Anne Ulburg's response to his interview on his desktop monitor. He couldn't force himself to finish it. Half of it was anger. The rest was shame, passion....his head was swimming, and had been since this issue came to a head.
The fact was he had no idea what his uncle, the late Anders III of Prydania, would say. It was all in his imagination. It was born from real fear though. He had brazenly told Magnus that he stood by what he said, that he would stand up to those he saw as threats. Ulburg's response, however, had raised the spectre of his uncle. The last fascist King of Prydania. And he couldn't help but shake the idea that he'd been sorely mistaken. Had he allowed himself to fall down the path of his uncle? The idea was almost terrifying. He'd told himself, as he was growing up in the war, that if he ever got to be King he'd be a "good king" and not the sort Anders III was. And yet he clung to this headstrong position out of youthful stubbornness, despite the creeping feeling that he was following in Anders' footsteps.
The fact was that he was so turned around in his own head, so angry and so full of self-doubt, that he couldn't think straight.
A day earlier
14 February 2020
6:46 pm
On a Saturday
Býkonsviði, Prydania
Magnus, for his part, had pondered his options. He had considered reaching out to Ulburg but he couldn't. To speak with her behind Tobias' back? That would be a breach of his Sovereign's trust and a massive overstep in his role as Prime Minister. He couldn't do that to Tobias, even if he felt the King was making a mistake. He'd considered a number of options for getting through to him, but the one that seemed the most appealing was perhaps the least conventional. Reaching out to Anne Ulburg was a non-starter, but someone else...that was possible.
Alycia was his first thought, and he'd confided in Adriaan Högh, the Minister of Culture. Adriaan, however, raised a good point. Would Empress Alycia provide the right sort of council? She had been pushing her husband to be more assertive. Maybe this was what she wanted? Or at the very least was something she didn't see as a problem? Norsian politics often required a firmer hand, but Magnus knew this wouldn't work with Anne Ulburg.
"Who else, if not Alycia then?" Magnus had asked.
Adriaan thought for a moment.
"You know who might work..." he said, a light bulb going off in his mind. Magnus just shrugged.
"Alice Dorsett."
Magnus looked a bit shocked.
"Why her?"
"Well she and Tobias...they had a date of sorts."
"What? When?"
"The trade deal. Back before the election. When the Silien came to negotiate. His Majesty took Her Highness on a date. To the rose gardens. This was before he and Alycia really began to grow close, of course."
"I just assumed that was tabloid fodder" Magnus mused.
"No. The lad had something of a crush on the younger Dorsett sister."
"You think he might still have feelings for her?"
"I don't know Magnus. I really don't" Adriaan replied with a shrug.
"I know that the BP poker game went off without a hitch though. She was there. He was there. And Princess Alice's own views have been...evolving. If you care to follow the Silien press."
"I didn't know you did."
"I don't, but William Aubyn does. He's enjoying Norvalle by the way."
"You asked William about this didn't you?" Magnus asked, a bit guarded.
"Yes" Adriaan replied matter of factly.
"You know Tobias. William raised him. That's a huge difference. If anyone is going to know how to get through to His Majesty it's William Aubyn."
"So why doesn't William talk to him?"
"Because he raised him" Adriaan chuckled.
"Magnus, you've got two children and two grandchildren. You should know at a certain point young men don't want to be lectured by their parents, even if they know what's for the best. If you want to convince Tobias he's making a mistake? Well, we need to listen to William. He's our Ambassador to the Princely court in Norvalle. He can arrange a phone call between Alice and Tobias. We don't even need him to have romantic feelings. He just needs to trust her. William thinks he will."
Magnus ran his thumb over the orb at the end of his cane as he thought for a moment.
"Have William make the arrangements."
15 February 2020
4:27 pm
On a Saturday
Býkonsviði, Prydania
Elo Daugaard, chief steward of the Prydanian Royal Household, knocked twice on the door to Tobias' office.
"Come in" a worn voice murmured from behind the heavy oaken doors.
"Your Majesty" Elo said with a respectful head bow.
"Elo..." Tobias replied softly as he sat at his desk.
"What's happened?"
"A phone call, Your Majesty." Tobias looked to his side. He'd taken the phone off the base. He'd done it so he could be alone with his thoughts. His angry, confused, self-doubting thoughts.
