Right now, Lucien was meeting the black-robed leader once again.
This time, he did not receive him in a hall.
He brought him instead to the edge of the Palace of Stillness, where the view opened over the rising body of Lootwell below.
Marie and Kaia came with him.
Kaia already knew the man, having crossed paths with him in the Liberator headquarters on the Middle Continent.
Marie, on the other hand, had once been invited by him to join the Liberators, only to refuse and remain with Eirene instead while waiting for Lucien's return.
Lucien raised one hand slightly.
Without sound, an Edict descended into the world.
The stone at the palace edge shifted.
A round table rose.
Then chairs.
They emerged from the floor as naturally as if they had always belonged there and had simply been waiting for permission to appear.
The black-robed leader sat across from Lucien.
Behind him stood the four black-robed women who had always followed him like shadows.
