FANPORT OVERFLOW LOG

[maskormods]

WHO: ImPorts!
WHERE: Heropa's Convention Centre.
WHEN: April 14-16, from 9 AM - 12 AM every day.
WHAT: Registration is in motion alongside FanPort, the most popular imPort convention around! Come on in and see imPort-led panels, the artist's alley, cosplayers, and more! If you have any questions, or wish to amend the way we have written up your characters' panels, let us know here! The original log can be found HERE.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; please let us know if this should be changed.

Comments

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor snorts. ]

Because it'd make his life easier? [ he says dryly. ] Amazing how many eminently respectable men wish women would quietly go away and not make trouble.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel considers this quietly for a few moments. Generally, she had stopped guessing at Wyldon's motivations on things since she had become a squire, and of course the last time she'd seen him she had been certain she was going to be executed for treason, but....]

I do not think it is that.... Exactly. It would be easier for him, yes, but only because I force him to consider things he isn't used to. My friend Neal told me once that you can hit people in the face with a haddock and they'll call it a mouse if that's what they want to see. [Wry grin] Neal is the one with a dramatic flare.

Anyway, my lord Wyldon would rather the haddock didn't exist so he wouldn't have to call it something else. [Kel makes a face]
...If that makes sense.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor takes this in with his characteristic attentive listening. ]

I can't say I'm unfamiliar with that conundrum. My favorite bodyguard as a child was a woman, but it had to be an unofficial posting. She was my mother's attendant or my babysitter-- she just happened to be able to wrestle the majority of the service to the floor.

[ Indeed, he sounds wistfully affectionate as he recounts this. ]

[protects_the_small]

That does sound like a way to trip up assassins who might be dismissive.

[IE: the stupid ones]

[vorbarra]

You're not wrong.

But I know it always bothered her that others saw a discrepancy in her as a woman and as a combatant. She was allowed to be one but not both at any given time.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel nods at that one, Goddess knew her own friends probably had trouble thinking of her as one or the other at the beginning]

I wore dresses to meals, just to make sure they couldn't forget. My mother was shocked when I wrote to ask for more to be sent, since I always hated wearing them back home.

[vorbarra]

But when you get to stick it in their faces, it's worth it? I don't blame you.

That must be quite an adjustment about being here.

[protects_the_small]

I didn't want them to ever think I was ashamed. That was one way.

....Yes, it's rather odd to have people focus on the 'knight' part rather than the 'lady'.

[vorbarra]

I admit I'm not familiar with knights myself. We seem to have skipped that element of feudalism on Barrayar. We do have Armsmen, but they're not quite the same.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel tilts her head and looks at him, interested]

How would you say they differ?

[vorbarra]

I can't speak to how knights operate in your country, but Armsmen are a Count's private force, whose oath to their lord is seen as sufficient defense against even treason if they were operating under orders. There's a limit of twenty per Count. Historically they've often functioned as a defense against Imperial tyranny when necessary, though fortunately that's not something I've had to contend with.

[ Seeing as he's not a tyrant. ]

In practice they're... effectively members of the family. They and their families live with their liege-lord and operate as batmen, bodyguards and attendants.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel shakes her head]

Every fief has guards, depending on how rich they are, but I would say rarely do they become family... Perhaps in the older, richer fiefdoms.

[A small smile] -which mine is not.

Knights are usually the heirs, though if your family has enough money for armor, sending younger sons is common too. Pages train for four years in the palace, basic fighting and an education, then are squired for another four. Usually to a friend of the family, though knights will take an interest if they have a wish to teach. A knight's first loyalty is to their people if they're an heir and then to the Crown.

[vorbarra]

[ He hadn't totally realized she has a fief, which reads to Gregor that she's the daughter of a District Count, making her higher up the rankings in his estimation than he'd previously assessed.

Knights as heirs is very surprising to him. ] That's totally different, [ he admits ruefully. ] Count's heirs go through the military academy and serve once their schooling is finished, by convention though not law-- and before the academy, their education was through an apprenticeship system more like what you describe, but...

[ Gregor shakes his head. ] That's not what I was expecting. Vor would never become Armsmen; it's an honored position for proles, often veterans or former members of the municipal guard. They're lifetime appointments.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel frowns and shakes her head]

That sounds more like castle guards or.... Or the army. Those are for common folk, only the nobility may become knights. The Prince Heir must be knighted, if he couldn't pass his Ordeal of Knighthood, there's no way he would pass his Ordeal of Kingship.

[She grimaces slightly] -it may be my family is just odd. We were away from our fief for most of my childhood, and then I went to page training. I never got to know our people very well.

[vorbarra]

Well, I can't imagine Barrayar accepting an Emperor with no military experience whatsoever-- I did my two years-- but it's not knighthood.

May I ask why you were away from your lands?

[protects_the_small]

I suppose thats sensible. Did they let you fight or was it command? [Thinking of Roald and his layers of security]

Papa was the ambassador the the Yamani Islands. We moved there when I was five.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor sighs and rubs at his jaw. She's really hit the nail on the head with that observation. ] I was a supposedly unremarkable Ensign and then Lieutenant who just so happened to be consistently assigned to safe desk positions and accidentally called sire instead of by rank.

--Being ambassador is usually a prestigious position, however. [ A bit of a questioning look. ]

[protects_the_small]

[Kel winces in sympathy]

Seems a lot of pretense for such an open secret.

Oh, it wasn't entirely meant to be at first. We're a very new barony, you see, it was only my great-grandfather who was ennobled. But Papa helped to establish the embassy, since Tortall and the Yamanis haven't been on good terms until recently, and he did most of the work getting the marriage contract between Shinko and Roald arranged, [The slip of informality on their names is unintentional]and it put Mindelan in high favor with the Crown.

And that wouldn't have happened at all if Mama hadn't saved their sacred swords in a pirate attack.

[She's very proud of her parents]

[vorbarra]

Ah, it wasn't meant to be a secret at all. More that our efforts to erase nepotism aren't progressing as quickly apace as I'd like.

[ Rueful self-consciousness there.

But he listens to this with thoughtful interest. ] You take after your parents, I see. So your family was well-placed to be friendly with both sides. I can't find fault in the reasoning for such a posting at all.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel nods, somewhat more understanding]

Challenging noble privileges is something our king has had some trouble in doing. It's surprising, but his council of nobles dislikes the idea entirely.

[If a compliment to her can be attributed to her parents instead, it seems she is better at taking it]

Papa is a very good diplomat. And I suppose if the embassy had failed, there would be less shame to our house than to a higher ranking one.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor snorts. ]

Yes, completely shocking, [ he agrees, droll. ] Those with power not wanting to give it up.

I can't see how that's the case. Shame is shame. It's spread no less thick for you being relatively recently ennobled. You've as much honor to protect as any centuries-held barony.

[protects_the_small]

Almost as if they'd already spent so much time clinging to it.

[She shrugs]

Less people to care, you see. In any case, it worked out well. And I think-[her tone becomes slightly more thoughtful]-I think that having a second queen who is well trained in weapons will be good.

[vorbarra]

You'll have to unpack that for me. A second queen?

[protects_the_small]

Oh, the marriage that was arranged between Crown Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami.

Yamani noblewomen are all trained in weapons as a matter of course, and Shinko-the princess's training practices with her ladies has become quite popular with some of the younger noblewomen.

[vorbarra]

[ A soft laugh. ]

That's one way for me to speed things along. They keep urging me to do something meaningful politically with my marriage-- [ There's an almost dangerous spark in his eyes. ] Maybe I will.