When I went to speak with Governor Guillaume Septimus in his audience room, I was struck by how similar the throne rooms were in both cases, although the mountain ranges were different. The types of rocks I could see were similar enough that it was obvious that the Bravians had a specific sort of mountain in mind for their caves and a similar style in terms of how they dug out the cave palaces. Noticing this pattern, I wanted to talk to the Governor about it, although I didn’t know him as well as I had gotten to know his brother.

“I don’t know you, I must admit, but I did have the chance to spend a bit of time with your brother when he went to the Western Forest people.”

“Ah yes, I’m glad you got to know my younger brother.”

“He explained to me how it was that your family got to preserve its royal status when it was in danger about a generation ago or so.”

“Yes, I have to say that things were stressful when I was a kid, but once we were able to master the language of the people of the forest it was much easier for us to find a way to serve the interests of the people of Bravia as a whole and that made our position a much more secure one.”

“Do you think that having a hereditary governorship makes your family’s position secure as well?”

“Yes, I think that will help, though it requires service, and I’m sure my children will be raised to understand the service that our position requires to the people of Bravia as a whole as well as specifically to the people of our province.”

“I would like to know a couple of things, though, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all. Ask me what you wish.”

“First, what is it that all of the children of Bravia’s royal house do? I know that the Crown Prince of Bravia also serves as the Royal Governor of North Bravia and that you and your line will serve as the Governor of this province, but what do the other lines do to keep up their service to Bravia?”

“Well, let me, see. The line of the second son of the Bravian royal house serves as the Royal governors of Middle Bravia, the line of the third son serves as the Royal governors of Southwest Bravia, the line of the fourth son of Bravia serves as the royal governors of Southeast Bravia, the line of the fifth son handles the Bravian posts across the Western river, and the line of the sixth son handles the Bravian trading posts across the Southern Sea. It is possible in time that more lines will get more responsibilities if Bravia grows still further, but that remains to be seen. The provinces we have are certainly enough for the present and the future will have to deal with its own problems.”

I puzzled over this for a bit, as it suggested that we would have to deal with another Bravian heir concerning the trading posts that would be dealt with in our territory, perhaps a person with their own history and their own focus of service that looks for expansion not least as a way to ensure ways that his children would be able to serve without having to be limited or circumscribed in their efforts. This was an acceptable enough answer for me concerning this question, so I moved on to the next one. “I notice that your cave palace is very similar to the one I have seen in Bravia’s capital, is there a reason for that?”

“Of course there is,” the governor laughed. “Bravians have very specific ideas about this sort of thing. The idea is that provincial capitals are supposed to be build in the image of the national capital, to remind people who come in here that they are coming into the same kind of place. There are certain mountains–none of which can be active volcanoes or as active sites for mining minerals–which can serve as places for cave palaces. All must have heights near the cave palaces that can serve as places for temples that are built as replicas of the one in the capital, and all must have level places nearby that can serve as places for provincial assemblies that act as local Parliaments in the same way that the Grand Parliament exists in the capital. These elements must all be found relatively close to each other, to create the whole capital compound as well, which also requires nearby fortifications which serve to protect the capital region as a whole as well as a trading post that allows for goods and services and people to travel easily to the region but not to the capital itself, which requires more effort, as you no doubt have found.”

“Yes, I have found that to be the case. Do you think you will always have the entrance to this palace being a donkey path?”

“Yes, actually, I do. There is something humble about the way that a ruler in peacetime is supposed to enter his capital on a donkey, just like our Lord and Savior entered Jerusalem on a donkey when He was proclaimed as the Son of David before his crucifixion.”

I had nothing to say to that. “How did this city come to be made?”

“That’s a bit of a complicated process. Of course, this city did not need to be made at all before the province was settled. It was the discovery of the lands here being empty by some Middle Bravians–as I remember the initial settlers were from Porterville–and their discovery was communicated first to their neighbors and then to the nation as a whole through their Amphoe representatives in the Grand Parliament, which has amounted to something of a stampede to explore and settle the most convenient places within the province. When the province was first settled, some people went to map the entire province to see if it included the necessary mountains and other high places where capitals could be made. They were found to exist only on the far Eastern edge of the province, and so before construction could begin on a place here, first some High Bravians ended up settling the entire mountain chain going from just north of the Eastern River Delta to the area to the east of the Eastern forest region, and even, so I hear, beyond, where they are looking down into other valleys to see what neighbors we have.”

