Garyung had a grasp on the situation, but Kaldalis could sense that it was tenuous at best. The primary factor giving him the upper hand was surprise. He’d just name-dropped the Lataxinans in the middle of a group of people who were concerned with nothing so much as learning about them, their history, and their quasi-magical abilities. As soon as the shock wore off, Garyung would need to depend on his wits alone to keep his head above water here. Things could spiral out of control at any moment, and with so much of the rival council leaders’ ire focused at Kaldalis, no one had as much capacity to screw things up as he did.

So he just stayed quiet and hoped Garyung had it under control.

The other advisors and guards seemed to be doing their best to remain beneath notice as well.

Big Mike, the Panbu Council’s ship captain, was normally a larger-than-life personality, and hard to ignore even when the council was pointedly avoiding his input. But now he was sitting quietly, fidgeting hands hidden beneath the table while he kept his mouth shut.

Beside him, Captain Kensah, Panbu’s security advisor and de facto military leader, was her usual disciplined self, but there was a sense of unease to her stone-still silence now. She also looked a bit more haggard than usual. Her armor was dinged and scraped, and Kaldalis could see the shadows of bruises on her face and neck. She had been deeply involved in the fight against the Infernal Horde. Despite their past differences, Kaldalis was glad she had survived.

Kaldalis didn’t recognize Jetmorpan’s advisors. Either they had been lesser functionaries elevated to a council seat when the new town of Kayore was being formed, or they’d been on a ship of reinforcements from Baimer. Kaldalis would have to ask Courbois later if she knew any details about the council there. If she had handled the formation of the town, she must know something.

There was one more “lesser” figure in the room that Kaldalis recognized, though. Over the Contender’s left shoulder there stood the spindly human priest Kaldalis had faced off with when he and his friends had been trying to investigate the ruins around the raid outside Kayore. He’d introduced himself as Brother Gnider. Despite his small frame making him look like an office clerk, Kaldalis knew the man had a commanding voice, nerves of steel, and ice water in his veins. Despite his barely-disguised ambition during their last meeting, in this room, the man’s focus seemed to be on keeping up the false impression his narrow shoulders and short stature would give on first look.

“Did you just say the Lataxinans?” Cerh said, interrupting Kaldalis’s observation of the council chambers. “You met the Lataxinans.”

“Not me, personally,” Garyung said quickly, “but one of my agents.” He gave a meaningful nod towards Kaldalis.

Jetmorpan’s eyes bugged out of his head. That seemed a larger shock to him than the idea that the Lataxinans were alive.

“A scroll was delivered to the research center a few days ago,” Garyung continued. “Your research teams are likely aware of it by now. According to the scroll, the Lataxinans detected the Calamity, failed to prevent it, and instead escaped. Those of you who have the Kaia’s Flicker ability will have seen the Paths Between Paths.” Garyung steepled his fingers ominously as he leaned over the table, looking back and forth between Cerh and Jetmorpan. “They have taken refuge there.”

“You expect us to believe-” Jetmorpan began.

Cerh raised a hand to interrupt him. Even though Jetmorpan was no longer his subordinate, the simple gesture made the red-purple Vathon’s mouth snap shut as if he’d been slapped.

“What else, if anything, relevant can you tell us from this supposed meeting?” Cerh asked. “Verifiable facts, please.”

Garyung struggled for a moment before looking at Kaldalis.

“The types of Infernal Horde,” Kaldalis said in a low voice. “The three types. Elements, Conceptuals, and Abstracts.”

“Of course,” Garyung said, nodding and leaning back over the table. “According to the Lataxinans, the Infernal Horde come in three distinct species groups, in addition to the different varieties between the branches. The Elementals will be the newer, lesser form we saw. The Conceptuals are what we’ve encountered before while building our towns.” Garyung made a gesture that encompassed the town of Panbu. “Those are what you have seen here in this siege. The third type, the Abstracts, are tremendously more powerful. A juvenile of this sort attacked Cotanaku, and despite our foresight and defenses, we suffered significant damage to our infrastructure.”

“Less than a juvenile,” Kaldalis corrected in a low voice. “Partially-formed. Not even an infant.”

That had the desired effect. The other advisors for Jetmorpan and Cerh gave an uncertain murmur. Either they were confirming what Garyung had said - Kaldalis took special note of the knowing nod from Captain Kensah to Cerh - or they were expressing fear for what might have happened if something like that had attacked their own town.

“Why are we listening to this report by proxy?” one of Jetmorpan advisors asked, raising his voice from a murmur to the same low tone Kaldalis had spoken with. “His source is right there. Let him tell it.”

“This council of councils will not become a stage for showboaters,” Cerh snapped quickly. “We are here to discuss matters of import from leader to leader. Not for the glory hogs to brag about the latest gamble that paid off.”

