Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
Co-op between myself and OverKnight. This story takes place immediately following Part One.


Constantinople, 1128

The Representative, having been unceremoniously booted into the Offices of the Patriarch, started sulking all the way to his master's office, not even pausing to explain the situation to the shocked (and heavily outnumbered) Patriarchal guards. Dirtied and angry from his journey from the Magnaura, several curses that had probably never been said aloud in the heartbeat of the Orthodox faith were muttered. Each time this happened a look of horror appeared on a passing clergyman's face, followed by scolding. The Representative ignored it all, even swearing loudly when he realized that he had made a wrong turn and needed to double back.

Finally, with seven of the Basileus's ten minutes having passed, the Representative opened Patriarch Nicholas III's door without knocking. The two men, Patriarch and Representative, stared at each other for a moment, and then the Patriarch made ready to speak.

"You're dusty."

"The Basileus wants a word," the Representative said abruptly. "Oh, him and about two hundred soldiers. I just got dragged from the Magnaura, bound to an ass, and dropped to the ground because he felt that now was the proper time. Right when the Caesar was being mauled in there too, of course. But he gives you his regards, so it's all okay. And by the way, I have about two minutes to get back down through that maze of yours and tell him that you can see him, or otherwise he and all of the guards are going to barge in here and probably wreck everything."

"Are you finished?"

"Yes, Your Eminence."

"Good," the Patriarch said. "Now, what is it you wish to do?"

"Grant the Basileus entry within his time limit without further humiliation to myself while making it difficult for him to reach this office at the same time."

"Then do it."

"Right," said the Representative. "Parchment, pen, and seal, please." After the Patriarch handed him all three items, the Representative quickly jotted down the words "Enter, Basileus", embossed it with the Patriarchal seal, and made for the window, where he opened it, dropped the parchment into the wind, and closed it again.

"That should buy us some time to think," the Representative said. "Good luck to the Basileus getting up here, especially with the guards stationed at the main entrance not knowing the location of Your Eminence's office."

"It is that reason why it would probably be in your best interest not to be present when the Basileus finally does reach here," the Patriarch said. "I suggest you hide yourself in your office or someone else's until this meeting is concluded." The Representative bowed and, still wiping the dust off his clothes, exited.

Ten minutes later, the Basileus entered the room, flanked by Harald. Aleksios's gaze took in his surroundings and the Patriarch. With a curt nod he dismissed the Varangian, who closed the door on his way out.

"Good day, your Eminence, I felt it was time we stopped dueling through proxies and spoke face to face. Though you have tried to make it difficult."

The Patriarch looked up at the Basileus for a long while, stroking his beard. "Difficult is a relative term," he finally said, "especially when you have never attempted it before now. After all, I, as you know, have always been here, sitting in this office, watching over my flock. Despite the various efforts to get me out in public, coronating the unimportant or meeting the unenlightened... or even to get me moved to an entirely different continent... here I have remained, awaiting your call, Basileus. You have just never made it until now. Although I do admit, dragging my poor Representative out of the Magnaura and using two hundred of your finest soldiers to bang on my humble doors does make for an impressive first call indeed. Clearly, you have something on your mind, and that something is obviously not my demise, considering the way in which you have announced your presence here. Speak, then. Speak, my son."

Aleksios glanced around the room, "Humble door? Indeed. Let me cut to the quick, you and I have have opposed each other for years. Your represenative in the Senate and your lackeys in the street speak out against me and my family. I have investigated you; the origins of the Crusade, the plan behind your slanders and plots within plots. I nearly lost my man Apionnas in Egypt to your agents, and there's been a knifing in the Magnaura."

The Basileus threw down a sheath of papers onto the Patriarch's desk.

"And yet, while I know much more than I did, I don't have it all. I don't have enough solid evidence to burn you safely without fear of reprisal. I could remove you as a threat, but by doing so I would trigger even more instability in the Empire."

The Basileus leaned forward on the desk staring at the Patriarch.

"Let these facts not comfort you however. The men in shadows you've been relying on aren't as reliable as you envisioned. Your man Symeon has been watched and Apionnas has survived. Both he and Aleksander have passed on information to me. The Egyptians initiated their move against the Christian due to an outside influence and you may use a fake assasination attempt, coupled with the fervor of the Crusade, to try to reshape the Empire into a Theocracy. If you move against me or my son, this information will come to light. And the legacy of the Crusade and your legacy as the man who called it will be sullied."

