SIX MONTHS EARLIER

"Rae!" his matria called just as he was leaving the house.

"Yes, ma?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm off to visit Sonas. Remember? He wanted to go over to the library again, and I told him I'd take him there before we meet up with Halen and Skegg. Why?"

He had become fast friends with the Ga'anite, taking his pledge of companionship and guidance around the town very seriously. Part of it was because he genuinely enjoyed spending time with Sonas. On the other hand, it was also his knee-jerk reaction to all the rumours that had started the day of Sonas's appearance. Two weeks had passed since then, yet suspicion still remained high, whipped up into a near-frenzy by the Magister, who still frequently visited the Ga'anite despite his outspoken dislike of the foreigner. Luckily, Halen and Skegg were also welcoming, doing their best alongside Rae to make Sonas feel welcome, and shield him from the growing resentment.

"I can go to the library for you. Then you can meet with Skegg and Halen straight away."

It was an unexpected offer. "Thank you, but I think he wanted to go himself. He's taken a liking to Jakar. You should see how excited he gets when Sonas even looks at one of the books on commerce. I had no idea anyone could be so passionate about trading goods, let alone that Jakar would be so interested in this." Not that this bothered Rae; in fact, it fitted him just fine. He spent so much time with Sonas that he didn't have much left to himself. While Sonas and Jakar chatted away, Rae often found a corner and sat down to read Sand’s diary -- the diary that the librarian had given him -- engrossed with the stories described in the book. He was taking his time reading it, often revisiting entries and reading them several times over before moving on to the next ones.

Something else popped into his head and he added, "Don't you have a meeting with an official from Ga'ani, anyways?" Velia had kept the majority of the details regarding the meeting to herself, but he had managed to find out some information. The plan was to secure passage for Sonas on the official's ship when she returned to her homeland -- Rae had been the one spearheading this, and he couldn’t wait to personally thank the official for her agreement.

"It's cancelled," Velia replied simply. She was supposed to travel to Toraima, the capital, that very day. That was why she was still in the house that late in the morning, making final preparations for the trip instead of working in the keep.

"What? I thought she was just late? So "

"No. I got word that Chancellor Tiril hadn't even boarded her ship, and that she doesn’t intend to do so either. The captain was the one that informed me that the meeting is called off."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Rae didn't know what to say to make her -- and himself, too -- feel better. He felt bad that Sonas would be stuck away from home for longer, but he was also a bit relieved that he wouldn’t be leaving. The queen didn’t show it, but he could tell that she was devastated about the new turn of events. She and Este had been looking forward to finally meet with one of Ga'ani's council members for years. The many hours that were spent to convince the court to support her in reopening relations with Ga'ani's government had gone to waste once again.

"Well… I'll be off then. I should let Sonas know.” He asked as an afterthought, “Do you... do you want me to bring you anything?"

"No, Rae, you don't understand. Chancellor Tiril didn't not come here out of spite, but fear. I'm sure you're aware of the isolationists' dissent and growing numbers. It would be better if you kept Sonas away from the city." His matria added, "I'm sure he'll still have plenty of fun, even if you just go straight to Halen's and Skegg's."

Rae groaned. "But, ma. I was planning on showing him all the best spots around town. I had planned out this whole thing for days, to take him on a proper tour before he left. And I promised we could go to the library this time because last time we didn't. Now that he’s not leaving anytime soon anymore… can’t he at least have this much? Please?"

"Another time, Rae. I don't want to further provoke the isolationists" she said.

- - - - - - -

After picking Sonas up from the keep, Rae led him on a detour into the forest proper instead of going straight to meet up with Halen and Skegg at the harbour. Rae dragged his feet as he walked, scuffing his boots on the grass.

“What’s on your mind?” Sonas asked.

“Nothing. It’s fine. Don’t worry. What do you think Skegg cooked this time?”

