The Garden, Thursday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

After a class, Karla went back to her room and changed into Morton's old cast-offs. Between the heavy content of today's discussion, the rapidly fading memories of the previous weekend, and the radio's reports that 'Dite was leaving--which would explain her message asking Karla to meet her at the store later--she had a lot to brood over think about. And now that the ground was thawed enough, Karla decided to skip the roof in favor of spending some quality time in the gardens. She could be useful and thoughtful at the same time with the guarantee that she'd feel better when she was done.

Ten minutes later, she was muddy, with dirt under her fingernails and over her face and already feeling a little better about everything.

[Open!]

Comments

[endsthegame]

"So you're at least in part deliberately provoking him," Ender noted.

[glacial_queen]

"Yes, a bit," Karla said. "It's more that I want word to spread that I am alive and helping people out, like a good Queen should, but there's no way to make it so that word spreads only to the people I want to know. And I can't let years pass with people thinking I'm dead. It will make my claim that much harder to back when I'm ready to return home."

And also Karla got a perverse kick out of thumbing her nose at Hobart, true.

[endsthegame]

"And thus," Ender said, after a moment, "You're making them swear their fealty now. You're taking a risk, Karla-- a smart move by Hobart and you might wind up either forced to go to war much earlier than you planned, or showing your people that you can talk the talk but you can't walk the walk."

[glacial_queen]

"I'm not making anyone swear fealty to me now!" Karla said, stung. "The Queen's Gift is a tradition! Any Queen can participate, whether she has a Court or not. It's to help the land and the people who live off of it."

Damn it, Ender. You always had to see right through to what she was most afraid of.

[endsthegame]

"Maybe not out loud, and not formally," Ender said, quietly, "But you're definitely asking them to pick sides."

[glacial_queen]

"Well..." He was right. They both knew it. "I guess I am. But Hobart controls the big cities. I'm going to need the small villages if I want to have any backing or support at all."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not saying it was a bad decision," Ender said, "Though I wish you'd come to me first - Ben's smart and he's got a sound tactical mind, but he's not much of a big picture thinker."

He took a breath. "You've traded some initiative for loyalty," he said, "If Hobart's clever or vindictive enough, he can push you into war prematurely. You need to start building an army and a strategy now, Karla. If you can't back up what you started here, you'll wind up known as the Queen who got them into trouble and then ran away, and as it stands you can maybe hold a few villages, but that won't last long."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was silent, mulling that over in her mind. Dammit, what Ender said made sense--which, considering his background, wasn't surprising in the least.

"If I'm going to build up an army, I still have to be seen, be known," Karla pointed out. "It will be impossible for me to recruit otherwise. And it's not something that Morton and Julian can do on their own, not with them both being so tight under Hobart's thumb."

[endsthegame]

"You're not going to make an army out of peaceful villagers like this," Ender replied. "If you had more players out in the field, you might be able to poke enough of them into rebellion to make a difference, but that's a gamble - though not one I'd necessarily advise against. But you're going to have to look outside your borders, too."

[glacial_queen]

"I wasn't intending to, not really," Karla said. "Not like...to conscript them or anything." That was Hobart's M.O. not hers. "But I will need people to flock to my banner when I raise it."

At the idea of looking outside her borders for fighters, though, Karla couldn't help but frown. "That idea scares me, even if I know it's probably what I'm going to have to do. But bringing in outsiders? That is very easily misconstrued as me leading an invasion, not a liberation. Especially if I'm silent and invisible beforehand. Then Hobart can create whatever stories he wants without there being any evidence to the contrary."

[endsthegame]

"Are there any Glacian refugees outside your borders?" Ender asked.

[glacial_queen]

Karla frowned and shook her head. "Not really," she answered. "At least, none that I know of. Some people have probably left, but no one I have contacts with. Of course, our closest Territory is Arceria, which isn't all that friendly towards outsiders."

The kindred word for human translated into stupid meat.

[endsthegame]

"Then you need to work from the inside and the outside in tandem, or you'll never have enough firepower," Ender said. "Provoke a rebellion within Glacia's borders, then bring outside people in to back them up."

A beat.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I know he'd try and make himself Hegemon of Kaeleer, I'd almost say we could use Peter."

[glacial_queen]

"That is a terrifying thought," Karla said, wincing. "No. Just...no. For your sake, because I'd really hate to see what happened when Peter mouthed off to Lucivar. Or Uncle Saetan."

Or, even worse, didn't show enough deference to Jaenelle for either of their liking.

"Not saying he can't think rings around them, but that won't stand up to a warblade to the face."

[endsthegame]

"Oh, I'd never seriously invite him into this," Ender replied, "But this is his specialty. Not that I'm eager to play 'think like Peter'."

[glacial_queen]

"I hate to suggest this, but might Bean be useful?" Karla asked, still blissfully ignorant of the future between Bean's wife and Ender's brother. "Just to strategize with?"

[endsthegame]

"Bean hasn't got long," Ender said, quietly, "and he's busy working for Peter. He won't have the time. But what we can do is look at what Peter's done, because like it or not, he's been succesful. And I'm sure Dink and Carn wouldn't mind pitching in."

Ender wasn't too fond of thinking like a commander again, but he had certain skills and Karla had certain problems...

[glacial_queen]

"I liked Dink!" Karla said quickly, trying not to pout at the idea of studying Peter. Just because she didn't like him doesn't mean she couldn't learn from him.

"One thing I do know is that I can't get Jaenelle, Saetan, and Lucivar involved," she said. "I can't let it look like anyone is pulling my strings. And no ruler is allowed to interfere beyond her borders. Uncle Saetan is the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan. If he gets involved openly, it could lead to war between Dhemlan, Glacia, and the Dark Council."

[endsthegame]

"Peter's plan has worked because in Bean, he has a force that proves he can back himself up with military action," Ender said, "But he never uses him aggressively - just to boot people out of FPE lands, and he never involves other governments. Which gives other countries a sense of security that if they take his offer to join him, they'll be safer for it."