The bustle of the city was not something she had found adequately captured in words. While the nature of a farm could be spelled out—every task detailed, theogether with a narrative—a city needed a kind of story yet to be ied. It was as if trying to put to words how a clock worked, where every chapter would begin with a siid then spend several pages describing how every other piece moved because of that siick.

  Not only that, but a city defied every sensibility a person ought to have about eies.

  It was uood that money flowed down, beginning with the peers of the realm who then purchased extravagances and paid such a wage to their vast staff; those producers of artisan goods and the staff then purchased suecessities, including for those depe ohat is, their family—and, if there was any money left, perhaps indulged; finally, the producers of ies purchased what they did not themselves produce, and again indulged with what remai the cycle around once more, the peers collected taxes.

  A profitable ey, then, was one where the peers had much at their disposal, that they could hand down much, and then collect much at the end. So the astute, in reising this, would bring in merts to purchase local goods with from afar, or send out merts with local goods t back . The broader the flow of mohe more luxurious a life for all, and tent peasants made for peaceful, productive workers.

  What of a city? In her estimation, rather than a stream, such rge unities became instead like water swirling in a sink.

  If one followed a single , it would be uo end up in a taxman’s hand. Rather, it drifted from oore to another, carried by the staff either as personal pay or as paymeween panies. In a manner, it was like the blood c through the city’s veins, of little value on its ow bringing together services which could in isotion. What good a muscle did without boo pull, so too did the tailor without the weaver without the spinner. Such services that, outside the city, would all be doogether, here could be done separately with as the guarantee.

  Rather than broadly, what mattered more, she thought, was the weight with which the water swirled. The weight of something in motion increased with the speed; however, what did the speed of money mean? At the simplest, she reasohe speed at which transaay be dohat money handed over may then be handed ain.

  This matter came in two parts: how ofteaff were paid, and how quickly a business could handle a payment. To increase the speed by mandating staff were paid by the sed was ly a reasoo enact. As for the other part, businesses already had begun to experiment with such things as lines of credit, albeit such things requiring trust that cash did not. Could a ruler mandate such trust between businesses?

  The least a ruler could do, she thought, was to not oppose the flow of money, which was not the same thing as alleviating ead every tax. Some revenue was necessary for g the city’s expenses, but those expenses were what fed bato the sink.

  If one removed less weight than was added, the city would grow. If one removed more than was added, the city would shrink. The ideal, then, was to only tax suffit amounts as to cover the expehat the city should tio swell, until such time that the ruler needed funds.

  What also mattered was to find such taxation that least disturbed the flow of mohat was, removing the money which moved slowest. An irony of this view, it was a well known saying that a pauper given a gold spent it in the hour, while a liven a copper passed it on to his son. It followed that taxation was best enacted upon the rich; versely, that money added to the city was best given to the poor.

  It erhaps that simple, yet ter-intuitive, truth that had resulted in cities growing to such a size.

  These matters, she could have thought endlessly on. However, the result was that, if petent, a ruler could extract from a city greater value without hurting the people the same way a lord-of-the-manor would by imposing harsher taxes on his people.

  What was more was that such a thing took no more food, nor required merts t back more . The people themselves had o work any harder either. erson, educated or otherwise, would believe suonsense? Indeed, even she found it hard to accept when first faced with such ideas.

  Another precious gift passed down from her parents.

  She softly smiled, in her mind seeing flickers of pages, written by her mother, annotated by her father. The door opening, such images faded and, in their pce, were the city’s various ats, kept in a thick ledger.

  “My Lady.”

  Looking up, she saw a man of middle-age, ohinner side, with hair like a bck sheep’s wool and a short h a sizeable bump, as if hunchbacked. “Mayor Hase, please, take a seat.”

  If one looked on, they would not have known it was his office, her sat behind the desk with such a book open, him sat opposite, not quite fidgeting, but unwilling to meet her gaze with how his eyes wandered.

  Until she cleared her throat, at which point he dared not look away.

