Exhibit B.
These are two of many cylindrical pods found in the laboratory space of the abandoned research station Delta Red [see Incident Report KHP #2104-0103 for further information]. Unusual for its location, the pods lack obious signage and symbols, but chemical residuals suggest that their purpose involved energy synthesis involving biological material.
There is not much that can be said of Tokavsk’s king. Stergye is a hard man, perhaps harder than he need be, but the same can be said for nearly all monarchs. He is the second member of his noble house to be raised to the throne, and he carries that fact with him wherever he goes. House Tallat is one of the smaller Houses in the kingdom, and his ascension fifteen years ago was a surprise to say the least. I noticed that some of his contemporaries in the more powerful houses—Shanay, Helkat, and Jondrav—bore resentment toward him.
Much of what I gathered of his character was through rumors. As such, I am not certain as to their veracity. Some said his hardness makes him cruel, others said it is a front and that he is more emotional than he lets on. Those of his age and older who competed for the crown say he is willing to leave the fat on if it means he stays ahead. He is both ambitious and meandering, angry and carved of ice, personal and distant. He did take my interests into my consideration, so I can testify that the rumors of his stubborn refusal to listen are false. When I did interact with him, I tried to assign the traits I had heard to the man standing before me and found little success. He is as elusive as he is public, methinks. He said little about Your Majesty beyond what he thought of Your policy toward the Hentars, but beyond that he took care not to let me observe his character.
You wanted me to study him for violent tendencies, and I am afraid I have failed this part of Your request. I spent little time around him, instead conducting most of my affairs with administrators toward our Empire. He remained a figure lurking on the fringes, never quite emerging from his hiding space.
There was one rumor that warmed my brain the most. I heard it but once, but it has stayed with me since. The young Lord Mortshana said in idle conversation that the time would soon come for Stergye to select his heir, as he is nearing fifty. I asked him what this would mean for diplomatic affairs. He did not answer me, just returned to his frivolous chatter. I took his evasion to mean the tensions in the Tokavskan court would reach a breaking point, but I could not be certain.
THE NARRATOR – Thousands of years of civilization, hundreds of years of exploration, lifetimes spent searching. Only for all of it to boil down to this.
YOU – What do you mean?
THE NARRATOR – One massive anticlimax.
CHIAROSCURO – You’ve searched every corner bright and dark, but not everything’s meant to be found. Life’s full of disappointments; surely, you would have learned that lesson by now.
MIDNIGHT SUN – The light that once flared now flickers and fades…
CREPUSCULARITY – It is a slow but steady march towards an inexorable fate: one day, this world will cease.
LOGIC – Oh, quit the dramatics. More likely, this exaggerated fate is simply the product of an overactive and anxious imagination. It is a miracle that you still function.
YOU – What? Why?
APHELION – Perhaps it is better that you have forgotten.
YOU – You reach deep into memory, but only recall fleeting impressions: fire unfurling around you. A flash of tooth and scale, a gleaming portent. Liquid glass, slowing to a trickle, its shimmering kaleidoscope of eye-watering color searing your retinas. Dizzying.
MIDNIGHT SUN – Painful.
YOU – What really happened?
DIRECTIVE – It would be easier to ask what *didn’t* happen: everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Everything failed.
DIRECTIVE – *You* failed.
RHETORIC – Let’s be reasonable, here. It was a cascade of failures, an error so large no one being could be solely responsible, even if you had played a part in it.
META-ANALYSIS – Industrial sabotage, development oversights, exceeding safety margins — even strange quantum phenomena — the list goes on.
DIRECTIVE – Does it even matter? Here in the dark and bitter cold, it won’t change a thing.
RHETORIC – No. It won’t.
YOU – But does that matter?
APHELION – No. It won’t.
ENDURANCE – You’ll keep going.
CREPUSCULARITY – You’re foolish to subject yourself to this any further.
YOU – Well, you know what they say about humans and irrationality.
APHELION – Yes. You’ll keep going, even if it means clawing your way back blinded and deafened and numbed, again and again and again.
