Tansen stood in the middle of the street looking at the noble house with its smooth grey stone showing a burnt-out husk, though it was one of several that had suffered fires as the miserable grey sky above denied any shred of happiness this day. The academy head rubbed his black kimono nervously as the bitter cold assaulting his person was ignored by him and the men swarming around the various buildings. Last night the boom that broke the silence of the night woke the whole town up and it was only now that the pieces were coming together.

The death of the earth scion was flowing over every pair of lips, every breath, and every piece of mental space there was to use for speculation and gossip. As the patter of feet telling him someone was approaching from behind registered in his mind, Tansen was too busy looking at the traces of smoke coming off the house in front of him and a few from the houses beside it to turn around.

“Well, it was the Stone’s house alright. But there’s no way to tell what happened yet,” Harold said to the right of Tansen as he ran a hand over his short brown hair and down over his thick bushy eyebrows, breaking the water scion out of his reverie. As the leader of local law enforcement now, Harold was looking like he preferred irrelevance. The mid-30-s man with a square jaw, muscular frame under his black vest and pants accentuated with a white undershirt had a dead look in his green eyes.

It appears no matter how fit, lack of sleep was a universal killer.

“Any idea what happened here? How did the volcanoes punch blow up like this?” Tansen asked.

“It wasn’t the hammer, that we do know. Odd as it is when you have a craft named after a mountain exploding in fire.” Harold said irritably.

Tansen’s thin black eyebrows shot up. Everyone, when getting the few bare facts that were available, naturally assumed the craft had failed in some manner.

“And how do we know that?” Tansen said with a cross of his arms. Harold just huffed before spitting on the stone road.

“Because the hammer was still in the holster on Ryan’s back. What probably happened is that the drug lab we found in the basement had some new concoctions that had a rather nasty side effect that Ryan and Leeroy were testing out. Mages and drugs. One is desperate for every resource and the other is an infinite source of money. It’s a play I’ve seen far too many times.” Harold said with a scowl as his men worked around the remaining fire brigades and workers.

Tansen looked at him with a severe glare before drawing himself up to his full height.

“Harold, such speculation could be construed as slander.”

In response, Harold thumbed the gold CE lettered pinned to his chest.

“You think I got to where I am by throwing around accusations on a whim? I’ll look over every bit of ash, testimony, and brick before making any kind of official announcement. But if you’ve got any other ideas about how this happened, since I’m pretty sure earth magic couldn’t do something like this, I’d love to hear it.”

The academy head let silence be his response before giving a light bow.

“Good day, Harold. You know where to find me.” Tansen said before he turned around with a dramatic twirl of his black kimono and sapphire jewels in the chest, whose movement only accentuated their wave-like pattern. Walking through the ever-present crowd of onlookers, Tansen took a brief look back to the house and several others who had their windows shattered.

Even though Leeroy’s house had gotten the worst of it, there were still some flittering pillars of smoke in the sky from several other noble’s houses. Using flames for lighting and having some wooden supports in their structures, several of the houses suffered overturned candles and lamps. Too tired from a night of firefighting, Tansen left the men to their work as he walked down the path from the noble quarter to the academy. Walking up the tower, he went into his office. Looking around the white and blue striped wall with the glow of the mana lamp in the center of the ceiling, he walked across the plain wood floor and sat in the leather chair behind his oak desk as he started working on several reports and prepared to travel to the midway base, or the more common name Hub, for his testimony to the committee.

“Tansen!”

The academy head suddenly broke into the land of the living. A report was stuck to the left side of his face as an excited Koal stood in front of his desk with the door behind her only just now closing. As he took the offending paper off his face and sat back into his chair, Tansen noticed how excited the fire scion was. Her red robes and short black hair swished as she swayed in place. Which only emphasized the smile that pulled on the two moles on the left side of her jaw and the fire in her light green eyes. Whatever she was here to talk about, the lack of a gold sash in her middle said she had come to him in great haste.

“What has you so joyous?” Tansen asked with a surly grumble.

“Eli! Or more precisely the circumstances that he stipulated would prompt him to mate,” Koal said with a small clap.

That knocked the tiredness right out of Tansen’s body as he sat straight up in anticipation with Koal promptly giving up the source of her excitement.

“I was going over the arrival of Ember’s members when I got the story of some of the politics surrounding Ryan’s death. Duke Beck had heavily invested in the Stone family; it now appears too much. I’ve gotten several reports that his most powerful subordinate house, the Galley’s, teamed up with a rival under the leadership of one Mack. He’s joey’s father and, was, Beth’s husband. Beth’s marriage was dissolved rather promptly when the news broke out this morning and Mack took in one of the Galley daughters as a wife.”

Tansen whistled as he strummed the desk.

“I’d say that was some very bold moves for what amounted to two deaths last night. But what does this have to do with Eli’s conditions?”

“A civil war. Beck put stock into the Stone family. Apparently, a lot more than what he initially thought. Several people who Leeroy took loans from have shown up at Beck’s house and are demanding to know how he intends to pay off said debts. It’s looking like the good duke and the houses loyal to him aren’t going to survive before we even get back from our testimony.”

Tansen, however, was rather disappointed.

“How does that help us with Eli? Money alone won’t-“

“Mercenaries.” Koal cut him off. “Duke Beck, even if his money problems were resolved, doesn’t have the remaining troops to hold off even a direct attack with his rivals buying up several mercenary contracts that he has now defaulted on, let alone the back alley fights these things turn into.”

While Nobles would gladly wage open warfare for their own personal ends, the temper of the central government was not something they were eager to run afoul of. When a noble house was found to be lacking in its worthiness to continue existing, a thousand back alley gang fights with an assassination in the home were typically how such changes were brought about. Messy and chaotic, such changes in power always spelled times of hardship for everyone involved.

Tansen took a deep breath as he looked at Koal with a raised eyebrow.

“And no one is going to prevent this from happening?”

Koal just looked at him with an expression that looked like she was showing forbearance to a child.

“There is way too much going on right now, and far too many uses for troops, to let a few hundred civilian deaths mean anything to anyone with the means to stop it. Several mage associations could if given the right incentive. Say if one of the women who would be caught in the fighting was possibly bearing the child of the quad mage, I could easily justify putting my organization in the mix to keep her safe. Several others would probably join in her safekeeping just for appearances.

No.

In fact, the whole affair would have to be stopped. After all, we simply couldn’t allow for any possible harm to come to her.”

Tansen perked up at that. As tragic as this all was, the opportunity it presented was far too good to pass up.

“Guards! Get Eli and Salamede. And- ” Tansen called to the door before turning to Koal. “Should we try for the duke’s wife or Beth?”

“Beth,” Koal said with a nod, “No matter what he said before, I have the feeling it’s still going to be like getting a fire cow's steak out of a crafters mouth, so let’s go with the woman he’s most comfortable with.”

“Beth! Get Eli, Salamede, and Beth. And tell them it has to do with the changing situation from Ryan’s death.”