Aleksios drummed his fingers on the desk.

"Now, you could excommunicate me, threaten not to coronate my son when he assumes the Throne and probably set a good portion of the Senators against me. However, I will soon have my own Patriarch of Constantinople, one who's view of recent changes in Church hierarchy will be more orthodox. You would be excommunicated in turn, and as the Empire would be split, so would the Church.

"So, we can destroy each other, however neither of us would likely survive to enjoy it and the Empire would be irreparably damaged. It wouldn't matter what vision you or I have for it, they would both be impossible to achieve then."

"And yet, I am the only one in this office who is not blameless," the Patriarch mused. "'The Patriarch' this, 'the Patriarch' that. Naturally, you know of my actions so there is no point in denying them, but each one of them was done for a reason, and yes, the reason does extend beyond the simple goal of creating a theocracy where my evil Orthodox priests maintain an iron grip on the helpless Byzantine citizens for all time. How simplistically black-and-white of you."

The Patriarch allowed himself a minor chuckle, but upon glancing up and seeing the Basileus's facial expression, returned to his usual seriousness.

"As the leader of the Orthodox faith, no matter where my official title is located, it is naturally in my best interests to serve Orthodoxy's best interests. These past years, there have been many threats to Orthodoxy's best interests, so I acted." In contrast to the Basileus's stack of papers currently residing on the Patriarch's normally tidy desk, Nicholas produced a single scroll. It appeared to be a list.

"First of all, Apionnas. Yes, my men intercepted him. In Egypt. Cairo. The target of the Crusade. The man is a former Mohammedan, Basileus. He is still a Saracen, and he was talking to Egyptian soldiers while the Crusade was bearing down upon the city. My agents were frightened beyond belief that he had turned traitor and was informing the enemy of the Crusaders' plans. Now, you tell me that Apionnas was your man going down to Egypt on your orders, but consider the fact that my agents knew nothing about this, and I believe they weren't alone in this lack of knowledge, either. They definitely acted accordingly.

"Secondly, the Caesar. A bumpy transition of power seems to be your greatest fear, judging by your actions and that letter of yours originally proposing the Edict to ship me off to Alexandria. Ioannis, however, is the most controversial man in the Empire. He willingly pursues civil war and you know that as soon as he inherits the Throne he will stop at nothing to destroy the Order of St. John and gain absolute power for himself. Considering that the Order is the most pious of the Houses and the fact that Ioannis was against the Crusade even before there were whispers that I had somehow influenced the Caliph's move against the Gnostics and Coptics, I am once again acting in Orthodoxy's best interests by planning to block his succession. You, as Vice-Regent and undisputed ruler of all things secular in Byzantium, should be concerned as well, for if the Caesar has his way, there will be extreme turmoil, whether I am involved or not - but that's a conversation for another day. Before you condemn me for opposing the Caesar and seeing what madness it would bring, think about what universal acceptance of his unjust rule would bring, Basileus. Think on that.

"Thirdly, and I will not dwell on this point long. You speak of appointing a new Patriarch of Constantinople who will have a more 'orthodox' view of Church hierarchy. I find it interesting that you feel it is so, after you made a blatant move to increase your religious power and upset the traditional balance that has been observed."

The Patriarch made a long pause, repeatedly clearing out his throat.

"So yes, there would be a split, probably even greater than the one you described, for I would have credible defenses even to your unproven accusations. Naturally, I would be against a war the same as you, for all that it accomplishes in the end is the death of Orthodox citizens and a questioning of the faith. Is the eternal struggle, fruitless for both of us old men, what we are destined to do then?"

The Basileus leaned back, his eyes gone narrow and looking down on the Patriarch. He smiled then, coldly, "Of course, we could choose another path. . ."

"Ah, the crux of the reason for your visit," the Patriarch said. "This I am interested to hear."

The Basileus spoke quietly, "Despite our posturing, neither of us will get exactly what we want. Do you think I am blind to my son's failings? I had hoped to groom him to be a wise ruler while making sure there was an Empire for him to inherit. Both, it seems, are in doubt.

"You conspire with Symeon against me, and I conspire with Aleksander against you. Do you see the common thread? It is the Organization, whatever factions there are in it, they are playing us against each other. If we continue on this path, we will destroy each other, and the only ones who will benefit will be them. Men in shadows only have power, if poweful men, such as you and I, give it to them.

