Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [59]
Then he had ordered Tal O’nh to place his cohort of battleships on higher alert in the home system. Hydrogue warglobes had been seen in the nearby Durris trinary, and the Mage-Imperator feared that the recent devastation of Hrel-oro would not be the last hydrogue attack on an Ildiran colony.
Even if they came back at breakneck speed, he could not expect to hear from the scout cutters any sooner than tomorrow or the day after. He had to wait. Jora’h needed the Hyrillka matter resolved swiftly, so he could concentrate on the much bigger problem of the hydrogues. Osira’h was already on her way from Dobro...
No, he thought, all was not perfect in his domain. After ten thousand years of peace, the Ildiran Empire now trembled on the brink of its darkest times. Again, he wished the human King had chosen a different time to pay his respects.
A flurry of bureaucrat kithmen announced the Hansa visitors with a flourish. The young King and Queen could not hide their joy or fascination as they approached the dais. Two steps behind them, the Hansa Chairman wore a stony, formal expression, unimpressed with the spectacle of the Prism Palace.
Jora’h smiled as he sat up to welcome them; he would not allow these visitors to suspect that anything might be amiss. His thick but short braid twitched of its own accord. He spread his hands. “King Peter of the Terran Hanseatic League, I am pleased and honored to welcome you. You should not have gone to the effort and expense of making a social journey just to visit me.”
Basil stepped forward before the King could speak. “This is more than a social visit, Mage-Imperator. In these dangerous times, it is vital that humans and Ildirans maintain alliances and friendships.”
“I agree...” Jora’h looked at him. “But I was speaking to the King.”
Basil covered a flash of annoyance. “You can address me, Mage-Imperator. I am Chairman Wenceslas—”
“I remember you from your earlier visit at the beginning of the hydrogue war. In fact, you were here when the hydrogue emissary assassinated your previous Great King.” Jora’h looked with sympathy at Peter. He had never understood the confusing succession of human rulers. Was old Frederick this one’s father, as Cyroc’h was his own father? He decided to keep his words neutral. “I apologize for the loss of your predecessor, King Peter. I understand the emotional storms you must be enduring.”
Peter nodded awkwardly, exchanging a glance with the Chairman.
Jora’h’s father had seen humans as irrelevant at best, annoying and destructive at worst. True, these upstart humans were immature, greedy, unruly; and yet, facing the seemingly invincible hydrogues, they had held their own. No matter what obese old Cyroc’h had thought, perhaps these people were not so expendable nor so easily dismissed. Humans could have been true comrades in arms, instead of game pieces. Jora’h also felt a certain compassion toward them, thanks to the green priest Nira, a woman he had truly loved...
He blinked as he suddenly realized that the brown-skinned Queen Estarra held a potted treeling in her arms. He flinched with quick delight as well as discomfort. He remembered beautiful young Nira, also from Theroc, arriving in his throne hall in a very similar fashion, also bringing a treeling. But that treeling was now dead, burned, destroyed in the same fire that had supposedly killed Nira. All lies...my father’s lies...
Jora’h turned his attention toward the Queen, breaking from tradition. “And you are Estarra, daughter of Theroc.”
She made a formal half-curtsy, her regal dress sparkling, and extended the potted treeling. “Do you remember the worldtrees from my world, Mage-Imperator? I seem to recall that the others here had died.”
He looked intently at her. “I considered your brother Reynald a friend, and the green priest Nira Khali was...very close to me. When I finally visited Theroc for myself, I saw that they did not exaggerate the wonders of the worldforest.”
After he nodded his approval, lithe Yazra’h came forward from the side of the dais to take the treeling. Jora’h balanced it on