Tiassa by Steven Brust

her table nibbling at fruit and drinking tea. She nodded to Khaavren and gestured him to one of two chairs that had been set across from her. Khaavren knew that the Empress customarily breakfasted alone.
    “Good morning, Captain. Tea?”
    “Klava, if you have it.”
    The Empress nodded to a servant, and the klava was presently brought. Khaavren drank it as poured, with a napkin wrapped about it to protect his fingers, and waited for Zerika to speak.
    She ate another bite of fruit, sipped her tea, and carefully set the cup down. It was, Khaavren noticed, a tiny little cup, thin and fragile-looking, decorated with red and blue wavy lines. She said, “Forgive me, Captain, but we’re waiting for someone. I’d prefer not to have to repeat this.”
    “Of course, Majesty.” He smiled. “I have klava.”
    “Have some fruit as well, if you wish. And there’s some cheese and rolls.”
    “I’m fine, Majesty.”
    She nodded, and there was no further conversation for some minutes, until a servant announced the arrival of Kosadr. Khaavren kept his surprise to himself, nodded a greeting to the Court Wizard, and waited patiently while Kosadr accepted tea, cheese, and bread. The wizard ate slowly, carefully; Khaavren wanted very much to kick him. Studying Her Majesty, he had a suspicion that the Empress felt the same way.
    Kosadr was lanky, dark, and not as young as he looked. He eventually seemed to realize he was holding things up, and said, “Please, Your Majesty, proceed.”
    Zerika smiled briefly. “Good wizard, you’re the one who needs to speak. Please explain to me and to Khaavren what you began to tell me earlier.”
    Kosadr wiped his lips with a napkin and said, “Oh. Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “Two days ago, we began to observe fluctuations in the yellow spectrum of the Esswora monitor rods. We immediately began localizing the surge and measuring the distension. As far as we can tell—”
    “Excuse me,” said Khaavren. “If I am supposed to understand any of that, I don’t.”
    “Oh. Right. We are looking at a breakthrough.”
    “A breakthrough? Who breaking through what to where?”
    “Into our world. The Jenoine.”
    “The Jenoine!”
    “Please, Captain,” said the Empress. “Sit down.”
    “Sorry.” Khaavren sat down while a servant hurried to clean up the klava and replace it. “When? How many?”
    “It’s hard to say when. Our guess is that we have sixty hours, but not more than eighty. That assumes the inflow remains constant. Call it a bit less than three days. We can’t be sure—precision isn’t possible in something like this. And we don’t know how many, but from the size of the fluctuations, it looks to be a major incursion.”
    “The first thing,” said the Empress, “is to station troops nearby, as well as sorcerous defenses.”
    “I can’t do anything about those,” said Khaavren.
    “I know. Please, Captain. Remain calm.”
    Khaavren nodded, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, berating himself. Losing his head would be of no help to anyone. But still, Jenoine!
    “Are you back with us, Captain?”
    “Yes, Majesty.”
    “I,” said Kosadr, “will ask for assistance from Sethra Lavode.”
    The Empress nodded. “Good, but, Kosadr, you must also look for other means. For this purpose, the Orb will be at your disposal for fact-checking and research. I would have preferred to have more warning, but we work with what we have.”
    She turned to Khaavren. “From what we know, troops will be of no use. To the extent we want to test this, I’ll speak with the Warlord. You’re here for something else.”
    Khaavren nodded. “I’d wondered why you sent for me instead of Aliera.”
    “Because we have time to organize troops, and we have time to prepare arcane defenses and attacks. What do we not have time for, Captain?”
    “The people.”
    “Exactly. Once we begin preparations, we’ll not be able to keep this a secret. We cannot afford a panic. The Phoenix Guards