"Hardly the venue I'd pick for a private discussion," Alia remarked, casting another look around the dome. "Maybe that was the point? Why is a complicated question in any case, no matter the subject."

For their part, her retinue were mostly hanging back, and either pretending not to have heard Macharius or, in the case of Archanos and Isaiah, possibly genuinely oblivious. The techpriest had split off from the group and was pacing the perimeter of the dome, peering with interest at the triforium. The scribe was huddled in a group with his assistants, gesturing with his auto-quill and muttering at the slate he was carrying. Or two of his assistants, anyways. The third had taken over the work of transcribing the meeting. Alia waved at him to stop writing, for now.

"You're familiar with attending to the needs of a house, I'm sure. Auntie is getting on in her years, and not as physically capable as she once was. Everything I have done, I have done for the preservation of me and mine, and our continued prosperity."

She let it hang there, waiting to see what Macharius would say.