As beings of will, we are bound by the ideas of mortals. I am most aware of this myself: I am strict, disciplined, unflinching, unbending. Even though the word is cursed, I am proud too. The issue of the White Pantheon is that we are inherently contradictory. The conception of Elassa was brought about not from mages but from the millions of mundane folk's stereotypes about them. Mages are inherently lonely, closed off, stubborn, pretentious, know-it-all's. Thus, Elassa embodies those traits to the utter extreme. Likewise, mages sustain themselves through magic rather than food, so why would the Goddess of Food & Bounty ever get along with the Goddess of those who don't need to eat?
As much as it pains everyone to accept it, this ruling has no exceptions. Why do Of Love and Of Food & Bounty get along flawlessly? Well what better way to a person's heart than through a meal? Why did Allasaria pursue Irinika for a century even after the rest of the Pantheon had closed her case? Because Light and Darkness are inherently connected with each other.
I am honest to the extreme. Even when dealing with Arascus, I will praise him where he deserves praise. His pride fundamentally is a contradiction. It was through that contradictory Pride that he died laughing at us, feeling superior even as we locked him away. It is through that contradictory Pride that somehow the Goddess of Order ended up alongside the Goddess of Luck.
- Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon's closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, Of Order: 'The Rules Binding Us'.
Zerus sat in his throne. He utterly, absolutely, eternally hated everyone in the White Pantheon. He liked them all individually, but then when they had to come together, he wanted to call down a lightning strike onto Olympiada and eradicate the whole mountain.
"Are you getting nostalgic Zerus? You're calling us for what?" Iniri, of Food & Bounty, asked as she strolled into the ancient sanctum of the White Pantheon. Her hair was brown like ground, her eyes green like leaves and her dress was flowing with the bright colours of spring: all yellows and whites and pinks and oranges. At seven foot, she was taller than every human but when amongst the Gods, she was caught a good foot lacking.
"You're late." Zerus' voice rumbled through the room. The magical lamps floating in the air quivered. He sat in the middle of the half-circle of grand marble thrones. Iniri merely shrugged and chuckled as she leisurely took her spot at the end. She was always like that, Zerus didn't exactly know why the woman didn't get along with him.
"Since Sceo isn't here, I'm suspecting this isn't an assembly to celebrate another attempt at a child." Iniri smirked. "And Leo isn't here anyway so I guess that makes me lucky." Kavaa, of Health, and beautiful Helenna, of Love, didn't bother to hide their smiles. They had about as much adoration for Zerus as Iniri had, which was none. That only annoyed him more, as he didn't understand why exactly.
"If I knew you were coming, I'd have called a milkmaid Iniri." Elassa, of Magic, spoke up. A wispy woman, wrapped in a light blue shawl with white hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful, exotic and terrifying. Her eyes were sharp and her features were all angular. Her hair would move by itself every now and then as if a wind came upon it. Unfortunately for Elassa, Iniri was just as childish as her.
Zerus sat back in his seat and let out a soundless sigh as he saw Iniri smirk and her mouth begin to move. There was no point getting involved with these children. He was the eldest among them, he should be respectable.
"I see the witch is still as good as ever." Iniri made her green eyes large as she leaned forwards and used her arms to squeeze her impressive chest, the complete opposite of Elassa's. She even made her voice sound innocent. "I actually have some wine you can have. It's a good substitute for a partner you know." Elassa barked back instantly.
"It's not hard to find love when you'll even suckle with cows. But I'll be sure to visit when I want to finally give up on all my dignity and roll around in the mud." There were few Gods who would dare to talk about love with Helenna, every God was jealous of their own domain, but Helenna was most jealous of them all. The Goddess of Love's red eyes grew dark, her hair went from a pale gold to a righteous red and she let out a sigh that would make any man's heart melt before she spoke.
