by Jan Stryvant
"But what about when you were traded to house Uunregarten didn't you become part of their house?"
Cali shook her head, "No, I was still house Tlyysengarten but had been gifted to them. But now I am House Valens."
"What does that mean?" Jolene asked.
"It means that House Valens is now a house of dark elves. Those who ally with the dark elves will ally with you. It means that I have regained my honor, along with Dania, Rania and Deidre."
Sean looked down at Cali and she was once again looking very happy.
"All this from killing Morgan? Wow that was one hell of a deal."
"I did what I had been ordered to do; I killed the leader of a rival house, thus saving my own house. I fulfilled the oath to which I was sworn. I'm redeemed." Cali sighed and leaned into Sean.
"Yup, definitely next on the list," Roxy smiled.
"Definitely," Sean agreed.
"So, off to Claudia's?"
Sean thought about that a moment, thinking about what Sawyer had just told them about tonight's meeting that Arthur Troy had called.
'If you show up at his house, he can tell the others that he saw you with his own eyes,' the First pointed out.
'I was thinking of asking him to lay out the ground rules to the others for me,' Sean admitted. 'He will have them all in one place, after all.'
'Just as long as you're not thinking of doing anything stupid like going there yourself,' the First warned him with a mental growl.
'No, but don't hesitate to warn me if I do look like I'm about to do something suicidal, again.'
'Oh, I will, never fear!'
'Thanks, Dad!' Sean sent with a mental grin and got a huffed reply in response, but he also got the feeling that the First appreciated the sentiment. Sean just hoped that if the time ever came again, that he listened.
"Let's go visit Sapientia, I'd like to talk to Arthur."
"Okay!" Daelyn said.
"Are you sure about that?" Jolene asked.
Sean nodded, "What better way is there, to let the other leaders know that I'm alive and well, than to be seen by him, in person, and up close?"
"Just as long as you feel up to it, Hon," Roxy said.
"Give me twenty minutes to take a quick nap," Sean said and yawned, he was feeling a little tired from visiting Sawyer. Obviously he was still recovering.
"Twice around the park first!" Daelyn joked from the driver's seat. "Got it!"
Smiling, Sean moved out of the seat and shifted into his full lion form, and lying down on the floor, quickly fell asleep.
"Sean, this is a surprise!" Arthur Troy said as James, one of his bodyguards escorted Sean in, along with six lovely women: his niece Jolene; Roxy, Bill Channing's daughter; Daelyn, the dwarf, all of whom he had met before. The other three however, well the woman in the robes was obviously from the Sorceress Guild, the other human was most likely Peggy Wilston, who rumor now put as one of Sean's wives. The rather scantily clad dark elf however, he had no idea who she was, but he didn't doubt she was one of Sean's wives as well.
"Well, I thought it might be a worthwhile idea to stop by and say hello, to put to rest any rumors of my own bad health or recent demise," Sean smiled. "Oh, forgive me, allow me to introduce you to my wives," Sean added and then took a moment to introduce each of them.
"Deanna's daughter?" Troy asked, looking at Roberta when Sean had finished.
Roberta smiled and nodded, "Yes, I would have that honor."
"Well, I must say, you're as lovely as your mother." Arthur then turned to Peg, "I'm sorry to hear that you and your sister are no longer getting along. Sadly some people don't value the bonds of family like they should."
Arthur then turned to Cali, "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, young lady, I've never met a dark elf before. I've heard the rumors as to how you came to be here, and I've had some discussions with the rest of Sapientia over it, including," Arthur looked back at Sean, "the leaders of the other Sapientia covens across the country."
"Oh?" Sean said looking back at Arthur.
"We have realized that with the freeing of the lycans there will be those who are going to look for replacements of course, and we've found that idea to be rather distasteful."
"Really?" Jolene said looking as surprised as she sounded.
Arthur nodded and motioned for them all to take a seat as he sat back down.
"You really can't say that 'slavery in this one instance is bad.' It just doesn't work. You have to agree to it across the board. Human slavery was outlawed many years ago; we tried to get around it by saying that lycans weren't human, so it didn't matter.
"Something which I suspect the mundanes would strongly disagree with, if they knew you existed, but I digress, the point is, we have the opportunity to end it now, across the board, so we should."
"All while putting Sapientia back at the top, right, Uncle?" Jolene said.
"Oh definitely," Arthur smiled, "I won't lie, I want us to be at the top again, and I'm using that as a lever with the others to make Sean's goals happen. There is nothing that motivates a man so much as his self interest, am I right, Dear?"
"Yeah, you're right," Jolene conceded a little unhappily.
"So you're doing this just to get Sapientia back to the top?" Peg asked.
Arthur frowned and gave a slight shake of his head, "It started out as one of my major motivations, but now," Arthur shook his head again, "I've been talking with our seers, our most powerful ones both here in the States and overseas in Europe."
"Oh?" Sean asked.
"They've been seeing some troubling things in the future. You've dropped a very large rock into the pond, Sean, and the ripples are spreading everywhere from it. There's been a lot of concern and a lot of debate, but we're all agreed that while the path you've taken isn't an easy one, that it's still for the best that you walk it."
