After a slow, deep breath, he met her unblinking gaze and spoke. "You know the Aj is real from living through the Kiss. The Mon as well from the endless, small incursions of their spawn The Book has endured since the dawn of time. Why no concerns?"

Despite his best efforts to keeps his eyes open to match her, Ghulen was still mostly human and had to blink first. He couldn't smell her at all and never had been able to, the Dynast's self-control so absolute she'd somehow mastered even her scent. It terrified and awed him.

"We've had no hint of Inro since those last dispatches he sent us. If the Aj has truly awakened as he warned, he's probably long dead. We've split the Mon Legions among Ancient verses ready to deal with any monsters or demons that arrive in greater strength in case those rumors are also true."

A question died on his lips. Rega despised servants who couldn't think for themselves. Uncomfortable silence hung in the air, but Rega peferred empty air to empty words.

"This whole meeting was a farce. All for show and to give any Rag spies or secret Mother worshipers misinformation."

"I knew there was a reason I claimed you when I did," Rega said. From her, that counted as a massive compliment.

He allowed himself a slight, congratulatory smile. "You all already met and hashed everything out previously, then rehearsed this for the public."

Rega's eyes flicked to Jaxe's empty seat. "Though one kept extemporizing on his part."

"So the Vale Legions are probably already on their way to attack, you've abandoned fortifying so the Main Legions can follow, the Wretches have already been exterminated, the First Disciple is already dead, and Tyrs' extra weapons were completed weeks ago?"

One of her lips quirked momentarily. Equivalent to a grin and laugh from anyone else. "At or near-enough the mark on almost every particular. The Legions strike key Rag verses as we speak. A trap is set for the First Disciple that he won't slip out from this time, at least not the way he thinks. Three Legions worth of Tyrs' weapons were forged nearly a year ago, used to arm the Legions and prevent the Rag's coup on Ziggurat. The Wretches have been rounded up into holding camps in every Ancient verse."

Ghulen nodded, reflecting on how wise his youthful decision had been as a fresh Inviolate to align himself with Rega instead of against her. There were no alignment options in the mind of this Dynast. "So Tyrs' labors at a different task and the Wretches can be wiped out at leisure. Jaxe then has some secret plan in motion for the Mother of Exiles?"

"Tyrs mints increasingly-debased brass Jars as fast as his forges can turn the coins out. We've Legions to pay and recruit, mercs and freemancers to hire, Dynasts to bribe to our side, and a hundred other expenses to pay to keep The Book functional now that the Donative is shrunken from a mighty river to a trickling stream."

"People already complain about how little value currency holds, won't debasing and stamping out more make matters worse?" Ghulen reached into his waist pouch and produced a thin, slightly bent and worn brass coin.

"Matters are worse than anyone expects." Her eyes shifted to the coin then off into the void of Monopolis' sky. "And no, the Wretches aren't meant for extermination, but slave instead as we speak to finish Baka's fortifications. The Thorn Bulwarks will be completed soon enough, that much was true at least. In many verses, the Wretches have already been annihilated and their Plague still spreads; whatever hand they had in starting it, it clearly moves without them now. It seemed more effecient to put them to work alongside the rotters they've made rather than joining them. The rotter pens overflow and Crowmen roll in riches already without adding the Wretches to their number."

"No fortifications around the Thorn I came in. A purposeful oversight?"

Rega nodded. "As soon as those who assembled here finish departing, the work begins immediately. Stockpiles lie in place in all the buildings adjacent to them with Wretches and rotters packed in nearby to build them."

"So that leaves Jaxe who fears dispatching his Versal troops and so will doubtless wait until a Legion can be freed up. The Mother of Exiles is left unmolested."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"The first part, yes. Hence his meager jabs during the meeting we presented. As for the Mother of Exiles, we let her collect the useless and rebellious from across the Book. We even secretly supply 'nails and allow most of those who wish to join her in exile free passage. Free passage, that is, so long as they are useless mouths, criminals, or malcontents. Artisans, Masters, and Mancers seeking her we capture instead, granting them the choice of service, slavery, or damning to Ferals." She glanced at him in a way that made him wonder if she thought of him as a servant or a slave. Did she consider him to be he under her employ or ownership?

