[Ioannes Academy Offices] The Things Assistants Know...(Henry Brightblade)

[Gossamer]

TS: First Brightening of Immanis, Spring, Era I, XIV (pf)

The Dean of Politics Stephan Dolgram glanced at his clock and frowned. "He's late." Of course, the new assistant wasn't actually late. Dolgram set all his clocks fast, so he himself was never less than punctual, and assumed everyone else ran on some sort of weird Dolgram time as well. Thats what happened when you were someone important, someone others depended upon, and ran the largest political academy in the whole of Aelyria.

Stephan had been assistant-less for quite some time. Rumor had it that the man had the last one executed. It wasn't so, of course. It was just the Dean was a very demanding person, and oftentimes treated his assistants no better than slaves. This one, however, he'd made a promise to be somewhat nice to in hopes he'd stick around. Otherwise, the next step would be a visit to the Night Lily Palace for their next auction. That way, the poor sap, if he could find one educated, would be forced to endure.

At least he'd been assured that this one could read and write. And, he'd even consented to have his rather large walk-in closet cleaned out so his next assistant (Stephan's wife Marga Linal had argued this one) would have some peace and quiet and a small place to stash their things.... and escape her husband's dry looks and even drier comments.

The Dean glanced at the elaborate wall clock again. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.... the enormous office space on the third floor of the Academy seemed vast when it wasn't filled with a staff meeting or taken up with guests... where was the lad?

[Henry Brightblade]

Henry didn’t quite run down the hall that would have been… less then dignified. No he moved with brisk assurance. Of course, when students weren’t about he just flat ran. Damn place is like a labyrinth, you would think that they would have had better planning then this! Henry thought as he slowed his ran down to the brisk assurance walk. Looking around a corner quickly, he went back to his hurried pace.

Finally after dropping a few supplies and taking to the time to walk close to a lovely female student, Henry arrived at his destination. Before he entered, he took out one of his meager work clothes and dried his brow. He had been working so long at meager tasks that he truly didn’t want to lose his first real job. In fact he had gotten so desperate that he was about to volunteer for a guardsman post. Slowly Henry knocked on the door leading to Dean Dolgram’s office and waited for the command to enter.

Henry had spent all of last night wondering what to say to the Dean when they would first meet. He wanted to make the right impression, give the right aura of intelligence. In short Henry wanted to be seen a cause worth investment, not one worth leasing out to the undertaker’s guild. So Henry entered upon the approved and bowed. It was hard making sure none of the supplies fell out of his hands, but in the end none did.

“Dean Dolgram, I presume. I am Henry Brightblade. How may I be of service today?” Henry spoke in respectful tones, and crisp dialect.

[Gossamer]

Stephan Dolgram, The Dean, and now employer of one Henry Brightblade had about zero tolerance for chipper people. And in fact, the lad did sound chipper. So, rather than deal with him, Dolgram pointed at the former closet that was now an assistant's office jutting off the side of his. The desk within was tiny, and cramped with paperwork that stacked halfway up to the shelving that used to hold clothing.

"Go. There. Do not talk to me until you have all that paperwork on your desk filed, organized by year, and my memorandums hand copied for each of the instructors in this institute. There is a list on top of the memos." He barked, going back to reading what appeared to be a treatis on New Political Thinking. When Henry actually entered his new abode, he'd find it cramped, stuffy, and absolutely without any source of light besides a lamp resting on his desk. Even the light from the Dean's window didn't even penetrate well.

And as for the memos, there were twenty three of them, going to staff members listed to... ten. That meant, he had to copy two hundred and thirty three total memos and get them to the right instructors before the lunch hour. That wasn't even remotely examining the stack of paperwork on his desk that needed to be filed. It was at least two feet tall. On top of that was a box of scroll cases that needed addressed, but with no clue as to what they'd be stuffed with, and next to that was a box of correspondences that needed to be folded, waxed, and pressed with the Deans seal, but he was carefully instructed not to address them or read their contents. Which, was mighty hard since they were unfolded and laying flat.

At noon, a very attractive half-elf in her mid thirties dropped by with lunch for The Dean. It seemed, his wife was also well-aware of her husbands personality, because she brought a second one for Henry, and suggested that he go wash his hands before he dug into the bread and cheese she'd brought him. It was a big relief because Stephan hadn't given him the opportunity to find the Academy's lavatory all day.. nor break for any sort of period of time. His hands were cramped, his back bent, and he was really really thirsty. Plus her words, and Stephan's looks, gave Henry no option but to depart with haste.