"Don't be petty sweet Elassa. I'm still working on the fact everyone who loves you is a bit…" She lifted a delicate finger to the side of her head and spun it around. "You know, coo-coo." Iniri let out a chuckle. Elassa replied just as quickly to Helenna as she did to Iniri.
"I appreciate the gesture sweet Helenna, but I really don't need to rely on others to make me a meal when I can do it myself." Zerus thought about stopping this. This was how the scenario always went, some quip from one of the smaller members, someone would accidently set off Helenna, and then Helenna would set off everyone else.
"SILENCE!" Maisara, of Order, shouted as she stood up from her throne. Her voice didn't have any anger in it, it was simply a pure command, but her grey eyes carried a terrible judgement in them. "ALL OF YOU! You are better than this. Wait patiently for once in your miserable lives!" Unlike most of the other divines, she wore no shawl or dress, instead she had come in her silver armour: A solid, unadorned breastplate, a battle skirt and boots that reached covered her calves. Her long hair of a dull silver colour stayed still as her executioner's axe materialized before her. It stood perfectly straight, her hands clasped over the end.
"I concur with Maisara." Fortia, of Peace, added when Maisara had finished. Her words were smooth, not a command but a suggestion. She was much like the former Goddess but whereas one was silver, the other was gold. Her hair brilliantly blinding, her armour with tassels of red cloth with decoration. Where one stood behind an axe taller than two men, the other clasped a spear by her side.
Elassa and Iniri both shut up, giving dirty looks to each other but not continuing the petty squabble. Not Helenna though. Never Helenna, Goddess of Love. Maisara and Fortia both stared daggers at Helenna as the woman graciously stood up. Her hair becoming a gold more vivid than Fortia's. She ran her hands along her the side of her dress, making sure to wordlessly tell both of the cold statues on the other side of the room that even together, they could never compare to her womanhood. "My my my." Helenna's voice was a cat's purr, all smug and condescending. "Looks like you two have some passion in you after all."
What was love without war? What was love without chaos? It was only natural that the Goddess of Love would never get along those of Peace and Order. Zerus let out a sigh. This time they could hear him. No one took any notice of course. It was always like this. He closed his eyes and counted the clouds in his head, Sceo had taught him this, to think of her and count clouds in his head when he wanted to calm down. One… Two… Three…
"Don't…" Fortia's whisper reached only Zerus and Maisara. Of course, the proud Goddess of Order ignored that whisper.
Six… Seven…
"I have nothing against you sister." Maisara's voice boomed through the sanctum. "But act a like a damn Divine and don't humiliate all of us with this pointless bickering."
Eleven… Twelve…
"I'm honoured you call me sister. I didn't think a heart like yours was capable of knowing what family means."
"Mai, she's only teasing you because you give her a reaction." Zerus blessed Fortia, bless that little heart of hers for thinking she can calm these two down. Maisara, predictably, ignored Fortia's wise words.
"Helenna, you're not worth my time."
Seventeen… Eighteen….
"Is that why you're still standing before me?" Zerus didn't need to open his eyes to know exactly what sort of smug expression Helenna was making. He could tell from the voice, he had it be directed at him a thousand times before.
Twenty-One…
"You're a Goddess, you should behave like one."
"Since you know the rules so well, shouldn't you show me how they're done?"
"I'm not going to back away from you Helenna."
Twenty-Six…
"Back away? You only have to kneel before me and I'll be happy."
"That's going too far Helenna!" Fortia shouted out.
"Oh what a surprise! Peace and Order once again! My favourite pairing!" Helenna spoke as she chuckled. Zerus forced his eyes shut with all of his might and tightened his fists.
"Don't speak out of turn." Fortia's voice was boiling in a cool anger.
"Are you trying to scare me junior?" And there it was. The Gods didn't have many taboos, certainly less than the mortals, but one of the few things that was to never be called out was who appeared before who.
