Andal, Jeva, and the five other nominees that had arrived at various points yesterday or during the night had moved on from the cafeteria, and were now in a much more luxurious dining room. The eight nominees were sitting around a long table, with three officials standing at the head. One of them was Professor Tharrow, who Andal and Jeva were happy to see, but who looked exhausted from the trip.

The official in the middle spoke, "Welcome, nominees from far and wide, and thank you for taking part in this elite team. The idea for this team came out of the fact that the Haverdash possess certain individuals who can beat a city's defenses by themselves, and you have gathered to counter those individuals. You are not expected to demonstrate the qualities of a military officer, as all troops will be under the direct governance of their normal officers. You are, however, the ultimate leaders of any attack you are involved in. The soldiers must work around your wishes.

"That said," he picked a scroll up off the table, "You are mostly strangers to one another, and to us, so we ought to begin introductions. It is important that you know and work with each other well."

Tharrow exclaimed, "And for the love of common sense, actually learn how each other operate! Don't expect everyone to react to you."

The middle officer nodded, and the one on the other side of him laughed with a gruff voice.

The middle officer opened the scroll, "That said, to my right is Professor Tharrow of Tubarai's Military Academy for Magic and Magic Affiliates, from Tubarai. To my left is Elder Brunstrog, from Vilpass. I am Lieutenant Wanrod, Donfas. We are assigned to be your chief advisors during your exploits, and we can handle any management and communication between you and other groups. Professor Tharrow and I are loquentors, we can speak to people across great distances.

"Moving on to you, the nominees. When I introduce you, please raise your hand so that the others may see who is who. From Donfas we have three representatives. Rumberal the Defender," Andal recognized him from the other day. He had a habit of wearing armor even in safe circumstances like this meeting, but it suited him. He had a custom set that was bulkier than most, but well-engraved. He was clearly a strong individual, not least because he was able to move around freely in that armor. He was also very confident of himself, but that was a quality all the nominees except Andal and Jeva seemed to have.

"Grendala, excuse me, Duchess Grendala."

She smiled at the use of her preferred title, a sight even harder to look at than her normal face. She had a faint scent of rot to her, and wasn't physically imposing at all, but her knowledge of less savory things made people suspect she would be a great boon in a fight.

"Vicid, right hand of the Queen."

His clothing was poorly stained, but was meant to be all black. He had what looked like a blot of ink on his left cheek, and an unfriendly presence. Andal said quietly, "He's directly under the queen? Wow."

There wasn't enough noise for his voice not to be audible around the table, and the representatives of Donfas all turned their heads to him. Rumberal and Grendala had curious expressions, but when he looked at Vicid's face and met his gaze he felt suddenly compelled to look away.

"Those are the nominees from Donfas. Those from Tubarai: Andal, Templar of Nishir. Jeva…Wizard of Nishir?"

Jeva and Andal shared a smile, and Lieutenant Wanrod moved on. Perhaps it was legitimate, and if not, it wasn't different than accepting Grendala as a duchess.

"Nalia, the Silver Lady, from Tsafel."

She reminded Andal more of gold, having bright blonde hair, and shining emblems on her armor. She was the most professional-seeming of the group, but not unfriendly. To the contrary, her presence made the rest of them more comfortable.

"And last of all: Hanyr, 'Longbow', the Giant of Burjenyor, from Burjenyor."

He'd attracted most of the attention since he came in. He was larger than Andal had thought was possible for a human to be, easily eight feet tall and as muscular for his size as Rumberal. He'd sat at the end of the table so that he could lean on it without blocking anyone's view, which he had to do because the chair couldn't support his weight otherwise. Despite his imposing size, he was pleasant to be around. He always smiled and nodded or waved to passersby, and had already introduced himself to most of the nominees in the short time that he had available. He was like the personalities of a redwood and hearth merged together.

Lieutenant Wanrod rolled up that scroll and picked up a blank one, "Excellent. Does anyone mind if we step outside? I think it's only right if, now that you've been introduced, everyone shows the group what they're capable of."

That caused some surprised faces, and Hanyr mentioned, "I don't have my bow, and I can't rightly use one that you'd provide me. Most of us here don't have our equipment, should we go get it?"

Tharrow clarified, "No need, we're not testing you. We're just giving each other the idea of what skills we have. Does anyone have anything they'd like to say first, or are we good to go?"

"I have a question," said Grendala, turning to Andal and Jeva, "Tifiliti Nifu Esilet Hetil Fisivi says that you smell like Haverdash. Why is that?"

Wanrod asked, “Who?”

Andal and Jeva didn’t know how to answer, so Tharrow told Grendala, “They’ve fought closely against the Haverdash, that’s all.”

