"Kerri," Tarrin smiled. "You look sleepy."

"It's dawn over here," she yawned.

"You look tired, deshaida," Allia noted.

"I've had a long day and a very short night," she complained grumpily.

"Are you in Dusgaard?" he asked.

She nodded. "A bloody cold place. I thought Wikuna was cold," she said with a shiver. "Did you know that they have to have a foot-er, span-of snow on the ground?"

"Winter comes early in Ungardt, sister. Very early," Tarrin chuckled.

"That grandfather of yours is impressive, brother," she said with a toothy grin. "He's as big as a bear."

"He's pretty mellow for an Ungardt, Kerri," he told her.

"I noticed."

"What were you doing last night, if you're in Dusgaard?" Allia asked.

"Staying up with Anrak," she frowned. "It's something of a custom for visitors to sit up and drink with their host. Thank the Goddess I'm a Weavespinner. I was neutralizing the alcohol before it could get me drunk. At least I don't have a hangover, thank the Goddess."

"I'll bet that really annoyed the Ungardt in the hall," Tarrin laughed. "To see a little slip of a Wikuni girl stone sober."

"I made quite a bit of money," she said smugly. "They decided to wager just who was going to be under the table first."

"You cheated, Kerri," Tarrin accused with a grin.

"So?"

Both Allia and Tarrin laughed loudly. "Did everything go alright?"

"Smooth as silk," she said confidently. "My clippers had to chase off about six ships that followed us out of the harbor. They lurked on the horizon until we crossed into Ungardt waters. We had a tense moment with a squadron of longships, but I managed to talk our way around them. They didn't like seeing a squadron of Wikuni clippers sailing into their waters. Not that I can't blame them," she added as an afterthought. "They escorted us to Dusgaard, and now they and my clippers are patrolling the waters off Ungardt to discourage anyone trying to sneak in."

"Sounds like our ruse worked," Allia noted.

"I think it did. Jenna said that there was a mass exodus out of Suld when we left. Everybody and his brother was in the city. Oh, that reminds me," she said. "There's been a bit of bad news out of Suld, Tarrin."

"What?"

"The Regent and the boy-king both are dead, as well as about half the Royal council and the heads of the four major noble houses," she told him. "It was an accident, before your paranoia starts getting the best of you."

"What happened?"

"A fire at the palace," she replied. "It gutted the wing that held the Royal apartments. It was started by a kitchen cookfire, and got out of control. It's very bad timing that alot of the heads of the higher noble houses happened to be at the palace at the same time. It's left a serious vacuum in the city and kingdom both."

"Who's in charge?"

"Right now? Jenna," she answered. "It's part of the treaty between the Tower and the Crown. If the throne vacates due to accident or treachery and there's no heir, the Keeper acts as Regent until a new king is chosen by the nobility. Jenna's fairly ticked off about it," Keritanima laughed. "She had enough work just being Keeper. Now the courtiers of the Lion Throne are banging down Duncan's door to get audiences with her. She's been howling at me for two days now, asking me how I do it."

"Do what?" Allia asked.

"Run a kingdom," she answered. "It's really not that hard. If Jenna can run the Tower, she can run Sulasia. It's just a little more paperwork, that's all."

"Poor Jenna," Tarrin chuckled.

"Why would a treaty be set up that way?" Allia asked.

"Simple, sister. The Keeper's neutrality is never in question," Keritanima answered. "If a king dies because of treachery, then someone had to kill him, and you never know who that may have been. They added accidents because you never know if an accident is as accidental as it seems. Either way, it puts someone with absolute neutrality in power who can punish the killer or determine that it truly was an accident. It also frees the nobility to get down to the business of getting a new king immediately, without all that messy disorder that tends to follow the death of a monarch. You know, some noble deciding that he's going to run things himself, and all that."

"That's rather practical," Allia said appreciatively.

"You know Sulasians, sister. Practical, pragmatic, and as much fun as a box of wet sand," she said with a teasing look at Tarrin.

"Joke all you want, but it works," Tarrin shrugged absently.

"Where's Sarraya?" Keritanima asked curiously, looking around.

"Off in a tizzy," Allia answered.

"I was not!" Sarraya's voice called as she flew back to them. "Hullo, Kerri. You're looking a bit frumpled."

"I feel frumpled," the Wikuni chuckled.

"Well, that explains why Jenna hasn't talked to me," Tarrin mused. "She must be up to her ears in paperwork."

"Alot more than that," Keritanima told him. "The citizenry is very nervous because rumors are flying that the fire was set on purpose, and Jenna's had to go out several times and calm things down because the nobles are too busy jockeying for a shot at the Lion Throne. They all adore her, and she's about the only one in the city right now that can keep that powder keg from exploding. The nobles think it was arson too, no matter what Jenna tells them, and they're all blaming each other."

"How would Jenna know?" Sarraya asked.

"There are any number of spells she could use to find out," Tarrin answered, cutting Keritanima off.

"So, Sulasia's about to fly apart at the seams," Keritanima said off-handedly, "and it's going to get worse."

"How can it get any worse?" Tarrin asked.

"When they try to choose a new king," she answered. "The heads of all four major houses died in the fire. There's going to be little internal wars within those houses to choose the successors, and while they're doing that, the minor houses are going to be maneuvering to get the throne before any of the major houses can get organized. It's so perfect for the minor houses that it really makes me think that someone did set that fire. All the minor nobles houses are chomping at the bit, because they think it's their chance for their smaller, minor houses to get on the throne."

"Isn't there a good candidate among the minor nobles?" Tarrin asked.

"Several, but nobody knows them, brother," she answered. "When it comes to winning the throne, reputation is almost as important as ability. They're not going to put someone on the throne if they're not sure he'll do a good job, because anyone that backs the new king may end up on the wrong side of the sword if it comes out that he's really incompetent, and the rest of the gentry defies him. It's a very unique situation, and I've already warned Jenna that the nobles may start fighting one another. Without one good qualified and well-known candidate, it's going to spread the support out among a number of lesser ones, and you know what that kind of scenario can degenerate into."

"Civil war," Tarrin growled.

"Not quite. More like an internal period of turmoil," she said succinctly. "If I were a betting woman, and I am, I'd put my money on Duke Arren of Torrian. He's a minor noble, but he has one of the best reputations in Sulasia as a fair, just, and kind lord, even if his desmense was what the Suldans would call a backwater town."

"Suldan?" Sarraya asked.

"A citizen of Suld. You can't very well call them Sulasians, can you?" she asked with a toothy grin.

"Arren would never seek the throne," Tarrin scoffed.

"I know, and that's more the pity," Keritanima sighed. "It may be a kingdom-wide affair, but if the citizens of Suld don't accept a new monarch, they don't get the throne. That's why all the heads of the noble houses stay in Suld, no matter where their fief is. It's more than an old saying in other parts of the world that as Suld goes, so goes Sulasia." She grinned. "In Wikuna, we say 'Sennadar marches to Suld's drum.' It's a fairly accurate description of the international politics of the West."