"I suppose you feel quite lucky, Senator." The Lady Bosphama remarks without much positive care as I cautiously eye the food that her household staff have so... Graciously provided. Lingering one of the small snacks near my lips, I let it hover as I consider what has happened so far. As by law, The Lady Bospahama is to be notified of our senatorial inspection, however, that also gives her time to act up.
Seemingly bad as it is on her reputation, reporting behaviour like this will have no effect back in the Senate. Stuff like this is quite common and is practically encouraged when it comes to dealing with unwanted guests. Hungry as I have been on occasions, it is good form to refuse that which is offered even if it ends up being rude and wasteful. I lower the likely mildly poisoned food and move to get to the point which has been delayed thus far.
Me and my band of pocketed-by-others are here to see as to the health and well-being of The Lady Bosphama. If we rule unfavourably, she will be temporarily stripped of her right to rule and held within the Imperial Palace. How her short-lived replacement will be handled, however, has me confused and it has been bothering me since Senator Burspharosa put this idea forward. It is no secret that the Lady-Heir is missing and has been so for quite some time.
"The Lady Bosphama, fun as it has been to receive your hospitality. It will be best for everyone to be on their way." I explain before catching hint of a stifled snort by her armoured guardian. Glancing up at the eagerly armed man, I return my eyes to her Housekeeper and how she continues to orbit just as closely. A team motivated by their hatred of those tightening such a long-lived noose so evident.
"Allow my Castellant and his men to show you the door, then." The Lady Bosphama declares as she gestures mockingly towards him.
"You know we cannot leave so empty-handed." I tell her as I start to rise to my feet under the full observation of every household guard in this over-packed room. Straightening out my clothes and restoring some smoothness to the fabric, The Lady Bosphama rises. I offer her my strong arm and hand so that we may walk in private.
"My Lady Bosphama, come." the Housekeeper says as she starts to pick up The Lady Bosphama. However, her assistance is turned away at the last moment and a noble-blooded woman places herself tightly against me.
"Very well, Senator Caetusi." The Lady Bosphama answers as she silently orders the repositioning of those at her disposal. Watching the guards as their armour and weapons rattle, I choose to guide my conversation partner along them. I am unarmed and mean her no harm, my best side is in her fullest grip and a great warrior is trailing behind even closer than the sentinels.
"I will make one thing clear to you, The Lady Bosphama, I am not in Senator Burspharosa's pocket or faction. The Senate is not against you."
"Not completely, no, I am aware of that." she answers as she looks away towards the disturbed serenity of the garden as rehearsed movements fill it out with hidden steel. The men under her banner are to be commended, they know how to put on the appropriate show and appear greater than usual. Unfortunately for them all, I am used to such behaviour. Being on the periphery of what is accepted in the Senate.
"Do I have permission to speak about the Lady-Heir?" I ask with as gentle a tone as I can marshall but even then, her grip tightens around my arm. The sound of a pommel meeting a palm still sneaks its way down my ear.
"Choose your words carefully." the Castellant mutters under his not-so-covering breath as I look towards The Lady Bosphama's fluctuating iris'.
"You may." she finally answers as she brings us to a stop that leaves me right under a pole-tip blade. Ignoring the circumstantially badly placed weapon, I give The Lady Bosphama my full attention.
"It is no secret her departure has had its effect on you. We need to make sure that this has not in anyway impacted your ability to rule. Rumours are abound in the Senate so I need you to be as honest as you can be with me. Whilst the others who I cannot guarantee the neutrality of recover from their assailed bowels and spooked sensibilities."
"H-Help me..." The Lady Bosphama begs as she starts to shake more visibly.
"My Lady Bosphama!?" the Castellant goes as a blade suddenly finds my neck so very efficiently. Feeling a wave of danger wash over my skin, it seems to harden up to the blade, ever the more sensitive to the narrow threat.
"No... Him." The Lady Bosphama clarifies quickly as she gets the weapons back to making the sounds of thankfully sheathed steel.
