[An Alten word, meaning to contain, or hold.

It’s also the name of the Last King’s fourth child.]

The third day of the conference came and went without any issue. The day’s talks focused on things going on in the Human Realm. Unsurprisingly, the issues they faced there were pretty similar to things here in the Demon Realm; a lot of Sigil appearances, and heightened aggression from bandits were the two main things mentioned. A decision was made for both governments to meet with the Guardians about the Sigil issue, and the decision to investigate further into the increase of bandit activity and terror attacks was reaffirmed. Aside from that, not much happened out of the ordinary.

Then on the fourth day, we met once more. Oroske told us as we were getting dressed for the day that this would be the final day of meetings, and we’d begin our return journey the day after next.

This day promised to be largely a repeat of the past few days, focusing on “topics of high importance from both Realms.” Which I figured would mean more talking about bandits, Sigils, and terrorist attacks. I wasn’t far off, though they also had more open forum discussion regarding the requests we half-demons made on the second day. It seemed the Parliament was interested in the present Lords’ opinions on the matters. Most issues were received positively, though the issue of expanding the clans’ neutral territory seemed to have mixed reception.

While the matter of the Sigils and Calamities were being discussed once more, the doors to the chamber were suddenly forced open. A group of three women and two men, all completely covered in matching black clothing, even hiding their faces, barged in, and quickly kneeled, one fist to the floor and the other on their chest. “Our apologies for interrupting!” The woman in the center shouted, “We’ve just received an urgent report for Madam Meia. We’ve discovered and captured a small group of bandits we believe to be involved with the bridge incident. They are detained elsewhere in the palace for interrogation.”

Meia stood up and spoke, “Well done.” She looked to her companions in the Parliament, “Would you mind if we took a short break? I would like to be present for the interrogation.” While she was looking at the Parliament, it seemed the question was directed at everyone at the table.

Regent Der’rel looked at her intensely before waving his hand in dismissal. Meia bowed slightly in gratitude and took her leave. We left the chamber, and took a break to relax in the palace foyer. After a few minutes, I realized Kared was missing from our group, and Nadred and Oroske were talking quietly to each other. I discreetly focused my vision so I could clearly see the lines of energy manipulation, and discovered a line leading off of Nadred’s stamped hand, leading into the hallway where Meia and her group went.

After about an hour, Kared returned silently, as though she’d never left. Not even ten minutes later, Meia returned as well, heading straight into the conference room. We followed suit, and returned to our positions.

“It seems we have some new information regarding our bandit issues,” Meia said once everyone had sat down, though she remained standing, “I don’t know the full details, but it would seem that someone, or some group of people, are going out of their way to fund and supply various bandit groups across the Realm. I believe it’s likely the same thing is happening across the Rift, and it’s likely being done by the same people.”

“Do we have any sort of name for these people? Any suspicions who they may be?” Der’rel asked the question everyone at the table seemed to want to ask.

“Nothing concrete. The bandits we have in captivity seem to be lower in their hierarchy, and don’t have many details. However, one of them claimed to have seen the person who delivered the funds and supplies to their camp. He described the person to have been dressed in an ‘ornate’ black cloak, covering their hair with a hood and their face with a mask. The bandit did get a look at the person’s eyes, and we can confidently say they aren’t human, at least. We also don’t know their gender for sure, as their body’s structure was well-concealed by the cloak.” Meia reported.

“It is relieving to know that there is an enemy of sorts,” Prince Ars’erib voiced, eliciting murmurs of agreement from the table. “However, it is troubling that whoever it is has access to a large amount of venn, as well as supplies that are hard to come by.”

“I’ll bet it’s that damn Crimson Twilight looking to stir up trouble,” the Regent growled, shooting a sharp glare at Kared.

“That doesn’t fit their methods,” Oroske interjected, “If it were them, you would know that it’s them. And they wouldn’t resort to relying on bandits and the like. They prefer to do the dirty work themselves.” The Regent seemed to back down a bit, though it was clear he still held his suspicion.

“Either way, there’s not a lot that we can do right now.” The Prince lamented.

“Could you keep them in containment until later tomorrow?” Oroske asked, “If so, I wouldn’t mind questioning them myself. I believe we could work out an emergency request contract, and we can take a closer look for ourselves on our way back to Tsumi’din.”

“Are you really in a position to pull something like that off?” The Prince asked.

“Absolutely. Right now I am representing Danfis himself, a role he does not allow people to take without an extreme amount of trust. So long as Raen and his crew are alright with a detour on our way home.”

The Prince looked to Meia, who nodded, “We can arrange that. We can discuss details once the meeting is over.”

“Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?” Der’rel asked, wanting to get the discussion back on track.

“How are things looking with trenui ownership laws?” Oroske asked boldly. It was clearly a topic many people were sensitive to.

“Ah yes, that’s right,” Der’rel sighed, “We’ve actually been having some issues. Approval rates of the current laws in Ish’din are still sitting high at eighty-two percent in favor. However, across the Realm as a whole, it’s down from thirty percent in favor to eighteen percent, and showing signs of decreasing. Furthermore, looking deeper into the analytics, roughly ninety percent of those in favor own or are friends with people who own trenui. We have been considering reform in the laws, but have not made any decisions yet.”

“We’ve been seeing a similar trend in our Realm as well,” Lady Shen’anum spoke next, “Historically our people have generally been less approving of trenui ownership than here in the Demon Realm. We have recently introduced slight reform in the laws to try and get the trenui better treatment, and that seems to have increased approval a small bit, but we don’t have any numbers at the moment.”

“Indeed,” Raen agreed, “There have been talks about abolishment, however as I’m sure the Parliament can sympathize, we’re worried that doing so would lose us the support of various nobles and other trenui owners.”