"We've spies and insurrectionists scattered among her followers to alert us should she become a real threat. Until then, we bog her down with the most useless, needy, and insubordinate of our menials, wait, and watch. All the Imminent's long-laid threads pass through the eye of her needle, so we focus on watching how she pulls on which threads."

In the stillness that followed, Ghulen wondered if she really kept him around for his status and talents as a mancer and Inviolate as he'd always assumed or simply to use as a mirror to reflect on her own genius. He knew of no other servant/slave of hers with whom she confided such, though if anyone could keep anything confidential from him or anyone it would be her. He wondered idly who'd filled this strange role before he was born, assuming she'd always needed a trusted confidant and it was not a relatively recent position.

Pocketing the coin and shaking his head to clear such idle thoughts, he cleared his throat. "Now that I grasp the lay of things, what might be my role in all this?"

"Hassani." She watched. Waited.

"The newest Inviolate," he said without hesitation as he rolled his head back to remember. "From Stacks. Jaxekin. The one you sent Ado after."

"Yes. And he failed."

"Ado finally failed?" Ghulen whistled, then grinned. "He'll have no end of hell from Kass about that. Was beginning to think the lad was the perfect Pharo."

"Hassani said he was dead. She said it was Wretch Plague, but the exact how is irrelevant. And Ado's mercenary doesn't matter except for what she might know. Assuming she didn't also succumb to the Plague."

Vengeance was not in Rega's repertoire, at least not on such quick time frames as mere months. His mind churned to glean why the errant Inviolate might be important to Rega now. "If she's important enough to send Ado, resilient enough to resist both him and that woman-loving, violent foul-mouth who tags... er, tagged along after him, I agree she's worth pursuing. Not that you need my agreement, of course. Where was she seen last?"

"Ziggurat. She escaped from Eonora and cut her way through the Bulwarks around the Thorn."

He whistled. "Impressive. On her own?"

"She possesses an Aze Blade. Perhaps the last of them."

An involuntary cough caught him up for a few seconds. "I didn't think they still existed. Where did she acquire it?"

Her silent stare cut into him. He spoke quickly to shift the subject. "When was this? Wait, Eonora? The rebel commander? So Hassani is also probably responsible for sparking her rebellion..."

Ghulen's life and eventually career formed an endless chain of discovering how weak, selfish, short-sighted, and stupid people were. Finding people who broke the mold proved an exciting rarity and even more so if they were his marks. This Hassani might prove to be just such a target. He straightened in his chair, trying to stay calm when his instincts urged him to sprint to the nearest Thorn after her.

"I'm sure you'll give me all the details you have on why you want me to find her, but it may be important if I'm going to carry this out if I know why."

The question bordered on impertinence but he bore a burning curiosity married to a passion for tracking people down. Once detained, could take them apart under extreme pressure and thus learn how they worked. The intense curiosity kept him awake at night sometimes and if he hadn't been aimed at an official target for too long, he'd tide himself over with an unofficial one. This challenge, this person who'd defied the undefiable Adonissian intrigued him more than anything he'd found in years. Far more interesting than his last task obscuring and falsifying Tyrs' three Legions worth of weapon transfers or, before that, tracking down an expensive escaped slave who knew too much.

Rega regarded him for an uncomfortable amount of time, but he had borne and would bear any amount of discomfort to assuage his need to know once kindled.

"Because the day of the Ziggurat purge, Das told me to put her in confinement."

The thought of anyone telling Rega what to do astounded him almost as much as the thought of her listening. "Das had to know she'd turn Eodora against the Ancients and then escape. I can't imagine why he'd do that, especially after what he said at the assembly."

"Gather your pick of freemancers, find her and anyone who knows her, and bring Hassani back to me. Alive. You can peel her apart when I'm here to witness. I must learn why the Imminent would chose her and chose now to directly mislead me for the first time." Rega leaned forward in her chair, the largest movement she'd made the entire time they'd been sitting.

Ghulen nodded and turned to leave, but Rega caught his eye. "And one more thing. She also seeks a Forbidden Verse called 'Earth'. I've reason to believe it's also where our barbarian Mother of Exiles originated. No Valeer I've found knows it. No 'nail library holds it. Find what you can about it and her. The fate and future of the Ancients, the Book, maybe the All itself may depend on the answer to Earth's 'what' and 'where' combined and Das' 'who' and 'why'."