Meeting

"Arrgh!" Elder Greenwood screamed as soon as he realised he was flying across the vast sky with no control over his flight.

"What the hell happened!?" he hollered, finding the situation to be absurd. How can a Martial Emperor like him be caught off guard?

However, there was a more pressing matter that needed his attention. He had to take control of his flight before crash-landing on a mountain.

Elder Greenwood formed his wings and started manoeuvring himself in mid-air to slow down his descent.

Finally, he managed to stabilise himself and safely landed on the far west side of the WhisperMoon forest.

It would take him almost an hour before he could reach the World Tree. He wondered if Elder Silvershade was also thrown away by that human.

He has to be or else Elder Greenwood wouldn't be able to bear this shame alone. He also wished for Elder Clearmoon and Elder Snowfang to be going through the same experience as him.

Elder Greenwood was completely engrossed in coming up with excuses to save himself from embarrassment once he regrouped with his fellow Elders as he flew back to the World Tree.

He growled in irritation when he realised that all the elders were present there. That meant he was the only one who got his ass handed to him by that human.

How humiliating!

"Ahh. Elder Greenwood! We were waiting for you!"

It was Elder Clearmoon who greeted him first. Upon closer inspection, he found that she was just as shaken as him.

Maybe she was not spared either.

"Where is he? Does he think that it is okay to treat us like peasants?" he barked in anger.

Elder Greenwood had never been this angry in his life before. He was the personification of serenity and cheeriness in front of the public.

It was disconcerting for other Elders to see him so agitated.

"Elder Greenwood, please hurry. We need to meet with the High Priestess in the meeting hall. We should discuss this in private,"

Elder Snowfang hurriedly informed him, hoping to take his mind off of this embarrassing episode.

Elder Greenwood shuffled uncomfortably for a second and grumbled something inaudible before he silently agreed and followed the rest of them into the meeting hall.

The meeting hall was a wooden structure with floor and walls made of blackwood flanks. It was located right behind the World Tree and was hard to miss because of its size.

A huge oval-shaped red marble table was placed in the middle of the hall on a soft carpet made of black fur. The table was surrounded by seven chairs made of ivory and cushioned with plush, velvety pillows.

The hall was empty except for a few tapestries adorning the walls that depicted the long history of elves and their thriving community.

A meticulously crafted chandelier was hanging from the ceiling above the table, illuminating the otherwise dark hall with its gentle, comforting light.

Elders quickly took their pre-assigned seats and started discussing among themselves in a hushed voice while waiting for the arrival of the High Priestess and Elder Ronan– if he was available.

***

After venting her frustration and fury by knitting a green-haired, golden-eyed doll and tearing it to pieces, Celestia prepared herself for the meeting and headed to the meeting hall.

It took her a lot of time to accept the fact that Vivian was now a part of her lord's life— much to her chagrin.

Celestia promptly decided to ignore Vivian for the sake of keeping her sanity in check and decided to focus on the more important matters.

Even though their first encounter didn't happen the way she desired, she had still managed to make him stay here in the Inner Sanctum. Though, it was arguable if he stayed over because of the World Tree.

Celestia, for her part, decided to believe it was because of her taunting.

Now came the crucial step in her plan, which was to make her people accept him into their society— which was easier said than done now that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong.

Celestia entered the meeting hall gracefully and the Elders stood up in unison to pay their respects.

"At ease!" Celestia ordered and took her seat at the head of the table. "Everyone is aware of the reason for this impromptu meeting, I believe."

Celestia donned her poker face and started the meeting that would eventually make or break the WindGod Tribe.

"An intruder broke into the Inner Sanctum this evening and killed one of our Elders." Her voice turned gentle as she continued. "We shall offer a minute of silent prayer for our Elder Barhawk and his son before we proceed."

After spending more than a few minutes, no one was willing to open their mouths. They were not yet ready to address the elephant in the room.

Except for Elder Greenwood, who was squirming in his seat, ready to pounce on a moment's notice. The man was quite shaken by the experience it seemed.

"My Lady," finally, what felt like an eternity, Elder Greenwood spoke up. "I say we must enforce our army and destroy that bastard. No matter his strength, he cannot overcome our number advantage!"

