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[Shihan Reckoning]

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Shihan had attempted to buy products from the local Luna vendors and found them surprisingly sparse on supplies. Writing out an official request he gave copies to a young messenger along with a couple of gold pieces with the instruction to visit all the major cities and post the requests on all of the community boards and provide some to the local city merchants.

“Posted on all town community boards”



Royal Court of Light

Closed Contract for Supplies Available to the House of the Gauntlet

Request sealed bids be delivered to the House of the Gauntlet in Luna City before 25 June, for delivery on a date to be determined after the 1st of July for the following items:

50 Sacks of Flour
150 Jars of Honey
5 Bushels of Apples
5 Bushels of Pears
5 Sleeves of Bananas
20 Dozen Eggs
2 Kegs of Salt
2 Kegs of Yeast

50 Kegs of Port Wine
25 Kegs of Half Beer
10 Kegs of Milk

50 Chickens, 8 lbs min Slaughter Weight
10 Head of Cattle, 350 lbs min Slaughter Weight
20 Boar or Pig, 45 lbs min Slaughter Weight


Because of the recent world events a shortage has been noticed for large quantities of items in Malas. The Kingdom of Sanctus has laid out so many contracts that outside bidding is required for best possible product. This request is for firm fixed bids on the listed items for the Royal wedding that has been postponed. All items are desired in prime grade and best possible freshness. Items previously procured for this event are being donated to the Moonglow citizens before expiration.

Respectfully,
_________________
Shihan Reckoning
Grand Commander, The House of the Gauntlet
The Royal Court of Light
_____________________________________________


Peace is Boring, Death is Permanent (usually)

"shihan-san, do you choose to block my entrance to this room?" and he stepped back and said, "Emperor, only a fool would fight you in a room this small."

[Bailos]

---

Shihan,

The Great City of Umbra has experienced an especially robust harvest of wheat, oats and barley this year. As such we would be honored to accept the bid to provide the 50 sacks of flour requested for the festivities.

In addition, it would be our finest honor to provide the requested quantities, 25 and 10 barrels respectively, of beer and milk for the Royal Wedding. Umbra is proud of its stock of wine but as elderberries are not native to our lands we keep it in a tragically short stock.

As a token of good will and with the desire to promote positive relations between our fair cities, The Ministry of Umbra wishes to provide these items, free of charge, as a gift to the bride and groom. We merely request a modest recompense for the delivery staff.

We await your word and hopefully news of a delivery deadlines.

Respecfully Yours,
Robert Venemen
Clerk of Court
City of Umbra

NOTARIZED
The Lord High Pontifex
Bailos Myrdra
The Ministry
City of Umbra

[Shihan Reckoning]

---

“Written as part of the official entry into the daily reports to the Duchess”



Royal Court of Light

After Action Report

Date: 12 June 06

Page: 08

From: Shihan Reckoning
To: Grand Duchess Molly Willow
Via: Knight Commander Will Kaldhel

SUBJ: PURCHASE REQUESTS

Duchess,

I.A.W. your desire to procure unavailable food stocks for the wedding, I received a response from a clerk in the City of Umbra. Standing orders require all activity or correspondence from this realm to be passed to the Knight Commander and you. The request does sound extremely fair as all we would have to pay is shipping costs. Please see attachment 2 for a copy of the official bid. Please also see Page 06 OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE of today’s reports as this is also related to this same realm.

Respectfully,
_________________
Shihan Reckoning
Grand Commander, The House of the Gauntlet
The Royal Court of Light
_____________________________________________


Peace is Boring, Death is Permanent (usually)

"shihan-san, do you choose to block my entrance to this room?" and he stepped back and said, "Emperor, only a fool would fight you in a room this small."

[Molly]

---

Arriving at home she met Will at the door. He was carring a bundle of papers.

She laughed, "Shihan's reports?" He nodded with the same smirk on his face.

"It is nice to see a man enjoying his work." He laughed with her and then sat to look over the paperwork.

She held up the love note grinning at him. "And this is official busness now to?" she said with a grin.

"I have to get your attention some how, you are so busy all the time." He grinned and kissed her hand gently looking at her with big puppy dog eyes.

"Well then it is official business!" She kissed his lips softly and broke the kiss reluctantly.

"If we keep this up we will never get to his well written reports." he said with a laugh. They both grinned and then began to shuffle the papers between them.

