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told you I would confer unto you the scale; did you not believe me?” He stretched out his arm, wincing inwardly but maintaining an indifferent mien, with the scale in hand.
    The immense stone soldier continued to eye him, but the corners of the mouth seemed to contract in the hint of a smile.
    I had no doubt that I would be taking the scale from you, one way or another, the shrill voice Talquist had heard in the parapet replied. The titan’s lips did not move; the sound seemed to issue forth from within its thoracic cavity.
    Talquist stared at the statue. Then he brought his arm back to his side.
    “It would seem prudent that, as we are allies, you should trust me to hold on to what is mine—after all, I have not asked for possession of any of your scales. Tomorrow is the day of my second Weighing, and coronation—perhaps the presence of the scale is necessary to ensure that I am once again selected by the Great Scales as emperor. Given how critical that selection is to both of our plans, our mutual plans, I would think you would be hesitant to risk failure of all we have set in place.”
    The titan smirked.
    We have mutual plans, true. But our priorities within those plans are not the same, Talquist.
    The Emperor Presumptive’s deep brown eyes darkened to the black of a sky before a night storm, but otherwise his face betrayed no anger.
    “Do you wish to dissolve our association, then, Faron? You say you seek a child who resides deep within the mountains of the Firbolg, protected by their king. Without me, the armies of Sorbold will not follow you—do you intend to try and take the mountains on your own? Best of luck with that, impressive as you are.” The look in his eyes sharpened now to a glare. “I tire of your threats and your attempts at intimidation, especially on the eve of my Weighing and coronation. Remember it was I that brought you into life, into awareness, into the strength with which you menace me now, in the first place. Without the body of Living Stone I provided for you, you would still be a gelatinous mass of freakish flesh in a carnival sideshow! And in thanks you threaten and shriek at me in your newly found voice which, by the way, sounds like that of a tone-deaf whore yodeling in pretended passion.”
    Well, you would know all about that.
    Talquist thought he perceived an amusement he had never seen before in the statue’s expression. When and how did he grow so much more sophisticated? he wondered. He was not even sentient when he first stepped off the Scales, stumbling and barely able to stand. He decided to take the negotiation to a higher level.
    “Here is the deal on the table: if you wish to continue our association, we will need a new understanding about our interaction. I will not tolerate disrespect of this nature any longer. It is critical that the army of Sorbold sees you as my champion, under command of the generals who are subordinate to me. Otherwise, there will be chaos, and you will be on your own. I will treat you as my partner in secret, but in public it is necessary for you to blend in better, to not challenge me. Between us, we have almost a full set of Sharra’s scales. Each of us should retain possession of his own until we are prepared to make use of them as a set. Remember, I, too, seek a child, with as much fervor as you do, I believe.”
    The titan eyed him, but said nothing.
    “Do we have an understanding, then, Faron?”
    Footsteps sounded on the wide marble staircase known as the Great Stair. Talquist turned quickly to see Lesik, his protocol officer, hurrying to the top of them from the second floor below.
    He glanced back over his shoulder at the statue. It had seemed to fade into stolid inanimation again, its earthen eyelids colorless.
    “M’lord?”
    “Yes, Lesik, what is it?”
    “Beliac, king of Golgarn, and the Diviner of the Hintervold have arrived. I will show them to their rooms unless you wish to greet them.”
    “Ah, thank you, Lesik,” the