[[ @sea-wolf-coast-to-coast ]]
Jajazan stood, bathed in a cold sweat of fear but trying not to show it, in the last - no, not the last, but I might soon end up there, oh GODS don’t let him blame me - place he wanted to be. He had given Jajarexa the three bells he had promised the boy before going to Gegerika to explain the inconsistencies he had found in the books. The real books, that was, not the ones presented as such for official purposes. Now, standing in his brother’s office, he was regretting it more by the second. He hoped Rexa had gotten away. Of course he did, he was his son after all, but a part of him that he tried to convince himself was small hoped Rexa got caught, that as little blame as possible might splash onto himself.
“And you say the boy ran after this act of… generosity.” The word was an obscenity in Gegerika’s mouth, and Jajazan swallowed.
“Y-yes. He seems to have disappeared a few bells before I discovered the tampering.” The lie was dangerous. Very dangerous. He didn’t think his conversation with his son had been overheard, but that did not mean it had not been. And overheard was as good as reported. Perhaps, Jajazan thought with a sudden deeper stab of panic, Sasala had planted a linkpearl in his office somewhere. Still, known was not the same as acted upon, he tried to tell himself. He had only given Rexa a head start… although the “only” in that phrase kept trying to slink away under Gegerika’s hard stare. Jajazan had always been terrified of his eldest brother.
The dangerous silence stretched out uncomfortably, and somewhat to his horror he heard himself begin to babble to fill it. “I… suppose he ought not have been put to the task in the first place. Too… too soft-hearted for it. I suppose.” His tongue froze as he realized the order to send Rexa out on that collecting mission may well have come from the man in front of him. Jajazan tried not to tremble.
“The soft-hearted have no place in this business. Or this family.” Tone and glare both made it clear that Gegerika was speaking not only of Rexa. Jajazan swallowed hard, but did not answer. Like father like son. “See to it that the man whose debt he tried to forgive is rounded up, along with his family and anyone he may have spoken to of it. Have them delivered to Zazalika.”
Jajazan blanched at the order, but nodded, seeing it as the chance at redemption that it was. And “see to it” meant that he need only give the orders, not carry them out in person. No mention of hunting down his son, which he took as a kindness. Although more likely, Gegerika simply didn’t want to risk his hunters being half-hearted for the sake of a test.
Gegerika dismissed him with a wave, and Jajazan left with as much dignity as he could muster when all he wanted to do was scurry, deeply grateful to have come away from the meeting with his life and praying that he would continue to keep it.
