Snippet #2816221

Dvořák nodded, sitting in an oversized piece meant more for decoration than actual use - but which suit him just fine - and Þorgerður took another chair on his side, casting him a worried glance. He'd seen something. "Of course, Minister Vilhjálmsdóttir's right here, and she can help any way you need."

"If it's within my power to do so, Minister Minamino," said Þorgerður with a polite smile. "May I ask what the nature of this case was, and what the interest of the Empire is in it? The Ministry doesn't typically oversee criminal prosecutions directly; that is the prerogative of the prosecutor general's office."

"I'd like to know how it is that Emperor Nobuo Takayama is still alive," said Dvořák, peering directly at the apparently younger Taiyou man. "Body double? Cloning technologies? I'm assuming it had to have been something like that." He kept speaking even as Þorgerður looked openly mortified, closing her mouth as she looked between her counterpart and the Taiyou guests. "You hadn't told us you were coming, tennoheika. I would have made sure Prime Minister Khayyam was here."