I rush back to the arena, not a helpful direction on mind. The vortex went up and nothing was happening outside. No one was leaving, but they were also not respecting the circumstances. The entire leadership of the Valkinvar is here, and it's a chamber silent of important information!
My armour slams against the stone of the walls, keeping me out of the ground floor itself. I stare back at the honour guard whose attention I have caught and keep it up where she looks away. The vortex of True Emerald light suddenly shifts, braking against its torsion and breaking apart. Strands of wind flake away, like a rope getting sheared of all its strength and direction.
The vortex shatters, flying off down all the open doors and up into the air and beyond. A vision clearing breeze that restores traditional light to the coliseum-shaped chamber. The sparkle of wind chimes and bells high above ringing out as if a recess has been called. Yet, unlike the students of a school who now have tablets covered in their handwriting, this chamber has produced no war plans. No eager officers ready to take the fight to the enemy...
Nothing!
"Dammit...!" I hiss, not sure how else to get down onto the ground floor. I look one way and then another, my mind ablaze with only a single idea. My eyes look to my arms and my legs come from the future, too far beyond my thoughts to react to. They strike the ground below and rush me across the chamber. Honour guards flash into existence before me, their weapons trained on each of my limbs.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?" Bordeaon-Valkinvar Baalaeun booms, his voice an earth-shaking war-horn that breaks me out of my stupor. I blink, realising how still I am and how perfectly placed the honour guard are to kill me.
A friendly face rushes into view, "Sister Vapooliar!?"
"Sister Pymonsia!" I snap, my thoughts still anything but in order and right about themselves. The honour guard flinch, not at some silent order, but my words. Casual answers to a Point of a Compass in such an esteemed place of authority!? Though, while my head is a mess, it certainly is able to be sarcastic about that last point.
Authority where none is shown...
"Stand down!" Sister Pymonsia decrees, her hands swatting away the honour guards as she starts to dote on me like a mother might. I take one hand into my own and shake my head, knocking my way out of the stupor I'm still in.
"I-I'm sorry... I don't understand what came over me." I answer, not all that sure how else I can explain it.
"I sure hope you have an explanation for your insolence, Valkinvar-Imdvarce Vapooliar." my direct superior, the Valkinvar of the South Gold Wind, warns. Her actions only held further back by the Eurultus-Valkinvar's proud display of the medallion she gave me.
"A mark of trust like that is hardly the same as being a Point of the Compass, Pymonsia." the Valkinvar of the North Blue Wind warns the one woman showing me any kindness right now. He continues his approach, his sheer physical might making him a giant who almost lives up to the rumours of lacking a skeleton. Muscles that have grown so much they grant him new height where everything should've been so limited.
He looks down his nose at me, making me quiver with his glare alone. His arms arch onto his hips, bulging with power so tense the steel plates across his person tense up as much as they do. Any harder and he might flex the plates loose and flying. An amusing idea to conceive, but a terrifying one to actually experience with how richly coloured his eyes and hair are.
"It is fine! Now, back." Sister Pymonsia warns, showing remarkable spine towards the other two for someone who is rumoured to be the weakest Point of a Compass. Brother Baalaeun backs off, his back turning to me as much as a means to show off his war hammer much as it is anything else. My mouth waters, flooding itself with saliva and then sending it all down my throat. He's certainly right to show off his weapon in such a manner.
They all are... Though they are the leaders of the Valkinvar, what they wear is similar only in name. My time among my sisters and brothers again has certain reoriented my perspective. Our gear is smaller, lesser. Feeble.
"We await an answer, still." Sister Aimaboryim lets out, her voice a hiss of demands and uncertainty. The central podium taps away, the Zaphadren-Valkinvar keeping her distance for the time being. I eye her, then trail my way back to Sister Pymonsia.
"I-Is this what had you...?" I whisper, though it is pointless before such powerful Valkinvar. I'd be better off finding a way to speak through mind-reading and more than to try and keep a whisper quiet.
"Ah." Sister Pymonsia lets out, stepping back slightly with not a worry about her. A wink sprints across her face and she turns to face the others.
"Eurultus-Valkinvar...?" I begin to say, her rising hand stopping me from going any further.
"My apologies, I suppose I've not had the time to properly explain how much right of passage my gift has done for her." Sister Pymonsia both lies and tells the truth with. She certainly hasn't, that is true, but this has nothing to do with what is going on right now.
"Then you should've made such responsibilities apparent." the Zaphadren-Valkinvar lets out, her steps and her staff crashing against the stone so loudly despite her graceful descent.
"We are quite busy, 'True' Emerald Wind." Sister Pymonsia shrugs, a spiteful giggle almost coming to her lips.
"Valkinvar-Imdvarce Vapooliar." Sister Gemorli snorts, her steps carrying her out of the chamber and out of my senses entirely. Sister Pymonsia moves again, showing how she's out of everyone's now, too.
"I'm sorry...?" I whimper, still not entirely sure what came over me. Was it despair? Disbelief? Why would I rush out into the open like this!? Why!?
"Do not fret, Sister Valkinvar. Do not fret at all." she coos, her hand gently rubbing my cheek as Brother Baalaeun otherwise makes his quiet departure. Though, unlike the Zaphadren-Valkinvar, he hops up to the next floor. Immediately surrounding himself in his Valkinvar-Ammimpaurst and making it come alive with activity. I suppose that is what they are meant to do during such gatherings?
Was I too hasty?
