Title: King Edward, Part XI
Author: Anonymous
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Price: 300
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[/center]King Edward, Part XI



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[/center] The Companions stayed the night at a crude but comfortable
inn at a tiny village that called itself Raven Spring,
located in the foothills of the Wrothgarian Mountains. The
next morning they resumed their journey eastward, moving
through rolling hills towards the Skyrim and Hammerfell
borders, and camping the next two nights under clear early
summer skies. When they resumed traveling the third morning,
Moraelyn told everyone to watch the slopes north of the
road for a notch opening to a high meadow that faced to the
southwest. Shortly afterward everyone spotted it almost
simultaneously when the group completed a bend around a
rocky outcrop.

 Silk and Beech went ahead to scout a good route, and to look
for a campsite for the evening ahead. By dusk they had covered
most of the distance to the meadow, but still faced some
stiff climbing the next morning. They agreed that it was time to camp
once again, but happily a lunchtime picnic seemed very
likely the next day.

 By mid-day the next day, which was Loredas the 5th of Mid
Year, the Companions were sprawled across a grassy slope
within the Dragon Village, having been joined by Akatosh and
one other dragon. This second dragon was smaller than
Akatosh, and seemed to be a female, although
characteristically Akatosh had just introduced the dragon
as Debudjen, with no further explanations being
forthcoming. The two dragons politely chatted with the
humanoids as they enjoyed their repast, though Debudjen flew
off afterwards, to arc gracefully above, and then swoop
down upon a steer in a grassy field some distance away.

 Akatosh had been watching Edward's reaction to this, and
asked: "Why did you flinch, Edward? Debudjen had not eaten
recently, and really behaved no differently than you just have."

 Edward replied with a small smile, "I don't think that our
meal was quite that violent in nature."

 Akatosh returned the smile, but then responded. "A good
reminder then, that we are only similar, rather than the same."

 Edward paused, squinting into the mid-afternoon sun, and
then turned to the golden dragon: "Akatosh - why did you
choose this spot for your village?"

 "Well, it was high enough up into the mountains to suit us,
but flat enough for raising the cattle ... with trees for the deer ...  and it is very defensible for all of us. There is
plenty of room for the humans to build their ranches and
farms, and the elves are quite comfortable in the dense trees
along the cliff edges. The adits in the surrounding cliff
faces provide us the access to our lairs, which we have
located within the mining tunnel system. All in all, an
ideal site for such an experiment involving this many races
of beings. It even opens to the southwest, providing
reasonable warmth for the smaller beings, with some
protection from the elements during the colder months."

 Edward responded, "It is difficult for me to get used to the
notion of a village without some central concentration of
buildings - but perhaps these will be developed in the
future; at least, a few buildings for meetings and
socializing. And, I suppose that there are also some
beautiful sunsets to be seen."

 The dragon smiled again, but replied "Quite so, but I am the
only one of the dragonkind to show any interest, and that was
not a legitimate consideration when we chose this site." Then
wistfully: "I wish that I could assemble the words to
describe some of them. I have attempted this many, many
times, but the results just are not ...very admirable."
More briskly: "And by the way, we do intend to erect a
meeting hall for the humanoids, and also some stores for
barter and other exchanges of goods."

 Moraelyn had wandered over and seated himself, and he asked,
with a notable absence of the usual humanoid respect for
dragons, "Whatever possessed you to attempt such a crazy
experiment, Akatosh?"

 The dragon paused thoughtfully, and then replied "As is my
wont I had been analyzing, in this case one might say the history of dragon behavior. Clearly our lengthy contest of
resistance to these new Aurielian gods was futile, but it
took many of our generations for us to realize and accept
this. Then, our next pattern was to isolate ourselves, even
from each other, and to resist intrusion from any and all
beings. The exception of course was to mate among ourselves
and procreate our race. However, aside from that one
activity, we fought any and all for our precious privacy,
and really for no good reason except that we can be an
especially stubborn race."

 Edward said, "Then you maintained a pattern of behavior
long after the reason for it was gone?"

 Akatosh looked a bit embarrassed. He said stiffly, "I believe
that is what I I just said. We are not the only sentient race
to fall prey to that."

 Edward said, "The Archmagister has told me that much
behavior is inborn." 

 Moraelyn smiled at him, "And inborn behavior patterns are a
particular problem for long-lived species who change
slowly as conditions change. We elves suffer from it even
more than you short-lived humans, which is why we like to keep
things as they are, though life is change and to resist it
utterly is death. Dragons live far, far longer than even
elves, and, in consequence, breed even more slowly. Still,
who can say what alterations being born into a social
setting may produce, for good or ill, in dragon behavior."

