Chapter 13 #2
They spent another ten minutes talking about the search for the missing historian before turning their attention to other matters. The meeting lasted another hour and a half, but by the time they finished, it was only a few minutes before it would be time to have lunch with Victoria.
He spent a few minutes looking over the information for a trade agreement with Northern Santiero. Why did all of the trade agreements seem to come up for renegotiation at the same time?
When Victoria walked in through the side door, he put it away and did his best to keep his mind focused on the conversation with his wife rather than the situation with the historian. Once they finished their meals and waited for their dessert to thaw just enough to eat, he broached the subject.
"Were you asked about your schedule this afternoon?"
"Just that I would be spending time doing something with you, but that we wouldn't be leaving the palace." She used her spoon to scrape along the top of her frozen confection. "I wasn't told what we'd be doing."
Enzo did the same with his dessert. It wasn't quite thawed enough to get a good spoonful. "We'll be going to the archives to meet with the historians working there."
Her face brightened. "He's back?"
"No. They're inventorying everything to make sure he didn't take something of value with him."
Her shock was evident on her face. "Would he have done that?"
"We won't know for certain until the inventory is finished, but there are some indications that he did." The next attempt to scoop up some of his dessert was more successful.
Victoria just poked at hers with her spoon. "I can't believe I didn't pick up on anything off with him. How could I be so naive?"
"No one did, and they worked much more closely with him that you did." He reached over and covered her hand with his. "There's nothing you could have done, no way you could have known."
He could tell it continued to weigh on her, though she didn't say anything and focused on eating her dessert. As soon as they finished, Enzo held out his hand, and together they walked to the archives.
The dimly lit Hall of Kings seemed even more quiet than usual.
The first section was filled with portraits on the walls and displays in glass cases.
At the far end, was a viewing window. Inside that room, the archivists could normally be seen working on any number of projects.
Instead, the other side of the window remained dark.
"I've never seen it like this," Victoria whispered. "Usually it's lit better and there's people around."
"I'd imagine everyone is in the archive storage." He led the way to a door she'd likely never entered, not if they usually did her history lessons in the main office. They were inside the actual archives, where the bulk of the real work took place.
As he suspected there were quite a few people working in there.
The First Assistant, Jeanette White, noticed them first. She snapped to attention or close. "Your Majesties." She curtsied and glanced around at the others who followed suit. "We weren't aware you'd be coming for a visit. Please excuse us for not being prepared."
Enzo shook his head then held out his hand to shake hers. When he realized how uncomfortable it made her, he made a mental note to avoid that in the future.
"We wanted to come see all of you, the work you're doing, and express our gratitude for the long hours you've been working. What you're doing is vitally important and we appreciate you."
Jeanette’s eyes darted from one to the other. "Thank you, sir. We all feel responsible, and want to ensure everything is where it should be as quickly as possible."
"None of this was your fault, any of you." Enzo looked at each one of them. "You couldn't have known anything was wrong, and you are doing an excellent job of doing what needs to be done. We'd appreciate it if you'd take us through some of what you've been doing."
"It would be an honor."
She showed them the inventory lists and how they were methodically going through each shelf and storage container and document in the archives.
Victoria stood with her hands behind her back as she looked at one of the documents. "I wish there was something I could do to be of some help, but I don't know that there is anything."
The First Assistant exchanged a look with the man standing next to her before speaking.
"Actually, ma'am, if you have the time, you could be of assistance.
Right now, each of our teams has three historians on it.
With the addition of an extra person to handle the inventory list itself while two historians verify each item, things would go much more quickly. "
"I don't know anything about any of this or how to preserve these things. Nothing like that." Victoria had straightened but kept her hands behind her back.
"There's no need, ma'am. If someone can read the inventory list, the historians can do the rest."
With that, Enzo knew a way he could help them. "Please let me know what kind of manpower would be the biggest help to you. You'll have as many people as you need to be a third member of a team which will give you more teams, correct?"
Jeanette nodded.
"Let my office know how many people you need. If you need others to help with physical labor or..." He gave a shrug. "...anything, please don't hesitate to let my office know. You'll have it as soon as we can get the people together."
Were those tears filling the woman's eyes? He couldn't be sure but he did hear the catch in her voice.
"Thank you."
He gave her one of his legendary smiles as they turned to continue the tour. "It's my pleasure."