Katyana must win the hearts of the people

"There remains one obstacle to this plan," Lord Duncan says, "and that is the people of Elyssia themselves. The idea of seeing the daughter of Lord Velimir become their Queen is one which will not sit well with the populace, to put it mildly. Normally, I would want to take at least a month to allow them to warm up to Lady Katyana and become accustomed to having her here, but we simply do not have that much time. We have only a few hours to change the general perception among the people, and convince them that Lady Katyana is not, to be perfectly blunt, a bloodthirsty child of the Devil."

"You truly do speak your minds at this table," Katyana says with the tiny smirk you have seen on her so often.

The day's events of the tournament having concluded, you have returned to the castle to make ready for the evening's activities. Gathered in the small council chamber along with Duncan and Katyana are Captain Navarre, General Ferdinand, and Valerie - who Duncan insisted on having present.

"My lady, let me be clear that my own opinions of you have improved rather dramatically during the past twenty-four hours," Duncan says, "and while I must honestly say that you are not who I would have chosen as Queen in Elyssia, you have certainly earned my respect in the short time since your arrived. And, I believe this is also true of a fair part of Elyssia's nobility and the leaders among our allies. But the people will still see you as something monstrous unless we take steps to present you in the best possible light - and even then, I am sure there are some who will not be won over. In most kingdoms, this would be irrelevant, but here in Elyssia the opinion of the people matters a great deal."

"We cannot please all the people all the time," you point out, "but perhaps we can please enough of them, this time. One thing I do not wish to do, unless we absolutely must, is to play a deception upon the people. I do not want to create a scene wherein Lady Katyana must play-act at some heroic deed, for instance. Such deceits have a way of being revealed at the worst possible time, and in any event it would be dishonorable."

"We are certainly in agreement as far as that goes," Lady Katyana says.

Duncan nods across the table. "I have asked Lady Valerie to be present for this council, because I believe that she more than anyone may have the solutions we seek. My Lady, how would you go about giving Lady Katyana the best chance at being well-received?"

Valerie turns her eyes to Katyana. "My dear, I am not accustomed to attending councils," she says, "I am more accustomed to having wine and cheese with our guests, and speaking informally. But I may need to ask some difficult questions of the sort that I would normally avoid, and for that I must apologize."

"Of course, my Lady."

"Valerie, please. If all goes as we intend, it is my hope that we two will become close friends, so let us treat each other as such. Let us begin with what is simple, the matter of your appearance. My impression of you at the feast yesterday was that of a strong woman, one who commanded armies and represented great power - as I'm sure was your intention. Certainly, a Queen must be strong, and we will want to present you as such, but the people must not feel threatened by that strength. I do not think it is possible to diminish that even if I wished to, but what we should do is enhance your femininity and beauty, to bring out the woman rather than the warrior. With your permission, Katyana, I will turn you over to my handmaiden Yvette, who will apply pigments and color to your face, and lift your hair into an elegant crown."

"I must confess, I am interested to see what the result will be," Katyana says. "I have never indulged in such, as you might imagine."

"The feast tonight will be of a very different character than last night," Valerie goes on. "We do not stand upon formality overly much in Elyssia, so even last night's feast in the Great Hall was somewhat more casual than you would find in many royal households, but tonight we feast in the city square, cooking over bonfires and sharing ale with the people. It is a raucous, joyous occasion full of song and merriment and laughter. Ideally, we like to encourage the nobles to mingle with the commoners, largely ignoring the matter of titles and rank. Of course, we find that it is simply not possible to dismiss such things completely, but we of the royal household do try to lead by example. You will make the best impression among the people if you would embrace this idea, and mix freely among the crowd rather than remaining aloof, as some of our own lords and many of our noble guests will inevitably do."

"That does lead to a somewhat difficult situation, of course," Captain Navarre says. "We cannot pretend that there are not those among Elyssia's people and among our guests who would want to do harm to Lady Katyana; indeed, we have seen that already. It is my intention to assign Lady Trina to protect her, but although I have every confidence in her, Lady Trina does not have eyes in the back of her head and she cannot possibly anticipate every danger."

