Serenity only realized he’d never asked the name of the guard after the man had disappeared into “the Lord’s” room, leaving Serenity in the outer waiting room. One of these days he’d get better at remembering to ask.

:Esme Tillon wants to know if she should pull her people off trying to find the invading army. There are some strange reports coming out of that area; no one’s seen them for days. I told her to keep dealing with that situation. We have this under control. You’ll tell me if that isn’t true, right?: Rissa sounded amused and slightly annoyed at the same time.

Serenity smiled to himself. :Yes, everything’s under control. I’m not sure this is going to be a fight at all; there’s something weird going on here. They’re treating me way too nicely for how this all started.:

Rissa’s sigh echoed across the mindlink. :Agreed. Blaze thinks so too, which means there’s something going on that we don’t know about. I’m not going to bet that we’ll ever figure it out.:

:I’m not sure I care,: Serenity stated flatly. :I don’t have to understand their entire culture as long as I can get them to leave Asihanya alone. Raz finally has what he was looking for; now I just have to make sure Honoria’s safe enough and we can go home to Earth.:

:I’m looking forward to that,: Rissa stated wistfully. :None of these foreign planets feel quite right; I miss Earth. I want to see my parents and watch the Sun set. Our Sun…:

Less than a minute after Serenity dropped into a seat to wait, the guard stepped back out and interrupted Serenity’s conversation with Rissa. He held the door open. “The Lord will see you now.”

That didn’t seem like a power play at all; he’d barely been in there long enough to give even a skimpy report. Either this Lord didn’t play power games or … Serenity wasn’t really sure what the “or” would be. Perhaps he simply didn’t play the unnecessary ones? It was entirely possible he still read cultural clues about rank.

Serenity picked himself up from the surprisingly uncomfortable chair and stepped into the room. It was a spare, functional room with minimal furniture, only a table and two chairs, and nothing on the walls. It reminded Serenity a lot of the sort of room he’d set up when he needed a temporary workspace, although he didn’t generally have the chair for a visitor. A chair for Rissa was an entirely different question, of course.

The Lord was sitting when Serenity stepped into the room but he almost immediately stood with a smile. He was slightly shorter than Serenity but still close to six feet tall and a little darker, like he spent a good bit of time in the sun. His light brown hair was long and gathered at the back in a loose braid. He wore a dark green robe; the only obvious weapon was a sword whose impression showed as a bulge in the robe.

The Lord smiled. If it was fake, he was really good at fake smiles; even his eyes looked happy. “Please be welcome here! It’s good to see that you’re conscious; how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Serenity admitted. He hadn’t actually been injured by the fake fall at all; even a normal Tier Eight would have to land very badly for a trip to do more than cause sprains. The gas was a bit more of a question, since he hadn’t been affected, but Blaze’s description of the side effects said he should be essentially fine if a little confused. “How did I get here?”

Was it his imagination or did the other man seem to relax a little at the question?

“Some of my people brought you in. You were unconscious on the street outside.” The Lord paused, then seemed to realize something. “Would you care to share your name? I am known as Cymryn. I stand fourth in my House’s line with no expectation of inheritance.”

That wasn’t a lie, but it was certainly not all of the truth. The building he was in did technically face the street Serenity had collapsed onto, though it wasn’t all that close. Serenity figured he needed to be careful about how he answered, but it was likely the other man already knew his name; he hadn’t exactly been secretive about it. “My Name is Serenity. As for my House … I am the only heir to my parents.”

There, that ought to be good enough. It was a good thing Aide was recording; Serenity was going to want to run all of this by Blaze afterward.

Cymryn seemed to pale a little at Serenity’s statement. That was probably just Serenity’s imagination; he hadn’t said anything outrageous, like admitting to his actual position. A Planetary Sovereign was someone to be worried about, while an heir generally wasn’t. Not unless you were in his family’s demesne, at least, and Lord Cymryn had to know Serenity was a foreigner. Of course, he hadn’t specified that his family wasn’t nobility, but the man deserved at least that much worry after the trouble he’d caused.

Serenity wasn’t certain what to do next, so he was relieved when Cymryn slid back into his seat and waved for Serenity to take the other. It was far more comfortable than the one in the waiting room, which seemed a little backwards.

“I believe you are staying at the local Library?” Cymryn probed. “I’ve only been there once, myself, but it looks quite impressive.”

Serenity tried not to tense up. Was this a question about the Library or was it really about the Broken Mirror? Either way, he didn’t like it. It was far too likely to be an implied threat. Or perhaps not if the other man really thought he didn’t remember the attack? Serenity hated mind games.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes, for as long as I’m on Asihanya. The Head Librarian is a friend of mine, and I know most of the staff, so she’s letting us stay.” He debated what else to say or if he should say anything. Surely a little more would help? It wasn’t like it was a secret that he’d helped deal with the Viper’s base. If they’d looked into the matter at all, they should already know what he was saying. “If the attacks on the Great Library hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

Cymryn nodded. “So, the Library is under your protection? That’s good to know.” He paused and seemed to think for a moment. “I’m also not from Asihanya; is there any chance I might know where you’re from?”