There was some movement behind the wooden door and while Tansen and Koal came to an agreement about how to proceed with things. That was until the married couple who became the center of everyone’s life came through the door and stood in front of Tansen’s desk. Oddly, they were both dressed in their armored suits. The inspection report said the old ones were wrecked in the attack on his tower, so Eli apparently decided to stick to a more basic design.

While still polished steel, their suits were more typical of the full-body coverings of most knights. Though the comparison failed to account for the incredible craftsmanship of the round shoulder plates, square-like helmets, and all the other interlocking steel plates. The only major difference was the occasional intake of mana and the widened legs with two rows of four metal tubes sticking out the back. Their weapons had survived though, as Salamede wielded her spear and Eli kept his big iron maul of a war hammer in his hands.

Raising an eyebrow at their attire, Tansen looked them up and down as Koal stood still while perusing the part of Eli’s face that stuck out above his smiling metal mask.

“Um…” Tansen faltered as he began to grasp what had happened. “I’m sorry. I may have not been clear. We’re still looking into the incident with Ryan but we’re here more to discuss the events that followed, not have you hunt down the perpetrators.”

There was an almost imperceptible relaxation that washed over the two of them. Tansen, happy that the misunderstanding had been resolved, pushed ahead.

“While I cannot expect you two to keep up on the foibles of noble house politics, there is a bit that you will need to know before getting into this. Mack, Joey’s father if you don’t remember, was a rival to Leeroy and, by proxy, Ryan. With their passing, Duke Beck’s position has become… untenable due to Leeroy leveraging everything he could on his now-dead son’s name. Debts and favors are now coming due to a freshly impoverished duke. It looks like a very short and very bloody civil war will be started and stopped before the day is out.”

Eli’s purple eye’s looked at Tansen with mute interest, but when he turned to Koal and saw her eager expression, his eyes lit up with comprehension.

“Ah, so we need to balance the scales. Mage siring is a great form of uplifting an ailing house. But if you don’t remember, I said that unless me giving them money was-“

“Money won’t do him any good at this point. Several of his mercenary contracts were defaulted on and the wolves are circling are for the kill. There are too many people who’ve committed too much towards the destruction of his house for money to stop it at this point. A lot of innocent people are going to be hurt and killed before the day is out.”

Eli just huffed as Salamede looked at him with worry in her face that not even her grey fur could hide.

“I suppose appealing to the coming calamity wouldn’t dull their ambitions?”

Tansen and Koal shook their heads.

“Of course not. When has sense and personal power ever intersected.” Eli grumbled bitterly. “A few bouts with some of their minions will put a stop to this nonsense. I’ll put on a show of force and-“

Koal stomped her foot with a positively murderous scowl on her face.

“People would still die. Besides, if you start fighting, there is a case to be made that simply killing off duke Beck's house would be safer for you and one I might be inclined to make for my members who have recently arrived.”

Eli’s eyes flared up at that, but he quickly turned to his left. Salamede bobbing her head and Eli’s movements clearly showed a conversation with spirit magic.

“Eli! Salamede!” Tansen growled with a pound on the table. That turned their heads, even as they got irritated expression at the intrusion. “This involves all of us. So, I would appreciate us all being involved in the discussion.”

Eli took a deep breath like he was going to say something but Salamede beat him to it.

“We don’t have the time to make the crafts.” The rough voice of the Kelton woman sounded out. “Even if we did, they aren’t a be-all-end-all to the fighting. The dukes few people would still be shanked when they sleep or in their backs.”

“I could make much larger ones. They can’t get the title if he’s still alive, right?” Eli asked with a look towards Tansen and Koal, who both nodded. “All right, a well-fortified position with some powerful crafts, and this whole thing will be resolved.”

“People will still die, either on the rebel side or on the duke’s side.” Salamede refuted. “We can’t-“

A squeak from the door drew everyone’s gaze but it was quickly shut with a loud smash.

There was an odd moment where everyone stood around awkwardly until the door opened again. Through it came Beth, though it was hard to tell at first as she used her left hand to hold up a rag to cover the lower half of her face while still letting her small, sharp nose show. The woman’s wavy brown hair had a matted look but what drew everyone’s eyes was the bloody splotches and cuts in the mid-section of her frilly light green dress. Her purple eyes had a scared and frantic look, like a rabbit who just had a run-in with a wolf.

“What happened?” Salamede yelped as she rushed forward and put a worried hand to the rather harried-looking woman’s shoulder.

“It’s quite alright, dear.” Beth said in a strong voice with a teasing undertone, “Bad days and good days and all that. Admittedly getting attacked by the man you bore a child for on the day he walks in and says more than five years of marriage, five of your best years, are now in the trash as he moves the new young piece into what was your bedroom is in the rather low part of it.” Beth cracked up near the end as tears started to form in her purple eyes.

Eli moved forward and put a hand to the rag to pull it back, but Beth’s right hand swatted it away.

“No! I-I don’t want you to see me like-“ Beth cast a downward look at her dirty and bloody dress which made her put up a bloodied right hand to wipe the tears from her eyes. Salamede moved closer for a full hug, putting the poor woman’s head into her left shoulder as Beth just sobbed onto the steel piece. After a few seconds, Beth got herself back together, even as she still kept the rag up to cover her lower face.

“Thank you,” Beth said with a grateful nod to Salamede as she straightened her ruined dress.

“What happened?” Eli asked gently as Salamede pulled back a little.

“Duke Beck,” Beth said with a surly pout. “Now that Ryan and Leeroy are dead, Mack got a big idea about being the next duke with so many people who relied on Ryan’s grand future now having nothing but a pile of ash and debts. The fact that he was a long-time rival of Leeroy meant he fell in with the opposition to Beck rather seamlessly. Apparently, he had worked out a contingency in case Ryan ever died because he didn’t waste a second getting that whore into my home.

Naturally, I objected, but I guess silly things like already being married, giving him children, and being there for him when he became deathly ill are just minor inconveniences. When I refused to consent to the divorce, he threw the pot of water a servant was boiling at me. Yelling at me that I was worthless and couldn’t even bed the man I had worked so hard to-“

Eli stepped forward and put his hand to the rag on Beth’s face. This time she was too tired to resist and let him pull the cloth down. Along the lower front of her chin to the back left of her jaw was a nasty red burn mark. The injury kept going down to near her collar bone and Tansen heard Eli’s sharp intake of air.

Then the mana around Eli started getting sucked into his mouth. For a few moments, nothing happened until Beth gave a little squeal as the faded stab marks in her mid-section molded away and the burn along her jaw molded into smooth skin. Eli stepped away as Beth ran her hands over her jaw, seemingly relishing the feeling of her now pristine skin.

“You really know how to make a woman smile,” Beth said as she pursed her lips with a wide grin that stretched her thick pink lips.

“Please, continue,” Salamede said as she gave her husband’s arm an appreciative squeeze.

“Anyway,” Beth continued. “When he threw the boiling water at me, I ran out of the house. Fearing for my life, I tried to make it to the small house where the rest of my family is currently staying. Poor people barely better than peasants, but they were far closer than your tower. Still not close enough, though. Along the way two men had been waiting for something like this and dragged me into an alley to kill me.