Twenty-Nine…
"The only reason an old hag like you can talk is because we came about to make sure you didn't cause extinction!" Maisara shouted across the room. The only response was Helenna's clapping. How did that woman even make her claps seem smug?
"Oh I know I know, you two are our great saviours who work together to protect everyone from the rest of us. I, Helenna, merely the measly Goddess of such a ridiculous concept as Love, thank gracious Maisara and even-more-gracious Fortia and wish the two of you a long and fruitful relationship. I hope one day the bed you share won't be as dry as the Sassara."
Thirty… Zerus opened his eyes, they were now shining a blinding white. For an instant, he saw a scowling Maisara, her axe had buried itself into the marble floor. He saw Fortia, her beautiful face had twisted in rage, her spear was aimed at Helenna and he saw Helenna. She simply stood there, hands on her hips, she was bent slightly forwards as if she was a lecturing teacher and she had a smile so annoying he could never dream to replicate even a fraction of it.
In the next instant, lightning struck the three of them.
"STOP! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" Baku Nada turned to face the police officers. They sent out a good response. Three cars, eight troopers. He moved his shoulders, cracked his neck and felt Anarchia's blessed strength travel through his body. He spoke calmly, there wasn't any reason to cause harm needlessly.
"Put down your clubs." He wasn't a man of violence. It was simply that violence tended to come to him. The officers surrounded him. Their batons crackled with stunning electricity.
Unfortunately for them, they didn't put down their clubs.
Allasaria walked into the White Pantheon's inner sanctum. She sighed immediately. Children, the lot of them. Kavaa, of Health, was kneeling over Helenna, of Love, who was pushing herself up from the floor. On the other side of the room, Maisara was kneeling in her silver armour. Her hair was messed with loose strands pointed in odd directions. Her hands were gripping her oversized axe as they quivered. Fortia was on her back, taking heavy breathes as smoke rose from her body. She was gripping her spear and muttering something too quiet for anyone to hear.
The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. These Gods were either Abstracts, like Maisara being of Order or Fortia of Peace, or they were Forces, like Zerus of Lightning or Elassa of Magic, but no one compared to Allasaria, of Light. Light was an omnipresent force, there wasn't a God who could compare to the power Allasaria held.
Allasaria clicked her tongue to let Helenna know she was there. Maisara and Fortia flicked their gaze to her but made no movement of acknowledgement as they returned to their marble thrones, they were always like that: Abstracts struck in the past. Helenna though… Allasaria knew Helenna had heard her, how could she not? But she didn't care. "Oh Zerus, I see why Sceo has fallen for you if you can pull off tricks like this." Zerus merely met Helenna's gaze, he was too old to be caught quibbling with a girl like this. Or maybe it was just because Allasaria had appeared.
Allasaria merely waved her hand. Light shot from one of the walls and blasted into Helenna. It wasn't enough to hurt her in any major way, but it still launched her off her feet and threw her like a doll into her own throne. The woman's dressed was charred black and her cheeks were flushed red with anger. Her hands shot to her stomach as she tried to pretend it didn't hurt. "Sit Kavaa." Allasaria said as she walked to her own throne, between Fortia's and Zerus'. She met Helenna's gaze for a moment as the woman readjusted her dress.
"You make my heart melt with a greeting like that." Helenna said. Allasaria merely replied with a raised eyebrow, taunting the woman to say more. She did not. Silence fell over the sanctum as the Gods and Goddesses all looked at each other. They must have finally realised the situation was serious if Allasaria herself had come. Thirteen of the fourteen thrones were taken, only the one between Zerus and Allasaria was left open: Leona's throne.
"So everyone is here." It was tradition for Zerus to always start the conversation. He was the oldest of them, so he should begin. His voice boomed across the sanctum like thunder and the magical lamps swayed in the air but the moment he said that, every gaze turned to the empty throne to his right. "As you know already, a full assembly is only called when we face utmost crisis." He took a sigh, as if unwilling to say the words himself. "Leona has collapsed."
