Konrad Althalon pushes open the door, his eyebrows pushed together, scanning the room for the Imperatrice, who, according to his own security, was already present. He takes a step into the room, and looking curiously at Nathicana, hands the room key to his wife.
"Imperatrice?" He takes a few more steps into the room, and Nadia peeks out from around her husband's shoulder. They exchange a curious glance, and Konrad shrugs. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"
Nathicana's eyes flicker, as if looking at something beyond them, then close for a moment. She reaches up and disconnects the datajack from her temple, and sets the portcomp aside, unfolding her legs and getting to her feet with an almost cat-like grace. Another message from the Scolopendrans had arrived, but it was going to have to wait until this conversation had been handled. "Your majesties, both," she says quietly. "If we can perhaps drop the usual diplomatic protocol, and speak plainly? It'll make things simpler."
Nadia furrows a brow, taking a step aside and releiving herself of her purse. Konrad takes a few steps towards Nathicana and nods. "Yes, of course." He glances back to his wife, who appears to be somewhat displeased. "I'm just a bit surprised to see you like this."
"This isn't how I'd planned on greeting you both either," Nathi says. "Please, if you need a drink first, help yourselves. I'm sure the trip was long."
Konrad is happy to oblige, moving to the bar and selecting the bourbon in short order. Nadia finds a glass and hands it to Konrad, but declines a drink herself. She strides around the bar and sits down opposite Nathi while Konrad is still pouring his drink. "It's quite alright," she insists. "We understand things are somewhat amiss here, but are not as yet privy to the details." She glances over her shoulder to Konrad as he makes his way over and sits next to her. Quickly she swings her gaze back to Nathi. "What's going on?"
Perhaps it’s telling that Nathi doesn't get anything for herself - her nearly ever-present ice water is absent, nor does she choose to sample the wine. She simply nods curtly, and then takes a seat, waiting for Konrad to join them before speaking. "I know what he's said about it, but I want to hear confirmation from you. How long have you known Alkanphel was back, does he hold any official position in your government, and who all knew he was here?"
Nadia's eyebrows shoot up and she cranes her head back a bit. Konrad downs a mouthful of bourbon, sets the glass on the table and pours himself another hit. "So, he's shown up here, has he?" The Angsiyan sets the bottle down, and answers as he reaches for the newly refilled glass. "The better part of a year, I'd say. I found him via the Osgiliath stone maybe eight months ago..." he trails off. "Took us about six weeks to track him down."
"He knew, I knew, of course," Nadia cuts in, gesturing to Konrad and herself accordingly. "All of the Kaisserin higher-ups, pretty much; along with select Edwali noblemen. Alkanphel's precise whereabouts are a closely guarded secret, as per his wishes."
Konrad exhales sharply as he sets his now empty glass down. "He holds no official post, but he shows up at court from time to time, and I usually listen to what he has to say. He's not a part of my cabinet, but I value his advice." He pours another shot. "Why, what's he done?"
Nathicana visibly starts to boil over as confirmations are made, then just as visibly takes a moment to try and compose herself before responding, jaw set, the words still managing to come out in a growl. "All things considered, would it have killed you to let me know ahead of time rather than have him show up in the middle of the station like he did? I appreciate your loyalty to the man, and I appreciate his desire for privacy, but fuck if it hasn't been a night up here on account," she finishes, then again works to calm herself. "He's fine. He wanted to see his daughter. Unfortunately there's been an incident between all of that, and I've got to get to the bottom of it."
Konrad lets out a short little laugh before downing his third shot. "I tried to drop some hints at the villa, which I'm more than certain you picked up on. What was I going to do? Send you a note later saying 'Oh, by the way, Alkanphel is alive?'" He drops the glass down on the table and leans back in the divan. "Please. You'd not have given such a note any more currency than the hints I was able to drop when we met last." He shrugs. "Shit, I've have brought him with me, had Devon not been there. I like the man well enough, but bringing Alkanphel with me would have drawn quite a line."
Nathicana scowls all the same. "Yes, he said as much himself, damn his hide, and no, I'm afraid I was more focused on getting your asses back in the stream of things to notice any hints. I'm going to lay this out here because you're going to hear it from him in any case. The public appearance I'll grant was only a matter of time. Inconvenient, not how I'd want to handle something like this, and a right damn shock to the system that I'm still trying to parse. In any case, within a couple hours of his showing his face, there was an attempt on his life by a team of operatives - while he was with my daughter no less," she emphasizes, watching them both for reactions.
"Unsuccessful, obviously, but the main reason for the increased security. There's accusations flying, we're trying to track down every detail we can on the ops we have locked up, Devon is in a snit, Alkanphel is blaming him for it all, Naiya's been caught in the middle, and I've got a mess on my hands of biblical proportions. I need to know what you know, and I need to know it now."
The Angsiyan and his wife exchange a glance; his says 'shit' and her's says 'I told you so.'
"I figured he might do something like this," Konrad admits. "Unfortunately, we can't exactly control him any more than you can. He always said he wanted to find his daughter as soon as he was physically able. My wife urged restraint while I was a little more... sympathetic. I can't say for sure whether he took his cues from me or not, but I tend to doubt it. I think he just made a beeline for her, consequences be damned."
Nathicana simply nods at that, and waits for him to finish.
