Klaus watched Tarvek turn and mount to the throne. Fortunately, the Lightning Throne was more metaphorical than the crown and described only a position, not an actual chair. They had made a throne that didn't swamp their eight-year-old Storm King and raised it on carefully proportioned steps so that he'd be at least at eye level for everyone pledging to him.

His turn.

"I was never greatly impressed by the Storm King's legends or the hope to restore his heirs," said Klaus. The audience went still, as if they'd all held their breath at once. Possibly so had Tarvek. "Europa has had and lost any number of kings and emperors. It was after I found myself travelling with the source of new legends that I began to appreciate his actual history." A brief pause. "I must admit, I appreciated it more once I found myself trying to run more than a single town. I also better understood the wish that someone else would turn up and make everyone cooperate."

His gaze swept the assembled audience; all eyes were fixed on him. "I have never been much of a romantic. What I have believed in, the reason I once followed the Heterodyne Boys, is those who try to change things that need to be changed. Sometimes it seems as if the world can only be subdued and not improved," Sparks, the constant fighting, his broken hometown, "but there have always been those who believed otherwise." He turned and approached the throne. Tarvek looked small, and pale, and somehow bright, as if the hope and excitement of the day was shining through his skin. For a moment even Klaus could believe in the Storm King, even if it was only in this one partly of his own making. He went to one knee. "I, Klaus Wulfenbach, swear fealty to the Storm King. My lands, my people, are yours."

Tarvek's hands pressed his between them. "I accept your fealty and pledge my care and protection in turn," he said clearly. "I name you regent until I come of age-" And then he released Klaus's hands and put his own on Klaus's shoulders, and leaned forward to kiss his left cheek. "And I name you a Knight of the Loyal Order of the Knights of Jove, and first among the Council."

There was a ripple in the crowd behind him. This part was not a surprise to Klaus - as the details of the Muses' introduction had been, particularly Tinka's oddly conciliatory teasing - but he'd been as shocked as the rest were now when Tarvek first suggested it. Although it was certainly true that Aaronev could hardly hold the position anymore. "I accept both charge and honour," he said, then rose to take his place behind Tarvek's right shoulder for the rest of the ceremony.

Gil came to join him. Anevka pledged next, and stood at Tarvek's left, and then began the rather tedious part of the ceremony where everyone else came up to pledge fealty or affirm their support or continued alliance. This took all afternoon and into the evening, and the liveliest moment was when Barry and Agatha came up just after the last of the vassals, assuring everyone that the confederation they'd gathered and the support of the House of Heterodyne still held. Barry offered a firm handshake and a warm smile. For a moment Klaus was really worried that Agatha would fling herself on Tarvek and hug him - in contravention of all protocol and to the delight of everyone who imagined that the fate of Europa depended on repeating Valois's failed alliance-marriage - but evidently Barry had successfully persuaded her to stick to shaking hands.

The dazzle of sunlight shifted gradually to molten red-gold and eventually dimmed far enough to require artificial lighting. At the end of the ceremony they escorted Tarvek to four different illuminated balconies to let the crowds outside see him, whereupon he was again proclaimed Storm King by the slightly drunken voice of Europa.

Dinner was served - more formally inside than out, of course, which had the benefit of constraining most of the guests by chains of etiquette not to importune Tarvek (or Klaus, for that matter) until there had been time to eat. Of course, at the reception the hordes descended... or tried to. Agatha got out ahead of them and flung her arms around Tarvek hard enough that he rocked back on his heels.

Klaus looked over at Barry. "So much for that plan."

Barry laughed ruefully. "We avoided implying a formal commitment. I won't try to keep her from hugging her friends." Klaus glanced down to find that she had, in fact, transferred to Gil. A more serious smile, and Barry saluted him with his wineglass. "Well done."

Klaus allowed himself a small smile. "It's all gone remarkably well. I'll have to congratulate our security, too." This was being handled by Boris and the Jägers and, despite the fact that the Jägers had had a talking to by Barry beforehand, the fact that they were evidently cooperating was perhaps one of the more remarkable events of the evening.

Barry grinned. "They've been very effective. As demonstrated by the fact that the most conspicuous incident so far was one of the Polar Ice Lords trying to strike the woman pouring his drink." He paused, and Klaus frowned inquisitively. "Last I saw, Boris and General Goomblast were lecturing him on appropriate behaviour. It was an amazing sight."

Klaus's smile got a bit wider, and he helped himself to a glass of wine of his own. "To things working as planned," he suggested, tipping it to Barry, who obligingly clinked his against it.

Behind them a dance tune struck up and Klaus turned - already knowing what he would see, but still surprised at music that sounded like it should come from a quartet. Zene was standing under a light, and despite the Muses' limited expressions she looked joyful. Tinka moved onto the dance floor alone, stepping with more than human grace, and for a while the crowd just stared at the Muses in awe. Then Tarvek stood up and, with a perfectly executed bow, invited Agatha to dance. Klaus shot a look at Barry as delighted "aaw"s rippled around the room and other couples moved onto the dance floor after the children.

