Caris could hear whispering going on in the stacks of Lord Nemar's library. He sighs and sets down his brush, frowning in the direction of the voices. The children were either spying on him or planning another prank. Possibly both. He ignores them until they start becoming loud.

"I'm allowed to be in here," he says. "But I’m not sure you’re supposed to be in that section.” The stacks in this part of the library were older books and scrolls. (Which was their excuse for objecting to his presence in this corner of the library.)

There's a huffy silence from the whisperers. "We can go anywhere we want, as long as we're careful," Jhia Wanan says as he sidles out of the stack, accompanied by Nior Fana and Tsian Akoi.

"So can I," Caris says dryly. He doubts they were really allowed to go "anywhere." There were at least two places--the morgue in the basement and the Calamity Archive--where he is reasonably certain the children would not be permitted to go.

"We weren't doing anything," Nior Fana says.

"You weren't going to try convincing me the library was haunted? Tattle that I left a book lying face down on the table? Tell Lord Nemar I went into the storeroom, where I am definitely allowed to go?" Caris asks, listing their most recent offenses. In the past few weeks, his lord's apprentices have slowly overcome their nervousness about him. Unfortunately, this lack of nervousness has led to their decision to launch a campaign of tattling and pranks against him.

He had only left the book that way for a few minutes. The haunting prank mostly involved the children following him in the stacks speaking in "ghost" voices about sacrificing virgins, which had been so horrifyingly inappropriate he'd told on them. They put some kind of sticking charm on the desk chair in his office. They managed to booby-trap the door to his suite. They decided in the incident concerning the storeroom that doing inventory was suspicious. (Lord Nemar thought the tattling and prank incidents were funny, though he did scold them for spying.)

The children shake their heads. "We asked Old Uncle why you were afraid of him, and he said we should ask you," Jhia Wanan says after some whispered conversation between the three.

"Are you really afraid of him?" Nior Fana asks.

"Older Sister says the Seweni think mageborn are all bad," Akoi says.

Caris wondered if this was some kind of test. He might have thought it was an opportunity a few weeks ago, but now he wondered if this was a test. If he tried to explain, would he be accused of trying to indoctrinate the children into his faith? (What would happen if he was accused?) "I would not say mages are all bad," he says, temporizing. "The Servants are also mages, and to them comes the responsibility to propitiate Ashten, and oversee other mages." The children looked uneasy at the mention of Servants. "You know about them?"

There's some hesitation as the children exchange looks. "They're really bad," Jhia Wanan says finally. "They break people's hands and burn them alive."

Not so much a test, Caris thinks, feeling a sinking sort of sensation in the pit of his stomach. More like a trap. The punishments for mages who misused their abilities or were heretics were harsh. It made sense that the Servants would seem frightening to pagan mageborn. "Andola, where the Sarmateon faith originated, from where the Dosai came from is different from Xichun. The spirits there have mostly come to serve Ashten. These spirits are extremely malevolent, so my people do not trust spirits. We believe the same of mages--Ashten is inclined to corrupt them through their use or misuse of magic."

"Do you think the spirits here are bad?" Fana asks.

"I have been taught that spirits are generally malevolent at the bottom, and corrupted by Ashten, if not serving him directly," Caris says, carefully. He did not want the children to carry tales to the Lord Nemar, accusing him of insulting the gods and spirits they worshipped. "And mages must be carefully watched, so they don't fall to corrupt ways."

"Is that why you're scared of Old Uncle?" Akoi asks.

Caris rubs his face. "I know you aren't scared of your teacher, but In Sewen he is very, very scary," he says. "Sewen and the Assembly were at war for a very long time, and he has always been there, an enemy whose abilities were beyond that of any of our mages, and who never seemed to age, and couldn't be killed. I and my sister had heard many stories of the necromancer king of Mir--"

"He is not a king!" Wanan says with an outraged fierceness, suddenly glowering at Caris--who is startled by the unexpected vehemence. This is seconded by the children, who then perform a salute, fists raised in the air, crossed at the wrist. "The Only True King is the Maiden King Azhoan! Down with the Jhang! Down with the Ruwan tyrants!" They shout in a ragged chorus.

"...all hail Jade Feather, all hail Jade Serpent, may the celestial reign be never-ending," Lord Nemar says, sounding bemused. Caris tries not to startle at the unexpected presence of his lord. He turns in the chair to see Lord Nemar approaching his table.

"Now, why are we hailing the Maiden King? Has her festival come early?" Lord Nemar asks the children. His tone is half-teasing, half-scolding.

"He said you were a king," Jhia Wanan says accusingly, as if "king" were a bad word.

"Of Mir," Akoi says. "If there were a king, it'd be Lady Pyr!"

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"The Seweni get confused by that," Lord Nemar says. "They don't understand how we do things, and it's really just easier to let them assume sometimes than explain."

Caris can't help but glare. "Perhaps you should have tried harder, " Caris says evenly.

"Your people are hard to convince," Lord Nemar says, the corner of his mouth tilting upward in a slight smile. To the children he says. "Did you get answers to your questions?"

The children for the most part affirm that yes, they had gotten answers, though Fana says, "We have more."

"That's often the case," Jhan says. "Go turn your questions to your studies." The children leave the library in a clatter of running feet. Once they're gone, he says, "I'm sorry if they bothered you."

"I'm weighing if being asked uncomfortable questions is better or worse than children playing pranks on me," Caris says. "What was that shouting about the 'maiden king' about?"

"Can I tell you this, without you thinking I am trying to challenge or change your beliefs?" Lord Nemar asks.

Caris wonders if he should be insulted by the question. "I wouldn't think that," he says. "And I asked."

