The rumor reached the capital before any official announcement could properly frame it—as rumors involving imperial secrecy typically did, arriving through servants' gossip and merchant speculation weeks before Aldric's careful diplomatic language could shape how the nobility actually understood our extended western absence.
"They're calling it heresy," Aldric reported, during an unusually tense council briefing, "though the specific accusations vary considerably depending on which faction you're listening to. Some claim you've been consorting with foreign spirits. Others suggest you're smuggling foreign agents into the empire disguised through elaborate theological deception."
"Neither is remotely accurate," Darius said, frustration evident despite his careful composure.
