and isnât going to be influenced by her, youâre very much mistaken.:
:You have a point. And Iâm sure the thought has crossed her fatherâs mind as well,: he admitted.
He sensed Taverâs amusement. :There you have it. If you take that line with the Council, it will be clear that Sendar believes Selenay can handle the responsibility.:
:True. . . . : That would be all to the good.
:And if you point out it was her idea, it gives her more validity in her own right.:
:Also true.: He was glad that Sendar was seeing to it that Selenay was brought along as the Heir-in-fact as well as the Heir-in-name, but it meant a lot of work. Still, better a lot of work now than trying to bring her up to the job later, in a crisis. Because kings, even the kings of Valdemar, were mortal, and no matter what the circumstances, King Sendarâs death would precipitate a crisis.
âNow, is there any sign of a repercussion down there along the Karse Border from this incident?â Sendar asked, and Talamir gladly turned the subject to the simpler one of espionage reports and troop movements. Well, relatively simpler.
âAt the moment, the best guess is that the incident has been completely suppressed,â Talamir replied. âThere are no reports, not even rumors, from what our informants can tell us. We donât even really know which little village Kantor won him out of, theyâre keeping it so quiet. We think itâs Sunsdale, because thatâs the only one that recently beat off bandits, but thereâs no word of anyone escaping the Fires from there.â
âIt must be an acute embarrassment to them,â Sendar speculated. âGood. Letâs hope it stays that way. I would rather they didnât have any more excuses to prod at us down there.â
âYou have a talent for understatement, Majesty,â Talamir replied, rubbing his brow absently with one knuckle. ââProdâ is not precisely how I would put it. But the mission you sent me on in the first place is a complete success; Joyeaus has got a Border-watch based on the old fire-watchtowers everywhere along the Border except on Holderkin landsâand thereâs enough overlap that nothing larger than a bandit troop is going to slip past, even there.â
âThen the damned, stiff-necked Holderkin can fight off their own bandits,â Sendar growled, âAnd may they wallow in their pride until they choke on it!â
Her fatherâs outburst caught Selenay by surprise, and she directed a look of shock at Talamir. Talamir just raised his eyebrows in a silent signal that promised Iâll tell you later. She nodded very slightly.
âJoyeaus promised that she can have word to Haven of real troop movements within half a day at the worst,â he continued. âIt isnât just on our side of the Border that those old watchtowers exist. We can see theirs, and they can see ours, and there has been unofficial cooperation among the foresters for generations about alerting each other to forest fires.â
Sendar snorted. âFire doesnât stop at the Border no matter how many guards you post.â
Talamir nodded. âThe point is, of course, that we can see their watchtowers, and now ours will be manned in or out of fire season. And weâve got one more safeguard in place. If one of our informants has a message too urgent to be sent by hand and he can get to one of the fire towers, heâll light a fire beacon or flash a mirrorâon their side. Not a big one, or for long, but it will be a signal. That will warn the local highborn that something is coming, and from what direction, which means weâll have even earlier warning, if not the specifics.â
âRemind me to find some appropriate way to thank my idiot South-Border highborn for having the sense to cooperate with each other for a change,â Sendar growled, though to Talamirâs ears, the âgrowlâ