hoice.  Those with their own eyes on the throne figured that the younger woman would be easier to dislodge from it, at least after the Vendari stopped meddling in Wikuni affairs.
	The court was becoming crowded, and not just with courtiers and nobles.  Keritanima saw both Jenawalani and Veranika enter, the buzz drawing them to find out what was going on.  Many of the servants also came in, as well as Jervis and a few others she knew were spies.  The Hall had filled up with people, but most of them remained very quiet as they observed the high drama playing out on the floor before them, as the fate of a kingdom hinged on the words of twenty-nine people.
	Keritanima had just finished explaining things to Praki Mation.  The fragile little Wikuni was still somewhat traumatized over having a servant's brains splattered all over her, and she was absolutely terrified of Keritanima.  All it took was the sashka saying that the Vendari supported her, and she immediately started cowing to Keritanima.  Praki Mation would strip naked and walk through fire if Keritanima told her to, because she feared the fox Wikuni that much.  Praki Mation made twenty-one noble houses on her side.  That was a very large number; in fact, it was only one short of the necessary twenty-two houses she needed to gain her three quarter majority.  Keritanima realized that she was only one house away from gaining the crown, one house away from breaking her father and getting her revenge, one house away from starting to set everything right in Wikuna.  The first inklings of sheer terror began to creep into her, terror of what could happen, what kind of misery her coup attempt may cause, terror at having to be the queen, to be responsible for the welfare of three million beings.  She clenched a hand into a fist and let her short claws dig into her palm, letting the pain keep her mind on the job at hand.  Twenty-one was not twenty-two.  She still had to convince one more house.
	And then her father arrived.
	Damon Eram was cleaned up, neatly trimmed, and looking as regal as he could possibly look.  He wore the Sun Crown and carried the Royal sceptre, wore the royal robes, and he was surrounded by twenty Royal Guards, his advisors, the Clerk of Law, and the Lord Chamberlain.  His eyes bored into Keritanima when he saw her on his dais, on the sacred ground reserved only for him, but said nothing immediately.  The entire Hall went dead silent with the king entered, but that silence was broken up by whispers and confusion.
	Only about half of the people in court bowed to the King.
	"I don't remember allowing you to hold your private little court, daughter," Damon Eram said scathingly.
	His tone and attitude irritated Keritanima, and she decided to put him in his place immediately.
	"I did not summon you, father," she said coldly.  "Go back to your room."
	"How DARE you!" Damon Eram exploded.  "Shan, bring her down from there!  On the point of your sword if necessary!"
	Shan didn't move.
	"This is treason!" Damon Eram screamed, nearly hysterically, brandishing his sceptre like a sword and pointing the end at the Captain of the Guard.  "Guards, arrest him!"
	"The guards will not obey you, Damon Eram," the sashka said as he stepped into the center aisle.
	"I didn't summon you from Vendaka, sashka!  What are you doing here?"
	"Righting an old wrong, Damon Eram," the sashka said in a brutally cold tone.  That he didn't call him king or your Majesty was all that had to be said about his loyalties.
	"How dare you speak like that to me!  Afford me the respect I deserve!"
	"You deserve less than what I give you, Damon Eram," the sashka hissed.  "You have no honor."
	That brought Damon Eram up short.  If anyone understood that that was as good as a death sentence in Vendari society, Damon Eram did.  The deposed monarch shrank deeper into the protection of his guards, and for the first time he looked around and saw the many Vendari warriors standing along the walls and flanking the dais.  "You'll not get away with threatening me, sashka!  Your treaty with us--"
	"Stipulates that the Vendari will obey who they deem to be ruler of Wikuna.  I say Keritanima-Chan is ruler of Wikuna.  Prove me wrong."
	Damon Eram gave the sashka a strangled look, then glared at his daughter.  "It's not that easy, sashka!  I'm the annoited king!  My rule is absolute!"
	"It's not as absolute as you may think," Vora Planton spoke up from the side.  "Keritanima has raised a legal and valid challenge to your rule.  The law demands that the matter be settled."
	"What insanity is this?" Damon Eram demanded.  "There is no law that allows a sitting monarch to be deposed!"
