In the m, Lisryn awoke, still somewhat unfortable due to the bed, and prepared for the day. After opening the door, however, she found Narath waiting with an ornate robe on a stand beside him. As he turo face her, he stated, “This robe is your official clothing for meeting with the church, at least until we get fitting armor. We will o return here so you ge after your breakfast.”

  She nodded, moved the robe inside, and followed him to the dining area. As before, there was already food being served, and someo up t her a portion.

  As before, she thahe man before eating, gd that the meal wasn’t te, as she didn’t want to end up drowsy when she was supposed to talk to a crowd. She still wasn’t sure she was ready for that, even if she had spoken in front of her whole vilge a few times. There, she had known everyone, while here, she knew no one.

  Having finished her meal, Narath brought her back to her room, waiting as she ducked inside. Si wasn’t too warm, she opted to just wear the robe over her clothes instead of ging fully. As she exited, she saw another of the Padins had brought an oraff for her as well.

  Lisryn shook her head as she looked at it, remarking, “I would feel wrong using that. My current staff is plenty for me, and shouldn’t these robes be enough already?”

  Fortunately, it appeared that was the case, the woman bowing to her before leaving again and taking the staff with her. Lisry out a sigh, uo all the wealth and decoration everywhere that seemed to be on dispy.

  Narath o her and stated, “Everyone who could arrive has done so and are waiting. Are you prepared to speak, or should we wait a few more moments, Lisryn?”

  “I suppose we should get it over with, though I’m still not sure about speaking before so many people, I hope I don’t seem too nervous,” she replied.

  The man bowed slightly towards her before turning and leading her back to the door iry room. Before opening it, he grabbed a bone helm off a hook and wore it, c his head pletely, as had been the case during the trial.

  Emerging into the cathedral, Lisryn wo more fully equipped Padins waiting beside the door, one remaining beside it as the other joined Narath in followio the le. As they arrived, her two guardians took up pces behind and to her sides. As she looked over the gathered individuals, she realized there were far more people present than her vilge had, causing her ao skyrocket.

  Closing her eyes and sighing, she tried to rex, swallowing with a suddenly dry throat before steeling herself to begin.

  Gng over the crowd, she procimed, “flict is displeased with how the church has beeing for quite some time, but chose to give my predeultiple opportuo correct his ways. Due to his refusal to ge, he was removed, and now there will be numerous ges going forward.”

  Listening to the voice of flict, she looked over the crowd, pig out several individuals and calling for them to e forward. As the st of them arrived, she simply remarked, “Kill them.”

  Almost before she finished speaking, Narath had exploded into a, his sword slig through tierg the heart of a third. To her other side, simir happened, save that they aimed for the ned ly decapitated the other two. Without hesitation, they slid back behind her again, leaving the remains ying before her.

  In the shocked silence, she expined, “They were secretly members of the Bloodfang cult. There are several more of them among you still, but they have not done anything unfivable, yet. You know who you are, and you should ge your ways before it is too te.”

  As many in the crowd began looking around with suspi, she cut their musings short, deg, “, we must ge how we operate. Trying to trol the nobles and the king was a mistake, while it produced good results short-term, it would reduce our power and our ces of survival in the long-term. There is to be no further pressure pced oher group, though any who choose on their own to join us shall be weled.”

  Aware the demand would be more ively received, she sighed again before resuming, “Furthermore, we must stop harassing the spires’ mages. They are vital to humanity surviving, and we must cooperate with them instead. This also means no attempts to force mages to join us instead of the spires. For those among you who are mages, I will be attempting to get permission for you to return to the spires either temporarily to study, or permaly if you do not wish to remain with us.”

  Much as she had expected, this annou caused a bit of an uproar among a rge portion of the crowd. Noting down those who seemed accepting, she waited a moment before using her magiplify her void roar, “Silence!”

  Clearly shocked by the raw volume, the crowd quieted down immediately, mahe front holding their ears. It had taken a great deal of effort, but she had mao focus the sound almost entirely on those who had been bickering, leaving those who were being polite fused as to why others were holding their heads.

  With a vicious smile, she remarked, in a more reasonable volume, “Remember, I am flict’s chosen voibsp; If you have a problem with my orders, we always send you to meet flict directly with your death. As roven by my predecessor, flict is capable of removing a High Priest or Priestess who goes against its will.”

  That pletely silehe st mumblings she heard, and with a nod, she resumed speaking, “In addition, I will be allowing any mage to visit us, even if they do not io join. Those of you who are willing to cooperate will be permitted to spar any who desire it, in hopes of improving both of our fas.”

  Looking around once more, she took a moment to pick out another individual, calling out, “Frank, e forward.”

  As all eyes turo him, Frank swallowed nervously and walked forward. Gng at the corpses before him, he very obviously shied away as much as he could while still obeying her.

  With a chuckle, Lisryn remarked, “Do not worry. flict is aware you are part of another secret offshoot of the church, and you are t them to join us properly. The teags you follow are ones flict is pleased with, and as such, you are being promoted. You may bee a warrior, mage, or one of our priests, whichever you desire. Additionally, you are no loo spy on the mages.”

  Raising her gaze from Frank, she looked back over the crowd and decred, “This goes for all of you who are spies in the spires. If you are already known, like Frank here, you are to annouhe ges and remain as a point of tabsp; If you are not already known, wait one week and then inform the elders of your spire, and if permitted, remain as points of tact.”

  She wasn’t surprised to see that most of those who this had been in the quieter ses of the crowd.