Sonas rolled his eyes, easily seeing through Rae’s poor attempt at deflection. “Look, you don’t need to feel bad about the change of plans. Things change. It’s not like you read it in the moon,” he said, trying to make the other feel better.

“Huh?”

“Right. I forget that we don’t have the same sayings. It means that you can’t have foreseen this. So please don’t be angry at yourself, it was out of your control.”

“I’m not angry,” Rae kicked a rock as he walked, sending it flying. It bounced off against a tree trunk with a plink, then fell to the ground, lost in the grass. “I’m not angry that the plan changed,” he clarified. “I’m worried because of why it had to change. I knew that things weren’t good, but I didn’t think they were this bad either. I was blind.”

Rae kicked another rock, debating whether he should continue his line of thought, decided it wouldn’t be fair to keep it from Sonas, and turned to face him. “I’m sorry,” he said, not meeting Sonas’s eyes. “You won’t be able to go home.”

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An unreadable emotion flickered over the Ga’anite’s face, like a shadow, and he stopped walking. “What do you mean?” Sonas asked, voice thick.

“The official that agreed to grant you passage never came, and the ship’s got no reason to go back to Ga’ani. My matria thinks it’s because of the isolationists,” Rae trailed off.

“That’s true, they have gotten more vocal these past days,” Sonas acknowledged. “But? What do you think?”

The prince shrugged, starting to walk once more. “I just think it’s weird,” he said. “She seemed eager to come here. She would have been the first Ga’anite Chancellor to visit Kijahdar in decades, did you know?”

“I peeked through the correspondence she had with my matria -- don’t look at me like that, I had to get a sense of who I was dealing with before I asked my parents if there was a way for you to return home with her! Anyways, they caught me quite quickly, but not before I read enough to know that she wanted to improve the relationship between our nations.”

Sonas remained silent, crunching onto leaves as he walked, thinking. He said, still deep in thought, “Sometimes our hunches end up being wrong and we only find out at the very end.”

“Another saying?” Rae asked.

“No,” Sonas chuckled. “Just something my father used to say when a trade did not end up as profitable as my mother predicted.”

“Ah. Right, but, my matria said that the Chancellor didn’t even show up to board the ship that was to take her here! The captain of the ship had to tell her that Chancellor Tiril wouldn’t be coming. Isn’t that weird? It does not seem like behaviour fitting of someone that wants to come with goodwill, and especially not someone of that high a rank.”

“Sure,” Sonas quickly agreed. “It does seem odd. Maybe something happened?”

Rae huffed triumphantly. “That’s exactly what I thought, too. If only I could figure it out now. Speaking of, why does the Magister keep visiting you? I keep seeing him hovering around your rooms. He’s not bothering you, is he? I’m sure Skegg would be more than happy to teach him a lesson on your behalf.”

“As much as I’d like to see Skegg try to hurt anyone, I’m fine, thank you for the offer.”

“Very well,” Rae said, sensing Sonas’s discomfort and dropping his line of questioning.

The two walked in companionable silence. At one point Sonas spotted a fallen nest next to a tree. It was badly misshapen, twigs and woven blades or grass all over the place. A lay egg inside it, still whole. When they looked up, saw a branch cracked in two, and the remains of the nest. Snapping off the outer part of the branch, they lifted the nest at the base of the limb, where the branch sprouted off of the trunk, then continued on their way.

“Forgive me, Rae, but what are we doing here?" Sonas asked finally, stepping over a boulder. He had followed along quietly, not speaking for fear of interrupting something.

"Do you think that I had a reason to bring you here?"

"Well, yes, to be honest."

Rae shrugged. "Sorry. I just thought that it would be a nice break, change of scenery and such. I needed a break to think, before we went over to Halen's. We can turn back now, if you want."

"It's okay, take as long as you need. I don't mind. I'm not familiar with the area but it's nice, being out here."

