Avuri stifled a yawn as she, Vale, Ieji, and Emery approached the Elders’ retreat. She hadn’t slept particularly well the night before after getting constantly hounded by Lyn over her impression. Or, more accurately, the way she kept dropping her impression after something made her laugh or otherwise threw her off her game.
If they were going to do this, it had to be flawless. And unfortunately for Avuri, she was too prone to letting her silliness shine through, rather than holding onto Lyn’s more dry wit. And true to Lyn’s word, she had held her there in her lessons past sundown, trying to get her to keep up her act.
It had helped, Avuri supposed. By the end of the night, she was able to remain behind her mask despite Emery and Lyn actively trying to make her crack. And she had spent most of the morning acting as Lyn as well, which had been going well. Emery had even actively tried to get her to break with a whole onslaught of bad jokes and teasing, but she had held strong. Mostly.
Immediately following an early lunch, they headed off to meet with the Elders. Or, more specifically, Lyn, Eiry, and Vyne; the three that would be lending their likeness to Ieji’s technique. They were also looking forward to meeting whoever Eiry’s mysterious assistant was, since Avuri would have to work with them for the foreseeable future.
As usual, it didn’t take long to work their way through the halls of the Elder’s pavilion. It was labyrinthine, sure, but they had been here enough to know their way around. But more than that, the way to the tea room they usually gathered in was well marked with carpet runners.
As the group arrived and made their way through the audience chamber that immediately preceded the tea room, they could hear some laughter and chatter coming from the people already gathered. In addition to the Elders, it sounded like there were at least two or three people there as well.
And sure enough, when Avuri made her way through the doorway, she found three Cultivators in the room. One of them, a woman, was seated at the table with the Elders, while the two others were seated in chairs near the wall and were both men. All three of their faces lit up when Avuri and her family entered, and they all stood.
The woman began sliding around the table while the men moved forward as well. They all seemed very excited, and the woman shouted, “Avuri! Emery! It’s so good to see you both.”
It took a moment for Avuri to place the face before her. None of them looked immediately recognizable to her, but the faces were still ringing a bell in her head. The woman was cute, with a small frame similar to Emery’s. Her face was round, but not chubby, and her blue eyes were bright with excitement. She looked fit and ready for a fight, especially in the Cultivator uniform of the Stone Breaker Sect.
But there was something about the woman’s distinguished nose and eyes that reminded Avuri of her family. And that was when things clicked into place, as her eyes quickly jumped from person to person.
“Mica!” Avuri said, shocked. “And Cove and Glenn too. What a surprise!” She grinned, and gave the girl a hug. Mica, too, was more than happy to wrap her arms around her cousin.
Emery smiled at the sight, before Cove stepped up to her and gave her a hug first. “I guess this means the three of you managed to get out of the family?” Emery squeaked as she was squeezed.
“We did. Shortly after we went back after the wedding.” Glenn said as he waited for his turn to greet Avuri. “We can’t thank the two of you enough; we only had the nerve to do it because of you two.”
“He’s right.” Mica said, her face against Avuri’s shoulder. “We would never have had the guts to leave without you. Despite how much we talked about it, I think we would’ve been too scared to follow through.” She leaned her forehead against Avuri’s shoulder for a moment and took a deep breath. “Seeing how well it was going for you gave us the push we needed.”
Avuri grinned happily. “Glad to hear it. How have things been since then? It’s been nearly fifteen years since we saw or heard from you all.”
“Well,” Cove began, as he slid over from Emery to Avuri for his turn, “the trip from Bouquet toward the West was certainly an adventure. We wanted to head this way just in case we ever needed help.” He said, sounding almost embarrassed.
Glenn stepped in to give Emery a hug and picked up the explanation. “We had a pretty strong suspicion that if anything went wrong, you would help us. So we came out this way. As it turned out, we managed pretty well and made it all the way to the Amber Valley before we decided to stick with the Sect there.”
The round robin hugs continued as Glenn moved to Avuri and Mica finally said hello to Emery.
“And then I met them there.” Eiry said, interrupting the reunion. “I remembered them, somewhat, and figured it couldn’t hurt to keep them in mind for helpers down the line.” She eyed each of them in turn. “Not only did all three take to the Stone Breaker techniques quickly, they also were able to catch on to my own techniques in just a lesson or two.”
“Wait, you teach at the Sect?” Emery asked.
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“I do.” Eiry confirmed. “I’m actually considered one of the Sect’s Elders. I helped found it, afterall.” She said it so blandly and nonchalantly that they both nearly just let the information slip by.
“You’re a founder of the Stone Breaker Sect?” Cove shouted. “We knew you were strong, but…”
“Oh, right.” Eiry said, bypassing the whole conversation. “I didn’t even tell you why you’re all here or what you’ll be doing yet, have I?”
Cove, Glenn, and Mica all stood at attention then. “No, you haven’t.” Glenn said.
