“Humans are strange creatures, but I guess that’s perfectly fine.” He chuckled as we walked down thehall.
Sunlight beamed into the grand council room from windows high above. The gathering was unlike any I had seen in Bailoc—females were present. They stood intermixed in the space—not as if they were watching, but as if they were a part of it.
Ready to be heard.
Expecting to be seen.
They glowed with confidence.
It was a place where anyone could be heard—I could be heard.
Lady Aura stood with her arms linked with a fae lord. A soft smile spread on her lips as she caught me staring.
Cora stopped beside me. She placed her hand on mine.
“Who called this emergency council meeting?” Lioran stood at the center. There was no throne. No crown upon his head. He was dressed just as he had been in my chambers.
“I did, Your Highness,” Elric said.
“What news do you bring?” Lioran asked.
“The blight is spreading. Our supplies are growing thinner.” Elric paced the open space before Lioran.
“This is not news. Surely you did not call us all here for this,” Fyn chimed in. “We have regular outgoing shipments of supplies to support Othryl, Symra, and Weston.”
“It is as we’ve predicted. Despite the threat, we continue to look into where else we can seek resources.” Lioran drummed his fingers on his arms.
“We are researching solutions. My team of scholars will share whatever they find,” Lady Aura’s husband spoke up as he left her side and stood beside Lioran. He settled his hands on his hips.
“Lord Orion, we are grateful for your leadership in these efforts.” Lioran nodded to him.
“What about your grounding magic, Your Highness?” Lady Aura asked.
“What could his grounding magic do? If His Highness could reverse the blight, I’m sure he would,” another fae lord spoke. I could barely see him over those who stood next to me.
“It’s not enough to erase the blight,” Elric said.
A fae lady stepped forward. “What hope is there then? We continue to research, to gather, to spread ourselves so thin we may never recover.” Her golden hair was perfectly folded into three elegant braids.
“I will continue to see what progress can be made with grounding magic. As of now, it isn’t enough. The blight is thriving still.” Lioran’s exhale cascaded through the space, echoing off the stone walls. “I can’t promise an easy answer. We are all doing whatever we can.”
“At what point will we stop sending aid?” A low voice spoke behind Lord Orion. “We can’t carry the weight of these outlier villages indefinitely.”
“Lord Mavik, you can’t honestly suggest just cutting them off to fend for themselves,” Lady Aura protested. “Where is your honor?”
“We will never leave any of our people to starve.” Lioran’s voice boomed. “I don’t care what it costs us. We will stand by each other.”
“For now, there is still enough to go around.” Fyn clasped his hands together. “We will reassess as needed.”
“Is it true the human realm suffers?” the woman with golden braid asked.
“Yes.” Elric's sharp glare fixated on me. “The blight spreads through Bailoc at a rapid rate.”
My fingernails scraped my palm at themention of Bailoc.
“And what are they doing about it?” Lioran interjected.
“King Ardyn seeks resources from outside of his kingdom, still. There are murmurs of a rebellion as their blight intensifies—the kingdom won’t sustain.”
