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‘May I present endary Sir Sparhawk? Most assuredly, dear lady I’ve travelled half-round the world to ne bowed

‘Your Excellency,’ Sparhawk replied, also bowing

Ehlana then introduced the others, and the ongoing exchange of diplomatic pleasantries continued for the better part of an hour Oscagne and Mirtai spoke at soe which Sparhawk found quite enuflections in courtesy’s direction?’ the ambassador asked at last ‘Cultures vary, of course, but in Tamuli three-quarters of an hour is the customary amount of time one is expected to waste on polite trivialities’

‘That seerinned ‘If we overdo our hoe to courtesy, she becomes a bit conceited and expects more and en,’ Oscagne approved ‘The reason for my visit is fairly simple, my friends I’asps of surprise while you try to adjust your thinking to accept the notion that anyone could possibly find any fault in so witty and charen runted

‘Pray tell, your Excellency,’ Ehlana said, ‘how on earth could anyone find reason to be dissatisfied with you?’ The aerated slightly for effect,’ Oscagne admitted ‘I’m not really in all that much trouble It’s just that his Imperial Majesty has sent me to Chyrellos to appeal for aid, and I’m supposed to couch the request in such a way that it won’t huht He was in his natural element here ‘I think the e’ll want to proceed here is to just lay the problegested, ‘and then they can concentrate on the real issue of avoiding eovernment They’re all unspeakably clever I’ether, they’ll be able to cohed ‘Was there no one else you could have selected for ave the two of the story, your Excellency,’ Emban told him ‘I’ll tell you all about it so better to do Tell them what it is in Tamuli that’s so serious that his Imperial Majesty had to send you here to look for help’

‘Prone said to Ehlana

‘I’ll do ot a bit of civil unrest in Tane told thene confessed ruefully ‘Of course I’ the emperor verbatim – at his instruction You’d almost have to know our e He once referred to a hurricane as a "little breeze" and the loss of half his fleet as a minor inconvenience’

‘Very well, your Excellency,’ Ehlana said ‘Noe kno your emperor would characterise the problene said, ‘since your Majesty is so kind as to ask, "catastrophic" does sort of leap to ht consider "insoluble", "cataclyss like that I really think you should give some consideration to his Majesty’s request,evidence that what’s happening on the Daresian continent may soon spread to Eosia as well, and if it does, it’s probably going to mean the end of civilisation as we know it I’m not entirely positive how you Elenes feel about that sort of thing, but we Taht to be made to fend it off It sets such a bad precedent when you start letting the world come to an end every week or so It seeovernne leaned back in his chair ‘Where to begin?’ he pondered ‘When one looks at the incidents individually, they alht the empire to the brink of collapse’

‘We can understand that sort of thing, your Excellency,’ Emban assured him ‘The Church has been on the brink of collapse for centuries now Our Holy Mother reels from crisis to crisis like a drunken sailor’

‘Eently

‘Sorry,’ the fat little church ‘Soh, doesn’t it, your Grace,’ he said to Eovernment of the Church is not really all that overnment of the empire Bureaucrats need crisis in order to survive If there isn’t a crisis of soht decide that a number of positions could be eli reed

‘I assure you, however, that e have in Taenerated for the purposes ofin the slightest when I say that the empire’s on the brink of collapse’ His bronze face becaeneous people as you here in Eosia are,’ he began ‘There are five races on the Daresian continent We Tamuls live to the east, there are Elenes in the west, Styrics around Sarsos, the Valesians on their island and the Cynesgans in the centre It’s probably not natural for so athered under one roof Our cultures are different, our religions are different, and each race is sublihed ‘We’d probably have been better off if we’d rerew ane replied ‘You could almost say that we Tamuls blundered into empire’ He looked at Mirtai, who sat quietly with Danae in her lap ‘And that’s the reason,’ he said, pointing at the giantess