Bologna, 1093

With the report of the capture of Marseille, the Imperial city's inhabitants were on edge as Raynaud de Xaintrailles was escorted in. The French, despite all efforts, were gaining, and even though Marseille was not an Imperial territory, the fact remained that the French were getting a bit closer to their lands. This unease was kept to a minimum, however, by the presence of the Emperor in the city. Kaiser Heinrich had long held a reputation for ruling with an iron fist. His defeat at the hands of Pope Gregory in the Investiture Controversy had softened his rule in some ways, but yet he made up for it in other areas.

Raynaud noticed that military discipline had tripled as he drew closer to the Kaiser. Aside from when Sigismund was around, the men were fairly lax with him and each other, going back to their dirty peasant roots rather than fully embracing the chance for mobility that Christ had given them. However, as he entered Bologna, none of the rough, low speech was used anymore. Everyone spoke in crisp, professional tones and made sure to salute. So this is how it's going to be, Raynaud thought as he continued his uncomfortable ride into the city. King Philippe puts on a spectacle by displaying wealth and merriment for all to enjoy. This one does the same but enforces military standards. In the end, neither show enough attention to the one spot where it truly matters. Will they regret their choices in the afterlife? Only the Lord knows. After all, the Conseil had rejected a most holy crusade that would take the French into heathen Moorish lands. As for the Imperials... nobody knew what they were up to. This would be an interesting meeting, and for once Raynaud did not know what to say or expect.

He was led into a large building, and was told that it served as the Kaiser's official palace during the time he spent in the city. Sigismund was nowhere to be found during this final escort. Raynaud was a bit sad about this. Despite being a German, Raynaud could tell that he was an honorable, religious man. They might have even been friends had he not been on the other side. Instead, a group of gruff retainers lead him deeper into the "palace". They all seemed very official and polished, the very essence of a German. The lead man's name was Ludwig, Raynaud remembered. He was very close to the Kaiser; was probably his personal retainer or veteran warrior. It was Ludwig himself who entered the Kaiser's room to introduce Raynaud.

Stepping back out into the hallway, he addressed Raynaud in his usual matter-of-fact voice. "You are about to speak with the leader of our people," he said. "As an educated Frenchman, I am sure you know about proper decorum. Keep in mind that you are a prisoner of the Reich and the Kaiser is doing you a favor by receiving you here today. Improper behavior will swiftly be punished."

"I understand," said Raynaud, nodding, and he stepped into the room.

It wasn't much; certainly not what Raynaud was expecting coming from a leader of European Catholics. There was a woodcut of some unidentifiable religious scene on the far wall. Maps, particularly those of northern and central Italy, scattered the rest of the walls. A little desk with scrolls strewed over it in a way that looked haphazard, but Raynaud could tell that the Kaiser knew where each and every single important piece of paper in there was by just a glance. And then there was the Kaiser himself, sitting at a table in the center of the room, with two pieces of paper and a quill pen at his place. At the opposite end of the table stood another empty chair, which was presumably for Raynaud.

Heinrich looked up at the unarmed Frenchman, giving him a brief once-over. "Sit," he said, and Raynaud did.

"Raynaud de Xaintrailles," he said, looking over at one of his papers. "House of Aquitaine, currently overseeing the Dauphin's shiny new Iberian possessions before he goes entirely off the map and ends up trying to cross my border under the guise of a diplomat. Identified as an enemy soldier because of a sword and, most interestingly, four human skulls among your effects." He paused, now looking up at Raynaud for the first time. "I have many questions, but I suppose my first one is 'why the skulls?'"

Raynaud spoke quickly and smoothly. "Sir, early on in my journey here I was ambushed by bandits. After disposing them, I took their skulls as a deterrent. Any future bandits aspiring for my head or possessions would see them and think twice. I have to assume they worked, as the next time I was accosted on my trip was by your border guards."