"Does that mean you're going to help us?"
"It means that we're not going to oppose you, and that we will rewrite the customs and the laws for you. However," Arthur spread his hands, "until we're in charge once more, there isn't much we can do beyond that."
"What good is that?" Roxy growled.
"A culture of a thousand years doesn't change overnight, my dear lady. Normally we wouldn't even get involved at all; we'd just make the new rules and leave it to social pressure to enforce it. But as I said before, the seers have told us that trouble lies ahead, that like it or not, we will become involved. So while we will help cautiously, we will still help."
Roxy opened her mouth to retort a second time, but Sean put his hand on her leg and squeezed, causing her to frown at him instead.
"I'd like to ask you to tell the others at tonight's meeting that we do expect all of them to give up their lycans," Sean said. "Further, that if they should kill a lycan, any lycan, from this day forward, we will kill the responsible party, unless they can prove self-defense."
Arthur nodded, "I suspected as much. Many of them won't like that of course."
"Yes, I know," Sean agreed. "We will be making the rounds, of course, and we will be freeing everyone we come across. If they want to hire lycans, like you or Eruditio does, that's fine. But there are a lot more lycans in Reno than magic users and they all answer to me now."
Arthur looked at Sean in surprise, "They do?"
"Yes," Sean nodded, "they do."
"You know, that's a rather impressive claim, Sean."
Sean shrugged, "I'm aware of that, however it doesn't change the truth. How do you think the mundanes out there would react to finding out that you can do magic? That dark elves like my wife Cali here truly exist?
"You have to understand, Arthur, that in the last week I have finally come to understand what it means to be a lion, and what I can do as one. I've promised not to start a war, because I don't want one, and because it doesn't forward the task that I've taken on. But don't underestimate the power that I have available."
'May I?'
'Of course,' Sean let his lion, th
e First, take over the conversation.
"I know you all have questions, lions are things of myth and so little is known about us. That's because we wanted it that way. Thousands of years ago, we lions entrusted you magic users with the care of our children, to raise them up and civilize them, in return for which we would protect you from those very mundanes who you all hid from back then, and still hide from today.
"Well, many of you have forgotten that deal, and the time has come for us to part ways. We are thankful to Sapientia for all that you've done, especially as you have been so willing to cooperate. When the time comes, we'll stand beside you if you should ask for our help."
"How do you know things that happened thousands of years ago, Sean?" Arthur asked puzzled.
"I believe you're familiar with the old saying 'what one lion knows, we all know'?"
"Yes," Arthur nodded, "does that mean you have a racial memory?"
Sean smiled along with his lion and took back control.
"No, it means we all talk to each other, and some of us were there."
"I must say, Sean, that I find that idea just a little hard to put my faith in."
Standing up, Sean laughed, "Yeah, so did I, Arthur, so did I."
Arthur stood up then as all of the girls did the same.
"Well, thank you for stopping by, Sean," Arthur said shaking hands with him, "I'll be sure to let the others know that you personally came here and saw me today to convey your words."
"Thank you, Arthur. I appreciate that."
"You're welcome, and it was a pleasure to meet all of you today as well, Ladies." Arthur said and gave a small bow. Then watched as James escorted them all out of the room.
"Hey, Boss," Dean said after they'd gone out the front door and James had come back upstairs, "did you notice how he switches between 'we' and 'I' when he talks?"
Arthur nodded, "Yes, I had. Very curious that, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm not just talking to Sean, that there are others involved."
"Well, he did say that they all talk."
"What, you think they're telepathic?" James asked.
"At this point, I don't think that would surprise me one bit, boys."
"Sean!" Claudia said and surprised him by actually giving him a hug, "I heard you'd recovered, but I was still worried! You looked like complete shit when my guys brought you in here! What happened? I heard that Grandmother Robin and the others never made it to you!"
"Lion stuff happened," Sean said and grinned when she frowned.
"I believe you've met Cali, but she wasn't my wife then, and this is Roberta, who I've finally convinced to come and live with us now that we have a place to live."
Claudia nodded to each, and Sean could help but notice a little tightness in her expression when she nodded hello to Roxy and Daelyn.
"Come, let's go for a walk, I want to talk to you," Sean said taking Claudia's hand and heading off towards the hangers, "Girls, wait here, okay?"
They all nodded.
"Go inside and make yourselves comfortable," Claudia added.
"Okay, so what's this all about?" Claudia asked, once they were out of earshot.
"Well first of all, I wanted to let you know that I will pay for the new helicopter, once I get my finances going again. Just how much was that one, anyways?"
"About seven hundred thousand dollars," Claudia growled. "Damn things aren't cheap and just keep getting more expensive."
"Huh, well I'm going to be buying a couple as well I think, which also means I'm going to need a bunch of my people trained how to fly them. If you could help with that, I'd appreciate it."
"George is an instructor, though I think he's a bit afraid of you now."
Sean snorted, "Everyone's afraid of me now. Don't worry, I'll turn on the charm and pat him on the head and let him know I'm proud of him for not killing us all when we crashed."
"Just like that?" Claudia asked.