Despite getting their daggers in a few times, the local guard managed to intervene quickly enough to get me to a healing bed. Thank you again, Eli.

With so many injured people from the fires, I had to leave it and chew on some pain-deadening herbs while staying under the guard as they figured out what to do with me. Which was when I got your summons.”

Everyone stood around in varying states of agitation at the tale but mostly kept their eyes on Eli to gauge his reaction.

“He tried to kill the mother of his child over some political bullshit,” Eli stated to no one in particular.

“Yes,” Tansen said, causing Eli’s head to shift with a backward look. “I know it’s hard to fathom, but there are some men like that out there.”

“I can fathom it just fine. Hell, I’ve seen more of it than I ever wanted to.” Eli said, in a mild tone. “It’s just… sometimes there are people so evil. So totally, utterly despicable that you don’t even feel anger or outrage. You think about them and you just get tired.”

Eli took a deep breath before looking upwards with a rather worn look in his purple, gold-flecked eyes before continuing.

“Mack absolutely cannot be allowed to become the leader of this region.” He said as he turned to Salamede. When Koal gave a light cough to talk, he kept his eyes on the goatish face of his wife.

“And what will you do to prevent that from happening?” Koal demanded.

Eli didn’t respond. Instead, he just kept his eyes locked with the white orbs of his wife’s eyes. It was a long silent moment as the two stood stone still and, as far as Tansen could tell, weren’t conducting a conversation with spirit magic.

“Salamede, if I still committed to using crafts and people died…. Would you think less of me?” Eli said with the closest thing to uncertainty Tansen had ever heard come out of his mouth. Salamede bit her lip as she weighed her words before answering.

“I love you, Eli. You’re a kind, powerful man who is always a bright spot in my day. While I do appreciate your discretion, if you let people die because you let your discomfort get in the way… Yes, I would think less of you.”

That seemed to solidify something in Eli as he brought himself up to his full height.

“Well then. I can bear a lot of things, but the disappointment of my wife isn’t one of them.” Eli said with a note of finality before turning to Beth. “Tell your family to declare for Duke Beck.”

A snort was Beth’s first response.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll all tremble when the juggernaut of a bunch of peasants who got lucky with a mine and then married into the lower nobility enters the fray,” Beth said with a raise of her right brown eyebrow.

“Koal,” Eli called behind him, “If Beth was potentially carrying my child, what would you do if she got involved with the spat between Mack and the Duke?” Beth’s eyes went wide as she did a little yelp.

“You assume there would be a conflict at that point,” Koal said with a smug smile, “If you lay with Beth, I’d make sure she is kept under the strictest secrecy so that in the event your seed doesn’t take, the rebels wouldn’t know to attack or not. At that point, I’ll make sure they’re too scared to even look at the weakened duke sideways. While the other nations will no doubt become interested in her, any resources they use to get to her could instead be used to get you. All in all, I’d say the conflict would end with no more blood than has already been spilled.”

Beth was practically skipping in place as the horrid morning was blasted off her face and replaced with a look that said she had just gotten every wish she ever had delivered right to her doorstep.

“Oh, Eli! Y-You will? Truly?” Beth said as she wrapped herself around him in a hug, which only emphasized her height coming up a few inches shorter than his, which was still rather tall for most women. She looked up to him with a wild lust in her purple eyes that said she was ready to do the deed here and now.

“I will,” Eli said resignedly with a look towards Salamede.

“Yes,” The rough Kelton’s voice cut in without a hint of bitterness, “If you do get with child, you can come live with us and we’ll all help raise them into a fine heir.”

Beth was practically vibrating as she moved to kiss Eli in between his armor.

“Now, now,” Koal said with a little clap, looking at the freshly divorced woman with more than a bit of jealousy. “There are some steps that need to be taken before the clothes come off. I’ll be watching over the process to make sure everything is done to the very last letter of the law and requirements.

Tansen, I believe you’ll be getting ready for our grand testimony?” Koals' light green eyes turned to meet Tansen’s brown ones.

“Yes, we just have a few more records to gather up. Once your people get here, we can leave in the express carriage they arrived in and get to the midway base by tomorrow morning.” Tansen finished with a nod.

Content to let Koal handle what was an item long in coming, Tansen got his papers together and went about preparing for the coming storm as the rest of the room shuffled out for the deed. The day passed and as Tansen was out by the main gate to the town, he watched as various members of the Ember association were getting out of a large metal carriage with a gold tag on the front. Satisfied that they were who he was expecting, the academy head turned towards the pyres of burning bodies by the entrance as the ash wafted up into the grey sky. Sweaty men with rough brown pants and no shirts were busy moving carts of ash and wood everywhere with the occasional patrol of guards coming in and out of the big wooden double doors that marked the line between the wilds and civilization.

His stomach had clenched in the same way it did when he traveled into a perfect ambush spot on his way from his escape from everything he ever knew. The cruel similarity between his history and what looked like Eli’s future kept weighing on him. As he meandered between the past and the present, a tap on his left shoulder took him out of his pondering.

Turning around, he saw Agatha and Koal standing side by side, each carrying a parcel of files and papers. While the blonde front member with sharp cheekbones had some exhaustion in her blue eyes, Koal seemed rather upbeat.

“How did it go?” Tansen said to Koal as they all moved to the back of the carriage. As the academy head gripped the handle for the iron door and held it open, Koal waved to her subordinates as she lifted her red robes to get into the carriage.

“Quite well,” She said as she took the first step onto the jutting step below the open-door frame, “Apparently, Eli is quite skilled in areas other than magic. Beth certainly had a good morning despite how it started.”

When she was in the carriage, Agatha gave a dry smile as she moved in behind her.

“Indeed,” Was the only surly word Agatha deigned to speak.

Following in behind them, Tansen closed the door and stepped into the metal box. Replete with a mana lamp in the middle of the metal ceiling with wooden benches on both sides, the only real luxury was the wooden flowers beside the mana gem. The soft orange glow combined with the heat the flowers' enchantments gave off made it act like a mini sun for what was going to be a large part of their world for more than a day.

Idle chat sufficed at first, but the day passed in silence quickly thereafter with bathroom breaks and travel meals of nuts and crackers drunk down with water at several intervals. Even ones as esteemed as these could be reduced to traveling like a peasant when time was made short and they were too busy trying to not lose their life’s work to focus on something so petty as travel accommodations, a fact they all made sure to not audibly mention.

Along the way were people of every description and make trying to move northward. A fair number were surprisingly middling or high-ranking nobles and government officials with a particularly well-dressed daughter in tow or peasants fleeing the now more tumultuous southern region. More than once, a roadside stop saw some people being taken in for questioning or a fight break out as travelers had to make way for troop deployments.

Coming down the wide stone road that made up the main highway here, they came upon the wide bunkers and ever-moving troops of the midway base near day’s end.

“Nice to see I underestimated how quickly the express carriage could get us through the checkpoints,” Tansen said as he got out of the carriage with an exaggerated stretch. More than once, they only had to stop for a most a minute as the local head honcho personally came out to look at their papers before waving them through, often to the bitter moans of those stuck in lines.