"Well this is interesting." She looked at the referense list and then at the document. "Umbra wants to offer us supplies for our wedding. I wonder what their angle is."

Will just shrugged and said "I can't imagine what they are thinking or what it means."

"Should we accept their offer?" She looked at him for advice.

"I think it would compromise our values and our stance against the darker elements if we were to do that don't you?" he said.

She agreed nodding. They set that paper aside and went on down the list.

"Now what is this? Taxes? We own and govern this property and they are including the Paladins of the Virtues lands, Sanctus and the Treefellow forrest as well." She frowned deeply. "The Royal Court and its membership control these lands. Just what are they trying to do?"

He looked at her and shook his head.

"I wonder if this offer of wedding supplies is connected."

He looked at her and responded. "Probably."

"Well we will just have to nip this thing in the bud that's all! Please find Shihan, we need to talk. I want him to help me write a response to them."

Will nodded kissing her cheek before leaving. He whipsered, "Don't worry so much Love." He smiled his most charming smile and her worried look melted into a soft smile.
_________________
Grand Duchess Molly Kaldhel
Oracle of Truth
The House Gauntlet
Sanctus, Luna, Malas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXoGDbJ5nLU
_______________________
"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."
-Margaret Thatcher-

[Shihan Reckoning]

---

Shihan was taking in a good smoke on his rampart of his house on dagger island when a servant interrupted the tranquility. “Lord….. a message has come by bird for you.” Shihan took the note and thanked the man. The Duchesses Seal. He removed the wax seal and browsed the note. Taking a last look over the icy fields of the island he tapped out his pipe on the stone surface of the wall. “I figured I would have to explain the reports tonight,” he mumbled to himself. Going below he grabbed his official robes and mumbled a couple of words. The rush of magical transportation always woke Shihan up. Standing in front of the Official residence of the Duchess, he smoothed his robes and strode forward. The servant who answered his knocks told him the Duchess and Sir Kaldhel were waiting for him upstairs.

As he entered the second floor meeting hall he found the Duchess and her consort already in conversation at a table. “Mlady, Sir, Good evening” he announced as he traveled across the room. “You requested me?”

Duchess Molly Willow looked up and away from Will Kaldhel and nodded toward Shihan. “The reports Mlady?” Shihan asked.

“Please sit down, we need to discuss these reports with you.” Molly said.

“Aye Duchess” Shihan says as he eyed the papers the Duchess had in her hands.

“What do you think of this offer for supplies Shihan?” Will asked.

“Sir, it is a good offer with a lot of issues attached,” he responded, “but I don’t think we should disregard it out of hand.”

“We can’t take them up on it though. It would create the appearance of acceptance with a foe who had to be beaten back to there holes.” Will seethed. His memory of events with Umbra and its citizens seemed to be giving a rather strong vitriol to his voice.

“We must also follow the virtues in our dealing with other kingdoms.” Molly added. She looked thoughtful for a moment. “The lightbringer society would not benefit from dealings with Umbra.”

Nodding Shihan took a deep breath. “Sir, to reject it though is a loss of a possible political move. Ok, bare with me as I have not thought all of the through yet.” Taking a pitcher of water from the table and pouring a glass of water, he absent mindedly leaves it on the table without taking the drink. “How about thism We currently are in a situation where we COULD have problems with the Kingdom of Sanctus.” He takes a deep breath. “We are currently neutral with them awaiting further information I know, but let’s say everything goes wrong. We end up in a war in Malas. The House of the Gauntlet and the city of Luna, the beautiful city that we are charged to protect, stands to loose a lot if we go to war with Sanctus.”

Finding a glass of water in front of him he takes a sip. “If we do accept there offer, graciously, without fan fair, we send a message, small though it is to Sanctus. The king passed out a book at his wedding. ‘A Treatise on Necromancy’ I believe was the title. Obviously an official letter even with no strings would appear as a problem to him. He might think twice as the possibility of a combined Malas against his home city would create problems in his war footing.”

Shihan looked into the face of utter distain. The Duchess was not moved. He did not even bother to look into the face of the Knight Commander.

“It is your House and your decision Mlady.” He mumbled under his breath.

Molly put her hand under her chin and thought for several minutes.

