[Fordim Hedgethistle]

On their way back to the Palace, Jarult met them. The chamberlain had been loitering in the garden for hours, his unease growing toward alarm and then panic as the day’s audiences came and went unanswered. A seemingly endless stream of servants came to him from various points of the Palace to ask for the King, bringing word from yet another person whose petition demanded the King’s attention. Those who came from the ordinary guilds were easily dealt with by a quick word to come again upon the morrow and hope to find the King more at his leisure to meet with them. The answer, while not satisfactory, was the best they could hope for and they had to content themselves with it. The servants who came from members of the nobility, however, were more difficult to put off. Puffed up with the importance of their position, they were querulous in their demands on their masters’ behalf, and Jarult had to speak sharply to several of them. He grew so tired of these encounters that he sent word that he and the King were not to be disturbed any more that day. But with the cessation of the interruptions he had nothing to distract him from brooding over the unprecedented manner in which the King had received the Emissary. To have spent time with him alone was one thing, but to have spent an entire day in private conversation with an utter stranger… To place his very life at the mercy of this man from across the desert…it was hardly to be believed. And yet he had the proof of his own senses to bear out the truth of it. As the sun westered and sank, the gates of the Emissary’s villa remained steadfastly closed, and Jarult could do nothing more than worry.

When finally the King and the Emissary emerged, the old man almost threw himself at the King. “Majesty!” he exclaimed, in his urgency and concern almost forgetting the presence of the stranger. Recalling himself, the Chamberlain looked at the man pointedly and said with greater reserve to his King, “There are matters we need to discuss of an important nature, Khamûl.”

The Emissary turned to the King and repeated the word with shocking familiarity. “Khamûl? Is this a term of respect in your land, or a formal title?”

The King smiled. “It is hard to know what to call it. It is a term of…respect, I suppose, used by my subjects. It is in Old Pashtian and means ‘Shining One’. It was the praise name of my father, which is why I think old men like Jarult use it. They seek to flatter me.”

Jarult shook his head violently at that. “No my lord, never would I seek to flatter. I merely…”

The King laughed lightly and held up his hand to stop the torrent. “It is all right, Jarult, I know your heart is sound. I speak lightly, for my heart has been greatly lightened by this day’s converse. And I know what matters you feel we need to discuss. I have whiled away a day as an ordinary man when I should have been acting the part of the King instead. No doubt you have had to contend with many upset people, demanding I meet with them about matters too important to wait for tomorrow.” As he spoke he smiled and even laughed lightly, in which he was joined by the Emissary. Jarult did not know how to react to this and remained silent. “Very well. My friend,” he turned to the Emissary, “I must pay some heed to these matters, for I am still King. You go ahead of me to the courtyard, there should already be gathered there some number of my people, all dying to have a look at you. I will see you at the banquet.”

The Emissary bowed low and departed with fair words. Now that the Chamberlain was alone with the King he began to speak of the matters that had come up, and together they walked toward the Palace. As they went the King’s countenance lost its levity and assumed the hard form of concern that was the norm. It aged him considerably. They achieved the King's personal chambers where he prepared himself for the banquet. He removed the loose robe he had worn since the morning's audience and put on a suit of dark red, woven from the finest silk. He thought for a moment about wearing a circlet of silver, but decided to go unadorned this night. As he dressed, the King listened carefully to his Chamberlain and responded to all of his points, but inwardly part of his mind was elsewhere. More and more of late, the pressures of rule had begun to gall him and weary him. The endless intrigues of the nobility, the demands of the people…even his family. At times he felt as though he were beset upon all sides by the demands and worries of other people. At times he felt how delicious it would be to disappear and remove himself from the concerns of kingship and walk the streets of his city unnoticed and unmarked by any. He sighed at the impossibility of this dream.

Something Jarult was saying caught his full attention. “The master builder Rekan went to the Queen? How did he like the answer he got from her?”

“Not well my lord. The Queen bade him spread his offerings about the obelisk and offer it to both deities.”

Faroz laughed lightly. “I can well understand how such a piece of advice would not please him. And did he do it?”

“What other choice did he have? He could not so openly affront the Queen.”

Faroz laughed once more at the wisdom of his wife. He had never loved her, nor, he was certain, had she ever felt any tenderness toward him. But he had come to respect her intelligence and judgement. She was a faithful and helpful partner in his rule, and a capable woman. He was suddenly seized with a desire to see her. Bidding Jarult to oversee the final ordering of the banquet, he sought out Bekah’s apartments. He used the smaller passageways to avoid meeting other people, and soon he was at the door to her private apartments. The guards came to attention and for a moment he considered sending word to his wife that he had arrived, but determined instead simply to enter unannounced. He found his wife at the window admiring the setting sun. It had been a number of years since he had visited her in her quarters. Indeed, it had been a number of years since they had spoken outside of their formal audience each day, and she was surprised to see him there. She bowed her head slightly and approached him, holding out her hand for him to take it. He took it lightly in his own and held it to his forehead, then bent and kissed her lightly upon the brow. If she were surprised at his sudden use of the formal intimacies of husband and wife she did not show it. “You look well tonight,” he said.

“Thank you, lord. I thought it best to honour your guest. You have favoured him with your attentions today greatly.”

He smiled. “You would chide me for neglecting my duties. You are right. Although I hear that you took over some of those duties in my stead.”

“The man came to me, lord. I only answered his query.”

“You did right, lady. I should not have abandoned you all as I did. But this Emissary…he fascinates me. He has come from such a far land, and has told me such things as you could not imagine. Did you know that in his land, Elves are not part of the human world, but live apart in vast realms of their own? And there are other beings there as well, short of stature and stern of spirit, who live only in the bowels of mountains where they mine the riches of the earth. It was a wonder to me.”

The Queen looked at him carefully. “You are enchanted by this man, lord. Are you so sure you can trust all that he says? He has spoken much of his lands, but has he said anything of why he has come so far? What is it that his King Annatar wishes with an alliance with us, who are so far removed from him?”

Faroz fell silent and looked out across the desert sands. The sun fell below the horizon and night came upon the land in the instant so that the stars appeared above as though a host of torches had been lit at once. “I do not know, lady. I want to trust him, and if my concern were for myself alone I would. But you are right, I do not have the luxury that normal men do to choose my friends based on such paltry concerns as feeling and friendship. Come,” he said quickly, before she could reply to his odd manner. “Let us not keep everyone waiting.” He held out his hand to the Queen who took it in her own, and Faroz lead her toward the door of her apartment. “I will sit at your table this night and you can remind me of my duty should I begin to forget it in the pleasures of the evening.”