  “Mayor Hase, do you recall how you came to be elected?” she asked.

  Although a simple question, he had no easy answer. “That is, my predecessned and I took over until the ele, at which point I was duly elected,” he said.

  She nodded. “And your predecessor—how was he chosen?”

  Any relief he felt turo ice. “That is, his predecessor was removed from offid your father appointed him the mayor until such a time as aion could be fairly held, which took some years, but eventually was and he was duly elected to carry on.”

  “Why did it take such a long time for the ele to be carried out?” she asked, no trace of i in her voice, more like a teacher addressing a student.

  Hase didn’t fidget, though. “His predecessor was immensely corrupt, even using the underhanded support of a fn govero maintain his power, that every office urged out of y, every institution rebuilt, including those which handled eles.”

  Silence followed, a long moment where he dared not so much as breathe, until finally she nodded once more. “My father uood the nature of cities very well. After all, a city is but a colle of people, and he uood people like no other. His insights have fasated me since a young age, tinuing to do so each day I prehend more of his wisdom.”

  Hase nodded along as he listeaking her pause to add his currences. “Oh yes, a brilliant man, that I ot remember a visit where he did not reveal to me some fantastic truth, nor did I find any of his policies iive,” he said.

  Her gaze that had grown absent when praising her father now focused on him once more, holding him in pce, until a soft smile gently showed. “My father had to burn down this city to es loyalty. On the surface, it appeared that nothing ged; however, once all was said and do beloo him as surely as any fief. Your predecessor was chosen by him and you were groomed to repce him, maintaining such loyalty to my father as a peasant to his lord. Now that I have ied his title, it is my right to this city. Do you uand what this means?”

  He bowed his head, putting a hand on his heart. “Of course! I see your father’s wisdom in My Lady, and I am willing to swear such loyalty,” he said, speaking fast, but evenly.

  “Fealty,” she said.

  He swallowed the lump in his throat, but, before he could correct himself, she ughed. A getering that ended in a sigh.

  “That is, I uand Mayor Hase’s loyalty. However, on this matter, there is only o which may e of our discussion.”

  “Which is?” he whispered.

  She brought together her fiips. “Ynation, with reendation of my chosen successor.”

  He sat so still that she worried for a moment he may have died from shock. If he had, well, once was a ce, but she did not wish for it to bee a pattern. Fortunately for her, he soon blinked.

  “Am I in some way g, My Lady?” he asked, a genuine pain to his voice.

  Her expression softened. “Far from it, sir. I find no fault in your service.”

  “Then why?” he asked, almost childish in tone.

  “This is a matter of politics. I am not my father. I am seen as weak, so I must show strength that, once I have need of this city’s power, that the people trust my judgement in using it. Sir has done a endable job as mayor, which spoke to my father’s talent. Now, though, I must show my own talent.”

  It was not that matters of politics were o Hase, nor that he did not uand what she meant. A city could not be run on apologetic smiles and cowardice. However, he uood the natural order of the world, for that reason servile towards those with power over him. That his own power was now to be taken, he could only grovel.

  Of course, she knew such things and they both khat the other kney of two roles with only themselves for an audience. However, some matters had to be doh such theatre, if only to sell the lie to oneself. Not to mention, she ehe practice.

  “My father had simple ambitions in the end. If you knew half the things he had sidered, I dare say you would look a decade older,” she said lightly, ending in a smile. “My ambitions are much tamer than my father’s, such that I need a more ambitious mayor. In times of peace, prepare for war, and in times of repare for peace. Mayor Hase has built upon this city’s foundations to make an ey greater than perhaps even the capital. What it cks, though, is the kind of deterrenecessary to keep reedy neighbours at bay.”

  He bowed his head, as if shamed by such a remark. “I have kept the militia to your father’s specifications all these years.”

