The Lead Crown, Chapter 2-6: Noriene
Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 2-6, Noriene
Noriene gazed around the well-lit audience hall. The room was a half-circle with amphitheater seating. She stood with her back almost against the flat wall, behind a podium, while her audience sat in the raised seating before her. Usually reserved for the presentation of university discertations, she had convinced several of the UPU's grandmasters and head professors to provide her an opportunity to speak with them, and she planned to put it to good use.
She began quite formally, "Gentlemen, thank you for meeting with me today." The Princess shuffled her notes, not because she needed to look at them, but because it was customary to give the audience a moment to quiet. When they did, she continued, "I am well aware that your busy schedules and already filled days have been even further complicated by the events surrounding the tragedy of the Albatross. Let me assure you before going any further that my reason for calling you here today is to address that very issue."
Despite being nobility, the wolf knew well and certain that the good-will of the scholars would be stressed if she wasted too much of their time but, congruently, she would not be taken seriously if she was not thorough and specific in her explanations. Noriene would be walking a thin line because science was not a woman's pursuit. Regardless, she chose to push ahead and see just how much of their patience she was worth. As it turned out, her aid for the University granted her a fair amount of it.
The Princess began with a brief overview of her own personal experiences in the square when the Albatross exploded. Every time she came to a specific, meaningful point she would nod to the first-year student assisting her, and he would post it in written format using tacks on the wall. Her assistant was a nervous-looking, spindly-thin young stork who probably jumped on the first ship to Lehsunia as soon as he was fledged. Despite the fact that his appearance lacked any sign of fortitude, he was, nevertheless, very attentive and eagerly did as he was directed... which, as far as Noriene had been concerned, was all that mattered.
She began her narrative with a discussion on her arrival at the square. The Princess was unsurprised by the turnout and had been quite optimistic in what the University of Progressive Thought had to present. The first quarter of an hour was spent following the UPU's men at arms to her specific vantage point. After that, she had held discourse with no less than four of the Professors themselves: Milhoy, Averstrude, Wilcox, and Riart.
"Now..." she leaned forward intensely, resting her paws on the podium, "I do not need to remind any of you that Professor Riart was not a member of the team assembling the Albatross... so many might consider it strange that he was even there at all..." as the wolf's eyes went to the pine martin seated at the front row, so too did many others in the audience, "But I believe I have the answer..." she turned and nodded to the stork-boy, who immediately went to the wall and posted the first banner, and Noriene read it as it was pinned up, "My handmaiden."
The room errupted in raccious laughter or, at least, what would have passed for it among the stuffed-shirt hire-ups among the University. It took only a moment to quiet down before the Princess glanced to the stork, who immediately retrieved the banner. She looked back to her audience, "As with most Professors of the UPU, Professor Riart had worked for months on many of the calculations for the Albatross' propulsion system, so it was not at all unusual for him to be present." she offered a pleasant smile, "Milhoy worked on the fuel system, Avenstrude handled the structural components, and Wilcox led matters of bouyancy."
It was the first point in which she began to lose some of her audience. Despite her cleverly placed attention-getting moment of humor, very few of the University elite liked being told things they already knew; she moved quickly onward. "My reason for bringing this up, gentlemen, is because we all know what representatives from the University were present... I myself spoke with four of you, not including your men-at-arms, and this nice young man here." she motioned to the stork who, for a moment, she was convinced was blushing beneath his feathers... not that anyone could see.
She continued, moving on to her next point, "There were many people at the unveling... but it is important to note that not everyone had access to the Albatross." she nodded to her assistant, who posted the first REAL banner on the wall, and she read it even as he did, "Limited access to the Albatross." Noriene glanced around the room to see several of the men nodding, others pulling at their beards in thought, and still others talking quietly amongst themselves; the fact that the last ones were still looking toward her meant that it was meaningful conversation... and that, she didn't mind.
