The Last Library Ch. 09

Ashur grimaced in a very human way. His frustration and Mera's trepidation must have been leaking through to his general behavior. He leaned back and rubbed a hand over his face.

"I didn't realize it showed that much," he admitted. He had come to trust Ternat marginally more since their first meeting, but he was a long way off from telling her about why he was really looking for someone particular in Couset.

"It's not really so much that I'm planning on leaving any time soon. I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place, but I do have responsibilities back home that I have been neglecting and I guess I'm just feeling that pressure right now." His gaze sank back down to the desktop and, once again, he started to gather up the paperwork but in a more organized fashion. "I am going to need some help with all this and I really don't have the time to learn it the right way." He dropped the stack into his satchel and stood. A side table with drinks and finger foods sat a few steps away from their work area and he picked up the tray holding the snacks with one hand and two glasses with the other. "Where would you suggest I look for someone to hire?"

Ternat leaned forward to take a small bit of something that Ashur's human brain wanted to think of as cheese even though it was made from nothing remotely dairy.

"I really don't have anyone to recommend right now that isn't already employed. Your best bet might be to talk to one of the clerks at the main capitol building. There is always someone who's required time is almost up."

Ashur nodded and changed the subject. "What happened with your theft of Santin's tools?"

She gave him a look of feigned outrage. "Theft! Dear sir! How could you think so lowly of me? And here I thought we were friends."

His bark of laughter joined her chuckles as she continued. "Actually, I almost lost it on the Fetud Pra border. It would seem that some of the customs officials aren't happy with the usual bribes. I'm not entirely certain why, but I have a few ideas." She pensively tapped a finger on the table. "I'm starting to worry about trade going through there. If they really are starting to turn expansionist again, it's going to make getting goods through a lot more expensive than normal."

Ashur ate a bit of food before asking, "Do you think they are?"

"Sadly, yes," she replied. "I can't say for certain what their time frame is, but it must be in the next osapt or two. This one feels different from past invasions, however. From the history I learned, Fetud Pra likes to invade slowly and surreptitiously. Like mildew, I guess you could say. But this..."

He waited and ate for several minutes while she collected her thoughts.

"A few of my sources in the country are telling me that their army is mobilizing and has been since the Prime Shentet's last visit. They've been buying up more supplies and the types of steels you would usually use for armor and weapons in greater amounts. They've got to be preparing, but I can't get any kind of information on a timeframe.

I usually have several contacts in their government, but two have been recently ousted and the rest have either shut down or aren't in the right circles anymore. The only source I have left tells me that funds have been flowing in and out from slush funds in exorbitant amounts. I'm told that someone is getting bribed, but I don't know who and that worries me."

Ashur nodded. He had heard of similar occurrences on his own world. "If they do decide to invade in a rush, what will you do?"

Ternat twiddled a breaded sweet between three fingers. "I'll have to make a few changes and alter more than a few contracts, but I can integrate into a new regime fairly easily. To tell you the truth, however, I really don't want to." She tossed the confection back onto the plate with a bit of force. "This is my home and always has been. I know the people here and I really don't want to see them under Fetud Pra's thumb."

Ashur nodded again. "I can understand that. Let's hope it doesn't happen any time soon."

******

Seye's frown deepened as she looked back and forth between the same five pages that she had been staring at for over an hour. All of them were from different sources, but they should have been the same amounts. Instead, what she was seeing were discrepancies that totaled tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of vills.

"Melat," she called. "Can you come check this for me?"

Her coworker stepped from his side of the table and looked over her shoulder. They had long since finished Anrit's requested tariff analysis and had been steadily working through Melat's original project.

"What's the problem?" he asked.

She handed two of the documents to him and indicated the other three.

"Can you check these, please? I don't think I'm off, but this can't be quite right." She stood up and moved aside so he could take her place. Melat pulled a blank sheet of the ledger paper over to him and started his own calculations while Seye stepped away. It didn't take him long to finish and he looked up at her.

"This can't possibly be right," he exclaimed, putting his finger to the paper underneath his worksheet. "Just by these eight accounts alone, there's over six-thousand vills that are unaccounted for. And over here," he pointed to one of the other sheets, "there's a variance of almost thirty thousand in twelve accounts. I don't understand."

"Neither do I," Seye said. She pulled the other chair up next to him and picked up his calculations. "You got the same numbers as I did. All I can think of is that these are all reporting errors." She looked over at the imposing pile of files they hadn't yet had a chance to do their preliminary analysis on. "Do you think we should tell Anrit?"

Melat nodded. "I do. If it were just one or two accounts, I'd say that someone had made a mistake, but this many has to be a training error somewhere. He's going to want to know if one of the senior clerks is teaching their novices wrong."

Soon after, they were sitting across from their supervisor with the offending documents in hand.

"Alright," the head clerk said. "What's going on?"

The two younger clerks had agreed that since Seye was the helper on this project, Melat would explain their concerns. Anrit sat quietly through the explanation and asked a few questions afterward while looking at the documents in question. Eventually, he leaned back in his chair with a frown.

