The moment she stepped into the large, opulent hall, Vivian felt small… insignificant.

The Council of Seven was seated on a raised marble tier that imposed a sense of authority on anyone who walked through those double doors, as if they could command her to take her own life and she would be forced to do it. A stray thought in her mind wondered if magic was at play here, like the rocky crevice they had passed through on the way here. She took a moment to study their faces. She had expected ancient, wrinkled faces glaring down at her in disdain. However, all of them seemed to around forty to fifty years old. Vivan wasn’t sure if their presence was a comment on their high capabilities or the short lifespan of a mage. The council comprised of three women and four men including Sith, all of whom wore an expressionless face making it very difficult for her to understand what they were thinking. Feeling nervous, Vivian clenched and unclenched her hands, her heart thundering in her chest like a war drum. Noticing her discomfort, Sith gave her an encouraging smile. On the other hand, Peri leaned against a wall to the side with his eyes closed, showing absolutely no interest in the proceedings.

Don’t tell me he is sleeping again…

All eyes in the room had focused their intense attention on Vivian. Feeling overwhelmed she gave a slight bow, unaware of what exactly she was supposed to do.

‘No need to be nervous,’ Sith said. ‘This is just a routine check we do for every newcomer. We have to make sure you are not a spy send here to infiltrate our stronghold.’

Vivian nodded in understanding, unable to form words at the moment.

‘State your full name please,’ a man demanded.

‘Viv-’ She croaked before she cleared her throat and tried again. ‘Vivian Wright,’ she said clearly.

The man raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her. Vivan averted her eyes, choosing to focus on the grey veins running through the marble beneath her feet.

‘Wright… Hmm, I have not heard of a family with that name,’ a woman said.

‘Miss Wright here is not from nobility,’ Sith explained. ‘She is one of the common folk.’

The council members weren’t wearing indifferent faces anymore. Whispers broke out as the council members looked at each other, some with looks of incredulity, and others with disbelief.

‘How did she make it here on her own?’

‘There is absolutely no way she could have survived.’

‘The hunters should have gotten to her. This is incredibly suspicious.’

‘Perhaps it is best if we ask her what happened.’ the third woman in the room said. ‘We can judge whether or not she is trustworthy after we hear her out.’

‘Very well Lady Sandra,’ Sith said. ‘Lord Wernier, would be so kind as to confirm if she is telling the truth?’

The man who had asked her to state her name earlier gave a short nod before closing his eyes as if he was meditating. Vivian felt a heavy presence wrap itself around her mind and a shiver ran up her spine. It was as if her mind was a book and someone had positioned their thumb at the beginning, ready to turn the page and read the story so as to corroborate everything she was about to say.

‘Miss Wright please tell us your story.’

Ignoring the feeling of discomfort, she recounted everything for the second time that day from the moment she left her home to the present. As she talked the weight of the events she had experienced bore down on her and she realized just how lucky she was to make it here alive. A number of things could have gone wrong. Even if she were to set aside being hunted by Sentinels, she could have been easily killed during her escape from her village, or starved to death in the forest, or eaten by wild beasts. Moreover, what were the chances that she would run into a mysterious man in the middle of the woods that was inclined to help her, or that the same man would help her escape from the sentinels, take responsibility for her safety, and bring her to the one place where she could be safe. Vivan was never a believer in gods and fate, but even she had to admit that this felt like divine intervention and that it seemed like she was a part of a bigger story that was being written. Recounting all that happened so far, only reminded her of her improbable chances of survival and how grateful she should be to Peri. She glanced over at him, trying to coney her gratitude through her eyes, but the man was still leaned against the wall his eyes closed, though she doubted he was actually asleep.

I was the same for almost thirteen years, and now I’ve changed so much in just three weeks… wonder if I’ll keep changing, keep getting better and feeling less pain and betrayal…

Vivan realized that she had finished explaining and that the chamber was now silent, as the members looked contemplative, turning her story inside out, trying to find any flaws or holes that would mark her as a spy.

‘That is… quite the story,’ Lady Sandra finally broke the silence. ‘What say you Lord Wernier?’

‘I sense no falsehoods,’ he replied, finally opening his eyes. She felt the heavy presence disappear and breathed out in relief. ‘She is telling the truth.’

‘Well that settles it,’ the man sitting next to Sith looked to be in a hurry to get this over with. ‘She is one of us and so she deserves sanctuary in our city.’

‘Well said Lord Vaux,’ Lady Sith agreed.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

‘Well shall we cast a vote?’ Lord Vaux asked. ‘All in favour of Miss Wright staying…’

Three out of seven members raised their hands.

‘Looks like this will take a little while longer,’ Sith said. ‘What seems to the problem?’

‘The issue is that this is girl is from a peasant family,’ one of the men said, his eyes narrowed in distaste. ‘Our entire stronghold is partially dependent on donations that the families of the refugees offer us in return for the protection of their children. This girl has neither status nor money. Wouldn’t it be unfair to the others to let her stay while she contributes nothing to our way of life?’

I was hoping they would forget about that.

‘Lord Lisht!’ Lady Sandra exclaimed. ‘How could you even say that?!’

‘It is the truth,’ Lord Wernier added quietly, his tone logical like he was examining a math problem. ‘This girl cannot help us in any way. Being a peasant, I doubt she even knows how to read so we can’t even think of putting her in an office post. Moreover, her aura is so miniscule that it’s non-existent that I’m having doubts of whether she is truly a mage.’

Anger echoed vaguely in the back of Vivian’s mind but it was drowned by her mounting anxiety and fear. Her breaths were coming out measured now, her body subconsciously trying to calm her down. Heat was once again slowly building up in her veins, just like it did back at the auction site. She tried to calm it down. An explosion here would not help her case, but the power kept growing slowly.

