It sounds as if Cor and your general would get along well. Did I ever mention that when he was just a boy he got right in my face and called me a coward? He is a perfect example of the kind of people who I have as my closest advisors. If I am right, they will support me, no question, but if I am wrong, they will not hesitate to call me a fool. Unfortunately, the number of people who I can call 'close advisor' is dwindling.

[Regis has to bite back the urge to snap at Peter for his second question, though. He already answered that, didn't he?]

I have no siblings to help me rule. Instead, I have people who come from old families who hold controlling interests in various parts of the city. If I don't work with them, they punish, not me, but my people, especially the refugees who have fled to the city since my father had to pull back the Wall to Insomnia's ramparts. If we were not being pressed on all sides by an enemy with greater numbers than we have, I would try to dismantle the mess my father and the generations before left behind, but there is just no time to do so.

[Not to mention, he now has a small son to take care of and a ring that is draining his life faster and faster each day it seems.]