Sephira felt well rested and in generally good spirits when they flew back on the fifth day to avoid suspicion since DeLise was a two-day flight from Thule. Similarly, Rauka and Craven felt renewed as they let the slow gold dragons drift through the air towards Thule. Sephira had them arc towards the South before approaching Thule from roughly the direction of DeLise and her sharp eyes located several balconies with three and four dragons piled on them near the top of the highest tower. Her balcony was dangerously close to the other balconies and she saw several dragons watch her and her orcs land. She wasn't surprised that Azaesel knocked on her door a few minutes after she landed because his dragons had seen her land. She told him her friend was doing fine and it must've just been a bad dream. He was happy that that was the case and seemed to sense the good mood Sephira was in. He let her know there was a meeting with all the Generals as well as the Grey Council after the morning meal tomorrow. She agreed to have her evening meal with Azaesel and he was overjoyed, but tried no to show it. Sephira sent Gia to retrieve food for her orcs before following Azaesel up to his chambers. Craven and Rauka weren't very happy to not accompany her to Azaesel's chambers, but she needed a break from worrying about them getting found out for not being turned. Azaesel seemed to prefer when they didn't come.

She removed her Nimbi mask and black hood and shook out her hair as she sat down at her place by his side at the table. She still had her hand in her long blond hair when she found his yellow eyes on her.

"I had wanted to show you first, but I'll just tell you." Azaesel burst out after their meals had been placed in front of them. Sephira just gave him her polite attention and focused on not reacting to whatever strange thing he wanted to show her. "I'm making a weapon that will be strong enough for us to turn elves into Nimbi." She didn't succeed in not reacting and he looked disappointed in her tilted head and furrowed eyebrows.

"Do you have elves here?" she asked careful to only sound curious and confused and not pissed off and demanding.

"No, well it's based on theory at this point, but I'm hoping to test it when it's finished." He answered lamely, making her expression lighten up.

"How does it work?" She asked, trying to sound innocent and not prying. He raised an eyebrow like he thought she was too simple to understand, but his excitement about his 'toy' kept him talking.

"There's a powerful crystal in the mines of the Morian mountains." He explained.

"I thought crystals were for healing?" she lied, trying to sound simple, but she looked at him with seriousness in her expression.

"Elves have spells protecting their minds from our spell that we use to gather orcs and humans to be turned. The crystal will be charged strong enough to disrupt their protective spells." He explained. She knew he was talking about disrupting her wards and she had to focus on not looking upset about this concept.

"Do you have spells protecting your mind?" she asked, knowing he did, but having only checked that his dragons were strong enough that she couldn't get through unless she had another of her kind with her.

"Of course." He said with a half-smile. She was glad he didn't seem suspicious of her since she knew she had strong wards, as did Craven and Rauka since the Undine and her and Sorin had placed them. Unlike the Undine's, the Duvendis wards were designed to be less noticeable and she occasionally allowed innocent thoughts to cross her wards to throw Azaesel off her scent.

"Well won't your spells get disrupted as well?" she asked, barely catching herself from calling the 'spells' he spoke of 'wards.' He nodded as he was deep in thought.

"That's a good point." He pursed his lips. "I suspect our wards are different. From what I've read, the elves use metal or crystals to amplify their wards while they use specific patterns to weave specific wards like a web." He rambled, making Sephira try to feign confusion when really she was trying to decide if he didn't know that Duvendis tended to use deer antlers to weave wards around while Undine used leaves and plants and Naiads used natural patterns found on shells. "I'm sorry, my dear Sephim. I've confused you, haven't I?" he asked, with a fond look at her pretty face.

"I'd like to learn more, but I'm afraid I don't know much to begin with, my Lord." She said with a faraway smile. She wondered what druids used for their wards. She guessed geometric symbols, but she was too worried about the risk of getting caught to try to get through Azaesel's wards. It wasn't worth it when he seemed to give her information without her having to try too hard anyway.

"Perhaps after the meeting tomorrow, I will show you my weapon and some of the basic books I have about magick." Azaesel told her with a smile.

"Okay." She said, feeling apprehension rise in her.

"What's the matter?" He asked, catching her very subtle tone.

"Uhm, I'm just a little nervous about the meeting." She stuttered, telling part of the truth. "I don't really know what to expect. That's all." She said sincerely, seeing no suspicion in his expression, only sympathy.

"I will be right by your side. You have nothing to worry about." He told her comfortingly, which didn't actually make her comfortable, but maybe being next to him would stop the others from looking at her if he spoke a lot. She could just stand and absorb the information.

