[edited: 15/09/2017]

Hilda sat behind a long wooden panel among the other members of the Council, trying her best to hide her nerves as the Principle Warlock babbled on about something she had not been listening to, no doubt about the key. He was pacing along the tiled floor wearing a grave expression, just as everybody else was after the explosion.

"There has not been an attack like this in centuries," he was saying with his hands crossed behind his back and his chest raised upwards. "We must put this to an end immediately. No more debates about the mortal girl and no more fruitless attempts at tracking the Dark Ones. Something must be done, and quickly."

"But what exactly can we do?" Cliona Trevils, Tykon's mother and a rather outspoken member of the Council, questioned. Her blue eyes were identical to her sons, though where his were always friendly, hers were always a little more guarded. "We cannot simply hand this key over. We do not even know what it is capable of, only that it is dangerous and holds dark magic within it. Refilyn knows what might happen should the Dark Ones get it."

"I am inclined to agree." Those were the first words that Hilda had said upon entering the Council Hall, but she had begun to pay attention now that the fate of the key was being discussed. "Do you honestly think that the Dark Ones will stop when they get that key?"

She paused, searching the eyes of her peers. Each one of them looked back at her expectantly, and there was a part of her that enjoyed it. She had worked tremendously hard for a place on the Council, and even harder for people to listen to her. Now, she could speak up without ever having to doubt herself. She had always liked the feeling of power surging through her, and that had not changed. Now she had simply found a different, healthier way of managing it. 

"Of course they will not," she continued and stood up with her palms flat against the desk. Her chair scraped against the floor as she did. "They will only get worse with the key's power. They wish to harm and destroy, and they will only wish that more when they have the power to."

"I thought that you had belief in your son," August frowned. "You have convinced us many a time that there is still good in him if only you could find it. Now you do not even seem to acknowledge that he is the leader of the Dark Ones. He is the one causing this destruction."

"I am well aware of my son's part in this," she retorted coldly, "but I was wrong. Though I hate to say so, I cannot guarantee that my son's heart will change anytime soon. Any lightness in him has been lost, for he has fallen into the darkness too many times now. It is time to take action. They must be stopped."

"And you are willing to do what is necessary in stopping them, even if that means harming your son?" another member voiced, this one a stout warlock with yellow hair named Marsden Latimer. Hilda had never particularly gotten on with him and did not attempt to hide it now as she glared at him.

"Are you suggesting that I would allow my emotions to cloud my judgement?"

"I am suggesting that it is all well and good saying such things now, but what about when you see your son face to face? You are a mother, and mothers never wish to harm their children, not even when it is the only course of action to take. I fear that you should not be here at all when discussing matters that are so personal for you."

Hilda was about to snap back at him and perhaps call him a word that one should never use in a Council meeting when she was interrupted by the Principle. "Enough. Hilda has given us no reason to doubt her as of yet, and until she does, she shall remain present during these meetings."

"What about her relation to the mortal girl?" a third voice chimed in, and she was not sure who it belonged to this time, as its owner sat on the opposite end of the panel, so far away that Hilda almost didn't hear it at all. "It is well known that her other son is very close to the weakling. She can no longer be trusted to prioritise warlock matters over mortal ones."

Hilda straightened up then, feeling the coldness seep through her until it carved itself into her expression and gleamed in her green cat's eyes. "I am sorry. I came to this meeting thinking that we would be discussing a solution to the wreckage outside, not analysing every relationship I have ever built. I might have brought my divorce papers or perhaps my family tree if I had known."

"Sit down, Hilda," ordered August, clearly as unimpressed as her that the topic had switched so suddenly. "You are right. We need a solution before the Dark Ones try to hurt any more of us, one that does not involve them getting what they want. The only question is: how?"

"I say that we give them the key," Auria Ashberry suggested from beside Hilda. "We can deal with the consequences later, but it is better to hope that they will not hurt us anymore if we do give them what they want than allow this to keep happening."

"Absolutely not," Hilda responded firmly, and could almost feel the place in her pocket where her key used to lie before she had let it go. She found it astonishing how she still felt so connected to even the mention of it after all these years of going without it. "The key might be the only thing keeping us alive at all. Imagine what our world might become with all of that power in the wrong hands."

"We do not necessarily know the extent of dark magic that the key holds," someone else on the other side of the panel argued, "only that it does hold some. It is not as though our realm will instantly explode if we hand it over."

