It was already long passed noon before the painting was complete. Admittedly, needing four hours to actually do it all hadn't been helpful, but the quiet had been companionable, only broken by the odd few words of encouragement to Cinder on my part. The small girl, on her part, had done her best to help me. But there is only so much a five year old can do. But she had been nearly insistent, and distracted by the 'pretty red', as she had described it.

We stopped for a lunch consisting of sandwiches, cheese, salad and apple slices. Cinder hummed almost cheerfully as she ate. Whilst we ate, I put the TV on to watch the news. Whilst the news had moved on from the loss of the Nikos', the only concerning update on the matter was that there were no bodies to be recovered at the site. They had swiftly moved on to dust prices going up, or the upcoming protest by the pre-terrorist White Fang this weekend.

I left Cinder watching TV as I built her furniture. It was on some 'Children's Programming' channel or other. Whilst I wasn't entirely sure of what the name of the show she was watching was, it appeared to involve time-travel and focused on educating children on history, all promoting Atlesian and-or Mantellian glory, of course.

I will admit, I was never the best at actually building furniture. Sure, I could do it, but it took time. In this instance, it took most of the afternoon for me to get things done. The fact I had to wait for two hours before I could move the furniture into Cinder's room didn't help.

By the time I had finished, Cinder had fallen asleep on the couch, hugging her bear. Whilst the scene was undoubtedly cute (and I admit that I took a few pictures with my scroll), Cinder really couldn't spend most of the day asleep. If she did, she probably wouldn't sleep later that night.

"Cinder?" I called out.

The girl blearily blinked herself awake, and slid herself off of the couch and trotted up to my side. She looked up at me, and followed me to

"There we go, Cinder. Looks like we're all done." I smiled, and gestured inside."This is your room."

"..My room?" Cinder questioned in an almost bewildered tone as she stepped inside.

"You'll need to keep it clean, but I will be happy to help with that." I told her with a grin. "But yes, this is your room, Little Cinder."

The small girl turned around to look at me, and smiled.

___________________________________________________________________________

Alabaster Sleet, General of the Atlesian Military strode into the Council Chambers of the Starlight Tower, the building that housed most, if not all of, the Council's own day-to-day operations. Or those that were not covered by the Military or Atlas Academy, at least. The chamber itself was windowless, with two doors at either side of the room. It was home to a circular table made entirely of expensive Vacuan Mahogany and there were five chairs set around it, one for each member of the council.

He let out a sigh as he looked around. He was the last one to arrive. Councillors Petrichor, Sikarra and Haley were already deep into an argument with Headmistress Moss. Sleet knew that she was retiring, and if he was honest, he was privately happy about that. Fiona was often difficult and unwilling to compromise with requests from the other councillors, but rarely conceded when she had requests of her own.

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And given the frustrated look on her face right now, Sleet had a feeling that this was going to be one of those moments.

"-sinthe Campbell is the one that I wish to replace me."

"..A Campbell?" Councillor Sikarra snorted. The reedy, middle-aged man was a staunch traditionalist, and members of his family had served as both Lord Protectors of the Empty Throne during the Mantellian Era, and Generals during the Atlesian Era. "Are we truly so desperate that we must rely on a member of such a...treacherous family?"

"..It has been two hundred and fifty-three years." Moss fired back. "And in that time they have provided Mantle and Atlas with exemplary service and brave sacrifice, all in a bid to make up for their forebearer's great betrayal."

"No one is disputing that, Headmistress Moss." Petrichor, ever the peacekeeper, spoke up. She had been a career diplomat prior to going into politics, and was highly popular in Mantle. "And Absinthe is a dedicated and competent educator. But you must understand what the impact of giving such a distinguished role to her would be. As a Headmistress of Atlas Academy, not only would she sit on the Council, she cannot be removed unless she either retires, dies in office, or is arrested. Given her...unfortunate, family name, there is every chance that someone might attempt to...expedite the second option."

Fiona snorted. "Do you honestly think that that would be a simple matter? Absinthe is a Huntress. It would be either a very bold or very foolish individual to risk a charge of treason merely to try to kill someone given their name. And that's if Absinthe leaves them in a suitable condition to even stand trial."

"Who is the alternative option?" Sleet cut in. "Forgive me, but I have not been following this matter as closely as I likely should have."

Sikarra rolled his eyes. "Lieutenant James Ironwood. An FSB. Truly, we are in dire straits. I would prefer to fold the Headmaster position into that of the General. It would allow us not to lose those that do not wish to serve Atlas properly. Force them from Academy to Military as we should have been doing."

"Absolutely not!" Fiona protested, turning to glare at both Sikarra and Sleet. "There is a reason we-"

"Fiona." Sleet cut her off. "I am in agreement with you. The roles of General and Headmaster should remain separated."

"I have a solution." Councilor Haley finally spoke up now. He had been reelected to the council for the last fifteen years, and had long since earned the trust of his constituents. "Given that Miss Campbell is indeed a fine educator, perhaps it would be prudent for her to...use a different name? Her maiden name, perhaps? I am aware that the students would likely question the change, but it would be more...palatable, for the citizenry."

"And really, Sikarra." Haley continued with a drawl. "If you had an issue with her simply for her family name, you could easily have had her removed from her teaching post already. But you haven't. If you had an issue with her teaching, might I ask why you kept quiet?"

Sikarra grumbled under his breath.

Petrichor cleared her throat. "Shall we put it to a vote then?"

Barely a minute later, Absinthe Arnold was confirmed as Fiona Moss' successor as Headmistress of Atlas Academy, and a member of the Atlesian Council.