"It's not going to be in that strange language, is it?" She asked lowering her voice and sounding almost exasperated. She hoped she wasn't over-doing her obliviousness, but saw with satisfaction that Azaesel only laughed.

"It's elvish. Most of the generals don't know elvish. Only the Grigori." He answered. She almost wanted to ask him why he spoke elvish and not some druid language, but decided she wanted to steer clear of anything relating to elves to avoid them making connections to her. She just smiled as if she was impressed with him and they ate while he told her about how much he missed her for the four and a half days that she had been gone. When she had finished and he didn't want her to go but she insisted on getting sleep so she'd be ready for the meeting in the morning, she decided to summon one of her three dragons to his balcony.

"You're very good with your dragons..." He said slowly as he followed her towards her blue-eyed male dragon who stood waiting for her with his eye on Qetesh who dwarfed him where he crouched. "I admit, I was surprised that first day you rode your dragons. I didn't think you'd be able to stay on." He told her as she controlled her expression but her mind raced.

"I've ridden horses all my life." She started as she turned back. "And... I think I was born to ride dragons." She smiled as she stepped backwards and had her dragon put his nose to the floor of the balcony. She stepped softly on his large snout and then backwards up onto his head and he lifted her slowly while she balanced and watched Azaesel's expression go from suspicion to awe and admiration very quickly. "Good night, my Lord. I will see you in the morning." she laughed before she leaped from his head to his saddle and he dove from the balcony obediently.

*

Azaesel sent a servant boy to summon her early in the morning before she got a chance to send Gia for breakfast. She took Rauka and Craven with her and all three wore their Nimbi masks and full armour in anticipation of a nerve-racking meeting with all the leaders of the Nimbian army as well as all of the Grigori including a member they had already fought in battle personally. Sephira stepped into his office behind the small gold-collared servant boy who bowed deeply. Sephira had once again forgotten to bow because she was surprised to see Azaesel was wearing some elegantly detailed gold armour over his black tunic and tight black pants, but what made her stop was the thick black cloak that was draped over his shoulders.

"Sephim, I just wanted to have you sign your paperwork before we go down to the meeting." He said, as he looked down at the desk and then looked expectantly at her.

"Paperwork?" she asked, realizing in a complete panic that she didn't know how to read let alone write in the human script. Could she scribble? She wondered, glad that her mask hid the expression her face.

"Yes, the paperwork to finalize your change of rank." He answered handing her the feather quill. She dipped the quill as she peered down at the document, looking for his signature to see if she could get away with scribbling or maybe just trying to pick letters that could be the ones in her name.

"My Lord!" A man's voice called, to Sephira's relief. She and Azaesel looked at the Captain expectantly. "They've requested your input on seating arrangements before the meeting." He said.

"I'll be right back, General." Azaesel told her before striding out of the room behind the Captain. Sephira looked to see that no dragons were watching her from the balcony and no servants were in the room and then she dashed to Craven and Rauka in the antechamber.

"I don't know how to write." She hissed with her eyes wide. Rauka and Craven looked at each other and then looked at her with surprise in their eyes.

"I can do it." Rauka whispered, looking quickly around before taking Sephira's feather quill and quickly looking for the line to sign before writing the foreign letters. She put the feather quill down and dashed back to her spot when Azaesel's annoyed voice was heard approaching at a fast pace down the hallway. She only barely made it back to her post and Sephira's heart was pounding when Azaesel appeared in the doorway a moment later. She straightened up with a glance down at what Rauka had written so that if she needed to sign anything else, at least she'd vaguely remember the look of it.

"I have a title pin for you..." Azaesel announced as he looked down at his messy desk and found it amongst some Lieutenant orders that were in a pile on the corner. He pinned the small sun pin to the upper part of her tunic above her chest plate and she noticed the rings he wore on his long fingers. They were beautiful and held crystals and some were made of stones she recognized like hematite. His face had dipped close to hers as he looked down at the gold pin before he straightened up and she found herself looking at the many chains he wore around his bronze neck that she guessed each had a magickal purpose like his rings. "Why are you wearing an Officer's mask?" He asked suddenly with irritation in his voice.

"I prefer to wear a mask." She stammered stubbornly.

"You don't need a mask and you're far too beautiful to hide your face." He annunciated with a note of pride in his voice.

"Men speak clearer when they can't see my face." Sephira insisted, making Azaesel laugh.

