“Kuchezan!” Lolo smiled brightly as the panther prince came forward to greet the company from the Bear Tribe. She gave him a friendly hug. “How was your trip?”

“Uneventful,” Kuchezan grinned.

“That’s the way we want it,” Lolo laughed. “Is your father here?”

Kuchezan nodded and gestured to a row of seats to the side. “And our military leaders, as requested.”

“Excellent! Thank you for coming.”

“It’s our pleasure,” he assured her. “I take it that you have some tactical information to disseminate?”

“Ish,” Lolo shrugged a little sheepishly. “We do have some important war-related information to share, but we also have a plan to present.”

“Ah. You think it might be time to go on the offensive?”

Lolo nodded. “That’s one way of putting it.”

Kuchezan smiled. “You can count on us, Lolo.”

“Thank you.”

Kuchezan found his seat next to his dad.

In his seat at the front, Fortus leaned back lazily while he watched Lolo happily bounce around, greeting all of the familiar faces in the room and becoming instant friends with the rest. They had this unifying step in the bag. Lolo was absolutely the key.

“King Ukhaan! Surakh! General Baatar!” She spotted the company from the Phoenix Tribe and went to dish out hugs.

The Old Phoenix chuckled. “I’m not sure what to call you these days. I can’t call you Princess Lang anymore!”

“Sure you can!” Lolo grinned, “Or you can call me ‘Lolo’ like everyone else.”

“Hardly fitting for the Bear Queen,” he said, holding one of her hands. “You know, I had hoped that you might marry my grandson and become the Phoenix Queen so I could officially claim you as my granddaughter.”

“You can still claim me as your granddaughter. I won’t tell anyone,” she winked.

King Ukhaan just laughed and patted her cheek. “It is good to see you again, Queen Tragen,” he tried out a new name for her.

Lolo grinned. “That works.”

Another wave of people entered the room.

“King Hospes! General Artibus!” Lolo greeted the leaders from the Lion Tribe with a proper bow. “How have you been?”

“Well,” King Hospes replied with a comfortable smile. “Very well. How have you been?”

“I’m doing alright, thank you.”

“We heard the report about the attack on the Bear Tribe,” General Artibus said. “Is it true that your army of less than forty thousand beat the dragon army of over seventy-five thousand?”

Lolo blushed. “The wolf army helped.”

General Artibus was amused by her modesty but didn’t call her out on it, and Lolo ushered the lions to their seats.

She felt a tap on her shoulder from behind and turned to find all six of her brothers standing there. Not really sure why, Lolo was instantly emotional to see them and had to carefully wipe away her tears to keep her make-up from running. “I’ve missed you!” Lolo sniffed as she hugged each brother in turn before sending them to their seats.

The banquet hall they’d reserved for the meeting was packed with the tribe and military leaders of every single tribe. The soldiers each tribe had brought for safety along the road were camped outside, swapping stories with each other as they surrounded the hall for protection and privacy. It was time to call the meeting to order, and Ulana had to collect Lolo from the crowd where she was chatting animatedly with Et’zana and her aunt, the Sphinx Queen.

“Lolo, everyone is waiting for you,” Ulana whispered in her ear.

“Oh!” Lolo looked around and realized that Ulana was right. “Excuse me, Et’zana. Queen Dhaka’n, it was lovely to finally meet you in person.”

Ulana steered Lolo away to the front of the room. “Are you best friends with everyone here yet?” Ulana teased in a whisper.

Lolo just snorted softly with a small smile.

The girls took their seats, and Philige, the person whose name officially appeared on the meeting invitations, stood up to begin the meeting. “To start, thank you all for being here and for working with us as we’ve had to reschedule this leaders meeting. As you might have guessed by now, my wife is actually the person behind this gathering, so I will turn it over to her.”

Lolo wasn’t exactly prepared to lead the meeting and floundered a little as she took the reins from Philige. “Um, hi!” Lolo waved bashfully to the crowd. “So, many of you have already asked me why we called this meeting, and the short answer is that we have some new tactical information to present and a plan for you to consider. I believe that we stand a better chance of winning this war against the dragons if we all work together. I don’t think any of us doubt that the Dragon Tribe has hostile intentions for each of us, and, well, instead of waiting to be attacked, we ought to consider bringing the fight to them.”

“You have tactical information?” General Artibus asked.

Lolo nodded. “I’d like to present to you Captain Tamkhee Yudha from the Dragon Tribe.”

