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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3637419" data-attributes="member: 3448">Alistair cursed under his breath.  “It sounds like Canberry is now surrounded by orcish armies.  How did we end up in a full-scale war without even realizing it?”“Your grandmother was very ill for a long time, your grace.”“Still.  Things shouldn’t have gotten nearly this bad without our being aware of it.  And I’m a little concerned that none of our regular reports are discussions of what’s going on in the rest of the world.  We get the intelligence reports, but we need more.  Things are happening without our even knowing it, let alone why.”“I’ll speak to the Chancellor and arrange for more regular briefings, your grace.”Abigail rapped politely and entered.  “Your grace, Dame Katherine, there’s a visitor waiting for an audience.  It’s a drow woman, waiting and meditating in the hall, with a note on platinum.  The guards say she disarmed completely before they even asked her to.”  Abigail held out the platinum sheet with the note on it.Alistair took the note and read it aloud.  “From the Matron Mother of House Dispania to Archduke Alistair of Canberry:  I present one additional gift.  The bearer of this note is my sixth daughter.  She is a trained assassin and a mistress of assassins.  She will remain with you and serve loyally as a retainer until such time as you pass.”“A skilled drowan assassin?” repeated Dame Brionna.  “That could be very useful.  I wonder if she could reach the Abomination of Shur in Lord Brightspan’s body…”“We have to figure out if we’re willing to accept her service first,” said Alistair.  “If the Matron Mother thinks of her as a slave, we cannot accept her into our service.”“Yeah,” said Kit.  “The note called her a ‘gift.’  You don’t give people as gifts.”“I really don’t want to offend House Dispania if we can avoid it, but we wouldn’t be able to ignore the insult of being given a slave.”“So how do we figure out if this was just a poor choice of words?” asked Kit.“I think we start by asking her.  Let’s have Abigail send her in.”</blockquote>

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