"Valkinvar-Imdvarce Vapooliar." Sister Aimaboryim says, her voice filled with an abrupt, attention-demanding cough. Me and Sister Pymonsia look her way and I shiver under her hard glare as much as I find warmth in the Eurultus-Valkinvar standing by me. The greatest of all Valkinvar-Imdvarce approaches. Her steps gun-like in how loud they ring in my ears.
Sister Pymonsia steps aside, a... Smug grin about her face?
Noustoster-Valkinvar Aimaboryim's hands rise up, grabbing my shoulders firmly. She shakes me straight and I catch sight of a grin forming on her lips. She never takes her eyes off of the medallion on my chest. Confusing me as much as her actions terrify me. There is no greater fear than the unknown, truly... Unknown actions, unknown thoughts and unknown punishments...
"Well done, indeed, Valkinvar-Imdvarce Vapooliar. Well done." she says, her words having an odd ring to them. Like they're reaching out to more than just current circumstances.
"E-Eh...?" I squeak, eliciting a giggle from the pair of them. Though, the Noustoster-Valkinvar's is certainly more rigid and restrained. A trained behaviour more than it is a natural one.
"The medallion." Sister Pymonsia giggles, answering only some of my thoughts and battling away only so much of the confusion.
"H-Heh... R-Right..." I let out, uncertain as to what I should say. Sister Aimaboryim looks towards the other Valkinvar-Imdvarce, her face turning straight. It strains itself miserable and shatters into a disgusted snarl.
"Another useless meeting." she growls, flying up to the other Valkinvar-Imdvarce. Though, with how many sisters and brothers she has to deal with, she's not as open as her brother Valkinvar is, across the chamber.
"Sister Pymonsia... I don't understand." I tell my closest friend right now.
Her fingers come to my lips, sealing them shut for but a moment, "You do. Yes, you do."
"I see..." I let out, her finger gently slithering away. This must be why the Valkinvar are so poorly lead as of late. Either this so-called disagreement is reaching an immature impasse or the Zaphadren-Valkinvar is not being entirely open to the others. Her ranks is a first among equals, of course, all Valkinvar are kept up to date on the authority of the Points of a Compass.
But that is just the thing. A first among *equals* is what she is. She's not their leader or their superior. Just an arbitrarily fancier one with how her title speaks of wind magic in its natural state and colour.
"Though you have that medallion, and of course, my blood in your cape... I still cannot speak much to you. I'm sorry." Sister Pymonsia admits, allowing me some freeway to walk up onto the podium. I take the chance to at least enjoy the rare opportunity of walking on such sacred, forbidden ground. Looking around at all who are present in the chamber still.
Some are leaving, some with orders in their ears and others because they're duty-bound beyond it. The Ordoar Staguiffmani are unique, once again in that they're behaving so differently to everyone else. The Zaphadren-Valkinvar left yet they're all here, still. Watching, doing nothing.
"What was the point of that ritual at the start?" I ask, uncertain as to how anything up here works. I expected ornate rituals of a thousand year heritage. What I was not expecting was to be utterly distraught by how they impeded the war effort. We're down to a single city, a lone city that only half exists on our homeland. Now is not the time for pomp and ceremony!
"It's an introduction by the current Zaphadren-Valkinvar. A display of power." Sister Pymonsia explains, and I frown.
"But it gets in the way of you speaking to everyone here and involving them...? They assembled and treated such integral plan-making as a time for casual conversation!" I point out, gesturing across the chamber where it is still happening to some extent.
"The ritual is a plentiful amount of decades in age years, Sister Vapooliar. Though it might seem odd, it has been around long enough for its absurdity to be beyond a concern." she explains, though I still don't quite get it.
"Unless the point is to reassure our sisters and brothers with a display of True Emerald magic, I don't see how it's meant to help." I say and she nods at my words.
"That is effectively the point the Zaphadren-Valkinvar used to implement it. When she earned her position, not long after the death of the previous one, she was by right allowed to implement changes. She saw fit to show off this kind of power to reassure the people of the empire that the Valkinvar were still capable of protecting them." Sister Pymonsia explains.
"R-Right... The... Uh... The name escapes me. You are on about the incident where an unknown witch or group incited a ritual duel against the entire Ordoar Staguiffmani?" I ask, and Sister Pymonsia nods.
"Yes, many sisters died in that time. All few brothers of the Ordoar Staguiffmani, too. While they've certainly recovered since then, you can tell it has had its impact. Whoever was responsible, the Zaphadren-Valkinvar has certainly been affected by it." Sister Pymonsia wonders, her voice going on long and lengthy with a ponderous song to it.
"I see... I guess it's strange to hear that the Valkinvar have gone through so many changes in my lifetime. You would think someone of less than a hundred and forty years would see little change in such an ancient order." I say, idly looking up at the many bells and wind chimes as the remaining vestiges of the vortex continue to dance between the clappers and precious metals.
"I cannot break my oaths regarding silence and protocol, Sister Vapooliar. But, I hope you have enough to work with in your private investigation." Sister Pymonsia explains, parting with me briefly as she flies up to speak to her Ordoar. I nod and wave, keeping to my thoughts as I try to let my imagination take over.
The four Points of a Compass come up here. They go through a confidence-assuring ritual, showing off their power before the others. They then explain their council to those who are interested in the rest of the chamber? The methodology has survived decades, so clearly it must work yet... Still, something seems wrong about this.
"The Laws of Waionr surely do not permit such a strange way of conducting affairs...?" I wonder out loud, not particularly concerned if anyone can hear my muttering. Who knows, maybe they'll see me as nothing more than an amusing curiosity that has made their boring cycles all the more interesting.
It certainly is the case for me.