“Yes,” Jetmorpan said, turning to address the advisor who had spoken out of turn, but with a glare locked into Kaldalis. “If Garyung doesn’t understand the information well enough to present it, then he shouldn’t be trying to lord it over us like some kind of-”

“Let Kaldalisl speak,” the Contender said. He didn’t speak loud, or sharply, but his voice cut through the chatter in an instant, silencing everyone. “We should be working with all the information we can muster, no matter the source.”

Kaldalis didn’t trust that for a second. It was very intimidating that he had gone from utterly silent to in total control of the meeting just like that. If he wanted to give Kaldalis the floor, he wanted to do it for a reason.

“Garyung covered the broad topic well,” Kaldalis said carefully, trying to direct his words towards Jetmorpan and Cerh, and not towards the Contender. It was a challenge, due to the arrangement of their seating. “The Elementals are new to us here on this island, but they aren’t new historically. They were previously encountered on the larger islands of the archipelago. While it’s true they are weaker individually, they are much more numerous, and are mindlessly aggressive.” He gestured vaguely westwards, towards where he knew the larger island was. “Their ceaseless attacks are why prior expeditions failed. Those expeditions couldn’t set up defenses before the Elementals came and destroyed everything.”

“And what is that based on?” the Contender asked, drawing attention back to him. “Were you there on those expeditions? How can you know why they failed?”

“I’ll admit that it’s conjecture,” Kaldalis said, looking over at Ikzoz, who gave a slight nod. “But it’s based on what I’ve learned from the research team from the original expedition. And, obviously, on my own observation. We don’t have a leader here from a town on that island for a reason, right?”

The Contender gave a wan smile and gestured for him to continue.

But Kaldalis didn’t. Not immediately.

He focused on what Foturns had told him about playing politics. Information is power, and he had all the information he needed to see the moves his opponent was trying to make.

As it was, the Lataxinan powers were the whole reason the Contender was even out here on the islands. The Contender was probably trying to bait Kaldalis into talking about the Lataxinans so that he could flip over some trap card and wreck Kaldalis’s shit.

Like Garyung, the Contender had come here with a plan. Kaldalis needed to avoid playing into it at all costs.

“The conceptuals are what we’ve seen the most of,” Kaldalis continued. “Though, obviously, they come in a wide variety of types, they share a lot of characteristics. They’re not as numerous as the Elementals, but much stronger individually. Just one, if mishandled, can easily demolish a camp. They have rudimentary, animalistic instincts, though, and that is their greatest weakness.”

Kaldalis made a gesture that encompassed Panbu. “They know fear, and understand retreat. Combined with their lower numbers, they can’t hold total control over their territory at all times, which is how we were able to succeed where the other expeditions failed. We had the time and freedom to push them back and maintain our claim.”

“More conjecture?” the Contender asked.

“In a way,” Kaldalis said, trying to keep his voice calm and even and not rise to the bait. “I was here for the founding of both Cotanaku and Panbu. That was simply a summary of my own experiences. It’s been backed up by the research teams’ work, but we haven’t been in a position to study the Infernal Horde directly yet.”

“And these Abstracts?” Again the Contender gestured for Kaldalis to continue. “What can you tell us about them?”

“I can’t tell you much about them,” Kaldalis said carefully. “We’ve only encountered the one in Cotanaku, and, as far as I’m aware, none have been seen on the islands since the Calamity. The one we faced was stronger than anything we’ve ever seen on the islands, with tremendous defenses, and enough offensive power to destroy whole buildings with a single strike.” He scanned his inventory, producing the Research Notes document that killing the thing had given him and putting it on the table in front of Garyung. “As I said, what we saw was called ‘partially-formed’ and ‘unaligned’ and that makes me terrified for what a full-grown one can do. These are the civilization-destroyers. These are the reason we don’t have Lataxinans here anymore.”

“These so-called Lataxinans were an advanced society,” the Contender said, deftly reaching across the table and pulling the notes away from Garyung. He turned them around and gave them an unimpressed glance. “They had wide acceptance of forbidden magic. Unholy power in spades. You want me to believe that such a society falls at the hands of some kind of… Floating flatware monster instead of the weight of its own corrupt hubris? What is your source for this?”

Kaldalis paused. That was it. He couldn’t play this politics game anymore.

The Contender was backing him into a corner, and there wasn’t any more room to dance around them.

All eyes fell to Kaldalis.

“The Lataxinans told me,” Kaldalis said at last. “I’ve tried to keep relevant details to what the Cotanaku research team can provide to your people, but the Lataxinan council told me that when an Abstract - fully formed and operational - comes to their evacuation vessel in the Paths Between Paths, their defenses will not hold, and we will not have the power to protect them.”

The Contender’s smirk became a broad grin. Kaldalis could feel the figurative ground beneath him turning to quicksand before the man even began.

“Convenient,” the Contender said, tapping a clawed finger to his scaled chin. “Perhaps we should explore that.”