Nina pushes me out of the bushes with her tails, which are surprisingly forceful for well, tails. When I fall flat on my face, staring up at the others, I draw my wings as close as I can to me to shield me from their criticisms. I expect a lot worse than what actually happens, as most of them look more quizzical then upset, although all of them are staring at Avery... ready to pounce.

Slowly, that awful barrage of questions begins to fill the air.

"Are we going to make her portal back?" asks Auma, not quite sizing me up but instead surveying me with something that might be disappointment (oh no).

"We're well over the safe zone. I'm not going to be late for this meeting." Avery insists. "Verde will kill all of us."
"So that's... a no?" I ask, hopefully, tail between my legs. I lower my head almost to the ground, getting down into a bow. "I promise I won't be a bother. Please, please just let me come with you. I can't sit around in the building all day not knowing what's going on with my own body and my own mind. I'm going to lose it." I beg.

Avery and Auma share a glance, and Avery's doing the sad, watery eyes thing again where I almost think she might be on my side. "You have a point, Rena. I can't promise that these will be the answers you want, though. Most of the other Defenders aren't even coming inside."

"W-what?" I ask, looking at the others. "They're not going inside? Then why would you need all of them to come with you? Is it defense?"
"Oh, no," Gale laughs. "Better. It's politics. We're letting the Sukoma City leaders know we have ample membership and that we're not afraid to stand up to them if we don't get what we want out of this meeting."

"It's not going to come to that and we're not talking about scare tactics right now," Avery says, gritting her teeth.

Gale looks tremendously pleased with himself. "Avery went over this with me in detail," he informs me. "You know, we're tight."

"Gale. Shut your mouth." Fyera snaps, and Gale's ears swing back, offended. "If that's settled, can we pick up our paws? Avery was not exaggerating. Verde will kill us."
I shiver. The rest of the group reluctantly resumes to their prior pace, and I trail alongside them, close to Avery. Gale shoots glances over his back from his point a little ways off with Nina, but he doesn't come back to talk to me, so I'm stuck next to the thick, disappointed aura radiating off of Avery. I shake again, trying to dislodge something from my fur, but what I'm really trying to get rid of won't come out so easily.

"You're not mad," I begin.

"I'm not terribly upset, no. I'm only worried that I'm making the wrong calls." Avery says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You're a special case. I don't know what to do with you. Nor do they. Anyone tries to get too close and something nudges everyone back again, and you look so cut up about it... it breaks my heart, a little. I wasn't exactly sociable either, when I was younger. I hung out in the library..." she trails off. "This is all very silly. I'm projecting."

"You're what?" I ask. "Like those kinegraphs that extend off the page?"

"No, it's a different thing altogether." She shakes her head. "Look. This is going to be a tricky position, and though I'm glad you'll be there for your own sake, you've made things very difficult for me. Whatever Verde asks you, respond with as little emotion and information as you can manage. Never let him have the upper paw. Do not stoop to his level if he tries to aggravate you. He will ask leading questions. Expect them and bat them aside. Do you understand?"

I nod.

The city begins to build around us-- unlike Lira City, which I've come to understand as home, Sukoma City rises right from forests into buildings, separated by the woods by a large river with a bridge over it. Several guards step out of our way, and I stare down at the rapids below. There's evidence of rusty blood in some of the rocks, which makes my nose wrinkle, but besides that the water is clean to the point where it looks like the rapids below are part of the sky.

I lean to drink them and a paw slams on my tail, drawing me back. I yelp with pain and jump back, but whoever stepped on my tail is already long gone into the group. I draw my smarting tail back, flicking it out, and the smarting pain begins to subside. The group condenses as we enter the city proper, which is far more polished than Lira City, but nonetheless nowhere as comfortable. The white buildings and storefronts have been replaced by almost empty halls with the occasional tunnel that cuts across the skyline. Almost everything is made out of green glass and gilded golden metal, including lights on the sides of the streets. Among these buildings, the tallest is a long, thin building not unlike a shaft of sunlight, and this is the one we enter.

Avery leans against the front and the glass parts to welcome us into a spacious lobby, where the silence of the city gives way to an inner bustle. All sorts of supplies levitate through the air, forming a river over the heads of the Sentients within. Despite the formal, dim appearance of most of the Sentients working there, most of whom are not malnourished but rather skimpy, a few Sentients can be seen sparring in rooms separated from us by more glass. A dragon faces a bear-like creature, while some avian with four wings fights an opponent half their size who they can't seem to hit. The variety of species is so shocking that I find myself drawn to the window, only to have my tail stepped on again.

"Who's doing that?" I ask.

"Who's doing what?" asks Fyera, in response.

