Chapter Text
Fodlan was in desperate need of change. Empress Edelgard’s changes were in progress, but would take time. Time that ticked away slowly but surely. And soon would come the next step in their path- ending the isolation that had plagued this land far too long. Fodlan was opening up its borders for trade.
Well. Trying to.
Negotiations had to be held first. Talks of customs, tarrifs, rights to this and that… Tedious, but necessary.
And it was Hubert’s rotten luck it had to take place in Enbarr of all places. Even more rotten- the guest list simply HAD to include the rulers of the other two nations of Fodlan. So it was he struggled to keep his composure ensuring the rulers and their various acquaintances had all the accommodations they needed for their extended stay.
The duration of the visit was approximately one week. Each day would begin with breakfast with talks and negotiations taking up the rest of the morning. Then lunch, and then a brief time of repose before the evening events. Said events were to help the dignitaries and their entourages to relax before a luxurious dinner followed by another day of tedium.
Hubert really wished all that had to be handled were talks and meals. But no. Parties. Ugh.
“Hey, Hubert.”
Ugh.
“Yes, Lord Claude?” Hubert said with as pleasant a voice he could muster, dipping into a polite bow. The eye hidden under his hair twitched involuntarily at the sound of that annoying bastard’s laugh.
“No need to be so formal, geesh.” His offended words were not matched by his jovial tone. “Just wanted to ask somethin’ for Byleth.”
“Of course.” Hubert said. He readied his clipboard and pen with a flourish, preparing for another evening of back-and-forth for all the odd specifics the invitees seemed to ‘need’.
Claude waved his off flippantly “Blah blah blah, of course of course.”
Hubert’s eye twitched “Lord Claude. Your inquiry?”
“Oh right, yeah.” This man irked him so. “Byleth wanted to know if the dinners would have cheese cubes.”
Hubert paused. “Pardon?”
“Cheese cubes.” Claude repeated “Cubes of cheese. The fancy stuff with the little toothpicks sticking out of them.”
“Ah. Well.” Hubert hoped the lapse in his composure wasn’t as obvious as it felt. “Is that something her Ladyship would like?”
“Yep.” Claude said with a way-too-bright grin. “She’s asked about them, like, twice.”
A lot for the former Mercenary-made-Professor.
Hubert jotted down a note “I will ensure of it.”
Claude chuckled. Then suddenly became very…formal. Very. Mockingly. Formal. “YoU hAvE mY gRaTiTuDe.” A very poor but blatant attempt to mimic Hubert’s own voice.
“You’re hilarious, Lord Claude.” Hubert deadpanned.
“I know.” Bastard.
Hubert made an excuse to dismiss himself, hurrying off to take care of countless other items he had the responsibility of. Of course not too long after he set off he encountered another familiar face.
“Ey, Hubert.” A voice that didn’t irk him beyond all reason but was particularly grating right now.
Hubert smiled as pleasantly as he could muster “Queen Shez, how may I be of service?”
Shez scoffed, rolling her one visible eye. “Drop the ‘Queen’ thing, please. No one’s around to be uppity about it.”
Hubert’s smile took on more of a shit-eating-grin feel. “Of course, your majesty.”
Shez laughed “All right, all right. I’m glad you’re having fun. Anyway, Dimitri was wondering if he could use the trainings grounds between talks.”
“Hm.” Hubert flipped through his notes. He didn’t think of himself as scatterbrained but this ordeal was more damn complicated than planning a war. “After lunch there’s a two-hour window before that evening event. He may use the training grounds for the empress’s private guard.” Pfft. Private guard. That woman could level a building the time it’d take for an assassin to draw their knife.
“Cool.” Shez said “Thanks, I’ll make sure to tell him.” She belted out in an abrupt laughter that had Hubert internally jump. “Hey, that reminds me, the other day-“
“If I may interrupt.” Hubert cut her off “I’m afraid I have a number of other matters to attend to.”
“Oh? Yeah, all right. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Hubert once again made an excuse to dismiss himself and hurried off. There was so much to do and it irked him to no end that Monica got to be by Edelgard’s side for the majority of preparations. Because... Because of course, Monica tended to get so horribly distracted by her majesty to the point of being almost unable to function.
“Oh! Hubie!”
Hubert suppressed a groan. Was every acquaintance he had going to drop by to take up his valuable time? Instead of voices his frustrations, he smiled.
“Lady Dorothea. Queen Petra.” He bowed “How may I be of assistance?”
Dorothea laughed. “Assistance? Don’t be silly! We just want a moment to catch up is all.”
Petra smiled mischievously “Ah, but Dorothea, we had already caught up. He is right in front of us.”
Dorothea laughed again, hooking her arm around Petra’s and leaning against her “You’re such a goof!”
Hubert gave a pity laugh. Petra was fully capable of understand the basic phrases of Fodlan now and the fact she pretends she doesn’t makes him want to rip his hair out. He didn’t have time for this.
“So you do not need anything?”
“Just your time, Hubie.”
Hubert suppressed a sigh. He opened his mouth to make up and excuse, but it seemed Petra beat him to it.
“Dorothea, I believe Hubert is how they say ‘doing a busy’.” She said “We may speak another time, yes?”
“Oh!” Dorothea yelped, hands shooting up to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry, Hubie. I’m sure you’re plenty busy.” He nodded her head in a short bow, holding her hands in front of her. “We’ll have to catch up another time.”
If he believed in the goddess, he could swear Petra was sent by her. Dorothea was pleasant company, but…she liked to talk. A lot.
He needed some coffee.
Alas, coffee was something Hubert did not have the current luxury of fetching for himself. He said his farewells and went to check on that evening’s event hall. The place was covered in red, blue, and yellow, the colors he had seen so often at the officer’s academy. And everywhere else. Seemed to be a popular motif.
Enbarr was only hosting this event due to geographic convenience, Petra was present as to show other foreigners that Fodlan wasn’t completely hostile. Leader of the Alliance and the King of Fargheus were in attendance with their wives, various other lords and ladies also appearing and several people whom Edelgard deemed worthy of higher positions….
Hubert felt a headache coming on. He dropped his arm and his notes to his side, rubbing the spot between his eyes with two fingers. This was an important step to unravel the tangled mess the archbishop left behind- not to mention that Edelgard herself had been working herself ragged trying to arrange for this visit in the first place. Dimitri and Claude too, he supposed. But they were of little importance to him in that regard.
Many a night Hubert had had to carry- ahm - escort, her majesty to her chambers at night as she would often fall asleep at her desk, quill in hand. Many a time with some ink smudged both on her face and whatever document she’d be working on.
With all the work she put in, Hubert would be damned if he’d let it go to waste because he was tired. He gathered up his notes and got back to work.