"Really, Elder Greenwood?" Celestia hissed, fighting back the urge to skin him alive for referring to her lord as a bastard. "I thought you would know better than that considering how you've experienced his powers firsthand!"

Celestia lambasted him. His suggestion was nothing short of throwing eggs at a rock. "We will be sending our troops to their doom and nothing more if we follow your plan!"

"It's better than letting him desecrate our holy land! He is a human and for that alone, he should stay away from us as far as possible! How dare he enter the Sacred Chamber!"

"Elder Greenwood, your suggestion is rejected and that's final! If you don't have any valuable inputs, please stay silent."

Celestia glared at him, her eyes glowed dangerously, making him shudder. Elder Greenwood understood that he had somehow pissed her off more than necessary and was very close to getting his chest pierced by her 'Star Beam'.

'Damn that human! Damn this crazy woman!' He cursed mentally and kept quiet.

"My Lady, what do you suppose we should do then?" It was Elder Clearmoon who asked this time. She too was fidgeting in her seat, anxious to deal with this human.

"There is only one way we can minimise the damage to our forces and get rid of him," Celestia whispered conspiratorially.

"Lord Protector," she added dramatically. "We will have to seek his help."

"Please reconsider, First Lady!" Elder Silvershade pleaded as soon as he heard that name. "We will only be inventing a cure that is worse than the disease if we ask him for help."

"I fail to see why that would be the case, Elder Silvershade!" Elder Greenwood butted in. Seriously, why were they deliberating this matter so much?

It was just a human— not worth wasting their productive time over. They should just call the Lord Protector and be done with him.

"Sigh. Have you not seen the way he looks at our First Lady? That old man clearly fancies her. I can already guess what he will ask in return for helping us!" Elder Silvershade sighed and shook his head, disappointed at Elder Greenwood's lack of observation.

Celestia wanted to pat him on the shoulders for pointing that out. She was hoping for Elders to agree to her suggestion now and later get shut down by Elder Ronan for this exact reason.

But she was pleasantly surprised when Elder Silvershade mentioned it. There were still a few who cared about her. Celestia decided to scratch his name from the list of possible suspects behind the creation of Puppet Makers.

"So what? He is a Martial Supreme! Wouldn't it be beneficial to have close ties with him?" Elder Greenwood barked.

"Haha, there are so many reasons I can list for why we should avoid that old bag of bones!" Elder Snowfang chuckled.

"To start with, he is too old for Our Lady, and in addition, he is not one of us."

"That doesn't matter when he is strong!" Elder Greenwood countered.

"That human is strong too, you know?" Elder Snowfang asked. "Would you agree if the First Lady married him?"

"No, absolutely not!"

"See?" Elder Snowfang raised his eyebrows, successfully shutting him up for good. "Ultimately, why myself and Elder Silvershade are against this is because of his past wives!"

"None of them are alive now. All of them have died mysteriously. That can't be a coincidence."

"Ahem! We are getting off track, Corin!" Elder Clearmoon cleared her throat. How did things go from discussing the punishment of a human to discussing suitable marriage prospects for their First Lady?

"My Lady, if I am allowed to be bold," Elder Snowfang asked.

"Go ahead." Celestia gave her permission, scratching Elder Snowfang's name off of her mental list.

"I have spent more time with that human than any of you here. I observed him and as much as I would hate to normalise; he is greedy, just like the rest of the humans."

Elder Snowfang fished out something shiny from his sleeve and placed it on the table.

"I-is that?" Elder Clearmoon spluttered in shock. She had only read its description in books.

"Yes, as you've guessed, this is the leaf from the World Tree!"

Elder Snowfang had used every ounce of his willpower to refrain from consuming that leaf. If he wanted to pitch his idea, he needed this leaf.

"Would any of you like to guess how I ended up obtaining it?"

"Let me guess, that human climbed the tree and plucked it," Elder Greenwood jeered, clearly expecting Elder Snowfang to deny him.

But to his horror, he nodded. "Yes, it was the human, no! He has earned my respect to call him by his name. Ray is the one who passed through the clouds and brought this." Elder Greenwood passed the shining leaf towards the head of the table, in hopes of convincing the High Priestess.