“I thought they were dead, and thus did not pursue the matter. Then my agents chanced upon a possible lead in the Ilvewind Cross census, a mention of my daughter’s name, which comes from the old language used in Woodfall, before the empire. I set a search in motion, and here she is.”

The intendant looked at Elen, as if thinking Elen was the daughter in question. Duenn was old enough that he could have fathered her.

“Kema Duennar is my daughter,” said Duenn with a smug grimace of satisfaction. “Her mother was my concubine, whom I called Owlet. Is it true she is dead?”

“I know no one named Owlet,” said the intendant. “However, the lad’s mother, Aoving, has ascended to High Heaven. One of many who died in the avalanche that blocked the road.”

“Call her what you wish. She had no legal name because she came from outside Duenn Manor and was never registered in any imperial census. She was fortunate that my chatelaine generously took her onto the household staff and gave her the valuable token of Manor residence. I have the census papers to prove Kema’s birth status, if you need papers. My personal oath and the witness of my chatelaine and militiamen ought to be sufficient.”

“I’m not sure what is being claimed here,” said the intendant.

Elen snuck a glance at Kem, but he was staring at the floor, shoulders tight as he listened.

The lord scoffed. “Is that not obvious? The mother, with the connivance of this thief, stole my daughter from me.”

“Elen is his aunt,” said the intendant, hand straying to stroke his beard.

“Is that what she claimed? She’s not his aunt. She and the mother are not sisters by blood, whatever they called themselves. She cannot prove a legal blood-tie to my child. Nor is Elen the name she used when she ate Duenn Manor’s bread and slept peacefully inside Duenn Manor’s walls. Once the census papers are cleared through you, in your capacity as justiciar of Orledder, I will take my daughter home with me.”

“I have to pee,” said Kem suddenly, hoarsely.

Elen didn’t like Kem’s odds if he tried to run, so she gave a little dip of her chin, a delicate No that others might not recognize as a signal. But he wasn’t looking at her.

Lord Duenn laughed coarsely. “That old trick. We’ll get a bucket and a curtain, and you can do your business in the same room as my people. You won’t be alone until we’re back at Duenn Manor and you are secure in the treasure wing.” He paused, then added in a curt tone, “Take the girl outside.”

His guards hustled an unresisting Kem out the door.

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, the intendant looked through the papers.