The Lycian trade ship arrived on a Tuesday.
Lysander knew it was coming — the harbor schedules crossed his desk every week as part of the supply role, and the Lycian seasonal convoy was a fixed point in the autumn calendar. What he had not known, until Fylon mentioned it the previous evening, was that the ship carried a specific passenger: not a cargo agent but a senior trade administrator named Sarpedon, traveling from Lycia personally to review the Dardanelles passage terms.
The king sent someone who can make decisions, Lysander thought when Fylon told him. That is not what you do for a routine annual review.
He told Ampelos that morning.
Ampelos read the Lycian king's postscript from the passage terms letter again — the carefully worded note about regional stability — and said: "We should meet with him before he goes to the formal review session. Before he has to speak in official capacity."
"Yes," Lysander said. "Today if possible."
"I will arrange it."