Serenity chuckled at that. “That’s very unlikely. I’m from a very obscure planet named Earth; It’s a fair distance from here. Closer than where you’re from, though, I think?”

Cymryn nodded again. He seemed to do that a lot, agreeing with whatever Serenity said. “Most likely; I’m from Mequile. It’s not even in the Font sector.”

The Font sector. Serenity had forgotten about that odd division, where different areas seemed to be more connected internally than externally. He’d never been certain if it was based on physical location or something else; everyone used the portal maps rather than actual astrography. It was possible, even probable, that the portal links had little to do with actual stellar cartography.

The sector names didn’t make any more sense than constellation names did on Earth. Why was the sideways W in the sky called Cassiopeia? History and people with too much time on their hands. Maybe it made more sense in the past when there was less light pollution, but these days the only reason Serenity could remember it was because it was relatively visible and easy to pick out.

The Dippers were better; they at least looked like something that made sense and were directly useful, since Polaris still pointed North. Hopefully he’d never need that knowledge again; if everything worked out, Earth’s technology base would continue to function in the new magical environment.

The Font sector was something similar; if he remembered correctly, there was a legend about the Font sector being the birthplace of Life itself, the starting point for everything. Serenity doubted the truth of that assertion, but even if it were true it wasn’t relevant anymore.

“Mequile is in the Empire, isn’t it?” Serenity didn’t remember Mequile at all. He was guessing, but it was a good guess; they were speaking Imperial, after all.

“Yes, but I’m traveling outside the Empire right now.” Cymryn waved a hand near his face and smiled. “Yes, I know, that’s obvious. What I mean is that I’ve been to a lot of places. I don’t think I’ve heard of Earth.” Cymryn stopped as though he was waiting for Serenity’s reply.

Serenity shrugged. “Most people haven’t. We have a high population at a relatively low Tier but that’s increasing quickly.” He wasn’t up to date on how the world situation had changed since the invasion portals were closed; he more than half suspected that the temporary peace caused by the invasions was long gone, but he hadn’t asked. He could probably find out if he dug into the Sovereign menus he had, but as far as he was concerned politics was not his job. The politicians could keep that one.

Cymryn nodded like that was a deep, important insight into Earth. “Are dragons common on Earth? I know that high populations and dragons don’t usually mix.”

Serenity shook his head. “It’s hard to say how common dragons are; most adults are better at shifting into a truly human form than I am. Althyr tells me there are some hiding in the population but most are in low-population areas.” Earth didn’t really have any empty areas. Even the great deserts, like Antarctica, had periodic human presence. Compared to places like the wilds of Zon, low-population was as low as Earth got.

Serenity wasn’t certain how any dragons had managed to survive on Earth. He could only assume that they slept a lot and probably spent most of their time on ley lines; the lines were always there, but they were very weak before the Voice arrived. He hoped he wouldn’t have to do something similar, but he hadn’t managed to get Althyr to reveal the trick to managing in a low-mana environment yet. There almost had to be one or there wouldn’t be any dragons capable of hiding as humans.

Cymryn nodded slowly. “How does that work? Do the dragons rule or are they just looking for treasure?”

“Dragons don’t just hoard treasure.” Serenity knew that now. He’d made the same mistake in a conversation with Althyr and been reprimanded for the misconception. “It can be anything.”

“Do you hoard something?” Cymryn’s question sounded so innocent that Serenity almost answered it, but something about it was just off enough that it made Serenity pause.

Maybe he shouldn’t be answering all of these questions? None had been all that concerning, and he’d given incomplete answers, but maybe he shouldn’t be talking so much. Talking too much opened the possibility of saying something apparently innocuous that you shouldn’t have said. That was why you were supposed to not answer police questions without a lawyer present, wasn’t it?

Serenity didn’t have a good answer anyway. Althyr just laughed when Serenity asked and told him he’d know when he figured it out and not before. That might not be the best answer, either, though. He didn’t know what it would give away, but it was pretty personal.

Serenity shrugged blatantly. “I’d rather not answer that. It’s not a polite question.”

“Ah.” Cymryn looked down for a moment. “Well, you do seem to have recovered. If you need a contact in the Empire, please let me know; if I can’t help you directly, I can probably put you in contact with someone who can.”

Was that all this was about? Trading information so that they could contact each other if they needed to? That made some sense for the meeting but it didn’t explain the abduction.

“I expect I’ll be leaving Asihanya soon,” Cymryn continued, “But I’ll probably be in the Font sector for a while yet. Do you think there’s a chance I could visit Earth while I’m nearby?”

Cymryn was from the Empire. There was no way Serenity was allowing an Imperial onto Earth before the time limit for the protection was up. He didn’t think there was a way to bypass it, but if there was, an Imperial would know.

Serenity shook his head. “Not for another nine years or so.”

“Too bad,” Cymryn had a half-smile on his face despite the refusal. “I’ll send you a query about it in about nine years, then.”