"Second, it is important to note that, up until the explosion itself there was no indication that there was any kind of damage, any tampering with the failsafes, or any sign according to the safety mechanisms installed on the Albatross itself that anything was out of the ordinary." she motioned to the stork, who posted the next banner, which she also read, "All systems appeared to be working normally." and, when she looked back to her audience, she saw that there was even more head nodding... even more beard stroking... but much less talking; it was a good sign.
"If there was limited access to the Albatross and that no system showed signs for concern then we must conclude one of three things:" she motioned to the stork, and then read from the list he posted, "First, there is the possibility that the Albatross was flawed from the beginning." the comment brought an immediate objection from the room, filling it to a near-roar from the many displeased voices attempting to talk over one another. As things finally began to quiet down she quickly interjected, "Then we are in agreement that this is not a valid option." she nodded to her assistant who immediately struck it out with a large black ink brush.
The wolf smiled as the men calmed down just enough for her to be heard-- so far so good. "The second option was that the Albatross was sabotaged by someone who had access to it, and who was willing to give their life to destroy it." she looked around the room, which had suddenly fallen silent, "However... I must point out that no bodies were found in or around the immediate area of the wreckage."
She waited patiently as the Professors began immediately attempting to conjecture how such a saboteur would be able to blow up the Albatross and still manage to escape without dying. As expected, the thought of a Church dragon came up because they could fly, but it was immediately discounted on the fact that a dragon would have easily been seen.
Once her audience had begun to quiet down enough for her to continue, she looked to the stork, who revealed the third option by moving his wing, "I would propose, gentlemen, based on the lack of confidence in the first two options, that we are dealing with a saboteur who was able to rig the Albatross to explode, and then set it off remotely." The room errupted into discussion that rivaled her the talk on her first point but THIS time the Princess was much less willing to let the conversation continue, and she ended it in theatrical fashion.
Even as the men continued their banter, discussion, conjecture, and brain storming, the wolf reached under the podium and pulled out a good size xylophone. She next picked up the voice amplifier that had been facing her direction, and turned it to face the instrument. She counted the third bar from the left, and gave it a swift tap with her mallet. The discussion in the room turned to cries of surprise and alarm as previously unnoticed glass balls suspended from the ceiling burst, causing the chemicals in them to mix and create flashes of light and sparks that were harmless by the time they reached the audience below. She immediately had their attention once again.
"I assume that any of you who were present at the unveiling recalled the single tone played across the loudspeaker a moment before the Albatross exploded." she nodded to the stork, who moved to an area hidden by a divider, and came back out wheeling a metal table with a scale model of the Albatross. It had not been made perfectly and there were a number of inaccuracies, but at least it looked close enough like the real thing that nobody in the room would have doubted what the little construct was supposed to represent.
"Professor Milhoy... I trust, based on the explicit direction that certain reagents should be allowed nowhere near the Albatross' fuel system that you were concerned about the danger of chemical reactions." without waiting for an answer she turned to Professor Wilcox, "And when it came to matters of bouyancy, the ballasts had a specific mixture of airs and vapors, also quite reactive to certain catalysts..." and then she looked to the audience as a whole, "If someone were to know what was used within the Albatross and had the knowlege of even a first year University student, then they would know how to cause a great amount of damage."
"Your Highness--" Professor Milhoy spoke up, "I would remind you that very few men outside this room knew even the first thing about the Albatross, let alone specific information such as--"
"This is true, Professor." she nodded, holding up a paw to silence him, "But we must also understand that no secret is truly a secret unless it is known by only one man." She let the thought sink in for a moment... just long enough for the Professors to wonder just how much they could trust one another, before she continued, "I do NOT mean to say that ANY of us has willfully given away information... but none of you present at the unveiling can deny that there was a particular scent that had no right to be there."
She didn't need to explain what she was talking about... every last one of them knew by sight, touch, and even SCENT the different alchemical reagents. In the end she was right; the Princess wasn't the only one who had smelled it, and that truly got them talking. When she held up a paw, however, they fell silent almost immediately; at that moment she realized that she had her audience, and she wasn't about to let go.
"Gentlemen... I know how the saboteur detonated the Albatross without being there... and now I think you do to." she struck the next bar in line on the xylophone... and the miniature model disappeared amidst a blast of smoke and flame. "I will now take your questions."