Allasaria scanned the reactions of everyone in the Pantheon, she trusted all of them, but certainty was the highest form of trust and certainty was something she could only achieve through investigation. No one would be stupid enough to harm Leona but… It was that tiny but in her head that wanted to call this meeting.
There were a few divines out there who knew how to lie, Arascus had been a master of deceit but the members of the White Pantheon? Her eyes shifted to Zerus and Helenna. They were the only ones who could pull it off. Zerus, even though his title was God-King, had little interest in petty politics like this. He also fawned over Leona, lightning had long been considered a source of good luck. Helenna? Helenna was purposefully annoying and argumentative, but she loved Leona the most of them all. How could she not? Luck to love was like sparks to flames. The rest were much the same, only Maisara and Fortia had little love for Leona, but the world would end before of Order broke a rule and of Peace harmed a member of the White Pantheon.
No one gave any suspicious reaction. Allasaria clicked her tongue again.
She would have preferred a reaction. That meant the issue could have been solved today. "Excuse me?" Helenna broke the silence, her voice was hollow as if was unable to comprehend the words she just heard. "Leona has collapsed?"
"She has." Zerus answered.
The White Pantheon sat in silence for a minute. Two. Five. Ten. Finally Maisara took a deep breath, brushed off some dust from her skirt and spoke up in that strong tone she always had. "We know that Leona feels pain when something terrible is apart about to strike." She took a deep breath. "But on this level…" When even cold Maisara had trouble talking, it was bad. Allasaria spoke up.
"Before the Godkiller incident, she had a month long migraine. The last time she collapsed…" Allasaria felt her voice go weak. She couldn't say another word. Maisara gave her a dirty look, stood up and finished for her. Everyone here had been there before, everyone knew what happened last time Leona collapsed, but the words simply had to be said.
"I thank mighty Allasaria for the interruption so let me finish, but there is only one time that Leona has collapsed previously. It was the day before Arascus, God of Pride, declared war on the known world."
The Union of New Nations is a country that is merely a child compared to anything in the old continent, unquenchable grievances have not had time to fester. Likewise, the East has long been dominated by Great Guguo, although their own sect politics are troublesome, they rarely spill over into actual harm to the general population.
It is Epa that is most troublesome. The continent is carved onto a fabric of endless wounds that are merely plastered over. Where it not for the fact Olympiada is in Epa, the best solution after the Great War would be total annihilation of this land. It takes only a single spark to set fire to a bandage, and the foundation of post-war Epa is nothing but bandages.
Excerpt from 'An Anarchian Perspective on Epa', a piece by a follower of Anarchia, of Anarchy.
"Everyone but Iliyal leave." Arascus had given them half an hour of his patience, then another thirty minutes of his sanity. He got a series of stunned glances but no one dared question a God in the flesh, Mikhail stood up immediately as if he was bored of the meeting. He gave a bow and turned to leave as the rest of the people around the table watched him. Arascus spoke up again when the man had crossed half the room. "So one of you has ears."
Mikhail puffed out his chest in pride as the rest of the people hurried out. Although they weren't terrible, they weren't anything impressive either. Arascus could see the lot of them being governors of towns, not those who would become future leaders. "Sara, you're in charge of recruitment?"
"I am Sir." Her tone was careful now, she had said little after being ridiculed at the start.
"Then you have a good eye for people?"
"I do." It was a statement, but her tone was if she was asking a question.
"Do you?" Arascus asked.
"I do." She replied in a more definite voice this time.
"Good, then you're in charge of preparing servants for my room." She blinked, her eyebrows climbing almost up to her hair.
"W-What kind of servants are you looking for?"
"We spent two weeks on a hike and an hour in a meeting, didn't you just say you have a good eye for people?" Arascus smiled. "Let's see how good it is, impress me." He already knew she would send spies to his room, so he might as well give her the perfect opening. It was easier to hide away plans when you knew who you were dealing with. "You're dismissed."
