16 A Letter (1/2)
Nikolai yawned in exhaustion and slumped in his chair. Once Elya had left, he returned to his work, stumbling through books and scraps of ancient spell structures as he sought to improve on his experiments. It was becoming increasingly difficult to make progress as the number of projects exploded and the details were slowly being lost in scraps of paper that were loosely bound in folders.
Jarek was assisting him well. He was bright, honest and had talent, but unfortunately there was just too much to do and Nikolai came to the sad conclusion that he would have to put some of his experiments on hold until he gained assistance from the Council. Most of the mages on the Council were insular and hated coming out into the open, many of them spending weeks at a time locked in their towers. Worse than that as the newest member Nikolai received the cold shoulder from them rather than meaningful discourse. That may have been due to his current favour at Court, but it severely hampered his efforts.
A gust of wind came from the open window and Seven jumped through. No one could find a Hand unless they wanted you to, so he wanted to be seen.
”He sent a letter?” The first time a letter had been delivered like this Nikolai had almost activated the defences in his office. The shadowy figure that flowed through the door elicited a fearsome response in most cases, luckily, he'd spotted the deep blue eyes and retracted the command spell.
Seven nodded and passed him a sealed envelope and leaned over his shoulder to read.
”You are aware this is meant to be for my eyes only right?” It was the same old argument and as expected Seven just gripped his shoulder and signed in impatience.
”I'm sure that you're trustworthy, but I don't understand why you have this desire to read my letters.”
Seven rolled his eyes and tapped him on the shoulder a few times to get his attention before launching into a lengthy lecture on being a bodyguard.
”No, I don't see how you could protect me better by knowing. I do trust you with my life but the rest of it is odd.”
Seven began a lengthy explanation and Nikolai squinted to keep track of the argument the Hand was building.
”Oh, that actually makes sense, but I still feel like you're just trying to placate me, so I'll stop asking.”
Nikolai's shoulders slumped in defeat in response to Seven's shrug and he acceded. ”Well alright. I'm sure he knows you'll end up reading as well.”
With a flick of his wrist the Son of Heaven's personal seal was broken, and he slid the slips of paper out carefully. The Emperor had a penchant for playing pranks and Nikolai couldn't remember how many times weird inks or small insects had been stashed inside to burst or crawl at his touch.
[Greetings Faithful Nikolai,
Ilyushka stands behind me at this moment, ensuring I maintain the decorum of a monarch. But I'd rather not bother. I have so few friends as it is, and the Hands are notoriously poor company.]
Nikolai looked up at Seven and caught him frowning.
”What did you do this time?”
Seven hesitated, a rare occurrence, and made a few short gestures which had Nikolai chuckling in short order.
”Five is always getting into trouble. By now she should know better than to bother the Empress.” Seven signed agreement and they returned to the letter.