“The look of food being presented to us by Umbra could also be construed as purchasing food for troops.” Will said. “I would not look good if we purchased food from a prior enemy of Sanctus. This could give the wrong idea to the King of Sanctus. If he pulls out of Moonglow, that is the Regency. We would still have him and his army in Malas to deal with. Do we want to have shown favor to Umbra at that point.”

Will shuffled in his seat. “We also should not look disrespectful when we respond to them though. But there is also the other situation. What should we tell them about their insane taxation declaration on not only House Gauntlet property but several Royal Court of Light members?”

Molly took her hand and put it back onto the table. “Shihan, ok please write up a letter respectfully declining Umbra’s offer and bring it to me for signature.” She looked towards Will. “Yes dear, there is that problem also. But I cannot make that decision. We will bring it up to the Court at the next session.”

Shihan was already thinking of how to word his letter so that the least amount of feathers would get ruffled. “Aye mlady. I must find my pen and paper. By your leave.”

“The following letter was forwarded to the Duchess for signature and transmission”




12 June 06

The Lord High Pontifex
Bailos Myrdra
The Ministry
City of Umbra


I wish to thank you personally for you kind and generous offer of much needed supplies, but the House of the Gauntlet must respectfully decline your offer. Will and I do not wish to allow world wide issues to interfere with our joyous upcoming event and believe that receiving goods, No matter in what spirit they may have been offered, from the citizens of Umbra would create problems politically. We prefer not to have to deal with such issues with the wedding date soon arriving. My best wishes to your citizenry and I wish to congratulate your city on its crops this year.


Molly Willow
Grand Duchess
The House of the Gauntlet
Vassal Lord of the Royal Court of Light
"Sign and embossed with House Gauntlet Seal"
_________________
Shihan Reckoning
Grand Commander, The House of the Gauntlet
The Royal Court of Light
_____________________________________________


Peace is Boring, Death is Permanent (usually)

"shihan-san, do you choose to block my entrance to this room?" and he stepped back and said, "Emperor, only a fool would fight you in a room this small."

[Bailos]

---

Having finally arrived at the administrative offices of Umbra for the day, Bailos made the march down the main corridor to his office. Being accosted by several secretaries and assistants, he brushed them off with one line sentances answering equally vague questions. One short little spindle of a man in a jacket and formal shirt handed him a pile of mail and a cup of coffee and then unlocked the door to the office to allow the Lord High Pontifex inside.

Closing the ornate wooden door behind him, Bailos made his way into his chair and settled in, placing his cup of coffee on the desk he decided to spin around in his nice leather chair a time or two then stopped and began to read the mail.

"Bills...bills...fan mail, fan mail, death threat, junk mail...Hmm. Property Appraisals, glad those are finally starting to come in...court dockets...*flips through a few more*...'Contract for supplies'? What's that?"

Using a finger in lieu of a letter opener he broke the seal, threw the other mail to the side and unfurled the response.

With a drawn out sigh, he thought aloud, "Well that didn't go as planned..."

Using some of his budding telekenetic ability he manuevered the top right drawer open and positioned a piece of official letterhead and a pen to write a reply with.

=====================================
Grand Duchess Molly Willow,

While the elemets of your reply are a move I can at least somewhat understand, I cant help but feel the disappointment. The City of Umbra would have required no recognition of our most genuine and generous gift nor would we have asked for consequent favors.

It is a shame that those whom would carry the torch of Virtue would not practice Compassion and Understanding with all of their neighbors, even the citizens of Umbra. I hope you are not holding The Ministry and its people, the citizenry of Umbra, accountable for sins of the past, which I must remind you, this Administration had no hand in. The Order is buried, you would do well to remember that.

For A Better Malas,
Lord High Pontifex
Bailos Myrdra
The Ministry
City of Umbra
=================================

A second letter followed

=================================
Dear friend Thrax,

I regret, yet am glad to inform you at the same time, that my olive branch to Luna was met by a woodchuck who promptly devoured it. They worded their reply well enough to avoid insulting the city, but they still insulted my intelligence. We can proceed with culling the Treefellows.

Gratefully Yours,
~Bailos
=================================

Getting up with the letters in tow, he opened the door and strode back down the hallway to the entrance of the building. Dropping the letters on the desk he gave a wink to the young secretary and said, "My dear, hold my appointments. I have to go meet with someone. See that letters are sent PDQ. Thanks. I'll be back in 30", and out the door he went.