She was still there when he returned, thus ensuring Henry he could eat in peace without the Dean's looks implying he wasn't working hard enough. Though, if he looked closely, both she and her husband were slightly flushed, and her tunic was now slightly askew. No more looks came Henry's way as the couple focused on themselves for a moment. Those looks had started mid-morning after Henry couldn't find the Deam's stamp which had rolled onto the floor in the absolute chaos that was his desk.

After lunch, it seemed Stephan Dolgram was in a far better mood, because he actually attempted a conversation. "So, tell me about yourself, Henry?" It was more than he'd said all day.

[Henry Brightblade]

As Henry entered his tight cramp little office he thought of several choice words to describe Dean Dolgram. As he closed the door, and lit the lamp he let a small breath escape his mouth. Filled with the desire to do anything other then the paperwork before him, Henry sat down and cut his quills. He set about making sure each memorandum was done in his best hand. Taking the time to make sure each piece of paper was dry from any ink. While he waited for one page to dry he started another one. It was dull copying the same thing over and over again, but Henry took the time to do it right, which would have cost him more time if the Dean found out that Henry made errors.

Henry hated his desk, mainly because it was unclean and paperwork had been tossed onto it. So he went to work on the stack of papers, firstly separating them into professors that sent them, and then he would pick up a stack to find the date and organize them that way. It was slow going at first, but picked up speed the more comfortable he got with shuffling the papers. As he finally organized them by person and date, he set out a piece of paper to start writing the subject of each memo onto it. He figured that Dolgram would eventually want to reference one of these memo’s or ask Henry some crazy question and then force him to look through them all. So he would work through the pain in his hand, and start everything the right way.

He wasn’t even through the first professor’s memo when the Dean’s wife showed up for lunch. She was well rounded in the places that she needed to be, and had a face that could force a man to melt. At her invitation, Henry departed quickly so he could release the contents from his bladder. Damn she is a looker! Henry thought as he finished up in the lavatory. Slowly he massaged his hand flexing it and stretching it, feeling the blood return and the pins starting to relax back into the distance of his mind.

Seeing the couple’s clothing and overall general appearance, Henry thought to himself. Dean you are one lucky man. Truthfully I am almost glad that I am not married to that woman, we would never leave the bed. So he turned his head and focused on his lunch. The slow realization that politics had more to deal with words then with anything else came to Henry, he went over the memo’s in his head. When the Dean had finally spoken, Henry had to swallow the bit of cheese he had in his mouth before he could talk.

“Well Sir, my father thought I was a bright child and sent me to schola for education. My father became sick before I could truly progress any further the most basic of scholarly skills. So I choose to go to work as a simple labor vowing that one day I would return to pursue my education. Since my father use to say, ‘Son, words can cut just as deep as a sword, but when a man becomes proficient in the use of both, he becomes a force onto the world.’ So I was very please that an opening occurred in your office, Dean Dolgram.” Henry bowed his head and hoped that the man’s wife came every lunch period. If for nothing more then to keep the man from snapping at him.

[Gossamer]

The Dean Dolgram nodded. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Here is a good place to get one, thats for sure. You might even be able to manage to progress a bit in your education if you take classes along with working. What, though, are your aspirations for the future? I mean... do you plan on going into a political career? Or is there something else on your mind?" Once Henry answered the question, the Dean would move on... finding himself busy, and filling appointments with students, other staff, and of course the inevitable end of the brightening wrapdown.

Though Stephan Dolgram was apparently going to be an absolute pain to work for, one thing was clear. He expected his staff to be prompt in their workday, and he did not expect them to be anything less than their departure upon leaving. There would be no required extra work late into the night. It was exceedingly clear that he kept his employees on fair work schedules, paying them for the time they worked.

When the evening rolled around, The Dean mentioned he was heading off for one last meeting at a gentleman's club in the same district, and he'd see Henry the next day.

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The next brightening, Henry came into the office, and found the Dean already there. He seemed to be in a jolly fine mood about something, and across his desk sprawled the periodical the professors all read. It was rife with political unrest and talk of the recent Governor's attempted assassination and the efforts and crackdown in the spring to thwart further attempts.

That day, among working through more of the mess on his desk, Henry was also required to look up an obscure memo he'd written to a distant department the day before... his reference sheet coming in exceedingly handy. He was able to put his fingers on it immediately and give the Dean an answer affirmative that he had indeed sent a memo as requested the day before.

