Book 4: Chapter 5

Book 4: Chapter 5

“A few of the smaller businesses we invested capital in have started seeing higher profits recently,” Cyrus told the table, continuing his report on Avalon’s economy, “So we’re getting higher returns from that sector. Overall, we’re seeing slightly more growth than I expected, but otherwise, it’s been following the trends I predicted.” He sat back and placed his hands on top of each other in his lap, “That finishes my report for today.”

“Great,” Kay gestured at the next Minister at the table, “David?”

David, the Minister of Planning and Building, nodded and glanced down at a set of notes he’d brought with him, “In terms of the city itself, nothing new to report. The construction that’s underway is going well, everything we’re doing has been within acceptable realms in terms of time to completion and budget, and the private construction going on has been inspected and either been given the go-ahead to continue or some small issues were dealt with. Nothing major there. When it comes to the building and expansion of the palace and other government buildings and facilities, it’s similar news. We’ve had a few people make some unwise decisions about accepting money or favors to do things they shouldn’t, but they’ve been dealt with.” He nodded at Anthony, the illusion that Isla, Kay’s spymaster, used to hide her real form, who nodded back from the chair next to David’s.

“What about the military construction?” Kay asked.

“It’s going... well? I’ll be honest, most of the ‘defensibility’, if that’s even a word, of what we’re building is beyond me. What we’re making is sturdy, but I couldn’t tell you much about how useful it will be in battle. Commander Crucius’ people are telling me everything’s good there, though, so I’m not worrying about it. In terms of meeting the deadline... probably. Things are a little strained, time-wise, but we’re right on the edge of making it or missing it. I can move people off of other projects that will be finishing soon, which should make up for some of the loss. Finally, we’re over budget.”

“Over the budget that you were asked to stay within or over the actual budget you were given?” Cyrus asked, nonchalantly picking at one of his fingernails without looking at anyone.

“The first one. Transporting everyone to the top of the cliff and back down costs more than the original estimates showed, so we had to dig into the rest of the funds to cover that. The actual construction of the walls up there is within budget; it’s just the transport that’s bringing us a little under.”

“Will you be staying at or under the full budget?” Kay cut off Cyrus’ triumphant speech before it could begin.

“Of course! I’d have said something much earlier.”

“Good.” Kay shot Cyrus a glance when he started to dramatically inhale again, “No. You already told us all we don’t need a repeat. There are no issues with Parliament asking for projects to attempt to stay within a lesser budget if we make sure that they have access to more funds if they need it. Next time you get a chance, you can use this to browbeat them into listening to you more; we don’t need to hear the entire lecture a fourth time.”

There were a few more reports from various people. The newest Ministry they were setting up, the Ministry of Diplomacy, didn’t have enough people for there to be a minister yet, but Amanda handled that report, which was pretty much the same as it had been in the last two meetings, which amounted to: “We’re still working at coming into existence”. While there were topics to be discussed and business to be handled, none of it was of note; it was just the continued bureaucratic necessities of running a political entity of any form outside of anarchy.

“Alright, that seems to be everything for today. Thank you, everyone, and I’ll see you all at the next meeting.”

Eleniah grabbed onto his shoulder as he was gathering up his supplies and passing them on to one of his various administrative assistants. Amanda was still trying to get him to take on a personal assistant, but he was still resisting. What was the point of having an assistant that followed him around all the time if none of them were any good in combat? It didn’t make sense to only have them around for part of his life. It was looking more and more like he needed a majordomo or whatever the right title for that job was. Someone that followed him around, in fights and off them, and worked to make his life a little easier, whether that was administration or anything else. Of course, finding someone for that position was going to be a pain in the ass.

“Hey,” Eleniah shook him a little knocking him out of that line of thought, “You have something to do.”

“Uh, yeah, I have a class to teach after this on Blood Manipulation now that we’re actually allowing people beyond the Blood Guard to learn it. I’m a little concerned about how that’s going to go. I’m still in agreement that acting like everything is normal is a lot better plan than going around shouting about how everything is alright, and don’t be afraid; I’m really not a monster now because that will backfire, but I’m still a bit worried.” He handed another pile of papers off without looking, “Maybe that’s more that I’ve never actually taught as large of a class as this. Three hundred people? It’s a lot.”

“I can help you with that kind of stuff; teaching to large groups isn’t that bad with some practice, and I have some tips, but that’s not what I’m talking about. You, Lauren, and Alice need to talk. You’re the first people of a brand new species in this world, and none of you have addressed that or the violent way it happened to you!”

Kay looked at her silently. After a moment, his shoulders slumped as he sighed, “You’re right.”

“Then let’s go.”

“I can’t,” He tapped at his wrist where a watch would go, an expression that Eleniah understood after he’d explained it, “The class starts in half an hour, and I know talking about this with them is going to take a lot longer than that. Plus, I can’t exactly reschedule a class that has three hundred attendees and still keep the whole ‘everything is fine’ campaign going.”

She stepped in close, her nose touching his, “After, then? You promise?” Her stare was intense and demanding.

“I promise I’ll have an actual talk with them, in-depth without leaving anything out, about becoming vampires together.”