“We need someone to impersonate me.” Eiry declared, looking right at Mica. “And Mica, you’ve spent enough time around me as my assistant around the Sect, I believe, to have a good handle on how I act.”
Glenn and Cover blinked, surprised, but Mica looked entirely shellshocked. “I…what? You want me to impersonate you?” Her voice sounded tinged with a maniacal laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I am not. In fact, you’ll be acting alongside Avuri, who will be impersonating Elder Lyn.” Eiry said, motioning to them. “Surely you remember the other Flowing Dragon City Elders?”
“We do, but…” Cove stammered, “Why?”
Eiry glanced around the room, meeting each pair of eyes seriously. She eventually settled on the three Mephras again. “What I’m about to say does not leave this room, is that clear?”
“Eiry, I’m pretty sure at least some of the - “
“Doesn’t matter.” Eiry said, shaking her head at Lyn. “We’re about to get into much deeper detail than anything anyone in the city knows. So this is a blanket tell-no-one agreement, got it?” She said pointedly.
“Yeah, okay.” Mica murmured, still unsure. “I don’t necessarily have to agree to impersonate you before we hear the situation, do I?”
“No, that’s okay.” Eiry said with a soft smile. “I’m not trying to entrap you or anything. But this is a very serious situation. Or at least has the potential to be one.” She shrugged.
“Long story short,” Lyn began, “is that The Deposits are likely to be marching on our city with the intent to take it over.” She paused for the appropriate gasps with a chuckle. “They’re amassing an army that will outnumber our defenders pretty handily, and we’re trying to avoid the whole thing coming to blows.”
“Which will require the Elders to display our power.” Eiry continued. “The issue being, if we do that, we won’t be available for any sort of negotiation talks if the leaders of the attack decide they don’t want a fight. And that’s where you will come in. Specifically, the three of you.” She motioned to Mica, Avuri, and Ieji.
Ieji took that opportunity to showcase their technique. The same shadowy mist that they had conjured before began to seep from their body and stretched to cover Avuri. In a blink, suddenly they were both replaced with exact likenesses of Vyne and Lyn. “And, I suppose, you’ll be joining us as Eiry.” Ieji said. Their voice and expression was an exact match for Vyne.
“And why, exactly, wouldn’t you be able to attend the meeting?” Glenn asked, cautiously. “Will Mica be safe if you’re all not there?”
“She will be safe, because while we won’t be able to attend the meeting, we will be very nearby.” Eiry said. Glenn just looked at her suspiciously, waiting for a more complete answer.
“We’re dragons.” Lyn said finally. “All five of the Elders. We’re dragons.” Mouths dropped open in disbelief. “We’ll be showing up to the fight as dragons, so it’ll be difficult for us to talk to people that way. Especially since no one will know it’s us.”
There was silence as the three of them just stared in disbelief. Vyne, who had been quietly seated at the table until now, laughed. Emery and Avuri turned to look at him, but so did Eiry and Lyn. Hearing Vyne laugh was a rare thing.
“We can’t really demonstrate that for you right now, though.” He said. “You’ll have to take our word for it.”
“Yeah, sure.” Cove said, still mostly at a loss. He finally seemed to snap back to himself after that to ask another question. “So, you needed Mica to pretend to be Elder Cirrus, but did you need Glenn or I?”
Eiry smiled. “We don’t, no. I brought you along mostly because I thought you might enjoy seeing Avuri.” Then she looked over to Mica. “And because I didn’t think Mica would appreciate being solely burdened with this secret.”
“I appreciate that, I suppose.” Mica said. “You’re right, though. I don’t think I would’ve liked keeping this from them.”
“Depending how this all goes,” Eiry continued, “I may also request that the three of you leave the Stone Breaker Sect - and train directly under me.” The quick switch in expressions from hurt and confused to excited and interested was enough to make Emery and Avuri chuckle.
Mica held her hand to her chest, and took in deep breaths. “You scared me, Elder Sirrus!”
Eiry smiled at the girl. “You three are some of the best students I’ve seen over in the Sect. And also, please call me Eiry, at least when we’re here. Despite what you may think of me, I am not a fan of titles.”
“Oh, very well.” Mica said, bowing. “Then, Eiry, what exactly should we be doing from here on out?”
“Practice.” Lyn said, stepping up. “You’ll need to get used to acting in character as Eiry for extended periods of time. And Avuri still needs work on her acting as well. So we’ll be putting the two of you through the ringer here.” Lyn’s voice allowed for no argument.
Avuri deflated. “Again?” She said, clearly trying her best to hold back the whine that wanted to escape.
“Again.” Lyn confirmed. “This time, you’ll be in the same space as your partners. You’ll need to learn to talk together the way we do, among other things.”
Lyn then turned toward Emery. “Emery, dear, if you would be so kind as to make some tea? It’s time to begin.”