When Salazar read the Chancellor's letter, he was half amused, and half upset. He had written to her with the quill of a poet, and she had used a stinger, if not as deadly as the famed black one, to pen an answer to tease and almost ridicule him.
As a fellow historian, Serae Euphanyx was, of course, aware about the impossibilities of a lot of research since the Second Swarming, when in an almost surreal way different lives, different timelines, even different dialects were mixed up. The popular description of that uncanny event was "the Rivers of Time", why others may have called it a mash-up of multiverses. Suddenly it became unclear, how, where, and why Karan Yrkanis died, what had led to the destruction of Thesos and what had happened when Dexton got ill, and even that vile creature, Muang, seemed to have led different lives to different people. It was highly embarassing, and it pretty much did uproot many important details in the perception and factual determination of the history of Atys, especially in the time between the First and Second Swarming.
He didn't mind that she probably did not know that he was a Royal Ambassador long before he was called by Karan Yrkanis to first take a chair at the Royal Academy, and later a seat in the Chamber of Nobles. The implication that his religious beliefs limit his scientific honesty itched him, though. Didn't he risk everything when he stood up against the Uma Filar regarding the choosen scientific method to close down the kitin tunnels? And didn't he convince the Zorai, and the Matis, to follow the suggestion of the Awakened Fey-Lin for a botanical solution instead of the termites favoured by the Rangers? Well, in all fairness - that probably had been something which itched Daeronn Cegrips, and maybe Serae Euphanyx too, for various reasons ... including, well, politics.
She was right, of course, when she pointed out that he hardly was a kitionologist. But he had been a founder member of the SKA, where all nations were invited (but the Fyros back then had declined the invitation, of course), had translated part of the SKA's ground-breaking work on kitins, and had suggested the kitin enclosure in the Matis arena, where their captive lived probably for a much longer time than it it would have lived in freedom, and all while being studied by scientists.
He took a beautifully bound volume from his shelves, where it rested between a few of its identical siblings, and let his hand glide over the embossed cover. Fighting Characteristics of the Kitins was written there, A Study by Saekinion ten Kitina Aremei. He placed it on the table, then grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote a short note on it - "With the compliments of Salazar Caradini" it simply read. He put it between the pages and then called for Menthys.
When the young Matis eagerly rushed in, Salazar pointed at the book.
"Please wrap that up in something nice, and then send it to Chancellor Euphanyx Apotheps of the Imperial Academy in Pyr. I trust on your good taste."
Menthys took the book carefully - he knew well that his master, as relaxed as he usually was, could easily loose his contenance if someone dropped a book. He then bowed and left.
Salazar looked at the letter again. Fundamentally, Serae Euphanyx had told him nothing - nothing and all. For what he could read between the lines was that the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy knew as little as he, or as the Rangers did.
Well then, he thought. The Trykers only were the beginning. The Fyros, being involved, could hardly do anything, but it would only be a matter of time until the Zorai were starting to turn the screw on the Rangers.
As a fellow historian, Serae Euphanyx was, of course, aware about the impossibilities of a lot of research since the Second Swarming, when in an almost surreal way different lives, different timelines, even different dialects were mixed up. The popular description of that uncanny event was "the Rivers of Time", why others may have called it a mash-up of multiverses. Suddenly it became unclear, how, where, and why Karan Yrkanis died, what had led to the destruction of Thesos and what had happened when Dexton got ill, and even that vile creature, Muang, seemed to have led different lives to different people. It was highly embarassing, and it pretty much did uproot many important details in the perception and factual determination of the history of Atys, especially in the time between the First and Second Swarming.
He didn't mind that she probably did not know that he was a Royal Ambassador long before he was called by Karan Yrkanis to first take a chair at the Royal Academy, and later a seat in the Chamber of Nobles. The implication that his religious beliefs limit his scientific honesty itched him, though. Didn't he risk everything when he stood up against the Uma Filar regarding the choosen scientific method to close down the kitin tunnels? And didn't he convince the Zorai, and the Matis, to follow the suggestion of the Awakened Fey-Lin for a botanical solution instead of the termites favoured by the Rangers? Well, in all fairness - that probably had been something which itched Daeronn Cegrips, and maybe Serae Euphanyx too, for various reasons ... including, well, politics.
She was right, of course, when she pointed out that he hardly was a kitionologist. But he had been a founder member of the SKA, where all nations were invited (but the Fyros back then had declined the invitation, of course), had translated part of the SKA's ground-breaking work on kitins, and had suggested the kitin enclosure in the Matis arena, where their captive lived probably for a much longer time than it it would have lived in freedom, and all while being studied by scientists.
He took a beautifully bound volume from his shelves, where it rested between a few of its identical siblings, and let his hand glide over the embossed cover. Fighting Characteristics of the Kitins was written there, A Study by Saekinion ten Kitina Aremei. He placed it on the table, then grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote a short note on it - "With the compliments of Salazar Caradini" it simply read. He put it between the pages and then called for Menthys.
When the young Matis eagerly rushed in, Salazar pointed at the book.
"Please wrap that up in something nice, and then send it to Chancellor Euphanyx Apotheps of the Imperial Academy in Pyr. I trust on your good taste."
Menthys took the book carefully - he knew well that his master, as relaxed as he usually was, could easily loose his contenance if someone dropped a book. He then bowed and left.
Salazar looked at the letter again. Fundamentally, Serae Euphanyx had told him nothing - nothing and all. For what he could read between the lines was that the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy knew as little as he, or as the Rangers did.
Well then, he thought. The Trykers only were the beginning. The Fyros, being involved, could hardly do anything, but it would only be a matter of time until the Zorai were starting to turn the screw on the Rangers.
---
Salazar CaradiniFilira Matia
Royal Historian
Member of the Royal Academy of Yrkanis
First Seraph of the Order of the Argo Navis