Snippet #2816233

There was a pause on the phone before Andrijana responded, having remembered what Aeka and Yukiko had shared about the family, about Nobuo Takayama's sons. "Yes, of course, your highness," she said, though her tone was uncertain. "Yes. I'll see if I can find this book about the dragon and the snake." There was no book, she figured. It was a message that she didn't understand. One that only one person would be likely to be able to decipher for her. Andrijana had hoped, in vain, that that chapter had closed. "Is there anything else that I can do to help you? I'm sorry; I'm just the superintendent of one prison outside Wing City. We weren't supposed to know that Keiko was here." She had caught mention of the empress dowager's name, something that only a handful of people were supposed to know.

Þorgerður nodded, frowning, as Nobuo spoke. "That's all very disappointing to hear," she said. "That is definitely not how Terra wishes to run its prisons. I'll be sure to follow up with Director Boisvert-Panelo about Keiko's complaints, and will make sure the inspector general's office knows too. Individuals in custody are the responsibility of the TNG, of course. Any withholding or denial of medications or medical treatment is unacceptable." Dvořák made some kind of noise that seemed halfway between a snort and a scoff, and Þorgerður shot him another look. What was going on with him? Dvořák waved it away, stretching his legs slightly in the chair where he sat, and leaning back, the better to watch the others in the reception space. He did not seem quite comfortable there. There was a reason he did not spend most of his working hours in the suite at Government Center. The pretension was too much. He had that, if nothing else, in common with the old woman.