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Hector had to ask. "Was that Morgunov's doing?" It certainly sounded like something a total lunatic would name his Forge. Hector was hoping not, though, if only because he didn't want to find anything that the Mad Demon had done amusing.

"Actually, no," said Abbas. "It was a different madman by the name of Rakko."

Garovel's laughter began to settle. 'Ah. Him. Yeah, that makes sense. Y'know, I kinda miss that guy. He was a good emperor in his time.'

Abbas cocked an eyebrow. "That is not what I have heard."

'Well. Okay. "Good" may be a strong word. He wasn't an evil son of a bitch, at least. And that's all I really ask from servant emperors.'

"Did he not raze Arkotesh to the ground?"

'Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that was an accident,' said Garovel. 'And he worked to help the people he displaced for many years afterwards.'

"Arkotesh," Abbas repeated. "The academic capital of the world for a thousand years up until that point. The birthplace of geometry, algebra, the calendar system."

'Yeah, but he also apologized. When's the last time you heard an emperor apologize, huh?'

The Lord Saqqaf did not look convinced.

'Look, we can stand around here and argue about history all day, but I'm sure we have more pressing things to be doing, don't we?'

And indeed, they did. They stayed a while longer to let Abbas give the Forge another once over, but then they were on their way to the capital.

Riverton, P.J. was quite far away, however, and the Imara Forest was so dense that even the highway passing through it felt a bit claustrophobic. The speed limit on these winding roads was noticeably lower in the Jagwa region and Atreya.

They settled in for a long ride.

On the bright side, Hector had plenty of time to come up with more questions for Abbas.