Chapter 4: The King and Council of Cidaris

(Castle Cidaris, Duchy of Cidaris, Kingdom of Cidaris, Northern Kingdoms, The Continent, Witcher-Verse)

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(King Aethan I Jaenerys of Cidaris POV)

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Aethan returned to Cidaris with a larger party than he'd left with, and he now sat in his Council Chamber with his council and the new additions.

"Vissegard, I formally declare you Commander of the Cintran Special Forces, you will retain your title of Marshal and every leader of the Special Forces who follows you in command will be known as The Marshal, however, you are under the command of my Council General, Duke Agloval. Lady Tasso, I name you head of the Internal Security Bureau, you will root out corruption and disloyalty wherever it takes root in the borders of Cidaris and follow it to the source to surgically excise it from my Kingdom. Lastly, I formally appoint Keira Metz as my Court Sorceress and acknowledge Astrid Davaro and Arianna Glevissig as members of my Royal Council. Furthermore, I appoint Lady Glevissig as my Court Artificer, and Lady Davaro as my court High Almoner. Lastly, I acknowledge Gwendolyn Eivornburg as my Court's Royal Physician.'' Says Aethan as he turns to his Royal Steward.

''Thank you, your grace.'' Each of them replies before Aethan turns to speak again.

''Begin preparations for my wedding, Prepare the invite list and of course buy several times more than we need in wine and food and entertainment. I want the preparations to begin at once, send for Naziri Roses, Cintran Tulips, Temerian Lillies, and Koviri Orchids for the garlands. Order a significant amount of Erveluce, Est Est, Pomino, Fiorano, and a fair amount of Cintran Plum Brandy, Viziman Champion, Redanian Lager, Rivian Kriek, Cintran Faro, and Kaedweni Stout. I want as many of the guests drunk off their asses with good liquor as we can manage.'' Says Aethan.

''My king, this will not be cheap.'' His steward protests, causing Aethan to smile.

''I'm well aware of this, which is why I had begun preparing years ago. My Vineyard in Toussaint has two hundred and fifty barrels of Erveluce, Est Est, and Pomino in the cellar, as well as a hundred and twenty-five barrels of Kaedweni Stout, Cintran Plum Brandy, Cintran Faro, and Rivian Kriek. You can order a Hundred Barrels of the remainder.'' Says Aethan, before turning to the new additions to his council. ''Lady Tasso, you will train members of the Internal Security Bureau at Mount Cremora Citadel, Lady Metz I am giving you Rissberg Fortress, you will be its steward and occupying lady for the duration of your tenure as my Court Sorceress. Marshal Vissegard? You will rotate your recruits between Cremora Citadel and Fort Ravelin for training, the more members of our Special Forces trained in espionage and counterintelligence techniques the better. Lastly, I wish for a survey of all of Cidaris' natural resources and a census of our people to be completed. I want a list of our people, expansive and detailed. Their names, skills, age, gender, and everything in between.'' Says Aethan.

''Do you always switch between things so effortlessly?'' Tasso asks him.

''Yes, now onto the guest list, specifically invite Horst Borsodi, King Venzlav, Queen Meve and Prince Villem, King Demavend and Prince Stennis, Duchess Anna Henrietta and Princesses Isabelle and Fiona, Baroness Mary Louisa la Vallete, King Vizimir, King Niedamir and his son, Henry var Atrre and his wife and children, and King Esterad. Specifically do not invite King Henselt, the Kings of Kerack, Verden, and any monarch south of Cintra. Lady Keira, please also extend an invite to Ladies Eilhart, Merigold, Yennefer, Findabair, Emean aep Sivney, Vigo, and headmistress laux-Antille, and Glevissig.'' Says Aethan, as he takes a breath and drinks a glass of water before turning to face the room.

''What?'' He asks.

''My king, you haven't even set a date or listed a venue.'' Duke Hans tells him.

''Ah, right. Six months from now, and I wish for it to be held here. Which reminds me, in celebration of this wedding, a Grand Tourney will be held, Modeled after the Toussaint Grand Tourney, Every participant in the tourney must pay a fee of four thousand and five hundred Novigradian crowns to qualify for participation, Half of which will go towards the tourney's winner and the remainder to pay for any services they might require.'' Aethan says.

''That should help us keep some costs down at least.'' Says Count Dagored of Vole, his Steward and friend.

''And the potential for information gathering will be exceptionally high as well. After all, except for a woman keeping them company, men have no looser lips than when plied with drink.'' Lady Lucia, his spymaster says.

