7.3 — THE MEDIATOR

SEVEN PART III

Silently watching the council's meeting for the last half-hour from the balcony across the long table consisted of Minister's council member, Kaizo shifted his feet for the umpteenth times and leant back against the marble banister.

Upon agreement, the council members or Elders were ecstatic to meet the newly delegated Priestess only to be trampled their expectation when she stepped into the room with ominous aura backing up her apathetic interpersonal association. That and the fact that they recognized her as the youngest daughter of Lavine's household didn't mingle well as the congregation moved on with evident rigidity in the atmosphere.

A dark shadow loomed over his face as his ears started to grate by merely listening to the roundabout talks of the council. His mood got even dimmer when one of the council members consisting of five elder men and one woman, finally decided to wrap up his tommyrot.

"That will be held one week from now at Merrow Island. We normally suggest taking a council member and an escort along, but we'll leave that discretion in your hands, Priestess."

Kaizo turned his head away to discreetly scoff at the obvious offensive tone of the stocky senior.

Elder Karim, a council member who had a life mission as meddling virtuoso, smugly flopped down his seat, looking like he just won the battle of his lifetime.

Seated five empty chairs away from the Elders and direct opposite to the Minister's seat at the head table, and just where he was right behind few meters away, the Priestess arose to her seat, staring directly to Elder Karim.

"It's funny."

"Pardon?"

Elder Karim peered up at the Priestess in confusion. Before he could even ask her to elaborate her point, the Priestess already beat him to it.

"It's funny how you can just run the details succinctly and saved much time rather than dawdling about your anecdotes. I mean you no offense though, Elder Karim. But I think I should take the liberty of telling you all that I'd prefer getting straight into the business and be done with it. There are more pressing matters to attend in both our sides and I'd be very much appreciate if we'll used our time efficiently."

Kaizo masked his laughter with a cough; hand in his mouth at that. He didn't know if he should be amused or sympathize with the flabbergasted Elder.

She slightly dipped her head before the aghast Elders and then to the chuckling Young Minister who, for some inexplicable reason, had the Priestess' fainting massive cat on his lap, purring as he pet it. "Allow me a day or two to think if I'd be going alone or not, Your Excellence."

"Certainly!" the Young Minister beamed, holding up the cat's paw to wave. "Take your time, Marin─"

"It's Verēna, Your Excellence."

The Minister sheepishly grinned. "Got it, Karina. Inform me the day after your departure. And oh, you should attend the Harvest Festival the day after tomorrow. It'll be fun!"

The Priestess brow twitched. "I'll be keeping that in mind, Your Excellence. I shall take my leave now. May you all have a good night."

At her last word, the ginger cat jumped off from Magnus' lap, trailing behind the Priestess. The Young Minister dotingly waved at the massive cat which surprised neither of them all.

She had already left the assembly hall by the time Kaizo pushed himself off the balcony's banister, heading to his cousin's side. As expected, the Elders didn't take the Priestess' behavior well and as a result, dozens of complaints were bombarded to the Young Minister.

Standing at Magnus' left side, Kaizo nodded to the Minister's head advisor, Aillard, who had taken the seat by his cousin's right side and was at the middle of fixing his eyeglasses up his crooked nose.

Kaizo sternly listened to the Elders' grievances while trying his best not to roll his eyes. One would think with age came wisdom and maturity, but it seemed like they got it short in the latter department. The five elder men go on with their whines for a while until Magnus clapped his hands, earning everyone's attention.

"You, my highly respected people, should really take it easy with Serena," Magnus casually told off his council.

"The Priestess' name is Verēna, Your Excellence," Aillard muttered, feigning a cough.

Magnus nonchalantly waved his hand. "They sound pretty close."

"Your Excellence, aren't you afraid she'll get back to you after what happened years ago to her family?"

Kaizo frowned at Elder Karim's outburst. He glanced down at his cousin and discreetly snickered at the obvious annoyance in his expression.

Magnus had an excellent reign with his temper and hardly ever exploded unless the tragic incident during his father's reign was brought up into the table. The persecution to Priamos Lavine five and a half years ago was an extremely sore spot for the young Minister. After all, the deceased council member acted more as his father figure more than the late Minister. Magnus admired Priamos Lavine more than anyone else. That was why it left a great toll on him upon the kindhearted man's death. Talking him down got the Young Minister riled up.

