Ana waved a hand, indifferent. “Possibly. It’s not very often that I get to parley with a Talagray Legion officer.”
“So long as he’s here with consent,” I said. “And you’re being civil, ma’am.”
“I’m as civil as a magistrate,” she said. “Why, I haven’t asked the young captain here about the aroma of his piss once.”
Strovi’s bemused smile flickered out like a candle flame.
“I just passed Captain Miljin on the way in, ma’am,” I said pointedly. “He mentioned some discovery that had been made…”
She waved a hand. “And I have little update to give you on it. We shall discuss it later.”
I narrowed my eyes. Little update? Did she now think our colleagues above suspicion?
“Strovi here was telling me, Din,” said Ana languidly, “that the Legion is digging through the old history books for how to get us out of this damned spot. Nearly sixty years ago the Empire suffered a terrible breach, and the only way they plugged it up was by waiting for a second leviathan to approach and slaughtering it directly at the breach point, turning its carcass into an impassible obstacle, and plugging the hole! Isn’t that marvelous?”
“As marvelous as a massive carcass could be, I suppose, ma’am,” I said.
“They’ll do it a little differently this time about,” she said. Her fingers dug in the flesh of the fish, plucked out a thread of pink tissue, and dropped it in her open mouth. “Rather than using thousands of damn soldiers firing hundreds of ballistas, they’re putting together some kind of bombard that can—theoretically—drop a leviathan in one shot. A titan-killer.”
“I believe Nusis mentioned something about that to me,” I said. I looked to Strovi. “Apparently the bombard requires extensive grafts?”
“For the explosive powder,” explained Strovi. “It’s a new variant. It has to be much more powerful to punch through one of the beasts. But as much as I enjoy answering all your, ah, extensive questions about bombards, ma’am, that’s not what Commander-Prificto Vashta has assigned me to do here. Rather, I’m to help with your investigation in any way I can.”
“Fascinating.” Still lying flat on the floor, Ana snatched up a morsel of fish flesh and held it out to me. “Would you care for a bite of tartun, Din? Strovi said no, but it was just caught today.”
I eyed the stringy clump of pink meat hanging from her fingers. “Afraid I have to refrain, ma’am.”
“Suit yourself,” said Ana. She popped it in her mouth. “What else did Nusis have to say, Din? Something useful about this Jolgalgan?”
“I would say very useful, ma’am,” I said quietly. I placed Jolgalgan’s papers in Ana’s lap. Ana sat up and began pawing through them, apparently indifferent to the streaks of fish fat she left on the parchments.
“Start talking, child,” Ana said sharply. “Now.”
I recounted my conversation with Nusis exactly. Captain Strovi’s eyes grew wider the more I spoke, and Ana pawed ever faster at the parchments in her lap.
There was a beat of silence as I finished.
Then the captain exclaimed, “You have it, then! You’ve found her, yes? This Jolgalgan surely is our culprit! What amazing work!”
I nodded to him stiffly. I’d never gotten such a compliment from a senior officer of another Iyalet before, especially not the Legion, and did not quite know how to handle it.
“You know,” said Ana thoughtfully, “I am inclined to agree…”
“I still have trouble comprehending the why, ma’am,” I said. “Why kill so many Engineers in such a fashion?”
“Well, it was the Engineers and the Apoths who were supposed to stop the dappleglass outbreak in Oypat, yes?” said Ana. “And, no offense to our absent colleagues, but they didn’t do a very good job, being as the whole fucking canton’s dead now. Just as Nusis said, many Oypati hold a bitter grudge. It takes little effort to imagine what horrors a mad Apoth Oypati with a grudge might be capable of. I’m not quite sure what killing a bunch of junior officers might accomplish, but…she continues to be an excellent suspect, really.” She cocked her head. “The only question is…why now?”
“What might you mean, ma’am?” said Strovi.
“She’s been serving as an Apoth for years. I wonder…What set her off? And where is she now?”
“The Legion moves swiftly,” said Strovi. “We watch all gates and roads. We shall find her soon enough, of that I am sure.”