Paperwork

Paperwork

                Deep's pale blue eyes stared at her desk. It was completely covered in a mess of letters and scrolls - a combination of proposals relating to the river and other paperwork. She had paperwork to handle! She sighed, and rolled a scroll off the letter she had been reading.

                Life as a Countess - or, rather, as a Countess with the duties of a minister - could be incredibly dull. She was an active person, who preferred to be out there doing... Something. She was not someone who enjoyed sitting around reading a sheaf of near identical proposal letters, and then having to respond to each in the same courteous manner. She flicked a few rogue strands of her black hair out of her face and settled back in the chair to read the letter again.

                After proving that she intuitively understood how to manage the rivers (increasing fishing almost threefold over ten years, amongst other things) the Duke had decided that all use of the rivers would first be run by her. It was a good decision - she had stopped several poor choices, and advised improvements on many others - but many of the 'proposals' sent to her were simple things, such as allowing a new fishing ship to work the river, or details on fishing licenses.

                Attempts to curb the number of letters she was sent had proved futile - she had set limits on the number of fishing ships per section of the river (divided up whenever the landowner bordering it changed), but this had led to letters begging for exceptions (never granted) or smaller landowners gifting/selling their slots to others (allowed and kept track of).

                Deep finished re-reading the letter (a particularly obtusely worded request for details on the maximum size of fishing ships), before sighing and grabbing one of her thick ledgers. I had hoped to deal only with the 'big' issues relating to the river, she thought to herself. But all I do each day is handle paperwork. And I need to change the slots to cover total fish capture by boats, and put in controls for the maximum number of fishing licenses that can be scaled to cope with any new techniques.

                The management of the rivers was a duty Deep carried out only because she was uniquely suited to it. Of all her duties, it was her least favourite. Her favourite was 'scouting' the rivers - the time she spent swimming along them, checking to ensure that no unscrupulous count was going against her mandates. She also enjoyed her other primary duty - assisting knights in eliminating monstrous threats to the Duchy - vastly more than she enjoyed managing the rivers.

                Yet most of her time was spent managing the rivers, and writing letters or rules. She propped the letter up between a couple of scrolls, then pulled a fresh piece of paper from inside the desk. She began penning a response, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

                Bureaucracy doesn't suit me, but what can I do but my duty? Although... the ministers in the Duke's employ all have assistants, and they frequently pen responses or handle simple issues that can be looked up, she thought. I'm sure the Duke would provide me with some assistants if I asked. Then all this... Irritation would be no more.

                Deep smiled, and focused back on the letter she was writing - hopefully one of the last she would have to write in response to something so mundane.