"Help you how?" I ask as I try to consider my options here.
"Keep that bastard away from my daughter... Keep him away!"
"She's out of the country, no?"
"No." The Lady Bosphama is scared to admit as her focus and sensibilities waver. The cold woman she gave off as a first impression is quickly becoming undone.
"I see..." I let out quietly as I reconsider why this is all happening. If Senator Burspharosa manages to get The Lady Bosphama to head out elsewhere then nothing can be done even if the Lady-Heir does get back. Such a blatantly confirmed return as well will give the despised faction in the Senate all they need to push on with this power play.
"Clear the way to my office." The Lady Bosphama orders her household guard as I am suddenly pushed and dragged along into the private space. The Castellant closes the door and locks himself in with us and I keep my grip on our host until she is in the comfort of a chair.
"I do not know how you want me to help, The Lady Bosphama." I get to the point in saying as there is little leeway I can pull. Not yet, anyhow, there are too many trenches I must navigate before I can start doing anything meaningfully direct.
"Be my eyes and ears in the Senate. That bastard has been snatching up those I can trust for years now, but you, Senator Caetusi, your isolation is famous in its own right." she explains as she leans forward, grabbing some kind of document that she starts to fill out. Looking at it briefly for I cannot get a good view, I catch one important detail, the mark of profit.
"No." I tell her as I stamp my fingers in the way of her quill, getting an ink-stained scratch for the trouble of it.
"You expect me to believe that you will help someone like me and my family out of the kindness of your own heart...?" she nearly cries and whimpers as she leans away, seemingly defeated. I shake my head and instead think about how this might be able to help me in the long term. The Bosphamas may be going through one of the nastiest, roughest patches in all the land. But, they have a name that holds much of its gilded weight still.
Resources I can use, people who can speak up for me on my behalf, she has them still and it will only recover should the gods smile on her. Never mind the fact that her husband is a colonial governor, one I am quite involved with given my interests in development. Many of those I am trying to help still find themselves washing ashore in lands like his.
Until I can secure some kind of majority either in votes or influence over the factions that come and go, I need people like him. Getting the favour of the governor will only help my position. The colonies are thankfully far enough out of the way to not be influenced by affairs over here. Help the Lady-Heir and her family, secure my future and the many that put me up in this position to rally what help I can.
"No, I do not. The Lady Bosphama, as you are aware, I lack support in the Senate."
"My name has been tarnished for years by it, you will have little support from me."
"Not now, after this affair blows over. I have no love for the factions that have currently formed within the Senate. All of it revolves around Senator Burspharosa and his machinations. That which is important cannot go forth because of this, that which I wish to see bear fruit is sidelined again and again for his attempts to garner support. As you have probably figured regarding this visit-"
"It is to get me out of the way easier due to word of my daughter." The Lady Bosphama somewhat finishes as her hand sparks with the exhausted but still present strength of a protective mother.
I nod slightly at her words, "Strange as this behaviour is right now, something is brewing that he is keenly aware of. I suspect there might be a little more to this, especially with other rumours about."
"Rumours of gold..." The Lady Bosphama mutters as she glances towards her Castellan as he continues to watch me without slipping in focus. Moving towards some of the memorabilia at the edge of the office, I look towards it as I collect my thoughts. The Lady-Heir is dearly missed even if I was to somehow have lived beneath the waves on a sunken island all my life.
"Despite what I suspect are his best efforts, few can hide the death of Boisenmarck, a sea-dragon of that strength dying out of what might as well be nowhere. Rumours that follow that will quake even the hearts of kingmakers and empire-builders." I say as I turn back towards her, my hand on a poorly placed away booklet of modest thickness. With her silent permission, I start to go through it and put its contents to the back of my mind.
What I am here for as per the Senate's orders is here, but, The Lady Bosphama's proposal is something else.
"I cannot see my daughter accomplishing such a thing... But, another part of these talks leaves me thankfully... Better off than before."
