“What will you do now, ma’am?” Korbijn asked. “This is an indelicate question, but many thousands are still here, waiting to hear how you want to proceed with respect to your coronation. The rest of the Hub system is also anxious to know. It’s already been a day.”

“How long were the coronation celebrations going to last?”

“Five days, ma’am,” Gell Deng said.

“We’re in a period of mourning for five days, then,” Cardenia said. “From the moment of the coronation forward. See to it that the victims are honored.” She turned to Korbijn. “You will hold a service for them tonight in the cathedral.” Korbijn nodded. “At the end of the mourning period we will address the entire system, and the Interdependency.”

“The parliament will not want to wait to address this,” Korbijn said.

“We did not suggest work or investigations stop during this period.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“In the interim, publicly at least, we will be in seclusion.” She nodded to Deng. “Gell here will be your point of contact for the next several days.” She looked back at Korbijn. “We trust the executive committee will not protest handling administrative issues a short while longer.”

“No, of course not.”

“I will send updated reports when I have them and be available if you have questions,” Limbar said.

“We thank you,” Cardenia said, and rose. Everyone else rose with her, taking the hint they were dismissed. Only Deng remained sitting; he knew he was still needed.

“Your Majesty, a private word, if I may,” Amit Nohamapetan said, as the others exited.

“Yes, Lord Nohamapetan,” Cardenia said. She was still standing and did not offer to have him sit, and she assumed that he would take the hint that any word he wanted to have would be brief.

Amit picked up the hint, and his eyes flicked to Deng, still seated, registering that the word would not be all that private, either. He approached Cardenia instead, stopping at a still respectful distance, and spoke in low tones. “I wanted to personally convey my condolences to you in this moment of loss,” he said. “I know you and Naffa Dolg were close. It is hard to lose anyone we love, as my own sister learned with the loss of your brother.”

Oh, nice, Cardenia thought. Even in attempting to express a moment of condolence, Amit Nohamapetan couldn’t help but remind her that his family still considered the position of the emperox’s spouse their own property. She looked at him and saw the unremarkable face and unremarkable body and behind both, the reportedly unremarkable mind happiest in the pursuit of unremarkable pleasures. The sister and the younger brother were apparently the brains of the Nohamapetan outfit. This one was a lump. His appearance in this meeting was obviously an attempt to ingratiate him toward Cardenia by offering up useful information, followed by the humanizing moment that was happening right now. All delightfully scripted for her consumption.