"Azhoan is the ruler of heaven in the Chejhun religion," Lord Nemar says. "Her name means 'Jade Feather,' her twin brother is her first general. His name is Azhonun, 'Jade Serpent.' In the lands the Tosa come from, the first king was given law and all the gifts of civilization by Azhoan. The Tosa came from a great empire to the east that collapsed into smaller warring kingdoms due to civil war. During this civil war, Azhoan herself stepped down from the celestial throne and fought against the Jhang--the nobility--and the Ruwan--the lesser kings for the sake of the common people.

"The Maiden King cast down the kings and took her army and anyone else loyal to the celestial throne and took them west. The Tosa eventually settled near the Tsaureni Mountains, which the Tosa believed were uninhabited until they encountered my Wardens. The contacts were mostly friendly, and my people didn't have a problem with the Tosa settling in our territory. In fact, we needed the manpower for the next stage of reparation projects," Lord Nemar says. "The Maiden King and I worked on getting our people to work with each other, and our efforts eventually became the Assembly, which acknowledges no mortal king as a ruler."

Caris has a thousand questions he was too uneasy to ask. "Why Maiden 'King' and not 'Queen,'?" he asks after a few moments.

"A 'king' is a more martial figure than a 'queen' generally speaking," Lord Nemar says. "At least for the Tosa. Azhoan is a warrior; therefore, she's a king, not a queen."

"And this being. She's a being you've actually spoken with?" Caris asks.

"You keep asking that," Lord Nemar says. He doesn't sound angry about it, just amused. "I have actually met and spoken to both her mortal incarnation and her divine self." Lord Nemar pauses for a moment and looks even more amused. "I consider her mortal self to be a close friend."

"Her mortal self," Caris repeats blankly.

"It would be a little too daring to claim the one who sits on the celestial throne as a friend--but my little sister Achi? That’s a different matter."

Caris wants to say, "I've never heard of this." He'd done some studying of Assembly culture and history. He knew at least a little about their beliefs, but somehow this hadn't been covered. He wants to ask, "How does it work that she's mortal and divine and they are apparently separate?" There are other questions, and most of them are some variety of dangerous-to-his-soul, he has no doubt.

"I didn't come here to give you a history lesson," Lord Nemar says after letting Caris stew for a few moments in his confusion. "I've come to tell you I've received word about your sister."

Caris swallows at that and feels an increase in nerves. "What have you heard, my lord?" he asks uneasily.

"She's been found," Lord Nemar says.

Caris felt himself go cold at that. He tried to keep his voice from shaking as he says, "Is she all right my lord? Who found her?"

"Your mother's older brother. She was injured during an attempt to escape her pursuers. She broke her leg falling down a ravine. The ambassador to your father's court reports that she's been confined in the Rose Tower."

"Was any trial mentioned?" Caris asks.

"No trial was mentioned, we haven't received any official communications from your father. Do you have concerns?"

"I know that what we did spat on my father's word and the alliance," Caris snaps, suddenly burning where he'd been cold before. "You needn't condescend to teach me what a fool I am!"

Lord Nemar sits down across from him. "It was an honest question, Prince Kelfin. Your father pushed for this alliance, and you and your sister deliberately set yourselves against him. I would like to know if you have concerns for your sister’s safety."

The apology doesn't help. Caris feels very young and very stupid and more of a fool. "I do have concerns, my lord," he says.

"Is she in danger?" Lord Nemar asks.

The question doesn't make sense at first. The entire plot had come about because Lord Nemar had been the danger. Yet Lord Nemar was the one asking if his sister was in danger. "There might be a trial, or she might just be exiled to an estate," Caris says after a moment’s thought. "She might be turned over to you for...for judgment. In any case, she's disgraced." He finds himself laughing a little. It doesn't have a lot of real humor to it. "I'm disgraced as well."

"Is the matter of disgrace more severe for her than for yourself?" Lord Nemar asks. "I can and will take steps to protect her."

"I plotted to murder you," Caris says helplessly. Somewhere between confused and angry. "And you aren't even angry about it. You act like it's a-a simple mishap or a mistake that's easily fixed. Have you really died so often that it's like stubbing your toe?"

"Stubbing my toe has generally been more painful for me than most of my deaths, where the pain ended very quickly," Lord Nemar says as if it were a joke. "I'm not angry with you, or your sister. I'm angry that you and your sister felt you had no other recourse than attempting to kill me." He pauses for a moment. "I am angry with the Sarmateon priesthood--I know elements were arguing against the marriage alliance and frankly I would have agreed with them, but your father's court overruled them, and the Assembly talked me into it."

Caris thinks he understands what his lord is implying. (Hadn't Lord Nemar indicated a belief that he and Teren might have been manipulated into coming up with their plot?) "My lord, I know you have reason to distrust the priesthood, but the Temple hierarchy isn't likely to use myself or my sister as assassins." He doesn’t mention, even now that Teren had not wanted him to attempt the assassination.

"It doesn't have to be the priesthood," Lord Nemar says. "It could be anyone." Then he smiles. "It does sound like a plot from an adventure novel."

"What's going to happen now?" Caris asks.

"First, we're both going to be writing letters to your family," Lord Nemar says. "Then we'll reopen negotiations concerning the alliance. The Assembly is still invested in the alliance, and we agreed to provide support in the form of soldiers and Wardens." He pauses. "At some point I'll be leaving with the promised forces, to continue negotiating in person. You'll stay here."

Caris wants to protest that and knows that he can't. His position is as much hostage as it is wedded spouse--he was aware of that when he chose to cooperate with the marriage. "Is there anything I should include in my letters, or leave out?" he asks numbly.

"You can be as honest as you want," Lord Nemar says. "I'll want to read it, but you can say whatever you want."