Nodding, as if the question he had eagerly asked had suddenly ceased to become important, the Kaiser moved on to his next question. "Sir de Xaintrailles, you are aware that my Empire is currently in a state of war with your Royaume, correct?"

"I am," Raynaud said.

"You are a soldier that crossed into Imperial territory under false pretenses. You could be killed for that alone, you realize. Personally, I think ransoming you would be the better option. Your Dauphin has recently drained my treasury of some funds with his capture of a very able general and strong personal ally in Maximilian Mandorf. If I return the favor with you, perhaps we could call it even."

Taking Ludwig's advice, Raynaud decided to butter the Kaiser up. "Good thinking, Your Majesty," he said, perhaps a little too quickly.

Heinrich waved his hand absentmindedly. "Oh, spare me the flattery," he said, "I get enough of that falsehood from my subjects every day. I was hoping that you and I would have just a good honest talk, two highborn men speaking frankly on the same level about things. I desire this very much, Sir de Xaintrailles. All my life I have dealt with politicians, or those who have amounted to as much, and have had to watch my words. For once, I have someone in my custody who is different, who isn't worried that I won't prioritize enough projects his way if he says the wrong thing in my presence."

"Well, Your Majesty," Raynaud said, slightly taken aback by the Kaiser's demeanor, "Do not forget that while this may be true, my life is in your hands should I say the wrong thing."

"Yes it is," said the Kaiser. "All the more reason for you to speak the truth. Tell me, Raynaud, exactly what are you doing in my lands?"

"In this case," Raynaud said, "my diplomat persona was not a deception. I was coming to you with the purpose to negotiate the release of our Princess Constance."

Heinrich looked around for a while, and then sighed, a wan smile crossing his face. "Ah, how the priorities of every man are different. Do you know the tale of how the Princess you speak of came to be in the situation she is currently in?"

"No, Your Majesty. I do not."

"Neither do I," Heinrich said, and then emitted a harsh chuckle. "That's the funny thing about all of this, isn't it? I'm sitting in this very office, minding my own business, making important military decisions so that my people don't get swallowed up by your mad king, and all of a sudden this hits me. This minor nobleman, this gibbering idiot, this annoying pest comes up to me, asking that if I'll perform or arrange marriage rites. I ask him why in God's name would I do such a thing and tell him to get out of my office before I have him killed for insolence, and he responds by saying that he's fallen in love with a French princess and rescued her. He particularly emphasized that last point, but did not elaborate, I'm afraid."

Finally, Raynaud thought, we're getting somewhere. It looked like Raynaud was going to live, but unfortunately for him, the Kaiser had a lot on his mind and seemed to view Raynaud as an outlet for his troubles. "So you have her in your custody?" he asked, still cautiously.

"I do," Heinrich said.

Now the tricky part came. Raynaud, captured, humbled, and taken aback by the Kaiser's honesty, would have to put his diplomat disguise back on and get to the reason he made this more-than-unfortunate trek in the first place. Deciding to play to what the Kaiser seemed to value so far, he threw caution to the wind instead of choosing his words carefully. "So what will it take for the Royaume to have her back?"

"I've been thinking about that for a while now," Heinrich said, with a grave expression on his face. "Ransom her off, along with you? Exchange her in return for Staufen, maybe, or just generally peace? Simply kill her, in exchange for my son Henry who now lies dead outside the city?"

Feeling bolder by the moment, Raynaud decided to press his luck in probing the Kaiser's mind. "I notice that none of these options you mention are actually marriage."

"Marriage?" Heinrich actually laughed out loud this time. "A French princess, married to that cockroach? Of course not! Why would I waste a golden opportunity such as this on a nobody like von Munich?" He calmed down for a bit, now seemingly speaking to himself more than Raynaud. "But then again, that's all it comes down to, isn't it? Priorities. That man's priorities are to obtain himself a charming foreign princess. Unfortunately for him, his priorities mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Your priorities are to get her and yourself out of this territory, possibly to use as leverage for a higher position, possibly some other reason. Something tells me that you do not have the backing and power of the Office of the Seneschal, or even the King, and that means that your priorities do not matter to me either. This means as well that the Royaume does not have a representative here, and thus Philippe's priorities are irrelevant. So it all comes down to me, again..." He trailed off, deep in thought.