''Lady Lucia, I'll need to speak with you and Lady Tasso regarding the information activities after this meeting.'' Aethan tells her, before shifting to speak to the council as a whole. ''A final note, I want to begin stockpiling supplies for our armies and navies, medical supplies, rations and weapons, and armour and raw materials and to begin building fortifications along the border regions of Kerack, Brokilon, and Temeria, which means I also want to increase troop patrols in the regions of Vole, Ebeltoft, Vartburg, Roggeveen, and Formyre. Additionally, I want every thief, beggar, fence, moneylender, and bounty broker within the Kingdom brought to the Dungeons. That is all.'' Aethan says, dismissing everyone other than Aurora Tasso and Lucia.

''I want to be clear, although you are in charge of the Internal Security Bureau, you answer to Lucia who is my chief spymaster, moreover while you have a separate voice in this Council, your purview is specifically for internal security, counter-intelligence, and protecting the Cidarian borders. Additionally, you and Lucia will jointly command a Military Intelligence Brigade focused on infiltration and sabotage of the enemy and supporting elite military units. I have such a person in mind for this role, but alas he's currently unavailable.'' He tells Tasso.

''I understand King Aethan, I simply need to know what to expect.'' Says Tasso.

''Good, Lucia listen closely, you too tasso. I want to put every thief, beggar, fence, moneylender, and bounty broker to be put to work. Under them will form a network of contacts and spies within our kingdom. Tasso, you will further this reach by creating agents within the personal guards of every noble of Cidaris, as well as their courts, and amongst their servants. Additionally, I wish for agents to be placed on every dock, in every customs office, at every gate, and within every city guard. The jobs of these agents will be to grow their networks. I wish to have a stranglehold on the intelligence aspect of Cidaris and our neighbours.'' Aethan says as he passes Lucia a document.

''Let's see, Amrynn, Elven Prostitute, to be placed in charge of a new Brothel? What are you up to Aethan?'' Lucia asks.

''Amryn is a favourite of mine, I wish to build a sizable brothel near the Harbor, a Tavern will be built nearby and so too will a Caberat. All three will be connected by secret tunnels, with a sizable underground complex as well. The underground areas not connected through tunnels will serve as additional entertainment and income. Amryn's girls will supply us with information, in exchange they keep what they earn and if they provide a significant bit of information we pay them on top of what they earn. The Tavern will host fights in the underground part, as well as gambling. This is another reason to bring the Moneylenders into line. The Cabaret will serve distinguished guests and will be by far the largest, in addition to entertainment it will double as a large inn, with every waitress on the payroll.'' Says Aethan as he spreads a map of the Harbor, where several buildings are highlighted. ''The Cabaret will be built here, nearest the Merchant Quarter part of the crossroads, while the Tavern will be built near the crossroads to the Harbor, Merchant Quarter, and Entertainment Quarter. While the Brothel will be built here, smack dab in the middle.'' Aethan outlines.

''It's a lot of work, but the long-term gains in intelligence gathering could be worth it.'' Lucia says with a thoughtful hum. ''It'll be a bitch to finance, but it could be a long-term roaring success.'' She adds.

''On another note, it will also give us a good starting point for new operatives to learn the tricks of the trade.'' Tasso adds.

''Exactly, now then, I wish to see my sisters, good day.'' Aethan says as he stands up and leaves. No doubt Atthis had words for him after he had to have some plans revealed to her for the potential "Accidents" that might happen to him during his trip. He also would have to have Keira assist Letho, Gezras, and Ivo on the mission to rescue a certain Nilfgaardian's family. The best time to do it would be during his wedding when all eyes were on Cidaris, no doubt Nilfgaard would want tabs on the event and would send at least a dozen spies, and if his agents were able to incite riots or other disturbances throughout Nilfgaardian territories in the build-up to the wedding it would further distract their intelligence services, making the mission easier.

It was just a matter of targets and timing, everything had to line up well enough and it could NEVER be traced back to the Kingdom of Cidaris. Ideal targets would be Nazair, Cintra, Ebbing, Metinna, and Mag Turga. Because Aethan was fond of Anarietta he'd leave Toussaint alone, but if he was able to destabilize certain parts of those Kingdoms, Emhyr would have to have the Nilfgaardian Military Intelligence investigate extensively and in multiple Kingdoms. The less focused the Nilfgaardian's equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency the better it would be for everyone.

Now it was just a matter of getting his twin to understand that everything he did was for a good reason. Aethan really didn't want to have to tell Atthis what he was planning, but he didn't have a choice, a Kingdom was its most unstable during a succession. And he'd already dealt with a would-be assassin. So, that forced his hand and he left her a lot of documents written in a language only they knew. The languages that comprised that Language were real-life Dutch, German, Spanish, French and Italian. Using certain words or phrases to create a dialect with which he and his sisters could communicate secretly ensured no one except one of them could read it.