  “Indeed, and I am most grateful, the… military exercise meeting my expectations,” she said, her hands ing together, fingers interlocked. “It is a militia more than suitable for defending a city until such a time that an ally es to relieve us. However, I ask, what if no such ally es? How long this city hold? What kind of order it maintain? Where will the attacks e and how are they best repelled?”

  She listed those off the top of her head, then sought out his gaze.

  “I have the utmost respect for those my father deems suitable. While I would repce you out of y for my position, I will take the opportunity to reinforce those areas where you were weak, and I should have you as my aplice if you are willing.”

  “And if I am not willing?” he asked.

  She gave him a soft smile, like she had before, the sort of expression a teacher gave to a student who had asked a ridiculous question. “Then you already know too much,” she whispered.

  He smiled, a nervous ugh slipping out, yet he did not fidget. “My Lady jokes. Besides, what is this talk of aplice? What crime could My Lady be pnning to it?”

  “The better question is what crime am I unwilling to it in the pursuit of my goals,” she said, pausing a moment before answering it herself. “Well, I suppose I would be quite beyond myself to desecrate a grave. For whatever else I may have to ao God, at least I would have Him know that I leave the dead to His mercy.”

  “That is… certainly a good li to cross?” Hase said.

  Her smile this time had none of the warmth of those she shared earlier. “What of the good mayor’s answer?” she said, leaning ba her seat. “Is he truly ready to retire without greater ambition? I do not think so, my father not oo elevate such simple people.”

  “ it not be the case that people may ge?” he asked.

  She did not hesitate before shaking her head. “ge is iable, which is why they alursue their ideal past,” she said.

  He chuckled, a look of bemusement on his face. “ such a thirue?”

  “If philosophy had o be true, there would be very little of it,” she replied, no humour in her voice.

  His smile faded. “My Lady, all I know is being a mayor. As yhtly said, I was groomed for this role, before then a simple boy of some learning. ce could I possibly have outside of the city?”

  “It is precisely because you are so entwined with this city that you are of use to me,” she said.

  He reached up, adjusting his hat, then brought his hand back down to where it had been before. “My Lady thinks too highly of me.”

  “I am not in the habit of incorrectly estimating people, either under or over. Rather, I know that sir is aware of those smiths capable of f bombard and shot to my father’s specifications, as well as the more… selective goods that the bombardiers require,” she said.

  A moment of silence passed between them.

  “Your daughter—she is married to the captain of the bombardiers, is she not?”

  His breath stilled in his throat, yet he forced it out. “That she is.”

  She tapped a finger ohick ledger, the steady beat like that of a calm heart. “It would be a good time for him to retire from the position and take up training. The first and sed crews performed well, that I would double the militia’s total o a dozen such crews, yet do not wish to dilute their talent. To be the son-in-w of such a beloved mayor, he must be capable.”

  “I assure My Lady, I let my daughter marry for love,” he said, his voice quieter than before.

  “What a failure of a father one would be for their daughter to love an imbecile, and what a failure of a mayor one would be to make su imbecile captain of the most important part of the militia,” she said, no mali her tone, but her gaze pinned him to the chair.

  He swallowed the lump in his throat, an apologetic smile.

  Her tapping fiopped. “Sir dnise my pns, does he not? It is a rather simple case of solidatis. I ot allow sir to go quietly into the crowd knowing what he does, so I put you close to the secrets you hold and make what use of you I . As thanks food work thus far, I offer sir advice for his son-in-w, knowing that no man wishes for his beloved daughter to be widowed. Of course, the advice I offer is something sir could easily reason on his own, thus it is not as if I am divulging more secrets; however, by giving it early, I earn a measure of good-will in sir’s heart.”

  A crooked smile lingered on her lips, amusement in her eyes.

  “These are such lessons imparted upon you many years ago by his predecessor, and who advised your predecessor?” she asked.

  “Your father,” he whispered.

  “You are not the only one groomed for their position. However, osition I hold, only time will tell. So please, Mr Hase, let us end this little charade and move on to the matter of your successor.”

  He let out a single ugh, theled into a smirk of his own. “Very well.”