After that, he was left alone until late in the morning when a knock on the door had him scrambling to answer it from his inconvenient closet office. A man in a dark suit stood there, asking to see the Dean but making no offer of a name. The man was a distinct dark-haired medonian, with a scar near his left earlobe. Once the Dean heard the man's voice, he asked Henry to let him in and then gave Henry the rest of the morning off with pay until after the lunch hour.

Once back, it was work as usual, but Stephan Dolgram's mood was worse than it normally was after his 'interesting' lunches. He asked Henry to take a sealed message to the bank, and return with a pouch, which was obviously some sort of withdrawal. The pouch rested on The Deans desk the rest of the day, but was gone by late afternoon. Henry had a twenty note bank draft on his table for his troubles later that day.

Then, until work was over, it was memos, filing, and doing some basic accounting until evening. But, before he was dismissed, Stephan stopped Henry. "You know, if your going to be carrying packages for me, and running errands, I'd like to get you some weapons training. Do you have any? And what would you think of the idea?"


ooc; feel free to ask any questions or backtrack any you want in this thread to get clarification or describe your trip to the bank etc.

[Henry Brightblade]

“I am not sure Dean Dolgram, politics interest me, but in order to have a true career I would have to find backers and so forth. Truthfully, I do not have the connections needed to find good backers. However, I should still be able to serve as an advisor or at the very least a scribe to some minor agency. My dreams are not big sir; I know that the weight of a great many people rest on a senator’s shoulders. If the people needed me then I would step forward for them, otherwise I would happily just marry some sweet girl with padding in the right areas and live till we both got fat and died.”

Henry laughed at the last bit. Aye it would be so bad marrying some pretty little girl. Getting fat off her cooking and having children under foot. It wasn’t a complex life he sought, but something inside of him vaguely felt like it wasn’t meant to be his path. Was he destined for great things? The feeling wouldn’t say one way or another. All it felt to him was that he was destined for anything other then a quiet life.

Henry went on with his day, working hard at seemly nothing more then shuffling papers. Henry felt very proud of filing nearly all but four inches of the paperwork that had been given to him. Looking at the missives and correspondence Henry went about addressing the scroll cases and placing them off to the side. He figured that they were just common cases that would need to be prepared for emergency use. It was the letters that Henry couldn’t help but allow his curiosity to take over. He knew that even though he read some of them, unless the dean was doing something very criminal and the letter was some sort of confession or proof that he did it, then Henry shouldn’t say anything about them to anyone. He did however make a secret list of who the correspondence was for and the order in which they were originally put in. Otherwise when the Dean wanted to post them Henry would have to break the seal again and sort through the whole mess once more.

So Henry went on working hard and happy that at the end of the day he could leave on time at the very least. Though a small part of him want to leave and go to the Dean house to meet that lovely wife of his. Henry cleared his thoughts, he was going to have to fine a hobby, or otherwise the lack of imagination within this job was going to get him in trouble.

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Triumphs and defeats met Henry upon the next day. He had left the day before with nothing more then a few inches of paper to work through, now upon his return it had gained at least double its size. Still most of the morning went by uneventful since the Dean seemed in a good mood. Once again his hand began to cramp, never truly having the proper time to heal between marathons of writing. Henry allowed his life to become lists. Lists of where what was, and what it contained, it was the only order that Henry felt he could bring to chaos of paper.

There were moments when his mind wandered and Henry had to force himself to refocus on the task at hand. Most of the time when his mind wandered it was about girls and even the Dean wife. Henry couldn’t say it was one single feature that made his mind want them; it was like a movement or the way they held themselves that spoke of softness and movement like the parting of silk.

Henry had done a great deal of physical work in his life; he almost found it easier then staying at his desk and simply doing paperwork. The task set before him required no great effort, just a simple discipline of preciseness. Whatever hobby Henry chose, it would have to be physical for he needed to be active, if for no other reason then the fact that his own mind would conjure ways to use that physical energy he was used too.

Henry was in mid word when the knock at the office forced him to hurry and leave off what he was doing to answer it. The man behind the door seemed… strange. There is something about this man that does not belong. Perhaps it was the scar near his earlobe. Henry of course had scars from the general work that he did, in fact he knew this job might even give him a few on his hands from sharpening quills. Yet, what type of work would give you a scar on your earlobe. Most scars on the face come from fights, and one close to your ear meant that if it was fight that he came close to dying from it. Yet maybe he had been thrown by a horse and simply had his ear cut by the toss. Either way he had his instructions, and Henry left thankful for the time off and that he wouldn’t see the tempting Dean’s wife today.

