DARKLIGHT

- 34 -

Through the cold, draconic bite,

Nervous whispers,

Wary flight.

Anahid skidded to a stop in front of the main Order building, and I slid off, silently calling him back after ruffling his feathers one more time. A couple of other groups of mages had also just landed nearby, but they were all adults. I felt very out of place, especially with the single, unimpressive orange half-stripe on my uniform. I wished I'd been able to go to the inauguration with my parents, but my dad was on a business trip and my mom wasn't fond of these sorts of formalities. Suddenly uncomfortable being alone and out in the open, I jogged to the front door and headed in.

I took the elevator to the floor just below the Council room, where official events like these were held. Inside the round room, many rows of chairs and benches were lined up in front of a slightly raised semicircular platform. The ceiling was solid metal, doubling as the floor of the Council chamber, but the walls were all glass and curved upwards, letting ripples of sunlight drape over the stage like the bright shadow of a curtain.

All eight Councilors were already present, some conversing in a tight circle at the front of the room, and some with a few more important guests at the back windows. There should have been nine, but Councilor Blaine had been gone for quite some time, which was the reason an inauguration was being held at all. Councilor Vuhmal's cousin was also in the group near the stage, and given his Council-like robes, I assumed he was going to be taking Blaine's place.

I sat in the middle of a bench, as close to the front as I dared, and waited patiently as more people and a few smaller arkaetres filed in. Most people were wearing Order uniforms, but the event was open to city residents too. A couple in matching blue outfits sat at the end of the bench at my left.

As the rest of the Councilors gathered near the platform and conversation tapered out, the man who had visited the library earlier sat down to my right. He slid the book he had borrowed out from the folds of his gray cloak and flipped it open, searching through it absentmindedly. He didn't seem to notice me, so I kept to myself.

Councilor Yoonshai's arkaetre, a bee hummingbird, flew forward and called the crowd to attention with a series of high-pitched buzzes. "Order! Order!" she squeaked before returning to the stage. She perched on Yoonshai's shoulder, preening herself primly.

"Let it be known," the Councilor announced from the platform, "that this Council inauguration is being held in response to the unexplained absence of Councilor Lionel Blaine and his arkaetre, Daigar, for a length of time exceeding three months." As I'd read in the book on Council affairs on my way, once a Councilor had been gone for three consecutive months, a rather complicated system of heirship was used to determine who would replace them until the next decade's election.

Yoonshai continued, taking a deep breath. "As Councilor Blaine had no living heirs, and Councilor Reimos Vuhmal, with his arkaetre, Azkiho, is our most senior Councilor, his closest heir, Dimitri Celton, with his arkaetre, Isaiah, will be inaugurated for the remainder of the election cycle by Order law." Realizing that this was going to be a long process, I took out my journal and pencil.

Hesitancies soon alight.

Just from evil,

Wrong from right.

After explaining the laws at play for a few more minutes, the Councilor paused and sighed, glancing around the room at the patient audience. "If any mage, arkaetre or person of any status can provide evidence that this selection was made in error, speak now," she said with an air of finality. Dimitri preemptively called his arkaetre, a large, spiny lizard that I recognized as a komodo dragon, and approached her.

I heard movement beside me. The mage in gray had stood up, slipping his hood off. He called, "I can," forcefully enough to plunge the room into shocked silence.

Councilor Yoonshai stared at the gray mage. I knew there was a procedure to follow for this sort of objection, but she either didn't know it or was too startled to remember. "Wh- Who are you?" she stuttered.

He strode to the open space in the front of the room, though he didn't step onto the stage. "My name is Kacey Blaine. I'm Councilor Blaine's son. I was presumed dead, I think," he said hesitantly, "but I have the records to prove that it's me. I escaped from Kirevean custody and only recently made it back to the Order." He slid a set of documents out of the book he was carrying and handed them to Yoonshai.

My head was spinning. I had been hoping that Kaces would come back to claim the Council seat, but I was positive that I'd never seen Kacey before. He had every right to the position if he was Blaine's son, but how could he be? I had visited the Resistance early that morning, in fact, to tell Blaine about the inauguration, and had heard Blaine call his son Kaces, but it hadn't sounded like they'd seen each other since Kaces left. Lionel Blaine hadn't died or vanished, of course, he was just occupied with the Resistance and unwilling to face Councilor Vuhmal's wrath, however disguised it might be. Vuhmal couldn't easily reveal what he had been up to on that fateful night either.

I could see two options. Either the man who called himself Kacey was Kaces in a strong yet rather obvious disguise, or he truly was a different person altogether, and Kaces had kept one final secret from me. To my further astonishment, Yoonshai looked satisfied with what Kacey had given her. Dimitri, meanwhile, was livid, and the lizard at his side had narrowed his eyes at the gray mage and was hissing softly. "Present your arkaetre," Councilor Yoonshai commanded.

"Surem," Kacey incanted. A white dragon began to take shape beside him, and Yoonshai glanced back at Dimitri and Vuhmal.

Councilor Vuhmal looked surprisingly agreeable, though disappointed. "Let's discuss this, Councilor Yoonshai," he said. Dimitri stormed off the stage to join the conversation, calling his arkaetre back.

Kacey stood with his back to us while the Councilors talked, shifting his weight from one leg to the other with his arms crossed. The white dragon at his side looked similar enough to Zephion except for his color, but I didn't recognize him either. He nudged Kacey's head with his nose, and the gray mage distractedly petted him between the eyes. The dragon wagged his tail and purred rather loudly, inciting some smiles and sighs in the congregation.

Finally, Vuhmal and Yoonshai stepped back onto the platform. "The Council agrees that you hold higher precedence over the Council opening," Vuhmal said with a tone of reluctance. "Step forward, Kacey Blaine. And what's your arkaetre's name?"

"Zephion." The dragon stared down at Vuhmal regally, and Kacey got onto the stage to join the Councilors with a spring in his step, finally turning to face the crowd. His face was covered with black, draconic scales, and a few people were audibly taken aback, but he eased everyone's concerns, saying, "It's just a byproduct of the Kireveans' attempts to shift me." He pushed his sleeve up part of the way to show his symbol's white dragon head. "I'm still Light."

"Don't worry, Mr. Blaine," Yoonshai said cordially. "This isn't the first case we've seen of Dark arkaetres lingering. They're quite difficult to exterminate." Zephion snorted a small plume of smoke.

The inauguration continued, with Dimitri watching scornfully from offstage. Kacey had to keep his arkaetre out the entire time, so his black scales stayed visible as well. As Zephion didn't fit on the stage, he sat off to the side, watching his mage like a very dangerous puppy. At the end, Kacey was given his Council robes and presented to the crowd with them on. It was certainly the most interesting formal event I'd ever been to.

When the final words were said and the room's furniture shifted for the reception, Kacey hurried to find Dimitri and appeared to profusely apologize to him. Dimitri looked unimpressed but responded politely enough and left him to find his Councilor cousin. Kacey seemed to also be looking for someone. He turned and scanned the room. When he locked eyes with me, he broke into a radiant grin.