In any event, time to seek out Atthis…

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(POV Shift: Vissegard, Marshal of the Cidarian Special Forces)

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Vissegard was walking through Castle Cidaris, familiarizing himself with he layout of the Castle The Castle of Cidaris was nothing too special, it was your standard Hilltop Castle with a Drawbridge. The thing about the Castle was there was no other sort of defensive measure that would hinder a siege beyond the fact that the Hill that the Castle was built upon overlooked the City below and there was no means to attack it from behind. Which in itself was smart, but that also meant that because the Castle was built at the edge of the Hill you had little support there and thus several well-placed shots from a mage or two would bring it down.

It was also interesting to watch such a young King switch between topics so rapidly, topics that by all accounts should be a much longer conversation. It was curious because while one could simply chalk that up to King Aethan's youth, Vissegard believed it was more to do with his nervousness around new and untested people. They'd all heard the stories about what Count Ebland had done, and how Aethan had gone from kind and gregarious to stoic and solitary.

From what he'd observed of the Council, most were supportive of the boy-king, which meant that he, Tasso and the others would likely support him for now until they got a better idea for the kind of ruler and council leader King Aethan was. Vissegard would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little bit apprehensive with a young king. He remembered when Calanthe was a young Queen, her mother's abdication might have made her succession a little bit cleaner, but the thing was that young rulers were often impulsive. The question was how impulsive this king was and how much he could be reined in if he went too far.

''Ah, Marshal Vissegard? A moment?'' Turning, Vissegard is greeted by Count Dagored.

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(POV Shift: King Aethan I Jaenerys of Cidaris)

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Aethan and Atthis sat in the Castle gardens with a small cup of Est Est between them, Aethan didn't mind Est Est, but he preferred Erveluce. The only reason he was drinking Est Est was because his sister was venting and needed a cup of her favored wine.

''So, I read your designs, very ambitious and very out of character for you.'' She tells him in their language.

''If I could I would have spared you that knowledge, but I had little choice. I've already dealt with one accident and I won't risk my plans failing because of another one.'' He replies to her.

''By the gods Aethan, what your planning and doing could mean the end of Cidaris as a Kingdom, you understand that don't you?'' Atthis asks him.

''I do, which is why I've taken steps to ensure success. In the next war, kerack and Verden will become our territories and when Peace is attained, Brugge and Sodden will either fall in line, or they will go to Temeria. When Foltest dies, your nephews and Nieces stand to inherit them and Temeria. Strengthening Cidaris into a larger and stronger Kingdom. Moreover Foltest has no other legitimate children and because he is tainted by the incest scandal no one will be willing to marry him. His line dies with him, and will continue through us.'' Aethan says.

''But what if you fail? You will be seen as overreaching and overeager for more territory. It's dangerous.'' Atthis tells him.

''When have I ever led you astray sister? Trust em, this is for the future of the North.'' Aethan tells her, though she clearly remains unconvinced.

''I do trust you Aethan, but I don't know how much I could support your in this endeavor, don't forget, you want me to married to Lyria and Rivia, I will be bound to support my new husband and his Kingdoms.'' Says Atthis

''I understand, Atthis, but I will succee…or die trying.'' Aethan says in common, before standing up, draining his Est Est, and departing his twin's company. He had things to do and he couldn't spend all his time speaking with his sister.

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Author's Note:

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Shorter chapter than last few I know, wanted to cover a few things in here before I moved on to the Wedding Chapter which will be either next or the one after it. I might do a small chapter after this where I follow what occurs in the time-skip of six months so as to not be too much of a dissconnect in the wedding chapter and its following chapters. THat seems to make some of the most sense.

Either way, we'll see what happens. I'm going to start working on Kellian ordo and get the next chapter for that finished before I try and continue this story but it shouldn't take too long for me to get done seeing as I had like at least 1500 words banked already before I started this chapter.

Also there's a Poll up on P-atreon to determine whether or not Aethan takes False Cirilla with him. Vote now because it directly affects chapter six and I'm writing chapter six right now.

Well that's all I have to say for now, See you guys soon I hope, and see you guys often as well. Until next time:

TheRagFromTheCrag

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Join my Discord via this invite link:

https://discord.gg/4TTZkVMMnq

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Thanks to Cody, Lewis Wilson, Luci alarra, Kunta, Jacob Hixson, Mitchell Howard, David Martinez Availon90, Ken Harris, Beastmode2003, and Axlii for their support on P-atreon.

The next Chapter is currently available on my relaunched and rebuilt P-atreon, to access simply search the following link, but without the dash between the P and A, Two tiers with the same benefits but different contexts. The chapters on P-atreon will be published when the chapters following them are done and dusted and ready to publish over here on this site.

p-atreon.com/TheRagFromTheCragCorner22