* * * * * * *
It was dark by the time Noriene was finally finished with her meeting. The self-important men of the University had originally given her a maximum of an hour of their time but, once they realized she wasn't "just some girl" they had taken her seriously... and that led to nearly six hours of explaination, discussion, and enlightenment. She considered her day well spent... especially considering the benefits she had reaped from her presentation.
The professors had continued to listen as she spelled out numerous ways that the key-note bomb could have been used, and then went further to propose several possible directions from which the attack could have come. As expected, several of the professors were quick to place blame on the Church, which Noriene "reluctantly" accepted as a topic of discussion and then ran with... purely for the sake of brainstorming, she pointed out.
It was well-known within Newport that the Church WAS up to something; not long after the explosion numerous small groups left the local cathedral on errands that no represenative bothered even trying to explain. Many rumors were whispered around the streets that they were seeking an escaped prisoner, but those whispers became much more sinister within the halls of the University-- what if it was all a ploy to help a saboteur escape? That was a thread that the professors were not willing to let slip by easily.
Toward the end of the discussion they had been so wrapped up in their own dialogue that she considered it time to close up, and she spoke into the voice amplifier a simple thought, "Hmmm... it COULD be a saboteur from the Church... but I wonder where he got the technical insight into creating a resonant frequency bomb." at which point she had shrugged, and carried her items out with her.
She considered it a shining moment for herself, as many of the stuff-shirt professors actually hurried after her in an attempt to chase her down. She was, of course, JUST slow enough for them to catch her in the halls where what they had to say was carefully monitored for confidentiality. A leonine Professor whose name she didnt' know was the first to address her, "Princess... how did you piece together the explosion and the tone?"
The wolf smiled at the man, who was somewhat younger, and obviously in better shape than his contemporaries, hence being the first to reach her, "The way any scholar would, good sir... with conjuring up a hypothesis, formulating a theory, and then creating a proof of concept." The other Professors who had amassed around her nodded thoughtfully... and approvingly.
Professor Riart spoke up next, "Then you are in agreement that the Church COULD have sent a saboteur and successfully executed the use of such a device?"
"Assuming they had the know-how to either create or obtain one?" she shrugged, glancing around the hall before finding her bearings and starting for the exit, "I suppose so, yes."
"Your Highness... do you have an opinion on how the church may have obtained a detonator as to the type you described?" Professor Milhoy pressed.
"I would assume it had something to do with the Order of Blades." she responded casually, causing each and every one of the Professors to come to a halt.
"What would a mercenary organization have to do with this?" asked Professor Wilcox.
"I extended a contract to them in response to the attack..." Noriene paused to secure her grip on the tomes she carried, "...and they turned it down."
"What does that mean?" asked Professor Arvenstrude from the other side of the princess.
"It means that the Order of Blades doesn't want to work against itself..." she glanced at the human professor, "which verifies that it had something to do with the events at the unveiling."
"Which is why there is reason to believe that the Church hired them." a sly smirk spread across his vulpine muzzle, "Princess, your mind is a KEEN one."
"Thank you, Professor... I think so as well." she nodded, "Now, I have taken up enough of your time, so I suppose I shall be on my way.
Each and every one of the men gave her a fond farewell, the unnamed professor being so forward as to kiss her hand in parting. She showed suitable courtly grace in response ot the genteel gesture, though she made a mental note to find a way to teach the uncouth Professor respect for a fellow scholar rather than treating her like some common place courtly flower. She would have to teach them quite a few things, she realized, such as how to realize when someone wasn't reaveling the whole truth.
Noriene's handmaiden joined her at the steps to the university and escorted her to her waiting motor carraige, "Did the talk go well, my Lady?" the ermine asked.
"Yes, my dear." the Princess acknowledged, "And now we will have one more stop before we return to the manor."
Her handmaiden closed the door once both were inside, "Where shall I direct the driver, your Highness?"
"I have business with the Templars." Noriene announced casually, "Tell the driver that we are going to the Cathedral."