Chapter Five: The Celestial Council.

When Illumia went off to talk to the Council, Cancer led Emily to a row of seats near a grand door. She kept Emily’s hand in hers throughout the entire time, and a after a minute of sitting, Emily found some words about it.

“Are you going to hold my hand forever?” Emily asked, in what was meant to be a joke, but Cancer’s absently voiced reply was serious.

“Yes, I am.” A few seconds later, she looked over at Emily and brushed a strain of her out of her face. “You are special; you know?” She asked. Which made Emily blush and turn away.

“I-I…..I am glad you think so” she stuttered out, not quite sure what had brought on this sudden change in Cancer. But before she could ask about it, the doors opened and Illumia walked out, or glided out, Emily got the impression her feet never touched the ground – no one with feet on the ground could move with that much grace – but the long robe made it impossible to check.

“They are….knowing you are coming now Cancer” She announced with a soft laugh at the end. Emily had thought she would say ‘they will see you now’ or something, but that sentence implied they were aware of Cancer’s presence and had no say in If she came in or not. Which, was probably accurate considering how highly Cancer placed herself.

“Thank you darling. And bite Aroura if you see her. She needs a good biting now and then” Cancer teased, giggling as Illumia turned a deep red, matching Emily’s current tone.

“I can’t just bite Aroura, regardless of where the request or command originated from. I am not you. And neither am I the one you emulate so well these days” She said, the last bit a touch hotter than usual, but her curtsy – she actually curtsied – was still polite and friendly.

“Glide softly, Lady Cancer” Illumia said, before leaving to do other things. Cancer nodded graciously, and then moved to enter the large room that the doors led into.

“Damn, I could have looked at her feet” Emily muttered as they moved.

“Her feet?” Cancer asked, with a rather confused frown.

“Yes, I didn’t know if she actually touched the ground when she walked.” Emily admitted. Cancer gave a slight chuckle at the comment, and then they were stood in the centre of the room. Cancer and Emily where flanked in a semi-circle by twelve people, sat at a half-circle table. Each had a tall-backed chair with a Zodiac symbol at the top. Emily assumed that the symbol denoted what ‘seat’ they were. She recognized the Cancer, Gemini and Leo symbols, and guessed Taurus’ symbol, but had no idea what the others where. Of course, Taurus, Gemini and Leo where pretty easy to guess. One had large bull-horns sticking from his head, one – technically two – where twins, a male and a female, and one had a magnificent mane and paws that looked like hands. Or hands that looked like paws.

The woman who sat in the seat of Cancer was a far-cry from the woman stood next to Emily. She had an ornate, hooded cloak that was pulled over her eyes, and her head was oriented at the desk. Emily couldn’t see her hands either, while everyone else had their hands spread across the desk, or holding glasses of varying liquids, Cancer’s hands where nowhere to be seen.

“Greetings Cancer, what brings you before us?” Leo asked, in a voice that only a humanoid lion in a dimension different to the one Emily had been born in – Cancer had mentioned she had made this dimension, which led to the natural assumption that this was a different one to the one Earth was in – could fit. Deep, and with the shadows of a roar, it was clear he was the head of this council. He just, emanated power.

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Cancer, however, was not impressed, and so finally let go of Emily’s hand when she would not stop staring at Leo to walk over to Cancer.

“So, what cutie did you find to replace me?” she asked, looking very deeply at the girl across the way. Leo sighed – a grand action, like the crash of waves against a beach shore – and spoke.

“Names are cast aside when the Seat is taken, only titles remain” He declared grandly, but the declaration was waved off dismissively.

“Bet she remembers, don’t you darling?” Cancer asked, reaching out her finger to lift her namesake’s chin up, so her beautiful purple eyes looked into Cancer’s own. The shadow of her hood hid the shade of her hair, but Cancer assumed it was one of the darker colours, like brown or black. Or, it could possibly be purple, matching her eyes.

She would probably get in trouble for throwing the hood down just to check the girl’s hair though.

“Ohh, I…well…..” The girl stuttered, her cheeks turning pale and her eyes trying to escape the gaze of Cancer, but always being drawn back to her predecessors direct gaze.

“Yes?” Cancer prompted, her grin growing by the second.

“Em…Emilia Galdur” Emilia finally got out, her whole face a deep red by this time. Cancer nodded supportingly, and then her eyes ran quickly down her coat, and took in her ornate cloak before swiftly pecking the girl on the lips and standing, returning to Emily’s side.

There was a look on her face that made it seem as though the kiss she had given Emilia was not on a whim, and was as questing as her eyes had been.

“The Galdur family has had close ties with the Pillars of Magic for a long period of time. She has been trained by the Tgoh Utmeradna of Ampyras for the seat. The youngest princess of Ampyras even acclaimed her talent and understanding.” One of the other members of the council spoke up, almost defending the girl, but with a bite to his voice that made it clear he was defending himself first.

“Why was she trained by the Tgoh Utmeradna of Ampyras for the seat, when a much simpler and more obvious choice would be the Tgoh Utmeradna themselves?” Cancer asked.

Most of the words being thrown around now, where beyond Emily’s understanding. She could make out this ‘Tgoh Utmeradna’ was a person – of considerable prowess in magic, even though the very concept of magic was still hard for Emily to grasp – and that ‘Ampyras’ was a place, but beyond that she was totally lost. Not even sure if the Pillars of Magic where physical structures or metaphysical concepts.

“It was decided-” Came Leo’s magnificent voice, made even more magnificent by the expectation of the haughty, pompous voice of the other member “-that Ampyras and all its people held ties too close to a certain party to be considered for any seat.” He explained, to which Cancer nodded.

“Right. Well, I shall be going now, sorry for wasting your time Leo.” Cancer announced abruptly, taking Emily’s hand, and starting to turn before Leo spoke again.

“You saw something that you disapproved of here?” Leo asked. His tone took a less official feel, and was instead more companion-like.

“Yes, I did. I’ll send a report” Cancer replied. Emily knew from the way it said that a report would be more private than speaking aloud, and this thing that Cancer saw and was annoyed about needed to be private, at least to Cancer’s perception.

“Very well. Then I hope to see you again, Cancer? Your absence is felt in these halls” Leo told her, and then they were gone. Cancer set a demanding pace for Emily, and they were at – and through – the jelly gate in under a minute, traveling again through its strangeness to Emily’s home.