The room was instantly abuzz as Tamkhee stood up behind Lolo. Tamkhee shrank a little under everyone’s scrutiny, but Lolo gestured for him to step forward and gave him an encouraging smile that helped him stand a little taller.

“Isn’t he the Dragon General’s son?!” someone from the smaller Boar Tribe shouted.

Lolo saw Tamkhee flinch slightly out of the corner of her eye, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Yes, he is. He is also nothing like his father. For one, he is opposed to this war, and he came to us specifically to ask us for help in ending it. I suggest you listen to what he has to say. Captain Yudha put himself at incredible risk to bring us this information, and, as a captain of the Dragon Tribe military, and the son of the Dragon General himself, he is in a unique position to be able to provide us with accurate and insightful intelligence.”

“No offense, Bear Queen, but how do you know he’s not lying to you,” someone from the Fox Tribe asked.

“His information checks out with our own intelligence reports and personal experiences. I promise to explain why I believe his report after he gives it to you,” Lolo replied.

“Let’s hear it then,” the Old Phoenix smiled encouragingly.

Tamkhee took a deep breath as Lolo nudged him forward. “My father has completely taken over the Dragon Tribe and made himself the king. King Ajigar and his son are dead.”

The room again filled with the rumbling of lowered voices whispering back and forth with their neighbors, and Lolo cleared her throat loudly to give their attention back to Tamkhee.

“This war is absolute insanity. My father is bent on world domination, and he doesn’t care what the costs are. Our army is large, but not that large, especially after the recent battle against the Bear Tribe. There’ve-” Tamkhee hesitated and looked to Lolo for encouragement. “There’ve been rumors going on for a while that my father is a sorcerer of dark magic. There is a room in the palace that he reportedly uses to create artificial soldiers using the souls of the dead. These soldiers are like puppets, mindless, speechless, completely manipulatable. I’ve seen them. My father can create them and control them, so, in order to end this war, my father has to die.”

There was a heavy silence in the room.

“You expect us to believe that the Dragon General possesses magic capable of summoning a massive army on your say-so alone?!” someone said.

Lolo stepped forward again. “Not on his say-so alone, but mine too.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’ve spoken with another witness who claims that the Dragon General has a ‘toy army’ at his disposal. I didn’t know what that meant until the captain here brought his report. Furthermore, this theory explains so many things about the dragons’ actions over the past few years. People have been disappearing along the southern road. Entire tribes have been massacred. I was informed yesterday that, while the dragons continue to wage war, they are no longer interested in gathering intelligence on us, and Captain Yudha has informed me that the Dragon General is slaughtering his own people. If it is true that the Dragon General is capable of creating soldiers from the souls of the deceased, all deaths are a win for him no matter which tribe they come from. Intelligence reports are meaningless if all that matters is a high death toll.”

Tamkhee addressed the room again with a new determination. “I don’t expect you to believe in sorcery. If I were you, I wouldn’t either, but my people are dying. Your people are dying. My father has to be stopped, and if you believe nothing else about my report, please believe that I want to help you stop him.”

Lolo smiled. “And so we come to the next part of our meeting. I think we can all agree that the Dragon General needs to be stopped. Whether he is capable of sorcery or not, allowing him to accumulate power and call the shots puts all of us at risk. I think we can also agree that we stand a better chance of defeating him if we unite our forces against him. Does anyone disagree?”

Silence.

“Does anyone wish to stay out of a joint campaign?”

“I think you will find all of us willing,” Kuchezan voiced his support.

“Here, here!” someone added.

“Who will be leading this campaign?”

“If you will indulge me, I have some remarkably talented friends,” Lolo turned and beckoned Fortus forward. “Many of you already know Fortus Arum. He is the single most capable military strategist and commander that I know, and I trust him as one of my closest friends. I nominate him as the military leader of this enterprise.”

“I’ll second that,” Zhongyan raised his hand with a grin.

“Third,” General Artibus raised his hand too.

“Any opposed?” Lolo asked, waiting a full twenty seconds before continuing. “Then it’s settled. Fortus, the floor is yours.”

Fortus nodded. “Thank you for the confidence that you’ve placed in me. I intend to live up to it. We need to strike soon and strike hard, taking the fight to Dragon Tribe territory. I have actually already been developing a battle strategy for this campaign for months, but I will spare you the exact details for now to limit the possibility for a leak. We simply need to pick a day to attack. If we meet at the fork in the southern road between the Wolf and Dragon Tribes, when can your armies be ready to go?”

