Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Whiteness. Pure whiteness again. As my eyes adjusted I, again, found myself in the King's study staring at documents and maps. The door burst open and the King stomped in at me. Before he could point his sword at me I chanted 'Tempus Novus' and stood in a room dyed red.
I relieved the King of his sword and unbuckled his armour, giving him a quick punch in the kidney before I returned to the desk and stuck the sword in the wall behind me. I released the spell and watched the fun.
"Are you the-" he was interrupted by the pain in his side, and his armour falling off him.
He stood there a moment, confused. He looked for the sword in his hand, and finding nothing, looked around the room. His sword embedded in the wall behind me, my superior grin, and his sudden lack of protection were just too much for the poor man. He stood in the centre of the room, as still and as white as a marble statue.
"Now your highness, since we're all civilized, let's have the very difficult talk we need to have."
The suggestion of civility has an interesting effect on people. The desire to appear civilized easily overwrites aggressive desires in a person experiencing surprise. In a culture such as this one, that desire is very mind-forward, especially among the upper crust.
The three of them gathered chairs and sat down in a row on one side of the table. The king's bodyguards had stepped into the room, observing nervously from the corner near the door.
"Your highness, this nation is facing several internal crises, and your crusade is a waste of money and time. The collection of books in this room covers only two subjects, I do hope you studied more at the university. And your son is shaping up to be an impotent leader."
"How dare you?!" The king shouted, rising to his feet. "The Kingdom of Gowdan is the best Kingdom ever! We strike fear into our enemies, we are envied by our allies, and we are the richest nation on the continent!"
"I've heard that line before. Look, the higher a building is, the more rubble is left over when it falls. If you keep spending money you don't have on a war you don't need, you'll have none left for internal spending. Can I ask you a question about farming?"
"Why would I know about farming?" he asked as he returned to his seat. "That's a peasant's work."
"That's what I thought. And how do the peasants learn about farming?"
"From their parents I assume."
"So there isn't any standard of farming that you know of?"
"I wouldn't know, I'm the bloody King!"
"So if there were mass flooding to the south here," I say while indicating on the map, "wiping out the spring crops and preventing the growth of the fall crops, what would be your orders?"
"We eat from the north." He said, indicating the northern lands.
"What do they grow in the north there?"
The King had to think about it, and seemed to fail.
"Tubers and herbs, mostly." Pip chimed in.
He seemed quite enthused that he knew something his father did not.
"Perhaps the country's not doomed after all. Yes, I assumed root vegetables were the primary northern crops in this nation. Pip, would you happen to know how much of these are produced in the average year?"
"Not as such, but I've heard there is more food being sent north than there is coming from there."
"So your whole country would have to live on tubers and herbs for the year, and there wouldn't likely be enough. Now, knowing this, your highness, your orders?"
After a long pause, "We invade the eastern nations and take their stocks!"
"Wrong!" I shout, throwing a pencil at him. "An army marches in its' stomach. Your invasion would fail, your army would be decimated, and your citizenry would still have no food! You there, by the door."
The guards were already watching me closely, but they tensed up when I acknowledged them.
"Bring me someone familiar with farming."
One of them left the doorway to fetch someone. In the meantime I kept lecturing the king about the lack of breadth in his knowledge base and the fact that a king should have at least a theoretical understanding of everything going on in his domain.
"You said you didn't know about farming because you're the king. This policy is not going to serve you well. The best kind of leader is one who has complete awareness of everything going on in his domain. You're going to have to learn as we go with these reforms. Your son has an advantage in this aspect. He'll get to learn with you, well ahead of the time he'll be in charge."
A young maid was ushered into the room by the guard who'd left. She appeared shaken but stepped forward to the side of the table nonetheless.
"I assume they brought you here because you grew up on a farm."
"Uh, yes ma'am, I was born in the southwest, near the coast. My family grew wine fruits there until the land was appropriated for a military base."
I stood speechless, eyes closed and drawing a long breath.
"I can't believe you would wipe out a family farm to build a military base." I said resting my head in my hand. "Anyway, I have a question for you young lady. In the event a mass flood wipes out the southern spring crop and prevents the growth of the fall crops, how would you feed the nation?"
"We would have to rely on the fisheries, and the highland orchards. Even so, there would not be enough."
"There is no contingency plan for this occurrence is there?"
A collective, shameful shaking of heads from the assemblage.
"Is there any large food store in the nation that could be used in this case?"
After a long pause, B-man mentioned, "The church has been experimenting with food related magic. Perhaps they would have a solution."
