Reveal the plan to Katyana

You have never heard such loud and enthusiastic cheering in your life as you have when you ride Steelheart out into the city square, ready to take your place at the head of the parade. It seems that nearly being killed has done wonders for your popularity (not that it needed much of a boost!). You wave to the crowd, feeling the hurt already in your shoulder. It's going to be a long day of smiling through the pain, but you have endured much worse; being a blacksmith's assistant was hardly risk-free, and you sweated through more than your share of cuts and burns in your youth.

Katyana rides at your side, and she seems almost awestruck, which surprises you at first; surely, she has seen larger crowds and greater spectacles that what a small kingdom like Elyssia can offer. It soon dawns on you, however, that what she has NOT likely ever seen is the sincere adulation which your people rain down upon you; the sound and sight of so many people cheering and applauding because they actually want to, not because they feel they must. It is good that the enthusiasm of the people seems unabated by her presence; it had been your fear that the people of Elyssia might prefer not to cheer so loudly for the daughter of your kingdom's most powerful enemy! But, it is also possible that many of them do not actually know who she is, as her presence was not exactly announced by the town crier, and there has not yet been sufficient time for the whispers to spread to everyone. It is something which will have to be dealt with eventually, especially if Ferdinand's plan is to be put into action.

"They truly love you, Xavier," Katyana says, looking about with wide eyes.

"I am a fortunate king," you acknowledge, "but I cannot pretend that this is typical. We are celebrating our anniversary, I have survived a recent brush with ****, and visitors have more than doubled the city's population. Usually, I can ride out of the castle gate without such applause."

"That is no less remarkable," Katyana says. "I was told by the handmaiden you assigned to me that you frequently go and have a drink in the tavern at the inn, with only a single guardsman accompanying you, and that the people treat you scarcely any differently than they would anyone else. She claimed that she had even shared a pool with you at the public baths!"

"I regularly visit the bathing pools, Katyana. It is most relaxing and invigorating, and I would encourage you to take the opportunity to do the same while you are here. There is a separate area where only women are permitted, if you would be more comfortable not mingling with the men."

"A woman cannot be a battle commander if she is unwilling to mingle with men," Katyana points out. "I have no such qualms... to be honest, the most discomforting part of the experience would be to go without weapons."

"Ah, that is something which even I cannot overrule, I fear. No blade or bow is permitted within the bathing pools; even my Kingsguard must leave their swords at the gate."

Katyana looks puzzled, but before she can say anything else, the trumpets sound to signal the start of the parade. A young girl approaches holding the royal scepter, her face red with excitement. You reach down and accept the scepter from her, the motion stinging the wound in your back, but you are able to lift it without showing any outward sign. "Thank you, Lady Anna," you tell her, and though it is not easy to do from horseback, you lean down to kiss her hand. "Please, go and ride in the royal coach if you wish."

"Thank you, Sire!" she gushes, and after a curtsy to both you and Katyana, she runs off.

"Who was that?" Katyana asks.

"A young milkmaid who won the honor of presenting the scepter by random lottery," you tell her. "I confess I did not know her before today."

Katyana looks only more bewildered at this explanation, but there is no time at the moment for further conversation. The trumpets sound again, you raise the scepter high and then point it forward, and Steelheart strikes off toward the cobblestone road at a slow trot. The rest of the procession stirs into motion behind you; first the Kingsguard, then the high Lords, the knights and squires, and then the royal coach leads the line of carts which have been decorated by the various guilds and merchants of the town. Following them are a number of visitor's wagons, mostly advertising the wares of the tradesmen. The parade becomes increasingly disorganized at the rear, where spectators follow after the last of the carts has passed.

"We have done this every year, but this is easily the largest parade I have ever led," you mention to Katyana. The look on her face is still one of uncertainty, and so you ask, "Is there something amiss, my Lady?"

"I am not sure this is the best time to speak of it," she says.

"Actually, it is the perfect time to speak of whatever you wish," you tell her. "As long as you don't mind keeping up a smile, we could discuss the deepest of state secrets; it would be impossible for anyone to overhear us in this crowd. And I would welcome the conversation... this is the first time I have had someone riding at my side for the parade, after all."

"I am quite honored, Xavier," she says. You catch a hint of suspicion in her voice; it is clear that she expects that her place in the parade is no mere courtesy. "Tell me, please... what did you mean when you said you could not overrule the matter of weapons at the bathing pools?"

"Well, not that I would wish to do so, but if I tried then Arethousa would forbid it. She is the proprietor of the pools, it is her will that rules within those walls."

"But you ARE the King, are you not? How could she be allowed to disobey you in that manner?"

"Just because I am King, it does not make me all-powerful, Katyana."

"Does it not?"