Dust and sweat filled the air as feet pounded the dirt with peasants, soldiers, merchants, and couriers moving between the large, three-story wooden bunkers. A messenger boy eventually came and escorted them to the main fort. Torches were being set up around certain buildings to provide the bare minimum needed to keep scouting reports and messages coming in and out along the various roads leading in and out of this military city.

With a day or two worths of clothes being carried in trunks by servants behind them, the three drew some interest with Koals red robe and Tansen’s odd black and sapphire studded kimono as they walked up the main stone road and off to the right into the wide double doors of the fort. After a quick exchange, they were let into the big stone box and greeted by a pudgy man with a bowl cut of brown hair. He wore a plain white shirt, a brown leather vest, and black pants.

“Hello, names Alton.” The man said with a look of interest in his brown eyes that stuck out beside a bulbous nose. The reverence of the retreating messenger boy expounded the man’s importance.

The three gave a slight nod before Agatha spoke up.

“Greetings. May I ask who you are?” She said cautiously.

“I’m the guy you come to when you want something from congress. More specifically, I’m the head of the senate. And would I be wrong in assuming you are the expected center of tomorrow’s hearing?”

After a round of polite nods, Alton clapped his hands together and walked with them towards the main building with another pair of large dual doors of wood with iron bands. After taking them through the busy main entrance with the servants, Alton walked them over the hard-oak floors and through the ever-present crowd of messengers and personages performing one task or request for their betters. With torchlight at certain points playing across the grey stone of the walls, the doors, and staircases on both right and left sides of the huge room, there was just enough illumination to show them where they were being led.

Alton walked them to the left staircase with a red carpet down the center and up to the second of the three floors they could reach. Coming to the walkway and with a quick look to the floor below, Tansen made sure to keep close to the pudgy man as he led them down a hallway with doors on each side.

“Here is where people of interest stay,” Alton announced with a handwave to the appropriate rooms. “We’ve set aside rooms four, five, and six for you. But, of course, I’m not here to be your personal butler. The chambers have never been such a mess and as the people with the most knowledge about the person in the middle of this storm, I thought it prudent to get some information before the official hearing tomorrow.”

The three looked between themselves before nodding, hopeful at the prospect of getting one person on their side before the first official question was even asked. Shuffling into the number four room on the left, the place was a rather plain affair with a single bed on the right and a desk to the left with a candle lit on it. The rest of the room had the same hard oak floor and grey stone wall as the rest of the fort. Alton quickly moved to take the chair from the desk and turned it around in front of the desk, which he promptly sat in.

The kind, portly host crumbled as a man practicing his craft took over with a hard look from his brown eyes taking in the three as the candlelight behind him played across the outline of his white undershirt and leather vest.

“Spare me no details of this affair. I may not be directly involved in the committee, but my influence is not to be underestimated and may make the difference in the contest to preserve your stations.

First and foremost, the quad mage. The rumors around him fly like birds on the wind and take no heed of smashing headlong into each other. He is a god amongst men and a hard toiler among the lowest of laborers, even working directly with sewage. His capacity for cruelty stills the hearts of even the most brutal of souls and he works great acts of charity to uplift the poorest of the peasant folk. Which is it?”

A brief moment passed before Agatha stepped forward.

“They’re all true.”

‘Yes,” Koal said, stepping forward as well, “I saw the ash on his clothes from him helping put out a fire in the Kelton quarter. I have also confirmed that he made a magical device to help deal with his town’s sewage situation. As for his… capacity for cruelty. I haven’t seen any action from him personally but the stories I’ve heard from the guards and how he acted towards Harold’s men make me second guess my decision to be the one to look into his circumstances.”

That got his eyebrows raised in surprise before he did a small whistle.

“And what of you, Tansen? You, more than anyone here, are the man of the hour. You are the one who first revealed Eli’s abilities. You, by all accounts, are his closest confidant. Your position as the academy head who will usher in this new age for humanity adds a mountain's weight to everything you say. What do you have to say about these events?”

Tansen took a deep breath and let it out as his brown eyes came to rest on Alton’s.

“It’s all… too familiar,” Tansen said with a bitter tone.

That drew odd looks from the two women, but Alton just puckered his lips with a nod.

“Ah, yes,” Alton said as he strummed his fingers on his knee. “The Imperial Academy incident. With these events, the government declassified the agreement to let you stay here for the legislative body and I have had a trustworthy tongue wiggle that it will be a part of the questioning. I don’t know how that will play. Maybe it will give you a personal perspective on the events that they will sympathize with, or they’ll use it against you and have that bit of history to discredit whatever appeals you might make.

We will just have to wait and see. Good night and good luck tomorrow.” Alton said as he got up from the chair and nodded to the two women before moving past them to get out of the room.

‘What was he talking about?’ Agatha asked in a spirit connection with a raised eyebrow.

Tansen just sighed as he took his bag from a servant outside and came back into the room. Laying the bag on the bed, he turned to the two women and bit his lip before answering.

‘You’ll hear all about it tomorrow, apparently, but we have a more important issue. Agatha, I know you have some concerns with my care for Eli after he left the academy. This, however, is not the time to present them. Will you please refrain from voicing such concerns tomorrow?’ Tansen asked in a calm tone.

Agatha bit her lip as her hands clutched at her black work dress.

‘Tansen, the truth is what is important. The people who make the decisions for the betterment of humanity need as much of it as we can provide.’

‘A weakened front to present the reality of what is going on with Eli is what you’ll give them.’ Tansen said with gritted teeth, ‘Reality is more important than the truth. We both know what clobbering Salamede over the head, which is exactly what they’ll do, entails for everyone. Giving them the ‘truth’ is only going to undermine our case.’

Koal had been content to remain silent this whole time but now broke into the conversation.

‘These aren’t the type to let the truth get in the way of their careers, Agatha. You give them anything to use against you, they will use it to the fullest extent possible. In case it wasn’t sufficiently clear, we are on trial here more than to give testimony for a vote. Their displeasure at Eli not immediately hopping into the dorms to spread himself out was abundantly apparent in their announcement. To say nothing of the tongue lashings they dealt out in the personal letters they sent me afterward.’

Agatha got an uncertain look even as she stuck out her chin. It was a long moment before she sighed.

“I bid you both good night.” She said audibly before turning around and heading out the door.

Koal turned her light green eyes to Tansen in worry, but he just shook his head of shoulder-length black hair as he reassured her.

“Good night, we’ve done all we could. Hopefully, Eli siring with Beth will give us enough breathing room.”

Koal nodded and left the academy head alone in the room after a light bow.

Alone with his thoughts, Tansen turned in for the night as images of ghosts and bloody offices haunted him as he lay in the bed.

After what could be construed as a night’s sleep, Tansen got up with a knot of worry in his stomach as he washed with a bucket of hot water and a quick meal in the mess hall. Afterward, it was straight to the main event. He, Koal, and Agatha were sitting on a bench in a hall with oak floors and stone walls with a large double-wide wooden door to their left. The windows opposite of them provided some light with the rising of the morning sun but the military nature of the place came clear through even on such a clear-skied day. From the thick iron bands on the door and the buff guards in front of it to the lack of carpet, the place was as far from the refined luxury of the academy in every way.

