Seien sat beside Shou-taishi, listening to the ministers debate, and practiced looking calm.
“… the merchant clans are starting to move their operations, of course the province has petitioned for Imperial aid!”
“Upkeep of towns and roads has always been a local responsibility!”
“Oh, always? What money was it that built the canals, then?”
The two ministers glared at each other, nearly baring their teeth. Seien sighed; some days he felt more like a nursemaid than any kind of ruler, even one in training. Keeping the ministers away from each other’s throats sometimes reminded him quite a lot of trying to keep a five-year-old Shuurei from dunking herself in the fish pond.
Fortunately, he’d found ministers responded fairly well to much the same cajoling that had worked on her.
“Gentlemen,” he said, voice soft, “let us hear all of the reports before we seek any decision.”
The ministers settled back grumpily, letting the poor provincial official reporting to them talk again.
Actually, Seiran thought, Shuurei would probably love it if she could be here. He could just see the sparkle in her eyes as she rolled up her sleeves and waded into the argument. He could see her standing here with her hands on her hips, scolding everyone like a miniature mother about how skimping on money to repair a roof only meant spending more on ruined floors and furniture. For a moment, he had to fight to keep his smile calm. Thirteen years old, and the girl was already wiser than most of the men in this room.
Well, he could at least bring her wisdom here.
“Kei-jirou,” he turned to the representative from Finance before anyone could start arguing again. “Is it possible to project how much repairing these roads would cost in another three years?”
“Three years?” Kei flipped through his papers and named a figure that made the minister who had suggested such a delay turn pale. Seien nodded, flicking a look at the Secretary of Public Works.
“And there would, of course, be the lost revenue to deal with, as trade slows down in that province.” He hid satisfaction behind his smile as Kan started chewing on the end of his brush. The senior minister for State was also looking thoughtful.
“There’s also the cost of cleaning out bandits, after,” the Secretary for the Military put in. “They thrive when travel is difficult, and the provincial Governor would surely call for help with that since,” he cut a glance at the minister most against the whole thing, “that’s his undeniable right.”
Seien relaxed. With a majority of the Secretaries plus the Minister of State, he could carry this. Carry it without the assistance of Shou-taishi, that was, who was leaning back in his chair and not helping at all. He seemed to get some obscure enjoyment out of leaving Seien dangling with his ambiguous and partial authority, letting him piece together consensus on his own. It did, Seien had to admit, make for stronger policies. He had mostly stopped resenting it.
Mostly.
He still thought he’d give almost anything to have a few more thoughtful, competent officials around here, to help him take care of all the children.
As the officials who would be his grumbled themselves into agreement, he made sure to keep smiling soothingly at them, and tried not to wonder if it would help if he offered them sweets as an incentive. It had always worked on Shuurei, and it was one of the only bribes he could currently produce out of his own resources. He stifled a sigh and tried not to glare at Shou.
At this rate, he was going to wind up looking forward to that damned throne.
End
*laughing* Oh man. Just like stubborn children, aren’t they?
*amused* At least Seien has his Seiran-time to call on.
And a darn good thing he does, or he might have resorted to his Little-Whirlwind-time, by now. Which would, to be sure, take care of the problem, but leave him with a whole lot more.
Seien: *looks wistful*
*pets him* Think of Sa, dear. *evil grin*
BEST SEIEN EVER.
Seiran’s babysitting skillz comes handy in politics!!!!!!!
I am terribly amused and as usual, so filled with glee and squee that I’m less than coherent. <3 <3 <3
Majo-needing-a-<3Seien icon…
*beaming* Thank you!
You have to figure, as fixated as he is on the young’uns, that’s /got/ to be what a lot of snappish, quarreling ministers would make him think of. *snerks*
Seien needs all the hearts he can get, because it’s all starting to come down on his head.
I totally need to make some Seiran or Seien <3 icons……..
And I forgot to write in the previous comment that I look forward to more.^^ Seien really should be glad that he’s had babysitting experience, cuz like mentioned above, going Shousenpuu on them would only temporarily solve the problem (Then he’d have to run the country all by himself!)
Squees,
Majo
*grins* I swear that’s the only thing holding him back.
More coming next week!
*giggly* Well, babysitting is his forte… I like the way he uses Kei to make his point, instead of hitting them over the head with Imperial authority.
Thank you!
*wry* Yeah, especially seeing as he’s still only the heir; and one of two possible heirs, at that. He’s definitely got to learn the negotiation thing.
oh! lol! I love the comparisions drawing from his experiences with Shuurei, and his thoughts of what Shuurei would be like if she were sitting there in that room. He still knows at this point that it was her dream to become an official, no? I makes me wonder how long he’ll piece it together and open the exams to women.
Also, at this point, where are Reishin and… and… and… Dammit! I *almost* had his– Kijin!
Hmm, when with Seien take the throne officially?
Thank you!
*grins* Seien will get around to the exam thing. Comparatively quickly, too.
Since this is three years before canon-start, Reishin and Kijin are heads of their respective departments. We’ll meet Reishin soon.
