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“Perhaps you should read more than three pages.”
She grimaced. “Sanabalis—”
“Lord Sanabalis,” Severn corrected her.
“Lord Sanabalis, then. What on earth do I know about plays?”
“Clearly nothing.” He frowned. “However it is not for your expertise in the dramatic arts that you have been seconded.”
“Go on.”
“It is for your expertise—such as it is—on the Tha’alani.”
It was Kaylin’s turn to frown, but some of the exasperation left her, then. “I’m not an expert,” she told him quietly.
“No. But the Tha’alani seconded to the Court would possibly be even less comfortable in an advisory role.”
“If they can’t—” She stopped. “Why has the Emperor commissioned a play about the Tha’alani?”
Lord Sanabalis didn’t answer. But she met his eyes; they were their usual placid gold. His lower membranes, however, were up.
“It’s because of—of the water, isn’t it?”
“The tidal wave.”
“That one.”
“Yes. I am not aware of how much you saw, or how much you read about after the fact—but the Tha’alani, led by their castelord, left their Quarter in larger numbers than the city has ever seen. They walked to the docks, and they spread out along the port and the seawall. When the waters began to shift—and it was dramatic, Kaylin, even to one who has seen as much as I have—”
“You weren’t there,” she told him, but the words were soft. “You were with us.”
“I accessed records when I returned to the Palace.” He was now using his teacher tone of voice.
And I didn’t, Kaylin supplied. She glanced at Severn, who nodded very slightly. She cleared her throat. It was still hard for her to think about the Tha’alaan, and the Tha’alani were the Tha’alaan in some ways. “They hoped to save the city, if the waters rose.”
“Yes. But I invite you to think about appearances, Kaylin.”
“The wave didn’t hit the city.”
“No. It did not. The Oracles, however, were not widely bandied about. For many people—for almost all of them— the first warning of danger was the sight of the water itself, rising. The storm before it signified nothing, to them—it was merely weather.”
She nodded slowly.
“From their point of view—from what they could see—the Tha’alani went to the waters, and the waters rose.”
She closed her eyes.
“You understand our difficulty.”
She did.
“You yourself feared the Tha’alani. You do not do so now,” he added. “But you must understand the fear that people have.”
She nodded quietly.
“The Emperor understands it as well. He cannot, of course, explain the whole of what happened—and given the sparsity of reports generated by your office in the wake of events, I am not entirely certain he could explain it even if that was his desire. I am not, however, here to lecture you on the quality of your paperwork. I believe it best that some things remain uncommitted to paper.
“I, however, was fully debriefed. What I know, he now knows. He will not expose The Keeper, and no mention of the young Tha’alani man will leave the Court for that reason. Nor will the young Tha’alani man face the Emperor’s Justice, for that reason.”
The fact that the Emperor couldn’t reach him probably had something to do with it, in Kaylin’s opinion. She managed to keep this to herself. Instead, she returned to the matter at hand. “So this Richard Rennick wrote a … play. About the Tha’alani.”
“He wrote a play about the Tha’alani’s attempt to save the city, yes.”
“But all of it’s garbage. Because we’re not allowed to tell the truth.”
“Garbage is an unfortunate choice of word. Lose it,” he added, condescending to speak Elantran. He must have been serious. There were whole days where he affected complete ignorance of the language which most of the city actually spoke.
She picked up the sheaf of dog-eared pages. “Have you even read this?”
“I have. It is not, I believe, the current version, if that’s of any consequence.”
“What do you mean?”
“Where we could prevail upon the Tha’alani at Court, we did. The effect that this had upon the playwright was … unfortunate.”
“What happened?”
“Ybelline and her companions were given a copy of the play. They read it with some concern.”
“I bet.”
“They returned the play to Mr. Rennick. Luckily Lord Tiamaris was at hand; he intercepted their corrections.”
“This would be lucky because?”
“They understand the Emperor’s concerns. Believe that they feel them even more strongly than the Emperor does. They are not … however …” His hesitation spoke volumes.
Kaylin almost winced. When the silence became awkward, she sighed and looked at Severn.
Severn nodded.
“They don’t know how to lie,” she said quietly. “And this … all of it … it must seem like one big lie to them.”
She’d managed to nudge Sanabalis’s brows toward his receding hairline, which had to count for something. On the other hand, the fact that his surprise was more due to her comprehension than their inability probably counted for something too.
“If the truth is supposed to ease people’s fear, Ybelline could learn to live with that. But in her world, lies don’t ease fear. So I imagine what she handed back to Rennick—or what she tried to hand him—was pretty much all of the truth she thought it safe to put out there.”
“Indeed.”
“And the Emperor’s version of safe to put out there isn’t the same.”
“Again, astute. We may yet make progress in your life as a student.”
“I think it would be easier than this. What did Rennick say?”
Sanabalis did wince, at that. “I think it best to ignore that. Suffice it to say that he did not feel his efforts to be adequately appreciated. Ybelline, however, did understand the difficulty, and if you must find a person to blame for your current assignment—”
“I won’t blame her.”
“—she suggested you. And Corporal Handred. She said she was confident that you would work in the interests of her people, but with a better understanding of the intended audience for the play itself.”
“Meaning my people.”
Sanabalis nodded. “Which reminds me of another matter Ybelline also mentioned. The Swords have stationed a small force adjacent to the Tha’alani Quarter,” he added, in a more subdued tone. “And before you ask, Kaylin, yes, it was entirely necessary.
“Ybelline has asked for your aid in the Quarter.”
“For my aid? What the hell happened?”
“However,” he added, lifting a hand in the universal I’m not finished, so shut up gesture, “you are to visit the Quarter after you report for duty.”