The small orchestra of noises behind the door stopped with the banging of a gavel before a voice called from behind the door in a loud, booming tone.

“Tansen, head of the Diamond academy. Agatha, head of the Front at Diamond academy. Koal, leader of the Ember association, please come in.”

As the guards opened the door, Tansen took in his surroundings. There were three chairs in the middle of three long tables with white cloth. Scattered about these tables were scribes writing down the proceedings, servants getting refreshments or relaying letters, and people who were obviously members of the committee. They were in far finer clothes than the rest and notably older as people scurried about doing every task delegated from them. Tansen took particular note of the look of loathing Koal shot a blonde woman on the left side before he turned forward.

At the center of the table opposite the three chairs, was a particularly older gentleman with several medals on his black vest with a white undershirt, all commemorating his military service. The metal of which reflected the morning sun coming out of the sturdy windows as the jutting ceiling of the room showed off the grey stone of the walls and the finer oak floor.

‘Mclain.’ Koal said in a spirit connection, the light groan that accompanied it not saying anything good. ‘Watch out for that one. He’s the biggest snake in this pit.’

His wrinkly head turned with the combover of white hair as his piercing brown eyes took in the three making their way to the chairs. When they sat down, Tansen in the middle with Agatha to the left and Koal to the right, Mclain coughed into a wrinkly hand and spoke up to the rest of the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming. I’ve just heard reports that it looks like the Mist pirates will win out over the Rodring kingdom for our southern territory, so let us proceed with all haste.”

That sent a wave of furrowed whispers through those at the table while Tansen’s stomach clenched. If they lead with such an explosive piece of news and emphasized the speed with which this hearing must be carried out, then it was clear they didn’t intend to be thorough.

“Now,” Mclain continued, “There are a lot of questions for these three. A lot. But let’s lead with Koal as her turn against us was the most surprising.”

Koal’s pale skin got some red as she bit her dark lip before scowling.

“I did not turn against-“

Mclain beat his gavel again.

“You know more than enough about how these proceedings are supposed to go, with those being questioned only answering. Try that again and you’ll be gagged.” He said with an expectant look and raised eyebrow like he was scolding a child.

Koal bit her lip again but restrained herself to an insincere smile. That let an older woman with a green dress and grey bun to Mclain’s left cough and throw out the first question.

“Koal, as the leader of the Ember association you know full well the importance of a mage's duty to bring in the next generation. Correct?” She said with a meaningful look in her brown eyes behind the glasses.

“I have several daughters to attest to that fact, yes,” Koal said with a blank face.

“Then why have you let up in that responsibility when it comes to the one person in the world where that duty is most important?”

Koal looked down for a moment before answering.

“Eli isn’t the type of man who will just whip out his dick and use it for every willing pair of legs that walks by. Just this-“

A wave of chuckles and snorts interrupted her as the surrounding congress members and staff got looks of mirth.

“What? Does he not know how to use it?” one bald, portly congressman on the left with a big nose, wobbly double jaw, and green eyes said. He thumbed his blue jacket over his white undershirt as he licked his thick lips.

“Eli doesn’t think with his dick. At least when he’s not around Salamede. When he is… well all the reports say he gets quite vigorous. Although his skill is certainly something I can attest to after his mating with Beth, a woman he took recently.”

That drew some interested looks, with the congresswoman sucking in her lips before asking another question.

“I thought the letters said he was refusing to mate anyone but the goat woman. What changed?”

Koal stuck out her chin as she got a defiant look.

“A lot of pulling, negotiating, and wrangling on the part of his wife is what changed. She managed to get some conditions for him mating other women out of him, conditions that were then fulfilled.”

“What was“

A cough from Mclain interrupted the question, which he promptly took over.

“Am I to understand that you are asserting that getting him to lay with a single woman is some kind of victory?” Mclain asked incredulously.

“Yes, it is,” Koal said with some restraint. That got disapproving looks from around the table, which only spurred the fire scion on further. “It took the prospect of a civil war and the low opinion of his wife to pry that concession out of him. I’ll be dammed if any of you could have gotten any better.”

“Oh, I think we will,” Mclain said with a dangerous look coming into his eyes before quickly fading. “But more to the point, there seems to be a consistent point throughout your experience. His wife cajoled him. The goat woman made him give concession to mate. You make it seem like she has more power over his reproduction than the rest of us.”

Koal just raised an eyebrow at that last part.

“Yes, wives typically do have-“

The congresswoman put up her finger.

“There it is again. His ‘wife’. You know she is not his wife, yet you still call her such. Her claws must have sunken deep into you.”

Koal bit her lower lip with her nose flaring as she realized the trap she walked herself into. Before she could respond, Mclain put up a hand for silence.

“We arrive now at the heart of the matter, and for that, we turn to one miss Agatha.” He said, his eyes shifting to the left and onto the black-dressed blond. Her sharp cheekbones got some sweat as every pair of eyes followed his to her.

“Do tell, dear,” The pudgier man with the blue vest on the left said. “How long have you been letting Eli’s letters of magical organization admission get filched under his very nose?”

That caused a stir amongst the servants and other congress members. Tansen just blanched with the realization of how closely their spies had been monitoring his activities, with Koal getting a similar expression.

“What?” Agatha asked in a timid voice.

Tansen got a pale face as he gripped the side of his chair.

“I asked why Eli’s letters have been getting stolen. By his wife.” The man asked again, sending off a wave of whispers and furrowed eyebrows.

“That…” Agatha’s throat was almost visibly parched as she struggled for words before she finally collected himself. “Salamede had been bringing them to Tansen’s office so that Eli wouldn’t burn them. As fo-“

A snort from Mclain stopped her dead as his brown eyes showed a clear contempt.

“A mage, burning the letters from associations? Come now, what fools do you take us for?” Mclain demanded with his wrinkly square jaw coming up with a look of annoyance.

“Eli doesn’t care about magic,” Agatha said with a shrug. That sent a wave of now genuine confusion both through the crowd as well as Mclain and his associates.

“What?” The congresswoman asked with a face scrunched up in disbelief.

“He became a mage because of scraps his poaching father got for him. After that, he became a caster because the troll he killed was a convenient meal. He must have an extraordinary aptitude for magical growth aside from the eight elements he has. But in all the conversations I’ve had with him, he’s never displayed any interest in going out for more magical resources.”

“But our reports say he is close to being a scion. Why have you not been plugging him with magical resources?” Mclain asked again with a look of incredulity. A cough to his right from a man in a brown coat with a grey undershirt drew everyone’s attention. He had soft white hair and faint lines on his muscular face.

“That would be because we can’t give students magical resources. That practice created too many problems in the past where the obsession takes hold and all the academy coffers were sucked into one student.” He said with an almost bored look in his brown eyes. It took Tansen a moment before he recognized what had been one of several attendants at the meet-ups for the academy heads. He was the leader of the most prestigious coastal academy, Pearl Academy. Named so for the magical oysters often found in its hunting grounds and the occasional treasure therein. He was also one of the academy heads who sucked away his time with multiple letters going over the failing with the testers.