  To finish up, she tinued, “Additionally, uards at the gates are to be reduced to two individuals, and work with the city guards. Your main responsibility will be to act as messengers, as you are far superior to the standard guards. Finally, for those worried about the lessening of flict due to these ges, be at ease, while there will be less flict between humans, the wilds have beore dangerous, which flict has assured me will only bee worse. Our cooperation with the mages will be required to keep humanity safe, and we must push back the wilderness! Oy alone is far from enough to be certain we survive!”

  Seeing that most people seemed to be sidering her words, she nodded and finished, stating, “These are the main ges that must occur. There may be lesser ges annouer, but for now, adjust to these. You may now return to your duties, thank you for your time.”

  As the crowd began filing out of the cathedral, Frank came to speak with her, saying, “I have decided I would like to bee a priest, what should I do, ma’am?”

  Smiling at the man, Lisryn directed him to speak to one of the other priests, reying flict’s instrus.

  Once he left, several members of the church approached and began to the gore, bowing to her as they approached. Seeing that everything seemed to be taken care of, she asked her guardians about going to drop off her letters, getting an affirmative response.

  After returning to her room to pick up the messages, however, she was suddenly hit with the exhaustion from iing with so many unknown people.

  When she made this known, Narath nodded, stating, “I was a bit surprised with how well you were holding up, so it isn’t ued. Lisa here take the messages to get them delivered, if you go grab them.”

  Lisryn smiled and replied, "Thank you, that would be most helpful." She then quickly raced into her room to grab the letters sitting on her desk and brought them out to hand to Lisa.

  Once Lisa began heading away, Lisryn announced, “I am going to just go to bed for a while, if I am not needed for anything, at least.”

  In response, Narath nodded and firmed, “There should not be anything else urgent now that you have made your first appearanbsp; Take your time and rex.”

  Two mostly uful days ter, Thorin stopped by t her the reply from the mages, and after thanking him, she returo her room to sit down and read it.

  Within, she was surprised to read that the current archmage mostly accepted her requests, though they did request a meeting, much as she had asked for, though they asked for it to occur just outside of the tral spire as opposed to a ral location. She did not mind though, as it seemed a reasonable request, given that she would be bringing a guard that could easily harm numerous mages if they wao. She hadn’t heard of a mind mage before, but apparently they would have oo verify she wasn’t trying to trick them, which ought to solve the issue of how to vihem she was ho in her iions.

  After finishing, she quickly wrote out a response, firming she accepted their request on location and bringing a mind mage, along with a remihat she would have a guardian with her, sihey insisted she always have at least oh her.

  Since she wasn’t feeling bad today, she decided to take the letter herself, and had Yurania escort her to the mail post. Oisfied that it would be delivered, she went on a walk around the city, taking note of where several pces she hadn’t bee were located.

  The following day, she left the cathedral and headed towards the ter of the city, where the primary spire stood. Upon arrival, she saw one of the mages rush inside, and a few moments ter, several people began to emerge from the spire. Ohey sighat no one else was ing, she stepped forward and bowed, beginning their versation, “Greetings, elders, I am Lisryn, the new High Priestess of the Church of flibsp; Thank you freeing to meet with me today. I’m afraid I’ve never heard of a mind mage before, so please expin how this will work, and is there any signifit risk?”

  Smiling at her immediate request about the mind mage, one of the men stepped forward and replied, “You are wele, we were curious what sort of retionship we should expect with the ge of leadership, and are gd you accepted our requirements. There are slight risks, but those are more on with newer and less experienced mages. So long as you are truthful, the worst oute would likely be a headache. If you lie, however, she kill you, depending on how dangerous she siders you. All you o do is rex and not try to block her out as she maintains tact with you. Do you accept this?”

  Since she had zero iion to deceive them in any form, Lisryn had no objes and immediately accepted, leading to an older woman leaving the group to stand beside her. After nodding to her, the woma her hand on Lisryn’s shoulder, and she felt an odd feeling in the back of her mind. Ohe woman firmed she had successfully ected to her, Lisryn began describing the same ges she had annouo the churbsp; When she mentiohe spies would reveal themselves, many of the mages couldn’t hide their surprise.

  Mentioning she wanted several mages to be able to return and leave the church also surprised them, more so than asking to be allowed to have those still with the church accepted for training. Finally, she finished with the biggest and most shog request she had, asking, “I would also like to ask to be allowed, personally, to join one of the spires as a novice mage, as I know quite little about magic, despite being a mage for so long. The only special treatment I desire is to be allowed t a guardian with me, as they insist I am always in their presenbsp; And just so you verify, I swear I have ive iions with this request, I purely wish to learn and increase unity between our fas.”

  As the collected mages immediately began arguing amongst themselves, Lisryn thahe mind mage and stated that she was finished, and just awaiting their decisions. The woman bowed to her before returning to the rest of her group, and joihe discussion.

  Some time ter, a representative came forward and announced, “We are unsure on allowing you personally to join us, and still o discuss it further, but we accept those who wish to leave your churbsp; We are also willing to sider allowing others, on an individual basis, after meeting with them. The ges you seek are a great deal beyond what we had expected, so it will take some time to figure out how to proceed. We will send a message once we have finalized our stance.”

  Expeg such a response, Lisryn nodded and gave a slight bow before replying, “Thank you, I assumed that would be the case, as my predecessor had quite different policies. I will await your message, and hopefully we work together more closely iure.”

  Shard