"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir." She bowed and left. The doors slid closed behind her.
"Still as paranoid as ever, you've not changed a bit." Iliyal said as he leaned back. He poured himself another glass of water. His green eyes finally relaxed as he was left alone with a God.
"Neither have you." Arascus replied as he spun on the chair, they didn't have these back in the day. "Sara's going to spy on me."
"She's not a traitor, she's just a ladder-climber."
"Do you have any traitors?" Iliyal shrugged.
"I don't think so, but you never know for sure, do you?" Arascus burst out in laughter as the chair finally stopped spinning. "So what do you want to ask?"
"We're in a sorry state."
"That we are." Iliyal agreed as he downed the glass of water. "We don't even have fine wines anymore."
"You don't have anyone on Divinity Watch." That was the organisation is charge of monitoring the Gods and Goddesses and tracking their movements. Iliyal merely shrugged again.
"I'm Divinity Watch and I'm the only one who knows what the Daughters actually look like. For the Pantheon, they don't hide their locations anymore and it's bad for morale."
"Bad for morale?"
"Maybe if we met one of the Inventions, we could take it down but any of the big names?" He let out a pfffttt. "We can't even go up against Kavaa or Iniri so we don't need a reminder of how powerless we are."
"What about the weapon incarnations?"
"Locked away, we don't know where."
"And the Daughters?" Iliyal gave a sigh.
"Officially, everyone of them is dead." The elf gave a laugh which sounded more like a growl. "But three, I have confirmed as alive so I don't believe the other five are dead either. Irinika certainly isn't, they chased her for three centuries, Allasaria did it for five. Eventually they just stopped talking about her, the others are the same. They're simply said to be dead but there's never been a corpse to show off."
"Which are the ones alive?"
"Olephia is locked away is Artica." The uninhabited landmass at the very southern reaches of Arda. It was a wasteland of ice. Arascus merely nodded, in their position he would have done the same. Olephia was of Chaos, it was such an unpredictable abstract it was simply better to lock Olephia away forever than risk her reincarnation and whatever monster it would create. "Anassa is on Olympiada, with Elassa."
"They've joined forces?" Arascus asked as his eyes narrowed. Anassa was of Sorcery, Elassa was of Magic. The two had always had a friendly rivalry. It didn't surprise him… it was merely disappointing. Anassa was always stronger than Elassa, he didn't think expect her to break.
"I don't know. Anassa has never appeared in public since the war, but I know for certain she's on Olympiada."
"And the last one?"
"Fer." Arascus gave a nod. Of course she would still be alive. "She's actually alive and free, she lives in the Eastern Tundra, the one above Guguo." Ilwin looked at Arascus, his face as cold and hard as stone, his tone just as emotionless. "We've never made an attempt at contact." When he saw Arascus reply with a nod, he let out a breath.
"That's good, it would have only given you away."
"My thinking exactly." The elf had a good amount of pride in his voice. Arascus leaned back and thought about his daughters for a minute. Ilwin merely poured himself another glass of water.
"There's something you need to know." Arascus said and Ilwin answered immediately.
"Your strength has faded." He gave a nod. "I felt it the moment I stepped into the room."
"Have they increased in strength?" There was no question who they meant between these men.
"Allasaria, Elassa, Maisara, Fortia all have. The others have faded though."
"How powerful is Zerus?" Arascus asked and Ilwin merely shook his head.
"Weaker I assume but the Pantheon isn't that much of an issue anymore. There's this Ciria about, of Civilization, and a Halkus, of Industry.They're the big dogs now. Halkus I think is stronger but I've only caught sight of them a few times. Neither get along with the old lot." Arascus leaned back.
"They don't?"
"New kids on the block. They're like our Sara." Ilwin saw Arascus' smile and shook his head. "We've tried already, they're true believers in this new world. They're not part of it, but they won't turn on the Pantheon."