"But this assassination attempt unsettles me," Konrad adds with a stir. "I can only imagine this is the reason for the heightened security--especially with regards to us--and also for your decidedly uncharacteristic presence here. What exactly happened?"
"I don't know what 'exactly' happened," Nathi says shortly. "I got called away due to your arrival before I could get my hands on the bastards. Alkanphel claims he was jumped by six operatives up in the imperial apartments - yes, I know. The implications are bad. They tried to kill him, he wiped the floor with them, and left ever last one of them breathing if you can believe."
She gets up from the couch, and starts to pace, clearly agitated. "Power was cut, attacks were made, security seriously compromised. Not a peep from any of your other delegates, mind, though I've made certain they're well-protected. It seems to have been only Alkanphel who was targeted."
Nadia pushes her brows together as Konrad pours himself yet another shot. "If the operatives are alive, why come here? Surely they could provide better information than we could." She narrows her eyes, watching Nathi pace. "Unless we're suspects?"
"Nadia, please understand that I mean this as the highest possible compliment when I say I can't trust you further than I can spit when it comes to protecting your interests. You're sharp, you're skilled at observing and plotting, and you're entirely too damn much like me for me in some regards to think otherwise," Nathicana says bluntly.
"Him, on the other hand ..." She gestures to Konrad, eyes flickering back and forth between them. "He's always struck me as the honorable sort. Also smart, but dedicated enough to certain things that you know more what to expect from him. He was always the most reasonable and approachable of the warlords, and I believe he truly does have his nation's best interests at heart. His explanation, I can swallow more easily - even if the words from both of you would be the same."
"So tell me why you shouldn't be suspected in any way," she says after a brief, meaningful pause.
Nadia again cranes her head back, surprised at Nathi's apparent bluntness. "Se geshant de Imperatrice zuknest, was ee za allen gerai?" she snaps at her husband in Dunnish.
Konrad shrugs. "Diesem parrelen rashameln güstellen. Issh kalensh nix war forlen."
Turning back to Nathi, Konrad clasps his hands together loosely. "Nathi..." he starts. "An attempted assassination of an Ardan folk hero--whether he's a government figure or not--could only be looked on with intense disfavor by the commoners and aristocracy alike. If I tried to kill Alkanphel, I would lose all credibility. Control of the state would wither and fall to my feet: I'd face open rebellion at best and assassination at worst. Even though he holds no position in my government, he's nonetheless a very important figure for the people."
"That's pretty much what I thought," Nathi replies, seemingly unphased. "You two worked well together, and last I remember, he was a virtual god to your people. I couldn't think of a rational reason you'd do it, and if you honestly can't think of anyone in your echelons who would, or could benefit from poisoning our renewed national relationship with as serious an incident as this could have been - not that it isn't right damned serious enough as is, mind ... you see where I'm getting, yes? Not so much you yourselves, but perhaps some of those families against your policies who wanted things to remain closed off."
"They'd not strike at Alkanphel," Konrad replies simply. "The Talicids can be... rather blunt with their malcontent, but even they wouldn't dare attack Alkanphel. Had they some thought with to meddle with force, they'd attack the delegation more directly. EVen doing that much would likely result in a civil war, an endeavor for which they don't have nearly enough support."
"Indeed, they seem to have accepted the situation," Nadia elaborates. "Most have already purchased tickets for my upcoming performance with the Devras symphony. Say what you will about the Talicids, they're no more inclined to throw their money away than I am."
"Excellent," the Imperatrice responds with a curt nod, still stalking back and forth. "Yes, I had to hear it from you directly. Yes, my people will be investigating all the same. No, I would rather this fact not offend - we're going to be looking at every angle because by damn no one goes after someone on my station and puts my daughter in harm’s way like that and gets away with it."
She stops then, and turns to face them fully. "I suggest we proceed with the plans. There's still time yet before opening night, and by all accounts it should be a fantastic event. We are not going to share the information concerning the attack, or any findings subsequent to that with anyone aside from ourselves, Devon, and Alkanphel save our security. And yes, I do expect you to agree to that. It won't serve us anything to have more speculation and rumors flying around."
Imperious of her? Oh hell yes, and she knows it, but she figures she doesn’t have time for a game of 'who has the bigger political penis', and wants to ensure they would help, not hinder while she got things done.
Nadia stands and extends her hand. "Fair enough," she answers with a nod. Konrad sluggishly follows her lead and stands. "We will cooperate fully with your investigation," the Angsiyii asserts.
Nathicana strides over and gives each a firm shake, and nods curtly. "Bene grazie."
Konrad nods. "If and when we get any hard facts, I'll want to know as soon as possible. We don't have any media aboard the station, but anyone who gets loose may be liable to speak to the tabs and we'll want to make sure we have real facts rather than speculation to counter the nonsense they may be liable to spew. I'm sure the wide majority of them will blame Devon, and in light of our recent talks, I'll be very interested to see that relations with the Empire can be somehow preserved."
Nathicana shrugs noncommittally. "I get the impression he rather likes you, for what that's worth. You prove to him your intentions are every inch as sincere as you claim, and I don't think you'll have a problem, at least on a national level. Devon's issue with Alkanphel is ... personal. And the less the media – or anyone else knows about it, the better."