"Well, weren't you all who proposed to delegate a Priestess to solve the conflict with Merrill?" Magnus hissed, tapping the table with his forefinger out of habit when irritated. "And now the Seer sent us one of her disciple, you're now claiming it's a bad idea? I'm sorry esteem Elders, but it seems like we're not meeting halfway. You got me lost there."

The rest of the Elders were smart enough to zip their lips, but Elder Karim, as always, charged head on.

"But that's before we found out it's the missing daughter of Priamos Lavine, Your Excellence," the stocky elder insisted, oblivious to the growing annoyance of the Young Minister. "Aren't you worried?

You should be worrying 'bout your life at this instance. Kaizo thought, shaking his head.

"So you mean to say I should send Mirella back to the Seer just because of such petty reason of yours?"

Aillard cleared his throat. "Verēna, not Mirella, Your Excellence."

"Zip it!" Magnus snipped, glowering at Elder Karim. "Is that what you're implying, Elder Karim? You want me to tell the Seer that we made a mistake and so we request for another disciple to take her place? Do you think the Seer wouldn't take this as an insult to her credibility? Have you ever forgotten how the Seer retaliates? Are you willing to shoulder the repercussion of what you're asking of me? Do you think my family's anonymity matters more if ever that happens?"

Kaizo's lips drawn to a straight grim line, fists clenching, upon the memory of the Seer's retaliation when the same set of council members thoroughly questioned and ridiculed her annihilated clansmen six years ago. Apparently, angering a gods' mortal vessel was enough to cast a hex that would end them all in a snap of a finger. If not for Priamos Lavine's coaxing, everyone in Grevus would have been dead then. And yet . . .

Kaizo audibly clucked his tongue when Elder Karim open his mouth for another argument. Everyone's attention snapped towards him in an instant. If he won't step in now, he feared Magnus wouldn't be able to hold his temper any longer. The Young Minister, after all, could end the elder's breath in a mere second had he willed. The amount of power streaming in his veins was not a good combination when his temperament was tapped.

"That would be enough, Elder Karim," he politely interjected, keeping his lighthearted tone as he went on with a small smile. "It's been a long day everyone. Thank you for coming in such a short notice. We'll be seeing each other again next week after the festival."

Nods of agreement ensued. Kaizo cocked his head to Elder Karim waiting for his own affirmation. The elder begrudgingly conceded and bid his goodbye along the others.

One by one, the Elders poured out of the assembly hall at Kaizo's call. As long as the large double doors shut behind the last of them, Kaizo flicked Magnus' forehead with a force that earned him an instant wince and whine.

"What's that for, Kai?" Magnus protested, grimacing as he rubbed the middle of his forehead.

Kaizo shot him a sharp look which instantly shut him up.

Averting his eyes from the reprimanding look of his cousin, Magnus turned to his right only to be met by his advisor's similar expression. His bottom lip protruded, knowing all too well what was coming next.

"That's not the proper way of talking with the Elders, Mag. They're a nifty pieces. Getting into their bad sides would be unfavorable in your part," Kaizo surmised to which Aillard vocally agreed.

"Kaizo is right, Your Excellence. Who knows what's up their mind now."

"I simply put them in place," Magnus stubbornly asserted with a huff. "There's no used of being a Minister if I can't keep my associates at bay. If I'd let them do as they please, then it'll be a matter of time before they completely liberate this country. I maybe a child still, but I'm not a fool to not see through their motives. This country is doom if I let them make me as their puppet ruler."

Kaizo and Aillard exchanged glances before the latter deeply sighed in defeat.

Magnus was right. Some of the Elders seemed to take advantage of the Young Minister's age hoping they could manipulate him for their own gain. They were unaware that Magnus could literally peer through anyone's soul without a hitch─one of the convenient gifts their bloodline possessed when considering who were to be trusted with their life and century old public anonymity. Ostensibly, not everyone going in and out of Romulus household fit the former. Council member Priamos Lavine's persecution was its proof. The enchanted Oath of Secrecy the Elder had taken would have been enough to be the judge for his charge, but their manor was incinerated even before he was trialed.

A mole. Someone inside the Romulus household wanted the Elder out of the way.

