The Central Temple was as bright at noon as it was at dawn.
Sunlight poured between the white stone columns, and the floor was excessively clean. It was a place where the scent of incense lingered before human footprints did. The smell of old ink and dried wax rose from deep in the corridors.
Kael hated that smell.
In the Treasury Office of his past life, important lies had always been drafted in clean rooms.
"An unpleasant place."
Rowan spoke low.
"I feel as though I should apologize before I even draw my sword."
The priest guiding them bowed his head.
"The Audit Office is this way."
His steps were quick. They were not the steps of someone welcoming guests, but of someone placing them where they had been assigned.
Above the door at the end of the corridor were engraved the symbols of silver scales and a candle.
Kael saw something else.
[Emergency Repair Costs]
[Additional Clerk Allowances]
[Testimony Order Adjustment]
[Misunderstanding Adjustment Cost: Paid in Advance]
The price of the plates had already been paid.
The door opened.
There was a long table in the middle of the Audit Office, and the seat at its end, reserved for the Central Temple Auditor, had been raised high. The right side was by the windows, and the left was against the wall.
Without hesitation, the guiding priest pointed to the left. "Young Master Riorden and his party may sit here."
Rowan's brow moved.
"Do even chairs have ranks?"
"A cheap insult. They did not spend much money on it, but they must have expected it to work."
Kael took a seat in the low chair.
The wood was hard. He recorded that as well.
Then the door across from them opened.
Marquess Viktor Seradin entered.
He was not late. A man who arrived on time and turned even waiting into part of his own dignity was more troublesome.
"Young Master Riorden."
"Your Excellency."
"I heard you had a difficult night. The East is blessed indeed to have its young treasurer putting his body to work as well."
Rowan's hand moved toward the hilt of his sword.
Kael tapped the table once with his fingertips.
Rowan stopped.
"If it is a blessing, it has not arrived yet."
Kael spoke.
"That is why I came here."
The marquess kept smiling.
"Good. Misunderstandings should be settled in a bright place."
Misunderstanding.
The first word had been put down. The marquess did not say theft, concealment, or unauthorized removal. He called it a misunderstanding. It was the cheapest accusation.
The elderly priest seated at the head of the Audit Office raised a hand.
"I am Vernon Khalid, the Central Temple Auditor. Today, we are conducting a temporary audit concerning sponsored supplies for the East."
"Those present are His Excellency Marquess Seradin, Vanessa Karn, representative of Hyrun's Central Accounting Office, Dorne Havel, captain of Revan Checkpoint, Young Master Riorden, and his companions. The Temple will keep the record from a neutral position."
Mira whispered very softly.
"There are times when the word 'neutral' is at its most expensive."
Vanessa sat on the same side as the marquess. Her gaze was steady. But one hand rested on an envelope.
It was the same sort of envelope she had held out at Revan Bridge. It meant she had not yet given up.
"First, we will hear the Hyrun Trading Company's confirmation."
Vernon spoke.
Vanessa stood.
"The Hyrun Trading Company has confirmed that the external labels and actual contents of some items in this shipment did not match. We believe this was an internal labeling error, and the six confirmed bottles of medicine will be issued to treatment recipients in the East."
It was a smooth statement with nothing missing. But it contained no names.
Kael raised a hand.
"May I ask a question?"
Vernon looked at the marquess for a moment, then nodded.
"You may."
"Who was the warehouse officer?"
"That is under internal review."
"Who conducted the inspection?"
"That is also under review."
"Who sealed the boxes?"
"Under review."
"Who authorized their departure?"
The Audit Office fell quiet. Vanessa could not answer at once.
A brief pause. But even a brief pause had a price in a ledger.
The marquess smoothly interjected.
"Young Master, is there any urgency in questioning an entire trading company's internal procedures in one sitting? Representative Vanessa came to resolve this matter, not to be interrogated."
"Resolution begins with names."
Kael said.
"An error without a name will go into another box tomorrow."
Vanessa's eyelids lowered by the slightest degree.
She was not angry. She was calculating.
Vernon tapped the table.
"The purpose of this gathering is to confirm the facts, not to assign responsibility."
"Facts without responsibility are decoration."
Rowan drew in a breath behind him.
There was no change on Vernon's face.
"Please mind your language."
"While we were minding our language, the medicine crossed the bridge."
This time, the marquess smiled.
"Sharp. But even the circumstances surrounding that one bottle have not yet been properly established. I heard it was a departure that occurred amid the confusion at Revan Bridge."
"A departure."
Mira murmured softly.
"Such a pretty word. It makes even a stolen bottle sound as though it went out for a stroll."
The marquess's gaze settled on Mira.
"The daughter of the Belka Trading Company. I hear your words are as quick as ever."
"I hate seeing money leak away slowly. At least my words should be quick."
Vernon turned over a document.
"I heard there was also mention of a Temple Healing Account. What exactly are you claiming?"
"The receiving trace of the missing bottle led to the Temple Healing Account."
"The account name alone cannot establish custodial responsibility."
It was the answer he had expected.
"Can the Healing Account receive medicine?"
"It can, by procedure."
"Can it keep it in storage?"
"That depends on the purpose and authorization."
"Can it be connected to notarial records?"
"That depends on the matter."
"Then who is responsible?"
For the first time, Vernon paused.
"Account responsibility, custody responsibility, and notarial responsibility are different."
