"Honored sir, I will not waste space telling you how enjoyable it was to be back on Ablach. If my feathers were grown in I would have flown for joy. We were escorted from the Pearl Claw to the Council with all honors. You will remember the incident there. It was never my intention to let the matter of the Exemplar start out as a public issue. I thought it would be best if the Council could be warned, be given time to get used to the idea, rather than arriving and dumping him in their laps. As usual, Idarian missed nothing. One would hope that, given time, he has been mollified by the promise of Harn and myself to Taybyrn's good behavior. At the very least I wanted to make it clear that these companions, including the Exemplar, enabled the safe return of a someday-High Priestess and a reknown war hero. I thought the Council would welcome the Draiocht Ambassador Kuun, for every ally we have means another adversary for the Empire.
"I learned after the ceremonial presentation of the Staff that the Exemplar and Harn had occupied themselves building shelters for the displaced, odd enough behavior for an Exemplar. I could understand that he might wish to make a show of good faith and to convince those that doubt him that he has no time to make mischief. When the Council met again, in private, even Idarian could see that it was best to let Taybyrn live; he provided information about what he calls the Forbidden Zone in the Empire. Honored sir, I am sure you recall what was said. I cannot forget: an entire third of the Empire destroyed by some disease that kills nearly all life it touches, deforming, debilitating, and causing terrible skin lesions. Should the Empire be foolish enough to use it, this could be a terrible weapon. Taybyrn also described the Exemplar technology hidden deep in the Zone: vats used to create "atrocities against all life." It would seem that there are technologies in which even the Exemplar are not interested. It is a mark in Taybyrn's favor that he immediatly reported this possibly rougue laboratory, and a mark against the higher ranking of Exemplar that they put him on trial for treason. Such action leads me to wonder just how high in the ranks the Forbidden Zone conspiracy reaches."
