“No?” said Elena.
“No,” said the Arbiter of Protocol, “but I fear the guest is one who might be as much, if not more, offended, at your presence.”
“I withdraw,” said Elena.
“Hasten,” said the Arbiter of Protocol.
“Yes, Master,” said Elena, and slipped from the chamber.
Shortly thereafter the guest was announced.
15
“How gracious of you to accept my invitation,” said Iaachus.
“I have long anticipated receiving it,” said the guest. “You may kneel, and kiss my ring.”
“I think not,” said Iaachus.
“As you will,” said the guest.
“Be seated,” said Iaachus. “Kana?”
“Is the Arbiter of Protocol to pour?” inquired the guest. “Is there no servitor?”
“I thought privacy might free our tongues,” said Iaachus, “even more than kana.”
“I have not yet been granted an audience with the emperor and the empress mother,” said the guest.
“Nor have thousands of others,” said Iaachus.
“I am not as others,” said the guest.
“That is why I have sought this exchange,” said Iaachus.
“We no longer meet in caves, in abandoned buildings, in private homes,” said the guest.
“Indeed,” said Iaachus. “You have four temples here in Telnar alone, imperial city of Telnaria.”
“Only three,” said the guest. “One is a false temple.”
“Even so,” said Iaachus, “three temples here, in imperial Telnar, Telnar, the seat of the empire, the august and famed meeting place of the senate itself.”
“The senate is meaningless,” said the guest.
“Surely not,” exclaimed Iaachus.
“If it does not enact the imperial will,” said the guest, “it will be dissolved, and replaced, it being a trivial matter to appoint a more acquiescent membership.”
“I fear you know little of the power of the senate,” said Iaachus.
“It lacks fleets and armies,” said the guest.
“Even so,” said Iaachus.
“I think it must be unpleasant to be cast to serpents or boiled in the blood and fat of lizards,” said the guest.
“I do not understand,” said Iaachus.
“I think you do,” said the guest.
“I fear not,” said Iaachus.
“More benignly,” said the guest, “many a time a senator or fellow of deeds and wealth has been invited to revise his will in favor of the empire, following which, caring for his family and name, he has been found lifeless in a scarlet bath, his veins parted.”
“No more,” said Iaachus. “Such dreadful doings, if they existed at all, would characterize more primitive times, more savage days, times and days lacking civilitas.”
“Men are satellites,” said the guest. “They orbit various suns of power.”
“The emperor would not hear of such a thing, nor the empress mother,” said Iaachus.
“I suspect they would not hear of such a thing,” said the guest. “I suspect they would not be told.”
“Speak with care,” advised Iaachus.
“The emperor is a boy,” said the guest, “and the empress mother a timid, irascible, vain old woman.”
“Beware,” said Iaachus.
“Arrest me,” said the guest, “and Telnar will erupt in flame.”
“You must be fatigued from your journey,” said Iaachus. “I understand you have recently arrived from Zirus.”
“From the Holy World of Zirus,” said the guest.
“Of course,” said Iaachus.
“In whose marshes once swam and waded the Redemptor,” said the guest.
“I understand,” said Iaachus.
“Telnar,” said the guest, “is not merely the seat of the senate, as you remark, but it is also the seat of the imperial court.”
“In season,” said Iaachus.
“That season is now,” said the guest.
“It is not easy to obtain an audience,” said Iaachus. “There are many others.”
“Not such as I,” said the guest.
He fingered the device slung about his neck, over his voluminous purple robes. It, and the chain from which it was suspended, appeared to be of gold. The device itself appeared to be a small replica of a rack, or grid.
“The empire prides itself on its fairness, its tolerance and impartiality,” said Iaachus.
“Faults, not virtues,” said the guest. “Falsity deserves no fairness. Surely you cannot think so. Iniquity deserves no toleration. Who could entertain such a thought? Wickedness is not to be viewed with impartiality. Is that not itself the greatest of wickednesses?”
“Kana?” said Iaachus.
“Please,” said the guest.
“I am curious as to these movements within the empire,” said Iaachus.
“Movement,” said the guest. “Truth is one.”
“The individual in question, as I understand it,” said Iaachus, “died long ago.”
“Not so long ago,” said the guest.
“Generations ago,” said Iaachus.
“If you like,” said the guest.
“And left no written records, or writings.”
“No,” said the guest.
“Written accounts dealing with these matters date from long after the individual’s demise.”
“Not so long,” said the guest.
“Generations,” said Iaachus.
“If you like,” said the guest.
“Doubtless there was a prior oral tradition.”
“Of course,” said the guest.
“Some doubt that the individual existed,” said Iaachus, “for example, the unusual accounts, the surprising occurrences, the similarities with other prophets, teachers, gods, and such.”
“To deny truth is blasphemy,” said the guest.
“I have no objection to supposing the individual, or such individuals, perhaps conflated into one, existed,” said Iaachus.
“The Arbiter of Protocol is generous,” said the guest.
“His, or their, nature, doings, lives, views, teachings, and such, seem obscure.”
“Not at all,” said the guest. “Truth is one.”
“There are many differing versions and accounts of the teachings in question,” said Iaachus.
“But truth is one,” said the guest.
“It must be difficult to know which version or account is true,” said Iaachus.
“Not at all,” said the guest.
“If any one of them,” said Iaachus.
“One is true, truth is one,” said the guest.
“Surely others cling as tenaciously to their own accounts and versions, as you to yours,” said Iaachus.
“Persistence in error is execrable,” said the guest.
“The Redemptor, as I understand it,” said Iaachus, “is identical with Karch.”
“Yes,” said the guest, “but different, as well.”
“That is hard to understand,” said Iaachus.
“Of course,” said the guest.
“Your doctrines, in their abundance and complexity, seem to far exceed the simple words ascribed to your Redemptor.”
“But are entailed by them, by irrefragable logic.”
“Many seem unintelligible,” said Iaachus.
“They transcend reason,” said the guest.
“That is a virtue?” asked Iaachus.
“Of course,” said the guest.
“You take much of this on faith?” asked Iaachus.
“Yes,” said the guest.
“Why?” asked Iaachus.
“Because our faith is based on truth.”
“Truth is hard to find,” said Iaachus.
“Not when seen through the eyes of faith,” said the guest.
“Which faith?” asked Iaachus.
“Mine,” said the guest.
“I see,” said Iaachus.
“I hoped you would,” said the guest.
“Your doctrines, and those of other temples, all claiming to be the one, true temple of the Redemptor, seem to differ.”
“Heresy is rampant,” said the guest.
“Perhaps the empire might be of assistance?” said Iaachus.
“If properly guided,” said the guest.
“Perhaps that has something to do with your desire to meet with the emperor and the empress mother?” said Iaachus.