"I guess you're right, though I think you'll find the Grey Council and Generals are less respectful of you if you wear what they know as an Officer's mask." Azaesel pointed out. Sephira was indecisive as she stood with him and he seemed to be waiting for her to decide. She took off her mask, but kept her black hood up on her head. She had a deeper meaning behind the dark look on her face, but Azaesel tried to reassure her with a smile. "Don't worry. I will be by your side. I won't let any of them speak down to you. I promise." Craven found himself respecting the man for saying words that he himself would've said in his position. He could see the worry in Sephira's eyes had more to do with the symbolic removal of her mask in front of her most powerful enemies, but he felt Azaesel's words were still reassuring. Azaesel took her hand and he and Rauka followed them closely as Azaesel led her at a quick pace to a room with a large table where several uniformed men were already gathered around standing.

Azaesel led Sephira to the head of the table and pulled the chair to his left for her to sit while he took the chair at the end. Craven and Rauka stood with their eyes down behind Sephira where she sat with her posture straight how her mother taught her. She'd been to many boring war meetings and often would not speak up unless absolutely necessary which is how her mother worked too. She had told Sephira that meetings were more about listening than speaking especially when it came to other nations.

Sephira found herself quietly sitting beside the one Grey Council member she was hoping wouldn't notice her or sit close to her, Eclorian. Across from her, sat a very distracting bored Jupiter. At the other end of the table across from Azaesel was Astraeus who sat with his three generals behind him. Sephira realized with a horrible feeling in her gut that all the Generals were standing and only the nine Grey Council members and her had taken seats. The one who did the most talking was Sol to her surprise. He had wanted to go to Earth Kingdom territory, but their forces had been pushed back by large Earth Kingdom forces and they needed to replenish their ranks with more superior turned soldiers so he had decided Orc territory would be better.

"What about the treaty we made with Ruichon?" One of the Generals asked from behind Azaesel's right shoulder. She could practically feel Craven and Rauka listening and she had frozen with a careful expression.

"We don't need to honor a treaty with that foolish King." Azaesel laughed.

"In exchange for the information about the soldiers heading North to Aquilineq, we aren't supposed to attack Orc Territory." The general continued, making Sephira's expression show a hint of her anger at being betrayed. They could've killed any one of the warriors.

"He didn't tell us there were going to be Duvendis there!" Eclorian growled, surprising Sephira and almost making her jump in her seat as she tried not to look guilty and purposefully did not meet his eye. Fortunately, he was focused on getting the General to stop talking and didn't spare a look to Sephira.

"General Sephim, what do you think?" Azaesel asked, turning to her and making her look down at the table away from Eclorain who had turned to her.

"I think attacking the Orc territory has more benefits than honoring a treaty with an untrustworthy King." Sephira said carefully, surprising everyone in the room with her insight. Craven was surprised by her quick, vague answer until he remembered her upbringing meant she had dealt with meetings like this in the past. His eyebrows furrowed under his mask when he realized that he himself may have seen her in a meeting before. He often attended with his grandfather Kakaroth and stood bored by his side while the King's Council talked back and forth, but he thought back to certain meetings where Duvendis wraiths were present. He knew from what Sephira said that she was the 'Second' that would've attended with her mother, the leader. He recalled them calling the leader, 'Feuryn' and the other was 'Sviat'. He had thought those were the names of the wraiths, but he realized they could've been their titles.

"If we honored the treaty with the Orcs they could help us move against the dark elves!" One of the Generals argued. Sephira almost laughed out loud at the idea of their close ally joining a rogue group of human wizards to fight her feared people.

"The orcs won't willingly go against the Duvendis." One of the Grey Council pointed out.

"Turned orcs will. General Sephim is right. It's more beneficial to have turned orcs than it is to try to form an alliance with an untrustworthy King." Astraeus said from the other side of the table.

"None of the allied nations have organized an attack against you other than Earth Kingdom, is that correct?" Sephira found herself asking. She felt every pair of eyes on her even Craven and Rauka's from behind as they froze to decide what she was getting at.

"That's correct." Azaesel answered, waiting patiently for what Sephira was about to say.

"So why not take the dark elves by surprise while the treaty with the orcs is still in effect?" Sephira challenged. She could see fear in almost every set of eyes that looked at her and Craven and Rauka knew she was trying to convince them to make a practically suicidal trip into Duvendis territory which would incite utter chaos. She was satisfied by the looks of fear, but tried not to show it.

"You have never met a dark elf..." Eclorian stated with a grim voice that almost made her smirk at the irony.