Sean shrugged, "Not exactly, but I like George. He just didn't realize that when I give an order like that, I expect him to follow it, just like he would if you do it."
"But he's not one of yours, Sean."
Sean snorted, "You're all one of mine, Claudia, even you."
"Don't get airs with me, Son!"
Sean just shook his head, "Don't make me prove it, it'll just piss you off, and," Sean looked at her and let what he'd felt the First do, when he'd used some of his 'mystic' powers on other wolves, "you know it," he growled, then felt rather pleased as Claudia's eyes went wide.
'You're learning, Son,' the First teased him.
'Thanks, Dad,' Sean teased back.
"How did you do that?" Claudia grumbled as she got her emotions back under control. She'd felt it, for just a moment, she'd wanted to tuck her tail and she didn't like that feeling at all.
Sean threw his hands in the air, "I'm a lion! How the hell did you think I did it? Damn, Woman, you've been around me for how many weeks now and you haven't realized that I can do all sorts of mystic shit and have almost god-like powers?"
Claudia grumbled, "I thought that was just because you're a magic user."
"It helps, but it's not all of it, now as for the reason I wanted to talk to you alone...."
"Besides threatening me in private?"
"Who said I'm done threatening you?" Sean chuckled, "I need for you to forgive Roxy and Daelyn for whatever the hell they said or did that's got you pissed at them."
"You don't know what they did?" Claudia looked at him sharply.
Sean sighed, "Claudia, did it ever occur to you that if what you did pissed them off, that if I hear it, I just might get even more pissed off than they were?"
"You wouldn't!"
"Please don't test that assumption," Sean grumbled, "I have discovered that when it comes to my women, I am liable to do some very violent and stupid shit. How do you think I ended up almost dead in the first place?"
"Fine!" Claudia grumbled and stomped her foot on the ground, "I'll go make nice to them."
"Don't just go 'make nice.' Forgive them, tell them you're sorry, tell them that you forgot how much I mean to them, and that next time you won't do whatever the hell it was you did."
"You're not planning on adding me to your harem, are you?" Claudia suddenly asked, giving him a sidelong glance.
Sean laughed at loud at that, "No, Claudia, no insult, but I think you're not the type who'd fit in."
"Well thank god for that," Claudia sighed.
"You're welcome," Sean smirked.
"Okay, I'll forgive them, though it's mainly Roxy I was mad at. Who the hell knew cheetahs could be so damn scary."
"I know, it's awesome, isn't it?" Sean chuckled.
"Cats," Claudia grumbled. "So, what else do you want?"
"I want to call a meeting of the lycan Fellowship. It's time to start laying down the rules."
"On lycans?"
"On Reno," Sean grinned at her. "We're going to run this town and everything else in the state. Next week I'm going to go around to all of the minor councils and let 'em know that there's a new sheriff in town and that they can't treat us like they used to. I already put the word out via Sapientia. I've also let it be known what I'm going to do to anyone killing lycans."
"You're going to be real popular, Sean," Claudia smiled.
"Yeah, it's good to be the king! Now, how soon can you call a meeting?"
"Tomorrow, it's too late to call one for today. Some folks have to come a long way to get here."
Sean nodded, "Okay, tomorrow it is. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna collect the wives and go get some food, I'm famished."
Conclave of the Councils
Arthur Troy walked into the room after all of the others had been seated. He wanted to make the point, clearly, that the Council of Sapientia was calling the shots now, that once again, they were the ones in charge.
Sitting down he was rather surprised to see that everyone had indeed come. He'd been a bit worried about anyone from the Ascendants showing up,
due to their current issues. He'd also been unsure about anyone from the Elevens showing up, considering their penchant for secrecy.
"Thank you everyone for showing up tonight, especially on such short notice," Arthur began. "It turns out that there are several topics which are pressing and which must be discussed tonight, by all of us. However we will start with the main reason why we are here, and why I was compelled to call this meeting tonight.
"Simply put, any wars or actions that take place must, and I cannot stress this enough! Must take place in such a manner as to not endanger the silence!"
Arthur looked around the room, and then looked at Dave Thompson, who was now representing the Ascendants, and then over at Al Summers who had taken over the Vestibulum after Morgan's death.
"Two of our local councils have in the last several months engaged in multiple actions, each of which endangered the silence greatly, and it is only because of the work of the Councils of Sapientia and Eruditio, along with the help of several outside, but sympathetic groups, that we were not exposed to the larger world. Now, Dave, what reassurances do I have that the Ascendants will not be the ones to break the silence?"
Dave looked at Arthur shocked, "Me? The Ascendants have behaved themselves! We're the victims here! We were descended on, en masse, and slaughtered by the Vestibulum! We'd done nothing that could lead to an exposure!"
"What do you call assaulting and burning down a three story building in downtown Sparks?" Arthur said, staring at Dave. "We will come to the other affairs in due course, but let us all understand that the Ascendants hired a criminal gang, which shot up a mall of all things! Then there was the storm and the elementals that you summoned which killed four mundanes who were in no way associated with any of us!
"Your violation of our traditions, much less our rules have led to far more scrutiny from the authorities than we should expect. I, and I'm sure everyone else at this meeting, want to know that this is not going to continue."
