presents...
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Decisions
What do you want?
Pietra knew how lucky she was to get asked a question like that. Father didn't just love her, he respected her. He treated her almost like a boy, even taking her suggestions seriously. She wanted to give him a good answer, because his questions deserved good, thoughtful answers.
This one was a stumper.
Not that she didn't have things that she wanted. She wanted to stay with Father and help him. She had skills, mundane and sorcerous, that he didn't, that she could use to support him as he aimed for higher positions in the Church. But that wanting was, she now realized, based on certain assumptions. She had been an orphan first, and then an anonymous acolyte. Her marriage prospects had been dim, and certainly no man who would have been interested would have been worth giving up life with Father for.
But she was a Donati now, a noblewoman. More, she was the daughter of either a great strega or else of an Unbound man, depending on which version of the story one heard. Either way, her blood was a commodity, sufficiently rare and valuable that no lesser person than Principe Alcide was offering to marry her to his son.
She knew Father would turn him down if she said so. He wouldn't have asked otherwise. She loved him for it, but had to wonder if it was really a choice. Turn down the prince? When he's offering to marry his son to the "daughter" of a mainland parish priest? But maybe that's why he asked in private, she thought - so that a refusal wouldn't be a public loss of face. But still: what sane person would refuse such a match?
So if they made the match... they could surely put the wedding off until she was fifteen. That was another year and a half, two years at home. Father would be a bishop by then, certainly. Maybe here? He'd told her that Monfalcone was closed to him now... stupid Don Salvador, stupid Don Giorgio. Fine fine, not stupid, but she still resented a family member maneuvering in that way. And not even a family member any more! He gave up his name for his little viscounty.
That was stupid, she thought. Names were power; even young little untrained strega knew that.
Anyway. Ugly old holier-than-thou Giulia Masacci might get the bishopric when Valentino dropped off. Even though the knowledge was like sand in her mouth, she did admit a certain curiosity to know if a woman could actually make bishop. She suspected Father would support her, probably in exchange for her authorizing his departure to another bishopric where he could one day take power.
Why not one of the bishoprics here on the island? Then they could still be together when she got married. Well, unless Oreste really did get made a governor on the mainland. Then she'd be on the mainland again, in Profeta Chiesa. The bishop there was probably an adulterer, but the citizens seemed to jaded to care. The cuckold, on the other hand... why hadn't Marchese Gallisus done anything about that yet? But if Gallisus could be made to get rid of the bishop, and then the prince made to replace Gallisus with Oreste as governor... Father could be the new bishop, Oreste could be the new governor, and they'd all rule the mainland together. Archbishop Mondashi would have to step aside or be put aside for Father to rise higher, but from there, he would be the best candidate for cardinal from Mondavi lands. Well... Pioci surely had an enormous network of influence, but she wasn't sure if he actually wanted to go anywhere. He had a good life in Agitazione; did he want a better one in Numa? He'd bear watching...
But anyway that seemed like a pretty good place to start from. Or the island, although she didn't know the church gossip here, aside from a few tidbits she'd picked up the past week. They'd make it work out, either way.
So the only thing left unexamined was this potential groom himself. From what she'd seen in court, his strands were in order: Swords to his older brother, Coins and Rods to his father, a jealous little Cups to the Cymbr courtesan (not reciprocated) - about what she expected, given the gossip. He seemed to take after his father more than Gallisus: quieter, more self-contained. But even Oreste, at seventeen, showed more self-confidence than his father. It wasn't an arrogant, sprawling confidence like Gallisus displayed - just quiet competence. More like Marco, if Marco were smart.
That was all to her liking. She certainly wasn't one to equate loud, brash behavior with an effective Game player. Quite the opposite, really. Although she supposed things were different for men, she'd found that being quiet and easily overlooked to be a grand advantage.
He was close enough to her age, and not ugly. Maybe even handsome, although it was hard for her to judge that fairly, since every man had to compete with Father as her norm for masculine beauty. The only other thing she really needed to know, she thought, was how he'd treat her as his wife. She didn't expect to find a man who would give her the same consideration that Father did, and even someone who thought she was a useless idiot could be turned to her advantage. If he were cruel, though, she'd probably end up killing him in his sleep, and that would create a bad scene for everyone involved.
Back to Game 17 log.
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