Kai Low was still bristling with anger over the conversation in the garden the next morning.
It didn't help that Lady Ye had practically laughed in his face before she left, letting him have the last word, but making it absolutely clear she didn't fear him, or the tribes, at all.
He wasn't stupid; he understood she was powerful, probably the most powerful person in Sorrow when it came to her magic, but being dismissed like that, even when it was true, stabbed at his pride.
And unfortunately, because Kai Low was a bit spiteful himself, it made him more determined to dig up all their secrets. It would work out, he decided, because he would dig up Kai San's at the same time.
He'd find out why his brother thought these people were so much more worthy than his own.
But his plan got off to a rough start. Either Lord or Lady Ye had arranged for someone to teach him everything they thought he needed to know about the estate, as they called it and the people in it. It was just a big tribe made up of a bunch of smaller ones. He didn't understand why they insisted otherwise.
In his defence, Kai Low had been interested in the beginning. Learning about the alliances and rivalries and important places were all things that could be valuable to him, and it saved him a lot of work to have them tell him instead of trying to work it out on his own. And there was no way there wasn't an insane amount of backstabbing, sabotague, and glory-seeking in a place like this. Even the fables and stories the elders loved to tell over and over again probably paled in comparison.
The problem, he would tell anyone who asked, was that whoever it was that decided he was going to sit through this had found the most boring human being imaginable to give it. His age was promising, as were the laugh lines around his eyes, but when he opened his mouth and actually started speaking, his voice was so monotone that Kai Low didn't hear anything he said at first and had to concentrate to actually pick up the words even though he was speaking at a normal level.
He droned on and on as Kai Low's horror grew and grew. What was surely fascinating and entertaining information was delivered in such a flat monotone that it lost all engagement. Kai Low stared at the old man, a soldier judging by his uniform, willing him to put something besides blandness in his voice, but even breaking down asking why he sounded like a rock, the old man refused to change. He didn't even pause long enough to acknowledge Kai Low's request, just kept droning on until the tribal leader's eye started to twitch and his patience frayed and frayed until there was nothing left but a few pathetic strings dangling by themselves above the abyss.
Kai Low generally had too much control to kill someone just because he was annoyed, but after several hours trapped in a stone room with no windows, listening to the old man, today seemed like the day that was going to change.
His fingers were twitching on his sword as the day edged toward lunch. The old man had started with the history of the estate, and Kai Low got the vague sense he was nowhere near the end.
He broke in. "What about the court? Can you just tell me about the court and its leaders?" He sounded more desperate than he meant to, but Beng Shan would be disappointed if he got kicked out so soon after he'd arrived. She wanted peace as much as Beng Shai had.
Probably more so since she was now stuck with the responsibility of caring for their people.
The old man frowned at him and diverted from his speech long enough to say, "No," and then continued on like he hadn't been interrupted at all.
Kai Low was certain he didn't even see him as he spoke. He knew he was there, had looked right at him, but his eyes took on an unfocused quality while he spoke, moving around the room randomly. If he had a room full of students, it would look like he was looking around at them to keep them in line.
But since it was just Kai Low, all it did was make it very clear he saw nothing and was just speaking from memory. Would he even notice if Kai Low left?
How angry would that make Lord and Lady Ye?
"And then we come to the two hundredth year of the estate's existence."
Nope.
Kai Low was done.
He stood and left without bothering to say goodbye. He'd like to say he walked out slowly, with dignity, but by that point, he was too desperate to get away from the monotone drone, and he practically ran out.
He needed to find someone better to tell him about the court and all its intrigues.
….
And who better than its spymaster himself?
Lord Rong.
And no one needed to know it had taken hours of suffering for him to realise it.
~ tbc