As Aria and Ted are in the lower courtyard, the hue and cry sounds of a rider approaching for the town, seemingly charging for the castle. The men immediately abandon their prayers and are halfway armored before the call is canceled. The rider soon passes through the gates at gallop, a red scarf streaming behind him as he continues to the upper courtyard.<br/><br/>Several minutes after, Aren finds Aria and Ted to convey the summons.<br/><br/>----------------------------<br/>Gareph Burne, High Warden of the Last Ride, met one of his wardens, Ted, as he was coming up the path to the upper courtyard.<br/><br/>“Well met, m’boy,” he begins, unusually jovial. “I’ve heard the report from the militia out of Coppertad. Good work. I want you to join me. The lady’s summoned a council and  want you there to present this news after.”<br/><br/>-----------------------------<br/>Over the next twenty minutes or so, Lady Victoriana's summons is answered. In attendance are her Marshall, Knarr Burres, the Castellan, Currynt Worthim, and the Warden, Gareph. Only missing are the lord mayor and exchequer; their offices and homes are in Hammensend and can’t be expected for another 30 minutes.<br/><br/>To the assembled worthies are Aria and Ted, still fresh from prayers and the road, and the lady’s Sergeant-at-Arms by her side.<br/><br/>The room is set for council, Victoriana’s place still set at the head of two long tables facing each other. A place is set for all of her council and guests; wine, water, slates and chalk.<br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Descriptions of the councilmen</div><div class="spoiler_body"> Hedred Arnuff, lord mayor of Hammensend. A ruddy faced man with a hearty laugh to match his frame, Hedred wears red mustache and muttonchops and always has a cheerful word for anyone he meets. Rather shrewd behind the scenes, his is a position a commoner is elected to until recalled from office; the lord mayor is then elevated to the gentry and remains so even if he leaves office. He has never faced a recall in the 19 years since elected.<br/><br/>Knarr Burres, Lord Marshall of County Hammen. Knarr was also born a commoner but was knighted 20 some years ago during a skirmish between Nyrondal and Almorian border lords. He later took service as a captain with the old Lord Harkess and replaced the last Lord Marshall 7 years ago. His responsibilities include enforcing the laws of king and duchess and count, muster of the militias and garrisons, and, at the count’s pleasure, serving in his stead in any matter of the county’s defense. (Defense of the county is the count’s responsibility alone.) He is over six feet tall and whip thin, his dark beard and hair cut to a bit more than a burr and shot through with gray, he cuts a severe figure in his preferred dark blue, close fitting garb. A keen light burns in steel eyes unsullied by illusions of any race’s superiority to the savagery in his own.<br/><br/>Gareph Burne, High Warden of the Last Ride. As border marches, the royal responsibility of the Duchy of Woodwych and the Couty of Brackenmoor to its south is patrol of the Nyrond’s western border. This duty passes from the Duchess to Lord Harkess and so the warden officially answers only to the Count. In practice, he reports to Knarr as the count’s chief military officer.  His office commands the troops who patrol the last hundred miles of the Nesser River before it empties into the Nyr Dyv at Hammensend. As the Duchy of Urnst and Nyrond are at peace, the Nyrondal queen is a close cousin of the Duke, most of the border actions involve bandits and smugglers, and in higher rides, humanoids from the Abbor Alz mountains. Ted is one of the wardens under Gareph’s charge and probably considers him a mentor in woodcraft and hunting.<br/><br/>Arynne Koommes, Exchequer. Dressed in fashionable, but not flashy, manner, Arynne manages the county’s coffers. Neither heavy nor thin, short nor tall, Arynne is noted for little more than keeping the books balanced.<br/><br/>Currynt Worthim, Castellan. Manages the household and defensive affairs of the actual castle. While Knarr operates from the castle, his responsibilities are much larger; Quint actually commands the castle’s garrison and defends it from siege. But Quint’s responsibility extends to all matters of running the castle. The maids who maintain the domestic work, the cooks who feed the roughly 250 souls within, summoning masons and carpenters to maintain the structure, keeping the household books as Arynne does the county’s, all fall under his purview.</div></div>