It was nice being lazy in the sunlight outside of the college. There was something that screamed freedom as the sun warms your face and the cool wind goes threw ones hair. He even felt the need to slip of his shoes and to curl his toes threw the green grass while he leaned against the cool stone wall. What a perfect day to sun oneself and watch the shapely ladies walk past. He was enough of a gentleman not to loudly call out like some tom cat, but if his eyes wondered to a neck, the shine off long flowing brown hair, or the way a dress fit just right on the curve of a hip, then none were the wiser.

After lunch Henry went back thankful for the small time out of his cramp office. Yet he was to be sent out again like some common error boy! Biting back his tongue, Henry kept his feelings from showing at all on his face. Henry simply felt that running to the bank wasn’t something that an assistant was suppose to do. The college had runners, why not use one of them? But with the dean in one of his moods Henry left as soon as he capped the ink well and dried the quill he hadn’t been able to put away from the first interruption.

The walk threw the city to the bank wasn’t far, but Henry decided to take several detours. One was suspiciously close to his house. As he turned a corner and saw the bakery that he bought near all his bread from, he made sure to smile at the pretty baker’s daughter. Winking at her as he wore what he considered some of his better clothes. He stopped to talk for a moment with her, well for Henry there was no line between talk and flirting. As soon as he heard her mother scream for her to go back inside, he bought a sweet roll and once again went on his way. Smiling as a picture of softly running his hand down her flour touched cheek came to him.

Wandering close to the military district, Henry saw the guards and solders in there uniforms. They looked smart and perhaps a little bit dangerous with their weapons upon there sides. Still they took their orders from politicians, and Henry might very well become powerful enough to order those men into action. Of course that meant bloodshed, and in truth Henry didn’t want that on his conscience.

So finally Henry went to the bank, and upon the tellers return with the pouch he realized just how much the Dean was withdrawing. Henry didn’t dally on his return to the college, the sum that was in the pouch made him take all the secure and quickest routes back. Henry didn’t know how much exactly was in the pouch but it certainly was more then anything that Henry could scrape together.

Upon Henry’s return he was able to get back to his regular job, and once again he forced himself into a discipline of preciseness and perfection. Once again Henry did his best to review and learn from the Dean’s memos and files. There were things said and unsaid by every word, and Henry needed to know which ones would provide the greatest impact. Which ones would cut his opponents deep, which ones would win people to him, and which ones denounce actions against him.

As Henry made his way to leave please that though the stack of papers on his desk hadn’t been all filed they were slightly less then what he had left the night before. As soon as the Dean spoke Henry stopped turning to the Dean.

“I… Of course Dean Dolgram, it’s quite sensible for me to receive weapon’s training. I have given it some thought and perhaps the rapier would be best suited for our purposes. It doesn’t bring to much attention to oneself, I can conceal it nicely under a cloak, and since I won’t be rushing off to war, a blade that doesn’t have to puncture an armored man is overall the best.”

“As far as my previous experience, I have been in brawls and a few scrapes but nothing that would require formal training. Then again if I am to continue acting in fullest capacity a blade and the knowledge to use one would be most satisfying.”

Then Henry decided to make an off colored comment, “Besides it was my understanding a blade on one’s side almost unlaces ladies bodices faster then a uniform.” Smiling he wondered if the Dean would laugh or scold him on proper etiquette.

OOC: Thanks for allowing me to ask questions. I truly value any feedback you have also. If you see something on how I can improve, or think of something else to do with my character OOC or IC please just send me a PM.

[Gossamer]

Dean Dolgram laughed. "Indeed a rapier has many uses, lad. Many uses for all sorts of things." He gave the boy a speculative look and laughed. "Yes, I can see you using one. Your sharp enough, but in this world a man has to get some training in." He rose, and walked over to another cabinet. There was a file there that he withdrew. He handed it to Henry. "I think your doing a fine job. Now its time to step things up a bit. I know your math skills are a bit lacking, but please work through these figures. I'd like to know something for curiosity sake. I'd like to know, based on Aelyria Prime's population, how much new housing it would take to house most of the cities poor if we have a million and a half people, 60 percent of which are poor or working poor, and unable to afford to buy land. This 'housing' would have to be apartment complexes, row houses, one-room type things, but enough of it to get entire families off the streets. Do you think you could look at the figures and see if you could come up with something? I need to send some letters to the Thane on the housing crisis here in Aelyria Prime, and I need some statistics to back it up." He stated, then laughed.

