The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 40: Setting Things in Motion

"Welcome back, big brother," Raven pulled in her hand but left the window open, "how has your week been?"

Hoatzin's bird form seemed to sneer up at Raven. "Tedious," he answered in her mind, "I have a new found respect for spies."

"You have been gone longer than I expected - did you learn anything about Empress Nene's situation?"

"Well . . . yes and no. . . . I'm a bit confused."

"Tell me."

"The charges against the Empress is that she was attempting to sell the secret of rearing Everest Hawks and other spirit beast birds to a Council Elder of Sea Empire."

Raven stared at her brother. "Those are grave accusations. . . . " she said with a heavy voice.

The secret techniques of raising aerial spirit beast that could be controlled by any spiritualist was highly guarded and even though full grown beasts could be sold to the other empires selling the technique for training them was high treason. As the saying goes: give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Sky Empire had no intentions of feeding the other nations for a lifetime.

"It is, and the proof against her is nearly perfect. There are dozens of letters sealed with the Empress' spirit essence and prepared scrolls with detailed descriptions on how to raise the beasts. There are even very reliable eyewitnesses that claim to have seen the Empress meet up with a foreign man in a tavern on the Business Tier!"

Raven frowned. The eyewitness and prepared scrolls could have been planted but sealing letters with someone else's spirit essence? She didn't think it was even possible.

". . . You said it was just nearly perfect?"

"That's the part that has gotten me confused," confirmed Hoatzin and unfolded one of his wings to rub the underside of his beak in a very human-like gesture. "The thing is, despite the spy master's assurance that the information they have gathered is valid, the Emperor himself doesn't believe the Empress is guilty."

"The man could be blinded by love," Raven conceded, although she didn't want to admit what that meant for the Empress innocence.

"I don't Think so. I heard them arguing about a recent visit they made to the rulers of both Earth and Sea Empire. Apparently, it had been done in utmost secrecy so no one except the rulers themselves should have known about it. For good reasons too, since one of the things they had discussed were if they should more openly share their empires' secrets. The aerial spirit beast techniques had been offered, but the other emperors actually declined the offer."

Raven sat silently for a moment. "This is the Emperor's reason for believing the Empress is innocent?"

"Of course it is; it makes no sense for the Empress to be selling a secret to someone who had already declined it. "

Raven grew silent once more. She could think of many reasons for such a sale to be made even after the other rulers disinterest. For one, there is no guarantee that just because an emperor said no, every one in his empire would agree. At the same time, simply saying no to something doesn't necessarily mean that you don't actually want it.

"Did you find out what the Empress was trying to get in return for the techniques?" she finally asked.

"They didn't bring it up," Hoatzin's little head shook left and right, "and it wasn't like a could read any of the documents from outside the window. . ."

'Interesting,' thought Raven, 'they talk about all of it in great detail but don't mention what would have been in it for the Empress? Is it because they don't know, or because what she stood to gain is something she actually wants?'