"Yes," Rae hummed. He retreated back in his mind. The conversation he had that morning with his mother still stayed in his thoughts, nagging at him. The last time he had gone with Sonas in the city proper -- to visit Skegg at Lakar’s bakery and to introduce Sonas to the food that they had been raving about for days -- there had been plenty of stares. Sonas himself had been the one to notice a group following them. It had broken off from the bigger cluster in the square, where the isolationists were urging whoever would come by and listen to speak up against the tyrannical influence of Ga'ani.

The Ga'anite was the prime target of their boos and jeers. With each name shouted at him, Sonas had hunched down even more between Halen and Rae, practically hiding behind the two. Rae's blood boiled again, thinking of the group of children that followed around them, throwing rocks after Sonas and even going as far as to run up to him, tug on his long locks, then run away, squealing. They stopped the second time that Rae and Halen had stepped up and defended him, but still they had followed, like a pack of wolves nipping after their prey’s heels, running it down until it gave out from exhaustion. Rae wanted to do something to help, but he didn't know what.

- - - - - - -

The Magister sat back in his chair, putting down the latest letter he had received from the assassin. He had a self-satisfied smile on his face, a glint in his eyes like the look of a mad scientist's latest experiment coming to life.

He stood up, stretched, cracked open a bottle of alcohol and poured himself a drink. It was a beautiful day. Birds chirping outside and the sky clear for the Mother who was out, shining in full force.

Things weren’t all perfect, but then, at least the majority were going well. Shade was as far away from him as possible, separated by a whole ocean, and as a bonus, he had accomplished his first task in Ga'ani. Chancellor Tiril was dead, and now none of the other Chancellors would be brave enough to meet with the Queen. Her attempt to build a bridge between the two nations had been greatly set back, and the Magister couldn't feel more gleeful about it if he tried. What a beautiful day indeed.

He did feel a bit guilty for Chancellor Tiril’s death, but drink and fantasizing about the future quickly washed that feeling down. It was a regretful loss, yes, but an unavoidable one -- for his peace. He truly hadn't expected Shade to be successful in eliminating the Chancellor. He'd commanded it almost as a challenge; the outcome was just an excuse for the action (and the order itself had been another excuse, in order to send the assassin somewhere far, far away).

After all, Shade hadn't been the only one impatient to put his skills to use; the Magister was aware from his dealings with the man that he would get the job done, but the rest of the backers weren't as certain. Their cronies too, the isolationists as the queen so called them, also had to be placated. The Magister felt a brief flash of anger that they didn’t trust him to know what he was doing. After all, he’d gotten them this far. He wouldn’t waste their resources following leads that couldn’t bring them anywhere. He took another sip of his drink, swallowing the bitter feeling.

Other than some regret for Chancellor Tiril’s death, the Magister also mourned his plans. Taking advantage of the Kijah’s’ tense relationships and fearful views of Ga’ani hadn’t been hard at all. Galvanizing the isolationists to spread -- both their reach and membership, and their message -- had also come easily. But it required certain finesse, a conductor’s, or rather puppeteer’s, penchant for orchestrating intricate performances. His plans were in a way performances of sorts. Now that the Ga’anite Chancellors were certain not to set foot in Kijahdar, the Magister had to find a different use for these pieces on the board; he so hated being wasteful.

There was one other thing that the Magister couldn't put his finger onto. In an attempt to buy time, he had delayed in sending the message containing his orders to dispose of Chancellor Tiril. It should have only reached Shade yesterday, but travel to Ga'ani took another 2-3 days, with a fast ship and Willing weather conditions. So how, then, did Shade manage to not only arrive there that quickly, but arrive before the Chancellor left?

The Magister would have to figure this out another time. For now, he had to draft another approach with the Queen, and pen Shade's next instructions in such a way that the assassin would remain away for a little while longer. He also had to figure out what to do with his uncooperative agent in the long term.

The Magister swirled his glass, then downed the remainder of his drink. It was time to get back to work.