"What's happening?" Evie asked.
"They are conferring," Fiammetta said, her voice a little shaky. "They-they will continue their discussion momentarily."
"Discussion," Evie snorted. "This is a tribunal. I've been in one before, I know what it looks like."
Atar signed.
Evie pressed her mouth closed, but wasn't happy about it.
Felix signed, using his body to block view of their communication.
Seer?> Vess asked, eyebrow raised.
Felix signed, surreptitiously.
Atar gestured.
Evie said, and she sounded disappointed.
Felix warned. Seconds later, the Masters' privacy screen dropped and Felix blinked in surprise. While the area had been obscured, a number of other figures had entered, all of them women and wearing robes of orange, white, and gold.
"Matrons," Fiammetta uttered in surprise. She executed a low bow, almost prostrating herself.
"Stand, Disiciple. We are here as a formality," said a women with silver-white hair and an unlined, almost ageless face. "This threat to the city is too great to not take seriously."
"Then you believe us?" Felix asked. "We would not press the issue if it were not a real concern. The people of your city"
"Shall be protected, Representative Veil. Do not doubt that," the Grandmaster snapped. The heat that had faded returned again as the man gave off waves of Mana vapor into the air around him. "Our people have faced a great many crises in my time here. From famine to civil unrest to dangerous, wild beasts. All of them were surmounted. Now the Continent is undergoing a new period of unrest. There is conflict in the Ghreldan Hills, as always, but also the provinces to the East and to the South. Rumors of larger and more vicious monster hordes appearing within civilized lands. And to the distant Northwest, there is tell of a Beast turned Man that ate half of a frontier town. Of your master, this Autarch of Nagast."
A ripple of disquiet spread from Felix's chest. He couldn't place it, because it wasn't from the emotions of the Masters or the Matrons. They had returned to being solid walls of control.
"This Felix Nevarre is a puzzle, Representative Veil, and your presence and potency offers us no clues to its solution. Why have you come to us? To warn us out of the goodness of your heart? Or do you carry dire intentions of your own?" Kel'lyv bared his teeth, bright white against his gray skin.
"Dire? We came to warn you, yes, but also to establish relations. We had hoped to seek trade agreements" Felix's voice was cut off by a sharp, bitter laugh from the Grandmaster.
"I am not a fool, Veil. Perhaps your Nagast has treasures to trade, and perhaps not, but to come so far from your borders for that? There is more to you than can be accounted for." Kel'lyv gripped the arms of his crystal throne. "Why would a man of honest intentions hide themselves? How are you blocking our Analyze, Veil? If you intend no dishonesty, then unveil yourself to us."
The sound ground against Felix's senses, a disturbance that rode sideways across the discordant hum of so many powerful Skills, arrays, and crystalline Mana. He tried to respond to the Grandmaster's intimations, but the noise was like a burr catching as his thoughts, pulling at him. Insistent.
"It matters not what secrets this Autarch chooses to hide, or what his Representative deigns to tell us. We know what must be done," said the silver-haired Matron. "The city is in danger. The Highest Flame dwindles, and we've one chance at atonement. You know this, Sig'nyh. Let us do what you have called us here to do."
"What?" Felix asked. His friends shifted, moving up behind him. "What is she talking about?"
"The Highest Flame is dwindling?" Atar asked. "That's insane!"
An array burst to life beneath their feet, and this one was many times more complex than the simple truth-compulsion. Felix and his friends were grabbed by tendrils of dire force, all of them yanked to their knees.
"The Highest Flame is dying, Representative Veil," the Grandmaster said. He stood from his throne and gestured. Doors at the far end of the chamber boomed open, and the sound of booted feet filled the air. "The Paladins of the Pathless, however, have offered a brilliant solution."
Blood-red armor stomped into view, and a man at the lead with bright yellow eyes , a scar across his chin, and a sunburst at his breast.
"High Justiciar Haim, just in time. I believe I have several more volunteers for the ritual. I believe a Seer would prove quite significant."