Smiling, Armeniel nods, “We’re aware of that. We’re offering to fund half of everything, in addition to providing the land. Any other concerns about the location?”
“I don’t know that half of it would be enough, given the swampy nature of that area. From what I’ve seen, riding through town, it’s rather swampy there. It’ll be quite a bit of work to shore things up enough to build on and have it remain stable over the long term. You’ll need better engineering skills than mine to determine if we can even sink piers deep enough to keep the buildings from settling. I can recommend some dwarves that are quite competent at that sort of work.”
"Your new adoptive parents, I take it?” Armeniel asks.
“No,” Emlyn replies, “They’re traders and bankers. The clan you want for that sort of work is Clan River Hammer. They’re the ones who know how water moves. I don’t know if there are any of them here in Harito. I haven’t seen any of their signs in any of the shop windows. I can talk to my fathers and see if we can get one of them to come here and look things over.”
“Hmmm,” Armeniel says, eyeing Atres before making his following statement, “I wonder if your adoption comes with a dowry.”
“It doesn’t, but it doesn’t matter. Atres doesn’t care if I have a dowry,” Emlyn shrugs, “and you don’t need a queen who can’t lie. He’s willing to accept me as I am.”
Shrugging, Armeniel laughs, “You can’t blame me for trying.”
Atres frowns at this until Argonath nudges him.
“Back to this river,” Emlyn frowns, “Depending on when the river changed course, there might not be a bottom to all the silt and muck. Do you happen to have a hydraulic survey?”
Ewald reaches past the prince and flips through the various documents until he finds the one he wants, pulling it out and placing it on top.
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Emlyn stands up, looking at it before she points, “How long ago was this part of the city built?”
Ewald frowns and shuffles through some records, “That part of the wall was built about a hundred years ago.”
Emlyn nods, “No doubt the moisture seeping up through it is the source of your problems with that section of the city wall. It would also become an issue for any other projects we might attempt to build there. That’s not going to change unless we change how the water is flowing, unless it’s seeping up from a spring. If it is a spring, we may not be able to divert it. At a guess, this tributary will need to be redirected to see if that dries up the swamp. The good news is that you can redirect that through the town so that people can come and get fresh, clean drinking water. It will also take a while for that area to stabilize once it dries out, so we can assess what we’re working with. This won’t be a speedy project or a cheap one.”
Armeniel looks at Ewald, “This might not be as good an idea as we first thought. I can’t imagine that moving a river would be cheap.”
“It won’t be,” Emlyn nods, “but this part of the city has been without a decent water supply for quite some time. This would solve that, so that’s a bit of a silver lining.”
“If you were to do it,” Armeniel asks, “How would you go about it?”
“I need a topographical map,” Emlyn says, looking at Ewald. Ewald shuffles through the documents and pulls one out.
Emlyn looks for a moment before plopping her finger onto the map. “You’ll cut your costs dramatically if you save the actual diversion until the end, since you can build everything dry, instead of wet. Put a lake here and send the overflow, once the lake fills, into a tunnel from here to here.”
Pointing again, she lays out the entire system, “Underground cisterns in these places and you’d have enough water at least to withstand a lengthy siege as well as keeping several of the neighborhoods supplied, even in a drought. It will also make things much easier on the fire brigades because they’ll have water that’s fairly close at hand.”
“Hmm,” Armeniel nods, “I think I can convince my father that the diversion is a good idea.”
“You might also acquire the property where the new lake will be. You can break it up into parcels and offer the parcels around the lake as part of an exclusive development for country homes outside the city. Just watch them to make sure that they don’t start running all the sewage into the lake when they start building the houses, since that’s going to be drinking water. No one will want the fancy houses if the lake stinks because it’s become a cesspit, either. If you wait to sell the parcels until the lake starts to fill, you can get a premium price for them, and that will offset some of the costs,” Emlyn suggests.
Ewald and Armeniel give each other a significant look, and Ewald makes some notes.
“Let’s talk about the horses,” Armeniel says, “The Royal Stable is quite interested in a great many of your horses for breeding purposes.”
“It depends on the breeding stock in question,” Emlyn shrugs, “As long as it’s not any of the draft horses, since I’ve promised that we will never allow their bloodlines outside the Temple. We’re allowed to breed them, but only until we can find their proper owners. As for the mares we have, Snowflake, Queen Erlith, and Lady Hebog will be off-limits. Most of the others likely will be, but I’d have to discuss exactly what might or might not be allowed with Master Parth. The stallions should be fine, as long as we still have plenty of access to the better ones like Jagannath, Braw, Stormflash, and General Dercillios, and it doesn’t interfere with our use of them as horses.”
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The Hydraulic General: Emlyn identifies the fatal flaw in the Prince's land offer—the area is a swamp. She suggests redirecting a tributary to dry out the land and provide fresh water to the city, solving a century-old problem with the city walls.
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City Planning 101: Emlyn lays out a system of underground cisterns for sieges and drought resistance. She even gives the Prince a tip on "exclusive lakefront development" to offset the costs. I’m telling you, the girl could sell sand to a desert nomad.
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The Dowry Jab: Armeniel makes a cheeky comment about Atres's "dowry" for marrying a daughter of the Taig. Emlyn shuts him down immediately, reminding him that Atres wants her, not her gold, and that the Prince "doesn't need a queen who can't lie."
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Horse Diplomacy: The Royal Stables are drooling over the Temple's horses. Emlyn sets hard boundaries: the draft horses and her personal favorites (Snowflake, Queen Erlith, Lady Hebog) are off-limits, but she's willing to negotiate on the stallions like Jagannath.
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The Tall Obstacle Rating: 4/5 Tankards.
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Review: He handled the Prince's flirting with the "dowry" comment with a stoic frown until Argonath nudged him. He’s learning to navigate royal snark, but he still looks like he’d rather be back in the mountains than in an exchequer's office. He gets points for his unwavering loyalty to a "truth-telling queen."
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Review: He’s standing by as his future wife casually redesigns the capital city. He looks a bit like a man who realized he’s dating a hurricane, but he’s holding the umbrella for her perfectly.
Emlyn just saved the city's water supply and funded a temple move with a single conversation. Shall we see if Master Parth agrees with her horse-trading, or should I go see if I can buy a 'premium lakefront parcel' before the prices go up?
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