EMPATHY – Maybe none of it matters. But it meant something to you. *Means* something. And that is enough reason.
APHELION – It will have to be.
Dierk—Roshevian law scholar and interrogator
Tomon—Ambassador recently returned home from Tokavsk
Dierk: You testify before me and the scribe that you have submitted the proper documentation upon your return.
Tomon: Aye.
Dierk: And you affirm that intentionally straying from the truth will lead to swift and justified punishment.
Tomon: Aye.
Dierk: Remind the record the reason for your travel.
Tomon: I was serving the interests of Emperor Iera in the court of King Stergye Tallat in Tokavsk.
Dierk: Which interests?
Tomon: What mean you? I serve only the interests of the Emperor.
Dierk: And the interests of Emperor Iera were to…?
Tomon: That is of no concern to you.
Dierk: May I remind you that under penalty of the sword—
Tomon: Under penalty of the sword, I cannot say what has been passed to my ear from the Emperor.
A silence.
Dierk: This is customary proceedings for all officials who return from abroad.
Tomon: I understand. But our dealings with Tokavsk are not something a man of your status would comprehend.
Dierk: Your dealings with Tokavsk are vital to—
Tomon: I cannot share them here.
Dierk: By law, you must state your dealings before the interrogator and the scribe.
Tomon: There are things about King Stergye that are not to be discussed here. Let it be acknowledged by this scribe such that my words are not held fire to the blade, but I shall say no more of it in your presence.
Dierk: That does not change the law—
Tomon: The law forbids me from discussing it.
Dierk: Pardon, Ambassador, but I am bound by the sword to adhere to what is written.
Tomon:1
Dierk: Very well.
A silence.
Dierk: I do hope the Emperor’s interests have made your secrets worth the while.
A silence.
My Heart,1
Winter was barely a chill compared to the cold of your absence. The heat of your hands entwined in mine and the warm blush of your cheeks keep me alive in this frosted land. Even so much as an hour away from you is as an eternity in the ice. I do wish we could make our bond known.
I know we cross paths out in the open, but unless we are alone holding hands I see you as a total stranger. I wish I did not feel this way, and I hope you can forgive me for harboring this sentiment. I am glad we are closer together now and that I no longer have to withstand these frigid nights alone.
I dreamed a dream that someday we could be together as we hope to be, but in my mind I know it cannot be. I wish I could deny my love for you, but you have caught me in a deer trap so sure that I know I will never escape it. For now, we must be content with these little moments. I sense a time when we may have to be apart for good. I fear this time, but I try not to dwell on it. I much prefer dwelling on you. My heart,2 be steadfast. We must savor these moments before everything comes to its glorious, frightful end.
I do pray you can forgive me.
Now and forever,
Your soul3
Tokavsk does accept foreign emissaries in its court, and indeed almost every day of the year one can find an ambassador roaming within the castle’s walls. There is little to distinguish Tokavsk from other nations in how it receives representatives from abroad. Visiting parties are given appropriate accommodations regardless of foreign relations, though it is rumored the nicest rooms are often saved for the King’s enemies. An interpreter either brought by the emissary or supplied by the Court facilitates communication. Foreigners are introduced to Tokavskan customs and treated with cold respect. Tokavsk, at least under the current King, is not inclined to war.
This is why whispers of the missing ambassador are so fascinating. There is no evidence to suggest King Stergye Tallat would resort to subterfuge, nor is there documentation implying such corruption among his courtiers. At the time of this anthology’s compilation, there is no definitive proof of the ambassador’s disappearance beyond the two documents included previously. We have little reason to believe this matter needs to be analyzed further, as it does not concern the subject of this anthology. Rather, these documents have been included to be juxtaposed with Tokavskan legends to provide a detailed report on Tokavskan history and culture.
However, if more evidence is to come upon our desks, we are wont to include it in this anthology. Such a scandal would provide a picture of the culture in the modern Tokavskan court. While we surmise more information will be made known to us as we compile this report, we are uncertain how it will impact our project at this time.
