"You're looking much better now, Kommora," said Colm Hatman with an approving nod.
"I feel better," Kommora admitted, although that was probably more due to Martel Solidor's update that arrived at her office with a handful of winter lilies that morning rather than any significant recovery of her own. She eased into the plush chair at the round table in the meeting chamber, trying not to let the effects of the all-nighters show.
"Glad to see you here, Kommora," Willem Dankworth said, sweeping in last and shutting the door. He nodded at each of the other three king's mages sitting at the table and set his royal blue cloak on the hook along with the others' before easing into his chair with a groan. "Dear runes, it has been a hectic week. I don't even know where to begin!"
"You're chairing, Willem, so why don't you start with your issues first and we can then move around the table?" Marya Bonneville suggested from across the table. "I'll scribe."
"Well." Dankworth adjusted the sleeves of his tunic before laying both hands on the table, dark brown eyes scanning at each of the faces across from him. "As we all know, there have been a lot of concerns expressed by the people. The biggest of all has been regarding magic. They want better control of mages, strict approval of who serves the country, and fear another Kristen Harred event."
"There are plenty of exams in place to prevent those with poor abilities from moving up the year, never mind graduating," Kommora said.
"Didn't stop Harred though. The people worry anybody with a gift can attend King's and graduate, even if their — ahem — psychological aspects suggest otherwise. The people have to have a say in this. State mages serve them and affect their lives, even if the magical and non-magical councils are kept separate."
"There already is a mandatory probationary period before a full state registration to help prevent that."
"There should also be a subjective element of checking and a means of confirming the adequacy of each candi—"
"I'm well aware, Dankworth," Kommora interrupted. "I invented the bloody probationary period for all fresh graduates to filter out those who have the brains but not the ethics to be a state mage. Harred and all our lovely predecessors graduated before I instated that requirement. Except for Karis Bonneville, but that little bitch was too gifted and had too many ties in high places to be refused a place. No other mentally unstable candidates have managed to sneak by those safety nets since."
"Seiren Nithercott," Dankworth said simply.
Kommora sucked in a breath and her eyes flashed.
"It's not a criticism of your probationary system, Kommora," Bellamy Southwark said, ever the peacekeeper. "But rather it highlights areas where we can build upon it to improve. You've built the foundations, so why don't we see what other hoops we can put in to help fine-tune the process even more? And once we have a proposal, we'll put it forward to the council."
Kommora only grimaced in reply. Bonneville scribbled down their plans.
"That's all I have to say. Who's next? Colm?"
Colm Hatman sat forward.
"No current issues from Hanna, Teirrin, or Moakai, but autumn is approaching, which means more pilgrim summoners will try to approach Acrise. Things have changed since last autumn. We have to decide if we are still to shoot on sight to maintain our territory."
The king's mages exchanged uneasy looks.
"I disagree with this from an ethical point of view," said Bellamy Southwark. "They aren't declaring war, merely going on their pilgrimage as part of their culture. I feel we should respect that. Many of those are children or young people. They don't deserve to be shot just for approaching Acrise."
"Acrise is now Karman territory," Bonneville said, shaking her head. "I don't trust the Hannans to use this as an opportunity to try and invade Acrise again. It's happened too many times in the past. Every time we yielded and allowed the pilgrimages to happen, they storm our walls. Even with all the runing we have, I don't want to risk another breach. The losses are too great."
"I agree with Marya," said Dankworth. "This is an issue the northern people are particularly concerned about. They're the ones who get hurt every time conflict happens at Acrise. If we declare we allow Hannans to approach Acrise, it'll damage the trust the northerners have in us. They expect us to protect them."
"Kommora?"
Kommora pressed her lips together. If they shot on sight, the Daemonium will likely take it as a declaration of war, especially after the communication she'd had with them. But Ashworth's words echoed in her mind. The people were angry and sought actions and results. The fear of invoking war mustn't cripple them.
"I don't think we should forgive and forget — my apologies, Willem, I know you're one for forgiveness," Hatman said, nodding at Dankworth. "But if we forget what Hanna has done less than a year ago in Acrise, we forget our brothers and sisters who were slain on the battlefield there. We have to change as a result of events like this. Our fallen comrades deserve justice, not yielding to Hanna."
"Then it's agreed," said Dankworth. Bonneville made a note. "We shall send a message to Acrise to inform the border guards to continue to shoot on—"
"No."
The table fell silent. Four pairs of eyes fell on Kommora. Kommora gripped the front of her tunic under the table but kept her face as calm as the surface of water.
"I... I think we should shoot as a warning, with capture and release if they continue to approach."
The surprise was evident on everyone's face.
"But why?" Bonneville finally said. "It's unlike you to be so... lenient."
"You've always been very vocal about condemning Hanna's involvement with Kristen Harred," said Southwark, his greying eyebrows knitting together and eyes staring straight through Kommora. "What's changed?"
Mentally kicking herself for digging herself into a trap — she blamed the all-nighters she'd pulled — Kommora told them about her interrogation of Zor Jarsdel, her contact with the Daemonium, and the plan Seiren Nithercott planned and had already begun to undertake. Horrified was an understatement of their reactions.
"Seiren Nithercott is in Hanna? Right now?!" Southwark's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"That's impossible!" Hatman said, stunned. "I hadn't heard anything! Surely my office would have handled her application for foreign travel — it would have been automatically denied and flagged up to me — why hadn't I—"
"Because I approved it." Kommora's jaw tightened. Overriding her colleagues would come with grave repercussions, she knew.
"You?"
"If she is caught — when she is caught, seeing as there is no way someone looking so Karman will be unnoticed by Hanna — the impact will be huge. One person. Nithercott will be that one person to incite war between Karma and Hanna again, just as Lisara Berrycloth's murder triggering another war twenty years ago." Southwark's face was black as thunder. "I'm very disappointed and dismayed to see your hand in this suicide mission, Kommora."
