With the introductions complete, the council immediately took a firm handle on the meeting.

It seemed to have rattled them that Garyung could name drop the Infernal Horde and point out - not inaccurately - that his right hand man was the guy most instrumental in fighting them.

The council did their big dog and pony show of their introductions and outfits, and then had left Garyung to twist in the momentary silence after that. It was true that them having to formally introduce themselves - or each other - was an unexpected pitfall of the meeting. They hadn’t been prepared. But it was a gamble on the part of the council to give them that opportunity. They had bet some amount of social standing that Kaldalis and Garyung would sit there, dumbfounded, and look like fools in the face of their awe-inspiring posturing.

What struck Kaldalis as funny, though, was that the gamble had failed. Sure, their introductions weren’t seven generations of upper-echelon clergymen ancestors, or a hundred victories in combat, or a singular moment of honor and glory, or even just a single-digit path to the crown. But the Infernal Horde was a campfire story. Horrifying ghosts of the world’s most influential historical calamity. And Kaldalis and Garyung had squarely placed themselves as busters of those ghosts.

The council head - Yarganbintlehat - called for the meeting minutes for the emergency meeting to be read out.

Kaldalis thought that was fine, as they hadn’t said anything of substance, but he experienced an immediate sense of vertigo as the reading differed dramatically from his memory.

The clerk began - with that same bored monotone voice - by mentioning that the minutes had been updated when necessary clarifications were submitted, and listed a series of names of the submitters, dates, and times these alterations were made. As the minutes were read out, the brief discussion between Thajok and Wauktug went from some gentle ribbing about Onirioago as expedition leader into a grand debate. The submitted clarifications had been added to the transcript as if they had each said them aloud at the meeting, and the minutes reflected this discussion as if it had really happened.

Apparently the two reached an agreement to disagree. Thajok conceded that making Onirioago the expedition leader directly led to the current situation, while Wauktug conceded that there was no way for any of them to know that this would be the exact result. They agreed that for future Expedition Leader appointments, they should be more vigilant for red flags, and also agreed that Thajok was not at fault for failing to see them in this instance.

The whole exchange worried Kaldalis immeasurably. This meeting was going to be a matter of public record. Could the Zarans simply update the meeting transcript after the fact to make Kaldalis and Garyung say whatever the council wanted them to have said? Was there any point to this meeting if the council could come in and decide what had officially been said after the fact?

They might have been playing right into the Zarans’s hands. But it was the only move they could make, and from a standpoint on the order of nations, Garyung wanted to lose everything. His plan was to hand over control of Cotanaku to Zara. The worst they could do was make him look like an idiot while he was doing it.

Kaldalis found that the emergency meeting minutes weren’t important at all. Neither Garyung nor anyone on the council had said much of anything about what they were here to discuss. Kaldalis suspected that the whole point was to unnerve them by showing how different the meeting was on paper to their memories of it in person. It was working, but Kaldalis did his best to visibly keep his cool.

He tried, instead, to tell himself that it was to undermine Garyung’s authority at a more base level. Onirioago had not been an independent leader. She was appointed by members of this very council. It might have all just been another attempt to place themselves above them and snatch back the upper hand.

“So the matter at hand,” the council leader said, once the meeting minutes were read, “remains unstated. I will take this opportunity to pass the floor to Representative Garyung so that we can all finally understand why we’re here.”

Garyung stood. Sometime in the middle of all the chaos, he had found time to write down a prepared statement, and he straightened the papers and cleared his throat before he began. Kaldalis worried briefly that it would make him look silly to be reading it, but it soon became apparent that this wasn’t his first rodeo with a script before an audience.

“The creation of Cotanaku was sudden and unexpected,” Garyung began. “The series of events that led to it accidentally becoming a sovereign nation began - as the meeting minutes made clear - with Onirioago.” Garyung took a brief glance at his notes before continuing. “A plot on her part was uncovered that led to her arrest and removal from office. The details of which are undetermined as of yet, but she is currently in custody and her trial takes place tomorrow. I imagine the council will have little trouble updating this meeting with the results of that trial.”

Kaldalis again tried not to snort out a laugh. It was a bold move to throw their own bullshit back in their faces like that, but they had left it on the table like that. He wondered if Garyung had researched the Zaran justice system to ensure he didn’t say anything grossly out of line. Or if someone had guided him in that knowledge somehow.

Either way, Kaldalis was happy Garyung had done the homework for this.

“After her arrest, a majority of the residents in Cotanaku elected me as replacement Expedition Leader,” Garyung continued. “It was that very night that I discovered that the delay in upgrading the camp to a town was a major component of Onirioago’s plan. The preparations were complete, and all that was needed was to begin the event. I promptly did so, believing that to be my duty to Zara. I didn’t anticipate how hectic the event would be, and I became separated from my council, my advisors, and even my friends in the battle against the Infernal Horde. Without their council, I was unsure of how to register the new town.

“I cannot apologize enough for my inexperience at that moment,” Garyung went on, bowing his head. “My council argued that it was a great oversight by all of them, but the blame rests solely with me. It has created a massive complication in all our lives, and I wish nothing more than to make it right.”

Garyung took a moment to arrange his notes, seemingly to intentionally let the council cut in if they wanted. They declined to do so, and Garyung continued.