"I am quite capable of defending myself... under most circumstances," Katyana says. "I will certainly acknowledge that if it were not for King Xavier's intervention yesterday, I would not now be drawing breath, but I have personally thwarted no less than six attempts upon my life; the first when I was but thirteen years of age."

"Even an unsuccessful attack upon you will be ruinous to our plans, my Lady," Duncan points out. "We must all be constantly vigilant to recognize and defuse any confrontation. The best we can do, I think, is to see to it that Lady Katyana is always in the company of one who is popular among the people, which will hopefully turn away those who may otherwise act on impulse. For the most part, she should remain close to the King, but when that is not possible we should ensure that someone such as myself or Lady Valerie is at her side."

"Do you think that you have anything to fear from your father's own people, my Lady?" General Ferdinand asks.

"They will undoubtedly be watching, but none of them would dare risk my father's wrath by doing me harm," Katyana says.

"It is important that you behave as though you have no fears of any sort," Valerie says. "The ultimate goal is for the people of Elyssia to accept you as one of our own. You should assume that this has already happened; let it show in how you walk, how you speak, and how you dance. Elyssia is already your home." She pauses for a moment, then gets up and walks around the table, holding out her hand for Katyana to take. "But I imagine no one has troubled to ask you this yet, Katyana. Do you want Elyssia to be your home? Think not about all these plots and plans and conspiracies, and look into your heart. Is this what you desire?"

Katyana's smile returns to her face. "You are right, Valerie... no one has asked me that yet. And strangely, my answer is the same as it would have been months ago, and yet everything about it has changed. It was my original intention to take the crown of Elyssia by ****; there is no point in denying that. Now, however, I can see that I could never have truly become Queen of Elyssia in this way, because Elyssia itself would have been no more. This place, it is more than the castle, more than the mountains and the meadows, more than the markets and the inn and the bathing pools. I have been here only a day, and yet even I can see..."

"...Elyssia is the people," she continues, her young, feminine voice carrying with surprising clarity over the silent crowd. "Elyssia is the milkmaid named Anna, who handed the scepter to the King. Elyssia is Gregor, the farmer, who offered to sell my guardsman a crate of berries when we arrived here yesterday. Elyssia is Johann the Silversmith, who came here from a distant country and made his home here, as so many among you have. Elyssia is Lady Trina Sarawynn, a woman who wields sword and shield to protect and defend the King and all the people. Elyssia is a young boy named Angus, who came here as an orphan with nothing to his name; and while in any other city he would be doomed to beg in the streets, in this place he was taken in by strangers who did not even share the language of his birth, and who now raise him as their own child. Elyssia is Xavier, a blacksmith who became a great King. Elyssia is Love, and Light, and it is beautiful."

Katyana spoke nearly as eloquently in your parlor two hours before, and Valerie insisted that this was exactly what the people needed to hear: honest words straight from her heart, words which spoke of what she had found here in Elyssia and what it had stirred within her. You knew only a part of what she would say, that which she has just said; what comes next, only Katyana herself knows. As a precaution, Sir Magnus is under orders to take her back to the castle with all speed if the crowd should turn on her... but for the moment, they are holding silent as they must in order for her to he heard.

"You know who I am," she says, taking a moment to look over all present. "Some of you may believe I came here as a prelude to the army which will come later, that my intention is to conquer and plunder your home, this beautiful kingdom. To those who believe that, I tell you now: Yesterday, you would not have been wrong."

A murmur runs through the crowd, threatening to grow louder, until you stand and put up your hands for silence. It takes a moment for the crowd to settle into quiet once again. A baby cries out at the verge of the square, and is soothed by its mother's breast.

