“Emily,” Kyle said, kneeling down by the pool.
“Hiya, Kyle, coming for a swim?” Emily asked, and caught Allen as he jumped off the side of the pool.
“Ky sim,” Allen said when he saw the heku.
Kyle grinned, “I can't come swim right now… Emily, the Elders are here and they want to talk to you, immediately.”
Emily frowned, “Why?”
“Not my place to ask, come on. I'll take Allen,” Kyle said, standing up.
Emily hesitantly crawled out of the pool and handed Allen over, “Tell them I'll be right there after I change.”
“Sorry, no time,” he explained, and handed her a towel.
She gasped, “I can't change?”
Kyle started ushering her out of the room, “No, we need to hurry.”
Emily wrapped the towel around her as best she could and scowled all the way to the conference room. Kyle opened the door and Emily stepped in, then spun and tried to get out the door, but he blocked her. There were three heku at the table wearing dark green robes with their hoods pulled up over their heads so she couldn't see their faces.
“Emily, sit, please,” one of the Elders said. She blushed profusely. They were in traditional Equites robes, and she was in a bikini wrapped in a towel.
“I should ash you,” Emily whispered to Kyle, but blushed worse when he laughed.
“Sit,” he said, shutting the door. Emily turned and sat down at the head of the table, a seat or two away from the others.
“Can we get you anything, Emily?” Maleth asked.
“No, thank you,” she said, and shifted uncomfortably in the seat.
“Ok, let's get on with it then,” Chevalier said. Emily's eyes widened. She didn't know Chevalier was even here. She realized that meant only two were Elders. She changed seats to sit beside him.
Maleth sighed, “It's time, Chevalier.”
Chevalier's hands tightened into fists, “Already?”
Emily's body tensed. She could tell by the tone in his voice that something was wrong.
“It's getting worse. We can't have this,” Leonid said.
“Now though? It seems like an unstable time for such a change,” Chevalier said dryly.
“It has to be now,” Leonid said.
“Why are you telling me?” Chevalier asked.
“It's going to be you,” Maleth said.
Emily felt Chevalier's hands ball into tight fists and she started to panic as he growled deeply.
She cleared her throat and felt all three look at her, “What's going to be him?”
Chevalier sighed, “They want me to take Selest's place as an Elder.”
She frowned, “No.”
“Excuse me?” Maleth asked, shocked.
“I don't want him to be an Elder.” Her voice was higher than usual as the panic grew.
“Emily, not now,” Chevalier hissed at her, and her eyes grew wide.
“When?” He turned and asked the others.
“Soon, things have gotten bad,” Maleth told them.
Chevalier turned to Emily, and then back to the Elders, “Why did you have Emily come?”
Leonid sighed, “We hope to avoid the nasty battle with her supporters… Emily gives us the advantage of a clean kill.”
She gasped and pushed her chair back to stand, but Chevalier's hand shot out and held her in her chair.
“No, I can do it,” Chevalier said angrily.
“You know how many supporters Selest has. It's more than just doing away with her. We would need to get through her protectors. If Emily could simply… turn her to ash… it would avoid any unexpected complications,” Leonid explained.
“No,” Emily whispered.
“Emily, it's for the good of the faction,” Maleth said, and pulled his hood back so she could see his face.
She shook her head.
Leonid brought his hood down, followed by Chevalier. She looked into his eyes and could tell he wasn't happy.
“She can't kill an Elder. You know what the implications would be,” Chevalier said.
“No one would know what happened, that's the beauty of it,” Maleth said excitedly. “Never have we been able to replace a member of the Council without fighting and innocent heku dying.”
“I said I can do it… alone,” Chevalier growled at them.
“That would be too messy… then we would have the years and years until the faction members all trusted you again,” Leonid reminded him.
Emily's mind swam. She thought of Larsen and how he was ousted for being thought of as weak. Everything involved in being an Elder scared her. The Elders were above reproach and they were both hated and feared by anyone outside of the Council. She didn't want to move off of the island. She didn't want her husband to have endless meetings and missions.
Maleth reached out and touched her arm lightly, “We can't order you, Emily, you aren't a heku. So we have no right to force you to do this.”
She pulled away from his touch and looked at Chevalier, “Don't do it.”
“I have to. They can't order you, but once the decision is made to replace an Elder, it's permanent,” he said to her.
“No,” she said, and turned to the Elders. “Pick someone else.”
“The decision is made,” Leonid said to her. His eyes were warm and understanding.
“I saw what happened to Larsen,” she whispered, her eyes quickly darting across the table.
Maleth stiffened, “Larsen?”
“Yes, the former Elder. He's been living in a crypt under the island for 600 years,” she said, not looking up from the wood pattern on the desk.
“How do you know this?” Leonid asked quietly.
Emily looked at Chevalier and frowned.
Chevalier turned to them, “Larsen broke out of the crypt and took Emily for a few days. I told this all to Selest.”
“She failed to pass that information on to us,” Leonid hissed.
“Has he…” Maleth began, but Chevalier nodded.
“I took care of him.”
“My point is that he was banished for being weak and turned into this old… shrivel… slumped over thing that spent his days plotting revenge. He was vile, he smelled, he hated…” Emily shivered.
“That won't happen to Chevalier, Emily. He's stronger than Selest and Larsen combined. It's unfortunate you had to see that, and we apologize for any harm he might have done,” Leonid said.
“Pick someone else,” she said angrily.
“We can't,” Maleth said. “Chevalier is the strongest of the Council, probably even more so than Leonid or I. We need that on the Council.”
“What happens to Emily when I'm made an Elder?” Chevalier asked softly.
“What do you mean what happens to me?” she asked, her eyes scanning them.
“An Elder can't have a mortal wife, it's a sign of weakness. It's never been done,” Maleth said, sighing.
Emily was so angry she felt tears in her eyes, “So that's it then? I kill off an Elder,