Still, professionalism demanded that he make at least some attempt to investigate. He had a list of four organisations that seemed to be most directly competing with Myrrolena’s type of entertainment; it took Konrad most of the afternoon to establish that the name of Myrrolena was enough to provoke distaste and unease, yes, but no stronger emotions. When Myrrolen’s daughter had taken over the circus, there had been some concerns that she would change things: perhaps she would run more shows in Ekamet, and steal their business. But she hadn’t, and after a few years those fears had apparently faded. Konrad encountered shrugged shoulders, raised eyebrows, rolled eyes and sarcasm, but nothing much worse than that.
‘I thought it seemed odd,’ Nanda said afterwards, her smooth brow furrowing. Th