Avery shoots me a look. "Everyone. Calm."

"I am very calm." I protest, and she practically cuffs me on the ear, leading me up a set of stairs far too thin for use up and up until I swear we've climbed the whole building. Our party mainly falls behind Avery and I, but they look no more thrilled about the climb than I do whenever I look back.

When we finally reach a single door, Avery steps back and nods to me. "Open it."

I do, and it swings back towards a room at the top of the world. A few plants are present in the corners, upon shelves thick with books, but they are yellowing with age or neglect. Meanwhile, the rest of the room is sterile, with sparse decoration and a single light fixture overhead. Most of the walls are glass, affixed with huge shades atop them that block the rest of the world from view. A few Sentients are already in the room, who respectfully greet our own party as they emerge from the stairs, but their party is not only smaller in number but in size as well, with an unprecedented number of Sentient species similar in eye spacing, shape, and size to prey species. At the far end of the table, a chair swings around, and a Lapine, like Blossom, stands, long ears flicking. Pressing his paws against each other, he proclaims, "It would be nice to see you, really, it would, but you're terribly late, Avery."

"I brought you a surprise. I'll let you have it if you shut your mouth long enough to let me explain myself."

"No matter. This one came after you and you

"Are Lapines psychic?" I ask Avery.

"No. Just very, very smart. It's a skill so frequently underutilized most of Dreamland seems to have forgotten that we've been imbued with magical intellect." Verde's whiskers twitch. "Of course, having a slobbering Canis in charge for all of our history does tend to obscure the assets of any other species, don't you think?" he asks.

"You are talking to the Virtue of Leadership and the Sixty-Third Auspicia. If you value your head in the years to come, I suggest that you cease talking ill of our kin."

"I imply you're less than civilized and you respond by immediately provoking violence. Very classy, Avery. You're going to do a good job dealing with dragons." Verde says, leaning forwards on the table. He makes a beckoning gesture to our Defenders. "Sit down, won't you?"

Most of them take seats, although the chairs are definitely not made for anyone of their size. Verde's eyes warm with mirth, then, looking back to the two unseated Sentients, he says to Avery and I, "I trust you've done enough sitting for sixty-two lifetimes, Auspicia. Throne's comfy on your hindquarters."

"I'm not--" I begin.

"You don't remember anything." Verde says. "See, that's fascinating. Why do you think that is? My personal theory is that it's a measure by your own mind to force down traumatic memories. Most of my council agrees with me, which makes debate a lot less fun, but occasionally you do get those totally unanimous judgements... again, something I'm sure your puppet council back in the days was familiar with. It's a real shame that everyone has to make real decisions now, but I'm sure things will be back to normal when you magically regain all of your powers and resume whatever it is you plan to do. You have... a plan, don't you?"
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask Avery.

"The Auspicia derives power directly from Verhamera. Verhamera's might will crash down on you, allowing you to perform miracles." Avery says. "The kind of miracles we could use right now."

"You sound like a cultist." Verde sighs. He has his head on his paws, and by the look on his face, he is enjoying himself immensely.

"Says the one who based the architecture of their room on the Auspicia's personal office for the latter reigns. Listen, Verde, however mixed your feelings are on the Auspicia, I know you appreciate order. Furthermore, I appreciate the welfare of all Sentients, and we are fighting a losing war. I gave you something a long time ago and Lira City wants it back for the purpose of reinstating the Auspicia on the throne."

"Who says Sukoma City is interested in reinstating the Auspicia?" asks Verde.

"You have a dozen eyewitnesses to treason, Verde!" cries Avery. "Right here in this very room. By the order of ancient law--"

"A dozen against, easily doctored footage using magical means, and twice the clout you have in the ramshackle remains of a legal system. For the strategist who saved all of Dreamland from the threat of the Obsidians, Avery, I would expect so much more to be in that addled hollow of a head of yours."

Avery's face twitches.

"I could have her sent over here, soon as I tell the intercity council at large what's going on. You came to me in confidence, before you told anyone else about what you'd discovered, hoping you could reclaim the knife you lent to me for safekeepings. Well, the knife is still safe. Wouldn't Sukoma City, with superior resources, be a far better place to host the Auspicia and keep her safe? As opposed to... I can't even think how many breaches of protocol must've taken place already, given that she managed to sneak into this meeting. Terrible misconduct. Hiding the Auspicia. How's that for treason, Aves?"

"Don't you dare use that nickname."

"That's not a rebuttal. That's a desperate cry of alarm. Play a little stronger, won't you?" taunts Verde.