 Aliera had by this time joined the conversation, and
observed: "The Daedra must have been long pleased with
dragon behavior."

 Akatosh responded, "Perhaps so, but I approached our ...
queen with this suggestion moreso because it seemed clear to
me that as a race we had fallen into a stasis, and we needed
to break this shell in order to invigorate ourselves. She
didn't quite agree with me, but, perhaps because of my
reputation, she told me to go ahead and make this attempt."

 By this point, all of the Companions were sitting within
hearing range, and Mats asked: "Did you have to get your
queen's permission? And have there been many difficulties
among the various races?"

 "Permission is not quite accurate in this case, Mats; being
the beings that we are, it was moreso that I was obliged to
tell her of this so that she would have the information. For
example, other dragons regularly come to me with
potential military intelligence, following this same
philosophy of preparedness."

 Mats grinned and said, "You mean 'just in case', right? But
what about these elves and humans?"

 "Ah, our humanoid Lord and Lady do set a most remarkable
example of tolerance and respect for differing shapes and
customs. I owe a debt of gratitude to Moraelyn for the loan
of his smiths and miners, who have been most generous in
sharing their knowledge and skills with the Bretons that my young friend Edward and I have, ah, persuaded to attempt settlement here. It is my experience that
Bretons, well, many Bretons, will do virtually anything
so long as it is profitable and they gain skill and
knowledge from it. The Nordic lust for individual honor and glory makes the mithril armor and weapons produced here extremely
profitable -- t'was sheer genius that inspired Aliera to
insist that we sell only to the nobility -- while the delving
opens new tunnels and provides access to -- that which we dragons require." Akatosh smiled a
little slyly. He was very reticent on the subject of exactly what dragons required. "Beech
and Willow have made it known among their people that wood
elves are welcome here, so those who have long missed their
ancient High Rock homes have returned to these hills."

 "Fortunate for me that I'm now a Duke, and thus qualified to wear and carry
mithril. If only I could afford more than a piece or two!
But for the cost I might retire --" Mats said.

 "If you retired you would not require the mithril,"
Moraelyn pointed out.

 "And what of my son and daughter? Thinkst thou I will beg
from thee for them?" Mats said indignantly. "My knees and
wind may not be what once they were, I grant you. I'fact I'm
somewhat tempted to remain up here, now I am here, yet I can
still swing my axe with any!"

 Mith grinned delightedly, "Nords can't count. It's why they
seek honor and glory, not profit. Honor and glory are not
amenable to enumeration much past what one can tally on the
fingers. Mats, if thou art but thirty-nine, thou wert the largest ten year old humanoid I e
ver met or hope to meet!"

 "But what then are these benefits to those who neither delve
nor smith?" Mats persisted, ignoring his old friend. "I
would think that many would be terrified to live so close to
such ... formidable beings" Mats spoke the last of this with
a sly grin.

 "Well, on the other hand, the presence of the 'formidable
beings' means that they are certainly well-protected. And
this area is surprisingly fertile, so the crops seem to be
growing well ... and although they provide the meat for us,
we allocate one fifth of each herd to them for their own
consumption. We've also been finding out what I have long suspected - the three sets of races, when
combined, fight much more effectively than the sum of each
when considered in isolation - that is, each race covers or
cancels weaknesses of the others. At least it is certainly
true that the local goblin population has been drastically reduced in a very short
period of time."

 "Aye," Edward responded, "so Moraelyn proved in
er met or hope to meet!"

 "But what then are these benefits to those who neither delve
nor smith?" Mats persisted, ignoring his old friend. "I
would think that many would be terrified to live so close to
such ... formidable beings" Mats spoke the last of this with
a sly grin.

 "Well, on the other hand, the presence of the 'formidable
beings' means that they are certainly well-protected. And
this area is surprisingly fertile, so the crops seem to be
growing well ... and although they provide the meat for us,
we allocate one fifth of each herd to them for their own
consumption. We've also been finding out what I have long suspected - the three sets of races, when
combined, fight much more effectively than the sum of each
when considered in isolation - that is, each race covers or
cancels weaknesses of the others. At least it is certainly
true that the local goblin population has been drastically reduced in a very short
period of time."

 "Aye," Edward responded, "so Moraelyn proved in
Morrowind."

 "With a bit of help from his friends," Moraelyn
acknowledged. "I reap the praise, but i'truth I'm little
more than the standard they wave -- and at times I feel more
like the target they set up!"

 A wave of laughter greeted this remark. Edward persisted, "With
you and the others up here, Akatosh, I feel my borders are
well guarded, should Skyrim ever feel the urge to move its borders
west again."

 Aliera asked: "Was it easy to convince the other dragons to move to here?"

