The executives’ gathering

Erinara

The last few days until Ebiron’s return had passed in a flash.
During noon, a sphere of darkness coalesced before the citadel. Once the shadows receded a moment later, Ebiron, alongside Vorial and Lazzal took form.
The three executives were greeted by me alone, as Kayon had requested for Jin to help him prepare the welcoming feast for our guests.

“Welcome, I am Erinara, disciple of Ebiron”, I bowed briefly, my face hidden by shadows.
“Thank you, Erinara. We will-”, Ebiron began, but he was interrupted by Lazzal.
“Oh my gods, this is your treasured disciple, Ebiron? Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Lazzal”, she reached her hand expectantly. I slowly grabbed it. She immediately started shaking it quickly.
“My you’re tall as well, how very interesting”, she kept talking. Lazzal was only a head shorter than me. She wore shortened pants that only reached down to her knees as well as a short-sleeved tunic. The exposed skin of her limbs was fully covered in different runic symbols and markings. Long elven ears peaked out from curly, shoulder-length ash blonde hair.
“The pleasure is mine, executive of progress”, I said.
“Lazzal”, she said sternly.
“…Lazzal.”
She smiled brightly.
“Oh right!”, she continued, clasping the man beside her on the back, “This here is Vorial! He doesn’t talk much.”
Vorial stood about as tall as Ebiron, slightly taller than Lazzal. He was fully clad in layers over layers of various clothing, making any physical features apart from height indiscernible. Vorial slightly bowed his head, which was shrouded in multiple hoods, saying only:
“Pleasure’s mine.”
I don’t know what I expected of meeting the executives, but it certainly wasn’t this. Ebiron wasn’t even fazed by their behavior. It seemed this was well within normal parameters for the executives of progress and tradition.
“Right. It’s an honor to meet you. A feast is currently being prepared for your arrival, would you follow me please?”, I asked.
“You’re someone to follow old customs like throwing a feast for guests, huh, Ebiron?”, Lazzal asked, instantly letting go off my hand to whip around to face my mentor.
“Tradition”, Vorial added in a chipper tone.
“We are following you, thank you, Erinara”, Ebiron said.

Soon after, the executives, Kayon, Jin and I had gathered in the dining hall with a myriad of foods laid out before us.

“Hey! Are you truly the Eaglecrest I know? You look much younger than what I imagined! Did you not age? How old are you even?”, Lazzal, sitting across from us with Vorial and Ebiron, enthusiastically talked to Jin.
“I am Jin Eaglecrest, you must be mistaking me for my master Fyor Eaglecrest. And I am twenty-three years of age”, Jin replied calmly. Somehow the exuberant style in which Lazzal spoke didn’t seem to faze him at all.
“Oh, you’re right! Nice to meet you! Say, Vorial, do you have anything to add to this?”
“Tasty. Thanks”, he nodded at Kayon.

“In any case, allow me to fill you three in on why we have gathered here so early already”, Ebiron spoke up, “Fyor Eaglecrest and I assume that the council of crests will actively hunt him, Lioncrest, Bisoncrest and Jin Eaglecrest if they manage to find them after they’ve escaped. We want to portray the true intentions of the council to the kingdom’s people. In order for that to work, we intend to use my spell, ‘shadow’s eye’.
We will broadcast the council’s forces hunting down one of their targets. Experience taught us that they will be utterly relentless until they have killed their adversary. We will use their bloodlust against their public image. But in order to be able to upkeep shadow’s eye at such an immense scale Vorial and Lazzal will prepare a system that allows us to continuously feed mana into the spell. I will spend a few days traversing the kingdom of crests, in order to mark locations as anchors for shadow’s eye.”
Vorial nodded his head, saying: “Efficiency.”
“A combo-spell of all executives! Isn’t that just thrilling?”, Lazzal added.
“Is the rest of the liberation also planned out already?”, Kayon asked from my right.
“Not quite. We will reconvene with the heroes to discuss the details, as well as how to progress after informing the people”, Ebiron explained.
“May I ask a question as well?”, Jin requested.
“Certainly”, Ebiron said.
“Thank you. I wanted to ask why you, the leaders of the land of warlocks, are so willing to help your old enemies”, Jin asked, a tentative weariness in his voice.
“Peace”, Vorial answered.
“The council is nothing but a parasite! We executives and the heroes had already made peace between our nations, but the council and their vitriol kept that from becoming a reality. We want what we already had! And having allies is so much better than enemies”, Lazzal added.
“I see. In that case, I thank you for your assistance”, Jin bowed down deeply.
“Same to you! It’s good to see that at least some people of the kingdom haven’t been brainwashed!”
Jin winced slightly, most certainly recalling how he had originally met us.
I stifled my laughter. Jin noticed it, looking at me with a sense of embarrassment and shame in his eyes. I placed my left hand on his shoulder, lightly tapping it twice. He eased up slightly at my touch.

We continued to eat with only idle chatter for a bit.
Then Lazzal spoke up with a question once again.
“Hey Erinara! Sorry, I kind of promised Ebiron not to ask, but I’m too intrigued! Why are you hiding your face behind a spell?”
Ebiron instantly interjected: “You need not entertain her antics, my disciple.”

I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking.
“Would they mind?”, I asked aimed at my mentor.
“No”, he simply answered.
I reached my hand under the table to the left, looking for Jin’s. He grasped my hand, squeezing twice.
“Very well”, I took a deep breath.
I pulled back my mantle and let the shadow concealment drop.
Ebiron looked at me in surprise, followed by a slight smile when he looked between Jin and I.
I hadn’t noticed that however, as I was overwhelmed with a barrage of excitement by Lazzal.
“Oh my! How intriguing! Horns! An omen! Can you feel your horns? Have your ears always been this short? You have markings like me! Wait are those markings omen too? I drew mine myself! Hey Vorial, what do you think?”
“Respectable. Admirable”, Vorial simply bowed his head before me.

After a very brief answer to her questions, Lazzal quickly found more topics to ask about, seemingly having lost interest in the fact that the disciple of change was an omen. Vorial’s empowering response also came unexpected to me.

The rest of the meal passed without any particular conversation standing out.

“Hey, are you feeling alright?”, Jin asked me in the solace of the study. The executives had chosen the war room as the grounds for their project, so we were alone here.
“Yes, I am. Thank you, Jin. I did feel worried back there. But thanks to you I am starting to be less bothered about myself being an omen”, I paused for a moment. In a much quieter voice, I added:
“Holding your hand helped me feel secure in the moment.”
My face grew warmer with embarrassment.
Jin reached for my hand next to him, gently putting his hand under the palm of mine. He raised it to his face, bowing his head down slightly to plant a kiss on the back of my hand.
“I’m glad I could help.”