Barry rubbed a hand across his forehead, looking torn between laughter and frustration. "Oh, well," he said finally. "Their choice. As informed as we could make it, anyway."

Agatha ended the dance with a beautifully executed curtsey, possibly because this was a good way of showing off her dress as much as because her etiquette lessons had stuck, and immediately ran off the dance floor to grab Gil and tug him onto it. Gil looked rather startled for a moment and then grinned down at her and followed her out, while Tarvek struck up a polite conversation with a princess back by the tables. "I should go and talk to people as well," said Klaus.

Barry nodded. "As should I, but first-" He turned and held out a hand to Donna. Klaus watched them go and indulged himself for approximately three seconds in imagining Zantabraxus there - he determined he could picture her trying Europan dances, but not Europan dress - before applying himself to political socialising.

Boris caught up to Klaus a little later, looking annoyed and unhappy and trying to look neutral. "What is it?" Klaus asked sharply.

Boris looked rather startled. "Nothing, Herr Baron. Everything is going well. We did have to keep a few assassins out of the coronation, but far less than we expected, and they don't seem to have been backed by any of the major groups."

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Yet you look bothered by something."

To his surprise Boris looked a little sheepish. "It is nothing to do with my duties, Herr Baron. I was surprised by the servants people chose to bring."

The servants people had chosen to bring were, in many cases, well dressed constructs. It was a throwback, an affectation, a revival of something from Valois's court. They were there to show off the means or abilities of those who could afford something so well made. They weren't literally slaves — Klaus's laws were clear on that — but Klaus still wrinkled his nose in vague distaste. They were also impossible to object to. People choosing to employ constructs was meant to be a good thing, they weren't being ill treated, and on the face of it Boris was part of the same category. Which was why he was finding it disconcerting.

"It's a ridiculous way to show off," Klaus said, then added dubiously, "even if some of them seem to be enjoying themselves." The fact that Adam and Lilith weren't actually there to wait on Barry and Agatha had not prevented their taking the dance floor from serving as a cue to other people's servants or creations, and many of them did appear to be having a good time. Klaus and Boris shared a moment of mutual bafflement. Klaus liked parties well enough, but not this kind. He didn't think Boris liked any of them. "Hopefully over time we can move Tarvek's court beyond treating constructs as decorative accessories. I-"

A voice rang out, high and childish, sharp with indignation and with an undercurrent of harmonics that did not belong in a voice that young. Klaus whirled. "My father has not disowned me or taken my inheritance." Gil was standing facing the Duke D'Omas, drawn up tall, which only made him a little above waist height, and rigid with anger. "I am heir to the Wulfenbach lands, as I always have been. Europa was never mine to inherit." He lost some of the rigidity, undertones leaching out of his voice and leaving it disdainful as he looked away. "Anyway, Tarvek was my king first and I'm on his side, so I hope you don't think you're being clever." He wheeled away and stalked over to Tarvek, who was looking somewhat embarrassed by this display of loyalty, but still squeezed Gil's shoulder with a smile. Gil smiled back and shot a triumphant look at the Duke.

Seeing that Gil was stable - neither tears nor a Sparky temper tantrum seemed imminent - Klaus walked as softly as dress boots allowed up to the Duke D'Omas and clapped a slightly too heavy hand on his shoulder. He felt the jar as the man started and took some satisfaction in seeing the faint angry flush of blood when he turned. "Your Grace," he said, heavily ironic, "exactly what made you think it was a good idea to harass my son?"

The Duke's eyes narrowed. "Whatever you've convinced him of, you have decided to hand over the empire you conquered to a family who already proved they weren't fit to hold it. He'll hear worse than anything I've said if you and the Sturmvoraus boy try to put every Spark with an independent holding under one of the Fifty."

"If you're going to make assumptions about my politics," said Klaus icily, "you could try bringing them up with me and not Gilgamesh."

"It would certainly make more sense," said Barry levelly. Klaus looked automatically and sharply past him - he'd been near the children a moment ago - and saw the three of them in earnest conversation under Donna's and Boris's eyes. He also pinpointed several Jägers circulating nearby in the crowd. "Excuse me," Barry added, "but Klaus, Tarvek wanted to speak to you for a few minutes."

Klaus nodded to him and left, because the Duke D'Omas was about to find out how disappointed Barry was in him for picking on a child and you really couldn't beat that as a deterrent. "Tarvek?" he asked, approaching the children.

Tarvek glanced up, cleared his throat, and admitted a little sheepishly, "Mostly I thought if you punched him it would spoil Gil's exit."

"I do have some self control," said Klaus. "And I don't intend to let people think they can get at Gil with impunity, although he did make a rather nice exit."

"I told him he shouldn't let people get away with being mean to him," said Agatha, looking like she might burst with pride.

"After the three of you," said Donna, eyes sparkling as she looked over at Barry (still gravely holding forth), "I doubt there will be any question in the Duke's mind on the subject."