	"There was no law allowing it," Keritanima said calmly.  "Since you have your Clerk of Law here, he can settle it quickly and easily.  Since the High Priest of Kikkali is here, who can divine the law with magic to state truth, it will be even easier.  Second Volume of Laws of the Crown, year 1397, second decree.  You'll find a decree there that states that a monarch can be forcibly removed from the throne if three quarters of the rulers of the noble houses swear before a High Priest of Kikkali that that monarch is unfit to rule.  The law was repealed in the First Volume of the Laws of the Crown, year 1431, first decree.  But the repeal of that repeal was enacted in the Fifth Volume of Laws of the Crown, 1826, ninth decree.  As your Clerk of Law will tell you, the repeal of a repeal of a law causes the original law to become a binding law again."
	"1826?  That's this year!" Damon Eram protested.
	"Yes, and guess who repealed the decree repealing that law?" Keritanima asked with a wicked little smile.
	"I never repealed such a law!"
	"Yes you did," Keritanima purred.  "It was the decree that stated that any crime committed against the Royal house would be considered a capital crime, and would be punished by death without benefit of trial.  Does that sound familiar?"
	Damon Eram was eerily silent.
	"You didn't read the entire decree.  If you had, I would never have been able to use this law against you now."
	Damon Eram stared at her.
	"Isn't it ironic, father?  You set the stage for your own abdication.  Perhaps you had a touch of madness in you long before the rest of us saw it."
	Damon Eram glared viciously.
	"Begging your Majesty's pardon, but the Crown Princess has correctly cited the law," the High Priest affirmed after a moment of muttering under his breath.  "The law she cites is a valid law, and that gives this proceeding legal weight.  By the stipulations in the law, you may not speak on your own defense, nor can Keritanima lobby or threaten to garner votes.  She can only state fact."
	Damon Eram stared daggers at the large bull, but said nothing.
	"Well, I do suppose you have a right to be here, father.  You are a ruler of a noble house, so you get a vote in the matter.  Do you want to vote for me?" she asked with a winsome smile.
	"Vote?  Vote?  I am the king!  My word is law, and my law is absolute!  If any of you weak-minded fools actually went in with this charade, I'll--"
	"You'll do nothing," Vora Planton interrupted him.  "Keritanima already has twenty-one votes on her side.  Only one of the remaining eight houses has to vote on her side, and you are deposed.  Would you care to make a bet on whether you're wearing that crown in another hour?"
	"This is treason, Vora!" Damon Eram hissed ominously.  "I won't forget this!"
	"I don't think you'll be in any position to do anything about it," Vora sniffed.
	The next entrant into the Hall was none other than Shareese Tarn.  She looked very uncomfortable, clutching the message Keritanima sent her, fully aware that absolutely every eye was on her.  The fact that Keritanima was standing on the dais and Damon Eram was not was clear on her graceful face as she came up the central aisle.  "Duchess Shareese, I order--"
	"Silence!" Keritanima shouted vehemently, which brought her father up short and made Shareese Tarn's face draw in shock.  Damon Eram glared death at Keritanima, but retreated even more when the Vendari closed ranks just a bit in front of the dais.  Even standing on that raised platform, Keritanima's head was still below the Vendari in front of her by a good two feet.  "Duchess Tarn, as you can see, we're in something of a situation," Keritanima said.  "Listen to what I'm about to tell you.  Don't listen to anything but the facts, and then make your decision.  And if my father speaks again, I want you to go over there and gag him," she commanded.
	The sashka nodded sagely as he seemed to realize that Keritanima wasn't putting any more pressure on Shareese than there was already.  She wasn't dumb, she knew that something very serious was going on, probably an attempt to depose Damon Eram.  She listened intently as Keritanima explained the law, and explained why she had sent the message, but didn't tell her how many nobles had voted, or for which side they voted.  "It comes down to a simple question, Duchess.  Do you feel that Damon Eram is fit to rule?  There's no other question you have to ask yourself, and there will be no repurcussions one way or the other in your decision."
	Shareese Tarn was quiet only a moment.  "Considering that he thinks I'm some kind of loose tart, I'd have to say that he's crazy," she said scornfully, glaring at Damon Eram.  "I swear before the High Priest that I believe that he's unfit to rule."
	Damon Eram's fur stood almost straight up.  "This is treason!  Treason!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.  "Guards, kill my treacherous daughter!"
