Chapter 52

After the contest, which was declared a draw, Amanda was escorted down to the arena area to meet the teams who had competed. Tables had been extruded and a meal prepared for them and their families. It was clear that most, if not all, had heard of Amanda, yet had never expected to meet her in person. It was also clear that they were delighted that she had come down and enthusiastically engaged them in conversation. I also noticed that the tri-dee cams for the newsies remained as Amanda finally got to meet and greet ordinary Emiratians. I was busy myself sketching the various competitors, both male and female, still in their competition costumes and handing them out when finished as I also engaged them in conversation.

“I can’t believe she’s actually down here speaking to us!” one of the younger ones almost squealed in delight. “I’ve never even seen a senior Clansman in the flesh.”

“Ammie likes to meet people and she jumped at the chance to watch you compete,” I replied as I ensured her sketch showed the sheer vibrancy of the young lady.

“A shame we couldn’t win too.”

“I’m no judge, but both sides were incredible,” I chuckled.

“True, it’s why the championship will probably go to the wire,” she grinned.

“Not surprised if you perform like that to random tunes.”

“Oh, we have our patterns, but the trick is always to try to perform a special move as well and never the same one twice.”

“Well, I was impressed,” I smiled as I handed over the sketch.

“It does seem odd how you interact with ordinary people,” Shizzo commented.

“People are people,” I replied. “Simply having more money or power doesn’t make you any better or worse than these people at all. Just gives you more advantages and opportunities.”

“An interesting way to look at it,” Shizzo remarked as I sketched members of both teams taking a laughing Amanda through some basic moves.

“It’s how our Empress looks at it and enables anyone who has talent or ability to progress.”

“Yes, you use your AIs to look for the talented, I know.”

“You can progress if you work hard too, or regress if you don’t.”

“We tend to use our AIs only in control functions, not in social or educational situations.”

“It’s just part of what makes you different,” I shrugged.

“True, the way you interact with your AIs is always surprising and refreshing; almost as if they are people.”

“To me, they are. A personality counts for a lot,” I chuckled.

At this point we were joined by a breathless, but clearly very happy, Amanda. As our visit came to an end Shizzo escorted us out of the arena to a waiting floater-disk where even more crowds still waited to catch a glimpse of the Princess. Amanda took advantage of this to begin an impromptu walkaround, catching Shizzo and his officers off guard and unprepared. Yet it was obvious Trusha and Liono weren’t worried. I joined her in meeting the ordinary people of the area.

What we didn’t realise though, was that Amanda was creating a media sensation upon Gamappe. The Emirate capital world had never seen Royalty of any kind interact with ordinary people. Ordinary newsie programs were interrupted to bring ‘special coverage’ of the Imperial Princess meeting ordinary people after watching a hazat match. The stations broadcasting it were having to constantly confirm to their viewers that this was actually Princess Amanda and yes, this was live. Yet the crowd were also quite well behaved. There was no mobbing and no attempts to climb barriers; all seemed content to just simply watch and cheer a unique event in their lives. The cheers got even louder when Amanda accepted a small bouquet of flowers from a local florist and thanked him, even as they looked amazed at the fact that she accepted it.

More cheers rang out when Amanda did her newly learned hazat steps with some of the younger locals, matching them perfectly in time before hugging them and allowing them to go back into the crowds.

“I truly never thought to ever see such a sight,” Shizzo informed me. “Does her mother not get worried that her daughter is more popular than she is?”

“No, Amanda loves her mother and has no designs on power as such,” I replied. “She’s the popular public face of the Empire, though everyone knows who actually runs it.”

“And Victoria, the other Princess?”

“Will join Fleet in the Command School.”

“So, a potential Admiralius?”

“Knowing Vicki, yes,” I chuckled. “Add to that my sister, Kiria, potentially becoming a Marshal of Ground Force and you can see why many in our Nobility see a probable golden age emerging for the Empire and our Allies.”

“Yes, I see,” he nodded thoughtfully, wondering how to put that tidbit of information down in his report. It was pretty clear that the Emirate were going to have to be pretty careful in their interactions with the Empire and its Allies ‘We certainly do not ever want them to be our enemies,’ he thought. ‘That idiot, Ashel, and the Jemorrok’s would have brought about a far darker future than they envisioned.’ The balance of power had changed too. Always in the past both Emirate and Empire had been carefully neutral with each other as they were clearly matched in size and technology. Recently though it had become clear that the Empire had forged ahead in tactics as well as defensive alliances. Should a war ever break out between them, it was now clear the Empire would win, not easily and not without great cost, but win they would.

We finally arrived back at the Temple of Lamolli where we rested and changed into our less formal wear. Amanda was looking a little tired so was told to have a nap by Trusha which always brought the same grumble about ‘who was in charge’, even as she complied. I, along with Torric and Haelee, went exploring as I continued to sketch various parts of the Temple that I knew would fascinate the people of Vreekoos. We stayed out of areas that were being used for worship and tried not to get in anyone’s way as, apart from worship, the Temple was also some sort of learning academy, teaching all ages from the young to seniors. Eventually we were joined by Grian and his bodyguard who was clearly interested in the work I did.