"Who is it?" Tobias asked, ready to tell Elo that Magnus could wait.
"It's Alice Dorsett, Your Majesty" Elo replied.
"What...why?" Tobias asked, not expecting that answer.
"I couldn't say, Your Majesty, but she is expecting you. It's line one, I believe."
Tobias nodded, a bit unsure of himself. He'd not spoken to Alice since the poker game and that was...not bad awkward of course, but still...
"Can I have some privacy?" he asked, still of the mindset that he had to ask for that sort of thing. A habit when you grow up surrounded by soldiers in tight places.
"Of course, Your Majesty" Elo replied, leaving the King's office and closing the thick wooden doors behind him.
Tobias breathed deep, his heart racing with nerves. He was married! Why was this so nerve-racking? He set the phone back on the base and sure enough the red light for line one began to flash. He nodded to himself and picked up the receiver as he pressed the line one button.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Your Majesty. It's good to talk to you again."
Tobias smiled. It was good to hear the sound of her voice again.
“Alice” he said, feeling a bit more relaxed, and wanting to drop formalities.
“It’s good to hear from you.” His interview on Ulburg was published by RUV, could she be calling about that? He didn’t know. He tried to prepare himself for it, but to his relief? She didn’t mention it. At first.
"I hope you and Alycia enjoyed the poker game. My sister's thinking about making that a frequent thing. She thinks it's a breakthrough in casual diplomacy."
“Heh” he chuckled. “We did...it was good to see everyone. I’d like to do it again.” he said. And then Alice brought it up…
"I've been watching all the news out of Malor-Kanada, especially about Ulburg. She's a mirror image of Northway, just less grandiose and stupid, if you ask me. You heard about his sentencing hearing, right?"
He knew it. It was the only thing anyone wanted to talk to him ever since he’d consented to the RUV publishing that interview. What kept him calm, however, was that he didn’t know why Alice had chosen to call him over it. And then she brought up Northway…
“Yeah, I heard” he replied, his voice generally cheerful, if sounding a bit beleaguered.
“I had him on my mind actually, when Anne Ulburg came up. I couldn’t get his cocky grin out of my head” he chuckled softly.
"Yeah, when I was sitting in the chamber I kept thinking to myself 'Just put him away, Sis.' But, she stuck to the law, and I realized she was right to do that."
“Claidie did the right thing, I think. It worked out in the end.” He paused for a moment, as if he had a moment of clarity. Simply speaking to Alice had allowed his mind to break free from the single track it had been on since this whole thing started.
"Now, when I say Ulburg is a mirror image of Northway, remember that mirrors only show reflections of our outward appearances. They don't show what's inside. Northway was an idiot because he did what he did, probably, for personal gain. Does Ulburg fit that model?"
“I honestly have no idea,” Tobias replied. He didn’t. He knew nothing about her, other than what her current crusade was and whatever the ÖSU could give him. Which pretty much painted her as an unremarkable politician before her current rise. A standard family life, nothing incriminating, nothing even to suggest a radical bent. She was just...normal. And apparently she had found a cause.
“I really don’t know Alice,” he repeated. “But I’ve already lost one family to people…” he almost said “like her” but he stopped himself.
“...people who weaponize the idea of democracy.”
"If what Ulburg is saying is true about arbitrary arrests of opposition parliamentarians, couldn't she have a case to make?"
Alice raised a point, one he’d danced around in his fielding questions about the issue. He’d constantly insisted that what Grace and Marten did in Maloria-Kanada wasn’t his business but the fact was that Anne Ulburg could be telling the truth, or at least some truths. He remembered what he’d said to the world back during the Battle of Beaconsviði. How he promised he would act for the cause of freedom. He didn’t answer Alice right away. Not because he didn’t know what to say. He knew what the right answer was, but he needed time to accept it. Even if it was only a brief moment of hesitation, he needed it.
“She would have a case, yeah. More than that actually.”
"I know you don't want to see a return of syndicalism. Nobody does. And, you are well within your right to seek revenge. You know what would be the ultimate way to get that? Rule justly -- and I know you will -- so that no one even wants to think of anything like it again."
He smiled faintly.
“Thank you Alice,” he said softly. It was a lesson all rulers- regardless of political system- had to learn. And it was one that was instilled in Tobias at a young age- that should he ever be King he couldn’t be like his uncle. He thought back. To when he imagined what his uncle and his father would say to him.
