Tiana blushes furiously at the compliment. Once Leijla mentions reviving the scriptorium, she perks up though. "That's a great idea! What can I do to help?"
Lobby for it. I'll tell you this. Decimus is quite interested in the idea as well. That is our common interest, and the gift we have imparted to our son.
"I will. Thank you. And if you have any other ideas or suggestions, please let me know." Tiana smiles, genuinely appreciative for Leijla's input. "And... please join us for dinner tonight. I'm making paella. I have a little help though, so it should at least be edible."
Valenciana or marisco? I'm muslim.
Maybe that went over your head. Paella originates in the Valencia region, has not yet caught on in the rest of Spain, and the two main varieties are indicative of the ethnic mix of that region at that time. Paella valenciana is mixed with whatever meats people can get ahold of, even snails. Paella morisco is made with seafood. Now, either one can be hallal or goy, depending on what meat or seafood is used. But the variation originates as one kind for Christians and the other for Moslems.
Not that these ethnic groups adhere to divisions strictly. Iberia has strange blends. One common criticism of fundamentalist invaders is that the invaders of the previous generation have gone soft and decadent. Spanish moors drink a lot of wine, which bothers African moors who then invade and become the next generation of Spanish moors and drink a lot of wine, and so on (a gross oversimplification of the history of the Umayads, Almorvids, and Almohades).
"Oh! Well, it should be fine. There's no pork in it, just chicken, shrimp, and mussels."
Eh, close enough. I'll be there 
Tiana serves a passable paella, made better by excessive amounts of saffron. She's demure and deferential to Decimus, friendly and enthusiastic towards Lejla, and of course she is thrilled that her grandpa is in town.
No real plans for dinner other than to make Decimus feel that his opinions are highly valued; she'll keep asking his thoughts on various matters and is a very attentive listener. And whenever Decimus gets flirty, Tiana talks enthusiastically about how much she's looking forward to being married, so that she can finally start providing the House with more Redcap children 
"If I don't find a husband soon, Grandfather may have to arrange a marriage for me, and that would be dreadful..." She drops the words "commitment," "wedding," and "marriage" into conversation regularly.
After dinner she lets the servants shoo everyone out, and then she goes off to find Mercuria. Tiana has a bored-looking Vulcanus in tow, carrying the Phoenix Sword. "Sorry to bother you, maga," Tiana says, "but I was hoping to seek your advice on a private matter. You see, this sword was borne by many over the years, but most recently by the departed Rodrigo. There is some spirit bound to this sword now, who claims to be Rodrigo, transformed to a djinn. He seems rather full of himself and has expressed some disdain for our House, so I suspect this may be an impostor. I was hoping you might be able to help verify what creature this is, if it is truly Rodrigo?"
Vulc nods. "All I can say for certain is that, if it is a demon, then his Might exceeds 7th magnitude. I have taken it to two different Aegises and it was able to cross a 6th magnitude Aegis but did not cross an 8th. A particularly powerful demon whose intent was to deceive may have refused to cross by design, however."
That pretty much sounds like the Rodrigo I once knew. 
(I will get back to all this on Sunday as usual 
That whole line of conversation has unexpected results. Lejla glares at Decimus with a smirk, enthusiastically agreeing with everything you say and dropping words like "duty", "responsibility", and "honor".
This of course makes Decimus sweat and feel uncomfortable, as he grins with embarrassment.
Decimus falls to his knees in tears and begs forgivness, and fully admits he is the father of her son and begs her to marry him. She tells him to go fkcu himself and sips from a glass of wine.
She nods to Tiana. We have his vote. Very skillfully and well played. I commend you.
Tiana grins and hugs Lejla tight. "Now when your son turns out to be the most skillful and resourceful man that House Mercere has ever seen, Decimus will have twice as much reason to kick himself!"
Going back to the list...
[tab][/tab]There are three things we are looking for...
1 - keep the lodge here (that looks pretty much in the bag, but don't let that hold slip)
2 - get a good deal (the council gave allowance for a pretty sweet deal, hopefully you can get a better deal or at least maintain that minimum)
3 - maintain control (managed by covenant members that are resident Mercere magi or stationary Redcaps that have personal ties to the covenant)
[tab][/tab]Now, you guys have a pretty strong voting block. Tiana and Fedora of course. Somehow Erik got jimmied into being Tiana's grandfather, and I can roll with that and say you have his vote. Lejla is on your side, and thanks to Tiana's dinner party, she control's Decimus' vote.
[tab][/tab]That is five solid votes to do things your way. Seven votes are free radical, so let us feel them out to see where they stand. Imagine this is Rodrigo talking to you in a dream
[tab][/tab]You already know Simon and Gordon suck. Those two votes are against you in everything. Simon is uninspired and thinks this is a waste of time and resources. Gordon thinks everything is horrible and wretched and should just be shut down. They will not be dissuaded.
[tab][/tab]Tanner and Dankia are neutrals and you do not know where they stand. Really, they don't care. Or at least they act like they don't care.
[tab][/tab]Miguel is friendly. He wants to keep the vault here and is willing to pay whatever fees. But he doesn't want you to have the portal network. He is trying to convince Barcelona to finally allow that in their outer suburban region. He also wants management and directions to be determined by a Chief Master Redcap, namely himself.
[tab][/tab]Korvac doesn't care if the vault is kept here or not, just the Lodge (though that would suck for us). He is concerned about his portal project, and so far is siding with Miguel on pressuring Barcelona. But he has heard talk of an idea of putting a hub here and he quite likes that idea too.
[tab][/tab]Mercuria believes that there should be a resident Mercere magus in charge of the lodge, does not matter if they are a member or not or have other ties. Though she wishes she was and she does, but fate had other plans. Keeping the vault here depends on what kind of deal they can get. She thinks rent free and just even vis trade is good enough for anyone.
We can offer membership to Korvac, which should make both him and Mercuria happy, and should cinch us the portal network.
Korvac is happy where he is at, some covenant up north in France.
You've got him listed as a Peregrinator...
That means he is from the Rhine then. I was thinking of Korvin from Bibracte, as that is who I based him on.
Let me think about that. Do you guys really want an NPC magus as a covenant member?
Clarification: you'd said "vagabond" which you said was an Iberian peregrinator. So, homeless, but from closer to home.
I don't mind an NPC Mercere magus, as long as he shuts up and keeps his head down and makes our longevity rituals for us, like a good little Gifted Mercere.
I'm getting ready to board plane so I can't type much, but what about this being Scarecrow's character?
Ah, okay. I remember what I was thinking now.
Approach him with an offer, something better than Prestigious Vagabond. He may well take it. He is a very active and involved magus, not a "keep his head down" kinda guy. But make him a Journeyman and that should tame him for now.