Listens to Merlin

Back in the Ostentatiatory, I heard voices drifting up from below. I nodded pleasantly to Lucky, who gave me an inscrutable look, and walked to the balcony railing.
Listens-to-Wind and the Merlin were standing by the buffet table, speaking quietly. Peabody hovered in the background, carrying a different set of folders, ledgers, and pens.
I paused for a moment to Listen. It's a trick I picked up somewhere along the line-not really magic, per se, as much as it is turning my mental focus completely to my sense of hearing.
"... to find out the truth," the Merlin was saying as he loaded up a plate with tiny sandwiches and wedges of cheese and fresh green grapes. "Surely you have no objection to that."
"I think the truth is already well established," Listens-to-Wind replied quietly. "We're just wasting time here. We should be focusing on controlling the fallout."
The Merlin was a tall man, regal of bearing, with a long white beard and long white hair to go with it-every inch the wizard's wizard. He wore a blue robe and a silver circlet about his brow, and his staff was an elegant length of pure white wood, completely free of any marking. He paused in loading his plate and regarded Injun Joe with a level gaze. "I'll take it under advisement."
Injun Joe Listens-to-Wind sighed and held up his hands palms forward in a conciliatory gesture. "We're ready to begin."
"Let me get some food in me and I'll be right in."
"Ahem," Peabody said diffidently. "Actually, Wizard Listens-to-Wind, if you could sign a few papers for me while the Merlin eats, it would be greatly appreciated. There are two files on your desk that need your approval and I have three..." He paused and began to juggle the load in his arms until he could peer into a folder. "No four, four others here with me."
Injun Joe sighed. "Okay," he said. "Come on." The two of them walked toward the stairs leading up to the balcony, turned the opposite way I had when they reached the top, and entered a chamber on the far side of the room.


Turn Coat Chapter 16, Page 139-140