Sunday’s Serving – Clan Beginnings: Clan, Honor, and Empire (WIP)

Hi all,

Before you read today's excerpt, I just want to let you know this is the last Sunday's Serving I will post.  It has become just like WIP Wednesday, so I'm not going to continue it any longer.  Besides, time I'm not worrying with the blog is time I'm writing books!  Here's the last one:

            Rajhir stood ramrod straight before Gegra’s desk, doing his best to portray confidence.  He’d caught Gegra before the end of his workday still in the legal office.  He made sure to keep his gaze locked with his Dramok father’s, careful not to let his eyes stray to the calmer beach scene showing on the vid behind Gegra.  Distraction would not do at this moment.

            Over the low sound of waves dashing themselves to the pink-sanded shore rose the mournful call of the reptiles that tended to nest on the beach during the winter months.  Their cries seemed to warn Rajhir that bad tidings were about to be spoken.  So far, his Dramok father had only expressed exasperation and confusion over his decision to work for a young and newly elected councilman.  He had not yet unleashed a loud diatribe or, even worse, the withering look that Rajhir knew all too well.  The Look would no doubt made him feel smaller than any of the many mistakes he’d made in Ospar’s sight today.

            Gegra wasn’t yelling at him ... not yet.  “You knew you were to accept the position in Teken’s office!  He commed me several times this morning asking where you were.  Then after lunch, he told me you had tendered your regrets having accepted a position elsewhere.”

            Rajhir nodded.  “The line of applicants at Teken’s office was quite long, and I took advantage of the opportunity to interview elsewhere, just as you said to.  I found myself with an opportunity far beyond any I’d expected.  I knew you would approve, considering the circumstances.”

            “Approve?  Working with an untried youngling who knows nothing of procedures and precedents?  First term councilmen get almost nothing of note done, Rajhir.  They haven’t the connections or knowledge of how things work.  How are you supposed to learn from someone like that?”

            Now came the look Rajhir had dreaded.  Suddenly he felt ten years old again, facing Gegra’s disapproval.  The Look said it all:  I expected so much better from you, and you have disappointed me.

            Managing to keep his tone even and his shoulders squared despite getting The Look, Rajhir defended his decision.  “Councilman Ospar is quite ambitious.  I was impressed with his motivation to make important things happen.”

            Gegra sighed.  He sat back and the chair creaked.  “They all start out that way, Rajhir.  Then the veteran councilmen who have been there a while roll right over the new ones and take all the excitement away.  It’s not a flash of fire that gets you through the first years of council service; it’s the slow burn of duty.”

            “Ospar has a lead on some suspect dealings with Ledsin’s Imdiko.  It could be that garbage legislation Ledsin is trying to push through is part of it.  Ospar says it smacks of not just corruption but undermining the Empire itself.”

            The Look died.  Though Gegra maintained cool aloofness, Rajhir saw his father’s focus shift in an instant away from his son’s employment choices.  The elder Dramok’s gaze went sharp to hear his political opponent might be up to no good.

No release date scheduled.