The scene is the RFG headquarters, the office of Colonel Terre et Terre Encore. He looks like he spent a long time without a full night's sleep. Enter his second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel Felicien le Forban. "Good morning, sir!" "Ah, Felicien! Do come in!" "Sir, did you find time for the arms and ammunition request to the quartermaster general yet?" "Ah yes, I'll have to do that next month, when I have the campaign maps sorted out and..." "Sir, with all due respect: Next month, we will be in Spain..." "What's the date today?" "May the first, sir." "Mon Dieu! This administration really gets me swamped! If it wasn't for you, Rhett and Enguerrand, Felicien, we would spend the summer looking out for the supply train bringing our muskets! I didn't bid for this when I enlisted with the Guards..." "Sir, may I speak freely?" "Go ahead." "Sir, you don't have to to this just to show you can. France knows what you did for her, and so do the men and we. Amy needs your help more - and has a greater claim to it - than even His Majesty. And your sons and daughters..." "Hush, Felicien! I mean, do go on, but quietly. I don't want them to wake up..." "They are HERE?" "Yes, well, the boys. Next door, in my restroom. Amy insisted. She claims she is entitled to some sleep, too, and I guess she's right. Ah, Felicien, maybe you're right. No man can serve two masters, and I have six. Only I am father or husband to five of them! And there's no way getting them under one roof, while the spare napkins clutter up my desk and mix up with the maps, while the shots from the training range frighten the children and Amy fires my hell for leaving her alone with them for three months in a row to "show off to my king by shooting foreigners quicker than they can shoot me", as she puts it. Hell, Felicien, is Cestome like this, too? But then you wouldn't know, you don't have any children or are even married yet. Amy would never speak like this before she became mother. "O.k. - I will consider retiring. Maybe France _will_ survive it, after all. And if I get second thoughts, I can always volunteer for a month to flee to those nice and quiet killing grounds in sunny Spain, eh? And maybe in a few years, I'll petition the King for my old rank in the Guards... but of course, by then, you three will all be generals, hm?" He chuckles. "Go, Felicien. I'll have to sleep about this and then talk Amy into it. I'll tell you one of these days, in time to prepare the troops for a smooth passing over of the reins of command. Give my regards to Cestome. Dismissed, my friend." With a quiet nod, Felicien turns and leaves. He makes very sure he is well out of hearing range before he gives in to a small exclamation of triumph. [OOC: FlF asks the colonel of the RFG, npc_TeTE, to resign.]