"One can hope," Klaus muttered, but the anger was lifting. The Duke D'Omas was starting to look chagrined and perhaps slightly hunted, and the company over here was reasonably pleasant in spite of the continuing stream of people coming to speak to Tarvek. Which, Klaus acknowledged with a sigh, probably meant he should be somewhere else making himself available to people he didn't actually want to talk to. Although courtesy to friends and the family thereof might justify a dance with Donna or Gertrude at some point. They were at least guaranteed not to suggest Gil needed a stepmother. "Gil?"

"Yes?" Gil looked up at him and his expression nearly jarred Klaus's train of thought off its tracks. Gil looked honestly happy, in spite of the Duke's needling, and adoring in a way that Klaus hadn't been expecting to see aimed at him instead of Tarvek.

He'd been about to say something reassuring, but it didn't look like Gil needed it. Whatever anyone else might imply about Gil's future, or Klaus's regard for his son, Gil had no doubts about either. "I need to go and talk to less congenial company," he said, instead. "Try to have fun." Surprisingly it looked like Gil would manage that.

Even more surprisingly, Klaus found himself spending less of the evening irritated than he would have predicted. People he actually knew and liked managed to intersect his path periodically, one or two at a time; it took a few suspiciously regular intervals and a Jäger before he realised Barry had probably engineered this.

Neither Tarvek's relatives - who did have incentive to behave themselves at this point - nor the Polar Ice Lords caused any overt trouble. Klaus spotted one of the latter talking to Martellus, about hunting going by the hand gestures, while Gil ended up animatedly quizzing several at once about dragons. There were signs of belligerence at one point, but while Klaus was still on his way across the room, Barry was between two of them. Smiling, as he'd been smiling all evening, but hard-edged this time in a way that said you don't want to start being uncivilised here.

...It was nice not to be the only one doing that.

When they were done with the Ice Lords he automatically checked for the children. Agatha was perched on one of the chairs at the edge of the room, kicking her feet, as Tarvek handed her a glass of strawberry-apple juice and then plopped down, looking just a little tired himself. Gil passed him a plate of cheese and crackers. Klaus spotted Maxim and Otilia ending a dance near them - all right, that was unexpected, and he was rather sorry he'd missed most of it - and dutifully began one himself with the nearest partner. Royalty, unfortunately, who didn't look best pleased to be asked but would probably have taken it as a slight if he hadn't.

"You are the cutest little thing," announced a woman whose Valois-red hair was beginning to silver. "Are you going to marry the Storm King one day?"

Klaus stiffened and formulated an excuse to his dance partner.

"Maybe!" Agatha said cheerfully, in a voice that must have carried clear across half the room in spite of the crowd. "But Uncle Barry wants everybody to know the political cooperation doesn't depend on that, in case we don't want to."

Not quite how Barry had planned to convey the information, Klaus thought, suppressing a smile. But probably rather effective. And very much in the family style, all the same.

This byplay distracted him from the request to exchange partners, which he did with a certain abstracted relief, until he felt a metal hand in his and looked down to find Tinka. "Well," he said. "This is a surprise."

"Not to me," Tinka said airily, as he stretched his arm out to let her spin.

"I should think not," he said in amusement. "You did it."

"True. Though you'd be surprised, sometimes, how little difference that makes." She smiled up at him. "It is good to have our King back."

Klaus reflected that he had been working toward this for months and was still surprised by it in odd moments. "Point taken. Is that why you're being nice to me?"

She looked up, amused. "You are direct."

"Not nearly as often as I'd prefer."

"I think Valois might have liked you," she said, which made him wonder what in the world Otilia had been telling her. Her eyes gleamed brighter for a second. "At least part of the time."

"Mutual, I wouldn't doubt," Klaus said, fighting not to laugh.

Her eyes flashed again. "He claimed not to be a romantic, too."

Klaus's eyebrows rose. "I take it you disagree?" She only smiled mysteriously, and they ended the dance as Zene's music halted. He bowed to Tinka and glanced over her shoulder, where Otilia was taking the opportunity to shepherd the children out. Even Gil was yawning. "Mm. I had best start encouraging people not too directly to leave."

The farewells took a while - a number of people took the chance a polite goodbye offered to bring up one last thing with him and Barry. Even some of the ones who didn't took a while to gush, but, to his own surprise, Klaus found he had more sympathy with those who simply didn't want the night to end. Outside the sounds of the party in the streets were ongoing, muted by the lower numbers as people drifted to bed but made louder by alcohol, so that voices rang out with the sharp clarity of lone bird calls. Eventually there were only a few guests left and Klaus selfishly left Barry to see them off and went to see where the children were.

He found them in an ante-chamber curled up together on a scroll backed sofa. It looked as if the three of them had been sitting next to each other, with Tarvek in the middle, and then all flopped over on top of Gil. Now they were a tangle of rumpled finery and dangling limbs, smiling in their sleep. Otilia stood at one end of the sofa with an air of being willing to stay there all night — perfectly content with all her chicks safely in one nest.