Seien will take the throne when his father dies, which happens one year before canon start; so about two years from this point.
*laughs at Seien’s babysitting* Oh, just imagine how the officials would react if he did actually go arouond offering them sweets! I’m sure that Ryuuki would understand his logic.
*giggles* An everyone else would probably be very startled, especially when they found out Seien made the sweets himself!
Glad you liked it!
*snickers* Arara, I could imagine Seiran put chibi Shuurei on his lap while she scolds all those silly-willy ministers. The girl sure burns an impression on Seiran. I tell you, someone has to write an AU fic where Shuurei’s the Empress.
*laughing* You know, I’m not sure but what she already is, both here and in canon! She’s certainly got the Emperor wrapped around her little finger in either case.
Imagine if Shuurei’s of marriage age, I could imagine Seiran’s scowl at the number of potential husbands other than his own little brother. Boy, the husbands-to-be are going through a hell of a period with the Emperor Seiran.
First to reiterate that I’m so happy you’re writing Saiunkoku fic !
Second, I hurt my brain reading the comments because when masqueer11 mentioned chibi Shuurei on Seiran’s lap, my thoughts made a sharp turn & I visualized both the chibis, Shuurei & Ryuuki, riding on Seiran during his daily duties ala Yachiru/Zaraki from Bleach.
*ow*
Looking forward to the next installment =)
Thank you! I’m having a great time with this series, I must say.
*visualises chibis*
*brain twists*
Oh man. Yeah, that’s an ow. Especially since, you know, with the bad sense of direction and all, I have to immediately /also/ imagine Kouyuu as a chibi hanging on up there.
Oh jeez, I didn’t even think about the sense of direction angle.
*recalls Yachiru giving “directions” to Zaraki with commentary from Ikkaku (who I just remembered shares Kouyuu’s seiyuu – eek!)
I’m slow in reviewing, for which I apologize profusely. Granted that the reason for this has been the large amount of writing going on, but even so . . .
Ah, Seien is practicing politics. I take it that the Emperor is still absent. And Shou’s making him work for every inch of it, too, how very Shou.
Don’t worry, Seien, hopefully the competent officials will start moving to the fore soon. Think of how much smoother everything will go once you have your “cabinet” selected and trained!
In the meantime, he’s going to get a lot of practice in keeping his poker face, and his “yes, good, here, take the carrot, take the carrot, there’s a good offical”-face, on. 😉
. . . did that make sense? Probably not, but it did in my head . . .
*laughing* That is exactly the expression I see in my head, yes!
And cabinet members start to appear next! Soon after which Seien has to deal with the Emperor’s death, poor guy. And he thought he was already under pressure…
*wry* Yeah, I expect I’ll not be posting until Wednesday this week, having too many appointments to keep. Writing is a /much/ better reason.
Glad you liked it!
Ah, I love how Shuurei’s spirit is, in the end, what saves poor Seien when he tries to deal with his responsibilities 😀 Even in this AU, Shuurei and Ryuuki are what keep Seien sane. Well, in the “canon” universe, Ensei helps with that, too, but Seiran will never, ever want to admit this ^_^
Oh yeah; Seiran is so self-reliant and untrusting, except with a very, very few. Poor guy. That actually seems to be coming up as a plot-point later on in this ‘verse. To do the work of Emperor, he has to expand it beyond Shuurei and Ryuuki and Shouka. *evil grin* And Ensei, eventually.
Glad you liked it!
*nods*
That’s the way I see it as well.
Well, of course, my own theory also involves aliens, but I’m not sure you want to hear about it XDYep, I really liked it. Sorry I wasn’t able to review these parts earlier!
I just read the whole “Age of Silver” arc from back to front, so I feel fully qualified to review =D Wow! I love the characterization of Seien — I think it gets Seiran’s placid character as well as the “don’t mess with me, I’m the PRINCE” vibe that he gives off in the later episodes of the anime. I was interested in how you have Shuuei as transferring to the military after taking the exams. I had been trying to figure out the logistics of how he took the exams AND was in the military, so that works out nicely. Kind of suspicious on Shou Taishi’s part…
The interaction between Ryuuki and, well, everybody — especially Shuurei and Kouyuu — is really adorable. How old is he in this? Apologies if it was mentioned and I missed it. And Seien’s quick dismissal of Sai’s marriage proposal was funny. The line about Sai’s “tight, dark look” reminding Seien of his brothers was pretty cool.
Looking forward to the next segment (or, for that matter, the next fic)!
Thank you!
*grins* Shou-taishi is undoubtedly having a grand time, arranging things behind the scenes; I think it’s his hobby. I’ve been reading through all the novel translations and summaries that people have been kind enough to do, and trying to integrate that, as well as impressions from the anime. It’s been fun working on it.
The next bit should be on its way soon!
Oh, please continue this! I <3 Seiran, and to have him involve himself in politics so directly is just… Ah, my heart's all woobly. 🙂
Thank you! I keep an eye out for the bunnies, because I really liked writing this, but they seem to be in hibernation until I get enough translated source to tell where the politics are going…