	The Royal guard surrounding him took one look at him, one look at Keritanima, they looked at each other, then they simply walked away, leaving Damon Eram alone and unprotected in the hall.  He stood there with his crown, robes, and sceptre, staring at them in absolute shock, jaw hanging and eyes bulging.  The sashka barked a single command in the Vendari language, a command both Keritanima and Damon Eram understood.  "Seize him!" he ordered.
	Damon Eram managed to turn around before huge Vendari hands grabbed him.  The crown was yanked from his head, the sceptre wrested from his hand, the robe literally stripped off of him by rough Vendari hands.  One Vendari female held onto the former king steadfastly in the middle of the Hall as the other Vendari warriors delivered the crown, sceptre, and robe up to the High Priest of Kikkali.
	The relief that flowed through Keritanima was indescribable.  Everything she had worked for for months had finally come to pass, and the satisfaction and joy she felt that she had succeeded filled her with a warm sweetness.  There were still the duties of the crown to tackle, but for now, she had to revel in the moment.
	She had won.
	"By the power of Kikkali, Wavemistress, I uphold the passage of the crown to the Crown Princess Keritanima," the High Priest intoned sonorously.  Keritanima gaped at him blankly as the big bull Wikuni took a vial of holy oil from his elaborate blue robes.  He intended to coronate her right then and there!
	He knew what was going to happen!
	Keritanima stared at him as he approached her holding the crown, and two of his underpriests held the sceptre and robe.  She knelt before him before she realized what she was doing, and she was only vaguely aware that the rest of the Hall had also knelt.  The smell of the oil was spicy, warm in her nose as he unstoppered the vial and dabbed a bit on his fingers, then pressed it to her brow.  He then placed the crown gently yet firmly on her head.  "Arise, Keritanima-Chan Eram, Lady of the Heartland, Mistress of the wind, and Overlady of the Twenty Seas.  Arise and hail Keritanima-Chan Eram, Queen of Wikuna."
	Keritanima got to her feet as the Vendari raised their weapons as one and boomed in a combined voice that rocked the Hall, "all hail Keritanima-Chan Eram, Queen of Wikuna!  Long live the Queen!"
	She just had to stand there for a moment, completely stunned.  She looked down at the smiling, cherubic face of Miranda, looked into her blue eyes and saw the pride exploding inside her.  What reason would she have to be proud?  She looked into the warm eyes of Azakar, who had his sword drawn and was saluting her, looked at the calm, ever-present presence of Binter and Sisska, looked at them hailing her with their brothers and sister.  Too fast, it happened too fast!  The High Priest had been ready to coronate her on the spot, much faster than she dreamed he'd be ready to do such a thing!  But the hardest part was over, and for the first time since she had come back to Wikuna, she felt safe.  For the moment, right now, she was the new Queen of Wikuna, and nobody would raise a hand against her.  She was safe from the machinations of her father, safe from any possible second attempt against her or Miranda by Jenawalani., safe from the plots of the nobles.  It was only for the moment, but that moment was like the sweetest wine for her.
	She let someone drape the royal robe over her, and accepted the sceptre.  Then, with the High Priest leading her, she was led to the throne.  It was a large throne, made of a single piece of stone with that sun design over the back, and with deep, plush cushions to protect the royal posterior from the unyielding stone beneath it.  She turned around, tucked her tail up against her side, then lowered herself into that throne, feeling the cushion give way to her, leaning back against the throne and relaxing out all the tension that had been knotting her inside.
	She had won, but there were a few loose ends to tie up.  And some vengeance to exact.
	She stood up against and stepped to the edge of the dais.  "Bring my father here," she commanded, and the Vendari holding him literally picked up the thrashing lion and carried him bodily towards the dais.  The female stopped some ten feet from her and set him down, keeping on hand on his shoulder with two fingers looped around his neck, ready to kill him should he do anything foolish.  Someone had tied his hands, which were before him, and the look he gave her promised a thousand slow deaths for her if he could only get free and reach her before someone stopped him.
	She looked down at him, fully aware that he was totally defeated.  It felt good, but it didn't feel as good as she thought it would have.  She realized that the time in Wikuna had changed her, made her realize that there were more important things for her to do with her crown than torment her father.  He had lost, and that was that.  But he still wasn't going to get off that easy.
