Order of Aria

Chapter Four: A Council Agreement

    "Why has your audience ended early queen Emeaira?"

    "Why are we meeting now?"

    "What is the status of the prisoner?" Questions from every member flooded in as every council member was getting situated. The queen sat with her head on her enclosed hands, as if praying.

    "Where are the remaining council members, has something happened?"

    "Silence!" Esmeray shouts throughout the room. "I understand that you all have questions but we must make sure everyone is situated before we begin." Quietly, the group situates themselves to the best of their ability, their unanswered questions keeping them alarmed. After they are settled, the doors open to reveal a disheveled king and the councilman Olaven.

    "My darling are you alright?" Naermyn questions, rushing to the queen's side. Olaven heads to his chair at the table.

    "Of course my love, I'm fine. We do need to get on with the meeting now." he nods and gets into his place by her side.

    "We may now begin." Emeaira nods to Esmeray so she can begin. She walks forward to the table and begins to speak.

    "As you all may have heard, the audience with the prisoner, Syllan Keyfiir, went awry. So far everyone who was in attendance is currently safe and the only ones harmed were Keyfiir and the surrounding guards. The guards currently lie with the healers for treatment while Keyfiir has passed." a murmur sounds throughout the room.

    "What has been done with his body?"

    "How did he pass?"

    "How long until the guards are recuperated?"

    "If you would let me continue instead of just shouting your questions, I can get to that." a glare is sent to those who spoke. "Currently, we have Keyfiir's body stored in an orb of pruina to ensure nothing happens to it before it can be investigated. Before we have any more interrupters, yes the cause of death was unnatural. We are unsure as to what spell exactly was used, we only know that it was a fire spell of some type."

    "What is the point of this meeting then? To tell us that the audience with Keyfiir was a failure and that we now have no leads on what is causing the attacks on villages?"

    "Not exactly. If we are to all be in agreement upon this, I would like to take Keyfiir's body in so I can study it and look for any signs that may point to the spell that caused his death."

    "Why should you be the mage to look over his body? It was under your watch he was able to perform the spell that killed him. How are we supposed to know that you're not hiding critical information from us?"

    "She's right. It was under Aria's watch that this event occurred. Are we sure it is you who should investigate and not one of Vaerglen's mages?"

    Sounds of agreement flood the room. Each kingdom offered up their mage in place of Esmeray to look over the body. A look of annoyance was on Esmeray's face. Emeaira placed her hand on her shoulder in an attempt to ease her annoyance. This action did little to ease her, as words of distrust still hung about the room.

    "If you all could please quiet down so we can speak and come to an actual decision." King Naermyn spoke this time, his efforts mildly fruitless as only Resailia and Aria's council members listened to him. Emeaira sighed and Naermyn stood from his chair, glaring at those who were still arguing. "Silence with this pointless arguing!" The room went quiet, all unused to any outbursts from the King.

    "I understand that you all have distrust in our kingdom right now due to the prevalent issues at the moment but, we seem to be the only ones with witnesses to Keyfiir's death. One of those witnesses being our kingdom's top mage, Esmeray Ravenshire. To my knowledge, the Ravenshires have supported the Vandercrith family for centuries, and that will not stop with us."

    "My King if I may speak?" A nod is sent to a councilwoman from the Kalrashaw kingdom. "To my knowledge of the Vandercrith family and the Kingdom of Aria, the Ravenshires have indeed served for many years. But within those many years, their bloodline has been tainted."

    "If you are referencing their human heritage, I see no form of 'taintage'. Especially seeing as we have humans within our court currently." A hand is spread throughout the room to show said humans.

    "I understand what you are saying sir, my questions do not lie within anything of trusting humans. They rather fall into the line of whether or not we should trust a human mage with the analysis of this man's body. I may not know Miss Ravenshire's skill level but, from what I've seen from human mages within my own kingdom, this is not a feat that a human can accomplish."

    "I can see where you are coming from with your concern, but those are mages from your kingdom, not ours. I have put my utmost trust in Ravenshire due to her past with my wife. As if it was not for her, we may not be here today. If this says nothing of her skill level, then I request you look into our history books or allow her to prove herself with this task. As I speak with my wife and Ravenshire, we will leave you all to discuss." He sits back down and turns to talk to Queen Emeaira and Esmeray.

    "Thank you King Naermyn, for your kind words."

    "It's the least I can do, but if they still do not wish for you to be the main investigator of his body, I have a suggestion."

    "And what is your suggestion darling?"

    "We allow the top mages from each kingdom to oversee Esmeray's work after she has finished her investigation. It should give her the proper time to fully investigate Keyfiir's body and will settle any worries the other kingdoms have."

    "If that is what you wish, then I approve. Is this alright with you Esme?"

    "If it gets me the time I need to see what the fuck happened, I'm cool with it." The room returns to normal and King Naermyn speaks once again.

    "If it may ease any worries or suspicions amongst everyone, we will allow each kingdom's mage to overview any and all of Ravenshire's findings. This is to see if there are any mistakes or issues that she may have overlooked during her time with the body."

    Olaven from Resailia, Embershaper from Kalrashaw, and Astaleilles from Vaerglen all rise to share the decision for their kingdoms.

    "The Kingdom of Resailia agrees to these terms, we leave our mage Genrithe Sylbella, to oversee Ravenshire's findings."

    "The Kingdom of Kalrashaw also agrees to these terms. We leave our mage Theoden Harfoot, to oversee Ravenshire's findings."

    "The Kingdom of Vaerglen shall also agree to these terms. However, we will be leaving two mages to oversee any findings, if we may." She looks to the King and Queen for approval. They nod and she continues, "We leave Faelyn Loracan and Cirrus Hallows to oversee Ravenshire's findings."

    "Very well, I'm glad to see we're all in agreement. We shall meet back after the investigation of Keyfiir's body. You are dismissed."