Ken in the palace kitchen turned out to be a diplomatic incident.
Not immediately — the first hour had apparently been a careful, circling negotiation conducted entirely in the language of professional courtesy, wherein Ken had observed the kitchen operations with the specific quality of someone watching something they have strong opinions about and choosing, for the moment, to keep those opinions internal. The head cook, a man named Barro who had run the palace kitchen for eleven years and had the specific confidence of someone who had survived three administrative upheavals without his domain being significantly touched, had watched Ken watch his kitchen with the specific wariness of someone who senses incoming weather.
The second hour was when it had started.
