The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 103

Part 17

“Well now I’m very curious!” Talia chuckled. “How is it that you got to know Amirgath?”

“Oh, we were talking about asking him and maybe some of the other gods to do something for us, and he showed up and said they would.” Fire giggled. “Along with Quewanak, Falgaroth and Visinniria. I think they’re giving us quite a lot of their attention, though it might have been because we were chatting with Zarkog at the time.”

“And you’re doing a fine job of seeming nonchalant about it, too.” Mark laughed as he set her down. “Are you going to tell us about it, or just keep us in suspense with cryptic hints?”

“Well I’d sure like to, but it would take a while and we still have things to do before the Assembly meeting tonight. So here;” Six grinned as the children Linked with their parents and shared the experience, and gave them a moment to consider it.

“I hope you don’t mind that we plan to take over running the world from you after we win the tournament.” Val giggled to Mark as she hugged his thigh. “But really, you don’t seem that interested in running it anyway. Will you even enter the tournament?”

“More important than that, will you speak in the Assembly in favor of letting the winner of the tournament assume the leadership of The Just Alliance?” Six insistently inquired.

“Well.” Mark said with a proud smile, and paused before he continued. “I suppose I’ll have to field a team. My supporters wouldn’t stand for it if I didn’t.

“And I’m going to suggest that we hold the tournament, then ask the Assembly if they’ll approve the winner as Leader, and if they agree, then we’ll ask the people. All of them. If there’s strong support for it all the way down the line, then I’ll go along with it and give the new Leader my full and honest support. And that’s all I’m willing to commit to.

“Even with the gods running the tournament, and even with all of them sworn to justice, it’s still too big a risk to guarantee that the winner will get the Leadership. If Zarkog or Zwak Deathbringer or someone like that wins, and a major part of the Assembly or the population disagree with it, it could throw everything into chaos just when we’re facing the demons. There’s no use having the most technically qualified Leader if no one wants to follow him. Then you just have a commander, and maybe a bunch of disobedient or mutinous subordinates.”

“Ah. Good points there, Father.” Six nodded. “So really, if we want to lead The Just Alliance, we have to win the tournament, and before the tournament is held, we need to win over the Assembly and the populace.”

“That’s about it, Son.” Mark chuckled as he gave the boy a pat on the back and a momentary firm rub.

“We’ll definitely need a planning session on that.” Fire decided, then changed the subject.

“How are your efforts at recovering innocent people’s property coming along?”

“And after the meeting of The Assembly, probably.” Karz pointed out. “We have nine hours before the meeting, and we’ll be lucky to get the basic structure of the training program in place by then. And that only if we get started soon.”

“You’re right.” Six nodded, and turned to Povon. “If this works as good as we hope it will, and we get most of the Sylvan and all the most violent Serminaki dragons, we’ll need a lot of land, but that land should come available as trainees join the program. We’ll just expand our area of control into where they live and convert their existing facilities, so they won’t have to move. But we’ll definitely need to work with you and Zwak Deathbringer on the logistics of all this.”

Povon was about to speak when Alilia interjected. “Excuse me, I know I have no legal standing in this conversation. Mark is Lord of Serminak, and it’s his decision as to what goes on here, while Povon, Kragorram, and Zwak have actually been running things. But they’ve only had to maintain the systems that Zarkog built over hundreds of years, with minor adaptations.

“What you’re talking about is a dramatic re-organization of the lives of billions of Sylvan and dragons in only a few days. This makes the work you did on Hiliani seem like an infant’s project.

“Now, I am by far the most experienced ruler here. And I don’t think you’ve completely thought it through.

“Val’s Healing spells need to be in place before you even start recruiting, and so do a great many other matters. The Sylvan on Hiliani lived as simple hunter-gatherers. You almost completely replaced that work with automated spells when you took them into your training program, so you could keep them fed. But there’s nothing to hunt or gather on Serminak; the continent subsists on huge and complex systems of fishing, farming and livestock. As impressive as you are, I doubt very much that you can run all those systems with automated spells.

“You’ll need to have every bit of your planning completed before you begin to act on this. You’ll have to make sure that you still have systems in place to provide all the material needs of your trainees, and you have to make sure all the maths of it balance, with a healthy safety margin. Managing the transition from one system to another will be the most difficult part of the project, when you’ll be dismantling systems at the same time that you’re building new ones, while still keeping the products of those systems flowing without interruption. Any break in the flow of work due to mistakes, mis-communication, misunderstanding, or insubordination can quickly escalate into huge problems, as everything backs up and piles up upstream of the break, while those downstream from the break experience sudden shortages.