The sharp flavor of the captive crowd still lingered in her mind, and Nara savored the way it blended with the sunlight penetrating the high windows along the Forum great hall. But the pleasures of politics were trifles compared to the real source of her joy.
Laurent Zai had survived, escaping death again.
Of course, only a handful knew that his success in battle had saved an entire world. It seemed fantastic now that the War Council had contemplated something so monstrous. She wondered what the two living counselors who had voted for the Emperor's plan had felt as the hour of genocide had approached.
To Senator Nara Oxham, it seemed that she had emerged from the crisis with far more power on the War Council. She'd been the first to vote against the plan, so her voice was now second only to the Emperor's. The once unanimous council was beginning to develop fault lines, the living against the dead, Senator Oxham against the sovereign. The Emperor hadn't lost a vote yet, but Oxham could see him steering away from ideas when she voiced opposition to them, reluctant to force any issue that she might raise a majority against.
But the majority was there, silent and waiting to assert itself against any future genocides.
In his mind-reading way, Niles interrupted her thoughts. "But if you want some more advice?"
"Earn your keep, Roger."
He waited another moment, until they had crossed the threshold of Nara Oxham's private domain. Her offices had been almost doubled in size to match her new council rank, the ever-mobile walls of the Forum pushing against the surrounding senators' territories, a fat man jostling his way onto an elevator. They walked past a score of staff, half of whose names she didn't know yet.
When they reached Oxham's personal office, Niles continued.
"You are restricted by the hundred-year rule, of course."
Nara nodded warily. She'd explained to Niles why she couldn't discuss the council's contingency plan if the Lynx had failed. He was allowed to know of the rule's invocation, but mention of the forbidden topic still made her vaguely nervous.
"But I'm not restricted," he continued. "I can make suppositions, and give you advice. Let me talk, but don't confirm or deny anything."
"Is this a good idea, Roger?"
"Nothing in the rule says you can't listen to me, Senator."
She nodded slowly.
"One: You're happy, Nara Oxham. Because your lover survived, because the war took a good turn. But my guess is that you're also happy that the Emperor's contingency plan didn't have to be enacted. He must have had one, in case the Lynx failed."
Oxham started to nod, but willed herself to absolute stillness. No matter how secure her offices were, there were methods of interrogation which could plumb memories of any conversation. They were playing a dangerous game with an ancient law. And although Nara had senatorial privilege, Roger Niles did not.
"Two: The Emperor's contingency plan was . . . extraordinary enough that he decided to shroud it with the hundred-year rule."
Nara blinked, then looked out the window at the noontime effulgence of the capital.
"Three: I personally believe that anything too extraordinary would not have the vote of Nara Oxham."
She wanted to thank Roger, or at least to smile, but kept her face still. "All of which means," Niles continued, "that you either won the vote, and the Emperor is hopping mad at you, or you lost, and earned some modest displeasure. In either case, Laurent Zai's victory made this extraordinary plan unnecessary, and His Risen Majesty looks like a monster for whatever he contemplated. And he's got you to thank for dividing the council. He wanted to spread the guilt."
Oxham wondered how Niles had realized all this. Perhaps he had read the faces of the other counselors during her speech, or perhaps he'd detected preparations for the Emperor's plan somewhere among the volumes of data he digested every day. Or maybe the invocation of the rule had been enough, and the rest was Niles's conjecture.
"In short," he continued, "you have committed the ultimate sin: winning a moral victory against the Emperor."
She couldn't resist. "A moral victory, Niles? I thought you said that was an oxymoron."
"It is, Senator. I believe you'll discover that your victory contains several internal contradictions. For example, although it has given you more power than you've ever had, you're also in far greater danger."
"Aren't you being dramatic, Niles?"
He shook his head. "It couldn't be more obvious, Nara. If I'm right, if Vrrt not crazy, you've directly antagonized the most powerful single man in the coreward reaches of the human expansion."
She shrugged, returning her face to a neutral mask, and stared out the window. A world had been saved, her lover was still alive. Niles's warning couldn't completely overshadow the joys of this bright day.
But it still troubled her that Niles had deduced all this. Did he have spies on the War Council? Nara Oxham looked at the old man, and saw the lines of concern on his smooth face. Then she understood: All the evidence he'd needed had come from Nara herself. He could read her as easily as she could read a crowd. Understanding the masses was a politician's art, but understanding politicians was the necessary genius of a counselor.
He was an empath's empath.
"You call that advice, Roger?" she said after a while.
"No, Senator. I call this advice: Be careful. Move slowly. Watch your back. Assume that the Emperor is setting a trap, waiting for you to make a mistake. Don't." "Don't make mistakes? That's good advice, counselor."
"It's damn good advice, Senator. The next one could cost us all dearly."
She sighed, then nodded.
Roger Niles sat finally, sinking heavily into one of her visitor's chairs.
"There's another thing, Senator. I have to apologize."
Oxham's eyes widened. "For what, in heaven's name?"
He swallowed. "For saying that Zai's death would be for the best."
"Ah." Nara thought back on that moment. She'd never been angry at Niles for those words. They'd been his way of alerting her to the peril of loving an officer at the front. It was Niles's job to warn her of danger, as he had done a moment ago.
"Roger," she said, "I know you're glad that Laurent is still alive."
His eyes darted away. "Of course. No one should lose their lover to war. But at least his death would have been final."