Ch. 1 - Foundation

Tobias
§

Toby awoke much too early with Florie shaking him. He tried to pull the covers further over his head, to sleep more. But Florie called his name again and reluctantly, he blinked his eyes open and asked what the matter was. She said that petitioners had been arriving since the first night, and now there was a crowd of commoners who wanted to speak with their new lord. "You should talk to them, Florie," Toby said, a little panicked. "You're better at it."

"I can't," Florie insisted as she hurried to dress. "You are their lord. You have to talk to them."

Unhappily, Toby got dressed too. He didn't want this, didn't know how to be a lord. Knighthood, he knew, and fighting, and hunting. Not speeches and politics. He didn't know what was expected from him. Florie sent for Cyril and Zel, and they all went to the top of the tower, coaching Toby in what to say as they went. He just had to introduce himself, to reassure his people that the times of uncertainty were over, that the raiders were gone. At the top of the tower, with so many people staring at him, he nearly forgot everything he should say. But he managed a speech with all of those points in it, and he got through it. The people cheered, but it was clear he had not yet won them. They'd had too many years of poor rule to be swayed immediately. He said he would hold audiences, and hoped to just get the day over with.

He and the others settled in in the main hall of the tower, listening to various complaints. Many were easily dealt with, but a few stood out as larger problems. One was a long-standing land feud, and the way the three men involved talked of it, and the way others were paying attention to them, it was clear that if Toby could solve this, he would be better than the others. The next important matter was the Miller's daughter, who was just old enough to be into womanhood, and who came with two smaller children, her siblings. She explained that the raiders had killed her parents, and burned part of the mill, and although the mill was being rebuilt, the millstone had cracked in the heat of the fire. Toby didn't need her explanation to know that it was vital to the whole area that a new stone be found. One of the last petitioners was a big, bearded man who looked used to hard work, and he introduced himself as a farmer, and raised the issue that in the drought, animals had been killed and eaten, and he begged of his lord two new breeding animals. He could not give much, he said, but he had one thing. At his word, a boy shuffled forward. The man introduced him as his second son Mark, and said that for the animals, he would pledge the boy into Toby's service. Toby waited for Florie to nod almost imperceptibly, and agreed. The boy was young, not much older than Corwin, but it was clear from his now-lanky body that he would grow to be as towering as his father. A short while later, they were thankfully done with the petitioners, and now had to work out a course of action.

Cyril
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Maester Cyril had taken notes as Florie asked, and heard all the petitioning. He saw the others acting for the first time as fully autonomous figures of authority, and saw Toby's discomfort. And he saw something else, something that didn't quite sit well with him. They were acting as lord and lady, and he was acting as an employee. There was no hint of the closeness they had all developed. It was like they had now put up walls that had not been there before, and worse, it seemed that if Florie was planning anything, she wasn't sharing it. She said nothing to him as they talked about finding a reliable way to split the disputed land, and Cyril went alone to the town smith to comission a chain that they could use to measure by. It was all so mundane, like the lofty goals of before had been forgotten. But he did his duty and kept silent. He watched as Tobias and Florie sent for a millstone from the town with the Felsward iron mines, then sent men to purchase a great number of breeding livestock. Tobias and Florie knew they would have to shore up their defenses, so they offered animals in return for sons being turned over to serve as soldiers.

A week went by, and it was filled with the simple minutiae of running Tynker and its lands. Then the measuring chain was ready, and they all travelled to the disputed farms. Cyril did his best to put aside his irritation at ordinary surveying, and to be patient with them. Toby and Florie were young, and clearly a little overwhelmed. Maybe now that they were on the road again, their greater goal would come back into focus. The land around Tynker got more beautiful the further into it they got. It was grassy and full of little streams and brooks, and would recover well into fine, fertile land. He could see the temptation here, that this place was a comfortable holding, if not prosperous now, then easy enough to make it so. He wondered if the others, frightened by ambition, would want to stop here.

Then they arrived at the farms, and Cyril's business was the tedious task of parceling out the land and hearing the suspicions of the farmers. Even though all the men agreed to the conditions set by their lord and lady, and agreed to abide by the new parceling, it was clear that each was seeking an advantage for himself. One of them invited the party to stay the night, and not knowing enough to be politic about it, Tobias agreed. That had the others muttering about favoritism, and one of them tried to get Cyril to favor him. Cyril met his attempts impassively, though. None of these men could offer him anything of import. He finished his task, a little disgusted at having to deal with such small matters. Maybe now, they could get something real done.

