Sender: Senior VP’s office
Origin: ReginaPro satellite office
Received: 12 October, Monday
To the lords and ladies of the Conclave,
You will be hearing some very disturbing reports about the ReginaPro building here in Minneapolis over the next few days. I must first of all urge you not to panic; I have everything under control here, and I will make certain that the humans have no reason to suspect that they are not the only intelligent race upon this planet. I swear on my family’s honor that I will keep our secret safe. Please trust me enough to allow me the freedom to control the flow of information here so long as the media are investigating the destruction of the ReginaPro building. Outside interference will most likely make my deception of the humans all the more complicated.
Secondly, I understand that you must have many questions and suspicions of your own about this disaster. I will answer all of your questions to the best of my abilities in the days and weeks to come. My parents know some of it, and I am sending them a message as well asking them to cooperate with your investigation and to convey all of the private suspicions and fears I have harbored in recent months.
The lord and lady of the city, as well as their heir apparent, are dead. I am sorry to tell you this, and I wish it were not so. I wish that I could have saved them, but I was ultimately forced to choose between allowing them to die or witnessing the destruction of millions of human lives. Again, as soon as it is possible I will submit to questioning. I have also commanded the only other survivor to send you a thorough and complete telling of the event as she remembers it.
I know that I am asking much of you. I promise that within a week—two at most—I will prove myself entirely worthy of the trust for which I plead.
I remain ever loyal to your will,
Da’ashalenne
(Continue to Brook's response to Ira.)