"The wind-man." I guess correctly as the taint of foreign-born blood, even of the nobly rising Winds is another cause for concern. A witch of that power, yet, even this individual takes a backseat to the thunder the crowds rumble with. All the tales are of gold in the skies, that which the land has never seen since the most honoured god of all, Thurnmourer, made the world.
"So you want my help in the Senate?" The Lady Bosphama asks as her mind comes back to what I want. All this talk of her daughter, the chance to maybe see her come home safely is all she can think about.
"Whatever help you can offer, after this is all said and done." I repeat as I set aside the booklet to sit down in front of her. Something I do with little appreciation for the otherwise well-crafted piece of furniture. I may come from humble beginnings and surround myself with its simple and earnest treasures. But, like all, a bit of greed in me yearns for the grander things in life.
"You will only be able to help me so long as you have a reasonable excuse to make your way to my keep again and again." The Lady Bosphama rightly figures out as I dismiss any likelihood of being able to sneak in to meet her privately. Clandestine matters rarely stay so in a time of such predatory observation by so many clawing hands.
"I can try to delay the proceedings, but, with the pressure no doubt put on by Senator Burspharosa's faction..." I clarify and warn as my grip tightens before my mouth. Each visit will tear his wrathful patience thinner and thinner until he forces a change in those who come here. I will be off the investigation and he will pack it with those well-known to be in his pay.
The Lady Bosphama will be off to the Imperial Palace in less than a day.
"My staff are more than willing to keep this up until I can vet the rest amidst you."
"Do so at a distance with much incense." I joke, smiling a little, hoping she'll lighten up for even just a second. The less stressed she is, the better I will be able to delay this affair for as long as I can.
"Castellan." The Lady Bosphama says and the sound of armour steps forward towards me. A knife finds the underside of my jaw and from feel alone I can sense out its style. A hard-topped edge that slowly inclines down to a curvier blade for slashing.
"Say your piece." I answer calmly as the armoured hand holding me still puts me in a position where I have to force back against his edge.
"Do not mistake my desperation and eagerness for something exploitable, Senator." The Lady Bosphama warns as she stands, then, she gives me a smile and a giggle as she looks towards her currently unlit incense sticks.
"Putting you in an even worse situation only serves to debilitate me. And, as willing as I am to find myself crippled for the sake of those I represent, I must not do so foolishly." I tell her before nodding as the Castellan thankfully puts some distance between us again.
"You're a collected one." he remarks with curated interest as my stern face seems to evoke the right sentiment from the soldier.
"I have seen worse." I remark as I gently seal the wound with a trail of burning magic.
"Trust me, you haven't." the Castellan begs to differ before a feminine hand strikes wood to lingering, booming effect.
"Castellan Joastelan, you may go."
"Of course, My Lady Bosphama." he answers with a thump of his cuirass before the lock thunks freely and the door slides shut again.
"I suppose I should get my Housekeeper to help with getting the documents you are likely going to want to see." The Lady Bosphama asks as she steps around her desk to set herself up again for my strong arm.
"I believe we should make use of this privacy to go over details further." I suggest we do instead as I reach for the small, delicate handles on a nearby cupboard. Pulling out what is clearly marked as being related to her ruling of this keep and all possessions that relate to its treasury.
"There is not a whole lot we can plan for, Senator Caetusi. Too much is happening to leave it to pre-emptive behaviour. If you are to help me in the short term so that I may aid your further ascension, I need you to be quick-minded."
I nod with a prideful look in my eyes as I recall my climb into this highly esteemed political arena, "The Periphery People's Senator is at your service."
The Lady Bosphama smiles gently before a heavy, barely sealed set of documents slams down from her grip.
"I shall get my staff to get us some things, we will be here a while." she explains as she moves to the office door.
"Without the poisons, please."
"We have an excellent system of marking out, do not worry." she smirks to as I move my outdoors senatorial garb out of the way slightly so I can better handle the load.