“By the time we travel home, prepare and travel back down, five days at a minimum,” the Sphinx Queen said. “We have the furthest to travel, so I would imagine that most people could meet sooner than us.”

“If we plan to go into battle one week from today, does that not work for anyone?” Without objections, Fortus solidified the date. “One week it is, then. Arrive the day before with enough time to get some sleep before the battle. Are there any questions?”

“You want our full armies?” someone asked.

“Yes. As many men as you can manage.”

“What should we tell our commanding officers? What roles will they play?”

“Your armies will work within their normal command structures; your officers will simply be coordinating with me and my team,” Fortus said.

“Your team?”

Fortus grinned. “There are five of us, one from each of the main tribes.”

“And who is on this elite team?”

“Guys?” Fortus turned to the rest of the primordials and Huo Lohse, Standig, Ulana, and Jadu rose to their feet. “We are all graduates of the training exchange, and we’ve been training almost non-stop for over a year specifically for a moment like this. I assure you, we are well prepared.”

Just then, the door swung open again, and a rather rumpled-looking older lady in brown clothes with mostly grey hair walked in. “Ah! Primordials! I was wondering when you’d declare yourselves.”

"You have got to be kidding me." Ulana face-palmed hard, giving herself a bright red mark on her forehead. “Of course. Now she shows up.”

“Great Owl,” Jadu gave her an anxious look and shook his head at her.

“Well, you are here to declare yourselves, aren’t you? I came to corroborate your story. Isn’t that thoughtful of me?! The humans always struggle with this part. All proof, no faith.”

“Great Owl, we were kind of hoping to just gloss over this particular step,” Fortus said sternly, shaking his head in exasperation.

“That’s odd,” the Great Owl responded. “I could have sworn that I heard the soldiers outside discussing your ultimates. You’ve made quite an impression for not bothering to declare yourselves.”

“Would someone please explain what you all are talking about? What do you mean by primordials? And what are you supposed to be declaring about yourselves?” someone asked impatiently.

“I don’t think we can avoid it now, Fortus,” Lolo grimaced.

Fortus sighed heavily. “You’d probably better be the one to explain it, Lolo.”

“Maybe we should show them?”

“Our ultimates?”

“I mean, the dragons aren’t collecting intelligence, and we’ve already used our ultimates in battle once. The element of surprise is kind of gone at this point.”

“I suppose so,” Fortus grumped.

“Ok,” Lolo took a deep breath and faced the assembled leaders. “There is another reason why we believe that the Dragon General is capable of sorcery, and it’s because, in a way, we are too. It’s a very, very long story, but we’ve discovered that the myth of the ancient primordial animal spirits is true, and each of us on this team are hosts to one of those spirits. The myth of the primordial spirits suggests that they return when the world is in peril. Well, the world is in peril because of an evil primordial spirit known as the Black Dragon. We believe that the Dragon General is the Black Dragon’s host.”

“The Black Dragon?!” the Great Owl seemed shocked. “He came here himself?!”

“The Blue Dragon thinks so,” Jadu nodded.

“Oh, my!” the Great Owl found a chair to sit on. “Please continue. We’ll talk after you finish this part.”

“Ok,” Lolo shrugged and looked out at the room of very overwhelmed, confused, and disbelieving dignitaries. “You know what, it will be a lot better if we show you instead of telling you what we are talking about. Would you mind if we moved this meeting to the sparring field?”

Everyone shuffled out the door without much argument. They arrived at the sparring field as the sun was setting, and all the soldiers that had been left to swap war stories were barely able to contain their excitement once someone slipped the reason for the relocation to the sparring field.

“They’re going to show us!!” Lolo heard one of the bear soldiers whispering to his lion soldier neighbor. “Just you wait! Now you’ll see what we’ve been talking about!”

“Dude, we already know that your queen and her friends are super awesome from the coup! You don’t have to make up stories about magic and stuff.”

“Oh, just you wait….”

“Hey, Lolo,” Philige caught her arm as she was entering the field with the rest of her team, “good luck.”

Lolo hugged him quickly. “Thanks.”

“Well, this is not how I saw this evening going,” Fortus complained in her head.

“Suck it up, captain.”

“It’s just so annoying because, had the Great Owl simply stayed as uninvolved as usual, the meeting would be over already, and this wouldn’t even be a thing!”

