The second day was a tour.
Standard in diplomatic visits of this kind — the formal reception established the relationship, the tour established the facts. The facts being: what Troy was, how large, how organized, how defended, how supplied. All of this was information Pelonides would carry back in his own head, filtered through his own assessment, shaped by what he had been told to look for before he left Mycenae.
Lysander had thought about this extensively.
The question was not whether Pelonides would gather intelligence. He would. The question was which intelligence he would gather and what he would conclude from it.
*We are not showing him Troy,* Lysander thought, walking three positions behind Pelonides in the correct formation. *We are showing him a Troy. The question is which Troy is most useful for him to see.*
He had one piece of luck he had not planned for.
Sarpedon was still in Troy.