"Where do you live anyhow? Do you have a home? I might have a just reward for you if you do a good job on this report, Henry. My wife's handmaiden has a daughter thats about your age... pretty... I'd be willing to loan her to you in definitely if you think you could feed her and had a place to keep her. Shes a good girl, and it'd give you someone to do your laundry, cook your meals, warm other things... and give you more free time at work. I have a lot of reports like this to do. We need to work on expanding apprenticeships, and doing some pro-bono educational programs to get people without schola some training. All of this needs to be put into report form sooner or later." He added, then banged his fist on the table.

"We shouldn't have to be writing these reports to the Aedile and Thane's offices. They should be thoroughly aware of whats going on in this city. But no... the powers that be are off doing other things. I swear, someone should do something to change it. Someone should shoot that bitch in office, that Governor/Thane and make sure whomever replaces her actually walks the streets of Aelyria Prime once in a while." He said, growling now....

It was obviously going to be a long day. Dean Dolgrams moods changed often, with the missives coming in, as he left to lecture, as he returned. Usually his wife cheered him up, or other notes that came to his desk by runner (which he burned afterwards) made him smile. But lately there'd been setbacks.... and he was grouchy about it.

Henry had a couple of choices. He could offer to do the report, and try his best to make it work. Or he could tell the Dean he felt uncomfortable doing it and pass up a chance to basically get a house servant which obviously was property handed to him for free. It would all depend upon how the lad felt about people being owned and passed about like cattle.. and how confident he was in his own skills to produce such an important document.

"And of course, I need that report by the end of the cycle, Henry." The Dean announced, before going back to preparing what appeared to be a lecture.

[Henry Brightblade]

OOC: Tough post Goss, I wasn't sure how Henry would respond to the idea of slavery.

Henry smiled as he heard that the dean was impressed with his work. He looked off at the dean as he continued and asked if he was interested in the creation of an important document. Henry felt his chest fill with pride and even though the answer to the question came to his mind he was kept quiet. It was simple math to Henry, a half of on and a half million was seven hundred and fifty thousand people. Then you just had to had a tenth of that population to the answer and it can up to nine hundred thousand. People often found it strange that Henry had spent so much time working on his math in schola. But the truth was far easier then anyone realized. Math was enjoyable and when one played dice regularly you had to be good at math or you would lose all your pay. Not to mention contracts for work had taught Henry that even though big numbers were often harder to work with. Most of the time you could chop off the zero’s on the end and working with only a few numbers at a time.

Yet once Henry started paying attention once again to the Dean, his thoughts darkened. He had never truly thought such a thing would be offered to him. Was the Dean talking about slavery? It was illegal and immoral. Yet there was a dark part of him that wanted the young woman. Someone who worked and cleaned his apartment, who prepared his meals and wash the dishes. Henry wanted to be a scribe to most official, he would need to have someone that would take care of such meaningless tasks, and the promise of beauty made the dark sweetness of it all even better. However he knew that it was wrong, what kind of handmaiden would willing be traded like some kind of cattle?

Of course, that dark itch was there, parts of it were laden with the supposedly darkest sins. Henry envied the Dean; he had a position of power and a beautiful wife that maybe pleasured him every day. If he took the handmaiden he could have that as well…. Another part was of sloth, speaking about how the mindless work could just be passed off to the girl and she could nothing about it. Another was the lust that he felt burning in his loins almost everyday, and yet still another was wrath. His desire told him that all he had to do was say yes and he could take out every insult on this poor girl that the Dean sent him.

And yet the Dean hadn’t said that it was a slave. Nor had he said she was willing to perform sexual favors, it was implied and Henry might very well be reading too much into it. So quietly Henry decided to refuse the live in maid, and perhaps ask for something else. Besides Henry didn’t think he could be by such soft flesh every day and not attempt to caress it. No it was better to be rid of temptation; he already had too much with the Dean’s wife showing up every lunch.