“I believe an intelligence-driven operation is the best way to undo my mistake,” Garyung said. “A Zaran operative could take control of Cotanaku without the need for a costly campaign or occupation. What’s more, our complete cooperation is assured. I don’t want to make more trouble for you than I already have.”

Garyung looked around the council, apparently expecting some kind of response. They made no reaction. Even the obvious spymaster seemed uninterested.

“I have come here, and requested this meeting, to propose that such an operation could be undertaken,” Garyung said, when the extended silence became awkward. “Or, at least, start the discussion that will move us towards a permanent correction of my mistake.”

That seemed to be enough to get them talking again. Yarganbintlehat nodded and cleared his throat.

“The council is happy to entertain such a suggestion,” he said at last, “but there needs to be significant discussion before we can even conclude that such ends are necessary, let alone the means by which to get there.”

Garyung furrowed his brow in confusion, and Kaldalis knew the same expression was creasing his forehead as well.

That implied that Zara didn’t want Cotanaku back at all. That couldn’t be the case, right?

“I’m sorry,” Garyung said, “I was working under information from the second council you sent. Cerh and his associates made it clear that they - and by extension, you - wanted a strong foothold in the Ulun islands. Was he mistaken?”

“Cerh and his so-called associates were no council at all,” Dancao said, lips curled into a smirk. “They were sent as a supplement to the previous group we dispatched, not to be a governing force of their own. Since his arrival, he has been acting far outside his authority as appointed by any Zaran council.”

“There will be an investigation into anything he’s said and done with our voice,” Thajok said, giving Wauktug a sarcastic grin. “I assure you, we will straighten those matters out in good time. But his opinions and actions do not reflect official Zaran policy. He can be considered… Slightly rogue at this time.”

Kaldalis wasn’t sure if he should be happy or sad at that. A lot of their impression of what the Zarans wanted from them had come from Cerh, and if they were disavowing him, that was a problem. It didn’t matter if it was being done for clout or not, if they threw Cerh and his people under the bus, suddenly all of their assumptions were careening under the bus right with them.

On the other hand, though, fuck that guy.

Cerh was an asshole.

If the council was gonna throw someone under the bus, they picked the person who most deserved it.

“Your proposal is fine,” Emmyth said, steepling his fingers ominously. “If we wished to take Cotanaku, your logic is sound. A semi-covert operation aided by your complete cooperation would make it far less costly than military efforts. But, as has been stated, your proposal must first explain to us why we would want Cotanaku.”

“I had believed the foothold in the islands was reason enough,” Garyung said. Even as he spoke, he was flipping through his papers. He wasn’t even looking down at them, making it obvious to Kaldalis that he already knew the information he needed wasn’t anywhere on those pages.

“And we have Panbu now,” Yarganbintlehat said, looking down his nose at Garyung.

“A toehold, perhaps,” Garyung said quickly, “but not a foothold. And the only reason you have Panbu at all was our help.” He reached out and grabbed Kaldalis’s shoulder. “I personally assigned Kaldalis as my envoy to ensure it went as smoothly as possible, and put up a significant sum of money to ensure it was completed quickly and efficiently.”

“Right,” Wauktug said, flipping through some pages of her own. “I’m unsure if you want to put forth that claim. Our records indicate that our investment to form the town of Panbu was spent in its entirety.”

“Yes,” Garyung said. Kaldalis saw the snare, but couldn’t do anything to stop Garyung from blundering into it. “But after a premature encounter with the Infernal Horde, those coffers were emptied before the town was complete. I was the one to pay for the repair and replacement of everything lost.”

“Everything lost… On the watch of your personally-assigned envoy?” the Suyon woman asked. “Or are you telling us that he wasn’t sent until after that event?”

“No,” Garyung said, gritting his teeth. He forced himself to slow down. “Kaldalis was involved with the first attempt. But because of his skills and foresight, no one died permanently in the lost battle, nor was there a single casualty in the successful battles that followed.”

“Hm,” the spymaster gave a grunt of amusement. “So it sounds like the funds you put up were to fix a problem you had ample opportunity to prevent.” He turned to one of his aides and accepted a little black notebook. He flipped through the pages for a second as he continued. “Perhaps then you can settle a matter for me. A little workplace wager, you know. It might be beyond the scope of this meeting, but I think maybe… Maybe I win the bet, and it isn’t.” He found a page and smirked as he asked his question. “How would you characterize the relationship between Cotanaku and Cornix?”

Garyung stammered a few nonsense syllables before snapping his mouth closed. Kaldalis had thought the snare was in letting the council pin the blame for Panbu’s earlier failure squarely on Kaldalis, but there was more to this. This suddenly went from something Kaldalis could help with to something far outside his depth. And from Garyung’s reaction, the council may have had him dead to rights.

“I would describe them as friendly,” Garyung said at last. “Though I think maybe that might be optimism more than any official stance.”

“And if I asked you to characterize your personal relationship with Isobel, President Eileen’s daughter,” Emmyth pressed, “would you say the same thing?”

Garyung’s beady little Bhogad eyes bugged out of his head in obvious panic, though he managed not to stammer aloud this time.

Suddenly Kaldalis had a pretty good idea of how Garyung had gotten the money to pay off Panbu. He also had a pretty good idea that if there was a time for him to jump in and try to give Garyung time to recover his composure, this was it.