Nikitas sat in the privacy of his study within the large complex that made up the City Hall of Sinop. Sure he had the big audience chamber, but he preferred the relative comforts offered by his smaller study. It was his first visit to Sinop and much of the past few days had been spent dealing with the local magistrates. His uncle, yes he even thought of him as his uncle now, Pavlos had never been long in Sinop either, so the magistrates were rather used to governing themselves and while the greeting had been formal it was clear that they hadn't been eager to meet him. Well he wouldn't stay long.

He had tried to get a little grasp of the affairs, just out of general curiosity. It always paid off in the end to have knowledge about what was going on, but he had realized fast that the duties of a governor were mostly dull. No, the matters that interested him now were two reports in front of him. One was a detailed written account of a story that was on everyone's tongue, while the latter came directly from Constantinople. With a sigh he picked up the first again.

As he began reading he grimaced a little. There was little point in reading the whole thing as he knew the words anyway, but he made himself go on. It told of an encounter West of the City itself. Bandits had started plundering the lucrative land route between the Bosporus and Sinop and had grown in numbers over time. Until, one day, a Senator from Constantinople rode up to them and challenged their leader to step forward. As the leader refused passage and asked for a toll, the Senator pulled out his sword and beheaded the man cleanly. Shocked at the sight the bandits dispersed and were never seen again. That Senator was supposed to be Nikitas Moschos.

Sometimes Nikitas wished it had happened that way. He could only remember all too clearly the grisly sights of that day. Fighting in an actual battle had shown to be much less fun than what he had heard before. The fighting had been fierce and he had lost half of his men. All young fools that had followed him because they knew his uncle or had sensed opportunity. He had tried putting a stop to the story that praised his deeds, but now they just added his modesty along to his bravery, it was futile.

Groaning he pushed away the report and instead fingered the second parchment. Now this one was much more interesting. It informed him that for his recent bravery and as a token for the service of Pavlos Chrysovergos he was to be elevated into the Imperial family. The thing made him a grandchild of Basileus Ioannis himself of all things. Nikitas could only shake his head. It truly was hard to believe. He had not only fooled the men in this backwater town, it seems he had even fooled the Roman Empire itself. Shoving the papers away he gave a quick prayer of thanks to the skill of the man that had forged him the papers necessary to make him the nephew of Pavlos Chrysovergos. Who knows, maybe his uncle would even be proud of him one day.