Without raising her hand, Mira spoke. "So there are four doors, and they all hold the keys, but no one owns the room."
One of the clerks at the back of the Audit Office lowered his head, as though suppressing a laugh.
Vernon's eyes turned cold.
"I will not enter metaphors into the record."
"They remain expensive even if you do not record them."
Kael said.
The marquess's smile thinned by the slightest degree. Vernon changed direction.
"Captain Dorne Havel of Revan Checkpoint."
Dorne Havel stood. His hastily worn formal attire looked uncomfortable, but his posture did not falter.
"Please tell us what happened at Revan Bridge."
Dorne began with the procedure.
"The Hyrun convoy held formal passage authorization. Sir Rowan brought a preservation request, and Young Master Kael presented additional documents. We found bottles that appeared to be medicine inside boxes marked Kerosene."
"Appeared to be medicine."
The marquess spoke quietly.
Dorne's jaw hardened.
"The Temple had not examined them yet, so I phrased it that way."
"Prudent."
"One bottle departed from the bridge. A man disguised as a wagon driver fled with a leather box and handed it to a rider on the other side."
The marquess nodded. "It could be regarded as an accident caused by the confusion of the night and a rash opening."
Rowan took a step forward.
Without turning around, Kael raised a hand.
"Sir Dorne Havel."
"Yes."
"After closing the bridge, how many bottles did you save?"
Dorne looked at Kael for a moment. "Six bottles."
"Where are those six bottles now?"
"They are being preserved under the seal of Revan Checkpoint. We await the Temple's examination and an order for their distribution."
"If those bottles had crossed the bridge?"
Dorne did not look at the marquess.
"They would not be in this room now."
The Audit Office fell silent.
Kael did not draw out that silence for long.
"Auditor."
"Six bottles were saved. One bottle disappeared. Those are the facts everyone has acknowledged."
"That wording is excessive."
Vernon said.
"Then I will change it. Six bottles have been preserved, and the current custodian of one bottle cannot be identified."
Behind him, Edric gave a small nod. It was phrasing well suited to enter into a record.
The marquess opened his hands. "That is why I arranged this gathering. Seradin has no intention of making this matter large."
"Of course you would not want to make it large."
"The six confirmed bottles will be distributed at once. Seradin will send additional medicine in its own name as well. If you wish, we will add Riorden's name too."
It was a gentle proposal. They would give medicine, offer sponsorship, and even add their name. On the surface, it was a proposal that benefited everyone.
[Price: Case Closed]
[Condition: Responsible Party Omitted]
[Unconfirmed Departure: 1 Bottle; To Be Handled Separately]
[House Riorden Name: For Joint Closure]
Closure. It was a good word. It made it look as though the wound was closing, even if rotten flesh remained inside.
"It is a good proposal."
Kael said.
Rowan stopped breathing behind him.
Mira turned toward Kael as well.
The marquess's smile broadened.
"As expected, Young Master, you are rational."
"I could sign it."
The clerks quickly lifted their pens. Vanessa did not take her hand off the envelope. Kael continued.
"On the condition that you fill in three blanks."
The marquess's smile stopped exactly where it was.
"Blanks?"
"First. The names of the recipients of the six confirmed bottles."
Kael held up one finger.
"Second. The name of the person responsible for distributing those six bottles."
A second finger.
"Third. The current custodian of the missing bottle."
A third finger.
The air in the Audit Office grew thin.
The marquess was still smiling. But for a brief moment, the warmth vanished from around his eyes.
"Young Master."
The marquess spoke gently.
"The third is not yet confirmed."
"Then it cannot be written in the closure proposal."
"Could we not distribute the medicine first and confirm it afterward?"
"Distribution saves people. Closure kills responsibility."
Vernon opened his mouth.
"Please refrain from categorical language in the Audit Office."
"Then I will turn it into a question."
Kael looked at the auditor.
"What do you call a case in which no one knows the recipient, the person responsible for distribution, or the custodian of the missing bottle?"
No one could answer at once.
Mira spoke softly.
"It costs too much to call it a misunderstanding."
Vanessa's hand slowly lifted from the envelope.
The trading company was still on the marquess's side. But it had wavered enough to lower its guard. Those who understood money also understood how far costs without responsibility could spread.
The marquess saw that too.
That was why he did not look at Vanessa.
Then a commotion rose outside the Audit Office door.
"You cannot go in. An audit is in progress."
"I came because of that audit or whatever it is."
It was a rough voice.
Outside, a Temple gatekeeper was arguing with someone. Metal struck the floor. It was not a sword. The sound was duller and older.
The door flew open.
A man holding a mud-stained boot stood there.
He was not tall, and his military uniform was worn. He looked like someone unfamiliar with etiquette, but not like someone who had come to tell a lie.
In one hand, he held a torn boot. In the other, a crumpled outpost roster.
Dorne Havel spoke low.
"Theo Varan."
The man looked around the room.
He passed over the marquess, the auditor, and the trading company representative as though they were faces he did not know. Then he saw the documents in front of Kael.
He hesitated, then spoke.
"I came to receive medicine."
Every eye in the Audit Office turned toward him.
Theo Varan looked uncomfortable under those gazes, but he did not retreat. Dry mud still fell from the boot.
On the clean floor of the Audit Office, the soil of the East scattered in small clumps.
He lifted the boot a little.
"Who am I supposed to receive it from?"