Honored

Chapter 14: The Great Exile (Part 4 - Part 10)

A/N: Reminder: If at any point you get bored while reading this, skip to the next chapter titled Chapter 14: The Great Exile (Part 11 - Part 14). I've made sure Part 11 picks up in a place where you aren't losing anything for skipping Part 4 - Part 10. Part 11 - Part 14 will be available on 5/8/2024, and the Epilogue will be available 5/9/2024.

Part 4

Dan gently tapped my shoulder making me aware of the faces turned toward me expectantly.

Richard cleared his throat and glared at me like a ghost of his brother, "You are the tiebreaker on this. With the decision to have your position be voted for by the whole city, the point was brought up: what about other positions that we might add such as the role I am currently filling which is moderator for the discussions taking place. This vote is for whether your role fills other roles, or would the people of the city as a whole have to vote for multiple people to fill other roles."

This was an easy vote. Putting power in the hands of one person leads to corruption. Or did it? Would the Spies have an easier time controlling things with more rats or with less? More people with different jobs was probably better. It did make more weak links, but it was more points of failure instead of a single point of failure.

"I vote for a different person voted on by the whole city for each new role added to the city government. A single person can never take on more than one role," I declared, hoping that this would not help the Spies.

Richard nodded, his facial in a neutral state so I couldn't tell if he was happy with my vote or not.

The discussion moved into other roles that the council felt were needed for the government to function. A person in charge of the city guard. A person in charge of food and making sure enough was grown. The brainstorming continued, but were these types of roles necessary? Wouldn't it just be someone working in the field who made it to the top?

In the past, from what they said, the top position of a field was chosen by the King, and now they were attempting to figure out all the things the King had controlled in the past. It was impressive to watch them take to the new system of voting for items and making positions that the people voted on. Everyone seemed equally determined to move forward with a new system and while some specifics were debated, no one was demanding to go back to the old way. The new way did give them more power, as long as they could convince their voters to keep giving them power.

I saw people nodding at something that was said by the gray haired lady. Richard smiled as he shifted his weight, "Then we agree that this list is good for now, and can be refined at any point by any member of the council bringing a new role to vote during a council session. All in favor, raise your hand."

The twelve representatives raised their hands.

"Good," Richard clapped his hands and a man in black suit moved from the crowd watching the proceedings forward to Richard's side. "Let us take lunch and reconvene after lunch to discuss district distribution and potential laws. For all those who wish to stay and eat lunch here, my cook has been preparing a scrumptious meal." Richard pointed to the man whose receding short brown hair was mixed with strands of gray giving him the appearance of a slim middle aged man, "My butler will take the number of people staying back to the kitchen. For those not staying, you can be back in an hour for the continuation of the proceedings."

This type of proceeding really wasn't for me. I would have been terrible as a politician, and I was glad that I didn't have to run discussions and stand in front of this group of people feeling responsible for every decision they made. It didn't matter anymore to me what laws or roles they concocted, as long as I made it as difficult for the Spies as I could.