"Please. Settle yourselves. We are beginning."
The remaining Elders entered behind the young-looking elven woman in two lines, dark robes falling almost to the floor and silver runes catching the light along their sleeves. None carried the crest of a Great Family, and none needed one. By the time the tenth had taken his place along the outer circle, every conversation at the table had died.
The elven woman stayed standing at the head of the chamber, as she had at the previous Council, and nothing in her manner suggested the years between had softened her.
"The One Hundred Forty-Fifth Council of the Eight Great Families is now in session. All eight seats are occupied, all ten Elders are present, and from this point forward anything formally submitted before this chamber will be preserved in its record."