"It does not hold 'some'. It holds all. Every drop of dark magic that has ever existed is inside that key." Hilda was becoming angry now, her cheeks heating up and her arms tensed on the wooden desk in front of her. She had not even realised that she was giving away much more about her knowledge of the key than she had wanted to. "Do you honestly want our plan to consist of giving immoral people more darkness than you can even comprehend and hoping for the best?"

"If it makes Astracia safe, then yes."

"We are supposed to be a council!" she shouted and stood up again, making eye contact with anybody that she could. "It is our job to do the right thing, not the easy one. Giving them the key now would be cowardly, and Refilyn knows the consequences that it might bring unto us all."

"Then we will sleep on it," August reasoned, and though he was not shouting, his voice was deeper and louder than Hilda's ever could be. "We will not come to a solution today, not when we are all still shocked and frightened for ourselves and our loved ones. We will gather again tomorrow morning."

People instantly began to rise from their chairs and gather their belongings before leaving the Council Hall, like children being dismissed from a lesson. Hilda thought it all rather pathetic, and glared at August. It did not take him long to notice.

"Is there a problem, Mrs. Opal?" he questioned in a warning tone, his heels clicking against the floor as he wandered over to her.

"Yes, there is. This needs to be decided now, before any more harm can be done. Tomorrow might be too late."

"It has been a long day, and many people have been hurt. I cannot simply force my Council to think rationally after such horrors have been seen. They are people just like everybody else out there on those cobbled streets. They feel just as much panic and fear." 

"Perhaps, but they signed up to complete the jobs that no one else can. That includes managing the fate of our people, unfortunately." Hilda shook her head disbelievingly and shrugged her handbag onto her shoulder, ready to escape such pathetic values and leadership. She had never doubted August as the Principle Warlock before now.

"Is it true what they say?" he asked, oblivious to her disgust. "Is your son close to the mortal?"

"They have both been thrown into a situation that is difficult to deal with at times," she muttered. "It is only natural that they have formed a liking for one another."

"Just how deep does this liking go?" August's irises looked almost white as they gazed coolly at Hilda. "Need I worry about the plans involving our children's marriage?"

"No," she gulped, and patted down her green dress in an attempt to appear nonchalant, "of course not. Maksim is difficult to convince, but he will warm to the idea. He just needs more time."

"That is not what my dear Annika has told me." He pursed his lips, a strand of his white hair falling into his face as he paced the well-lit room filled with chandeliers and paintings. It had been Hilda's favourite room, once; she often came to admire the motifs of warlocks and witches who had changed history and form her own stories using the images on the walls, particularly when she had only just joined the Council and found it hard to fit in with the other members. Now, she did not have the energy to even glance up at them. "She believes that Maksim has feelings for the girl. She has barely even seen him since she arrived here. I fear that they are only growing further apart."

"The girl will leave as soon as we resolve the issue, and then we may all return to normalcy. There is no need to worry about that."

"I sincerely hope not," he answered.

Hilda nodded before heading towards the exit, her back to the Principle. She was stopped again not seconds later when he called her back.

"Oh, and Hilda," he said as though he had been reminded of something rather abruptly, "whatever it is that you know about this key, I suggest that you share it with me very soon. I am growing tired of waiting for you to confess willingly."

"I am not sure what you mean." Her words stumbled over themselves as she tried to compose herself again, and she turned around to face August with a neutral expression. "I do not know anything more about the key than you do. How could I?"

"I do not think that is the truth. I think you are hiding something, and I plan to find out what that might be."

"You will find nothing. You would be wasting valuable time."

"I sincerely hope that you are right," he said with a small smile, and the lines etched into his skin deepened into creases that contorted his face and made him seem much more cunning than Hilda had ever thought him to be before. "I would not want to have to punish you if you were withholding information from the Council, particularly since I often defend you when others doubt you and your intentions."

Hilda nodded and left without another word, her heart pounding and her mouth dry. She wished, not for the first time, that she had never parted with her key, for it was her own actions that had led to this mess now.

It seemed that such a small piece of metal could still ruin her life after all of this time.

AN: this chapter is kinda boring but I thought it was important to show how hilda is dealing with all this key business seeing as it was hers first. dedicated to @AwkwardBeing99 because she was nice about my work and it made me happy :)

as always, thanks so much for reading!