"This is the first I've heard of it, Baldar!" the king admonished.
"Forgive me your highness, but you've been away for some time, and it was far too sensitive to include in correspondence."
"But you'll mention it to her?!"
"In the current situation your highness I feel it would be foolish to hide any information. Lest we be jettisoned from the windows..."
"The windows..."
"It's a proud tradition from my original world. The removal of politicians and noblemen from office is known as 'defenestration'. It comes from an account of political revolution in which the corrupt senators were physically thrown from their office windows. I'm not above continuing the tradition here if I must."
"Your original world?" The King asked skeptically.
I'm sure the king was worried I was some succubus, come to seduce his son and lead his nation to ruin. As if I needed to intervene at all if that was my goal. Still I maintain that it'll be easier to continue in honesty.
"Yes, as I've explained to your mage and son, I am from another world. Specifically my mind is from another world, this body is not my original."
"So are you trying to return to your world?"
"No. I'm not going back there. Whole planet's run by morons, for the benefit of the wealthy. Nope. I'm staying right here, and making myself comfortable."
The king pondered this a while.
"I suppose we should go to the Church then. The Bishops may know why you're here."
"I don't understand. Has this happened before?"
"There are obscure legends of heroes being sent from other worlds in times of old. Some were sent to destroy, and others to build. There are no written records that I'm aware of from those times, but as I said, the Bishops may know more."
"All information is valuable information. Even though I have no intention of going back, knowing the how, or at least the why, of my arrival could be helpful. Also I need more information on the magic of this world, and the education standards."
"Education?"
"B-man can fill you in on the details of my plan later. Where is this church anyway?"
"I'll make travel arrangements, it's quite a journey."
"Lovely. I guess that's it for today then. I'm going to explore the grounds, get the lay of the place."
"I'll join you!" Pip said a little too enthusiastically.
With a raised eyebrow I responded, "Great, you can tell me how the castle is constructed."
The trepidation on his face was so thick you could have spread it on toast. Still he followed along as I strode past the guards and started my tour of the castle. It was quite ornate compared to the walls around it, and the town outside.
"So Pip, how is it the aesthetic style and construction of the Palace itself is so far ahead of the rest of the compound?"
"Oh you were serious about that." he said, looking dejected but not surprised. "I've been told that the castle itself is far older than the Palace we're currently in. The old palace was destroyed in a fire or something, leaving the rest as it was. So when the new one was built they used the most fitting royal style they had at the time."
"How long ago was this?"
"When my father was a child."
"You're a fountain of knowledge, Pip. Makes me wonder why you were acting the dullard earlier."
He hesitated in answering as I continued to admire the architecture. Amazing that a society capable of building this decades ago hasn't advanced the standard of the general public's housing past logs and clay shingles. Perhaps the church is holding them back intentionally for some reason. That reason being fear, most likely. That's usually what it is. People with power are afraid of what might happen if others got power. Ironically the hoarding of power invariably results in power being taken forcibly away.
As I mused such, Pip had formulated his answer. "That's who I am. I've been told to observe and remain silent most of my life. And in public it's important for the royal family to behave as such."
"So the peasantry would rather see their future king as someone only slightly smarter than they are? I suppose that makes sense. A lot of dumb people are insecure about their intellect."
We continued on like this a while, until dinner was served. Even at dinner the guards were intently watching the interloper. No matter, as long as they don't interfere we won't have a problem.
"Jean, was it? Baldar has informed me of your intentions regarding education."
"And I'll hear your concerns."
"You certainly will. What you've proposed would shake the very foundation of our hierarchical system. The peasants would have knowledge available that even most nobles have no interest in."
"Respectfully sir, that is already the case. Your largely agrarian society relies on the farming ability of the peasantry. Not many of the upper crust knows the first thing about farming, and if the peasants ever decided to stop farming, that would be the end to your hierarchy right there. My education plan will not shake that system, it will supplant it. In the face of new knowledge and possibilities, many things will become obsolete."
"But to do so rapidly would invite chaos. We can't have the peasants getting an immediate upper hand on the nobles, the monarchy, or even the church! If they were to get to the point of not needing us by next year, they wouldn't know what to do. The ambitious among them would overrun the rest."
"I agree, which is why we must first establish a change in social attitude. The peasantry must see the upper class as 'public servants' rather than rulers. If you demonstrate that you fill the role of maintaining order and leading the nation as a whole, the possibility of rebellion and chaos diminishes significantly."