Mclain just huffed at the interruption.

“Pushing that to one side, for now, we will return to the matter of the letters.” He said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Why have the letters not been getting responses?”

“I don’t know. The Front is only concerned with raising magical talent, not how it socializes or joins associations.” Agatha said with a bit of lip. Koal took that as an opportunity to intercede.

“We can’t respond for him, so we have been-“

Mclain swiftly banged his gavel before turning it to Koal with a menacing air as he scowled.

“One more time, Koal. Do not speak out of turn again.” He growled before turning to the scribe on the right corner writing everything down. “Strike that comment from the record.”

As the scribe promptly scrawled over the words, Mclain turned back to Agatha.

“Why are the letters not getting through, Agatha?”

The blond was now looking properly pissed but she kept it down to a mere scowl.

“I don’t know.”

Mclain leaned back into his chair with a look of self-satisfaction.

“To summarize: Eli’s letters from the associations are being taken by his wife and have not been responded to with the head of the Front branch having no idea why. But that isn’t the worst of it. His 'wife' is so determined to not have his seed spread that not even she will bear his children.”

All the men got raised eyebrows at that while the women puckered their lips. Tansen was content to just sit there and bore his brown eyes into Agatha’s side while Koal just looked queasy. This wasn’t a hearing, it was a smear job and Tansen could do nothing but feel the hair on the back of his neck go stiff.

“Um,” Agatha said with a bit lip as her blue eyes skittered around the floor.

“That is what you said, is it not?” Mclain said casually as he ran a finger over the white cloth of the table. “When a thorough investigation of his tower was completed, yook root was found in his bedroom, was it not? Something that you quickly laid at the feet of the goat woman.”

“Yes, but that was a misunderstanding on my part,” Agatha said with her face getting pale and her hands clutching her black dress.

“Oh? When you yelled that she was a venomous snake, screamed at her demanding to know why she was denying the siring of his children, what exactly were you misunderstanding?”

“That it was a request from Eli,” Agatha said in a strained tone, the cracks in her confidence already showing.

“Ah, yes,” the congresswoman said with a disbelieving tone. “What Eli wants. From her seductive and manipulative ability, how are we supposed to know that the words coming out of his mouth are actually his own and not poison planted there by the one person who seems to have wrapped everyone else around her finger? Even with that, it appears that you and the academy head can’t even present a unified force against her malicious influence.”

Tansen’s stomach was doing cartwheels. There were too many incidents where Agatha screamed out things that would be devastating to their cause and he remembered all too vividly when she came blaring into his office after Eli’s talents were revealed. He was certain her voice would have easily carried down a good floor or two both then and after the attack on Eli’s tower.

“He…I was…”

Mclain put up a hand for silence as Agatha fumbled.

“When you accused Tansen of covering up certain parts of Eli’s history, was that also a misunderstanding?”

Agatha just sat there, sweat running down her face. Tansen could see the realization that these people could not be trusted wash over her as she slightly straightened.

“I… misunderstood the circumstances of his departure.”

“Excuse me?” Mclain demanded.

“Eli was something of an apprentice of Tansen’s, due to his great crafting ability. I mistook the natural favoritism from that as something nefarious. Something that is an item of embarrassment for me to this day.”

Mclain and his two crony congress members got sour looks at that but the rest just looked on with raised eyebrows. It was a long moment of waiting as Mclain strummed his wrinkled fingers on the table with the patter of them going out over the silence. After a few more moments, he finished and spoke up.

“Still, to hold Tansen’s character so low that you would assume something malicious is telling. We have come to perhaps the main person of interest in this session so let us not dally any longer. Tansen, head of the esteemed Diamond academy.”

Tansen straightened slightly as his brown eyes went hard and he tried to maintain an aura of calm. Which was only interrupted when the chubby congressman spoke up from the left.

“Tansen, what do you have to say about these deplorable circumstances that we as a nation have found ourselves in?”

The academy head closed his eyes for a moment as he collected his thoughts. It was a few more moments before he shared them with those present and when he did, he brought his chin up and swerved his brown eyes around the room before landing on Mclain.

“Over the course of caring for society, we who are tasked with the burden of leadership must make certain decisions based on necessity. Having crafters get fewer resources, attention, and time is one such necessity. While this has always meant that they will not reach their full potential, the simple math of necessity demanded we put more into their betters and we have been greatly rewarded for these decisions with more casters, scions, and all the great benefits that come with their presence.

But somewhere along the way, what was necessary became what was convenient.

We let the futures of these lower-level mages slip through our hands because we became so used to just summing up a person’s potential down to their magical titles. All they could or would do is put in a nice, simple box for us to easily understand and use at our leisure. All those messy thoughts about what potential they may have had if we put in a bit more effort, a few more words of encouragement, or a little bit more money could be safely ignored. We put one of the most unpredictable, erratic, and infinite things in this universe, people, into simple easy to understand terms and for a long time, we were rewarded with a healthier, stronger society for it.

The failing in our thinking, however, has shown up in the worst way possible. Eli was a crafter and, as a disposable member of society, he was crushed by the same attitude of convenience that has come to dominate our society. He-“

Mclain put up his hand.

“Tansen, the circumstances surrounding Eli's trial were due to one malicious individual. It is entirely unfair that the rest of us should suffer from the actions of one individual.”

Tansen scrunched up his eyebrows as he took another breath before responding.

“If anyone has the right to complain about fairness, it is Eli. Who is to blame for what doesn’t change the fact that it happened. More to the point, that trial only happened because crafters are seen as disposable.

We, as leaders, all made a mistake when it came to Eli and we are getting the chance to fix it. But it will take time and, more importantly, it will involve not mauling the person who was with him in his darkest hour.”

“Ah,” The congresswoman said with a smug smile. “Now we arrive at the matter at hand. The goat woman is a thorn in the side of the good people of the Coalition and must be removed.” That drew nods from all those present at the table.

“No,” Tansen flatly rebuked.

There was a round of scowls from everyone else, but the members of congress seemed almost offended.

“What?” Mclain said.

“Going after Salamede will get you nothing,” Tansen said with a light calm air.

“It’ll get some children out of him,” Mclain spat, “By the gods, man, what am I supposed to say to the widows of the soldiers who will be dying very soon to keep him safe?

‘Oh, you poor sweet thing. I know the love of your life was torn to pieces far away from his family, but don’t worry, he died to give the quad mage time to work out his emotional issues.

More to the point, this is a matter of patriotism and obligations. Is he of such poor character that he thinks nothing of the people around him?”

Tansen sighed as every eye bored into him. More than outrage, he began feeling like this was a story he had seen play out before, which only spurred him on to fight harder.

“I never said fixing the mistake would involve us being treated fairly or doing something easy. Also, after everything he’s been through, you’re going to accuse him of being selfish for not putting a society that tossed him in the trash above his personal needs?”

