"There was...?" Tolten prompted, gently. What had Seishin discovered? And why was he cautious? Perhaps it was ill news. But what else was new in this place? The young king had gotten used to ill news after a week of captivity. He didn't want to put the other man on the spot, but he had brought it up. Sort fof.

"And I've found that powerful, mad men can extend quite an influence." Gongora had had his hands in the politics of nearly every country back on Plank, one way or another. And he was just one man, it wasn't as though all of his staff and employees knew what had been going on. They'd been lied to, the same as Tolten....

"I wonder what the world thinks of this place. They can't know the truth..." And anyone who tried to say different was labeled a mad man. It was very clever, when one thought about it.