"Fifty percent of the roads have undergone renovation, from cobblestone to cement. This is a great thing for us but a new challenge has been presented. The horses." Sigrid spoke into a microphone at a council meeting which was being broadcast live to Eldorians.
This was being done to announce the new changes and show transparency in the process, giving the people the illusion that their opinions mattered.
A few chosen commoners that had been picked as the people’s representatives from different cities were sitting in the meeting.
"What is the problem with the problem with the horses?" Representative Darlen from Starfell asked.
"There are too many horses in the capital and I am guessing that it is the same in other cities and they need to be reduced or slowly eliminated as a means of transport, permanently."
A myriad voices rose in uproar.
"If there are no horses how will we go around?"
"This better be a joke?"
"The horse breeders will riot? Wars have been fought for smaller reasons than this."
All sorts of statements were made to oppose what Sigrid had said. And she understood why that was. She had always known that getting rid of horses and introducing other means of transport would be a challenge.
"Listen to me, I have not finished speaking and I don’t have much time to debate this with you so I ask that you give me your attention while I am still available." Sigrid said into the microphone. "Horses have been the most common means of transport for the longest time but there are disadvantages to them.
The first one is their impact on the environment. I don’t know about the rest of you the I am tired of stepping in horse shit. No matter how much we keep improving the sanitation of the roads, it has not changed. The fact is, people let their horses shit everywhere and it is disgusting."
"Can the crown princess say shit?" Someone asked, forgetting to cover his microphone.
"Yes, she can." Sigrid answered and she went on as if she had not been interrupted, "Safety. We cannot discuss the troubles of using horses for transport without talking about safety. In the last month alone, there have been one hundred eighty accidents and fifty deaths caused by horses that were spooked and became uncontrollable. I have not even mentioned the damages that were caused or how much it cost to fix what was ruined."
"But..." Someone started.
"I am still talking." Sigrid said in a strict voice.
Total silence fell over the room and she continued.
"In certain weather conditions, horses cannot operate like in times of extreme heat, rain and snow. A lot of businesses are affected by this. You can see how many shops close down in winter for this reason.
The last reason as to why we must phase out horse transportation is because the new cemented roads are not designed for horse travel. Which is why the ministry of roads will be releasing a new map in the newspaper which tells you all which roads can accommodate horses and which ones cannot."
"But how will we travel then?"
"You cannot expect us to walk."
Once again, voices of outraged individuals rose.
"The mage estate is planning to unveil two new forms of transport today. One is the Mysticar, and the other a Mystrain."
She was talking about cars and trains. In fact the mage estate had also made fifty buses which were ready to run. They had worked hard to make all these through through the winter, working with non mages on a off site location that was not announced for fear of sabotaging.
Now that those things were ready for use and the cemented roads had been constructed in the capital, it was time for a change.
"Now, here comes some more news that people will not like to hear but needs to be said anyway. All the roadside vendors will be moved to new assigned locations. The people’s representatives and the police must work together with the people to see to it that this process is completed smoothly.
You must have noticed that all through winter we moved people from some buildings and renovated them or expanded certain alleys. It was to prepare for this change. The capital city is not a market place, people cannot set up shop anywhere as they please.
The laws enforcing this will be very strict and there will be a fine to pay if one is caught breaking the law. Break it more than three times and the punishment is imprisonment."
Again, more noise exploded in the room and this time, not even Sigrid’s stern voice could easily quell the people.
Watching her from the side, Christie, Mauve, and Mrs. Elsworth were troubled. They could not comprehend how Sigrid was so well put together, business like and of sound mind in the midst of what was going on in her personal life.
It had been one week of no direct communication between Sigrid and Roland. When asked about it, Sigrid had simply answered that her husband had declared a cold war on her. They did not understand what a cold war was but they could see that something had happened between the couple and it caused tension.
None of the women dared to probe and they wanted to so badly but were afraid to. The women barely listened to the content being discussed in the meeting, they were too busy thinking of other things. On top of Sigrid’s marital troubles, they had to think about the debutante ball and their lives that would change if the cold war persisted and their crown princess lost her power.
"Has any of you told you what I said." Mrs. Elsworth whispered to the ladies.
They shook their heads. The cold war was a subject to approach delicately.
After the meeting which lasted three hours, they set off for the mage estate. As soon as Sigrid made herself comfortable in the carriage, Brolin handed her a letter.
"Another one had come." he said.
It was the third letter she was receiving from a man that the system could not locate because he was out of the assigned territory.
Apparently, it could only operate in Eldoria. If she wanted it to scan elsewhere, she needed to be in that place, temporarily or permanently.
She looked at the envelope and it was the same as the the first two. "Who brought it?"
"Another red knight. He threw himself off a wall before I had the chance to find him and question him. It is just like the last one." He told her.
Mauve and Christie were curious about this letter, just as they were about the other letters that they never got to read. They wondered if the letters were the source of turmoil between the crown prince and princess. But they dared not ask.
They pretended to be taken up by more interesting things on their phones.
Sigrid took a deep breath and opened the letter.