Raynaud simply sat and listened. The Kaiser was certainly on a roll here. Raynaud wondered exactly how long he had this on his mind. He wondered if he was drunk.

Heinrich picked up again, this time half-talking to Raynaud. "That's the thing, isn't it? I don't even care. This whole war with France, this is just one big distraction, one big joke to me. I'm throwing away countless resources and lives into a diversion. ..." He trailed off again, before looking at Raynaud and, for the first time in a while, addressing him directly. "Tell me, Sir de Xaintrailles, are you a religious man?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," Raynaud said without hesitation. "The Word of the Lord means more to me than anything."

"Good boy," Heinrich said, like a teacher to a pupil that gave the correct answer, but was clearly leading somewhere. "Do you follow the word of the Bible and God's representative on Earth, the Pope?"

"Naturally," Raynaud said.

"Ah, but what if I were to tell you that the current Pope was in fact not God's representative on Earth?"

Raynaud leaned forward in his chair, taken aback by this. What was it? Blasphemy? He would have to once again choose his words carefully. "I'd say that would imply a lot of things, Your Majesty. Questioning that office is akin to questioning the Lord himself."

"Indeed," Heinrich said. "However, I speak not of the office, but of the office holder. Ever since the birth of the Reich, there has been a system in place where the Emperor appoints the Pope, who in turn appoints the next Emperor. This is the way the process has always been, you understand. It is willed by God himself. The current Pope, unholy abomination that he is, refuted this traditional system and in the process created an ecclesiastical oligarchy by transferring the power of investiture over to the Church instead of its rightful place. This means that ever since Gregory has taken office, the entire Catholic flock has been without a shepherd."

"Interesting," Raynaud said, trying to sound neutral.

"Now, let me ask you something, Raynaud de Xaintrailles. If the highest office in the land can be so corrupted, what does that say about the institution as a whole?"

Raynaud was silent for a long while, pondering the implications of the Kaiser's statement. "I... I do not wish to go down this line of discussion any further," he said finally. "The Church is salvation, everyone knows that. A great majority of mankind is forever doomed to the fires of Hell anyway. To say that even the faithful are as well because of one man's what you call 'usurpation'..."

"The Church is not salvation if its leader is an interloper who manipulates everybody," Heinrich said with finality. "Until I right this terrible wrong for good, I suggest that you hold by your own definitions of what is and is not holy and just instead of what a potentially corrupt body of men who mistranslate the Will of God say. To get back to my original point, this is my priority. I am trying to reform Catholicism itself; to save it forever from the whims of individual men. I have no time to get into an extended war with a man who clearly has an unsubstantiated vendetta against me, yet alone to deal with the matter of where some foreign girl ends up with."

"Your Majesty..."

"Go ahead Sir de Xaintrailles, take her. Take her back to France and rid me of the extra problems she causes. Tell your Dauphin and King that I have granted her and your unconditional releases as a gesture of good faith. I am trying to save the soul of every single man, woman, and child in Catholic Europe and restore Investiture to its proper place. I cannot be bothered with all of this additional, uncalled-for pressure. Tell Philippe to lay off and to pick another target. Tell him that, Frenchman."

Aware that the conversation was wrapping, Raynaud took that as a sign to stand up and bow. "I will, Your Majesty. Thank you."

At the other side of the table, Kaiser Heinrich did the same. "Go in peace, Raynaud de Xaintrailles, and may our paths never cross again."

Raynaud bowed once more and exited the room, not saying a word for a very long while, thoroughly disturbed by the conversation that had just taken place.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
Co-op between GeneralHankerchief and myself.