The troll raised her own hand to get his attention. The king rolled his eyes and gestured for her to get on with it. "We know some of what you are speaking," she said. "But I think it would be good to clarify the goals of this meeting, just so we can all be on the same page. I am guessing I am correct in saying the, well, unease in the kingdom is our focus."
"Rebels," Layel said. Somehow this low-ranked vampire had wormed his way into the high clearance meeting, but no one seemed to mind too much. Earlier while waiting, the crowd had appreciated the curiosity of speaking with him, and now that the meeting had begun they'd almost forgotten he didn't belong here. They all stopped talking when he stood up and now waited respectfully for him to continue. It seemed that he was somewhat more than he had seemed to be.
A mermaid in the middle flicked her tail. She had clearly quickly recovered from her chastisement and acted cool and composed once again. Those seated next to her muttered their peevishness but she ignored them. "My king, how are we to know these rumors are real? I suspect they are just trying to make us think there's this grave danger and get all worked up over the possibility," she said.
Vovin squinted at her. "I'm sure you understand that the possibility this is a minor issue has already been looked into and discarded," Vovin said. The king looked down his nose at her. "I trust those in charge of the intelligence of the monarchy to be able to do a good job of sorting between throne squabbling and true threats to us all," he said.
The mermaid sunk down into her tank. She glowered at the room. "Just because that's not what was happening at first doesn't mean those dumb princes aren't doing exactly that again," the mermaid muttered. "They just want to get us all excited that they have figured everything out."
Now the oldest of the princes in question stood. "We have news," Aeron said diffidently. "Our informant has been put into protective custody and granted this protection in return for the news. The wizards," he continued, "plan to hunt down and target different people in our kingdom." He looked around the room and saw that the rest weren't really concerned about the fate of these unknown people very much, so he decided to change tactics and reveal another issue to them. "Not only do they mean all of us and our peoples harm, they also plan to dissolve the barrier." He paused at the sharp intake of breaths. A harpy woman three seats over on his right fainted at the news.
"In fact," he hesitated, "they want to destroy the entire Shadeworld. If they can, they will try to make it as if none of this, or us, ever existed," Aeron said. This time the werewolf representative, a burly warrior of a man, fainted. The Fey man sitting next to the tank clutched the speechless mermaid`s arm.
"Why ever would they want to do that?" the mermaid whispered. She hugged her Fey neighbor. "Xirzer, what will become of all of us?"
The Fey man next to her shrugged. "Listen, Kaelia. Whoever really knows why humans do what they do? They're a very unpredictable species." He patted the woman's arm and quickly dried his now damp hand by wiping it on his shirt. "To join the Mundanes," Xirzer said. His pale face and quivering fingers betrayed his appearance of stoicism.
"No," Aeron said solemnly. "We do not believe that is the case." The group leaned forward, eager to hear further news. "They want to rule over the Mundanes, and all the rest of us as well."
His brother shook his head. "How can they plan to do that when the Mundanes had already almost wiped all of us out so few centuries ago?" Richard asked.
Xirzer nodded agreement. "The pain of the turf wars. The dragon wars. Those demented fairy hunts. The Mundanes aren't trustworthy enough to rule. It was always easy for my people to take a handful at a time and enchant them, but they multiply quickly and managed to defeat enough of the Fey, even before the rest of you had many problems, that we were forced to be the first to take shelter in this land."
Daerick shook his head two seats over. "You've forgotten, my friend. Some species like yours and mine have long lifespans, but the humans are one of the shortest-lived peoples in any realm," he said. He sighed. "All those events you spoke of? I'm sure they have long since been forgotten by such a short-lived race," Daerick said solemnly.
A kappa wilted over the table, his ever present puddle a gloomy, murky green sort of water rather than the clear cerulean he normally dripped. "But if all of this is true, how can we fix something on this scale?" He cradled his head in his hands. "How far have things even gone now? What will we even do?" he asked. The slightest hint of a wail broke through his usual calm reserve of strengths at the depressing realization of how difficult the situation they faced was.
No one answered. They didn't quite know how to. And the king still stood by and said not a word on the matter. To admit a lack of insight in front of the monarch was something no loyal subject would jump at, but the thought of these elites revealing such a weakness surely rankled too much for any of them to admit to
