Excerpt #2

From The Lotus Empire:
“The emperor’s dyspepsia notwithstanding, the mood in the imperial court grew ebullient as the winter months dragged on. The thought of being surrounded by endless kilometers of arctic tundra was, of course, easier to bear with minstrels at hand to play a favorite ballad or a warm goblet of glühwein only a clap of the hands away. And although the reports on the state of the empire offered little reason to celebrate, neither were they extraordinarily worrisome. But one day in March, a messenger arrived from the west.”