37, The spy

Ayya and her father walked into Tariana’s room and found her talking with Tenac. 

“Ayya, I’m happy your father found you. We are just waiting for Mikhalie. Let me get you a cup of tea while we wait,” Tariana said, indicating a chair at the table. Ayya sat down and accepted the tea. They talked about the day while waiting. When Mikhalie had arrived and got her tea, Tariana told the men to join them.

“What is going on?” Ayya asked.

“Tenac came to me with some worrying news and I talked to Tariana about them,” her father said. Ayya looked at Tenac. He had gone into his rider mode and had a stone face that could rival her father’s. 

“Tenac and you recognised a man the other day,” Tariana explained. Ayya nodded. “He had him followed, discreetly, and found some worrying things. Tenac, can you give the girls a recap?” 

“The man goes under the name Gehant. He married into one of the noble families of Ne’xsiss a little over a year ago. During the time we followed him around, he has been talking with most parts of the Ne’xsissian delegation. From what we can tell, the topics have been of a delicate matter. Then, during lunch today, one of my men followed him as he exited the palace, taking precautions not to be seen doing so, and going down to the trading ward. There he met up with a trader from Ormenic and some papers were given to the trader. The rider reported it back to me as soon as they got back. I talked to Kopa and he sent me to talk to the city watch. The city watch apprehended the trader and found the papers that we think Gehant gave him,” Tenac told them. This was bad, Ayya thought. Ormenic was the kingdom on the other side of Ne’xsiss. the two countries had a long going rivalry and there had been several wars and minor scuffs over the last three hundred years. For a Ne’xsissian noble to hand over information to an Ormenic trader, that was bad. 

“These are the papers,” Tariana said, spreading out five sheets of paper on the table. They were full of writing. 

“They are written in Common,” Ayya remarked. She was surprised. She at least thought they would be written in a more obscure language, making them harder to read. 

“Yes, that surprised me as well,” Tariana nodded. “My question is what we do about this?” she then asked.

“We have to tell the prince,” Ayya said.

“I think that is too rash. It can affect our relationship with Ne’xsiss if they think we had anything to do with this,” Mikhalie objected.

“But we caught the man. If we tell the prince, we will show him we are on their side. But if we hide it and Ne’xsiss finds out about it, we will look guilty,” Ayya insisted.

“Can we take the chance to risk losing our closest ally?” Mikhalie asked.

“If we don’t bring it up, how are we going to apprehend Gehant? We can’t just grab a Ne’xsissian nobleman without a reason,” Ayya said.

“Do we need to apprehend him? He has done nothing to wrong us,” Mikhalie asked.

“We don’t know that. He might be reporting back about us as well. We need to study the papers in order to determine that. But even if he isn’t, he is most certainly spying on our closes ally. We can’t just let that go on without telling them,” Ayya insisted.

“No, you’re right,” Mikhalie agreed. “But I wish there was some way that we could do it without needing to get involved,” she added. Tariana had quietly been listening to the two of them. 

“I think Ayya is right. We need to be honest with the prince. We can’t build a relationship on hiding things. There is a chance it will backfire and that the Ne’xsissian delegation will think this somehow is our doing. But I would rather have that happen than be caught in hiding this from them.” Tariana finally said. “Tenac, could you go to the prince and ask him to join us for an urgent meeting,” she then said. 

“Of course, I will bring them here,” he said, getting up and walking out of the room. 

“The second day and already we have all this drama. This is why I always feel like I need six months of rest after states visits,” Tariana said with a smile. Ayya’s father stood up and took his usual place behind Tariana. Soon there was a knock on the door and Tenac opened it.

“The prince and his second in command,” he announced, and showed the two men inside. 

“Thank you for coming on such short notice. Please have a seat,” Tariana said, showing the two empty chairs. 

“Not at all, it sounded serious,” the prince said as he and Pehobo took their seats. 

“I’m afraid it is. I have troubling news to share with you. The other day Ayya and major Tenac recognised someone from your party. They had run into him a couple of years back at the marketplace in Salmis. Back then he had a completely different role and went by another name,” Tariana started, and then continued to tell the series of events that had led up to the meeting. Ayya was watching the prince. His expression was set into a slight frown, his version of a stone face. But after living with her father and spending so much time with Tenac, Ayya could read the small signs on the prince’s face. He went from being surprised and intrigued to upset and finally landed on angry. 

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” he said as Tariana had stopped talking. “May I?” he asked and indicated towards the papers.

“Please,” Tariana said. The prince picked them up and read through them. 

“It has to be written in some sort of code. It reads as nothing more than ramblings,” the prince said. 

“I agree. Most likely, there is a hidden meaning. I don’t think it would be too hard to figure out, or you could just ask the man that wrote it,” Tariana agreed. 

“I need to talk to him regardless,” the prince said with a smile that held no joy or mirth. “Would you mind if I kept these?” he asked.

“They are yours, but I would ask that if you find anything that would be of interest to me, that you let me know,” she said. It was a nice way of asking to let her know if the spy had intended to share information about Salmisarian affairs. 

“You will be the first to know,” he agreed. “If you excuse me, I have some business to attend to before dinner,” he said, standing. “Major Tenac, Ayya, I’m forever in your debt for your awareness. If there is something I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask,” he said and bowed to each of them before leaving the room. 

“That went as well as we could have hoped for,” Tariana said, and relaxed. Ayya nodded and drank down the last of her tea. 

“Do we need to do anything else?” she asked.

“No, now we wait to see if the prince will share information with us. But let’s keep our eyes open in case there is more interference,” Tariana told them. They all nodded. 

“I think I’ll head back to my room to get ready for dinner,” Ayya said after a moment of silence. 

“I’ll walk with you,” Tenac said. They walked through the corridor in silence. Ayya’s room was just three doors away from Tariana’s.

“Keep an eye out for anything strange, and be safe,” Tenac told her as they got there. 

“I will. You were an excellent teacher. I’m constantly aware of my surroundings,” she joked. Tenac smiled. “Tenac,” Ayya said as he turned around.

“Yes?”

“Donte is here with the delegation,” she said. Ayya thought it was better to let him know.

“Did he talk to you?” Tenac asked.

“He tried, but Neherim sent him away, then he tried again just before my dad came to get me,” she said. Tenac nodded and Ayya saw he was planning something. “Tenac, he is not important enough to warrant any extra measures. He has no power, and he is just starting to reap what he has sown,” she told him.

“Desperate men can be dangerous,” he said.

“He already thinks I will light him on fire if he bothers me, I think I’m safe,” she said and had to laugh at the surprised look on Tenac’s face. “I’m not saying that I would, but he doesn’t need to know that,” she added. Tenac chuckled.

“Sometimes I forget just how powerful you are, Ayya. You hide it remarkably well,” he told her. 

“Thank you.”

“I’m not sure it’s a compliment,” he said.

“It is. It means people don’t find me intimidating. I prefer they think me weak, even though I’m not.”

“Sometimes you remind me of my mother and how she strategizes,” he told her as he shook his head.

“Now that is the biggest compliment I could ever get,” she said, sending him a beaming smile. 

“Stay safe, Ayya. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“You too Tenac.”