"They've not met me yet." Arascus shook his head. Of Industry may be difficult to sway but of Civilization? What a joke! What civilization wasn't proud of itself? "But we're not dealing with them yet."
"I assumed as much." Ilwin replied. Arascus took a breath and asked the question to test the loyalty of his ancient general.
"Why did the war go on pause?" Arascus and Ilwin burst out in laughter, spitting out the water over the table. The God merely raised a questioning eyebrow as the elf waved his hand apologetically. "What's so funny?"
"I say the same the thing. There's some fools out there who say we lost but as long as we're alive, the war rages on." Arascus chuckled. Of course the man would say that, he had only chosen the best to be his generals.
"So?"
"They got lucky!" Ilwin burst out and Arascus affirmed with a nod. "There's no way we could be defeated! It's like playing dice against someone who only rolls sixes!"
"So we agree." Arascus said. "All that has happened is we took a millennia long break to reassess the situation. We're not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. Before we stoke the fires of war again, we make sure to remove the greatest threat."
"Leona."
"Leona."
Arascus walked into Mikhail's workshop. He had stepped with Anassa into her various worlds of sorcery before, this was much like that. There was a desk near the door, and then the realm of men ended and industrial insanity began. "Mikhail." He summoned the engineer from behind a cluster of pipes and blinking lights.
"What is it my lord?"
"You fashioned the drill, did you not?"
"I did." He said rather proudly.
"Do you fashion weapons?"
"It's why I took this job." The engineer pulled out a small device from his pocket and pressed a button. One of the walls lowered to reveal an armoury to make any knight blush. Arascus walked into it: swords, hammers, glaives, axes, there was enough here to outfit a small horde of beastmen.
"Fine works." Arascus said as he spun one of the swords in his hand, it was finely balanced and it didn't have any needless decorations. The craftsmanship spoke for itself. "But they're primitive." That seemed to catch Mikhail's attention.
"Primitive?"
"Back in the Great War, about thirty years before it ended, the dwarves fashioned muskets, started to at least." The God turned to Mikhail, his eyes weren't confused or angry at the insult. Instead, they burned with a hunger enough to devour a mountain. "A day of training with that weapon is enough to surpass a decade of knighthood." Mikhail grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.
"Show me."
The Arcadian School of Magic served as the grandest institution of magic in the entire world. In the era of the Great War, it had stood as a fine collection of towers surrounding a sacred leyline crossover point, now the institution had devoured the neighbouring the towns and grown large enough to be considered to be a tiny nation. It had even been given a new name: Arcadia.
It was the beating heart of magic for an entire continent, even the governments of Epa would not try and set up their own national colleges. Afterall, what hope did they have to try and compete with the Goddess of Magic? She had served as the school's headmistress since its founding. It was generally a quiet place, the various training facilities had their own noise suppression fields. One of the dorm-rooms was exceptionally quiet today, with nothing but whispers between the four students inside.
"Lyca, you CANNOT do that!" Eliza shouted at her friend, she was a short girl in her prime, short but well blessed by nature. She knew it herself, the skirt had been rolled up to reveal a fair amount of thigh. They were all final year students of Arcadia. She turned to Edmonton, her brown eyes pleading for the oldest of them to stop Lyca. "Tell him something Ed! We'll get expelled." Edmonton ran his hands through his hair and let out a heavy breath, he stood an inch taller than Lyca and was a month older but that's where the seniority ended. Lyca was the most talented of them all.
"Is it that bad though?" He asked Eliza. The girl tugged at the edges of her blazer, then finally crossed her arms with a hmph.
"I've never met anyone as cretinous as the two of you."