"Well, there must not be that many of them, then." Sephira laughed so that she could get it out as she couldn't help thinking about how ridiculous she felt trying to advise her enemies to attack her homeland. Azaesel laughed too which seemed to break the tension in the room.

"Attacking Duvendis territory before we're ready could be disastrous." Helios growled at the other end of the table.

"What do you need to be ready? Don't you think keeping the orcs out of it would be better than allowing them time to ally with the Duvendis like they did in the war?" Sephira knew she slipped up from the surprise on their faces. She had pronounced the name of her people too accurately and known too much about the history of a war that had nothing to do with Lightning Kingdom subjects.

"The orcs may already be allied with the Duvendis. We need more dragon riders and magick that will work to render the elves defenseless." Azaesel pointed out.

"What magick could be used against such a foe?" Eclorian probed, looking to Azaesel and to Sephira's relief not seeming interested in her.

"I'm making a weapon to disrupt their wards. I only need to acquire some crystals from a cave in the Morian mountains." Azaesel answered with a snake-like grin.

"All the way in naiad territory..." One of the Generals said with a scowl. Craven had the same scowl as he remembered the Kraken's tentacles strangling him.

"They have multiple wards, some of which they make with crystals. Why would a crystal be able to get through them?" One of the other Grey Council members challenged, sounding unconvinced which made Sephira more relieved that she thought she'd be.

"These crystals aren't just quartz, they're much harder and more perfect. There's no name other than what the Trow people call them, 'Diyar-mont'." Azaesel explained. Sephira tried to think back to her short visit with the Trows and realized with a pang she spent more time being distracted by Craven than speaking to any of the Trowies.

"Why haven't you sent anyone to retrieve these crystals? How do you know they even exist?" Jupiter asked, sounding utterly bored as his red eyes seemed to challenge the tall yellow-eyed Lord.

"I sent several hoards of goblins, but none have returned. I assume something is killing them, so I've been hesitant to send soldiers we need for out attacks on Earth and Orc territory." Azaesel said matter-of-factly.

"What are you thinking, General Sephim?" Jupiter asked suddenly, breaking her out of her daydream about killing Azaesel if she went with him to the Trows and was able to use the cave to thin out his dragons while taking him by surprise with Caius, Craven, and Rauka in addition to their two dragons and her brother and his dragon.

"Uhm, how do you know the Trows aren't the ones killing the goblins if you haven't gone to check?" she asked, sounding innocent to her own ears even though she alone probably killed at least fifty goblins herself, thinking they were after her group and not whatever was in the cave.

"There's no such thing as Trows." One of the Generals laughed. Sephira tried not to give him a look that said of-course-there-are-Trows-you-idiot-I've-seen-them.

"Well, there were. It's widely accepted that Trows did indeed exist and may still live in the Morian mountains." Helios argued.

"I assumed they were extinct." Azaesel announced, sounding unconcerned either way.

"It's more likely Krakens or Hydras killing the goblins." Hyperion commented with a friendly smile at Sephira.

Sephira let the Grey Council decide on their own to send several Grey Council members with four legions to invade Gundam while Azaesel gets ready to ride to naiad territory to obtain his crystals. She was bored when the meeting was concluded and as she started to get up with the rest, Azaesel stopped her and she sat thinking perhaps he was going to let her come with him to get the crystals and she'd have a chance to kill him.

"It was nice to hear a new voice for a change. General Sephim, your perspective was appreciated." Jupiter told her with a deep bow. She was so surprised by the odd gesture that she sat blankly as he followed the others out. She could hear their dragons circling outside the balcony and several wasted no time before jumping to their dragon's backs. Azaesel had abandoned his black cloak and sat in his armour with his eyes on the others. He sent his two other Generals away and eventually the only ones left in the room were Sephira, Craven, Rauka, and Azaesel.

"You did better than I expected..." Azaesel said. Sephira had grown used to his suspicious tone and just ignored it.

"Why was I the only General with a seat at the table, my Lord?" she turned on him with a similarly suspicious tone that made him smirk.

"Because you are the only General with three dragons." He murmured as he leaned towards her with something like a twinkle in his yellow eyes. "Most Generals are lucky if they impress two dragons. You command your dragons without your voice. You are as good as a Grey Council member in my eyes." Azaesel told her proudly. Her eyebrows furrowed as she had started to feel guilty about plotting to kill the entire Grey Council. "However, they would never accept a woman, especially one with orc blood..." He said matter-of-factly, making her guilt evaporate. "They don't even really accept me. I've made a separate name for myself from the Council. Although, I get more notoriety, I also have more of a threat against me." She heard a note of anger in his voice even though he seemed to be trying to appear not to care.