She retorted, “You say that like the rest of us haven’t fought Haverdash? And that’s not a reasonable answer, I’ve eaten Haverdash, and I don’t smell like them at all!”

Nalia butted in, “You’ve eaten Haverdash?”

The whole table was immediately engrossed, so Grendala tried shifting the conversation, “That’s not the point, the point is that we don’t have a good reason for them to smell like Haverdash.”

But then even Vicid showed interest, “How was it?”

That was the first time any of them had heard Vicid’s voice, which was surprisingly nice, so she felt compelled to answer, “Awful. I was bedridden for weeks, and dear Tifiliti Nifu Esilet Hetil Fisivi had to take care of me!"

“Again,” Wanrod asked, “Who is that?”

Jeva answered him, “That’s her fairy! He said you could call him Tifiliti.”

“-but he doesn’t like it.” Added Grendala.

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Rumberal and Elder Brunstrog asked in unison, “Why did you eat a Haverdash?”

She had the audacity to look between them with a surprised look, “You boys don’t know anything about witches, do you?” She cackled, “Don’t wander in strange woods alone, little ones!”

Wanrod quickly changed the conversation, “This fairy, Tifiliti, where is he? We should all meet everyone involved.”

“He’s here now, but he won’t show himself in front of the right hand of the Queen, I’m afraid. He’s a scared little thing.” She looked at Vicid, “With all due respect.”

Rumberal leaned back from the table and spoke to everyone, “While we’re on that topic, some of the company expressed confusion about the Queen earlier. That’s not the queen of Donfas, that’s the Queen of Graves. Vicid is the most accomplished murderer in Donfas, maybe including Haverdash.”

Vicid slammed his fist against the table, but a dagger of shadow manifested in it as he did. A low moaning like a whale call, sped up to happen in just a second, echoed around the room. Then the section of the table Vicid had hit was gone without a trace.

Nalia and the three advisors, Brunstrog, Tharrow, and Wanrod, jumped up in unison to try to prevent anything from breaking out between Vicid and Rumberal. They all spoke over each other, imploring the group to lay aside differences for their common goal.

But Vicid and Rumberal made no motion toward each other, so the pleading died down quickly. Grendala turned toward Andal and Jeva again, “So, I was wondering, why do you two smell like Haverdash?”

Andal said, “I wish I’d answered earlier, and we probably could have avoided some of that, but I don’t have a good answer for you. I have no idea what Tifiliti is smelling.”

Grendala looked skeptical, “Curious.”

*

They all moved outside, and for organization's sake Wanrod told them to demonstrate their abilities in the order that the introductions were in, so starting with Rumberal. They had dummies set up in the yard, but Tharrow made illusionary targets that they preferred the nominees attack.

Rumberal stepped forward and faced the group, "My abilities lie in bringing out the latent intent in an object, and my focus is on tools of war. Armor for instance, is meant to defend." An invisible wave pulsed out of his armor, and as it passed over each person they had a sensation on their skin of being covered by a protective barrier.

"Shields are similar, but rather than sticking to someone's person they block a space separate from the body. My weapon of choice is my mace, which crushes and knocks things back." He swung at one of the illusory dummies, and Tharrow made it fly back. Rumberal turned toward him, "It would go much higher than that, and would be mangled. I know you're guessing though." He faced the group again. "I am most effective with those three, but I am proficient to a certain extent with most existing weapons, and can at least use most things a little bit."

Rumberal returned to stand with the others, and Wanrod thanked him, "Excellent explanation, Rumberal. I think it's obvious how useful those skills will be. Next, Duchess Grendala."

She stepped forward and placed her hands on her hips, "I don't have one specific skill, but I'll try and narrow this down. There are several death energies, several life energies, earth energies, et cetera. I can use almost twenty different energies, but I need the sufficient ingredients to keep myself properly balanced and thriving."

Wanrod interrupted, "If I may, if you would demonstrate something rather than explaining the philosophy behind it, we could probably all understand a lot better."

She sneered at him, making him take a step behind Brunstrog. She walked over to one of the real dummies and placed her hand on it, "Vicid already showed one kind of death energy earlier, so here's another. Again, a painter doesn't use one color, I don't use one energy." She took her hand off the dummy and returned to the group.

A second after she took her hand off, insects sprung up out of the grass and dove out of the air to swarm it. Carrion birds swooped over the walls, and their cawing filled the sky. They tore the dummy apart, then dispersed like they had been before.

Wanrod wiped his brow, "Vicid? We did see a bit of a display earlier, but could you show us in this context?"

Vicid disappeared, being only faintly visible like a weak shadow, then reappeared.

Wanrod jotted that down, "Alright, that is useful! Assassin stuff! How long can you stay like that?" He looked Vicid in the eyes as he asked, then suddenly looked down at his feet instead and kept his head down.

"There's no limit," Vicid answered.