"As you said, you and I are old, and while you are a threat to me, if we allow the Organiziation to continue in their conspiracies, they will be a greater threat to both the institutions we represent long after we are dust. Do you think you will be rid of Symeon and his men once you no longer have use of him, or I of Aleksander? The latter takes a familiar tone in the Senate, and I'm sure his counterpart does the same with you. Aleksander's report mentions Symeon employing spies and sabotuers in the Houses and army. To get that information Aleksander probably has his own agents in place in this very Palace. In aiding us against each other, the Organization worms itself into Church and State. If left unstopped, they will eventually subvert both. The damage they will eventually do to each, far eclipses what we could do to each other."

Aleksios moved his sheath of papers and the Patriarch's own scroll together on the desk.

"What I propose is this: We unite against them. You have information on them, as do I. You know some of their agents, and I know most of the rest. I will call an Emergency Session, and we will jointly propose an Edict calling for the eradication of the Organization, enforcing your previous Proclamation for real. With what we know we can wipe them out. We'll both be heroes, and our past. . .disagreements. . .were just a public ruse to draw the Organization out."

The Patriarch chuckled once again, this time longer due to his knowledge of what the Basileus's visit was for.

"A bit melodramatic with the symbolism by joining the papers together, Aleksios?" He allowed himself one final chuckle, and then continued. "But yes, you have made it perfectly clear that the Organization, no matter how fracticious, is playing both sides in this conflict. Unfortunately for us all, even if they should triumph, they would still not bring stability to the Empire and Orthodoxy because they would still continue fighting with each other. I would half prefer a secret Order that's organized and disciplined to play both sides and then assert its power in a decisive battle, for at least then the fighting would be over, even though there would be a result that few desired. With this case, we are denied of even that.

The Patriarch now breathed a huge sigh, as if his next words were to cost him a great amount of effort.

"Very well," he said slowly, "I concur with your opinion that the continuation of this conflict would wreck too much, and that we all - both us personally, and the people we represent - have far too much to lose. You have desired stability, I, increased faith. You stand to lose stability in the fact that the Organization's perpetual in-fighting will continue to escalate until it swallows the Empire whole. I stand to lose Faith because I now see that the Organization is not inspirational, only chaotic. Therefore, I agree with your plan."

Aleksios waited, knowing there would be a caveat.

"However," the Patriarch said, "An Emergency session to kill the Organization will not be that simple. I am not content to simply act as your diplomatic conquest and then be shipped off to Alexandria. I must have your assurances that you will revert me back to Constantinople - I dislike the use of my modified Patriarchal seal and wish to return back to the old one.

"Now," he said, "I assume that this concession will come with a price."

Aleksios nodded, "I will fulfill the Edict I proposed at the last Session by appointing you, after your brief stint succoring Alexandria, as your own replacement as Patriarch of Constantinople. In return you will cease undermining myself and my son publicly and when the time comes you will crown him. I stop meddling in your affairs, and you in mine. Status quo ante bellum."

"Ah yes," the Patriarch said, 'status quo ante bellum', as my Papal friends would say. Although technically, the war hasn't started yet, so it would be a status quo ante ante bellum. But I digress. I do see serious problems with the Caesar ahead, and I have every right to block his ascendence. He has demonstrated time and time again that he is unfit to rule."

"We shall see, he deserves a chance at least. An intercepted letter, no matter how inflammatory, is not a declaration of war. However, he requires a harsh lesson in restraint and humility. During the same Emergency Session, I will propose to remove the right of my son to automatically assume the office of Megas Logothetes during his reign. If he wishes to rule, he will have to do so through cooperation and. . ."

Aleksios grimaced, ". . .compromise."

A smile creeped over the Patriarch's face. "I quiver to see what will happen with the Caesar after both of us are enjoying ourselves in the next life, but for now, a case of 'Father knows best' seems appropriate. I do hope Ioannis will take it the right way."

The Patriarch paused, and, for the first time during the meeting, there was a lull in the discussion.

"I believe we are done here then, yes?"

Aleksios replied, "Almost, Aleksander is already in my grasp, and I can have men ready to arrest the other agents I know of as soon as we give word, but Symeon. . ."

"I thought you'd never ask," said the Patriarch, still grinning. "I can personally deliver you and the rest of the Magnaura Symeon himself."

Aleksios nodded, "Good, I'm glad we could reach an agreement. . .your Eminence."

"The feeling is mutual... your Majesty."

Both men stared at each other, and laughed in only the way that two old men who knew all the tricks could.