Then it was the next little bit that caught Henry by surprise, sure Henry didn’t like the Thane. She made everyone pay taxes and he had his own opinion on how the city should be run, but then again he had just expressed every tavern drunk’s opinion. No there was something else at play here, and slowly it came to him. The Dean hates women. He uses his lunch’s to show that he has some control over women. It might feel physically good, but he also does it to show that he is superior to women, but since the Thane is a woman and superior to him, he can’t show dominance over her. He can’t put her in her place like his wife or her hand maidens. It was a guess, but somehow it felt true, the only question was how dangerous was the dean emotion to women. Would he override his sense and do something stupid? If Henry disagreed with him would he jeopardize everything he was working for?

Henry let the dean go on and finish, once he felt the dean was done, he realized that no matter what Henry was going to do the report, and even if the dean gave Henry a ‘slave’ he could still treat her like a person.

“Well Sir, I must thank you for this opportunity. Of course, since I live in a one bedroom apartment, it might be a little cramp for two people. Yet, I must admit someone that could do all that you describe would be a great help for me. I just don’t want you to think that I couldn’t use help in other areas like purchases of books and articles that may help me become a better assistant.”Henry want to get the dean thinking in other areas, instead of just giving a yes or no answer, and with that Henry bowed deep and left the Dean to his lecture.

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For the next cycle Henry worked during the days for the Dean, making sure the filing and writing down of memo’s never become chaos like the way Henry found it. The first few evenings Henry bought some extra bedding and spare boards and nails just incase the he need to make another bed frame. He also stayed up late each night defining questions and ideas on how he would develop his report.

The next two Henry went out in the city and interviewed guards, barkeeps, and slum lords and matters of the poor. He collected data on how many were families, how many came in every day, how many got sick, and so on. Then he started working on the report every night, till the brightening it was due. He wanted to impress, he had gone out and collected data, which broke down the poor into groups that regularly has small income coming in to those that may only receive income from handouts or a few days work then going back to their vices. Some were high risk of injury or death from just being poor, the smallest percentage of the poor were those that actually made enough to better themselves. He took time to make different sections and have the summary of each section as the separate paragraph that began the section. He knew that men without a lot of time would be looking at this, and the important points would be the only ones they wanted to read.

So Henry showed them that the expense of housing the poor in Prime wasn’t just costly, but also rash. Henry showed that though the majority of the poor would play for housing, and all that housing shouldn’t be just one room places. He also explain that there was no profit in running such places unless the government created a program that helped the land/building owners to offset the cost of repairs and general housing requirements.

Henry hated being so harsh, but he had to be realistic. No one could run a failing slum house and hope to live around his tenets. So Henry did his best for the concepts to be present clearly and quickly. He worried about every word and made sure that the spelling was perfect. In the end it was time to place the report on the dean’s desk.

That day he returned to work he placed a copy of the final report on the dean’s desk and quietly went back to his office. Truthfully, Henry couldn’t watch the Dean read his report, for fear of hearing the man laugh, but then again he wondered if it would be good enough to get some kind of bonus.

[Gossamer]

ooc: Henry, just so you know, everything is legal in AP. Even slavery, though not everyone likes it, its totally accepted. That was a great response though to a really difficult situation. The Dean is giving you a raise!

Dean Dolgram nodded to Henry's answer. It was diplomatic, well versed, and though he could tell there was hesitation and eagerness in equal parts, he didn't push it. What he was glad to see was Henry's eagerness to do the numbers for him. What he was also glad to see was that the boy didn't automatically get upset by what he said about Liselle. He thought to clarify though, and felt he needed too after his rash outburst.

"Look Henry, its like this. When Milo was elected Regent, he was one of us, one of the common men. He wasn't one of those de Lylles nobles no one can trust too steeped in their old money to know whats going on. His Excellency has done fabulous with the Empire, and running things for the entire nation. However, where he's fallen short is simple. Aelyria Prime has only been reopened for two years. Before that the Pox closed the city down, and the Ancient Aylerians took it over and reopened it only when Milo was elected. He, in all that time, hasn't bothered to elect a Thane nor a Governor of the province until recently, then when he did, he imported one of his friends from out of province. Poverty hasn't gotten better here. Neither has jobs, neither has crime... nothing has been done! Can you imagine how angry the common people of Aelyria Prime are? We don't blame him for not being able to solve all our problems, but we do blame him for the platent neotism and favortism hes showing in staffing this city. And when he did put someone in place, he put them in TWO prominent positions of which they've handled both poorly." He sighed, clenched his quill pen so tightly it snapped, and frowned. "Sometimes I need to stop thinking about this because it makes me too worked up. I just wanted you to understand. And I don't want you to write the report for me, I just want the data, and some suggestions." He said, smiling... "If your up for it, that is.... if not, understandable... your still new. " And with that, he was off to his lecture

.

