Blood Shaper

“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.”

“Fine,” The man, who was at least six times Kay’s age, sat back in his seat with a huff, looking away and pouting.

“David, keep up the good work. We need those defenses ready sooner rather than later, although I’m not expecting anything this week. Anthony?”

The illusion nodded deeply and started speaking in its mild-mannered voice, “My lord, I’ve received no new reports regarding the movement of any Vampyr hunting organizations, including the Shatterplate Order. My last reports had all the major ones acting as usual, and the minor ones we have any information on weren’t heading in this direction. Nothing of import from or about any major nations either, although some of the city-states to the south are having political upheaval that doesn’t have much to do with us. Also, Nelamian interests are still playing games in Tumbling Rapids, with little success so far. The setback they had during your time there put them in a hole that they haven’t recovered from, although not for lack of trying.” The illusion of a human man slipped one illusionary piece of paper behind another and continued, “Here in Avalon, we’ve had no major incidents, although we have had several minor ones. More than one worker from the Ministry of Planning and Building was caught by several of the traps we have set out, including the fake plans of various buildings. A smaller number were found planting small enchanted items made to allow eavesdropping or other information gathering in areas in the palace that are still under construction as well. Only one of those has spilled anything under questioning so far, and she claims to be working for a criminal organization that wants to expand in our direction. A few other criminals or potential spies have been found or are suspected as well, although none are worth reporting in detail at this time.”

Kay nodded, keeping his expression blank as he listened to the heavily sanitized report. There was a lot more going on under the surface in Avalon, but they weren’t going to be spreading that about in public meetings, restricted to certain officials or not. There were multiple spies for major powers in the city and at least one active espionage operation underway. Thankfully it wasn’t targeting Avalon, so Kay had Isla gather more information before a decision was made to interfere or not. So far, it seemed to be a play to change the succession of a noble family in one of the smaller nations to the west, which would allow a son who supported a certain country over another to gain more power. If that’s all it was, Kay wasn’t going to have anyone stick their noses in, but it could always be more.

Also, the part of the report that Kay really cared about hadn’t been changed at all; no one major was making dangerous moves in their direction. It was going to happen eventually, Avalon was growing too fast, and he personally was getting too powerful for someone not to try something, to say nothing of his change into a Vampire, but it didn’t seem like it was happening soon. He definitely wanted those walls and new defenses done before it came to that, though.

With a nod and a short “thank you” to the illusion, Kay moved on to the newest member of the meetings. “Next, Judge Corea. Welcome to our regular meetings; thank you for coming.”

“It isn’t as if I could refuse, my lord,” The older beastkin woman replied with a small smile. The judge was a wolf beastkin with sleek black fur that was starting to ever faintly go gray. That meant she was either significantly older than Kay thought or had gotten to a higher tier later in life, like Cyrus. “Although in the conversations we’d had before, it made it sound like you didn’t want to… insert yourself too much into the judiciary, if I may be so bold?” She asked slowly.

Kay waved a hand as if flicking the idea away, “I definitely don’t. You aren’t here to report to me about any decisions made, or sentences passed. I merely want reports on the actual running of the judiciary. Budget issues, need for more space or requiring more cells, whatever. The same reason that Representative Sapveins is here to speak about how Parliament is running.” The younger elven man, a representative of a section of Avalon City, lazily waved, the bright green light of his veins standing out among the rest of his hand.

“Ah, then, in that case, I have no issues or matters of import to report. Things are going well so far, and we’ve been managing to keep pace with the expansion of Avalon up to this point.”

“Very good! Commander Huento?” Kay gestured for the Guard Commander to report while also following her request to use her title and last name when around others.

She bowed fractionally in her chair, “Nothing to report at this time, my lord. We’ve been working closely with the judiciary, of course, and my report matches Judge Corea’s. Obviously, there’s been minor crime to deal with, but no large events or truly heinous acts recently, and we’ve also been expanding with the growth of the city, both in population and physical size. Recruiting has been at pace, and we’ve added two new guard stations in the last month to deal with the creation of new neighborhoods.”

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.”