"To answer your concern, it's not a question of training," he muttered. "Very few of these are handled by the same department, let alone the same people." He tapped a finger on his desk in his usual thinking mannerism. "Are these all the errors you found?"

"No," Seye answered. "We're only about a third of the way through our initial analysis." Melat nodded in agreement.

"Damn," Anrit cursed under his breath. "Damn." He looked at the numbers and tapped for almost ten minutes while the two clerks waited nervously. Finally, he focused back on them.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. The gala is a week away and I need to look into a few things before we start to figure this out. Both of you are on hold until then." He pointed to Melat. "After the gala, however, I want you to continue with the original project as much as you can while working around this." His finger shifted aim to Seye. "Your new job is to track this down. Technically, you're a lot too junior to handle this, but since you're already this far into it, and I know you've got the skills to do it right, I'm leaving it up to you. I'm going to want regular reports on what you find."

He gathered up the documents they had brought him and held them out for Melat to take. "But until after the gala, both of you are on leave. I don't want you to get caught up in any other projects, but I do want you to prep for your escort duties."

They started to rise, but he waved them back down. "Look, you two, I get the feeling you've stumbled onto something big, bad, and deep here. Right now, you are the best I can put on this because you are so junior and no one really pays attention to what you are doing. You're basically non-entities and that gives you a certain amount of invisibility and I need that right now for the preliminary stages of this."

"However," he continued. "This may put you at some risk and I want you to know that right now. Melat, you'll have some safety because you won't officially be working on the dirty part. Seye, on the other hand, until you can get me enough information to run with, you'll need to keep your head down. Don't tell anyone what you're working on and if anyone asks, you're still just helping Melat."

Anrit heaved a sigh. "That's the only advice I can offer you until we've either proven this is nothing or a really big something. The last time something like this happened, we lost four very senior clerks; two to circumstances I don't want to talk about. I wish I could tell you that you could say no to this, but you both are already attached to it if someone really comes looking so you may as well see it through.

In the meantime, I'm going to be making some quiet preparations. If and when this gets to a certain level, I need to be able to break you both away from it for your safety."

He stood up and pulled two pieces of paper from a cabinet. He filled in several areas of what Seye could see were forms of some type and pushed one of the sheets in front of each of them.

"This is the only other thing I can offer you right now. It's an "out" of sorts if you need it. As of right now, I have deemed that you both have accrued enough merit that you have met your obligation to the city and can start looking for outside work. I highly recommend that neither of you actually use that until I say so but spend the next few weeks making inquiries. Find a guild or someone that will take you for some part-time work.

If it turns out that this whole mess gets...well... messier, I'll let you know and you will use those to distance yourself. You'll walk away from here and stay away for no less than five osapts. By here, I don't mean the palace. I mean the city. You will pack yourself up and not stop until you are at least two weeks travel by caravan away. Do you understand?"

Shocked, they nodded.

"Good. Go ahead and get back to work for today. I would have put you both on leave in the next couple of days to prepare for the gala anyway and that's what I want you to do. If all this turns out to be nothing, then I still want you both to have good standing here and to do that, you'll need to stay on the Prime's good side. Now get out of here."

Seye and Melat nodded once more and left Anrit's office. Once they left, he opened a drawer in his desk and extracted a peculiar bottle of ink and three sheets of paper that were slightly heavier than what he had given to his young employees. With a muttered curse, he began the first of three copies of the same letter.

***

*You know, I really know nothing about fashion, do I?*

Ashur stood in front of the mirror and swiveled back and forth in an attempt to see more of the clothing that Ternat had helped him pick out for the evening.

*Not really, my love* Mera's amusement flooded the psychic connection between them. *But if it makes you feel any better, I really don't know much about Brenphan preferences myself. It's a good thing Ternat took pity on you.*

Ashur let out his own little snort of amusement. Soon after he had agreed to attend the gala with his teacher, she had dragged him from one tailor to another to find something for him to wear. Apparently, she had already designed, ordered, and purchased her own attire in the expectation that she would be invited once again to one of the premiere events of the city's elite. Now that she had an escort, she was determined to have his finery complement hers. Eventually, she had settled on something that might have hit his budget very hard indeed if he hadn't been supplementing his income with business deals.

The courtesan had obviously enjoyed the outing and so had Mera. She had taken almost a full day from her focus on the Vault to watch him be dragged around by Ternat and her mental comments as he tried on outfit after outfit made him chuckle and groan in equal measure.

Ashur tried to get a full view of the outfit one last time before turning away from the mirror and gathering the ornate overcoat that was the last piece. The season was reaching its end and colder weather was starting to encroach on the evenings.

"I guess it's time," he murmured to himself before opening the door to his hotel room and making his way down to the lobby. In front of the building was an ornate four-wheeled carriage pulled by two "horses". The driver was standing next to the door and opened it as Ashur approached. Inside, Ternat sat resplendent in a half gown, half suit of brown and green.

"I must say," she purred, "you do look nice."

Ashur smiled and took a seat next to her. He was tall enough that he had to hunch imperceptibly, but not uncomfortably. As soon as he had settled, Ternat laid a hand on his thigh and half-turned in her seat.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked.

"I think so," her student replied. "Honestly though, I've never been to something like this before."

