The meeting with the empress was dominated by verbal sniping between Madam Joon, the apparent creator of jade tech, and Minister Li. There is much about Canthan politics I don't yet understand, but as far as I could tell, Li believes Joon put Cantha's security at risk for the sake of expanding the market for her technology. Joon believes Li is too closed-minded. Kasmeer is quickly growing into her new role as an ambassador. Even among all that heated debate, we were able to secure permission from the empress to investigate the Aetherblades. I also had the opportunity to meet Joon face-to-face afterward—she's incredibly knowledgeable. Unsurprisingly, she and Taimi bonded quickly. Joon expressed an interest in helping treat Aurene, which...well, it seems a little soon to trust a stranger with that. Perhaps we'll revisit the matter once the Aetherblade situation is handled.