Vedica freezes, and a moment later, as he realizes who this servant must be, so does Coveros. Vedica stutters, after a moment, "It's-- it's a slowing of certain, um, biological-- for difficult pregnancies, you see, sometimes, to stop her from bearing early, it's--" and he's heard her explain this dozens of times already, so he knows she's just clamped her mouth shut on "very useful in lambing time."

"Brilliant!" the deadly sorcerer enthuses. "I wonder if you might be willing to--"

"Merlin!" interrupts the King. "I can handle it myself from here. Go interfere with someone else's diplomatic process."