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“We need to find and secure the rest of the ingredient stockpiles,” Kieran said. “I doubt that was all of it and who knows what else they have hidden around the Realm.” Claire thought back to Vanya and Roland’s bragging of their experiments to find the correct combination for the ultimate weapon. There were definitely more ingredients out there somewhere.
“Which leads into my suggestion,” Kallan broke in. “We need to root out the rest of Vanya and Roland’s supporters. Clear out all the rot before it’s allowed to fester and grow and we repeat this same thing in twenty years.”
Claire held up a hand, stopping them. They weren’t wrong but the second problem Kallan brought up had more immediate ramifications on an already shaken Realm. “I don’t disagree. They obviously had help by the size of their army on the battlefield. But how do you propose finding who is the traitor and who isn’t?”
“I can use my Truth Seeking,” Kieran said, shrugging. “We can make everyone go through it.”
“And risk pissing a lot of people off while doing it,” Bethany argued back. “Are you going to submit the Fae and Elves to that too?”
She had a point. Tensions were high right now in the Realm. Their very foundation had been shaken, and trust in power and leadership was likely to be nonexistent. A demand to make everyone undergo Truth Seeking was not only going to be an enormous logistical nightmare but also unlikely to help repair trust. Especially not with a Fae doing it.
“What do you propose as an alternative?” Claire asked.
Holly took a breath and let it out slowly. “I can do it,” she said softly. “I can use my empathy reading skills to sense people’s intentions. It’ll be a lot subtler and faster than making everyone go through a trial. The ones we find suspicious we can bring in for more intensive questioning.”
“Are you sure?” Claire asked, not sure how public Holly’s empathy skills were known. “It could be dangerous if someone realizes what you’re doing.”
The tension felt like it shot up a notch in the room. Maybe just from a pair of Fae and a solitary Elf at the thought of their mate in danger but Claire waited for Holly to answer.
“I’m sure,” Holly said, her voice steady. “I want to help rebuild the Realm and this is the best way.”
“It’s not the only way though,” Claire said gently, wanting to make sure she had an out if she needed it. “I already planned on making you an Ambassador. All of you actually. ” She looked around the room even though she couldn’t see anyone’s face.
“What would an Ambassador do?” Bethany asked, confusion in her tone.
“I don’t want to form a new Council,” Claire explained. “So I thought Ambassadors might be better instead. Multiple Ambassadors in each territory of each race. They would meet monthly together at the Capital to address all concerns. Ambassadors will be nominated and voted on every few years.”
She took a deep breath, “It’s going to be a difficult job at first as there’s lots of shattered trust to rebuild among the races. If it’ll ever happen…”
“It will,” Synora interrupted. “It will and we will help. And many others will help as well. There’s a lot to rebuild, but there’s a lot of hope as well. People have been talking the last few days. There’s a lot they don’t know but they share the same hope for the future you do. It’ll take time but it’ll happen.”
“And you have all of us to help,” Kieran said decisively. “We’ll take on rooting out the traitors and hunting for the other ingredients.”
“We will help with the ingredient search too,” Bethany said, the wind moving around her like her arms were waving around, likely gesturing to Cody and Zack.
“I don’t remember being asked to join your team,” Cody teased her.
“What else is a wolf nose good for?”
“I can think of a few things,” Cody’s voice dropped an octave and she heard the familiar sound of Bethany smacking him.
Claire’s eyebrows raised but she didn’t touch that one. Not now at least. Holly, Bethany and Claire needed a girl’s night sleepover soon though.
“That could work,” Claire nodded slowly. “I could use your help at the Academy, Bethany, Cody and Zack. I’d like to make it a priority to open it up as soon as possible to all of the races.”
She glanced in Synora’s direction as she said that, remembering their previous conversation and felt a ping of warmth from the Royal Tree’s pathway in her center. Synora had reconnected with her tree.
Zack asked. “What would you like to handle first, Claire? How much of it do you even want to handle? Are you staying here or going back to the Elven Forest? Or the Fae Lands?”
Claire sank back into Malcolm as she answered. “We are going to stay here for now. I want to get the trials over with first and the Academy would be the best and most central place to handle that from. With the Fae lands open by portal, it’ll be easy to visit and we have the Elven Forest right behind the Academy. We can look into opening portals inside the Forest too.” Claire stopped, trailing off. If she ever got her magic back to be able to do that, that is.
“That’s settled then,” Holly clapped her hands together lightly, changing the subject for Claire. “The next thing we have to talk about is…”
A soft set of knocks at the library door interrupted her.
The scent of forest and spice faded as Everett left her side to open the door.
“Gwen? What is it?” Holly asked after the door clicked open.
Claire could feel the faint trickle of additional Energy as Gwen moved further into the room.
“I have a message for Claire. From Greta. It’s about your father.”