"Public servants? You mean we should bow to their every whim?"
"Far from it. The job of a public servant, in an ideal setting, is simply to administrate the lives of the common man. This would mean to ensure that every citizen has equitable opportunity to contribute to the nation as a whole. At the same time, it becomes very important to ensure that no citizen becomes above the law, or gets into a situation where their activities hinder the lives of others. In this way you would become more a pure leader than simply a ruler. You would lead by example, rather than by issuing orders."
"Is this how it worked in your old world?"
"I think it was the original plan, but by my time it had degraded into a meaningless popularity contest. The people everyone recognized did almost nothing, and the people really doing everything were largely ignored. Corruption and manipulation were the norm, sadly accepted by the masses."
"How should we avoid that here?"
"The simplest way would be to maintain a policy of complete openness. It may be unpleasant to have every in-office action watched and recorded, but it makes it much harder for potential corruptors to gain influence."
We continued to mull over the topic throughout dinner. The king was a surprisingly reasonable man, for one whose shelves housed only two subjects. Of course there was only so far I'd be able to go with my plans while he was in charge. I would have to groom Pip into a more well-rounded leader than his father.
After dinner I was informed that the travel plans were arranged, and we would leave in the morning. A room had been prepared for me, and Pip volunteered to show me there.
As we walked Pip asked me a question which had clearly been on his mind since our first meeting.
"In your old life you were a man, right?"
"Where you going with this, Pip?"
"I was just wondering; how different does it feel? Do you still feel like a man, or..."
"To be honest, I never felt comfortable in my old world, body or no body. It's strange to find myself inhabiting the other gender, but at the end of the day, I'm not my body. The human being is comprised of 2 main components: Body and Mind. Who you are is your mind. The body is just a vessel for the mind, a 'flesh-puppet' if you will. So while it was a surprise, it's not any stranger than my last body was. And at least I get a new body here. My old one wasn't in the best shape when I left it.
Now I think back, when I left a great public debate was waging regarding this very issue. A small percentage of people were so uncomfortable with their bodies that they would change then via medical procedure to look more the way they wanted. Some went so far as to swap genders, feeling that their original one didn't suit them. Seemed a waste of energy to me. No matter how you change it, or how much work you put into being comfortable, your body in impermanent. At the end of your life, your mind goes elsewhere, and your meat-puppet, with all its' flaws, your alterations and decorations, whatever it looks like at the end, it rots away.
Spending so much effort and thought on something so temporary always seemed a waste. Especially so when you could have spent it on your mind instead. It's like decorating a house that's slowly burning down. You're not putting the fire out, you're just hiding it with furniture."
"So that's what humans are eh? What about the other races?"
I stopped still and grabbed him by the sleeve.
"What you mean 'other races' Pip?"
"The uh, the Elves and the Halflings. The Nations to the south are a loose federation of Wilds. There are also sentient rock-men I've heard of, though they live in seclusion and are not often encountered."
"What's a 'Wild'?"
"I suppose you could describe them as half-human, but with any number of beast-like traits."
"Do... have you seen any girls with cats' ears? And a tail...."
"No." Pip said, slightly recoiling from my reaction. "We've never been especially friendly with the Wilds, and since the war started they're not even allowed in the country."
"Then I suppose it's good that the war is over. One of the things often dreamed of in my world is having a squad of cat-girl maids at one's beck and call. But they don't exist there."
"I can't say I approve of your tastes, but until the church officially condones the end of the 'crusade' the war isn't actually over. And it will likely be quite a while before either side is comfortable with sharing their living space."
"Something to look forward to then."
We had reached my quarters by now, and exchanged a handshake before Pip departed for his own room. Guards were placed outside my door, most likely to keep an eye on me, rather than for protection. Nevertheless this was unnecessary in my case.
"Quiescent Slumber." I chanted with both hands on the doors. They glowed softly as the spell set, and they would not move until I released the spell. My assumption about the equations of magic were spot-on. The language used, as well as the very words, are less important than the implied and imparted meaning of the words.
I wondered as I lay there, about the potential applications of magic. How many of the things done with electricity and chemistry in my old world could be done here with magic instead. Certainly even simple magic could be used to generate light and motion. Geomancy could be used in construction, and I wonder if the principles of forced vibration could be used for communication.
These thoughts and more passed through my mind as I slipped into slumber on the ample bed.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Cosmopolitician
Cosmopolitician I wrote this chapter shortly after the first, and am equally satisfied with the content, but I feel the clarity and interpersonal interactions need work.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone