Seemingly Needless Allies

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3:

The room, almost instantaneously, resorted to chaos.

"Remembers?!" Councillor Emery yelled, exasperated. "Remembers how?!"

"Who, might I ask, Bronte," Terik started. "Is our mysterious saviour?"

"And why," Dame Alina said angrily. "Have you waited this long to mention it?"

"What does this mean?" Grady asked no one particular.

"I'm sorry," Bronte said, his tone annoyed and fresh. "I would not mention this had I seen no other way. And will all due respect," he said, his voice filled with anything but. "This is very much so the last resort."

"Last resort!" Clarette screamed. "Surely this person can't be that bad."

Sophie heard Bronte snicker. That bad, Sophie thought. Surely, not that bad. Did she work for the Neverseen? Surely, it couldn' t get worse than that.

Once the councillors, fresh out of complaints, settled down a bit, Bronte continued reluctantly.

"There is a woman. She was a councillor, long before your time- an ancient, as they call us. She may be able to help us... Truthfully, I don't know. If we offer her what she so greatly covets... perhaps she will help us. there are no guarantees with her." Bronte stared off wistfully into space.

"Are you certain she remembers?" Oralie asked."A councillor? Wouldn't she have had a cache of her own? Why does she remember, and none of us" Oralie asked.

"And," Terik questioned. "Why, if this 'woman' who seems so important, can I not conjure up a memory of her? Or at least some vocal representation of the woman?" Terik questioned impatiently.

"Because," Bronte said. "She is one of the forbidden secrets. She was killed or locked away, or so I thought... I think she was exiled, we just have no memory of it.

"What?" Emery asked. "What do you mean she is one of the forbidden secrets? How can that be?"

"A person?" Grady questioned. "As a forbidden secret? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know," Bronte answered truthfully.

"There's only one way to find out," Terik said morbidly.

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"First," Emery said, his voice placid- blank, almost. "You need to tell all of us everything you know."

Bronte shrugged, resigned, and started his tale. "I will tell everything, but first, I need everyone to promise they will not interject throughout the entire thing."

A few scoffs, muffled bemusement at his request. "Is it truly that bad," Keefe asked, amusement surfacing in his sedate voice.

"As a matter of fact," Bronte said, snarling. "It is that bad, Mr.Sencen."

The room went silent; everyone was either too afraid to talk, or waiting for Bronte to start. It was strange, like the calm before a storm- the silence.

"Many years ago, there was an ambitious young woman. She was young and carefree, always striving to be the best version of herself. She was still a young woman when the original council was founded, still being an emissary, not unlike myself. As I said, she was unimaginably ambitious and profoundly intelligent. She wanted to change the world, gain power, help others; she wanted it all. She worked hard as an emissary for many years and slowly moved up the rankings, breaking records and becoming the first female to ever get so high up. But, being simply 'high up' didn't do it for this young woman. She wanted to be at the top. She wanted to be one of the three councillors, and the first female one at that. So when Fallon Vacker retired, keen on starting a family, she jumped at the chance; she wanted to get there, and that was how she was going to do it." He paused, his words trailing off into space. He gazed off fondly, as though reminiscing about a distant memory.