"It was not my idea, but I don't see how we have any other choice. We know what Kristen Harred is capable of." Kommora's chin jutted out, her hands curled into fists. "And she's not alone. Madeleine Harred is travelling with her."
"We can discuss this later, but we need urgent retrieval and extract Seiren Nithercott and Madeleine Harred, unless they're found already," said Bonneville sharply.
"Kristen Harred must not escape," said Hatman in a calm voice. "She is the only one out of all the mages who haven't repented for her crimes. Her escape only worsens her punishment. If those two is our only chance of getting her back — and Nithercott's more than proved her capability to us — I say we let her carry on with it and support her from afar. If Harred — Kristen Harred — is lost to us and aids Hanna, the likelihood of Hanna then declaring war on us is not negligible."
Dankworth, Southwark, and Bonneville appeared scandalised.
"You're letting them get away with trespassing with a risk of inciting war?" Bonneville said in disbelief.
"If Harred gets away because we're all too afraid of the possibility of war, then all the mages and citizens who died would have died for nothing. And with Harred's capability, I wouldn't be too confident the Battle of Benover wouldn't happen again."
Hatman had the same reservations about Harred, Kommora realised. Perhaps the serious old codger wasn't as soft as she thought. Southwark had gone from pink with indignation to pale with worry.
"We will need to think about this some more. Kommora — I can't believe you didn't even try to stop her—"
"Cut the crap, Southwark," Kommora said with a laugh. "You of all people know that girl can't be persuaded, not even if you hit her in the head with a chair. She has her own agenda against Harred. She has more than enough motivation and reason to follow this through, or die trying. She may very well succeed. And her sister is no idiot."
"Sending in a retrieval team will risk either them or the girls being found out, and that bodes even worse for us all," Dankworth conceded with reluctance. "I suppose Colm's suggestion is for the best — for now. We monitor her from Benover and send reinforcement when the time is right."
Kommora fished out her letter from Martel Solidor, encrypted.
"I have a source in Hanna and he's sending me updates on those two. They're planning to infiltrate the palace at Falnash for Fautos Tophalis's name day."
"Suicide mission," Bonneville muttered, shaking her head.
"We'll send help when the time is right — assuming they survive that long," Southwark said in a dry voice. "The royal feast is heavily guarded. It'll be a miracle if they even manage to get in, never mind stay undetected."
"Well, we'll watch and see then," said Dankworth with a sigh. "Very well. That's that. Bellamy, any issues?"
Bellamy Southwark gave a sigh also. "Danaway. You've probably heard, as liaison affairs. Since the cleansing last year of the gangs, more gangs filled the void. Nature abhors empty spaces, huh?" He gave a mirthless chuckle. "There has been a rise in increasingly violent groups fighting for power, and some have begun to issue demands to the council."
"Civilian council?" Bonneville asked.
"No. Magical."
"What?!"
This must be the less knowledgeable but more powerful and numerous people Halen Ashworth warned Kommora about.
"Families with lost ones from the Battle of Benover are demanding harsh punishment for the mages who break the rules. They're calling for licences to be revoked and jail sentences, even capital punishment, for those who committed crimes during Benover."
"Bullshit," Kommora said with a snort. "What do they know? Are they military? Are they mages? No?"
"No."
"Then just ignore them. We don't pander to the ignorant."
"They might be ignorant, but they're powerful. Families who own the forestry and steel industries, chalk and paper production, the railways — they're threatening to abandon their works if we don't introduce harsh laws."
"Why don't we just punish them instead? Their asses must be jealous of the amount of shit their mouths come out with." Kommora rolled her eyes.
"We're aides to the people, Kommora," said Dankworth uneasily. "We have to keep them involved. Keeping them ignorant is how the previous generation controlled the people and we do not want that association."
"I'm pretty sure by not murdering the entire capital we're fairly distant from our predecessors."
"I'm not here to fight Kommora, but such a totalitarian approach isn't beneficial for the people—"
"The people should suck it up and trust us to decide what is best for them!" Kommora snapped. "Drawing up guidelines to appease them? Making sure we kick our own ones in the teeth because the stupid ones make the loudest noise? What kind of leaders and mentors are we if we throw our own under the bus because others feel we aren't doing good enough work? What will guidelines do for the dump that is now Danaway? Violence is inevitable there. Have you even seen that shit hole? Destitution, poverty, gang violence, no respect for mages. No amount of guidelines and happy words will sort that out until we gut the rot from within."
"Come now, Kommora." Marya Bonneville attempted to defuse the situation with a placating hand. "Everyone — including those at Danaway — are hurting from Benover. We just want to move forward and ensure the past doesn't happen again—"
"Yeah, especially if your own sister is responsible for those thousands of deaths!"
Bonneville's mouth snapped shut, her face paling.
"What Karis did was inexcusable," she said in a quiet voice. "I don't condone her actions, nor do I wish to excuse her for them. She got what she deserved. She's damaged the Bonneville name and I intend to fix it however I can, and it starts with reinstating the faith in the people we serve."
"The people whose lives will be over once again if Harred gets her hand on celestial magic."
"Don't be too invested in the celestial magic, Kommora." The warning came from Willem Dankworth, whose eyes glowed like embers. "Nothing good will come of it, believe me."
"But—"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Kommora." Southwark stood up, eyes boring holes into Kommora and the thunderous look still on his face. The grey patches at his temple appeared to have spread in just the short time of their meeting. "King Bolliver will be informed of your actions without the approval of your fellow king's mages. He will decide your punishment. Let this be a warning to you — to all of us — solo efforts when the entire country is at stake is inexcusable."
With that, they were disbanded.
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