The imperial regalia was still in her wardrobe, Yasminna noted wryly. She'd been tempted to don it before her appointment with the irredeemably beautiful Sanyangia, but had not. Those kinds of displays are for my sister's court, not for here. And not for me.

There was a soft knock at the door and Yasminna could tell it came from the hand of a woman. She had to admit to herself that she was, at least, a little anxious to spend time with someone from her own land, especially with a woman who'd earned her way into power as Sanyangia must have. Yasminna was fond of Li-eira, but her friend's fragile, child-like demeanor was irritating at times especially given the power she was capable of wielding.

“Enter,” was all that she said.

The door opened and Sanyangia stepped into the room and closed the door. She crossed the floor with her head bowed and knelt before Yasminna as she took the princess’ hand in her own and held it to her lips.

“Your highness,” the mage began as she kissed Yasminna’s hand. “May the Sun rise and set for you.”

At least, the reluctant princess thought to herself, she closed the door first. It was painful to think of one of her travelling companions passing by in the middle of such a display when she'd gone so far out of her way to keep "the princess" out of her relations with them all. However... Sanyangia was Sundaryan, and there were forms to be observed -- forms more important for her sister's continued reign and the stability of the empire than for any petty egoic concerns Yasminna may have had. Like it or not, she was an imperial princess, a symbol for something greater than herself.

Shal-Azharah would have smiled at that -- her littlest sister was growing up at last.

"Thank you, Mistress Sanyangia," she murmured, gesturing gracefully for the woman to arise and take one of the two chairs in the room. "And thank you also for honoring my cover identity this morning by not insisting on offering me the honor of my station. It would be... awkward... before those who do not understand such things."

Sanyangia rose then curtsied before she moved to take the chair that Yasminna indicated. She waited until Yasminna folded herself into her own chair, legs crossed at the knees before taking hers.

"I had heard, your highness, from Danathar. When I walked in and saw a Sundaryan male, I had assumed there was reason and need for deception. Pardon my assumption, but have you been away from home for very long?"

Sanyangia saw the look in Yasminna's eyes and, even though it was fleeting, knew that the princess had been gone too long. The Mage produced a small box and opened it. She held it out for Yasminna to see. Inside were four pieces of kavalakbara, a Sundaryan dessert made of tiny layers of pastry, honey, rosewater, brown sugar, and nuts. The fragrance that wafted into the air was like the aroma of sanctity itself, evoking a genuine smile of pure pleasure from Yasminna.

"Heaven," she sighed happily, taking one of the confections in long brown fingers. She nibbled gently on one corner, grinning as the layers of paper-thin dough melted in her mouth, nodding for Sanyangia to join her. "Thank you for this. I have been away from Sundarya for several months. It only seems much longer than it has actually been. With your magical abilities, have you been back since?"

"Alas, your Highness, no." Sanyangia began to enjoy one of the confections herself. "We have been kept so busy here. Especially of late, that I have not been back home in over a year. The increased movements of the Dragonlords do not bode well for Northreach. If they are allowed to take Freehold, then they will pose a greater risk for the other nations. I am aware," she continued albeit a bit more hesitantly, "Of certain troubles back home. Is there any way I may be of assistance to Sundarya, may her reign last forever," she asked.

Yasminna sighed, and shrugged. "I wish I knew, Mistress. The problems in Sundarya just now are purely political, and so far as I know from when I left, their resolution is well within normal, mortal means. It is a canny game my sister plays, and a deep one. She cannot move too quickly, but she is moving, never doubt it. Once she has her traitors staked out on the desert sands, she will likely commit all the forces she can to the fight against the Dragonlords.

"I know Her Majesty has access to some kind of magic, for she used it to visit me to tell me of the Daghasi vision and to give me my orders to leave Char on her behalf. Does she need more, or are your talents of more use here on the front lines of this conflict? My instincts say she will want you to remain here, but I will convey your inquiry when I write to her," she went on, gesturing to where the beautiful brazier sat upon her desk. "I intend to do so just before we leave your Tower, so that Her Majesty has all the information I can possibly provide her."

"Your highness is too kind," she replied in earnest, "to consider me for any counsel at all in regards to imperial matters. I also have these for you to use before you leave the tower." She produced some bath oils made made from herbs and flowers only found in the mountain passes of the Fists of Jabal.

Yasminna recognized their scent immediately. It brought many memories, and tears of homesickness, to those dark eyes. "Thank you again, my good mistress. This... is a priceless gift, to a heart stranded so far from home."

"Is there anyway, your Highness, that I may be of assistance to you while you are here.?"

Yasminna took a deep, shuddering breath, reasserting control over her suddenly unruly emotions. "You have already been of immense assistance to me, simply by bringing to me the things of our home and sharing them with me," she told Sanyangia sincerely. "It reminds me of who I am, and why I am here, and why it is so important to persevere."

