“So, can we go now?”

Rory asked the lux guards standing by the exit doors, prodding a bony finger into them. “Most of us have things to do, especially me!”

“I don’t think it’ll be much longer, Rory.” Nuria replied.

Rory turned around to the girl sighing at him. Frizzy black hair with a mostly black dress with a neon flower pattern around the bottom and bust area.

“It better not be. The axe is with me, remember?”

“We know, Rory. Maybe try to cool off a little bit and ask again, okay?”

Rory started moving again in as brisk a walk as his elderly body could allow, followed by muttering under his breath with many, many curse words.

“So, how’s my goddaughter doing?” Zach asked, draping his tuxedo shirt over his shoulders.

“She’s doing great, Zach.” Marcel replied, digging into his pockets for a picture. “She just turned nineteen last month!”

“Nineteen?!” Zach yelled. “Didn’t I visit the eight-year-old Aurelia last year?”

“I’ll take that as a sign age hasn’t claimed me yet!”

The two burst into uproarious laughter, draping hands across each other’s shoulders as they did.

“But anyway, she’s doing well. Enrolled in the Sangaria royal medical academy and is in the top five percent of applicants. With how busy she is, even I never get to see her!”

“Well, it seems your place is in good hands once you kick the bucket!” Zach laughed. “If she’ll let you die, that is!”

“Well, I suppose she just wants to cure whatever claimed her mother.” Marcel sighed. “She hasn’t been the same since that happened.”

“Hmm, I didn’t even see her at the funeral.” Zach said sadly. “And how long ago was that? Eight years ago? It’s probably haunted her mind the whole time.”

“Well, whatever she achieves, I’ll be there to support her.”

The sombre mood was cut short when Freyja walked past them. Dressed in an ocean blue gown separated in the middle with a silver stripe, as well as small silver jewels surrounding the neckline, all topped off with a blonde ponytail.

“Ah, Freyja!” Marcel bellowed. “How’s little Willow doing? She’d be nineteen this year too, if I’m not mistaken!”

“Yes, Willow.” Freyja said followed with an exasperated sigh. “So your daughter enrolled in the royal academy, hm? Maybe I’ll send her over and make her learn something.”

“Not a study, is she?” Zach asked. “So what, she just lounges in the castle off your own lux?”

“No, quite the opposite.” Freyja groaned. “She keeps sneaking out for quote ‘battles and fair maidens.’ And when she is inside, she ends up fighting the guards.”

“Sounds like a good time! She ever consider joining the fightston games?”

Freyja approached Zach and tried to stand up to his incredibly tall frame. It wouldn’t surprise him if she was standing on her tippy-toes under the dress to try to meet him. It wasn’t working.

“If you so much as consider letting her join that depravity I will personally send all my soldiers to get her back.”

“The ones I supplied?” Zach asked with a smug grin. Marcel couldn’t help but laugh at all of this.

“We can discuss this the next time we meet, farewell.” Zach said cheerily.

Freyja left with an even bigger frown than usual.

“I think that’s our sign to get going.” Zach sighed. “Well, I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Apologies, gentlemen.”

In the hallway was the leader of Inariu, miss Ola Okorie. Dressed in a worn-out dress with white sleeves and near the bottom, with the chest and waist area taken up with patterns of dark red and beige triangles. The sleeves were wide, especially for someone like her to wear. And all of that was topped off with her short black frizzy hair.

“Apparently there was an incident in Saoloro. So we have to do another meeting. But we’ve been promised we can go back to our own grands as soon as it ends, so get there as soon as you can.”

The three of them were back at the long wooden table, the first to arrive. Zach sat at the end of the table, on a seat with a red back cushion. Marcel sat next to him, and Ola next to Marcel. Next up was Kazumi Wada, the leader of Sandala. She was to sit on the end of the table on a chair with a blue cushion. She sat opposite Zach, waving to him in a circular motion with her left hand. He in turn did it with his left. Wait, he was left-handed. He did it with his right hand, and Kazumi chuckled at it. In Sandala, your non dominant hand is less dirty and used for a cleaner greeting. He always forgot that.

Soon after Kazumi was the leader of Gurut, Gurpreet Anand, who sat in the second chair with the blue cushion next to Kazumi. A mountain of a man even if he wasn’t particularly fit, wielding a suit with a long top half. And on his face was the most impressive handlebar moustache Zach had ever seen. It just got more glorious each time he saw it. The next person in was Nuria Ferra, who sat next to Gurut. The two began quietly chatting, all the while Nuria cast a few gazes at Zach’s shirtless body. Rory was next, the thin old man in a grey flannel shirt ranting obscenities the whole way in, sitting at the front of the desk by Mia’s chair. Next up was Freyja, sitting opposite to Rory without a word. Next was Fen Hou, who looked more masculine than last time he saw them, adorned in a formal red suit with a few chains hanging off the chest region and wavy black hair with small red earrings. He lost track of what their gender actually was, as they seemed to accept whatever you threw at them regarding pronouns. But if they weren’t bothered about it, why should he be? They sat by Freyja.

