Underneath the pooling light of a hanging lantern, the stenographer sat and clicked away at her little machine. Recording everything that has and will be said.

"Let it be known that all seven of the dimensions are represented today."

My eyes darted to the Solanite, wondering how he got out of his locked dimension. Tyrannical rulers tend to keep a really good eye on their gates and the fact that this guy is on earth is a little concerning.

For now, I said nothing. I wanted this interview to move favorably for me and pissing off a council member with questions that do not relate to the subject of the interview was not wise.

"The locator has identified and confirmed the details of the subject in question, advising us of the confirmation of her status. We note that in your application form you have listed that you have not been intimate with the girl. Is there anything you wish to advise us master Dremain?"

"Yes, I filled that out before what you are referring to."

"I see." she said in a dull droned out voice.

"We have not done anything more than that day."

Not that it's any of your business.

She did not look at me. Instead, her eyes moved down the document as she tried to find another place to nit-pick.

"You state that she has empathy for her fellow man and wishes to sell gifts in order to fund her charity work. What gifts master Dremain?"

"I bought her clothes and accessories for our meals together. She was talking about her wish to be more charitable and asked if I would be offended if she sold them to fund her work. I told her I would not. It is a noble gesture, is it not?"

"Of course it master Dremain. However, we can't help but wonder how often she intends to sell your gifts."

My mind hissed with frustration, the tapping of the stenographer was annoying and detracting my thoughts from concentrating.

"What I buy her with my own money is my concern and no one else's. If I do not hold offence to her selling them then you should not either."

The man beside her leaned in and whispered, the grand councilor smiled supremely at me. There were few on this board of councilors that I could hold favor with but there was one that I knew would always lean towards my needs rather than keep with what the council wanted. He was the councilor for Faelen, the fae and elf world. Their beloved princess had managed to end up in the underworld twice and on both occasions, I returned her to the land of the living. Something that was greatly appreciated in their world.

"Now you have mentioned having business ties with the girl, please explain this master Dremain."

"An expensive pickup line."

There was a soft murmur of amusement from the far end of the table, the representative from Gaulth finding it funny.

"This is not comedy hour master Dremain." the grand councilor frowned as she snapped at me.

"But it is the truth. I saw her on the crosswalk as she picked up pieces of paper that she had dropped. Someone had clipped her shoulder and knocked them from her arms. I helped her and then Cerberus whined at me."

"You take Cerberus to the surface?"

She looked at me blankly, seemingly shocked.

"He only has one head out." I said rather annoyed at her "And he douses the fire. He looks like a normal dog. You'd be surprised at how well he does it."

Her mouth twitched into a tight scowl as she stared at me.

"I cannot say that I am impressed master Dremain. The hell hound has a tendency to be easily set off. He should be restrained in the underworld."

The Meuna councilor smiled at me as she spoke. "Please continue with the more accurate telling of how your business association came to pass."

"I followed her to the restaurant, there was barely anyone in there. The place was in a good location, it was clean so I thought I would test the food to see if that was the reason for the lack of customers."

"And was it?"

I shook my head. "No, the food was tasty. As it turns out, she has a demon working in the kitchen. Though she didn't know it of course. He is a great chef and the place is a gold mine. She just didn't have the ability to advertise it. So I helped her and improved it in a day."

"You know that we do not like for the masters to have business dealings."

"Well, then she can buy me out when it becomes possible."

The grand councilor made notes, not saying anything about it.

"If the subject accepts phase two and proceeds onward, how do you think she will cope with phases three and four?"

Pain swelled inside of me, phase three was barely tolerable but phase four would crush her emotionally. I knew it would.

"There is nothing that I can do or say about them. If that is what it takes for us to have a lifetime then I hope that she will accept it and do her best to cope. It's not as if there could be a change to the system that has endured for an eternity, is there?"

"Of course not." she offered with a sneer like smile. "We will take an hour to discuss this."

The woman paused as she looked at me. Scrutinizing every gesture, every breath.

"Is there anything you would like to add master Dremain?"

"Yes, grand councilor."

Her eyes widened as her brows raised with surprise.

"Proceed."

"I ask that phase three happens after a wedding that we are attending."

Eyes shifted from one to another and a soft murmur of discussion broke out.

"The process has started master Dremain, you ask the impossible."

"I have already responded to the couple that I will be bringing a guest. Do you wish to offer monetary compensation to them for the guest that they have already paid for?"

Her eyes narrowed with derision as she looked at me. I'd hit the spot, right on the head. Money rules their world and they did not like to part with it.

"Absolutely not, such words are a mockery and I wonder if you should hold such contempt for this order given your situation."

"All that I ask is that phase three happens after the wedding. I do not wish to attend a wedding alone while thinking of my love who could not be with me because of some archaic rule. Night after night she treads the floors of her apartment learning to dance, going through the dresses to find the right one. Would you rob someone of such an event, just to maintain a rule that is ultimately not that important?"

Her head tilted back as she assessed me.

"We will discuss it and come back to you with an answer. Please wait in the lobby, we will notify you as to when you can return."

I stood and offered a dutiful nod and walked out of the meeting room.

The coffee shop seemed so bland in comparison to Sarah's restaurant. Even the coffee was rather lacking. Their hour of discussion had become an hour and a half. I'd read every single magazine in the shop, checked in with Nolia and thought about messaging Sarah. I didn't which was for the best. What passes today had to be discussed in person, not over the phone.

By the time the guard approached I was about to return to the third floor and tell them what I really thought about their discussion. Luckily I had been called to return before that happened.

"Master Dremain, welcome back. Please sit."

She started with her usual droning tone before my backside was on the seat.

"We have a few points to go over before we pass our decision over. The first is the fraternization in a public place. We expect better from our masters but we accept that you took all measures to ensure that no one saw you. Passable, but barely. The second is the funding of her charity work through items purchased by you for her. Whilst we find her ideals to be noble we have issues with the indirect way that you are funding her. We do not intervene in the human world and it is that simple. You have the ability to be ingenious master Dremain, we are certain that you can find another answer. We will permit for the current lot of items to be sold and nothing further. If you are found to be breaking this rule you will be fined. Heavily."

The page flicked over with her passing fingers. None of the councilors offered any emotion, just sitting at the long bench with their plain faces and eyes pinned to me.

"Item three, Cerberus roaming the land. This is a dangerous thing to allow, I am certain you know this yet you have allowed it. We ask that you refrain from allowing him to walk freely among the humans. Item four, the business venture. We accept your offer of letting her buy you out when feasible. We expect that this will be done within five years and not a moment longer. Item five." she sighed and nodded solemnly. "We agree to the request for delaying phase three and four until after the wedding. You are to bring her to us for phase two where we will outline the schedule of events."

The grand councilor unfolded her pieces of paper and closed the leather folder.

"We have set the meeting for ten am tomorrow, both of you are to attend. Phase one is completed with success master Dremain, well done."

"Thank you."

"Tomorrow, ten am, both of you. This session has now ended."

And then she banged her gavel and I was free. Ready to skip out of the place until the reality finally hit me. I had to come back tomorrow.