 "Actually, the most difficult part of that was moving our
hoards to our new lairs" Akatosh responded with a lazy
smile, "although once it was known that we had no use for the
metals, gems and jewelry that we accumulate, everything went much more smoothly." But then more seriously:
"Essentially I had to approach each dragon personally,
and ... convince them that this idea had merit. Again, once I
had persuaded a couple of our especially independent
specimens, things went much more smoothly. However, there are
only nine of us living in this area ... and there is really
only room for two or three more of us. We shall have to see what develops hereafter."

 Aliera now observed: "I think that now the gods and goddesses might look very favorably indeed on dragon
behavior."

 "That may be so, Aliera, but again that was not really why
this was done. Besides, they still may remember and resent
our long opposition to them."

 Beech asked deferentially "But what is the name of this village?"

 Akatosh sighed, and then responded "I fear that we shall
never reach a decision, since each race has decided opinions
in that regard. Perhaps once the initial building phase is
completed, we will able to be more contemplative about
such matters."

 Beech replied "That just doesn't seem right - everywhere
should have a name, shouldn't it?"

 Willow chuckled and then said "Perhaps to us this is so, but who knows how dragons
think; and I'm sure that the humans and elves will squabble over the style of the name, besides the
specifics of it."

 Moraelyn interrupted with great drama, "Surely you don't mean to imply that an elf can be overly
stubborn!?" and the discussion dissolved into a period of
laughter and teasing amongst the group.

 Presently, Akatosh said, "I favor the name 'Section 22.'"

 Beech stared at him, "Akatosh, I see what thou dost mean about
thy difficulties with the poetic. If you will allow my frank
opinion? That is the single worst village name I have ever
heard."

 Akatosh sighed gustily, then pardoned himself hastily to
Beech -- humanoids found dragon sighs quite unpleasant and sometimes actually
hazardous. "Then thou seest what I mean by differences. To
me, it is very meaningful, and most appropriate. Is
'Section 16' any better as a name? Not? Then is it the word
'Section' that offends you? In what way is it inferior to
'Keep' or 'Reich' or 'Glen' or 'Hold'?"

 Edward said, "But Akatosh, a name should make some sense. At
least humans think so. You should have 21 other sections
first, if you're going to name this place '22'."

 "Really?" Akatosh said, "Why is that? Are not all numbers
equally valid? They serve well to distinguish one place
from another. There could be many 'Greenvales' for
instance. I myself know of four such villages. The number
'Twenty-two' does appeal to me....aesthetically, as well
as possessing some 'sense' -- at least to me," he smiled
secretively.

 Moraelyn said, "I think Lord Akatosh is enjoying what some
call an 'in-joke'. Were I so rash as to instruct a dragon in manners--"

 "Who," Silk said, "would e'er accuse Moraelyn of being
rash?"

 A bit later, Edward asked Akatosh: "Do you think that we could
play a game or two of Battle? I brought the board and
playing pieces with me."

 Moraelyn interrupted "I'm afraid that Akatosh and I must discuss some matters this evening - and you'd only lose
again anyway" he added with a fond smile.

 Edward replied "But I can beat everyone else ... Akatosh,
will I ever win a game with you?"

 "No, Edward, you won't", and Akatosh was slightly bemused
by Edward's startled expression, and then the hearty laugh that quickly followed it.

 "That wasn't very diplomatic of you, Akatosh. But why won't
I ever win?"

 "Because I have been playing for much longer than you have Edward, and so long as I continue to play, you will not
be able to catch up to me. Besides, this game is what I am
starting to think of as a 'bounded problem', and that sort is
most easily dealt with."

 "What do you mean by 'a bounded problem', Akatosh?" asked
Mats.

 "That is a problem that has a countable number of possible
actions and results, Mats. There are only 81 squares on the
board, and each side has exactly 27 playing pieces, each
piece moves in a specific way, and so on."

 "But the game is like a real battle, isn't it?" asked
Ssa'ass.

 "No, it is very good practice for learning, and for
thinking about how to execute a battle - but my Elven Archers
never become tired or demoralized, and my Master Mage always does what I want.
Such things seldom happen in a real battle."

 Moraelyn nodded in agreement, and asked with mock slyness
"Then what is an example of an unbounded problem?"

 "Certainly a real battle ... but also, to me a poem is an
unbounded problem"

 "But any poem can be analyzed, Akatosh" Aliera said
chidingly.

 "Of course - but only after it is written. I am unable to
define, or bound, the act of writing it, though ...  that is,
the act of creating it. If I start to write a poem ... there
are so many possibilities" and then wryly "I never get
beyond the first line, because I start imagining all the
things that I could put into the beginning and...." 

















































































 
