[Brion]

Brion had taken the back route in, and left the soggy canvas bag in a
closet - it smelt of fish and mud.

And once it had been safely deposited the warpiper went up the stair to
Allenel's offices. There he found Elektra filing away cases and left word
with her that he had something to show Allenel when the lawyer was free.

[Allenel]

        "Might as well come in now," Allenel called from an inner room.
The new offices at the soon-to-be opened town hall were a vast improvement
over the ones Hugh had been able to supply at the Dragon's Inn.  Not the
largest in the building, by any stretch of the imagination, but they did
have one outer "receiving" area, where someday they might put a
receptionist.  A smaller side room contained a desk and file cabinets and
book shelves for Elektra, with a view towards a small park across the
street.  The room where Allenel himself would work was a bit larger.

        All three were in various states of chaos, as he and Elektra
worked to unpack and sort all the books, papers, charts, records and other
flotsam and jetsam they had accumulated over the past few months.  Only
the lawyer's own desk was relatively neat -- except for one orderly stack
of books.  A small, silkwood statuette, obviously favored by its owner,
had been carefully placed in one corner.

[Brion]

Brion carefully stepped around a some of the boxes in the receptionist's
office, and entered Allenel's domain. The warpiper smiled at Elektra, and
as he saw her move to discretely leave, said, "No need to be leaving,
Elektra. This be no great secret."

He pulled out the sealed bag and said to Allenel, "I wanted ye to see this
first ....."

Once he had undid the strings he gently drew forth a wet handkerchief, and
folded back the damp material to reveal a silt-covered gold ring. "Would
ye see that looks like the King's seal?" he asked.

[Allenel]

	The lawyer almost reached to take the ring from the place where it
nestled in the handkerchief.  Best not to touch it, though, until those
with some more magical means of reading could examine it.  "Aye," he
breathed, unaware of the effect Brion's highland accent could have on his
own speech.  It was the curling design given by crown to envoy, and
Allenel would have given nearly anything to have it be some other design.
These past few months, Bleckner had seen fit to let Montfort make its own
way in the rebuilding, and to test its new existence under the royal
charter.  But if it were so lawless that the king's own man (mid-level
bureaucrat though he was) was not safe ...

	"The body was taken to Bryce Amberghylles," Allenel added, lifting
his eyes to Brion's.  The necromancer, with his skill in death, had seemed
the one most likely to pull any secrets from the corpse.  Perhaps, it was
whispered, to make the body itself speak of what had befallen it.  "We
will need to tell the Council."