“I know. But she didn’t, so it is.”

“Lolo, I don’t have an ultimate that’s observable.”

“Oo. Good point. Um. What about your roar?”

“Seriously?”

“It’s visible! And I’ll howl with you if it makes you feel better.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s what I’ve got, alright?! Unless you want to play a weird game or something of passing messages long distance….”

“No! That’s dumb.”

“Well, come up with your own solution then!”

While she waited for the crowd to find seats in the stands and settle, Lolo took a moment to soothe her nerves and connect with the Silver Wolf. "Hey, quick question, got any good ideas for proving the whole primordials thing to people?"

Lolo felt the Silver Wolf move. "You ought to try howling with the rest of your team. It's a good show, and it's almost nighttime."

Lolo almost laughed. "I think only the Golden Lion and us have even bothered trying that this cycle. The others haven't been too keen on that idea."

"Then try this…."

"Lolo?" Ulana prodded her shoulder. "Everything ok? We're waiting on you again."

"Yeah," Lolo's grin held mischief.

"Oh, no. I know that look. What are you planning?"

"Huddle up, and I'll show you. This is going to be awesome!"

Lolo spent a minute organizing the group. Ulana and Standig on her right, Fortus and Jadu on her left.

"Lolo, seriously, what are you doing?" Fortus asked.

"Sh! Just trust me and hold onto my hand or arm somewhere."

"Why?"

"Just do it, alright!"

Confused, her team followed instructions, and Lolo closed her eyes. It almost felt like a group meditation. The Silver Wolf beneath her sternum began to emit a warm energy that extended through her body and into her limbs, passing to her teammates where their hands made contact with her body. Lolo could feel her energy reach up through their arms to where their own primordial spirits rested in their chests. She felt the Silver Wolf connect with the Black Bear and the Blue Dragon and then the Golden Lion and the Red Phoenix. They were excited, eager, and energized, and Huo Lohse felt like her chest was going to burst.

Lolo opened her eyes as she felt the giant Silver Wolf spirit leap out of her body. It was a good thing her friends were still holding her arms, otherwise she probably would have been knocked over. On either side of her, the other four primordial spirits followed the Silver Wolf's lead, bursting from their host's chests and showing themselves to the astounded crowd.

The Silver Wolf seemed to smile as she threw her head back in a pure, beautiful howl, creating an elegant mist of swirling silver light. The Black Bear growled, and a shimmering black smoke rose from the ground, contrasting magnificently against the silver light. The Red Phoenix shrieked, launching himself into the air and raining down feathery sparks of fire as the Blue Dragon breathed his own blue flames in a swirling pillar up into the sky. The Golden Lion finished with a deafening roar that created a shocking explosion of gold light.

With the fireworks over, the primordial spirits returned to face their hosts. Lolo was delighted to find glowing green eyes looking at her through the thick coat of silver light.

"Thank you," Lolo grinned and extended her hand to stroke the giant wolf's fur. It felt like warm mist beneath her fingers.

The Silver Wolf seemed to nod her acknowledgement before bending her knees to pounce back into her host's chest. "That was fun! 'Haven't done that in a while," Lolo heard the Silver Wolf say before settling back down.

With all five primordial spirits rejoined with their hosts, Lolo looked around to watch her friends' shocked and excited faces.

Ulana started laughing while the boys ran their fingers through their hair in comical unison.

"That was… unexpected," Standig chuckled.

"Hm," Jadu seemed inclined to ponder the experience silently.

For once, Fortus didn't have anything to say, and Ulana just kept laughing.

Remembering that they had an audience, Lolo looked back toward the stands where soldiers and tribe leaders alike had been stunned into silence. On the other hand, the Great Owl was jabbering pointlessly to herself about how rare that particular demonstration was.

"Most hosts resort to showing everyone the ultimates to prove themselves, but to allow the primordials to actually declare themselves in the fullest sense, that's only happened a few times throughout history! It's so fun to see the primordials in their true forms again! I miss being a horned owl, you know. No offense to your human bodies, but there is something liberating about being able to fly and not having to wear clothes."

Lolo cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, that's what we were talking about. Any questions?"

"I'd wondered why you were so quick to believe me," Tamkhee stammered weakly. "I had no idea…."

Someone from among the sidelines of soldiers whooped, breaking some of the tension, and the soldiers started cheering and clapping as the tribe and military leaders broke oddly into relieved laughter.