Snippet #2581704

The sharp tip of a finger-guard tapped gently against the delicate wood, too soft to be heard over the loud voices. It seemed a requirement of politics was to have a voice that carried from one border to another, still at least it stopped things from devolving into mindless chaos.
A soft sensation against her fingers caused even to look down, seeing the red and blue spider nesting gently on top of her hand.
Yveine returned her eyes to the council, her thumb absent mindedly stroking the spider as she listened carefully. The information was not new. For one thing, there had been tensions and conflicts arising for quite a long time and for another, her Lumens had gathered most of the details presented. What was important was how it was being dealt with. After Elterys spoke, the other members began arguing. Again. She kept quiet. No need to enter a discussion unless you had a contribution and besides, she approved of the plan. It spread things out, kept every side covered and allowed for dealing with the threat quickly and efficiently. The other bickering was merely over territories and forces, all to deal as little damage to themselves as possible.
Then his majesty spoke.
Her finger hovered mid tap at his words, blinking slightly in disbelief.
The entirety of the levy?
After the king abruptly left chatter started up again, not as loud this time but somehow even more tense. He actually wanted to put the entirety of the levy into a display of force? Leaving the main land unguarded? There was nothing stopping either race from making a move away from the border and the frontier, she’d had reports of rouges doing just that, so this made no sense. Besides which, out of the two threats the humans were the lesser ones. They needed to be kept under watch, but the orcs were more likely to start a sporadic attack.
Sighing to herself, Yveine listened to the other council members but found little of value in their words. She waited a moment before standing up, clicking her tongue slightly until the spider scuttled up her arm to rest on her shoulder. Taking her leave, she made her way out of the room and instantly caught sight of a blonde woman in light armour, her face shadowed by a hood. The woman noticed her appearance and walked over.
“If I may have your ear Etoile?” She asked in a low, quiet tone, extending her hand in a sign of respect and bowing her head.
Yveine touched the outstretched palm before responding “You always have it Aino. I assume more of the same.”
The two of them began making their way along the corridor as Aino spoke, “Indeed Etoile, the Orcs continue to move against us. There have been citizen deaths again. Nothing major from the humans but talk is spreading, there have been more ranger sightings and moving around the border is more risky than ever.”
“That’s to be expected from them, they won’t strike until it’s necessary.” She muttered to herself, eyeing her Lumen carefully. “Your face suggests something else.”
“Nothing certain Etoile. Much like with the humans it’s just talk. But it concerns the demons.” Aino saw Yveine raise an eyebrow, quickly adding “No sightings and no witnesses, but their presence has been mentioned increasingly over the past months. It seems to be merely rumours and suspicions.”
“Suspicion is sometimes more dangerous than truth… Keep your ears to the ground. Inform the other Lumen to return to the estate, we may have to change our positions. I’ll brief you later.”
“Understood Etoile.”
The two of them had arrived in the main part of the palace, and Aino bowed deeply before heading towards the main doors. Yveine scanned the room for a moment, contemplating her next decision… and caught sight of Elterys with the human ambassador. Evan Deadwood. She had no issues with him, in fact she approved highly of his role as ambassador, but it was Elterys she wished to speak to; if she was going to plan how to place her Lumens she needed to know where they were needed.
“Better perform our civic duty Aranea.” She murmured softly to the spider before making her way over to the two. “My lords.” Her voice was gentle but it carried, as she stopped before them and bowed her head respectfully to each in turn. “Forgive the interruption, but if I may have your ear a moment my lord Mheadros?”