Drezielle
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Zel left the others to their politics, for the most part. She had helped Florie and Tobias purchase all the livestock they were repopulating the land with, in return for land promised to her. A good deal of it had been left empty due to attacks by the raiders, and after winter, it would once again be fine, fertile soil. It was a good trade, and a good fallback if, in the end, she was left with nothing else. She would, she knew, just keep going along, working things to her best advantage, as she'd always tried to do. She enjoyed the hospitality of the farmers they stayed with, and heartily approved of Toby's plan in the morning to breakfast with each of the three families. Toby, who was still enough of a boy to have an appetite for it, grinned his way through three breakfasts, and ended with all three families feeling better about the entire arrangement. Zel enjoyed this kind of diplomacy-- one that didn't involve complicated plans, and did involve lots of food.

They camped on their way back to Tynker, and that night, Corwin came to her tent. He looked anxious, and asked if she could sleep. Zel made sure all of her boys' clothing was well in place, and let him in, refraining from snapping that she had already been mostly asleep. Corwin was clearly anxious, and as he talked to her, it became clear that he was anxious that with Toby's new responsibilities, he would lose his place with his knight. Zel tried to reassure him, saying that there was no way Toby would forget about him, and that she was sure Corwin would stay by his side. The boy wasn't certain, still, but it was enough to get him to sleep.

The next day, back at Tynker, even with things there going well, there was tension. Toby was having to decide how many of Lord Felsward's forces to send back, and how many he could safely keep for longer, while they tried to gather their own forces. Florie was engrossed in overseeing her sept being built, and Cyril seemed unhappy. Wanting something to go a little better, Zel went and talked to Toby, bringing up Corwin's anxieties. They decided to take Corwin and the new boy, Mark, and train in the courtyard. It would also serve the purpose of giving Zel more familiarity with a sword without so much danger of exposing her gender. Toby seemed more comfortable this way, happier in the elements he was familiar with. But after a time, Cyril came to speak with Toby, and Zel saw his expression darken again as they talked.

Florie
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Florie was praying at the site where the sept was being built, trying to gain the calm and focus that her prayers had come to bring her. Hands clasped, she stared at the empty spaces where the Seven would reside, and she whispered familiar words, asking for guidance. She noticed she was not alone, and she turned, seeing Cyril standing a bit behind her. He apologized for interrupting her at prayer, but she shook her head, and moved close to speak to him. He started talking of house matters, but it was clear something else was on his mind. Then he said something about whatever plots she was not sharing, and Florie saw what had been bothering him. She drew a breath, and said that there was nothing she had not shared with him and that she knew the danger this new home held, the danger of becoming complacent, of letting their goals slip out of reach. Cyril was a little relieved, she could tell, but he still held himself stiffly, still talked with a reservedness he normally kept for others. Florie tried not to be stung by it. Both of them had ambition that stretched well beyond their experience, and both of them knew just how much was at stake. Florie promised she would write to Florent, and would think about what to do. Then she asked him, haltingly, if he would speak with Toby, because he'd been bothered by something, and wouldn't tell her what. Cyril agreed to talk to him, but offered no comfort. Florie supposed that neither of them could afford it right now.

She slept fitfully that night, and felt the cold stealing in through the windows.

She was walking with her husband, through their new, lush lands. Fall was taking over, but it was not unpleasant, and there was still growth around them. In fact, up the side of a cliff face, there was a heartbreakingly beautiful rosebush, with the roses in full bloom. Florie pointed them out to Toby. She had to have one. Without a second thought, Toby climbed a way up the cliff to try and reach the roses. The cliff face was too sheer, though, and he couldn't make it up. Undaunted, he ran off and returned with armfuls of lumber and stones, and piled them against the cliff. They added little height, though, so he brought Corwin, who stood on his shoulders and reached in vain for the flowers. They both left, and returned with Cyril and Zel, who started helping to build a scaffolding of sorts, and they came back with men to help build. Every so often, Toby would climb the scaffold to see if it was high enough. It got dark, and it got cold. Florie could see frost starting to form on the sides of the scaffolding. It was entirely frost-rimed by the time Toby tried climbing again, and Florie couldn't tell him it was too dangerous. He reached, straining, as his fingers brushed the leaves of the bush. But the frost made him slip, and the scaffold was high. He could not catch himself, and he fell all the way down. Florie ran forward, and the others vanished, and she could only see Tobias's broken form. She knelt by him, sobbing, as snow began to fall.

She awoke in tears, and freezing cold besides. She pressed herself against Tobias, and he woke, staring at her in concern. She told him about the dream, and said she didn't want her ambition to make her lose him. "We just didn't do it right in your dream," Toby said, stroking her hair. "And I'm alive. See? I'm fine. I'll be fine."

In the morning, Florie was still cold, and she wrapped a cloak around herself as they ate breakfast with the others. Once she had a warm drink in her, she shared the dream with them too, and listened as the others discussed what it might mean. It showed, Cyril said, that they needed a plan, a firm one, that took them all the way to the end. And they all agreed that if they could not succeed by winter, they would not succeed at all.