	"I told you once before that if you ever lost your crown, you would be mine," she reminded him with a savage hiss.  "And now here you are.  Don't worry, father, I'm not going to kill you, because you're not in your right mind.  I hereby decree that Damon Eram be isolated in a sanitarium until his madness is cured, or until he dies," she called so people could hear her.  "I hereby strip Damon Eram of his title, his lands, his fortunes, and the house name.  He will be known simply as Damon.  I also decree that any noble found to be fraternizing or conspiring with Damon will be charged with  high treason, and if found guilty by trial, will be executed."  Keritanima looked down at him calmly, taking in everything about him, remembering that one moment.  "Take him away."
	"I'll get you for this, witch!" Damon shrieked.  "I know you used your magic to make people think I was crazy!  I'll prove it and I'll see you burned at the stake!  This isn't over, do you hear me?  Do you hear!"
	Keritanima watched the Vendari drag her father out, then turned her attention to other matters.  "Jenawalani!  Veranika!"
	Her two sisters shuffled out of the pack hesitantly and presented themselves before her, curtsying deeply to her.  The terror on their faces was unmistakable.  "I have a long list of grievances against the two of you," Keritanima began in a low tone, her displeasure plain on her face.  "I kept a list of every slight you made against me, every little plot both of you tried to use on me, and I can list every person around me that died because of the two of you.  I intend to pay you back for your long years of wonderful love and support of me and my position," she said in a voice that nearly made Veranika faint.
	"Jenawalani.  You are hereby stripped of your title, your lands, your fortunes, and your house name.  You will now be known simply as Jenawalani, and you will be put out of the Palace with nothing more than the clothes on your back and a purse with one hundred gold crowns.  Any noble found to be fraternizing or soncpiring with Jenawalani will be charged with high treason, and if found guilty by trial, will be executed."  She stared down at Jenawalani's shuddering body emotionlessly.  "Be lucky I don't arrest you for treason.  I've given you a new chance at life, Jenawalani.  What you make of it is now up to you."
	"No!" Jenawalani wailed pitifully, falling to her knees, prostrating herself before the dais.  "I'll be a faithful daughter of the house!  I'll obey you, I'll do anything you want!  Please don't put me out!  I'll serve you!"
	Keritanima waited a moment, waited for her shuddering sobs to ease.  "I'll change my mind if you swear before the High Priest that you renounce any claim you have on the throne, and renounce any future possibility of taking the throne.  Any possibility.  You will no longer be a princess."
	"Anything!  Anything!  I'll do it!  I hereby swear to Kikkali that I renounce any claim on the throne of Wikuna!  I won't ever be queen! I give up my title as Princess!"
	"Good enough, but I could never have you in my house," Keritanima said seethingly.  "I hereby grant you the barony of Wildwater, and all lands and properties it contains.  You may keep your personal fortunes, but you still lose all your house titles, lands, and the house name.  You are Baroness Jenawalani Wildwater now, and be very glad I'm feeling merciful today.  Now get out of my sight before I change my mind."
	Jenawalani was blubbering uncontrollably, and all the arrogance was gone.  She was now the baroness of the most remote fief in Wikuna, all the way across the continent, a small, poor holding that would forever remove her from the hustle and grandeur of the capital city.  But even that voluntary exile was better to Jenawalani than the horrific possibility of losing everything.  She got to her feet quickly, curtsied so deeply that she nearly fell over, then ran crying from the Hall.  Veranika watched it all in a kind of morbid fascination, then glanced at Keritanima fearfully.  She couldn't bring herself to look Keritanima in the eye.
	"Veranika," Keritanima began, and just saying her name made the fourteen year old fall to her knees.  "Of all my treacherous sisters, you were probably the least treacherous.  Your games and plots were more to annoy me than anything else, and because of that, I'm going to be a little bit more lenient on you.  You will therefore be taken from here and be made to strip naked, then you will be paddled.  You will be paddled once a day for ten days, receiving fifty strikes at each paddling.  One spanking for each of your little plots that annoyed me.  After that, you will be shipped off to the Cabottshire School, where you will learn what it takes to be a good merchant.  And you will be the best in your class, Veranika," Keritanima warned dangerously.  "You will make me proud, or I'll strip you of your title and name so fast you won't know what happened.  After you finish school, you'll return to the house and take up your rightful place in it.
	"But," she said sharply, "in order to get such lenient treatment, you have to do the same thing Jenawalani did.  You have to renounce any claim on the throne, and any possibility that you will ever be queen.  You must give up your title as Princess."