Finally was Sylvestro. He sauntered in wearing a small cape like Marcel, but with an extremely low-cut shirt that left his chest region exposed, as well as a single extremely large curl on the left side of his head that looked like hell to style. He sat in the remaining free seat next to Rory.

“So, everyone’s gathered.”

Mia Burri entered the room, and everyone went silent. She walked in, adorned in her small red cape, with a smart black blazer and a sheathed rapier by her side. Her hair was also tied back in a smart brown ponytail, similar to Freyja.

“I’m sorry to force you all back here in such a short time, but while we were here some major problems have occurred.”

“What would those be?” Rory asked, slamming his aged fist down on the table.

“Hm, would Saoloro be involved?” Sylvestro asked. “That’s where those three with the axe were staying, correct?”

“It would, yes.” Mia sighed. “It has come to our attention that an unknown group invaded Saoloro university and stole the Saoloro bow. As well as that, both Dermot Kennedy and Martin Malone are in comas from the incident. All the guards faced injuries, but nothing substantial. As well as that, one of the girls protecting the Sandala axe had a broken leg.”

All eyes were put on Rory, who looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.

“Can I…can I step out for a moment?” He asked meekly. He didn’t have an outburst, and all previous anger leaked out of his face.

“You may.” Mia nodded. “But please have a guard accompany you.”

Rory took a box of cigarettes out of his pockets with his shaking hands and stepped outside.

“So now what?” Kazumi asked. “Is he off the council as well?”

“Officially, yes.” Mia said calmly.

“Okay, I’m gonna say something.”

Mia locked eyes with Zach. His voice was lower than usual, and he was once again disrespecting the Lux dress codes by not wearing a shirt.

“You wish to speak, Zach?” Mia sighed.

“Can we not expel grands that had their weapons stolen from the lux council? I think in times like this support is needed more than ever.”

“The sacred weapons represent how important your nation is. If we let former councils have major powers in world events, what’s stopping your average merchant ship from joining the council?”

“Because the three you’ve exiled all produced major exports before they lost their weapons, and they still do. Sandala still produces electricity, Gurut still produces stonework, and Saoloro will still produce food. So letting them back in the council will be nothing but beneficial.”

“We won’t allow that.” Mia said sternly, watching Zach’s eye twitch. “Having a weapon is proof of your capability to lead. “

“At least let Sandala back in. Saoloro and Gurut lost their weapons, I’ll give you that. But we know where the axe is. Kazumi basically loaned it to the Miracle Scouts, correct?”

“In essence, yes.” Kazumi nodded. “If they wanted to do something with the weapon, they would have done it by now.”

“So they’re official citizens?” Mia asked Kazumi.

“I don’t have an issue with that.” Kazumi replied.

“Fine. Sandala is back on the council. Please take Rory’s old seat, Mrs Kazumi.”

Kazumi sat on Rory’s old seat, nodding towards Zach. Mia knew his plan. He still believed in giving Saoloro and Gurut their places back, but made her relent to give him more sway in another attempt, which Marcel would certainly join as well.

“So, what are we going to do?” Fen asked. “I don’t know if I could protect my weapon if it came down to it.”

“I’ll supply more soldiers to every grand that didn’t get invaded yet. Around thirty to fifty each depending on who wants them. That should hopefully be good enough to expel any new legion attacks for a while anyway. While that’s going on, I’ll work out a plan to flush them out.”

“Whatever that is, make sure to run it through me.” Mia asked, shooting daggers towards Zach. “I don’t want you putting Fightston in jeopardy.”

“And as for the people protecting the axe, I’ll ship them over to Sangaria to fix the leg of whoever got it broken.” Marcel announced.

“With all due respect, Marcel.” Ola interrupted. “I think it would make more sense to bring them to Inariu for a temporary prosthetic. They’ll be better off in the short term and can be brought to you eventually.”

“Only in the short term?” Nuria asked. “So could anything bad happen?”

“Only if she overdoes it.” Ola assured. “Besides, the main reason I ask is that Inariu is right next to Saoloro, so I could get someone to them quickly.”

“Good decision, Ola.” Mia nodded. “I’ll cease the meeting here to let you out. I wish everyone here a safe journey back.”

Mia stayed in the room while the others left. Zach walked out to Rory still on the deck.

“Doing okay?” He asked.

Rory jumped, which caused him to drop his cigarette over the ship.

“Fecks sake, don’t startle me like that!” He yelled, before going back to a more sombre position.

“Sorry for lashing like that, I just need some time to think about everything. So tell me this, am I still on the council?”

“I tried, man.” Zach grunted. “But Mia insists you won’t be able to vote on the issues for a while.”

“It’s fine, It’s not the main issue right now. Now I need to think about how I’m going to tell Dermot and Marty’s parents about what happened. They’re good lads, they didn’t deserve this.”

“Well, if you’re doing good, I’ll stay out of your hair.” Zach said. He walked back to his own ship and headed back to Fightston. His plan was already coming together in his head, but the main issue was making sure nobody, especially Mia, knew what it was.