Nadine Book 4

25. Ranks

3 hours later, I'm in Dipak's old advisor office. I've nearly got everything done.

The clothes maker promised one of the boys' dress coats would be done in the morning. So we can see it in red.

The commander patch will be a red rectangle with commander written in black. The Ankh will be red. Then I want to do something for the pirates too. I design a black patch. With only the compass rose in red. I put Captain above Dipak's.

I should come up with a rank title for Dracul and Frode. I'll go with Ambassador. Then anyone over 1000 will be a Guardian.

"Woman, you're late for dinner."

"I'm trying to do the patches and ranks. Eat without me."

"I'm not going to eat without you. What do you have?" Dipak sits beside me.

"For rank. King is on top. Then commander. Then ambassador. I was thinking Frode and Dracul for that one. After that, guardian, or keeper and everyone should get a council badge."

"Council thing is a pin baby. It's on my collar. That means council. You can make it red."

"I like that little pin."

"I like the ambassador rank for Frode and Dracul. Not sure about guardian or keeper. I mean if you're going to rank everyone at the table that, you might as well take the pin off."

"I like the pin. I'll stick with the pin for now. So the badges would go. Dragon eyes on top. Then the king or prince crown. Your title under the crown. Commander or ambassador. After that, the row of extras, magician and pirate. And everyone gets the pin."

He nods. "I like the idea of adding more ranks than commander and ambassador. What did you have?"

"There's elder, guardian, keeper, hunter, officer, advisor, defender, warlord."

Tre and Tye come in. "Are you 2 coming to dinner?"

I shake my head, and they sit down with us.

"We can't use advisor. Everyone is that. I like elder, guardian, keeper, and warlord."

"What are you talking about?"

"New ranking system."

"I think people should only get 1 rank. So it would be like commander, ambassador would be like placed only. Those 2 shouldn't be something anyone can get. Then the ranks people could get or earn somehow would be keeper, guardian, warlord, and elder."

Tye nods. "Elder would be an age requirement. Like 2,500 years you automatically get the elder rank."

Tre sits back. "Warlord should be mission based. Go out on like 250 missions and get that one."

"I love that Tre. Guardian and keeper?"

"Keeper should be something to do with the castle or helping out in other ways than missions. Helping out to make everyone's lives easier."

"I like it. Lead 100 projects and get the keeper rank."

Tye smiles. "Defender would be a good one too. But I wouldn't make that one hard to get. Defend the castle 1 time, you should get that one."

"I like that idea. And the last one we have is guardian."

"These aren't ranks. Now they are like achievements."

"For guardians. Maybe something with the guards. I don't know about that one."

"That would be protection, guarding, finding information, empowering, caring, helping. Anyone getting any ideas?"

Tye nods. "I like them. Make it a big number. When I did the games, quite a few people helped. You went and played games with me. Thora and Tre drug me around. I could say. You, Thora, and Tre should get credit for the guardian rank."

"I got it thank you. I'll fix my notes and rattle it off at the meeting tomorrow."

Dracul walks in the door. "DINNER."

The next morning, I get the patches and mens' coat. Then go to Dipak's office. "Dipak, can I do this quickly? I have a lot to do today."

"Of course, sweetheart. Floor's yours."

"Thank you. Tre put this on." He puts on the jacket with the design down the buttons and around the armholes. "This will be the dress-up jacket. It'll look good with black pants and the shirt and vest. Everyone good with this?" They nod. "Great. The everyday outfit: Everything will be black. Except the belt and this design will also go onto the jacket for that. Those 2 things will be in red. The jacket will fall below the knee."

"The dress jacket or the everyday one?"

"The everyday one will be longer than the one you have now."

"Next thing is ranks. We are adding a new one. It will be ambassador. The ranks are by being appointed. You can not earn them and there may be another 1 or 2 that come in."

Everyone nods.

"We are also adding in achievements. These are different. There will be patches for them. They will look like the commander patch. They will sit directly below that one. Please only use 1 at a time or your arm will be like reading a book. We will probably add in more as we go. But they are effective as of today. Also, requirements may change as we get into it."

"First one. Elder. This one is age based. 2,500 years old earns it. 2nd is Warlord. That is 500 missions. 3rd is Keeper. That's leading 100 table projects. Next is guardian. The count is 1000 for this one. This is for helping or guiding. It's for going above and beyond what is expected."

Gunner looks at me. "You don't have to lead the mission for the warlord title, you have to go on the mission."

"Correct. It's 500 of them."

"Thank you."

Dipak sits up. "The rank patch will go under the crown. Then the achievement patch will go under that?"

I smirk. I already know what he's thinking. "Yes sir, you could be Commander Warlord."

He jumps up. "WE NEED A MISSION." Everyone laughs.

"Love, sit down. I'm not done."

"Sorry babygirl." He sits back down.

"Defender title. That one is fairly easy. If the castle falls under attack, defend it."

Omar hands me a drawing.

"I LOVE THIS." It's an open book for the teacher. 1 side shows the ankh. The other side is a chalice. "This is perfect. I'll get it in right away.

"Thank you. It took me awhile."

"Tre can I have that jacket back please."

"But I'm sexy in it."

He hands it to me. "Fine."

I lay it in the center of the table. "This is the arm. Dragon eyes would go on top. Then the crown. Followed by rank. Then achievement patch. Last would be extras. He made me the pirate one. So we can see how they will fit together. Do you like the 2 eyes for the dragon?"

"Can I see it with 1 eye, my princess?"

"Of course daddy." I center the eye.

"2 eyes is better."

"Great, also the council pin you wear will be turned red for the black uniform."

Thora sits up. "You should have more ranks than commander and ambassador. I like the achievements, but more ranks would be nice too. You could do like consul. I could be the queen's advisor. Support, consul, agent, officer, intelligence, investigator, sentry."

"Could base it on the length of time at the table."

Tye gets out a paper. "Start with Support. Then go, sentry, officer, investigator, agent, intelligence, and consul. But how to space them apart?"

Dipak nods. "Do like 25 years on support. 50 years on sentry. 100 years officer. 200 investigator. 200 agent. 200 intelligence. Then you get to consul."

Tye looks up. "That's 775 years. Has anyone been here that long?"

Daddy, Frode, and Dracul raise their hands.

Dipak looks around. "I think I have to. Or it's close anyway."

Daddy nods. "I don't know if I wrote the year down. You might have to give it to you."

I steal Tye's paper. "Let me figure out everyone's ranks, so I can get them turned in too. I know almost everyone is going to be support right now. Everyone from Tre this way will be support. Gunner, how long have you been here?"

"Just over 100 years."

"I need 1 officer. Daddy needs 1 Consul. 9 support. Oh wait, how long have I been here?"

"387 years my princess."

"I'm an investigator."

"But I don't want to be support, I want to be the queen's advisor."

"Fine. Anyone else want their own rank?"

"Protector."

Dipak shakes his head. "No woman. If they want a custom rank tag, they have to do something to earn it. Like an achievement."

"I'll add that on the achievement paper. There is now a custom rank tag achievement. King Yanin, I want to ask you while you're sitting here. I want to put Tye's patch. In my colors."

Tye shows him the patch. "She wants it to match her uniform."

"Tye will get this crown. It will say Prince Yanin on it. Would you agree with that? Or do you want him in your colors?"

"That'll be fine. We don't even have Yanin on the one he has now."

"Thank you sir. I think I'm done."

"It's lunchtime, sweetheart. Everyone return after lunch, except you 3. You stay here." He points to me, Tre, and Tye.