You turn to look at her, and see that she is serious. "Katyana, Elyssia is not a typical kingdom, and of course I am not a typical king. I won this throne essentially by chance, not by birthright. I am King because the people allow me to be. The crown was given to me by the people of Elyssia, and it could be taken away just as easily as it was given. However, that is beside the point as far as I am concerned. I have no desire to be an absolute ruler, even if I could be one. Over the past several years, I have been working with my advisors, lords, and several leading citizens to create plans for ruling Elyssia with less power granted to the crown, and more given over to the people themselves."

Katyana shakes her head. "I do not understand."

"Perhaps after spending some time among us, you will," you say.

"You speak as if your kingdom will still exist in the near future," Katyana says. "I have told you, my father is coming, and he will conquer this city. I have seen the strength of your armies, and while your soldiers and knights are brave and skilled, they are simply too few to mount an effective defense. You have powerful allies, but they cannot remain here indefinitely, and the longer they stay the more of your stores they consume. Eventually, they will have to leave, and when they do my father will strike, and Elyssia will fall. There was a time when I was eager to see this happen... but I did not know you then, Xavier."

"We... are working on a plan. It is still in its formative stages, and it is a rather **** plan, but these are **** times."

"You mean to try and precipitate his attack early?" Katyana asks. You turn to look at her with an eyebrow raised, and she shrugs. "It is your only real hope. If you wait for him to come on his own terms, you have no chance of victory, so you must draw him out. I have tried to think of a way to do this, but even if I sent him a message pleading for him to come and save my life, he would not come - not because he does not value my life, but because he would not believe I was truly in danger."

"Truth be told, we considered that, and came to the same conclusions."

"So, what is it you propose?"

The parade has by this time reached the Stonemason's Bridge, where the procession must narrow in order to pass over the river; the bridge is sufficiently wide for two carts to pass each other, but it is still something of a bottleneck. You take a deep breath as Steelheart steps onto the bridge; this is the moment upon which everything depends.

"Your choice of words is prescient, my Lady Katyana," you say. "What I propose is marriage."

Her eyes go wide, her mouth drops open. "Well," she says at length, "I... would not have thought of that."

"Do you think it would draw him out?"

"Perhaps... if he believed it," Katyana says. "Of course, it would be necessary to take some fairly extraordinary measures to ensure that his informants could not see the bluff."

"Lady Katyana, this is no bluff," you tell her. "If you are agreeable to it, I will ask for your hand in marriage tonight at the feast, and it is absolutely my intention to then go through with a genuine, legitimate wedding at the conclusion of the festival tomorrow. With so much at stake, this is no time for half-measures and tricks. We cannot take the chance of having a bluff called. These people you see around us, the ones who cheer and shout and have no idea that their doom is fast approaching... it is their lives I am trying to save, their homes which will burn if this threat is not countered. Those children you see there, they will be trampled in the street. Those young women will be brutally ****, their loved ones **** to watch helplessly with swords at their throats. That farmer will challenge an armored soldier with nothing but his pitchfork, **** to save his family, and he will be cut down before he has the chance to land a single blow. The last thing that woman will see is her children ripped from her, placed in chains to be sold as slaves, before her skull is crushed. You are no stranger to battle, Lady Katyana; you know that all this and more will come to pass if the Warlord's armies ride into this city.

"Do not mistake me, I beg you," you continue. "I do not see marriage to you as the lesser of two evils. Under other circumstances, and even knowing you as little as I do, I would not be opposed to the idea in and of itself. When I spoke tender and loving words to you last night, I meant them. When I told you that you were a woman of extraordinary beauty and grace, I meant that as well. When I said that you had aroused feelings in me that I never expected, it is because you have, and you do. But let there be no lies between us; I do not ask you to become my queen out of love and passion, but out of necessity, because it is the only way I can see to save my kingdom from destruction and ruin."

Katyana stares straight ahead, unblinking, for a long time. "I must think upon this before I give you my answer," she says at last, almost too quietly to be heard.

"We have little time," you tell her. "I will not **** this upon you, Katyana; the plan depends upon your willing cooperation, and in any event there are some things I will not do even to save my kingdom. If you do this, it must be of your own free will, bearing in mind that the ultimate goal is to see your father defeated. I cannot promise that he would not be killed."

She laughs humorlessly. "I assure you, my father will survive whatever you may have to throw at him," she says. "Have no fear on that score, King Xavier."

"Be that as it may, you will be irrevocably taking a stand against him," you tell her, "and if you should waver in your conviction, then this kingdom will fall. I am not a fool, Lady Katyana; it has occurred to me that all of what has passed between us may be an elaborate ruse on your part, and that this mad plan may be playing directly into Lord Velimir's hands. If that is the case, then we are already lost. But my heart tells me that the woman I held in my arms last night was you in truth, and that you meant the words you said to me as much as I meant what I said to you. Think upon this, as of course you must - but do not take too long, my Lady. The feast will begin tonight at sundown, and I must know your answer before then."

"You will have it, King Xavier," she says... but there is nothing in her voice which tells you what that answer may be.