After Alicent left, looking thoroughly aggrieved, Audrey and the other maids went to "comfort" her at Danyla's signal.
King Jaehaerys spent over an hour dealing with all the documents that had piled up over the past few days.
Then he spread his hands with a look of immense relief, quite unlike the dignified king of legend.
"Ah! Finally done. There isn't a single day when the lords of the Seven Kingdoms give me any peace."
"Fortunately, White Sheep Town is holding a tourney next month, which has occupied a good many of them. Otherwise, I'd have even more petty squabbles to deal with every day."
Danyla walked behind King Jaehaerys and considerately began massaging his shoulders.
"Well, Great-Grandfather, you are the wisest arbiter in the Seven Kingdoms. That's the burden of being capable!"
"Besides, being bothered by these little matters every day is much better than having some great calamity happen, isn't it?"
"Ha ha ha!"
Danyla's words made King Jaehaerys burst into laughter once again.
"What I'm more curious about is why you're so hostile toward Otto!"
Danyla answered as though it were perfectly natural.
"What? Is it that obvious?"
"All I know is that the hand should always obey the head. His job is to turn our ideas into reality as effectively as possible."
"It's like when we women embroider. People might call a girl clumsy with her hands, but you never hear anyone say a woman's embroidery is poor because her head failed to give the right instructions."
"If someone's hand refuses to obey, at worst they'll be laughed at. But if a kingdom's Hand refuses to obey, that could become a disaster!"
By this point, Danyla had increased the pressure of her hands considerably without even noticing.
King Jaehaerys merely nodded thoughtfully, then let the subject