Ivar was an advisor brought into the group by Satu, who was genuinely impressed at his ability to strategize for war, famine, and any other disaster one could think of. He was taciturn and never spoke more than a few sentences, but his words were valued heavily just the same. He reminded me a bit of Satu, how he was, except for being older and a male. He tended to pull more weight when it came to the rest of the goblin species and was more likely to be listened to than her. It struck me as unfair because Satu had never steered us wrong yet, but I also couldn’t say I was surprised by it.

But if she had a problem with it, it didn’t show, because she’d been the one to recommend him, and so he joined Soren’s small group of advisors.

The advisor I knew least about was Landon. He made it clear on his first day, not only was he young, but cocky too, and filled with the usual sense of superiority his species had over creatures other than themselves. As far we knew, he was only here because he was one of the few goblins who stayed at the palace during some parts of the old Erlking’s life and knew a decent amount of rumors and gossip as well as the secret passageways that lurked in the palace. He may have been an arrogant ass, but he knew the relationships between younger goblins the same way Satu did with older goblins and that was information we needed.

And of course there was Tanya. She wouldn’t separate from her nephew even if you threatened to cut her in half with an axe. The perpetually curt she-goblin stood slightly off from everyone else, most likely by her own choice. She sent scathing glares at anyone who dared approach her, and so we all stood away, hoping not to get on her bad side. Other than Soren, who was liked solely because he was a blood relative, the only other person whose presence she tolerated was Diaval.

Out of the many, many creatures in the Permafrost, Tanya terrified me.

And that was it. Three elder goblins, three younger goblins, and myself. Out of the entire Permafrost, these were who Soren trusted with the information at hand.

He was tense. I could feel it in my own shoulders, like a second sense, and he closed his eyes and breathed in and out a few times before opening them again and leaning forward to rest his hands on the table map. A few cracks appeared in the table as he dug his fingers in, and I touched his arm in sympathy.