Avery sighs. "I'm here for an emotional argument and you know that. You're not one to play fool's games, much less one to take gambles like the one I'm insisting on. You stand nothing to lose and everything to gain if the Auspicia were to disappear, but keeping her quiet would be much easier in your 'care'. This is the situation as it stands, isn't it?"

Verde nods.

"Okay, follow up question." barks Gale from across the table, and Verde nods. "Is it hard for you to sleep at night before you've personally crushed the skulls of a dozen orphans, or does being a conniving snake already supply you with your daily fix of misery?"

The entire table erupts in a barrage of chaos, primarily from our side, where Fyera has slammed Gale with the butt of her blade and the others are now proceeding to chew him out while I attempt to hide under the table. Verde smirks. "Did you bring them here to indoctrinate them, Avery? They're very convinced you're fighting for the underdog here, as it were, when in reality... look, the lot of you have to understand that this war has killed millions. The fact that we're still on this planet is really a miracle in and of itself, in the worst sense of the word, when a temporary evacuation to let the Plague run its course would have been far more effective. Still, someone insisted we stay and keep up the good fight, all in the hopes that her precious god would come back to stroke her in between the ears, even if everyone had to die to make that happen."

"We would have died off-world! Half the population doesn't have spirits strong enough to withstand interdimensional pressures on our magic." Avery insists. "Furthermore, procreation is near impossible in such conditions..."

"We could at least have evacuated who we could."

"And let everyone else alone to die?" Avery's eyes shine with brilliant defiance, and there she is, back on the attack. "We've had a partial evacuation. Plenty are gone, scattered to the cosmos like stardust. This is more than a place, Verde, it's part of us."

Verde nods. "That's fair."

Avery exhales.

"But the government reforms?"

"I've helped with temporary measures."

"Temporary." Verde says. "If we had effective interspecies long-term reform before this mess, this wouldn't even be a problem. Opphemria is the weakest continent fully because we spent years running around like a headless squirrel in the beginnings of the Plague."

"We were concerned with things besides bureaucracy when the Plague started." Avery argues.

"The Auspicia was a Plague. We've finally, finally gotten the chance to snuff that out--" Oh Natrina. Oh Natrina Natrina Natrina. I think it's coming for me now. I try not to lower my head directly into the table and take long deep breaths and feel my body contract. "--and here you are, standing across the table."

"I can get you what you want, Verde. Give me the knife and the new Auspicia and I will put new systems into place when we get her back into power. Please don't let your political stance be the ruination of millions when we're this close to ending the Plague."

Verde raises his gaze. "I'd hope you also have a plan for returning refugees who have scattered across dozens of dimensions, not all of whom are sympathetic to our plight."

"That's where you come in."

"I was under the impression you might at least have something. Can you do diplomatic strategy? Given the entrance you made with me earlier, I'm not entirely sure... and you'll find it's not the same as crude battles..."

"Verde." Avery growls. "I was trained in just about damn everything before Heilin died."

"Clearly not well trained enough to inspire any degree of obedience in your corps, Avery. And what a shabby group they are..." he looks over us. "Disobedient, for one thing. What makes you think that they're going to magically procure the 'missing half' of the Auspicia's power?"

"We don't know that we can," I begin.

Avery makes a noise akin to a screeching wail that dies out in her throat.

"She speaks." Verde says, eyes alight. "Astute observation. Do go on."

"We don't know anything. We only know that as things are, with the knife stuck in... wherever you're keeping it... things will never get better. You have my oath and my blood that things will change when things return to normal and the Plague is over. If that's what you want, have it. We are willing to collaborate to make a better world. I am willing to take on the Auspicia's past sins if that what this world needs me to do. But what I can't do is wait for the world to end knowing that we could have done something and we just kept... running ourselves into the ground!" I say. "I barely even know what we're doing here. I just... know that we're trying to fix things. We're all good guys, aren't we? Good enough?"

Verde blinks. "Very well. Molly?"

A brown Lapine brings a box out onto the table and slides it across. Avery opens the box, takes a deep breath, and lowers her tongue to it. It glows a frightening blue color, so light that it almost looks like fire, and this seems to be enough for her. She replaces the lid and nods to Verde. "Glad we could make you see sense."

"Hopefully I can say the same for you." Verde says. "Get out of my office."

"Can't wait to kick you down your own stairs," offers Avery, giving the box to Auma, who levitates it, "And have a nice day."

When Avery exits, the group follows in her wake, and I stare back at Verde until he shuts the door in my face. A familiar gray shape haunts the side of my vision, and I'm not sure just how thrilled I am to see him, even if my whole heart is shouting here I am again!

"I would have hit him." Gale offers, and I suddenly know who stepped on my tail.

I nudge him in the side and he falls down half a flight of stairs.