Free The Water Road by JD Byrne

events of the night before had
driven that home.
    He held an honored position and was
held in great esteem by the members of the Grand Council and their staffs.
Their sessions were not open to the public, so Alban was responsible for
informing the masses about the debates among the Council members, how they
voted, and what measures passed or failed. His attention to detail and
obsessiveness with making sure the record was accurate were legendary. In
addition to his current duties, Alban also went back through the records of his
predecessor, who had a reputation for sloppiness and being too casual about his
work, to try and make sense of some contradictions in them. In the decade Alban
had been the clerk, he had made himself invaluable to the Grand Council.
    The chamber of the Grand Council
was a large, open, ornate room that looked and felt like the seat of great
power. The vaulted ceiling was several stories high, allowing the chamber to
unfold itself in a series of terraces beneath. A skylight on top of the vault,
along with several high windows, allowed sunlight to fill the room all through
the day. The room was outfitted with dark oak furniture, all brought in from
the Arbor. Antrey had read about how that decision initially caused some stir
amongst the Telebrians and Guilders, but they eventually decided not to fight
about it. Instead, a compromise was reached, and most of the furniture was
assembled by Guilders using equipment from Telebria and raw materials from the
Arbor. It was the kind of arrangement that would become commonplace over the
next century.
    The number three dictated the
arrangement of the chamber. There were three members of the alliance, therefore
it was important to assure that all were treated equally. In the center of the
room, at the very bottom of the chamber, was a circular floor, wood paneled
with decorative rugs (rotated on a regular schedule to assure each nation’s
artisans were showcased). It was from here that Grand Council members addressed
their peers. Ringing the floor were three equally sized curved desks, at which
the Grand Council members sat. They rose just a foot or two above the floor,
but it was enough that when sitting there, any member could stare down upon the
person speaking. Each desk had ornate carvings and accents on the front
emphasizing the history and people of that particular nation. Rising behind
each desk were a series of similar, though much less elaborate, desks where the
Grand Council members’ staff could be seated.
    The only thing on the ground floor,
aside from the speaker’s position, was Alban’s desk, where he took notes. From
here he could provide the speaker with easy reference to what had been said
before. The desk was large and covered in neat stacks of paper, arranged in
Alban’s unique way. Antrey had a chair on the far side of the desk, where she
sat and waited for instructions from Alban. It amused her that, for all the
poor treatment to which she was subjected by the others, she was one of a
handful of people who did their work on the floor of the Grand Council chamber.
    Each member of the Triumvirate
selected their members of the Grand Council differently. The Telebrian method
made the most sense to Antrey. One of their Grand Council members was selected
by parliament, one by the king. The third member had to be agreed upon by both
parties. That division ensured a certain amount of sluggishness on the
Telebrians’ part, because each of them represented a different faction in their
government. When all the Telebrian factions agreed on one issue, however, they
were a powerful voting bloc. It was nearly impossible to peel off one member to
vote against his countrymen. The Telebrian members of the Grand Council were
always men.
    Given their situation, it amazed
Antrey that the Confederation was ever able to select three people to represent
them on the Grand Council. There were seven city-states that made up the
Confederated States of the Arbor.