Pelonides requested the private meeting at the third hour of the morning.

Not through the standard diplomatic channel — through a personal note delivered to Priam’s administrative secretary, in Pelonides’s own hand, using the specific phrasing that indicated he was speaking for Agamemnon’s court rather than for himself. A small distinction with significant weight. Everything up to this point had been Pelonides. This was Agamemnon.

Fylon brought word to Lysander before the fourth hour.

Here it comes, Lysander thought.

He had been expecting it. Three days of observation, three days of counting, three days of polite conversation that said nothing — and now, the last morning, the real conversation. This was how it worked. The three days were the performance. This was the content.

He sent word to Hector and Ampelos and went to Priam’s briefing room.

The four of them were there before Pelonides arrived.

Priam at the head of the table — not the reception posture, the decision posture, the specific quality of a man who had arranged himself for a conversation he had been preparing for since the ship with the trireme escort appeared in the harbor. Hector to his right. Ampelos and Lysander across the table.

Nobody spoke. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The cedar and old clay smell. The morning light through the eastern window, low still, traveling across the floor.

We are four people who have been building something for two years, Lysander thought, sitting in a room waiting for someone to tell us what the price of what we built is going to be.

Useful. Very useful thought. Very calming.

Pelonides came in.

He came alone — no junior officials, no attendants. This was also correct. What he was about to say was not for record-keepers.

He sat across from Priam.

He said: "I am grateful for Troy’s hospitality. The past three days have been — illuminating."

’I imagine they have been,’ Lysander thought.

Priam said: "Troy values the relationship with Mycenae and with the Peloponnesian courts."

"As does Mycenae." Pelonides placed his hands flat on the table — not the Adrastos gesture, the gesture of a man settling something. "I will speak plainly, with your permission."

"Please do."

"The regional situation has changed considerably in the past several years. The eastern pressure — the displacement, the disruption of trade networks, the instability along the Anatolian coast — has created conditions that require a new kind of regional coordination. Agamemnon’s court has been considering, for some time, the question of what form that coordination should take."

He is going slowly, Lysander thought. Building the frame before the picture.

"Mycenae’s position in the Greek world gives it a unique capacity to provide stability in times of regional disruption. The resources, the alliances, the military capacity — these are, as you know, considerable."

"As are Troy’s resources and relationships," Priam said. Mild. Factual. Not defensive — observational.

"Yes." Pelonides looked at Priam directly. "That is, in fact, the subject I was asked to raise."

A pause.

"Agamemnon is prepared to offer Troy a formal recognition as a favored partner in the new regional framework he is building. This recognition would carry specific benefits — guaranteed non-interference in Troy’s trade operations, the protection of Mycenaean alliance in any conflict arising from the eastern disruption, and preferred status in the commercial arrangements that will govern the Aegean in the coming decade."

Lysander kept his face still.

’Guaranteed non-interference in Troy’s trade operations,’ he thought. ’Which is currently not interfered with because it is ours. He is offering us the right to keep what we have. In exchange for—’

"In exchange," Pelonides continued, as though answering the thought, "Agamemnon asks only for Troy’s acknowledgment of Mycenae’s leading role in organizing the regional response to the current disruption. A formal acknowledgment. Not subordination — partnership. But partnership in which Mycenae’s position as the senior partner is understood."

The room was quiet.

Partnership in which Mycenae’s position as the senior partner is understood.

Submit, Lysander thought. That is the word underneath all the other words. Submit and we protect you. Do not submit and you are the problem we are protecting everyone else from.

He looked at Priam.

Priam was looking at Pelonides with the specific quality he had for moments that required complete attention — not warmth, not hostility, simply presence. The presence of a man who was receiving something and processing it fully before he responded to any part of it.

Pelonides said: "I was asked to convey one additional point. Agamemnon recognizes that Troy has built considerable regional relationships in the past several years. He considers this evidence of capable leadership. He would expect those relationships to continue under the new framework — coordinated, rather than independent."

Coordinated rather than independent.

He wants the network, Lysander thought. Not to destroy it. To absorb it. Lycia and Caria and the strait clause and the vessel arrangement — all of it becoming part of Mycenae’s regional structure, with Agamemnon’s name on top.

That is actually a more sophisticated offer than I expected.

It is also completely unacceptable. But it is sophisticated.

Pelonides finished.

He sat with his hands flat on the table and waited.

Priam was quiet for a long moment.

Long enough that the light moved visibly on the floor.

Then he said: "Troy is grateful for Agamemnon’s candor. This is a matter that requires careful consideration. I will give you my response before you depart."

Pelonides nodded — the nod of a man who had expected this and found it satisfactory. Not a refusal. Not an acceptance. Time.

"Of course," he said. "I am at the king’s disposal."

He stood and excused himself with the correct courtesy.

He went out.

The four of them sat in the room.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Hector said: "Coordinated rather than independent."

"Yes," Ampelos said.

"He wants the network under Mycenaean authority."

"He wants the benefits of the network without the cost of building it. The regional stability, the displacement management, the strait arrangement — all of it continuing to function, all of it now functioning in Mycenae’s name."

"And if we refuse."

Ampelos said: "Then the network is evidence of Troy’s independent regional ambition. Which is a different kind of threat than a strong trading city. A strong trading city can be bought or bypassed. A city building independent regional alliances is something that has to be addressed before it gets stronger."

"He already thinks we are too strong," Lysander said.

Both of them looked at him.

"He came here to count what we had built. He found more than expected. The trireme escort was not for protection — it was for communication. It said: we take this seriously. The offer he just made is the offer of someone who has decided that absorbing us is more efficient than fighting us. For now."

"For now," Hector said.

"Yes."

Priam had not spoken.

Lysander looked at him.

Priam was still in the same position he had been in when Pelonides left — hands on the table, looking at the space where the Mycenaean official had been sitting. Not at the table. At the space.

"Three days," Priam said.

He said it quietly. Not to any of them specifically. The way a man said something he had already decided and was simply stating.

"Give me three days."

He stood and walked out of the room without further ceremony.

The three of them sat in the room alone.

Lysander looked at the space where Priam had been looking.

’Three days,’ he thought. ’He already knows the answer. He has known it since the ship with the trireme escort came into the harbor. He is giving himself three days not to decide but to be certain he has considered everything that should be considered before he says a word that cannot be unsaid.’

’Which is exactly what I would do.’

’Which is either reassuring or terrifying depending on how you look at it.’

Hector said: "The regional partners. If Priam refuses — Lycia and Caria need to know what is coming before it arrives."

"Yes. The Thracian timber connection — if Agamemnon moves against Troy, he will pressure the northern routes first. That is the lever that costs us the most."

"The fleet construction."

"Daidalos’s timeline is four years at current pace. Two years at doubled capacity."

"We do not have four years."

"No."

"Do we have two."

Lysander thought about Cassandra.

"I don’t know," he said honestly. "I know the offer he just made is a step. Not the last step."

Ampelos said: "He will not wait long for an answer. Three days is what Priam asked for. Pelonides will accept three days because refusing would tell us something about his urgency. But the pressure after three days—"

"Begins immediately," Hector said.

"Yes."

They sat for another moment.

Then Hector stood. Ampelos stood. They went out separately — each toward the thing that needed doing next.

Lysander sat alone in the room for a moment.

The cedar and the clay. The light now high enough to simply be present rather than traveling.

’He offered us the right to keep what we have,’ he thought, ’in exchange for acknowledging that it belongs to him.’

’Three days.’

He picked up his shard.

One thousand and fifty-seven words.

Keep going.