Men Darnak moved to a position behind the desk, and Witness Kovaar moved to stand at one end, his hands folded before him. Kovaar wore dark blue unadorned robes that concealed most of his frame. The priest was gaunt beneath the obscuring cloth and his high cheekbones and hollow cheeks gave him a slightly sinister appearance. On the few occasions Sandon had bothered to listen to the man speak, his voice had been high and reedy, gaunt like his appearance. For some reason, Kovaar seemed to want to keep silent in Sandon's presence, and Sandon hesitated to think of the conversations the priest probably held with Men Darnak in the many hours when Sandon wasn't actually around. The superstitious nonsense fostered by the Church helped to keep the general population in their place, but it had no proper role in the Principal's chambers. Sandon looked straight at Kovaar, making it clear that his presence wasn't welcome, but Kovaar returned his look without expression.
Sandon pressed his lips together. The Principal, seemingly unaware of the brief, silent interchange, motioned Sandon to shut the doors behind him.
"So, Yl Aris. What is important enough to warrant dragging us away from the celebrations?"
"It's Tarlain, Principal."
Men Darnak sighed. "And what has my dear son done now?"
"It's not what he's done, but what I think he's about to do. I just witnessed a fairly heated discussion with Karnav Din Baltir...."
"And?"
"I didn't catch all of it, but he was talking about 'acting' before Roge had cemented his power. That can't be a good thing."
"Acting? And what has Tarlain got to act upon?" Men Darnak shot a glance at Witness Kovaar then fingered his beard thoughtfully. "Was there anything else?"
"From what I could gather, it involved the Kallathik somehow." Sandon waited patiently while Men Darnak sat, then shuffled through the top drawer on his desk. He was used to these apparently unrelated activities from the Principal when the man was thinking. He knew better than to interrupt the old man's knife-edge flow of thought.
"And what exactly might that be I wonder, hmm?" said Men Darnak without lifting his gaze. "Well, let us find out." He turned to Witness Kovaar. "Fetch Tarlain would you? You wait here Yl Aris."
"But, Principal, wait," said Sandon. "Don't you think it would be better if we found out what--?"
Men Darnak cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Go," he said to Kovaar who stood hesitating by the door.
Men Darnak called up something on his screen and started scanning while Witness Kovaar disappeared to find the Principal's youngest child. Sandon was left standing, staring across at Men Darnak's snowy mane. The Principal made no suggestion that he should sit, despite the three chairs arrayed in front of the broad desk. For the moment, Sandon might well have simply not existed. He sighed.
"If I might suggest, Principal--"
"You will suggest nothing, Yl Aris!" Men Darnak snapped.
Sandon bit his lip and clasped his hands behind him, knowing better than to push the point when the Principal was in a mood such as this. There had been more and more of these moods of late, and he had no desire to feel the Principal's ire right now. He needed him thinking with his usual calm rationality. With the transition already announced, the entire political dynamic was too finely balanced.
He didn't have long to wait. Kovaar reappeared a few minutes later with Tarlain in tow. The priest resumed his position by the desk's edge, folding his hands in front of him, and without further ceremony, Men Darnak spoke quietly without lifting his gaze.
"So, Tarlain, what's this I hear about the Kallathik?"
Tarlain shot Sandon the briefest accusatory glance. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Men Darnak slammed his palm down on the desk in front of him and stood. "The hell you don't." He drew himself to his full height and glared across the room at his youngest son. Tarlain glared right back.
"Just because you think you have eyes and ears everywhere, don't think you know everything," said Tarlain. "If you paid a little more attention to what was really going on in the world and less to your spies, you might know a little more than you think you do."
