Ankeftel grimaced as the hall's double doors swung open to reveal representative Delarin. After what had just gone on, he did not need the interference Delarin was bound to bring. Despite the disastrous news—no, because of it—Ankeftel knew he'd be able to keep control of the conservatives, and thus the assembly, if he had enough time to formulate his plans. Delarin, though, had ruined more than one carefully orchestrated plot in the fifteen years he'd held his seat. Ankeftel had no doubt he could do so again if not carefully watched.

He cleared his throat, and the representative who had been speaking trailed off. Ankeftel smiled coldly and waited a moment to collect his thoughts and to make sure he had the full attention of the elves gathered around. He kept on eye on Delarin, in case the idiot radical tried to steal his thunder.

Fortunately, the other elf had stopped further up the hall, resting his hand on the plush back of a bench as he laughed with some of the other representatives there. Just like him to be joking at such a serious time.

“Elder Ankeftel...?” A timorous voice cut into his thoughts. “You wished to speak, Eld—”

“Of course I wished to speak, buffoon. Did you think I coughed just for the pleasure of it?” He glared at the representative who had spoken, a young-looking elf with short-cut blond hair. He was lead to believe that was the fashion recently. He ran a hand through his own hair, shoulder-length and graying. Youth.

“What is your name, representative?”

“Tamelin, Elder.” At least the elf had the sense to look cowed.

“New, are you? I haven't seen you before.”

“No, Elder. I've represented the province of Retrea for six years now.”

“Really? Well, perhaps in another six you will have learned not to speak out of turn.” Ankeftel watched with pleasure as the younger elf's face turned an ashen gray. He was about to let it go at that when an idea came to him. “Until then, why don't you go and see what representative Delarin is up to. Those damned radicals will take any opportunity to cause chaos they can get.”

He watched as the elf, uncertain at first, but then more rapidly, walked to the group he had indicated. Delarin said something to the others and they all laughed, presumably at the conservative's plight. The elf was too sharp by half. When Tamelin laughed with them, though, they seemed to accept his presence—or at least ignore it.

“Now,” Ankeftel continued. “It's clear to me—and to the rest of you, I hope—that Elerea is testing our resolve.”

“But elder Ankeftel,” one of the other conservatives broke in. “She clearly said—”

“I know what she said,” he snapped. “But do you think Elerea, our own Goddess, would tell us to abandon Lemorra? Think upon it, and the answer is obvious.”

“Everything we have done, everything we are is entrenched in the soil we stand on. Why on Thera would Elerea ask us to abandon it? We would be better off dead. Besides, where would we go? To the barbarian lands across the ocean? The islands populated by cannibalistic savages? The frozen northern continent?”

“No,” he concluded. “This is a test. Elerea wants to be sure that we are hardy, that we will not run and hide at the first sign of trouble. She wants to know that we are worthy of her.”

Several of the group surrounding him split off as he warmed to his subject, but he simply sneered and let them go. Weaklings would be of no help in the coming days. His sneer died on his face as one or two walked over to where Delarin was holding court. There was another group who would be of no help.

That, at least, he could do something about. He turned a critical eye over the core group remaining around him. Amongst the familiar faces, he picked out three who would be of special help.

Yllrin was a retired general who'd never really given up his connections in the forces after making the decision to spend his declining years in the assembly. He stood straight, and met Ankeftel's glance with clear eyes. Age was definitely not a crutch for that one. If anything, it was the opposite: he carried himself proudly and the elves around him reacted to that.

Leana, one of the few elves who'd been in the assembly as long as he had, stood by as well, her grey hair reaching almost to her waist. Ankeftel remembered when it had been a deep rich black. Although her hair colour had dimmed, Leana proved on a regular basis that her memory was as sharp as ever. She served as the assembly's combination archivist and amenuensis, remembering important past decisions and the rationale behind them. She was an invaluable ally, and had more than once tipped the balance in favour of the conservatives' desires.

Between the three of them alone they had their fingers on the pulse of the assembly. Restraining the less-than-benign tendencies of some of the assembly's more radical members would be easy enough.

Ankeftel motioned two younger elves to watch Delarin's camp and then got down to business.

“Well, amenuensis. Obviously, Elerea's never appeared before the assembly before, but are there any precedents we should worry about in this situation?” He gestured towards Delarin as he spoke.

“Let me think.”

Leana was silent for a moment, arms crossed and fingers tapping at her ribs.

“The closest I can think of is 1066 A.F., when the radicals used the unrest caused by ocean raiders on the East coast. They tried to stage a coup by mobilizing the populace and marching on the assembly hall. They said it was the only way to move forward, and that the current majority was defrauding the people's trust.”

She shrugged.

“Something like that, anyway. Of course, since they didn't have the army on their side they didn't get very far. The coup was a disaster, and the rightful party was back in power within a day. I can look into it more, if you want.”

Ankeftel nodded, then rubbed his hands together.

“Excellent. Yllrin, I trust you still keep your contacts with the army?”

“Of course, Elder.”

“Good. For now, just keep them on alert. We may need decisive action on very short notice.”

“I'll tell them to prepare, then.”

One of the younger elves that Ankeftel had told to watch Delarin came up to the group at a brisk walk.

“Delarin's on the move, Elder Ankeftel.”

Delarin was walking towards the front and centre of the assembly-hall, where the podium was set up. Ankeftel cursed; he had wanted more time to plan before having to talk about what the conservatives would do to resolve this crisis. But it would be more damaging if he let Delarin talk first.

He waved Yllrin and Leana to their respective tasks and headed towards the podium. It was time he really took control of this assembly and the fate of the nation.