“The Shamir would not just accept commands from a stranger, would they?” Joshua sat among the other masters, leaning forward on his pillow.

The Fae Queen remained silent, merely observing the proceedings from her throne. Allaric, the Master of The Shrine, clasped his hands over his belly and snorted. “We know next to nothing about the Builders. For all we know, they invited the intruder into the Fel Prison.”

Fidgeting with the books at his side by flicking the leather clasp that held them in place, Master Boris said, “None, er, that is none of the Masters know enough about the Shamir to say one way or the other.” He averted his gaze from the Fae Queen’s throne with studious difficulty, as if his words inadvertently accused the ancient monarch.

Though he’d been trying to avoid it, the queen sat forward on the edge of her throne, the black and white twins over her shoulders conducting a silent argument complete with pointed fingers and mimed shouts as she did. “The Shamir have agreed to serve,” she cleared her throat and corrected herself, “rather they have agreed to aid us out of respect for the Wise one. Their communications to myself have been barely more informative than those they have had with you, Master Boris.” S’ha Ren-la leaned back into the seat and the ghostly twins ceased their argument, staring forward and swaying side to side in a mirror of their mistress.

Boris sweat under the Fae Queen’s regard, but swallowed and addressed the other masters. “Then there is nothing more to say. I have not been able to ascertain the identities of the intruders from the Shamir and spells of past-viewing and observation do not function within the Fel Prison, by design.”

“Then I shall look to the security arrangement. Perhaps a student breached the prison? With time I can have the grounds themselves report on which students were near enough to the prison to be involved. They express their supreme confidence that no outsiders breached the grounds last night.” Allaric’s report provided little peace for the assembled masters. Intruders, outsiders, had by-passed the protection of the Shrine in the past. Usually such intruders found themselves caught in one of the many mazes of the Shrine, but some had escaped even those security measures.

Joshua pointed to the palm of his hand. “We have a few ways to determine if one or more students were involved. They are rather mundane compared to the honored Shrine master’s suggestion.”

Allaric scowled at Joshua and Boris long ears drooped. The Master of the Shrine’s voice took on an icy quality, “surely you do not intend to submit the odious suggestion of mortal technology again, Master Joshua?”

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Tension rose in the tent, though neither Joshua nor the queen herself reacted with disdain to Master Allaric’s question. “Of course not, Master Allaric.” Joshua wove his hands in a simple gesture and a moving image appeared between them. Filled with cartoon images of a school assembly, all in Japanese, he let the scene play out while the apparent school administrators called on the students to identify some unknown culprit.

“What is this, Master Joshua?” Boris’s ears perked back up as he watched the scene unfold.

“It is a mortal practice, a school assembly. The otherworlders and demons might not understand what we were doing, but the mortals would. When we posed our questions to the school at large, it would be a trivial matter to study the group’s expression to determine their guilt or innocence. Moreover, a bit of mental snooping would be just as simple if it were confined to such a time, yes?” Joshua let the image fade as he brought his hands together.

Before the other masters had a chance to object, the Fae Queen clapped her hands in glee. “Yes! We accept Master Joshua’s suggestion and order it carried out. Boris and Joshua will decide between themselves which of the masters will conduct the session and who will be in charge of our various information gathering efforts. See to it that the entire body of the Sanctorum is present.”

“What pretense do we invoke, my queen? Won’t we alert the whole school to the existence of the Fel Prison by asking questions of them?” Allaric’s face burned red as he put his questions to the Fae Queen.

“Indeed, but I believe that secrecy is no longer a sufficient protection for the prison spire. I would ask you, Master Allaric, to propose a series of security enhancements that may include mortal security apparatuses as part of their design.” Any bluster the Master of the Shrine might have wished to express was defused by the Fae Queen’s suggestion. She held her hands opposite each other, waiting to see if the other masters had suggestions or objections. When none were forthcoming, she clapped her hands and dismissed the council.

The group of Masters of the Sanctorum filed out one by one. Allaric, Master of the Shrine, stopped Joshua with a hand on his arm. “You got what you’ve wanted…”

Joshua tensed under the other master’s grip. He could have flung the man’s hand away, struck him to emphasize his point, but Joshua loathed such games. Instead, he lowered his voice and stepped into the other master’s personal space. “You think for a second I wanted this? We’ve seldom seen eye to eye, brother. But this is not what I want, never what I’ve wanted. If you’re ever unsure, I tell you now in no uncertain terms: all I want is peace. If I got what I wanted, a few cameras, a computer system and our whole damned security apparatus would be unnecessary.”

Allaric released Joshua’s arm and let the master walk away. No words chased out of the Master of the Shrine’s lips in response.