Leo quickly discovered Nikki’s outburst was going to be the highlight of the day.

While he was the one with the most experience in political meetings—not including Amneris—he’d discovered thousands of years ago it wasn’t his thing. The only reason Leo had been invited to this particular meeting was his status: Queen’s General.

He’d been surprised to attend in Hathor’s place. Being the Queen’s daughter, she ranked higher than him, but neither had called attention to it. Surely Amneris had her reasons for inviting one and not the other.

Once things from Nikki’s outburst settled, Leo watched as Amneris returned to the formalities of the meeting. She introduced all parties present before going into full detail about what they faced. Well, most detail. Leo noticed a few details were left out.

From what he could tell about the present parties, most of them had been part of the previous battle in the Forgotten War five thousand years ago. There were some newer faces no one seemed to recongise. The next generation of worlds, Leo supposed. As time passed, and allies changed and were added, it made sense new people would appear.

Formalities over with, the debate over what to do begun and, from the way things were going after half an hour of arguing—sorry, debating—Leo could only sigh. Leadership. Typical. It was the same everywhere.

Homa slammed a red-bronze fist on the table. “We should not be waiting. We should take the fight directly to Tara! We must take the items from her and destroy them for good!” Nods of agreement came from other parties.

“Taking the fight to Tara would be foolish,” Cascadia countered, her soft voice a paradox to Homa’s aggressive one. “She will be expecting us to do that.”

“We would be wiped out,” Kai agreed.

Eirene, Representative of the Firebringer People, spoke next. “We can’t sit around and do nothing. The longer we wait, the less opportunity we will have.”

Unsurprisingly Diana said, “Is there no way we can reclaim the items without bloodshed?”

The room went silent, everyone staring at her.

Leo agreed it was a nice thought. Being able to convince Tara not to free the Dark King without any trouble. But everyone knew there was a very small chance of that working. He was about to say something, a nice way to express the room’s opinion, but was beaten.

“As much as we wish there were a way to do that, Tara has made it clear on multiple occasions she has no interest in listening.” Amneris gave the Fae female an apologetic smile. “It would be a nice change if that were possible.”

* * * * * * * *

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The room was split.

One half wanted to take the fight straight to Tara and the Terpolite people. They wanted to stop her now. The other half wanted to wait, let Tara make the first move, see what she was planning (no one trusted the intel Amneris got from Kek, and with good reason). Along with this, they believed more time was needed to prepare troops.

As the argument unfolded, Leo scanned the room. Amneris sat with a half-cringe half-smile on her face, Nikki was all-but hitting her head on the desk, Lvaane was the portrait of calm (experience, no doubt), and Diana, Ray and Zane were trying to convince the other members of their parties to calm down. They were not the only ones, just the most obvious.

After an hour of getting nowhere, the meeting broke for recess in the closest Dining Room. Food and drink seemed to help everyone calm down a little. People stood in small groups, some of the newer groups introducing themselves properly to Amneris with a bow or curtsy which she, strangely, returned.

Leo found himself in conversation with the Firebringer and Glacis parties—two of the newest groups to join. Soon after, the Malaie and Sono parties joined them, and the four parties begun conversation on how they were handling being part of the Council.

Recess ended, as did the truce. Two more parties left the meeting. Things only got worse from there. Homa got into a heated argument with Carden and Diana, getting as far as flinging insults about how the Fae people were too weak. Leo was shocked the Dragonoid didn’t get up and leave.

After another hour or so—it could’ve been three for all he knew—Leo couldn’t take it anymore.

“ENOUGH!”

The room went silent, all eyes on him. The silence was deafening but he ignored it.

“If you can’t come up with a way to cooperate with each other then this entire meeting was for nothing so, all of you, stop acting like children and act like the leaders of your people you are!”

Leo braced himself for the room’s anger to turn on him.

“He’s right,” Amneris said. She stood too. “All we’ve done is argue and, while everyone has a valid point, we need to find a way to come together. I agree we need to move quickly. However!” she added as Homa sat back with a satisfactory grin, “we need time to prepare a plan against her and need time to rally our own people, decide when and how to strike hard.”

“You are all Leaders of your people,” Leo continued. “Most, if not all of you have been a part of the War since it begun. You were there five thousand years ago. You know what we will face when—yes, when—Tara releases Enliatu. All of us have lost people and now we have a chance to end it, but we cannot do that without all of us coming to an agreement.”

Murmurers of agreement and nods circulated the room.

Leo collapsed into his chair. Under the table, Nikki kicked him, no doubt annoyed that he’d outdone her.

Parties apologised for things they’d said in their anger and frustration, and an agreement was made to work together with Leo—he couldn’t believe this part—as leader of the united army. As Amneris was his superior and this was technically her war, she was to be upfront with him. It was decided the specifics of the decision could be left for tomorrow or the day after as everyone needed rest and to communicate with their people.

Parties were shown to their rooms for the next few nights and a large evening meal was served (with dessert, of course!). The rest of the Lyriumian Court were invited to this, much to Jay’s delight. The Fae loved good food. Hathor, Colt and Kayla had their condolences passed onto Leo who only mentioned them when asked. The three had been given other things to take care of and were unable to attend, much to the disappointment of Ray and Zane.

The Sun had long since set before Leo was able to get to his own rooms in the Palace. He half remembered stumbling there, a little dizzy from the wine which kept appearing in his glass as he socialised. Clearly he’d drunk to much.

Entering his rooms, Leo made it to his bed before collapsing and falling asleep.