Solam's soul-deep question caught Serilef off guard. She was no fool; she had only been thrown into confusion by her concern. Now that she had calmed down and thought it over, something did seem wrong. Solam did not look like he was about to destroy Athkatla. At that moment, Serilef truly began to panic. It seemed she had wronged him.
Serilef immediately looked at Solam pitifully and stammered, "You... you... You just said Athkatla was destined to be destroyed by you! That's why... that's why I..."
Now it was Solam's turn to freeze. When had he ever said something so damned stupid? Why did he have no memory of it at all? But after thinking about it, he became uncertain. Had he let it slip in a moment of agitation? That should not have been possible. He had never intended to do anything to Athkatla.
But seeing Serilef's murderous posture, Solam began to doubt himself.
"Trism, did I ever say anything like that?" Solam asked for help from someone present.
"No," Trism replied succinctly.
"How could he not have? He clearly..." Serilef felt she ought to try and salvage the situation. By now, she was eighty percent sure that she had misunderstood Solam... so she wanted to muddle through it. After all, Solam's words had sounded so frightening—that was why she had reacted so strongly.
"No. The boss's exact words were, 'Why would I go out of my way to trouble a city doomed to destruction?' The boss never said he would destroy Athkatla. This was entirely your own misconception."
Trism did not lie, or at least, he would never lie to Solam. Solam trusted him completely on that point. With such powerful testimony, Solam's confidence immediately surged.
"That's right! I never said anything like that! Yet you actually wanted