Thatis good.Theyquietly viewed the city for several minutes. Dylen could easilyimagine the extent of the Shajas relief that his country had beenspared much turmoil and his House the threat of internal strife, atleast for the moment. Eventually, Amir sighed with apparentcontentment and looked at him again.Andnow, what will you do? the Shaja asked. Sivar tells me you wishto take Ambassador Leyhar back to Ylandre soonest.Dyleninclined his head. He will recover faster amongst family andfriends. And besides, this posting was only temporary, he added.The designated ambassador to your country will be here veryshortly.Isee. Well, in any case, we are indebted to both of you. If yourequire anyassistance,you need only ask and we shall grant it. The corners of Amirseyes crinkled unexpectedly. Grinning quite suddenly, he added, Andyou may bring back as much kahviasyou wish. I hear you both took a great liking to it.Dylenlaughed. Indeed, I would have missed it badly. Thank you, YourMajesty.** * *Thestory that would come out of Asmara in later days was that Malkon hadgone for a late evening stroll along the cliff wall behind thepalace. He had apparently been inebriatedseveral palace sentriesas well as a number of servants testified that they had seen himwalking none too steadily close to the parapet edge. So sloshed hadhe been that he had not even had the wits to scream when he slipped,tumbled over the wall and plunged to his death in the rocky depthsbelow. It took almost a fortnight before they managed to retrieve hiscorpse, and by then, it was badly decomposed, it being the height ofone of the hottest summers to afflict Asmara.Terazcautiously inquired after their missing people, but Jubal Ferrendadared to insinuate that his sons demise might have been noaccident. The Varadani pretender went so far as to say that it wastoo much of a coincidence that Malkon had died so soon and suddenlyafter the arrival of two prominent Ylandrins.Asmarasresponse regarding the missing Terazans was that they did not knowanything about their fate save that last they were seen they werebeing escorted by one of Malkons retainers to the late lordsapartment. Where they had gone thence was hardly Asmarasresponsibility given that their visit had neither been official norexpected by the palace stewards.Asfor Jubals veiled accusation, the Shaja himself responded with astern letter chastising the Ferrenda patriarch for even hinting thatthe Halvans had not provided adequate protection for Malkon. For whatelse could he glean from Jubals suggestion that someone hadsomehow managed to penetrate or circumvent the more than amplesecurity provided all members of the royal family? Now murder fromwithin by a member of the royal householdthat was more feasible.But surely Jubal was not suggesting that the Halvans were capable ofsuch skullduggery!Terazasked no further questions, and Jubal hastily backed off. After all,it would not do to antagonize the Halvans and lose an ally in theprocess. He very reluctantly however handed Malkons shares inFerrenda-backed corporations over to his widower. His misgivingsproved correct when Prince Sivar promptly sought and eventuallywrested considerable control of several of those corporations withina few years of inheriting his late spouses estate.WhenSivar wed his cousin Laral a mere eleven