I shrugged off my jacket, found a piece of parchment and dashed off a quick report to the Shardless Few. I’d searched for the sword Gio wanted and hadn’t yet found it. Lin was meeting resistance to her rule on Riya. The constructs were an issue, and not just in the north-eastern reaches. But when it came to her burgeoning powers, I hesitated. I’d told her we should keep this between us, but lying came easily enough to me. I’d gone to Imperial to topple an Empire. Was I backing down now simply because the Emperor made me think of my dead wife?

I pressed the tip of my pen deep into the paper. No. It was more than that. She was also toppling the Empire, just in a different way. She was dismantling the constructs, returning the shards to the people. Would it be fair of me to destroy her rule without first knowing what it would be like?

I knew what Gio would say – that the people deserved to be ruled by themselves and not an Emperor. Perhaps he was right. But I also knew how fickle people could be, how much they could bicker, how they could argue over insignificant details, letting the larger issues pass by unaddressed.

And the issue of the Alanga loomed. Who were they? Were they all like me and Lin? If they were as dangerous as the Sukais had made them sound, then this was the worst possible time to dissolve the Emperor’s rule.

Damn it. This was supposed to be simple.

I didn’t mention her powers. But I wasn’t a fool. At some point, I’d have to make a choice; I just didn’t know when that point would arrive. I leaned back in my chair. “What am I supposed to do, Mephi? What do you do when you have difficult decisions to make?”

He didn’t answer at first, and I could nearly see the gears in his mind working. When had Mephi actually had a difficult decision to make, except which fish to chase? “First,” he said slowly, “make sure you are not hungry.”

I laughed. That wasn’t bad advice, actually. And I could use a bite to eat. “Let’s go out into the city. I’ll buy something for you. And there will be food when we get back.”

According to the letter Gio had sent, I could find a Shardless Few contact in Riya, selling tortoiseshell carvings. I checked in with the guards before I left, assigning them shifts outside the Emperor’s door up until dinner. And then, freed from momentary responsibility, I left my jacket out to dry in my room and made my way into the city.