“I suggest we add that to the list of topics to bring up in our meeting with the Guardians,” Ars’erib declared. General noises of agreement filled the room.

“Thank you, this issue means a lot to us,” Oroske voiced his appreciation with a respectful bow.

With the trenui discussion quickly resolved, Der’rel asked if there was anything left to discuss. After a moment of silence, he declared the meeting over. “This ends the final day of this year's Human-Demon Peace Party. We humbly thank our guests, the Half-Demon Clans and the Lords of the Incol Realm, and their escorts, for making the long journey here. We will send for communication in three weeks time, regarding our future meetings with each other and our gracious Guardians.” His voice echoed in the room loudly as he and the rest of the parliament stood up. They all bowed respectfully, hands at their sides, in gratitude.

While we hadn’t done the ceremonious walk up the stairs since the first day, we did so going back down. I thought it was a little weird, especially since this time there wasn’t really anybody watching the steps. Oroske defended it when I brought it up, saying it’s an ancient tradition, and it’s a matter of formality. Supposedly, before Ish’din’s security became so tight, the Clans and Lords would spend each night in the palace’s guest rooms. So instead of walking up the stairs every morning, they would only walk them twice; on the morning of the first day, and the evening of the last.

Once our groups had all reached the bottom, and fanned out at the base of the stairs like we had on the first day, we turned around and faced the Parliament once more. From the great distance the steps created, it was hard to see them. Each group bowed to each other one last time before the Parliament returned to the palace interior.

The full party of humans and half-demons ended up going to the Eternal Sun again to celebrate. I was tired from standing all day, so I ended up returning to the hotel after only an hour. To my surprise, Jarou and Nadred came with me. We ended up chatting for a bit about some of the topics that were discussed over the past couple days before turning in for the night.

In the morning, Oroske gathered me and Kared to go back up to the palace to speak with the bandits they had captured. As we were leaving, we were stopped by Raen, who petitioned for us to let him accompany us. “The information you gain may be helpful for us as well,” he explained, “And I’d like to witness this aspect of your Clan’s work as well. I foresee us working together more closely and more frequently in the near future, and I wish to see as much of your operations as possible.”

Oroske sighed, “Alright, I guess you can come. Let’s just get going. Sooner we get up there, the sooner we’re done.”

We had traveled nearly half-way up the stairs to the palace when Raen broke the silence again. “So, Kared, you snuck off and witnessed at least part of the interrogation yesterday, correct?”

She seemed caught off guard by the question, but kept her composure, “So what if I did?”

“I just wanted to ask for your thoughts before we get there.”

“If I had any, it’s that Madam Meia is softer with her interrogations than I expected. The people in captivity were pretty bruised and beaten up, but they were like that before she showed up. They seemed strangely willing to talk to her. Perhaps she used some form of aspected magic. As for the information gained, she told us almost everything that was said by the bandits. I’m sure the omitted information will come up again, though.”

“I see. Meia is an interesting woman, that much I can say for certain. She’s someone I wouldn’t want to be enemies with.”

“I can agree with that.” Kared said.

The rest of our walk was silent. We were greeted by Meia at the palace gates, who then escorted us through its halls. It was refreshing to see a new part of the palace, though the design and architecture was very similar to the parts I had seen. From the small bit of it I saw, the palace itself had a rather simple layout. From the entrance, hallways split off in both directions - we went down the hall to the right, and I assume it’s the same on the other side - and from there, there would be three rooms before another hall intersected with the one we were in. This pattern repeated three times until we had reached the corner of the palace, which naturally meant a lot of walking. Walking that would be done in silence, broken only by our footsteps on the stone tiles echoing throughout the hall.

Once at the corner, we ascended a spiral staircase, and continued in the direction we had come from, before entering into the third door. I was expecting to see the captive bandits waiting for us, in a jail-like room. Instead, the room we entered was nicely furnished with three couches, forming an incomplete square around a rectangular table. “Take a seat and wait here while I bring the prisoners here.” Meia instructed before leaving, closing and locking the door behind her. Both sides of the lock could only be operated with a key. I got the feeling she didn’t trust us with the ability to wander the palace halls. I wonder if that’s because of Kared, I thought to myself.

While we were instructed to sit, I decided to wander the room and look around. It was a cozy room, the only real detriment I could find was that there weren’t any windows. I suppose we are underground, a window wouldn’t do a whole lot of good, I realized. There was a table and chair at the back end of the room, with pens and blank sheets of paper. Above the desk was a detailed painting of Ish’din, as viewed from above. The perspective was higher than the top of the stairs we had climbed earlier, so I wondered if there were other spots with views like that. There were paintings on the other walls, save for the wall with the door. One was a painting of the view we had seen on our way from Sanctis to Ish’din.

The other was a detailed, but highly stylized map of the Realms. I thought nothing of it upon my initial glance, until I realized the Rift was missing and did a double take. Sure enough, not only was the Rift missing, but so was Tsumi’din and the other Clans. In the area the City of Towers was at the time, there was instead what looked like a temple. None of the cities were labeled, so I had no way of knowing what it was supposed to be. I recalled Nadred’s lecture about how the Der’venn’ya Desert was originally a large forest, and went to check it. In its place was indeed a forest. There were three icons, which seemed to indicate cities, in the forest. One to the West, around where I was pretty sure a city still was, another closer to the center, and one up against the Ishen Mountains. I guessed that the one up against the mountains was one of the old Empire’s capitals that I had heard about.

Before I could examine the map much further, the door unlocked and swung open. Meia walked in, followed by two of the people who interrupted yesterday’s meeting, and three bandits, dressed in what may as well have been rags.

The one at the front suddenly moved to the front, and while looking directly at Oroske, proclaimed, “It’s you! Why are you here?!”