"Don't moralize in front of us." Lyca said again as he pointed to the piece of paper. It was a map of Elassa's Gardens. The gardens were the size of a small town, students would visit them to go on dates or to practice magic but there was one location which was to never be visited. The Divine Library, it was one of the first things any student would be told, the library held divine magical arts which would cause your mind to explode. It had always made Lyca curious. "And can you answer my questions? If it's so dangerous, why is there no guards? Why do teachers not even go there? If the knowledge in there is so strong, why do we not use it?" He rattled them off one by one before getting to the one that had made them all interested. "And why is it THE Divine Library, not Elassa's Divine Library?" In the gardens, everything carried the Goddesses' name, even the benches were called Elassa's Blessed Bench of whatever-year because her ass had once touched it.
Edmonton tapped the piece of paper. "But we can't have been the first to ever work it out." He leaned back against the bunkbed, he twisted and pulled the green pillow to rest his back. "Come on Lyca."
"That's the point, how many people have actually disappeared?" Lyca said, the buttons on his shirt were undone and his chest trembled with excitement. His blue eyes couldn't contain what he just worked out.
"Actually, I concur with Lyca." Fleur said, like the rest of them, she was in the elite classes of the final year. Those elite classes trained only the strongest of the next generation and that strength bred a certain type of character. Her hair was black and straight, she wore her tie high, her skirt modest, her face was sharp and angular, her eyes were dark but they shone with the brightness of quick wit. Whereas Lyca's uniform was creased in various places, Fleur's was so perfect she may as well have been born in it: she was a true Rancais.
"That's three against one Eliza." Edmonton said.
"I never said I'd wouldn't do it." Eliza quickly bit back. "I'm just saying you're stupid for it." Lyca burst out in laughter, his light hair almost danced in the light of the sun outside. "And you're plan isn't even stupid, it's the sort of thing I'd expect a child to think up. Although even a child would have enough brains to realise how idiotic it was."
"Oh really?" He joked.
"Yes really." Eliza crossed her arms and pushed her breasts up, Fleur silently averted her eyes. There wasn't much she was envious of, she was smarter and stronger than Eliza but Lady Luck had blessed the girl in one certain aspect. "You want to sneak in in the middle of the night like some supervillain. That's not how you do it."
"Enlighten us then." Lyca said.
"A week from now, we have the semester assembly. Everyone will be there."
"I can't miss it." Fleur quickly said. Eliza merely smiled at the girl and pushed her chest out even more.
"I didn't ask if you can or not, I'm saying you will miss it. There'll be a parade, all the teachers, everyone will be there. We'll have an entire day to walk in and browse at our leisure." Eliza turned to the two boys in front of her. "There'll be no running or magical artefacts or whatever, we'll simply go on a walk. We act like we belong there, then no one will think twice about us."
"Like I said, I can't miss it!" Fleur said again. Lyca was about to argue back when Edmonton pushed elbowed his side. Lyca was a brat, he was smart yes, but he lacked social skills, Ed did not. He thought so at least.
"Why not?" He asked.
"I'm giving a presentation." If it was Eliza who didn't want to go, maybe it would be challenging, but Fleur was an easy blade to handle.
"I forgot, they really deserve to see you, don't they?" Fleur's eyebrow twitched as she closed her eyes.
"Of course they don't." She said quietly.
"No no, you should stay Fleur. We need someone to take the hit and entertain the masses to take attention off us." Fleur didn't respond, Edmonton only pressed the attack. "Make sure to give them a nice smile as Miss Yana said, the boys need something to give them sweet dreams." Fleur shook her head.
"Don't even mention that hag."
"She's a teacher you know, you should always listen to your betters." Fleur opened her eyes, they were rolling in anger.
"As if she had the gall to say that to me!" She shouted. "And she isn't my better!"
"Is she not?"
"NO!"
"She knows more than you do."
"Only because she's a hundred years old!"
"Then you can live in her shadow for the next century." Edmonton made his voice and emotionless and then tapped the map. "Or she can live in yours from next week." Fleur sighed and shook her head.
"I know exactly what you did."
"I'm not stupid enough to think I can trick you."
"You can't, and we're doing it next week."