Alistair stood at the table with the note in his hand for a long time.
The Edict had left the field, riding east.
East of Verissan ran the road back to the Caelmari council buildings, and past those, the road that left Caelmar entirely toward the eastern province, where Caldren had invited the Upholder delegation for talks.
On that road, in plain travelling armor with a single attendant, she was riding straight toward the conversation Caldren had been arranging for three weeks.
Alistair clicked his tongue because the Edict was the operational arm of the Upholders' continental authority, and a woman like that did not ride out to negotiate.
She was sent to a place only after the Upholders had decided that the place had already agreed to whatever they had not yet asked it to.
Her arrival was the announcement, never the request.
That meant the talks were already finished before Caldren even knew they had started.
