Episode 2, Scene 4 Sneak Peek #1

Hi friends, 

Episode 2 Scene 4 is in progress! Though my focus is all over the place, it is moving along nicely and I have about 5000 words drafted. This is a snippet of some of the new stuff I've been working on. If you want to avoid spoilers for the next update, skip this post!

“Your Rona solution was a ramshackle excuse of an idea and you know it!” the dwarf says, his booming voice bellowing across the table. “Umbria would have never devoted resources to it if you hadn’t agreed to foot the bill—”

“And yet when I returned, my ramshackle excuse of an idea is the only avenue we have left,” Zenaida interrupts. “Solarath is squeezing us. Alexia and Lucien are gone, Quirinus has ousted us from Diradan, Nova is in his hands, and Pallas abandoned us to join his cause. Our numbers are dwindling and instead of devising a new strategy, you waste your time blaming me—”

The woman at the head of the table rises from her seat. Chairs scrape against the floor as the mages follow suit and turn as one, seven sets of eyes fixing you and Aeran with a piercing gaze. In the silence, Idris slips by, his duty fulfilled, and quietly takes up a position beside Malsara. Unlike her companions, Zenaida remains seated. Though she manages to give you a tight smile, she cannot hide the weariness infecting her usual composed bearing.

“Thank you for coming, Wayfarer Kellis, Wayfarer $lastname,” the woman says, gesturing to the empty chairs at the end of the table. You and Aeran find your places, scraping your chairs against the hardwood floor as you settle between the reserved dwarven woman and the eerily quiet melusine. “I understand your day has been much longer than expected, but this is all the time we can afford to deliberate. Given how our circumstances have changed, haste is all but necessary now.”

The dwarf snorts and thumps unceremoniously back into his seat. “Hasty this, hasty that,” he grouses. “Maybe we should acknowledge that hasty antics based on mismanaged intelligence and overreactions is what got us into this mess in the first place—”

“And if you had it your way, we’d be waiting out the years while Solarath conducts their experiments and sees their goals through to the end with little interference,” the freckled woman snaps.

“Sod it all, Quinn, I know you’re new to Diradan, but even you should realize staying ahead of Solarath is impossible since Sabien Quirinus took control—”

“So you’d rather be complacent?”

“His chance of success is slim to none—”

The lanky elf rolls their eyes. “Oh, stuff it, Oshiro, no one agrees with you,” they mutter.

Oshiro ignores them. “Quirinus will die eventually. If an assassin doesn’t get lucky, then by his own tomfoolery or natural causes,” he says, leaning heavily on the table. “And when he’s gone, we can neatly—and quietly—put Solarath back where it belongs—”

“Not all of us have the luxury of waiting,” Quinn interrupts. A piece of hair unravels from her bun and she angrily sweeps it out of the way. “You and Airiani, perhaps, but you put too much faith in your ability to outlast him. Solarath is more than the Grand Archsage—”

“Oshiro does not speak for me,” the melusine says, their melodious voice as smooth as velvet. Despite the quiet tone, their voice resounds deeply, throbbing in your ears like the ocean pounding against the shore.

“See?” the elf says, folding their arms comfortably behind their head. “Even Airiani doesn’t agree with you—”

The curly-haired woman slams her hands on the table. “Enough!” she calls, her voice echoing through the room. In the silence, a faint clink catches your ear. Drawn by the sound, your notice a glimmer on the woman’s hand. She wears a distinctive piece of jewelry—a gold chain bracelet that extends from her wrist and down her hand to attach to a set of rings on her fingers. In its centre, pressed against the back of her hand, is white gemstone that pulses with a faint light. “Regardless of Archsage Oshiro’s feelings on the matter, this is not a matter of discussion tonight. Zenaida has given us the means to act. We will not forfeit this chance while it is available to us.”