The sanisi led them on a winding route through Kuonrada, down narrow corridors and up twisting stairwells. They went up and up. Finally, they came to an amberwood door banded in iron. The sanisi in the lead opened it.

They walked into a broad room with a stunning view of the tundra and the hulking mountains in the far distance. The room itself was lush, dominated by a massive bed. Roh saw Saiduan writing on the ceiling, and around the tops of the walls, all in gold. Despite the bank of windows, the room was warm. A fire crackled in the massive hearth opposite the windows.

The Patron stood with four more sanisi at the center of the room behind a long, narrow table. The table looked out of place. It was battered and nicked, made of hard, black wood. On the table was a single piece of paper.

As the sanisi herded Roh and the others forward, Roh tried to make out what was on the paper, but it had been turned over.

“Stop there,” the Patron said. Roh was within spitting distance of the table. The Patron looked weary. He spread his arms and leaned toward them.

“I will give you one opportunity to speak the truth,” the Patron said. “Then I will begin killing you.”

Nioni let out a little cry.

Roh looked at the sanisi’s faces. He didn’t know the four in the room, either. Eight sanisi felt like a lot of trouble for a handful of Dhai.

“My Patron,” Dasai said, pushing his way gently to the front of their group, “we would be most pleased to answer any question you have of us.”

“Which of you wrote this?” the Patron turned over the paper.

Roh winced. It was the letter he had written to the Kai, the ciphered letter that, on the surface, looked like nothing more than banal talk of the weather and how terrible the food was, but once untangled with the cipher said… well, not much more. Only that he had not found what he was looking for. He thought it would be obvious who wrote it, but as he stared at the page, he saw that in tearing open the letter, the signature had been smeared and part of it ripped away, leaving no record of its creator.

Roh opened his mouth to tell the Patron everything – about the Kai cipher, the book they’d gotten from Shodav–

“I wrote it,” Dasai said.

Roh started.

“You?” the Patron said. “Did you think me a fool?”

“Not at all,” Dasai said. “I accept full responsibility for this correspondence and accept whatever justice, vengeance, or mercy you choose to grant me.”

“Do you understand what it is to rule a people?” the Patron said.

“I do not,” Dasai said.