Editing The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Thirteen (section)

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Lofn was getting a little sick of this. She had been brought along to the conference day after day, and nobody ASKED her anything! At least Mom had said that this was going to be the last day. This time, there were only four people at the Imperial end of the table. Three of them were shiny, but one was the scary hollow man from before. One of the shiny men, with the third eye, was complaining. Again.<br>
“I know the Eldar do not use the light of the holy Astronomican for navigation, as I and my kin do.”<br>
“We don’t need it,” Mom said. The Throne icon at the end of the table suddenly flickered as the loud guy started talking.<br>
“IT’S NOT, IF YOU’LL ALLOW SOME CANDOR, LIKE WE CAN STOP YOU FROM USING IT.”<br>
“Right. Then, if we are done?” Mom asked, standing up. Dad and Lady Isha stood too.<br>
“I THINK WE ARE. MIND IF I SEND THE TRANSCRIPT DIRECTLY TO YOUR SHIP?”<br>
“Go ahead, by all means,” Mom said. The shiny man with the huge letter caved into his arms was glaring at Lofn for some reason. She stared back, wondering what she had done this time. As soon as the little recorder in the corner bleeped off, he started talking.<br>
“Farseer, now that we’re done, I think we deserve to know. Why in the world did you insist your daughter come here?” he demanded. “She’s far too young for politics.”<br>
“I didn’t bring her here as a representative,” Taldeer said drily. “Your Emperor, Lady Isha, and I have discussed this.” The bald man got angry.<br>
“What are you not telling me?”<br>
“Are you addressing me, or the Emperor?” Taldeer shot back. The man immediately shut up.

Lofn sighed aloud, then regretted it. Everyone in the room looked at her. The empty man smiled at her, and looked like he might have actually meant it. “Something to add, Lofn?”<br>
Well, there wouldn’t have been anything to say, but after several days of this, she was out of patience. “I’m just…” she didn’t say ‘bored.’ She really wanted to. “I don’t know why I’m here either.” Dad closed his eyes for a moment, and Lofn felt his frustration. Mom smiled, though.
“Well, now that we’re done, I can tell you when we get home, OK?”<br>
Lofn shrugged under the uncomfortable formal dress she was wearing. “All right.”<br>
The golden security guard opened the door, and Lady Isha walked out without a word. Mom took Lofn’s hand and walked her out of the room, with Dad behind her. On their way back to the suites they had been assigned, Dad walked up next to her and leaned over.<br>
“Sorry this has been so boring, Lofn.”<br>
“It’s…pretty boring, yeah,” Lofn allowed. Lady Isha tilted her head to the side as somebody soul-talked to her, then shook her head. “I wanna know why so many of the humans here hate us.”<br>
“Oh, Lofn,” Mom said sadly. She shook her head too, staring at the floor. “We have so many reasons. I don’t want to tell you about them yet.”

“I WONDER HOW TALDEER’S GOING TO EXPLAIN TO HER DAUGHTER THAT THE ONLY REASON SHE’S HERE IS TO ACT AS A PACIFIER?” the Emperor said in Isha’s head.<br>
“Tactfully,” Isha said shortly. It irked her to no end that he had used those words. “What do you want?”<br>
“WELL, YOU SAID EARLIER YOU MIGHT BE VISITING AN EXODITE WORLD. DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE?”<br>
“Not by any name you’d recognize, no. I need to visit Ulthwé first, also,” Isha pointed out. “Why do you care? Our negotiations have concluded.”<br>
“YEAH, BUT OUR ROGUE TRADERS SOMETIMES GO DECADES WITHOUT CONTACTING THE IMPERIUM. YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER ONE WHO DOESN’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENED HERE.”<br>
“Oh? And what would I tell them?” Isha asked tartly. “What message would I give that would carry your authority?”<br>
“EASY: INVOKE THE WRIT OF TRADE THAT THEY CARRY. HELL, SOME OF THEM I SIGNED, PERSONALLY, WHEN I STARTED THE CRUSADE. JUST SAY THAT I’VE INSTRUCTED THAT THE WRIT BE EXTENDED TO EXCLUDE TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OVER EXODITES AND THEY SHOULD LEAVE YOU ALONE. IF NOT, LET ME KNOW. I CAN TAKE CARE OF IT.”