Sanyangia's head cocked slightly to the side for a moment at Yasminna's last statement. "If I may be so bold," she said as she shifted into Sundaryan. "Is there anything you would like to share with me? May I lighten your load somehow?"

She has asked the question twice, though differently each time, Yasminna mused, sitting back in her chair to gaze at the pathmage intently. And her arts are of... divination, or so Li-eira has said. Scrying into the unknown, to find out what can be known... but....

Her head tilted, fingers stroking her lips momentarily before she spoke. "Do you mean personally, Mistress Sanyangia? Or professionally?"

Sanyangia smoothed the folds of her robe. "Either, or both, your Highness. Although my instincts tell me you have a greater handle on your professional load than the personal one. Perhaps the distance between myself and that which perplexes you might provide you a fresh perspective."

"Ah." The light finally penetrated the darkness and Yasminna nodded. "My manner and mood this morning. Fair enough."

"I am a bit confused by the words and actions of this morning, yes."

"I drank too much last night. I know I have no head for liquor, but it was the best medication for my troubles I could come up with on short notice." Pensively, Yasminna rubbed some of the fragrant oil on the inside of her wrist, then smiled lopsidedly. "But unless you can explain men to me -- using small words, short sentences, and diagrams if you have them? -- I am afraid there is nothing to be done."

Sanyangia laughed at Yasminna's request. "I am a diviner by skill and study, but not divine."

She paused for a moment to take another bite of the kavalakbara. "Not all men are the same, of course. Some are devious, but others are good men. Some have egos that are stroked quite easily, while others are hard? Is there one in particular that vexes your highness so?"

The vexed princess' eyes lit up momentarily. "Maybe you could turn him into a toad! In his case, it's probably not all that big a change really..." And then it faded, when she remembered all those stupid commoner's tales. "Or perhaps not, because according to tradition I would almost be required to kiss him, and I am halfway convinced I would rather stab him.

"Did you see the fellow with the remnants of breakfast all over his tunic, this morning?" She asked suddenly, mercurial changes in conversation following her temperament. "Says little, and when he does the words are wreathed in folksy aphorisms? Neither of the blond men, nor the bard. The fourth one -- he is the one driving me to drink. Literally."

"The ranger? Her highness is a good judge of character, it seems. But I don't... ah perhaps I do see why he vexes you so. You come from a home of intrigue. You are walking a path of subtlety and deception. You do not know how to speak his language. Compound that with the fact that, after all, he is a man, and he has you all inside out. No offense, your highness."

"None taken, of course," she sighed, collapsing back with a semi-defeated air. "I am not such a fool to be offended by any help that is offered, my good Mistress. Tob does have me `inside out', as you put it, and I simply have not been able to fathom why. Is it as simple as never having met another man like him? His heart is good, Sanyangia, I can feel it... but by the time that goodness is filtered through his mind, with its ideas restrictive gender roles... and then his mouth, which hates all words and makes war upon them as they pass through..."

It was the first time she'd felt safe enough to vent her heart to someone, and the pressure that had built from weeks of holding her own counsel compelled her from her chair, to pace the room. "No, no -- there is no sense in you being uncomfortable simply because I can no longer sit still with this," she told Sanyangia, gesturing for the Pathmage to remain seated. "I simply cannot believe such a man preoccupies me as he does. I've seen the women where he's from, all fair-skinned, braided hair, big... bosoms." Her hands created an exaggerated set of breasts in illustration. "That's what he finds attractive in a female, not some fey androgyne like me who spends as much time in the role of a man as a woman."

Abruptly, the conflicted princess ran out of steam, and paused before the window casement, hands on the sill, staring out at the grounds beyond. "I made a fool of myself last night. I... had been led to believe that Tob was attracted to me, and so I asked him last night what he wanted from me. And I listened, Mistress Sanyangia. Patiently. As carefully as I know how, I listened to what he said... and because of his difficulty with words, I tried to hear what he couldn't say."

Bitter tears clotted her throat, made it momentarily impossible for further words to make it through. "Ah, to the hellfires with it," she finally muttered. "What we have to do -- the quest to find the child -- is more important than the mooning of one woman over a man who doesn't want her. The pain from it is like any other wound -- you ignore it and keep going for as long as there is a mission to be accomplished."

Sanyangia listened intently and patiently as Yasminna opened and spoke the words that had been festering inside her for longer than the princess would have cared to admit. Images played before the Magi's mind's eye as Yasminna recounted her reasons. She had given Sanyangia the freedom to speak, and she was grateful that Yasminna had taken the opening. The Pathmage rose, crossed to the window and gently placed her hand upon Yasminna's shoulder.

"What I hear, your Highness, is your judgment of the reasons why he shouldn't fall in love with you. I have yet to hear that he doesn't love you. Nor that you don't love him. What I hear is how you have interpreted the words and actions of a man that mystifies you. It seems that you have decided that those very words and actions, which, admittedly, you do not understand mean something that seems contrary to his very core. How is it that the words and actions of a such a simple and good man could be layered and filtered with such deception and subterfuge? Is that how he really is, or is easier and more comfortable for you to see him this way? Is that how he is, or is it simply easier for you to put him in such a box?"

