Morning Ride

Harlan seemed to hardly notice the chill. Between the warm cloak around his shoulders and years of experience leading troops through the cold, he kept his discomfort to himself. Much like he did with his emotions when it came to his children.

He nodded. There were no cities to the north, but there were developing towns, most of which did not have the defense to withstand a raid. If the Lutrians moved much further south toward those towns, it would be more than a few farmers b3ing harassed. It would be invasion. They needed those farms to feed the kingdom at large, to say nothing of the needless loss of life. The only reason the King hesitated was the season. He wasn't as young as he once had been.

"Much the same. There have been eight raids since summer, and I expect reports of more any day." He panted a hand against his mounts neck. "I requested we push a scout company further north, for information and deterant, but the raiders hit and run tactics do them no favors." Without the back-up of a full army, they seemed to just be another target.

"What are your thoughts on sending a diplomat?" Not that Harlan expected they would come to terms with the raiders. But knowing what they wanted would be useful.

Watching his son's mild discomfort might have been amusing were it more obvious. How the boy lived all those years in Taknier if he thought it was cold here was beyond him. But he was proud he had seemed to master his emotions in that time. His hair color didn't change so often anymore, unlike his little sister.

"No," he said with an amused snort. "But one does need to maintain the appearance of decorum, even should they take it as a challenge," he said. He knew enough of his history to know that their northern neighbors were more than simple barbarians. But their society was structured around hunting and fighting. He had little doubt that even should they give them what they wanted, they would turn around and bite. Likely the only reason raids weren't more frequent was because the Empire was quiet on their own borders. But Harlan refused to allow the same to continue. "Perhaps what they want is a fight," he added. At the very least, an envoy might determine what they did not want.

Harlan set his lips in a thin line. He would have preferred Jasper offer his own suggestions. But he could only lead by example so best he express his method. "Were this dispute initiated by my hand, I would go myself. As it is not and they have not requested such am audience, I am disinclined to grant them any such respect as my presence or that of my Warden in my place." Sending Lotte was just as much of a power move as the King attending himself. Not all monarchs trusted their Wardens to that degree, but the fact remained that they held the power to start or end a war. It was a position unlike most other advisor posts in other kingdoms. "It falls then to one of our envoys. Sir Hawkins, perhaps. Or the Duke of Ramberaht himself. But former is a bookish sort and the later is off doing who knows what. It would undermine any attempt at conversation to not send someone with title whom they might inherently respect as a warrior."

He paused and looked back at his son as they moved down the hill, hooves crunching in the dirt and gravel road. "Perhaps now you have an idea of who I have in mind?"

The King held no illusions about understanding what the Lutrians thought to achieve in the long term. While they had always been a mild pest in the past, it wasn't until the last decade that he had settled farmlands further north that their aggression had spiked. He wouldn't have figured the nomads for the territorial sort.

He smiled faintly upon hearing Jasper voice the same conclusion he had come to but didn't look back at his son. Good. He was considering one of his children after all, and since Amalia wasn't very interested in politics or was much of a warrior, the brunt of that weight fell on his son at the present moment.

Harlan wasn't certain who his son meant, considering he assumed the boy had a lot of mentors and caretakers when he was younger. He supposed upon deeper thought he recalled there had been a specific gentleman he had grown attached to. "The Viscount?" Had he served on his council before perhaps? Certainly he must had done something for the King to entrust the education of his heir to the man. Harlan waved his hand dismissively. "As your diplomatic meeting, whom you bring with you is up to your discretion." An interpreter would be a must, but Jasper was a smart lad. He could determine the rest.