Emma could hear shouting long before she reached the meeting room. It was the only room in this corridor being used, an obvious and deliberate decision by Torgal - Allan wasn't good at keeping his voice down when he was angry.

When Emma entered the room, Allan was just on his way out. "I said I'd let your little mitra lord help me, but you aren't part of the deal. You will have no part in this!" He narrowly missed bumping into Emma, then stormed down the corridor, muttering to himself, "I must not lose my temper over a man like him..."

Shutting the door behind her, Emma surveyed the room, seeing new pieces of paper on the table that weren't there earlier in the day. Torgal glanced at her, acknowledging her presence, then focused his attention on the information in front of him.

"You need to take some rest," she told him. "Both you and Allan."

"We have just received information on the aqueducts from the Steel Syndicate."

That response hardly satisfied Emma. "Then sleep and wake earlier to review it. You are tired and this is not an efficient use of time. Even Lord David has retired for the night already."

Torgal pulled back from the table a little. "Then why are you still here?"

"To herd people like you to bed," said Emma, mirthful. They were preparing for battle and at such times, all the Generals slept in the castle rather than their own homes. Emma liked this arrangement; it made it easier for her to keep an eye on everyone. "Because you need someone one fifth of your age to remind you how to take care of yourself."

But it wasn't as if she didn't know Torgal would not listen to her. With a shake of her head, she left the room to get someone to make tea, then brought it back herself.

The expression on Torgal's face softened a little. He helped himself to the tea. "My gratitude."

Emma wasn't much of a tea drinker, but she took a cup as well. "There's no sign of Allan. I think he has gone to bed."

"I see."

"Judging by the way he is still acting towards you, I take it things aren't going smoothly."

"Allan tends to get aggressive when he asks for a favour or wants help. It's nothing to worry about. He isn't truly against my involvement."

She wasn't going to argue with him about a man he had known for longer than she had lived. She tried a different tactic. "Lord David is very worried about you."

A sigh. "He needn't be."

"Try telling him that." She sat down on one of the chairs that had been pushed against the wall, cradling the china cup in her hands. "And whilst you are at it, please convince me, too."

Torgal was silent.

"Talk to him, Torgal," she said, knowing she might be overstepping her mark. "Living longer doesn't mean time is shorter for you; eighty years is still eighty years. It's a long time to be upset about something. I can see why he treats you this way."

"I don't mind." Torgal finished his tea and poured himself another cup. "Eighty years is a long time. Long enough for some things to no longer matter."

"Don't be stubborn. It clearly matters to him." Putting down the tea cup on the chair next to hers, she shook her head. "It's not my place to comment. I'm sorry."

"I appreciate your concern."

"I just told you not to be stubborn." Emma covered her mouth with a hand to contain a chortle. "Did I really say that?"

"You did." Torgal went to her. She removed the cup she'd put on the chair so that he could sit down. "It's a sign you need to rest."

"Not until you do, old man."

In a rare display of affection, Torgal pulled a face at her, making her laugh. She elbowed him in the ribs, the way she used to do when she was younger.

"What will you do after we find your namesake?"

Torgal's ears twitched once at Emma's choice of word. "Send him and Allan home. They should not have got involved in Athlum's troubles in the first place."

"I might not know Allan at all, but he named his own flesh and blood after you. This clearly is important to him. I have the feeling even if you manage to make him leave, he would not be happy the way you want him to be," Emma said quietly. Torgal didn't try to disagree with her. "His anger is not truly directed at you. You know that. He emotionally punishes himself for what he thinks he had done. If you don't give him the explanation he needs, what will happen to that anger in another eighty years' time?"

"He had not done anything. I have already explained when we were at the village."

Emma could not stop herself from frowning. What Torgal said back then was not the whole truth. "Did you really?"

"If he does not believe me, there is naught that I can do."

She couldn't tell who she felt more sorry for. But Torgal's mind was already made, so what could she do?

They drank their tea in silence. When Torgal's cup became empty, Emma confiscated it. "Go to bed."

After making sure Torgal returned to his suite and seeing the light under the door go out, she finally heaved a sigh. The older they were, the more stubborn they got. And wisdom didn't always come with age. Torgal was a prime example, even if by sovani standard he was only a young man.

She looked around her. The guest wing was quiet.

Emmy, Lord David, Torgal, Pagus, Blocter, Rush. That should be everyone...

...Wait.

She approached the lone figure leaning against a marble pillar, arms crossed and looking up at the sky. When Allan lowered his gaze onto her, she stopped and put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you not in bed?"

"What I do is none of your business."

She pointed at the corridor to her right, in the direction of Allan's suite. "Bed, now."

"Who do you think you are..."

Emma narrowed her eyes, not moving at all even when Allan glared at her.

After a while, he uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the pillar. "I'm tired anyway." He went the way Emma was pointing at. "Goddamn mitras..."

When Allan was out of sight and she heard the echo of the door to his suite being opened and shut, Emma smiled.

Emmy, Lord David, Torgal, Pagus, Blocter, Rush and Allan. That was everyone.

Now she could go to bed.