Guardian of the Night

4

The Secretary's office was not near as lavish as she had expected, but still bore a size that could comfortably hold the entire Watch House in the space. At one end, Bilain could see a large table, with a number of stiff, high-backed chairs tucked under the lip. A seating area, with more cushioned long seats, sat beneath another large window. At the other end, a bulky, heavy, decorated desk, made of a dark, almost red, wood, held a seat behind it that had similar decorations to the desk.

Asnarrus waved her toward a more simple chair before the desk and moved to the rear, dropping onto the decorated chair with a sigh, as though he had this moment returned from a hard day working fields. After a moment, he adjusted his robes, clasped his hands across a belly that had never wanted for food and raised his eyebrows. Before Bilain could begin to talk, he held up a finger, rising and moving to a side table.

"This new woman, Kaluun, she seems to want the best for Adrasusk. Quite rich. Apparently, she wishes to invest heavily in the Old City. Something about bringing back the glory. Whatever that means." Again he raised an eyebrow, asking what drink she wanted from the side table. With her noncommittal shrug, he decided for her, pouring two goblets. "What she does with her money is her business, I suppose, but the wider city could use that money, instead of wasting it on a place that is only a reminder of our colonial past, don't you think?"

"I'm sure it's not my place to say." She accepted the goblet, taking a tentative sniff of the contents before taking a sip. It tasted tart and warm. "But to our situation ..."

Asnarrus waved a hand that could have meant any number of things. He took a sip of the drink, himself, closing his eyes as he appreciated it before returning to his chair, performing the same moves as before. The drop onto the seat, the sigh, the clasping of hands across his belly. He gazed at Bilain and, once again, before she could speak, interrupted her.

"I trust you understand the sensitivity of this matter, Grasall? Hmm?" He leaned forward, lifted the goblet again and took another drink, smacking his lips. "And I hope you have garnered a suitable reason for the Senator's presence in your Ward? A reason that would sit well with the Senate? No intrigue? No slip of decorum? Nothing nefarious or untoward? Perhaps the Senator merely took a stroll within his charged Ward through want of sleep? Hmm?"

Bilain didn't like the verbal prodding. It stank of politics and she had not a single political thought in her mind. For her, she had the few facts that her woefully inadequate investigation had uncovered so far and what they revealed, politically, meant little to her. She had the feeling the Secretary had a certain outcome in mind and she wasn't certain what that outcome was.

She took the roll of reports from under her arm, noting the stain of sweat upon the leather, untied the package and passed it across the desk without a word. She couldn't decide what words the Secretary wanted to hear, so remained silent, allowing him to come to his own conclusions. She took another sip of the drink, trying to work out what beverage it was, but it wasn't anything she had tasted before. Expensive and rare, she did not doubt.

The Secretary flattened out the sheets of paper, picking each up in turn and running his eyes across them far too fast to read them fully. Bilain had added her own, rushed report to the pile of duplicates that Ilivno had made, the originals still in her office. Bilain felt glad of the girl's diligence. She would not have liked the only copies to have fallen into the Secretary's hands. She didn't altogether trust him.

With a sigh and a roll of the eyes, Asnarrus returned to the first sheet of paper and frowned as he tried to make sense of Bilain's scratchy, brief scrawl, finger tapping against his temple as he rested his head upon his hand. The silence pressed upon Bilain with even this, expansive room appearing to close about her. She flattened her hands against legs that had started to fidget, her eyes roving about the room as the Secretary continued to review the reports.