“Needs?” The pudgy congressman to the left said, his bald head showing some sweat. “If he needs to get his dick wet, that’s not a problem he’ll have to worry about. Magical growth certainly isn’t going to be a need we will let him have left unfulfilled. None of his needs will be left wanting if this committee has anything to say about it.”

“I’m not talking about physical needs,” Tansen said with a scowl creeping up his face before he suppressed it. “Beneath all of a mage's power is a person. A person with emotional and spiritual needs. Right now, Salamede provides for his emotional needs. But Eli is open to taking on more wives, from what Salamede told me.

I know it's ridiculous. Having people die while Eli figures out how to properly use his manhood. That is totally unfair and unreasonable to us and on his part to demand such, but this all started because of a mistake we as a people made and we need to take the time to fix it if we want to get him spreading himself out.”

That drew a few huffs but Mclain and the members of congress got red running up their faces. The old man squeezed the gavel in his right hand before he spat out some surly words.

“We are the elected congress. We represent the combined will and might of this nation and you want us to meekly give in to a spoiled brat’s demands?”

“Is your pride so important, Mclain?” Tansen demanded with a scowl he wasn’t bothering to hide anymore. “Will you dash all of our skulls against the hard stone of your arrogance?”

Mclain sucked in his lips and some air as he puffed out his chest to accentuate his medals.

“That pride carries with it my service to this nation and its people. How dare you question it.”

That got some murmurs around the table, with most of the people giving Tansen a hard glare. But the academy head, feeling more away from home than he had ever been, pushed on with determination.

“Reality doesn’t care about past deeds. Whatever good you did will be overshadowed by the decisions you make here. I, more than most, know of the dangers of putting extremely powerful people on high while ignoring their emotional well-being.”

“Indeed,” Mclain said with a pouty look as he shifted through the papers in front of him. Eventually, he pulled out one particular paper and put it up. “Your immigration agreement. I must say, yours is longer than most, and until recently, a matter of some classification that is now rather pointless. The circumstances surrounding it say you know a thing or two about emotionally unstable people.”

“Then you know that I speak from a position of authority on the subject,” Tansen said with gritted teeth.

“Oh, you most certainly do. I’ve read the report, but I feel that a more…personal retelling is in order. If you would indulge this committee.” Mclain finished with a smile.

Tansen closed his brown eyes and took in a deep breath before slowly releasing it even as everyone’s eyes were fixed on him, Agatha’s being more fixated than most. When he finished the breath, Tansen opened his eyes again with regained serenity.

“My homeland of the far shores was originally an empty jungle island until an Ultimate plant mage visited it with a load of his dedicated followers. He taught us all many things about honor, construction, and discipline. We, as descendants of both his loins and philosophy, took on many of his views and strict teachings. One thing we kept from the mainland was the need for mages to spread themselves out, a task my father saw to with great vigor.

As a water caster, and almost as importantly, a high-ranking member of the emperor’s court, his bedtime activities were many and widespread. One of the many, many women he planted his seed in was a sickly woman who used to be a rather… clumsy maid. She, more than the other peasant women, was often looked down on and dismissed by the more powerful, beautiful, and rich women who crowded the court looking to snatch any number of powerful men. Dismissiveness that quickly changed to the most bitter jealousy when her newborn had the egg of a scion in his chest.

In a single night, she went from a piece of furniture to having her name on the very tongue of the emperor himself. Still, that same sickliness that so wracked her body persisted.”

Tansen went from a look of pride at the description of her ascent to a quivering lip that stopped his tale dead before he got himself under control and continued.

“Through the years, she enjoyed the best food, the best clothing, and the best… well everything. But through it all, she made sure that her child remained at the forefront of her life. She never got pregnant again, but birthing a male scion was more of a contribution than most would ever make to this world and she was never begrudged for her lack of fruitfulness afterward.

I, for my part, indulged in all the follies of youth. Talking, playing, and laughing with some of the local court boys, and later their sisters and mothers’ while in bed, were how my days typically went. I never wanted for release or physical needs even on the worst of days. All of which quickly went by when I wasn’t passed out from gestation. Through it all, I always made sure to keep up with my mother, and even when I got into the imperial academy, I still tended to the woman of such strong spirit that she would no doubt be a high ranking official if she hadn’t been let down by her body, that eternal source of damnation and the thing that made her so well regarded.

As I worked my way through my classes, I would keep getting sidelined by my mothers’ illness. Always some accident or episode, some injury that reached my ear that I, as a loving son, rushed to offer comfort for. The academy head was understanding, often to the vehement objection of the staff, and this state of affairs was tolerated for a while. Until the old academy head, in the natural course of things, was forced to retire from old age.

The new head, an older woman with more grey than black hair and who liked to dress up in the finest clothes, was one of the staff who often complained the loudest about how I was spending too much time on a worthless peasant woman and needed to spend more time getting magical resources to manifest my familiar.”

Tansen’s eyes dimmed a little as he seemed to mentally vacate the room and was right back at the start of his youth.

“I had no idea just how much she despised my mother. The old academy head had been taking a lot of crap over my insistence of making sure my mother wasn’t dead and the new management had no intention of taking it on the chin as her wiser predecessor had. One day, one cursed, horrible day, I came home to find my mother gone from her house.

It took some twisting and bullying, but eventually, the neighbors told me what had happened: The academy head and some of her more loyal staff members had used their authority to send away her local guard and proceeded to use long stalks of rice leaves to beat her and drive her away. Long with the heavy mana turning the leaves to blades, those plants left bleeding marks on her that were only distinguishable because the plumed bird that was feasting on her top half hadn’t gotten to her legs when the local guards found her outside the safety of the city.

It was a long tug of war after that, with the law and judges going over some bullshit I didn’t care about. I was told afterward that part of the problem in punishing the academy head and her conspirators was that their plan worked. I dedicated myself body and soul to the acquisition of magical resources after that, quickly manifesting my bluebird, Gatra, with a black beak and feet in just under a month.

The academy head got what she wanted. Her precious scion pushed himself to get his familiar and was even siring more as he made sure to bed the wives and mothers of every staff member involved. All it took was killing some nuisance peasant woman who wasn’t even contributing anything to society anymore. Her plan was so logical, sensible, and factual that she was rewarded many times over in accolades and praise for her achievement.

Right up until the moment I gutted her and the staff.

The minute I was ready, I stormed the academy heads' office and left the bitch in a pool of her blood and spilled entrails. Shortly after, I hunted down all the staff members who helped her. It was… a rather arduous affair. I had planned it all so that the guard would be on rotation at the time of my attack but they still put up a good fight.”

There were pale faces all around, especially from Agatha, who seemed near dead from the lack of blood in her complexion. All of which Tansen ignored as he seemed to withdraw in towards himself as he continued the tale, his eyes still off in that far-flung academy.

“There was a lot of whining after that. Some sniveling shit crying about finding a severed head in the hallway or people moaning about the blood all over the walls. All these whiny, petty people bellyaching about the bodies everywhere.

Suffice it to say, my father and the emperor were rather displeased with the turn of events.