Ternat gave him a look of mild surprise.

"You've never been to a high-class party before? I find that hard to imagine."

Ashur waved a hand, palm up in front of him.

"I've been to high-style parties before," he admitted. He did not, however mention that his attendance to those parties had been as a guard, not as a guest. "But I've never been to one that was mostly business, not social."

"Oh, that." Ternat patted his thigh. He noticed that as her hand moved up and down, it also traveled towards his hip just a little. "I know I've talked about that part a lot, but this really is a social occasion. I just really like to take advantage of the opportunities it provides. There will be plenty of people there who are simply enjoying a wonderful night out, but those of us who thrive on trade and information can't pass up the chance to talk shop."

She turned back to the front of the carriage and, as she re-settled, her hand slid minutely upward again. Mera took note of this and giggled in the back of his mind. Much like the shopping day, she was firmly ensconced in the Auditorium with a small stockpile of snacks and drinks as she watched him.

*I think trade isn't the only negotiation she's planning tonight. I recommend saving your strength for later on.*

Ashur started a bit in his seat but was able to pass it off as reacting to a bump in the road. His partner's casual views on intimate relations often caught him off-guard. Other than their dalliance with Xakelle, they had been a monogamous couple and he forgot from time to time that only their solitude had made it that way. Mera obviously had no problem with him enjoying another woman, but he was still working on overcoming his own, pre-programmed views. Fortunately, she understood his relative immaturity in that regard and knew that he would share her relaxed attitude within a century or two.

*Oh, joy.* It wasn't that Ashur wouldn't enjoy a night with Ternat. It was more that his worry about the state of the Vault and the Library itself was impinging on his libido.

*Don't worry about that for tonight, love. I'm certainly not. Everything is calm and should be for at least another day or so. I fully intend to enjoy tonight's entertainment and you should too.*

Ashur mentally nodded to himself and did his best to take her advice.

As the carriage pulled up to the event, Ashur could see several hundred guests milling about outside, waiting their turn to enter the large government building. The gala was being held in a hall that was set aside for large gatherings such as this. The outside was draped in several layers of strangely laced bunting and flags. All in all, he had to admit that it was very like something he would have seen in Oudromore.

He and Ternat waited their turn in line, making small talk with each other and other party-goers and were nearly to the door when a fanfare announced a large familiar four-wheeled carriage approaching. It ousted several other carts and carriages' place in the queue, but there was no noticeable uproar or complaint. Ashur would have been surprised if anyone would have been so bold since this was obviously the same vehicle that had stopped next to him on his first day in Couset.

It came to a halt in front of the building and five footmen jumped down to open the door and place footstools of diminishing height in front of it. After a suitably fashionable moment, the Prime Shentet stepped out, gathering the hem of an ensemble similar in design to Ternat's. Once she had set foot to the second stool, two of the footmen moved forward to take the job of wrangling the fabric until the Prime had reached the ground. With a smile and wave to the other guests, she started to parade forward in parallel to the queue. Obviously, no one was going to make one of the most influential people in the country wait and she knew it.

With the Prime so much on display, it took Ashur a moment to realize that a much smaller and considerably more drab conveyance had accompanied the grand coach and two young Brenphans scurried out of it and strode quickly to catch up. Their garb, like their transportation, was muted and somber in comparison to the Prime's and Ashur made mention of them to his date.

"Oh, them," she said. "They're just city secretaries. They'll accompany her all night and act as assistants and scribes. They're pretty much there to be her memory for the night."

Ashur nodded in understanding and regarded them more closely. The young man was an unknown, but he recognized the hapless runner from his first meeting with Vernlat and her entourage. He fervently hoped that the girl had not been reprimanded too harshly. If she had, there was no trace of it now. The pair were evidently focused on their job.

Ternat nudged him in the ribs. "They're the ones you should be asking for help with your execrable filing system."

"I don't know," he responded, watching the trio pass through the main doors. "They seem rather busy right now."

With a laugh, his escort slapped him on the shoulder. "Not those two, you dolt!" She smacked him again for good measure and he joined her levity with a smirk of his own. "The city clerks. I think I mentioned them before. They have to spend a certain amount of time in a sort of internship before they can work for a private company. It gives them better and a little more standardized training. In any case, they are very good at their jobs by the time they can leave. In fact, I'd definitely recommend you stop by the Palace in the next day or so to hire one of them. For tonight, though..."

She handed her invitation to the waiting attendant and they made their own way into the crowd beyond the doors. Inside the hall, Ashur stared around at the huge crowd of Brenphans filling the vast space. How Ternat conducted any business in this milling mass was beyond him, but he knew that she was stepping fully into her element. She must have noticed his gawking and he winced at the elbow she jabbed into his side.

"Close your mouth," she chided. "You look like a backwater bumpkin."

"Sorry," he said. "It's been a long time since I've seen this many people in one space that weren't swinging weapons at each other."

She threw him a quizzical look.

"And have you been in many battles?"

He held out his hand to escort her further into the hall.

"More than I ever thought I would when I was younger. For a while, I didn't think I would ever escape it."

Her hand and body subtly started to nudge him in her desired direction and they stepped forward.