Being led into the ice elves’ council chambers, Marcus immediately felt all of the member’s gaze being directed towards him.
He could feel that many of these gazes held a strong resentment, with some even being outright hostile.
However, this did not mean that there was not a fair share of hopeful and curious council members as well.
‘Hm a pretty mixed bag. This could be difficult.’
Looking around, Marcus saw that it was pretty close to an even split on those that seemed to already hate him and those that did not.
And after giving a quick scan he realized that those that were radiating hostility, were on average those of an older persuasion.
“Standing before the council now is Lady Irene Geist of the Kingdom of Borealia and Ambassador Bianca Valorre who has recommended her. These two have come here today to approve of the appointment of Lady Geist to be the representative of Borealia in Glenna Reota.” The ice elf who had escorted Marcus and Bianca said as she addressed the council..
Yet within just an instant after she finished speaking, one of the council members stood up and slammed his hands down on his desk, and said, “I will not sit here and even think that we are going to approve this. It is preposterous that we have even agreed to allow a Borealian representative, but I absolutely refuse to even consider a human. If they want to send someone, they should appoint another elf, or at least someone that is not human.”
After this councilor’s abrupt outburst, silence permeated the chambers for a few moments. Before another councilor who was seated in the middle separate from the rest stood up, and said, “Councilor Yinra, you certainly know better than to speak out just as the meeting is getting underway. We have a proper order that must be followed, or our council simply turns into a madhouse. Now sit down now or I will have you thrown out of the chambers until it is time to vote.”
Grumbling but ultimately following the directions of this other ice elf, councilor Yinra sat back down and behaved himself.
‘So that is the current chairwoman.’ Marcus thought as he looked at the ice elf that had silenced Yinra.
“Now it is time that we get this meeting formally underway. To start, does anyone on the council wish to advocate for Lady Geist and Ambassador Valorre?” The ice elf chairwoman said.
A few moments later fourteen of the councilors raised their hands, wishing to be able to advocate on Marcus’ and Bianca’s behalf.
Though as Marcus looked at those who had volunteered. He recognized that five of them were ones that had been giving him less than friendly looks when he walked in, and likely wanted to sabotage him.
Still, it was not like it mattered since they had already decided to go with Bianca’s grandmother.
“I would like to choose Councilor Valorre to be my advocate.” Marcus said without any hesitation.
Nodding her head, the chairwoman agreed and then waved her hand towards Arryn. Beckoning her to head down to the center of the chamber.
Once she had taken her place down next to Marcus and her granddaughter, Arryn waited patiently until the chairwoman gave her go ahead.
Then once she had permission to speak, she began listing Marcus’ exceptional qualities and why he would make a good representative for Borealia.
Of course, she stared with that Marcus was actually a spirit first and foremost, and the mood of the room almost instantly changed.
Spirits were rare beings and naturally held in high regard among the ice elves due to their connection with the snow spirits that inhabited theses mountains.
In fact, even some of the most disdainful elves had to begrudgingly give their respect for Marcus as a spirit.
Naturally some of them were also skeptical, wondering if this might be some type of gambit, but it seemed unlikely that Councilor Valorre would openly lie like this before the entire council.
It was an easy enough matter to check someone’s status, and anything revealing the contrary would automatically sink Marcus’ chances, as well as heavily damage the Valorre family’s reputation.
Quickly, Arryn had finished the speech that the three of them had prepared beforehand, and lightly bowed her head towards the chairwoman to tell her that she was done.
“Well, that certainly was a rousing speech and painted Lady Geist in a very favorable light. Now, I am opening up the floor for questions. Any who wish to speak may now do so.”
As soon as the chairwoman finished speaking a number of the councilors stood up, and on their desk a number was assigned.
Then when all those who wished to speak had stood up, a shimmering light surrounded the first to go and allowed them to ask their questions.
“Lady Geist, I am sure that all of us are wondering if you really are a spirit. So, if you would not mind, could you prove it to us?”
Smiling Marcus said, “Yes that is easy enough.”
After saying this, Marcus disappeared for a few moments before reappearing again, demonstrating an ability that was commonly associated with spirits.
Yet that was not all, as when planning with Bianca and Arryn they had said this might not be enough for some of the more skeptical councilors.
Therefore, they had a status reading tablet prepared in advance, and Marcus displayed his basic status for all to see.
However, he had made some changes, no longer having it display his race as a great spirit or an unbound ghost.
Instead, it now had him listed a superior spirit of light and darkness, which was not far off, but still vastly different.
Seeing this, there was little doubt that anyone could have left in the validity of Marcus being a spirit.
“Hm, well it appears that you were telling the truth. Thank you for humoring me Lady Geist.” The councilor who had asked Marcus his first question said before sitting back down.
With the first question out of the way, the next elf in line took his turn to speak, and asked Marcus another question that was on everyone’s mind.
“If I may, Lady Geist, why is a spirit acting as a noble in the human kingdom of Borealia. I have never once heard of a spirit pretending to be human and taking a title in any nation.”
“It is actually quite simple. I am a whimsical spirit and I helped out when one of the kingdom’s towns was in trouble from a monster outbreak. In return for my assistance, they gave me a title thinking that I was human. Of course, I could have simply ignored it and gone about my business as usual, but I decided to see how it played out. Anyway, being holed up in these mountains away from the rest of the world, how much could you really know about other nations?
After Marcus said this the councilor that had asked this question went red faced in embarrassment. Since truthfully, he did know little about places beyond Glenna Reota, and had no way to try and argue against Marcus.
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