There was talk about my execution and my assistant from birth helped me escape with a load of valuables. From there we caught a boat onto the mainland and traveled along the southern coast of the central continent towards the place farthest away from my former home as possible: The Coalition. I won’t bore you with tales of banditry, long roads, and the meetings of fair maidens, but the whole time the lack of assassins after me was a source of considerable confusion. I obviously arrived at my destination and it was only then that I was served a letter from the Coalitions immigration office, courtesy of the emperor’s court and the minder who had watched over us on our journey.

Several documents turned up in the deceased academy heads' office that showed she and the staff had been using their newfound connections and goodwill to scheme with some now dead officials who were thinking of overthrowing the emperor. One thing you must know about our people is that we value actions, not the intentions behind them. If you do something, what you actually meant to do counts for little, if nothing, and my actions had spared the emperor a rebellion and possible assassination.

All things considered, the emperor declared that my crimes were null and I was a free man to come back or stay here with his blessing. While the staff and academy head were dead, their families were still around, and I certainly didn’t intend to head back after my long journey. More than that, I had a dream born from my bitterness. I determined that to spite my former imperial academy, I would create an academy far beyond its level. When I worked out that the academy system here would favor a quality over quantity approach, well, I assume you all know the rest.”

That drew a small huff from the Pearl academy head but the rest were content to stay under the thumb of the oppressive silence hanging over the room. It took a good moment before Mclain spoke up.

“Well, that certainly had more weight than the dry report. With your history in mind, don’t you think it might be hindering your judgment on this issue?”

Tansen’s chin came up, scrunching up his goatee as he pursed his lips.

“On the contrary, it informs my judgment. You are making the same mistake my old academy head made. Treating magically gifted people like tools to be used with no concern of their emotional well-being is a lesson my old academy learned the hard way and I hope we won’t have to learn it the way they did.”

Mclain looked around the room to catch the eyes of various members of congress. After a few nods, he turned back to the three guests before speaking again.

“This has been a rather long session. Let’s take a quick break.” He said with a look to the scribe, who stopped taking notes.

Grateful for the reprieve, the three guests left for a quick lunch with Agatha stealing the occasional look at Tansen. Refreshments eaten, they all returned before the mid-day sun reached its peak. As they came back, Alton was waiting by the door in the same clothes as earlier but as he got up from the bench, his brown eyes went wide as he turned to the approaching three with a swing of his bowl cut of straight brown hair.

“What are you three doing out here?” He demanded.

“When the break was called we-“

“Break?!” Alton shouted before rolling his eyes and running up to the double doors and slamming them open. Even from this distance, the three could see the various congress members shaking hands and getting up with various staff members picking up papers for the now finished session.

“What is all this nonsense about a break during a hearing, Mclain?” Alton demanded.

The rather smug-looking old man put a hand in his black vest's coat pocket, causing his medals to shake as he stuck out his chest.

“The business of the people.” He said simply, with a cocky grin that pulled at the wrinkles on his face.

Agatha tapped Alton on the shoulder.

“What’s going on?” She asked with a note of trepidation.

Alton just stalked forward and took a piece of paper from the table near the front of the desk. After reading it over briefly, Alton just chuckled.

“Ah, so not only did you vote to have the goat woman found guilty of treason, but you also transferred control over Eli’s affairs to the committee.”

Tansen’s stomach clenched as he stomped forward.

“What troll shit is this? You can’t have the responsibilities for a student be transferred over a single day.”

Alton turned around with a look of pity in his brown eyes as he licked his lips.

“You can if the current academy representatives don’t object.”

Tansen stood there as still as a statue as he realized what had happened. They never cared about getting their testimony, they just wanted them here so they could use some legal trickery to make sure their names were the ones associated with the spread of quad mages through the Coalition. Agatha looked sickly while Koal’s light green eyes just wandered off in the distance like she was somewhere far from here.

“Eli was right,” Tansen said in a near whisper that still carried through the silent room. “You’re all the same as the person who put him through that sham of a trial.”

Mclain and the others went stiff at the accusation as they got a clench in their teeth.

“Tansen,” The congresswoman spat with venom, “Such slander besmirches the great work of the people. And I must say Koal, as our representative-”

Koals' head jerked out its staring contest with the tracks of eternity and towards the speaker with such force it caused the congresswoman's speech to stumble for a moment. The leader of the Ember association had a bead of sweat running down her left temple to her cheek as her wide eyes looked like those of a deer in the sights of a predator. Which confused the assembled officials until the congresswoman started speaking again.

“A-as our representative, you must do better in enforcing the correct path and seeing Eli taking on the responsibilities that are-“

“I quit”

Those two words flew from Koals mouth and caused a series of yelps and hiccups from everyone present. The congresswoman was visibly shaken and could only wordlessly move her jaw, which Koal used to drive the point home.

“I’m leaving my position as the correctional post for the circumstances surrounding Eli and handing it over to Victoria,” She finished with a nod towards the blond on the left, who looked positively ecstatic at her turn of good fortune as her blue eyes lit up in joy, swishing around her blue vest, pants, and white undershirt while the rest just stared at Koal like she grew two heads in the time it took to speak those words.

Tansen and Agatha nodded as they looked around the room and left, no words left to say, save the few Tansen threw over his shoulder as he left the room.

“I’d curse you, but I can think of nothing worse than wishing for you to get what you want.” He shouted as the three left the room and went into the hallway, with Alton following shortly after.

“Wait, Koal!” The pudgy man called.

The three stopped, with Tansen in the middle, and Agatha to the left with Koal on the right. The two academy officials had scowls while Koal just looked like she had a brush with death.

“Koal.” Alton scolded with a scowl as he clutched the paper in his hand. “What were you thinking? Giving up your position wasn’t going to change their minds and now when Eli starts siring, they will be getting all the credit. What possessed you to do that?”

Koal just scoffed as she put a hand to her red robes chest, looking Alton up and down like a fool who just asked why water was wet.

“If you think I’m going to be the one in arms reach when the committee starts going after Salamede, you are the fool. No threat or power in this world would ever compel me to be the face of the Coalition government when Eli starts looking for someone to skin over this.” Koal said.

Alton just snorted as he looked at her and then between the other two, getting a raised eyebrow when they seemed to affirm her assertion with a nod. A gulp slipped from his throat as he bit his lip before speaking up with some fake bravado.

“What? Is Eli going to attack the representative? Maybe he’ll go after the members of the committee themselves to send a message, even?” Alton said with a dismissive snort, which quickly died when all three nodded again.

“That was the first thing Eli considered doing.” Agatha retorted with her blue eyes holding some pity.

Alton went a little pale as his brown eyes went wide and sweat started falling onto his brown vest and white shirt.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Tansen said as he walked forward and put a comforting hand on the pudgy man’s right shoulder, meeting the man’s eyes with a steady gaze and firm nod. That seemed to relax Alton until the next words came out of Tansen’s mouth.

“His wife talked him out of it.

Good luck.”

With those last words, the three turned around and went to pack their things to head home, leaving a shaken Alton in the hall clutching the paper affirming the vote to charge Salamede with treason and put Eli under the committee’s thumb.