	"Anything!  I swear by Kikkali that I renounce my title of Princess!  I swear that I'll never sit on the throne of Wikuna!  I give up the title of Princess!"
	"Good enough.  Now get out of here, and remember that keeping your position depends entirely on how well you do."
	"I'll make you proud, your Majesty!" she blubbered through teary sniffles.
	"Now get out of my sight.  Shan, pick someone suitable to spank my sister.  Hard enough to make her regret crossing me, but don't do her any permanent harm."
	"I will tend to it personally, your Majesty," Shan replied with a bow.  He walked over and grabbed Veranika by the wrist, and then after making her curtsy to Keritanima, he dragged her out of the Hall.
	Her going easy on her sisters had been more or less necessary.  Stripping Jenawalani and Veranika of their titles didn't make them any less in line for the throne.  Even without their titles, they would still be princesses, and that made them dangerous, because all it would take would be Keritanima's death to put them right back in the Palace.  This way, by giving a little bit, she wrested formal oaths out of them that ensured they could never hold the throne.  And since they would both be too busy--and too frightened--to try anything to get back at her, she was content that their threat to her life and position were effectively neutralized.
	Keritanima sighed slightly and returned to the throne.  "My first act as Queen is to decree that I hereby repeal all decrees of law made by my father concerning me and himself over the last three months.  The Queen is again subject to common law, and as most of you realize, the law I used to get here is again repealed.  I'm not leaving that out there for any of you to try," she snorted.  "The technical jargon of the decree will be written and inscribed into law by tomorrow, for any who wish to read it.  My first act is to dismiss the entirety of my father's staff except for the Lord Chamberlain, the Clerk of Law, and Master Jervis, chief of intelligence.  I appoint Miranda Longtail to the position of Prime Advisor, who will now have the power to hire the remainder of my staff as she sees fit.  Binter and Sisska of Vendaka and Azakar Kanash are hereby appointed as the personal Royal Bodyguards, who answer only to me.
	"I think that's enough excitement for one day.  I call this audience to be concluded.  Everyone go home and keep calm.  Lord Chamberlain, have the announcement posted that Damon Eram has abdicated the throne, and that I have taken his place as Queen."
	"It will be done, your Majesty," he said in a calm voice and a slight smile.

	The process hadn't been without wrinkles, and her father had managed to provide them.
	Things had been quiet and they had been tense that first night, because her father, her good old conniving, cunning father, had set up an escape route for himself before coming into the Hall.  It explained why it took him so long to act on the information that the Vendari had marched into the city.  The two Vendari guards that were taking him to a hospital were attacked by a full company of army regulars just outside the Palace.  Both Vendari survived the assault, but not before being seriously wounded and killing about thirty of the soldiers that attacked them.  Riding on the heels of his retreating men, Damon Eram had escaped.
	He wasted no time organizing an armed attempt to recover his crown.  Most of the army was still loyal to Damon Eram, so he had little trouble rallying the entirety of the army presence in Wikuna on the wide plain north of the city, preparing to march in and attack those forces loyal to Keritanima.  But the Vendari formed up and marched to meet them, outraged over the assault on their own, before Keritanima could so much as issue a single command.
	The day after her coronation was marked with severe violence, and not a little bit of chaos and strife.   The day after her coronation, fifty thousand Wikuni army soldiers were challenged by ten thousand Vendari warriors on the Plain of Wikuna.  They issued their challenge at sunrise, and before most Wikuni woke up for breakfast, nearly ten thousand dead bodies littered the field.  The Vendari met the vastly larger force head on, in classic Vendari style, and had utterly crushed them.  There had only been four hundred casualties among sashka's forces, causing more than thirty casualties to the rebel forces for every casualty they suffered.  Damon Eram had to be truly insane to attempt to fight a Vendari army without artillery or cavalry support.  He had literally formed them up with nothing but muskets and sent them to their doom!  Most of the casualties suffered by the Vendari had been in the initial volley, and the Vendari had closed the distance and engaged the Wikuni hand to hand before they had the chance to reload.  The reserves were ordered to fire into the throng holding their own soldiers by  Damon Eram, and by that time the generals had realized that Damon Eram was going to get them all killed.  They took him prisoner and tried to parlay for surrender, but by then it was too late. The Vendari were incensed at the attack, and they were there to crush the rebellion.  The generals, wise Wikuni they were, ordered a full retreat, then ran with their tails between their legs.
