EVENTS

Salazar brushed the dust off his clothes and sighted when he did spot a tear in his robe. He had to be more careful and probably should give up fighting the White Kitins on his own. It took too long and the outcome was minimal since scavengers usually robbed him of the Kitin carcasses before he could take samples. And sometimes the Kitins got close enough to pierce his clothing. He had only two robes left, the other one bearing the colours of his Order. Already, if reluctantly, he had made a compromise with what he was wearing most of the time by allowing green to creep in where brown was what he wanted. But he could really no longer afford to look immaculate since the Order’s riches, and his own inheritance, was lost during the Second Swarming. 'So Menthys will have to do some more stitching on this,' he thought, 'and let’s hope it will be durable enough for a few more years.'

He carefully put the vasculum aside the table he had occupied since Erminantius’ meeting of the Nobles at Bravichi’s Rotoa and sat down. Books, manuscripts, parchments were all over the table, seemingly without any order. For him, in his mind, there was order, though. He knew exactly from where in the Academy’s library he had taken them for study. At the same time he felt as if he had looked through more of these as even the largest library could hold, but he was well aware that there was much, much more to see, and also that some papers were not as easily obtainable, but stored away in the rooms of the heads of individual departments, of the head librarian and of the Academy’s president. However, he was determined to find something of use for Filira Erminantius’ worthwhile project, and since he had left the Chamber of Nobles and politics behind, he had plenty of time to do so. Yet not every member of the Academy he met had accepted his decision and helped him in his endeavour. Some thought him ungrateful, disloyal to the Karan and worse, while in fact he was convinced that his step kept damage from the court while preserving some of his dignity. Some simply ignored him, and some even showed hostility towards him; so he left some sections of the library for Filirae Aylia to research, as she was still well respected, although not an Academy member.

Menthys still brought him news from all over Atys, so he had heard that that Icus guy had left the Akenak. This did not worry him, nor did it relieve him. The Fyros were famous for their irrational, foolish behaviour, and the search for Dexton was just that kind of folly he expected from them. After all, if the Sharümal had survived – what would be the outcome of it? Probably he had become mad, then he would be a threat to the Empire rather than an asset. Or he would be guilty not to be with his people when they did need him, namely during the Second Swarming and the time of reconstruction. In any case, it would put Lykos in the urgent need to get rid of him, for if he had to step down from the throne he would show a weakness which would make it impossible to return to it at a later date. So either there would be murder at best or civil war between the followers of Dexton and the followers of Lykos at worst. But then, Salazar preferred them to spill their own blood than the blood of the other nations, if bloodshed indeed would be the only thing that kept the Fyros’ all-consuming flame burning.

What did indeed worry him was the announcement of the Awakened Fey-Lin to leave the Zorai Circles. It was not that he felt any special empathy towards her, but for a time they were allies in the search for Almati’s legacy. When he tried to prohibit the Ranger’s endeavours in Hidden Source, he stepped in not just for his own beliefs and what he thought would be the best for the Kingdom, but also for his most unlikely allies in the Witherings, as such a rapid turn of the weather vane in Verdant Heights would put the Zorai in an uncomfortable position and, worse, could stop any research for Almati at all. He knew that Zhoi favoured the chance of a biological solution as well, but he also knew that some saw her as a quarreler, while Fey-Lin was well-respected in all countries. He didn’t really know if she was respected by the Rangers as well, as they had shown very little respect to anyone recently but themselves, and he expected them to get worse rather than better in their behaviour.

'Ah, well! Back to work!' Salazar thought. He took out his dog-eared notebook, placed it on the one space not filled with books and parchment of all sorts just in front of him, and flipped it open. Then he carefully cut the quill before he dipped it into the ink to write.