“Perhaps. I am hoping, Lady Amalia, that you may also be able to accomplish something for Ardence.” She regarded me closely. I wasn’t used to having to look up at women; my Callamornish father had left me a height advantage few Raverrans of my gender seemed to surpass, but Lady Savony had an inch or two on me. “For years, your family has been a true friend to our city. What is your stance, if I may ask, on the current tensions between us?”

“I find them most distressing,” I said immediately. “I am eager to return to cordial relations between Ardence and Raverra as soon as possible.”

Lady Savony fingered the chain of her spectacles. “You must understand, I am absolutely dedicated to the welfare of Ardence.”

“Of course.”

“Of course? I wish it were a given, my lady. Few among the leaders of our city put the good of Ardence before their own, as my family has always done.” She replaced the spectacles on her nose. The eyes that met mine through them were sharp as a hunting bird’s. “If more of them did, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Do you know the true root cause of the difficulties in Ardence?”

I hesitated, then shook my head. I might have my own opinions, but I’d rather hear what she had to say.

“Three years ago, Mount Enthalus in the Witchwall Mountains erupted. Hardly anyone in Raverra noticed.” She stared off through the embassy wall, as if she could see across space and time to watch it happen. “But the eruption choked the River Arden with rock and ash, reshaping it. New lakes and rapids formed. Some stretches of the river split, or grew shallower. It is no longer the perfect channel for trade between Vaskandar and the Raverran Empire.”

“Ah.” I began to see where she was going. “And Ardence depends on that trade.”

“Our city was built on that trade, and thrived on it for hundreds of years. Now it is suddenly diminished, since larger ships can no longer navigate the river near the border. Ardence faces a very real danger of poverty and ruin.” The skin around her eyes tightened, as if the admission pained her. “But the nobility of Ardence seems determined to spend as lavishly as ever, including our current duke. They are making matters exponentially worse with their excesses, and are making no plans to address the problem. When I bring up the issue to His Grace or the Council of Lords, I am laughed at.”

Knowing the city teetered on the brink of bankruptcy helped everything else make much more sense: Ardence’s willingness to take help from Vaskandar, the duke’s desperate ploy in taxing Raverran merchants, and even the rise of the Shadow Gentry. “So that’s why the nobles pressured the duke to levy taxes on Raverran merchants and break the Serene Accords? To bring in more money?”