"Wow, very useful. Do you have to manifest to attack, or…?"

"It would be less effective, but no."

Elder Brunstrog whispered to Wanrod, "Are we concerned about that?"

Tharrow looked behind Wanrod's back and answered, "Not about him, they gave him a deal he wouldn't refuse."

Brustrog quipped back, “Are we concerned about that?”

Wanrod ignored them, calling for Andal next. He showed them his shields and swords of light, illuminating light, and protective shells. Then he explained his abilities to heal and sustain people without the need to breathe. Rumberal enjoyed it very much, laughing when he was finished, “Between the two of us, young templar, this unlikely band will be invincible!”

Grendala had an accusatory look though, as if Andal had been holding something back.

Jeva was next, and she demonstrated a wide array of uses for fire, which was her primary skill, but also of ice and wind. Then she demonstrated several spells that were mostly independent from other spells in her repertoire, like creating light. Grendala's accusatory look hardened when Jeva stepped down.

Nalia, the Silver Lady stepped up. She clasped her hands together, and a cold wind rushed throughout the yard. In seconds the ground and nearby buildings changed color to be pure silver. Everything blended together, as sources of light and shadows were replaced by that uniform silver sheen. The nominees and advisors didn't change color, but their clothes did. Nalia changed though, and her shape could only barely be made out in the silver landscape.

She sunk into the ground, suddenly popping up behind Jeva like a jumping dolphin breaching the sea. She stood motionless, letting color return back to the world.

Jeva was really excited, feeling somewhat included, "That was so cool!"

Tharrow asked, "Was that an illusion?"

"It has elements of that. It's more of a hallucination really, but the difference is subtle. There's real things going on there too though."

Andal was interested in that, "It's a hallucination? That's what the Haverdash use, they see things and use them! Does that mean you can cancel out their hallucinations with your own?"

She looked apologetic, "I'm not sure, I'm maybe the only one here who has never fought a Haverdash. That's my ace in the hole though, I can attack freely while moving throughout the terrain. Normally I use more of this:" she waved her arm, and the arc that her arm had taken stayed in the air like a silver paint stroke. "That's not very sharp, but if I'd used my sword then anyone who made contact with that silver arc would get cut. It's basically leaving the cut of my sword in the air after my sword has moved on."

"Very nice," commented Wanrod, "And I've made note of your theory, Andal. Hanyr?"

Hanyr broke into a dead sprint as soon as his name was said, charging an illusory dummy and doing a sweeping kick in stride. He punched at two that he drew near, clearly unsatisfied with the illusions, then rushed one of the real dummies. He jumped and raised both legs to clear its shoulders, kicking its head clean off and landing in front of it. He raised his arms as if to accept applause, which Jeva gave him.

"You should see when I actually have weapons!" He said.

"Wonderful regardless!" Brunstrog told him, "I could feel the earth shaking when you ran, what terrific power."

"Thank you, elder! If I had my bow in hand you'd be far more impressed."

“Very impressive,” Wanrod said, “ We’ll have to test things out working together tomorrow, and we’ll make sure you have all your equipment when you do that. Tonight, if you have requests for anything we can provide you, do make it known. We are not going to spare equipment with this team.”

*

Hanyr and Grendala moved under the cover of darkness, a shadow over both of them that obscured them from anyone they passed by. They came to Andal’s window, and Grendala pulled out a smelly potion she’d brewed that evening.

Hanyr questioned her, his low voice being barely audible when speaking quietly, “Are you sure about this, Dutchess? What about side effects?”

“There won’t be side effects to a simple hallucinogen. Those two from Tubarai have power they don’t realize they have, but I know exactly how to help them find it. Now raise me up to that window.”

"What's the brew for? Didn't you say the drug was a powder?"

"These ingredients run hot, you need to ingest them before using them. Now will do." She drank it in one big gulp, "This is how I get in."

Hanyr lifted her to the barred window, reasoning that it would be of no benefit for Grendala to harm those she would be fighting alongside. She took several deep breaths, flexed her abdominals, and shrank to be only a foot tall.

She slipped through the bars and dropped lightly to the floor, seeing clearly in the dark room as all witches would. She moved next to Andal's face, breathing deeply to make herself increase in size until she could reach him easily enough. From a pocket she pulled a small wooden box, which she opened and held by Andal's nose.

The powder within was light, and his natural breathing was enough to pull particles in with each inhale. After he'd inhaled several times she put the box back in her dress and whispered to him with words that would hang on his mind for hours, "The Haverdash are here, they've captured Jeva, and you alone are left to fight them."

She went back to the window where Hanyr had inserted his bow, and grabbed the end of it.

Once she was back outside she told him, "We have to hurry to Jeva's room now, we have less than half an hour before it takes effect."