	The battle pained Keritanima.  She had been personally responsible for a great many deaths, and it gave her a small idea of how Tarrin felt when he struggled with his own demons.  It wouldn't have been as many if the Vendari wouldn't have been so adamant about punishing Damon Eram for the wounding of Vendari, if she had been there to reign them in once an attempt to surrender had been offered.  But sashka hadn't even told her of his intent to challenge the rebel forces alone.  She had been rallying the soldiers loyal to her and the armies of the noble houses to face Damon Eram's men with a vastly superior force to try to intimidate them into surrender.  And that sneaky Vendari had simply walked out after insisting she go to bed and marched his Vendari to face her father!  That made her nearly as angry as the idea that her subjects had shed each other's blood over her pained her.
	But in the end, she had to admit that it could have been worse.  Sashka's charge had prevented Damon Eram from escaping and gathering even more men, making her succession a real civil war.  She still absolutely could not fathom what insanity her father had been under to think that his soldiers could stand a chance against Vendari without artillery or cavalry.  Maybe he really did go crazy.  Or maybe he had been willing to throw away all their lives to attempt to break up the alliance that Keritanima had forged among the noble houses.  Such brutal disregard for life was something for which Damon Eram was notorious.
	In the end, she didn't know, and she doubted she ever would, because if she ever faced her father again, she would kill him.  They had locked him up in the sanitarium, and as far as she was concerned, he could sit there and rot until time withered him to nothing, raging with the memories of what he had once been, and knowing that he had brought it all upon himself.
	The battle had sent Wikuna into a panic.  Keritanima had been forced to bring out the army loyal to her to restore order, to ensure the people that someone was still in charge, that the threat was over.  It forced her to wait for nearly three days before making her first public appearance, to let the people calm down over the frightening war that had taken place only miles from the edge of the city.  She had to give the people time to let the shock of the War of the Morning dissipate.
	Things returned to a rather tense state of newness.  The people knew they had a new Queen, but she was very much a mystery to them.  They had seen her--naked!--in the city, and her reputation contrasted heavily with the image that people painted of her now.  Many of them still told stories of the Brat, wild tales of Keritanima's extravagance and immaturity, of her stunts and her exploits that had leaked out of the Palace with the help of her father and her enemies to poison public perception of her.  But the more learned citizens could see past that image, knew it had been an act, and could see the intelligent woman that had perpetrated that fraud.  But this was something of a minority.  She knew that she had to soothe the people, to give them an idea of what to expect from her and from her rule.
	It was time to begin making changes.
	To that end, Keritanima stood on her dais, commanding everyone to rise.  The satchel of papers stood beside her throne, guarded carefully by Azakar, and Jervis and Miranda stood behind her calmly.  Both of them now fully knew what she had planned.  It nearly gave Jervis a stroke, but in the end, he had to agree that what she was doing was probably better for Wikuna than the status quo.  The court was populated with the rulers of the noble houses, but also in attendance was the mayor of Wikuna and many commoner individuals of the city with rank, influence, and learning.  They needed to be here to understand what was about to happen, to explain things to those Wikuni not as well versed in political science, and to begin making the preparations to start shifting to the new order of things.
	"I'm sure all of you have an idea of what we're doing here," she began.  "You know that I'm nothing like what you expected, and half of you are probably wondering why you ever backed me in the first place.  Well, be assured that you're going to hate me when you leave here today.  Azakar, the satchel," she ordered, turning to the large human.  He handed her the leather bag, and she opened it and withdrew a single piece of parchment.
	"Before we begin with the very wild material, I have a few decrees.  Firstly, and most importantly, the Noble exemption against taxation is hereby repealed.  Nobles will have to pay their fair share of tax to support the kingdom, just as the common man does."
	That caused one side of the room to go up in flames.  There was a great deal of shouting and anger, and not a few swords were partially drawn.  But the Vendari lining the walls raised their weapons and moved from their positions, instantly quelling the outburst.  "We are exempt from tax because we are subject to the crown!" one noble shouted.  "Our tax is paid with the men we have to provide to you during times of war!"
	"I don't see us in any wars at the moment, Baron," Keritanima said calmly.  "A great deal of the hostility that exists in the common population is based in the fact that the nobility dominates trade, because they don't have to pay taxes.  It prevents the comm