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"If Hasan Duxan went to Intar himself," said Hector, "then he must have had a really good reason. The Sandlords have their hands full with the war. I don't think they would want to spare one of their most powerful warriors for a diplomatic mission unless they thought it was extremely important."

"I see..." The Prince touched his bare chin as he eyed Hector intently for a moment. "You seem surprisingly familiar with the Sandlords' thinking."

"Ah... well, I've been keeping in contact with Lord Asad Najir. And I did spend several days sitting in on the meetings of the Golden Council."

David blinked at him. "The Golden Council..."

He'd just kind of blurted that out, but now that he thought about it more, that had sounded like a bigger deal than he'd meant for it to. "Uh. In Moaban. After the attack on Dunehall. It was actually pretty informal. The Sandlords just requested that I show up to the meetings. I didn't participate. Much. Uh..."

Technically, that last meeting had been when he and Garovel invited the Rainlords to Warrenhold. Without asking the Queen's permission.

Okay, maybe it was kind of a big deal. He'd been so busy during those days with trying to help civilians evacuate the city that he hadn't given the matter much thought. Hell, he hadn't even known that the collective group of Sandlord heads was referred to as the Golden Council until Garovel mentioned it.

The Prince was still just sort of staring at him, though.

"...Er, a-anyway, if you get a chance to talk to Lord Duxan when you return, you might wanna take it. That's... all I was trying to say."

"Very well..." More gears seemed to be turning in the man's head. "If your assessment is correct, however, then it sounds like Lord Duxan would only have been there to request military assistance from Intar. Nothing else would strike me as important enough, given the timing."