The Seat of My Heart

6 More Answers Than Expected

When Susha Unhuor got up several hours later, he found the dan sitting in the room next door with a cup of tea in his hand. His skin was slightly pale and he looked as if he hadn't slept at all. In fact, the past few days had been pretty similar. It seemed that this matter with the demon was causing him quite a bit of distress, not letting him rest at all.

Well, it was no wonder. He had the responsibility for all these people but could only ask others for help, needing to rely on their goodwill to solve the situation. It couldn't be a good feeling.

He walked over and sat down, taking a cup from the tray and pouring himself some tea as well. "There aren't many things left that we can do. I was wondering what you thought about speaking with the high priest. Since you mentioned that he had been there with you that day, he might have noticed something that could be helpful."

"In any case, making sure of it can't hurt, can it? I will have Shunche contact the capital to see how we can go about it."

Susha Unhuor nodded and then quietly sipped the tea while giving the dan a glance. Save for the fact that he didn't look well-rested, his expression was quite a bit better than when he had left the room. He really couldn't help but wonder what had happened but he didn't dare to ask.

Anyway, this had nothing to do with him and they didn't know each other well enough to just ask something out of curiosity. Asking about his private life had already been too daring and he had at least been able to somewhat justify that with what Madam Shaun had said. This though ... No, he had no right to question him.

A while later, steps rang out once again and Jusha Lale lightly called out. "Shunche."

The steps accelerated and the guard reached the door in a moment, his hand on the hilt of his sword as if he was worried he might need to draw it.

Susha Unhuor gave him an insipid look. These two guards had been acting quite hostile toward him since the day they had met. Most likely, they had accompanied the dan on his whole journey so they would know what had happened. And apparently, they thought that he could not be trusted around the dan. That did make him wonder even more what had happened previously. Had one of the zhireng tried to attack him? He couldn't understand why they would do something like this but it was the only guess he could come up with for the moment.

While Susha Unhuor was musing to himself, Jusha Lale turned to Shunche. "The zhireng would like to meet with the high priest. Please make arrangements."

The guard nodded and then left with another look at Susha Unhuor. Considering that Chomong had returned, he felt a little better about leaving but he was still worried. Having two guards with him would definitely be better. But since matters had to be arranged, it couldn't be changed. After all, the dan's presence could not be divulged to others just yet.

As for the king himself, he just went back to sipping his tea with a neutral expression as if he hadn't thought about this at all.

Susha Unhuor accompanied him for a while before looking at the door. "Your other guard ..."

"Has returned some time ago."

Susha Unhuor nodded and fell quiet again. He lightly drummed on the table, wondering where exactly that guard was right now.

After a moment, Jusha Lale raised his gaze to him. "If there is something that the zhireng wants to ask, then why don't you just go ahead? Chomong is currently resting. Just like us, he has a long journey behind him. In fact, with having to guard me on his own, he was probably even worse off than us. Now that we are in the city where we don't have to fear attacks from anyone save for the demon itself maybe, I told him to take his time to gather his strength. So whatever it is you want to say, you don't have to worry about being overheard."