For what reason? No one knew.

Of course, they could ask the Seer, but knowing her, they'd only get a vague answer. It would only confuse them more than help. Besides, he highly doubted the Seer would even lend 'em a hand if ever. That was also why Kaizo's closest friends, disguised as the Young Minister's instructors, faithfully surrounded Magnus like a bunch of impregnable wall of protection. So when he told them that the youngest daughter of the persecuted council member was not a threat, they had faithfully believed him without further question.

Magnus may be a child, but his judgment was acutely on point.

But she seared your hand. A small voice inside his head pointed out, making him frown.

That was my fault.

"We understand, Your Excellence," Aillard went on, pinching his nose-bridge. "But keep in mind that a person who can't─"

"─keep his head about is a dead man," Magnus interceded, slouching in his seat in the process as if he'd heard the statement for the umpteenth times. "Point taken. Can I go now?"

"I'll get going, then." Kaizo pushed past the two. Yet what Magnus said next had him stopping on his track with an incredulous look in his face.

"Ah! I almost forgot, Kai! Please keep the Priestess under your watch. I have a feeling that the Elders will do something sooner or later."

"And why would it be me of all people?" Kaizo prodded, tone went a little higher due to his disbelief.

"Why not you?" Magnus seemed at lost with his subtle rejection. "Of all our household personnel, you're the only one with ample of time to spare. You're just always in southern woods. What's so special about that place anyway?"

Kaizo ignored his question and defiantly crossed his arms instead as he scowled at his cousin. "And if I said I don't want to? What then?"

"Why would you say no? Of course, you want it," Magnus countered with a knowing smile. The teasing tone never went unnoticed to him.

Realizing what that meant, Kaizo's scalding glare intensified. "Quit peering into me, you damn brat."

"Eh?" Magnus playfully drawled, smirking.

Aillard who was so used at their banter made no any move to butt in. If anything, the man seemed to take entertainment at it.

"But it's quite amusing, cousin. It's a shame I can't share it with you."

"If you think you can use it agains─"

"Then, shall I tell Elder Karim that you're now willing to take Lady Margaret as your betrothed? We both know how nosy the Elders can be in terms of our bloodline's progression. I'm due for a decade more, while you," his grin grew wider and even slyer, "were due four years ago, my cousin. It's about time to build your own family. I don't mind becoming a young uncle─"

"Shut it, you scheming damn brat," Kaizo growled, peeved at the mention of the Elder's daughter and embarrassed at the same time at the thought of siring a child. "I'll do it so keep your devious sight off me before I stab it with fork."

"Aaaah," the young Minister cooed, feigning to be touched by his threat which only made Kaizo's mood gloomier. "I love you, too, Kai. I leave Merena in your care, then. Have a good night!"

"It's Verēna, Your Excellence. Not Merena."

"Why do you keep correcting me, Aillard? I sure get her name right . . . at least once."

"I doubt it."

Kaizo stormed out of the assembly hall, grumbling under his breath. Being blackmailed to get married with Elder Karim's daughter always riled him up. As the only living blood of the Young Minister, he was expected to take a wife by the time his 24th birthday came to secure their bloodline's progression even though only the reigning Minister's offspring could assume the throne.

Expected, not mandated.

The matter, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the nosy Elders and as a result, Elder Karim suggested his daughter who just recently came of marrying age for women which was twenty-one. He had refused straight away, but Magnus seemed to take it under consideration. A Minister, if direly needed, had the say for almost everything, after all. Especially when it came to their family's affairs.

Running a frustrated hand over his face, Kaizo took a sharp left turn when the scene in the distant had him skidding to a stop. Loud footsteps fell in behind him, but his attention was eagerly fixated at the scarred back of the Priestess who was talking to an enraged woman who looked almost the same as her, saved for the latter's strawberry blonde hair.

"Stop mocking me, Hollis!"

And explosive temper.

"If concern tantamount to a mockery to you, then I think we got a serious problem here, Lady Tauriel. Like I said, please call me Verēna. The girl you insist to be me, exist no more."

Exist no more. The words rung repeatedly in Kaizo's ears, almost as though taunting him.

Gulping down the lump in his throat, Kaizo bridged the gap between the two before something else would happen.

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