I stopped him at this point. “You mean the High Bravians themselves settle mountain ranges far beyond the area of other settled provinces?”

“That’s right. Wherever there are mountains that do not have any other settlements on them, High Bravians will set up new villages wherever they can be made. Our cave palaces are only the internal living in the mountains that Bravians do. Many of us as Bravians are descended from the people of High Bravia, who are always most comfortable in hilly areas or even in mountainous areas or high plateaus. Such area cannot support a high population density, and for security purposes it is best for their villages and watchposts and fortresses to extent across entire ranges wherever they may be found, so they can serve as the gatekeepers for the provinces and for the nation as a whole.”

This was a lot to take in. Could it be that even now there were Bravians living in mountain fastnesses that were far beyond our understanding and recognition, looking at our cities and communities and keeping track of our behavior and communicating it up and down the mountain ranges? I had thought that the mountains were so inhospitable as to prevent anyone living there, but the High Bravians were a people who deliberately lived in such regions. This was a possibility too horrible to even contemplate, even if they were not inclined to interfere with the settlement in the lowlands near them. Perhaps the governor recognized my discomfort as he did not explain that point any further.

“Once it became clear that this area was large enough and also had the right kind of geography where a provincial capital to be built, and that enough people had moved into the province to allow for self-government, it was decided that the capital complex could be built, even if it was on the other side of the province from most of the people. At some point–we hope soon–there will be roads built in order to connect the people of the province to this government. We hope as well that along the main rivers that feed into the Eastern River in the province that many Amphoe will be built that are all connected to each other by river and by land that allow for transportation and infrastructure to be built in a reasonable fashion. We do not expect this process to take very many years. Once that happens, of course, it will take longer for the rest of the land to fill in, and in so doing we expect perhaps two to two and a half million Bravians to fill this province as a whole, which would make it about the equal to the size of Middle Bravia.”

The amount, again, staggered my imagination. Middle Bravia was about twice as populous as I had expected, and this province would, in the eyes of the governor, possibly attain to the same size. It was not something that I could listen to without some sort of visible sign of shock. Regaining my composure, I asked the governor about what was going on with the people of the Eastern forest. He seemed to enjoy taking up this subject immediately.

“We were very fortunate that some of the early North Bravians who moved across the Eastern River were acquainted with the people of the Western forest and they also made contact with the people of the Eastern forest, asking if they were at all similar in their beliefs and culture to the people of the Western forest whom they knew and dealt with. The people of the Eastern forest were surprised that we knew their ways and their language, although it was somewhat different than that of the Western forest. As I had been deeply involved in negotiating our relations with the people of the Western forest, I was asked to come to the Eastern forest and talk about matters there. At this time, the full extent of the province had not been determined and it was not sure that there would be a province here at all. I talked with the emissaries of the people of the Eastern forest and they were greatly pleased to hear about us and to know that their cousins across the river were doing well. They explained to us that sometime within historical memory but not living memory that there had been a great rift that had opened up, through with the Eastern River flowed, that had divided the two forests too suddenly for them to maintain contact with each other and that the people of the two forests had been separated since that time, though as far as they understood both had continued along the same ways of life that they had known before. I was able to supervise the building of a hybrid town at the southern edge of the Eastern forest and conduct the purification rituals to the pleasure of the people of the forest, so that they knew that I was familiar with their ways, and before too long we were able to conduct positive relations and to achieve their consent to seeking to rebuild a connection between the two forests. This is going on right now, which will allow the two forest peoples to communicate with each other and to trade with each other without having to touch the ground that they view as defiling.”

“I have gone through that process myself,” I replied, to the pleasure of the governor.

“It is a great honor to be allowed to enter the realm of the forest people. I hope you appreciated the opportunity to see them.”

“I did. I found their language to be a bit strange and their ways were odd, but at the same time it was wonderful to see the openness and honorable nature of their diplomacy and their appreciation to Bravia for being considerate and understanding of their ways.”

“I believe that Bravians as a whole appreciate those who are open and honest about their ways and their concerns,” the governor said. I did not fully understand the depth of what the governor said until later, but I should have paid more attention to it then.