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.” Camilla raised her hand when Cynthia opened her mouth to protest.“I know that only small pockets of cannibals still inhabit some of more isolated islands, but you know how slowly rumors die, and Bloodwind spent a lot of time and money to keep that one alive to safeguard his stronghold here.In Tsing, they probably consider a warship and a contingent of imperial soldiers as minimal protection for an expedition to this lawless wilderness.” She smiled without humor, the sobered.“But Count Norris had a personal — ”“They sent a count?” Cynthia interrupted.“Yes.Count Emil Norris of the Imperial Court of Tsing.Anyway, he apparently lost his entire family when the ship they were aboard disappeared here in the Shattered Isles.”“At least, he said he did,” Dura countered before loudly sipping her whiskey.“He could just be a really good liar.”“Did he say the name of the ship?” Cynthia asked, her curiosity whetted.“The ship was the Alabaster Rose, and the captain’s name was Derwall.He even knew what cargo they were carrying.That’s why I think he was telling the truth.He knew too many details.”“It could have been a play for your sympathy,” Ghelfan suggested, furrowing his brow.“A ploy to loosen your tongue.”“Perhaps,” Camilla admitted reluctantly.“But it seemed to pain him to speak of it, too close to his heart to be a falsehood.”“Well, I didn’t like him.” Dura knocked back a third of her tumbler and growled deep within her barrel chest.“He stuck his nose in every crack and crevice on the island! All his ridiculous questions; ‘What does this do?’ and ‘Why build it this way?’ Ah, he near drove me up a wall!”“We are digressing, I fear,” Ghelfan interrupted gently, knowing well Dura’s penchant for ranting.“I must say that I am disturbed, not with the fact that they sent an emissary or a warship, but that they stole the plans to one of your ships.Especially that ship.”“What do you mean?” Cynthia struggled to lean forward in her papasan chair, but gave up, grumbling in frustration.“Why that ship? Why not the new schooner plans? A schooner is more practical, and the design has already been proven at sea.This prototype has no viable purpose other than to sate your rather strange nautical curiosity.What value would the plans have to the emperor?”“They don’t know about the new schooner unless they spied you at sea on their way here,” Camilla said.“Peggy’s Dream wasn’t here, and neither Dura nor I mentioned it.Good thing, too, since the count mentioned concern in Tsing about your producing schooners at such a pace, and alluded to the worry that your fleet, if armed, would make a formidable navy.”“Why in the Nine Hells would I want a navy?”“I think,” Camilla suggested, her eyebrows raised, “the concern is that you’re setting up your own little empire down here, just like Bloodwind was doing.How did the count put it? ‘A powerful seamage with her own fleet of ships, and her own army of natives who hold her in complete adoration.’”“That’s ridiculous!”“I told him that, but I don’t think he believed me.” She smiled wryly, adding, “I didn’t mention the pact allying you with the mer.He didn’t seem to take them seriously, although he might if he knew of your alliance.”“Of all the things to dismiss, he chose the mer? Foolish.” Cynthia shook her head, chuckling without much humor.“Well, the only armed schooner I know of is Orin’s Pride, and she’s somewhere off the Sand Coast, hunting pirates.Which you would think,” she stressed, “would be in the empire’s best interest.I just don’t understand how they set their priorities.”“That’s what worried me!” Camilla said, a splash of wine escaping her glass as she gestured emphatically with her hands.“The count said he was sent to ensure the ‘security of the empire’, and he even went so far as to say that the survival of the empire could hinge on the ships that we develop.But what made me uncomfortable was that it seemed to be his priority, a personal interest, not just his job.”“After losing his family here, I don’t doubt that it was personal
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