The council seemed unaware of the development and were busy arguing among themselves.

‘This stronghold is a safe haven for all mages, regardless of whether they are powerful not,’ Lord Vaux said. ‘We cannot refuse to accept her just because she has no noble background.’

‘But do you not think that this is unfair to the others?’ the last woman in the hall said. ‘Their families send over money and essentials that make it possible for us to live in these mountains. If we were to let someone live here for free without providing any sort of assistance whatsoever, what would they think? They will probably demand the same treatment for their charges as well.’

‘I agree with Lady Peliere,’ the last man in the room said, his disinterest on the matter grating on her nerves and causing the heat in her blood to build up faster. ‘She will be nothing but dead weight.’

‘Lord Adar while that is a valid point we cannot expel her just because of that,’ Lord Vaux said. ‘She will die if she was on her own.’

‘We can’t save everyone,’ Lord Lisht said callously. ‘Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the good of the many.’

Sacrifice? Vivian thought. Why are you talking about sacrifice? It is not as if you are the one who is going to die. The heat cousing through her was starting to muffle the voices around her. It was getting harder to pick out individual words from the growing buzzing her ears.

The room dissolved into chaos as everyone started to speak up at once. Voices were raised to be heard above the din, which only led to a further increase in the disorder, which was not helping her. She felt like she was on the verge of exploding when suddenly there was a rough but gentle hand on her head. The fire in her veins took a small step back as she glanced up to look at who it was. She wasn’t all too surprised to see Peri’s blue eyes looking down at her, silently assuring her that it would be alright.

He turned to face the council. ‘It seems you lot are as blind as ever.’ He declared.

The council fell silent, whether it was because of the sudden interruption, or the rudness they were shown, Vivian couldn’t tell. Lord Lisht was the first to recover with a slight shake of his head, and glared at him. ‘What did you say?’ There was a threatning note behind the question, but to Peri’s credit he didn’t even flinch. In fact he looked downright bored.

‘If any of you have doubts on whether this girl is mage, just open your eyes and look at her now.’

The council’s focus was once again directed at her, and one by one, Vivan saw the realization dawn on their faces. The heat was slowly fading from her, Peri’s hand on her head acting as an anchor in this sea of chaos.

‘I’m sure that this has put your doubts to rest.’ Peri stepped forward, his hand dropping from her head. Vivan missed the hand, but her breathing was going back to normal and she was no longer shaking. She let him speak for her, as she couldn’t find her own voice, stuck as it were somewhere at the back of her throat.

‘If my memories and her own weren’t enough to settle your reservations, this should surely do so. And to further point out your blindness,’ A choked voice sounded from Lord Adar, but Peri continued as if he didn’t hear it. ‘None of you seemed to notice that her magic worked quite differently from any of yours.’

‘Different,’ Lord Adar scoffed. ‘I didn’t see anything different. So she blew away a few sentinels. There are many mages that are capable of that.’

‘Did you notice that none of them died,’ Peri pointed out quietly. ‘Nor did the body next to her get vapourised.’ Peri turned to Vivan. ‘Vivian, even when you cast your magic, you didn’t want to kill anyone right?’

Vivan thought back to when she had caused the explosion. She was angry, yes and distraught, and she wanted to make them hurt. But not kill, never kill. Slowly she nodded.

‘No I didn’t want to kill anyone.’

‘So she was unable to kill anyone. The explosion was a fluke,’ Lady Peliere dismissed. ‘It was all smoke and mirrors, loud noises and dust and nothing of substance.’

‘We are going around in circles,’ Sith said, annoyance leaking into her voice. ‘No fluke could cause a crater six feet deep and rip massive trees out of the ground. Her surroundings were assaulted by her magic. Only the people were fine. Knocked out, yes, but fine otherwise.’ Sith turned her head to fix her eyes on Vivian, a gleam of curiosity sparkling in their depths. ‘The only explanation for it is that she was able to instinctively cast a very complex spell that didnt just carry a simple intent of explode like most do, but it was also ingrained with a intent to protect the little girl’s corpse as well as to not kill anyone.’

Vivian had lost track of the conversation. The word intent was being stressed like it was something important to magic but she couldn’t for the life of her, understand why it was so. However, it seemed to be working as out of the four who had originally opposed her staying, Lord Wernier and Lady Peliere were looking very interested now, leaning forward slightly in their seats to get a good look at her.

‘A spell with three intents,’ Lord Wernier whispered, almost to himself. ‘It’s unheard of, but you’re right. That is fascinating.’

‘Are you really buying this?’ Lord Adar hissed.

Lord Wernier fixed him with a cool stare. ‘Do you have a better explanation?’

Lord Adar glared at him while Lord Wernier looked back at him impassively. Lord Adar huffed and looked away first and Vivian felt a small sense of vindication. At least the biggest issue with her acceptance into Mirran was dealt with.

‘Fine, she’s a mage,’ Lord Lisht spat out. ‘But it still doesn’t change the fact that she is still a commoner. And we cannot endorse letting her in no matter how unique her magic is.’

‘While I do see where you’re coming from,’ Lady Peliere said, ‘Won’t the problem be solved if we were to provide the child with another means to pay her dues to the city? It would be a shame to let go of such a unique specimen just because of the origin of her blood.’

Vivian, Peri and Sith exchanged knowing looks. Back in Sith’s home, they had already discussed what was to be said about this matter. It’s a good thing that it was brought up by someone else first. Now Sith merely needed to build on it.

‘I have a proposition.’