Yasminna chuckled self-deprecatingly. It sounded like sand hitting broken glass. "The man does not have a deceitful bone in his body, at least not for personal relationships. I wish I could believe he did, for then I could also believe there was something there that he simply chose to hide. He spoke his truth to me, Mistress Sanyangia. Simple, honest truth. No deception, no guile. And that truth was: What he wants from me is that which he would ask from a friend, a comrade in arms. No more, no less."

She drew a deep breath, and gestured them back toward the chairs, rather cherishing the lump in her throat that burned like acid. "And so what I said before is true: The task before me, before us all, is much more important than my personal feelings -- a truth every member of my family has grown up with, and understands innately. It is time now to set such things aside, and focus on what must be done."

"Then you are one step closer to victory. Perhaps we all are. Resolve is a powerful state to achieve, especially if one has been walking in an aimless fashion or on a fog-shrouded path. Do not, however, forget that your task is to be accomplished by people. By mortal people. And unless you have mastered some skill that I am, as of yet," she said with a wink, "unaware of, you will have to rely on your emotion at some point. Whether that be anger or love."

"Then let us pray to all the Gods that love for my sister and Sundarya will be enough," Yasminna replied. She bit into the kavalakbara again, closing her eyes to enjoy the simple sensation of complex tastes melting in her mouth.

"Which leaves professional concerns," she went on after that moment, smiling a little. "There is information to be had, and each person in our little group must their best skills in order for it all to be gleaned. In pursuit of that, it has been mentioned that I may be going to Freehold to scout how things stand -- and possibly remove any eyes and ears the enemy has in place there -- before the rest arrive. If you could give me a name or two of those who are safe to contact within the city, it would be most helpful."

Sanyangia nodded her head. "I have spent the last 3 months in Karmeik on Dragonlord Isle. There is much that I learned there, but I believe you might be able to learn a great deal more. There are spies of the Dragonlords in Freehold, just as there were and are allied spies in Karmeik. The question that we cannot answer, yet, is how effective these spies in Freehold have been. I believe I might be able to come up with a name or two that could be safe contacts for you. I could have them for you probably by tomorrow. How much time are planning on spending there, what with your impending journey to Guardian's Isle?"

"I wish I had an answer for that. I am not yet sure the trip is necessary, but if it is, I need to be prepared to move quickly," Yasminna murmured, gesturing the invisible servant to pour hot tea for them both. "My instincts say `not long', however. As a group we should keep pushing as quickly as we can toward our goals, certainly this applies for as long as we stay ahead of the Lord of Lies and his minions. Long enough to resupply, then out to the port, Coren's ship, and the Guardian Isle as swiftly and secretly as we can manage it."

"None of us know the extent of Traugur's reach here, just yet." Sanyangia reflected a moment before she continued. "The Knights of Verengaard are the sworm enemies of Arluth-Traugur and all he would hope to accomplish for his Dolfanc here on Dryg-gwra. I am thinking, perhaps, that Atreus might have some insights into the current movements that we do not. He and his Knights have a much better head for tactics than I, or most of the Conclave. The Path of the Silver Hand is ready to assist the peoples of Northreach as we did many years ago. The Dragonlords must not gain posession of Freehold. It will not bode well for the rest of the nations of the West if they do."

She nodded absently at that, the imperial princess and the spy merging to speculate on what the mage had just said. "Then let us pray my sister, may her reign outlast the sun, sees the end of her troubles at home so Sundarya can enter this conflict with all its considerable might. Her plan was in motion when I left; I do not know how she fares with it -- but you can be sure, if I discover some Dragonlord complicity in my sister's troubles, meant to keep Sundarya busy at home and thus OUT of the war -- I shall take whatever steps are necessary to remediate it.

"Until then, I have a private appointment with Atreus after dinner, one which I'm anticipating greatly. He said some things this morning which have made me curious." Her eyes brightened at the thought of new information to be had. "I hope he is in a mood generous enough to allay my inquisitiveness."

Sanyangia rose at those words, nodded, and handed the remaining sweets to Yasminna.

"You will let me know if there is anything else your highness might need?"

"I will. For now, your continued good will is more than enough," Yasminna smiled.

The mage turned to go, then turned back to face Yasminna. "I so enjoyed our conversation. I will leave you to your day and make my way to the library," she said with a curtsy. "I should have more information for you if you decide to leave for Freehold."

"Ah, if you go to the library then let us walk together," the princess-turned-spy replied, arising smoothly to join her fellow countrywoman at the door. She allowed Sanyangia to open the door for her, but once they were both through, she linked arms with the mage companionably as they walked. "I would like to look over the selection of maps there, and it has been a treasure beyond price to hear the tongue of my country spoken by a native, again...."