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Henry worked hard all that next cycle, because for all his normal duties, he still had the data gathering. It was commendable that he went out into the people, and although he might not spot it, Dean Dolgram made sure he had an unnoticed escort, watching his moves to make sure he went to the right places and did the right things... not half working the data, but really getting the right information. It was essential in the future, the assistant could trust Henry, and the man was going to make sure he had all the tools at his disposal to make sure that was possible.

But when the Dean walked into his office that morning, dressed to the hilt, he didn't immediately get right to reading it. There was a ton of things that needed his attention right away. He had two meetings, and three drop ins. In fact, he was so busy he missed lunch.

Dean Dolgram was startled when he finally cracked the cover on the numbers and found not only a good data set, but a well thought out list of problems, as well as some potential solutions. He hadn't thought at all about the profitability of running low income housing, and hadn't surely thought to figure in job risk and how often the poor got sick or even killed due to the nature of their duties. In short, the Dean was well pleased... so much so that he had high hopes for Henry and high hopes for what having an assistant like him would do to free up his time to allow him to get even more done than possible.

It was only fitting that he reward the lad, and reward him well. Dean Dolgram wasn't a rich man, but he'd been in the Academy a long time, was a solid smart investor, and the school was operating at a profit. There was room in the budget for flexibility. A lot of it, in fact.

So that evening, before he left, he went into Henry's 'office' and paused. "Henry Brightblade, I'm very impressed with your work. You've outshone everyone yet I've hired. Just think, you've been working for me all spring, and this is what you come up with. I'm enormously pleased. Do you realize today is the first day of Summer as well? You've earned a reward for your diligence. Most of my assistants don't last that long. I'd like to first and foremost double your salary, effective immediately. You work twice the hours I had set for you, and you're always here late. I appreciate it enormously. And because of your salary increase, I'm also sending Mareka home with you for a while. She's been educated in Schola and is a smart lass. If she proves invaluable, you may keep her. If she becomes a problem or you find your place too cramped, I will make other arrangements. She's waiting outside. My wife brought her with our carriage, since we are going to a banquet tonight to honor one of our professors retiring. It'd be best if you called it a night too. And if there are any issues, bring them to my attention immediately tomorrow morning." The Dean said brightly, turning away and grabbing his cloak and top-hat.

He was gone in an instant, taking the report with him. It would obviously give him something to read tonight if the banquet grew to boring. As for Henry, he was left with really no way to say no... not that he hadn't been given one before and opted to let the Dean decide for him.

(New thread for you here... this one isn't done yet either)

[Henry Brightblade]

Henry came in the next morning. It had been a long night, not because he had too much drink or the weight of the world was upon his shoulders. No it was because he had spent the night with a stranger not four steps away from him. Never mind Mareka was strong and quietly beautiful. Never mind her fiery read hair smelled like crushed apple blossoms in the spring. Never mind her soft skin spoke of softer pleasures. Henry knew that it was tension between them, and the only way to release that tension would be to release them selves to it. Yet Henry knew that he couldn’t order her to do it, nor could look into her eyes while they committed an act of carnal knowledge and not seeing her totally giving herself to him.

So Henry walked to work giving her instructions on where to shop and what to buy. When he arrived he took a few moments to himself to organize his mind. Henry had thought about all the information on the report and the paper that the Dean could present. There were several business opportunities that could be made from the information. Also there were several people who would be interested in contracts and so forth. A list of possibilities ran threw his head, thinking of all the effects and event that could make money.

Henry hadn’t really thought himself a schrewd business man. He saved his money and most of the time Henry’s plans would have required large sums of money. Then again information was always possible to sale, and a few brides here to loosen the government coffers would make the information very expensive. If he could sale it to the right people then Henry could move out of his apartment, maybe even get a small house. Mareka could even have her own room, it would certain help the fire and itch that told Henry to walk over bare skinned and side next to Mareka body in the middle of the night.

Henry walked up each stair wondering if the Dean would still have beaten him to office, of it for once Henry could start his day without the stare of the Dean as he came in. Yet someone Henry knew that wasn’t a possibility, nay it probably wasn’t, but either way Henry was going to come in and ask for the Dean attention for a few moments or few leave him a not to talk to Henry when he had the time.