“So, how did you get interested in artwork, Dayyev?” he asked as I sketched a beautiful park that had many children playing in it.

“A family friend who enjoyed sketching got me into it,” I replied.

“So, others in the Empire sketch?”

“Yes, it’s mostly an upper-level thing, though Greea, the lady who taught me, works as an Investigator in the Guardians, our civil law enforcement section.”

“Er ... so, who are ImpSec then? I thought they were your law enforcement people.”

“Guardians, or whatever a planet chooses to call them, are a local planetary network,” I explained. “ImpSec, or Imperial Security to give it its full title, are Empire wide and occasionally beyond and deal with interstellar crime as well as counter intelligence on the civilian level. They also cover various other specialised areas on our worlds such as disease control.”

“So very different from the Emirate where everything is fragmented because of the Clan system,” he nodded.

“You still manage to get everything done,” I chuckled. “Plus your people are very innovative, as opposed to the ‘one size fits all’ Imperial approach.”

“Yes, there’s a lot of individuality in our products, though yours have a reputation of ‘simply working from out of the box’,” he smiled.

“We do have some individuality, though it’s difficult for them to shine beyond a certain level. You have to have something unique, as my talent is, to get noticed.”

“Yes, your talent is unique, even in the Emirate,” he nodded. “Father loved the portraits you presented him, both as an individual and as a loving husband surrounded by his wives.”

“Don’t the wives get ... bored?” I asked. “Not trying to be critical here, just curious.”

“Apparently father encourages their charitable works,” Grian explained. “Each one is there to represent her Clan, though there is, unlike previous Emir’s, genuine affection between father and them.”

“So, you’ve been chosen as his successor?”

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I was anointed by Lauralla yesterday in a ceremony at the palace.”

“And Ashel?”

“Is off to Officer training school on Vermidon and a probable career in logistics.”

“Yes, your father mentioned that. I don’t think he wants him to make it up to an Admiralius in charge of a fleet.”

“At the moment that would be a very bad idea,” Grian chuckled. “Still, he has both father’s and mother’s genes, so might come through to shine, as Amanda has.”

“I’m sure given the right moment you’ll shine too,” I nodded, liking the earnest young man a lot.

“Not sure if I want the pressure on me that would bring that about,” he laughed.

“Just find an area that will make your father proud and go for it,” I replied.

“I think I’ve found it, as in attempting to bring both Emirate and Empire into closer understanding and lessening the ... paranoia some of the Clans feel about your, to us, monolithic structure and aims.”

“Good way to do that will be to get them to understand that we don’t see the Emirate as the enemy that they see in the other Clans.”

“Yes, a task worthy of a hero,” he grinned, making us all laugh.

Back at the quarters we had been assigned, we found Amanda awake and chatting with both Lauralla and Grigo. Mostly it appeared to be about her visit to the hazat match and her interacting with the people afterwards.

“My regular security types were aghast when you were mixing with them,” Grigo chuckled. “The Kilios guards were relaxed though.”

“I was in no real danger,” Amanda shrugged. “I trust my own training as well as my bodyguards.”

“Nor would any who meant her harm here be in a crowd of ordinary people,” Lauralla pointed out with a smile.

“True, those that dislike you are like my enemies, at the very top of Emirate society,” Grigo replied with a wry smile.

“We have them neutralised, my friend. Most fear to move against you as it would expose them to the other Clans.”

“I just wish I could get them to work for the betterment of the Emirate, rather than the Clan, though we do have a trickledown effect.”

“It does produce a lot of innovation,” Amanda pointed out.

“But not a lot of standardisation,” Grigo chuckled.

“So your position at the top is safe, father?” Amanda enquired.

“Yes, I hold the balance of power and all know they have no one to match me,” Grigo replied. “Doesn’t make me liked though, just respected.”

“Ruthlessness is all they respect,” Lauralla sighed. “That’s unlikely to change for a few generations.”

“I intend to work towards getting them to view the Empire in a less hostile manner, father,” Grian stated, politely if hesitantly.

“Interesting,” Grigo remarked thoughtfully.

“More to do with lessening tension than any great love for the Empire,” Grian continued, taking Grigo’s comment as an assent to continue. “I doubt I can do much about their hostility to each other, for now. But the Empire, yes, as it’s both predictable in its actions and understandable in its motives.”

“That’s true, you know exactly where you stand with the Empire,” Grigo chuckled, making Amanda smile as well. “A massive market for their specialised products and a good source of standardised products at a reasonable price for our socially lower people who, for all they are part of a Clan, certainly don’t feel any benefit for being so,” he continued.

“The Empire is certainly looking to expand trade-wise and are mostly wise enough to realise it has to be mutually profitable,” Amanda expanded.

“Mostly?” Grigo teased.

“We have our rogue elements,” Amanda smiled. “Just as you no doubt have yours.”

“Isn’t that a fact,” Lauralla laughed.