“I’m…” he paused, wondering if he could open up to her? He’d taken the call though. He trusted her.
“I’m scared. I really am. My father was once friends with the man who killed him. I don’t want to think I’m doing the right thing only to let this grow and get worse.”
It felt good to say it like that. He’d worried that paranoia about that was very Anders-like, but if he could just be open about his fears? Well they seemed less terrifying.
"I wish I could say I know how you feel. Truth is I can't. I didn't survive a civil war and being hunted for most of my childhood. But, when I learned the truth of my father's death, I was scared too. I wondered if I'd be next, or my sister. But, we all have to press on and do the work we're responsible for. "
Tobias nodded. She was right. Of course she was right. He looked across the office to the bookshelves on the far end. God he was tired of looking at them. He turned around, and looked out the window. Býkonsviði was laid before him. Maybe it was the romantic notion of the city, that he was born here but had to wait so long to return. Maybe it was the fact that the capital, having received much in the way of aid and attention in the aftermath of the War, was mostly repaired, and so it seemed like a symbol of what Prydania could be. Peaceful.
Maybe…
“Alice…” he began. The fact that she was right made him want to ask her this. The fact was she was someone he trusted a great deal.
“Do you think Anne Ulburg has her heart in the right place? Do you think she’s being sincere?”
Alice paused for a moment, knowing she was about to walk a tightrope. The more she thought about what the news showed of Ulburg's speech, the more she was concerned about how the situation compared to recent Prydanian history; the war, syndicalism, Nielsen. "Could Nielsen have been sincere?" she thought to herself. "Would it matter?"
"Compared to Northway," Alice said over the phone, "I think she's sincere, but I don't think that's the benchmark to worry about. I think you know who and what is. I hate to bring up old wounds, but this is important... Nothing excuses what Nielsen did to you, your family, and your country, but someone like him was either so twisted and evil, or so desperate for something he thought was better. Maybe - nah, probably - both. I know you see the parallels, but I don't see Ulburg as twisted and evil. What worries me is whether or not the Severyns are pushing her towards desperation."
Tobias breathed deep. He closed his eyes as he tried to think straight. He didn’t get mad...he knew Alice didn’t mean to dig up old traumas… it was his trust in her that helped a good deal. Still, his mind raced. No, that wasn’t right. It was zooming in every direction, but not in a straight path. He tried to think on what Alice was calling to mind, but his mind was speeding through it, so as to spare him the pain of fully remembering.
His mind raced through the memory of his parents’ execution but that brought...things into focus, almost. Was Anne Ulburg capable of that? He felt a nervousness within him, that the answer might be “yes,” but if he truly thought about it? The answer was no. No she was not.
The Severyns were another matter. Was his new family culpable? He knew Alycia didn’t like to speak much of the Severyn legacy in Norsos. She’d taken his name for a reason, even with all the baggage it had.
The Severyns though….he couldn’t stand against them. For many reasons. Many practical, many sentimental. At the end of the day he couldn’t bring himself to attack them. What he could do though, was be an example. That’s what he’d been so far. It’s what William had told him he had to be. He’d gotten used to it. Maybe Anne Ulburg could be radicalized out of desperation...but she didn’t have to be. Not if she felt there was a chance at a better way.
“Alice…” he began, his voice showing just a hint of strain as he pushed the painful memories out of his mind, “thank you. I can’t...I can’t do anything about the Severyns, but maybe I can...reach out to her. I think...I think I can do that” he said, his lips cracking into a smile for the first time since this Ulburg business began.
Alice and Tobias ended their conversation on a high note, with Tobias telling Alice he was looking forward to seeing her and her sister again when the E-Series came to Býkonsviði. That too was a first, the first time he’d thought about something pleasant since this Ulburg business began.
In the end Alice and Marc-Thorsteinn Gausserand-Landet echoed in his mind. Thorsteinn musing about people all doing what they can to make the world better seemed very relevant, but it was Alice’s advice from just before they hung up that made Tobias confident in what he had to do. Could he actually be a force for positive change, not just in Prydania but beyond? Could he play a role in keeping things in Maloria-Kanada from taking a dark turn?
“I think you can too, Toby” Alice had said.
OOC Note: Post co-written with @Sil Dorsett