"Yesterday, you would not have been wrong," Katyana says again. "I came here intending to take this city by ****, to seize its castle, claim it all as my own. But I can see now that I could never have conquered Elyssia, because to do so would destroy all which makes Elyssia what it is. This is not a place to be conquered... it is a place to be cherished and treasured. I have fallen in love with Elyssia. I see upon many of the faces turned toward me now the understanding of this feeling, as it is one shared by so many who see this place. I feel that connection with you now. Having felt this wondrous love, I never wish to lose it again, but that means there is something I must put behind me forever.

"My father is Velimir of Reznik. I will not lie to you now; his will is to see this kingdom under his boot. But I defy that will." Katyana raises her voice as much as she can to be heard over the crowd as they begin to stir again. "I will not take my place at the head of his conquering army. From this day forward, as all present now are my witnesses, I renounce my name, and the Warlord who was my father!"

The noise from the crowd has grown to the point where you find you cannot easily silence them, and you gesture to Magnus.

"SILENCE!" Sir Magnus roars. "SILENCE! SILENCE, IN THE NAME OF THE KING!"

The noise of the crowd settles, but you can tell it will not remain so for long. In the moment that Sir Magnus is distracted, Katyana steps up and climbs onto the railing, balancing precariously above the crowd, and from her sleeve pulls the dagger which she carries there, holding it aloft. A collective gasp rises from the square, and then at last the crowd goes truly silent.

"I am Katyana of House Reznik, NO MORE!" she shouts out to the people in the square, and draws the blade of the dagger across her palm. She squeezes it shut for a moment, then opens her hand to show the scarlet stain to the crowd. "I swear this upon my own blood!"

And then, the city square goes mad.

Magnus immediately pulls Katyana down from her perch, and all around you the Kingsguard and the city watchmen assigned to the balcony lay hands upon their sword hilts... but in moment, it becomes clear that the noise of the crowd is not that of an angry mob. Rather, it is the sound of cheers and applause.

You meet Katyana's eyes and find them wide and almost frenzied, as if the emotional tempest of the seething mass in the square has seized upon her as well, but she calms quickly and regains composure. The scene on the balcony where you stand is nearly as tumultuous as that below, but Sir Magnus is able to bring Lady Katyana to you, and in her bloodied hand she holds the knife she used to swear her oath, now back in its sheath.

"I gave you a sheathed blade as a sign of peace from the Warlord," she says. "The offer was a false one. Now, I offer this blade from Katyana, and the offer comes from my heart as truly as the blood upon the steel."

"Gladly, I will accept it," you tell her, "but I think we are beyond such things."

"I agree," she says, closing her eyes and standing up on her toes to reach your lips.

It is quite an experience, to share a kiss with Katyana in the midst of what can only be described as chaos all around you. For just a moment, it even seems as though the shouting fades into silence... and then you realize that this is because it actually has, for the most part. You part from Katyana and turn to look out upon the crowd, and see that your entire kingdom seems to be watching you in open astonishment.

There will never be a better moment for what you must do next. If there is one thing you learned as a blacksmith which also applies to a King, it is that you must strike while the iron is hot!

You take Katyana by the hand, a hand still oozing crimson... something will need to be done about that, but for the moment it almost seems appropriate. Together you approach the edge of the balcony, right up next to the railing, and then very deliberately, you drop to one knee before her.

"I would ask for Katyana to be my bride," you say to her. "If the people of Elyssia will welcome you, I ask you to become my Queen. If they do not, then I can only hope that you will consent to be wife to a blacksmith. What say you, my Lady... my lovely one?"

She smiles, and it is the most beautiful, the most genuine smile you have ever seen upon her lips. "So long as I may be wed to the man before me, I could ask for no more," she says, "for although we both know that this proposal was not born of love, I do love you Xavier... and I see in your eyes that even if you do not share these feelings now, they are there within you and they will come in time. But I confess, I am curious as to whether I will be Queen or commoner. Shall we ask them?" she says, indicating the crowd.

"By all means."

Katyana turns back to face the crowd. "Your King asks for my hand in marriage!" she shouts to the people below. "I could hope for no greater honor... but I will consent only by the will of Elyssia! What say you all?"

The great cheer that thunders from the crowd below makes it clear that any who might object are very much in the minority.