"If orcs are so looked down upon by the Council, then why is it they are fighting so hard to gain orcs in their ranks?" Sephira asked with a bit of a laugh.

"They are superior physically, but lack any sort of Magick that the Grey Council prizes over anything." Azaesel explained with only a distant smile on his large lips.

"Do you not have the most dragons, my Lord?" Sephira asked carefully. She could see in his eyes that she was correct and he raised an eyebrow.

"I do."

"Then, doesn't that prove that your orc blood has not dulled the potency of your Magick?" Craven wondered if she was asking for a different reason other than to flatter Azaesel.

"The others don't see it that way..." Azaesel said dejectedly as he looked to Sephira with discontent in his eyes.

"You can't possibly believe your good looks were inherited from your human side?" She pointed out with a fanged smile.

"We are obviously a superior race, my beautiful Sephim." He said, returning her smile. "I want you to accompany Sol and Eclorian to attack Gundam. If you prove yourself in battle, the Generals and perhaps the Council will also come to respect you more." He said after a moment of deliberating.

"Alright. Are you not coming, my Lord?" she asked carefully, hoping he'd say no.

"I need to do some work on my weapon. When you return, we will go together to naiad territory to retrieve the crystals I need."

"Okay." Sephira said, sounding positive.

*

"That gorram bastard could've gotten us all killed!" Craven growled as he ripped his mask off and threw it to the floor as he paced in Sephira's chambers.

"If they had sent another Grey Council member, we'd be dead." Sephira agreed, feeling the same anger resurface after she had buried it during the meeting.

"I can't believe he'd send his own subjects knowingly into a trap." Rauka said with a grimace of outrage on her usually so composed face. The sun was going down and Sephira's dragons were gathered on the balcony outside. The three of them had spent the day with Azaesel looking at his unfinished silver staff that had a sunstone embedded in the top surrounded by cavities that he said would be for the Diyar-mont crystals.

"How could the Lord Sith not have noticed his intentions?" Sephira asked as she pictured the young King on his Felis dragon at the meeting so close to her and her mother. Could they have been that distracted or had he not yet betrayed them?

"That little shit got me electrocuted." Craven growled.

"No, I got you electrocuted. I'm sorry I didn't expect that power from a human..." Sephira said softly, making Craven turn to see the worry in her eyes. She had grown up around Ruichon and bullied him a little bit as a child. He was always spoiled, but she was never jealous because she could so easily get the upper hand on him. He used to give her his toys to try to satisfy her, but she had no use for toys and often took his weapons instead. He was frightened of her and she found it fun to trap him in rooms in his castle where she could escape out the window and he would be too scared to follow. "I grew up with Ruichon. He's only a year older than me." Sephira found herself saying as she sat on the couch and Craven stopped pacing to look at her in surprise.

"I did too." Craven stated, picturing some of their hunting trips their fathers did together where he would compete with Ruichon to shoot targets with his bow and they would practice their swords together. Ruichon was like an older brother to him, but Craven felt like he always treated him like he was below him.

"He did it for his people, but he was stupid to trust Azaesel over the Alliance..." Sephira announced.

"He was never wise. Neither was his father..." Craven said, thinking of the time Ruichon tried to kill a boar from horseback with no hounds to aid him and the boar ended up killing his horse and getting away.

"Neither is his father. Do you think the King's Council knows about the treaty?" Sephira corrected.

"No, my father or grandfather would've warned me." Craven said certainly.

"What are we going to do about Gundam? Do you think Erek made it to warn them?" Sephira asked. Craven frowned as he worried about him making it and wondered what had become of Erek's Vulture Raptor, Seeg.

"With the naiads flying him a night's flight north, even on horseback he should be able to make it to Gundam before the armies leave here." Rauka decided, sounding slightly optimistic.

"Either way, we should warn Gundam ourselves the night before the attack. I'll ride out to them in the dark." Craven said, resolutely.

"We can't kill our own people, but you need to maintain your cover if you're going to be able to get to Azaesel..." Rauka said in worry. It was the same thought that was in Sephira's head.

"I agree. If I were to fight Nimbi, they'll probably notice and if I fight orcs, I will have to hold back which may make them suspicious. I will summon Sorin and the others for the battle. Perhaps I can keep the Grey Council distracted with Caius while I primarily defend from the Valkyrie." Sephira supposed.

"What if they block your message to Sorin?" Craven asked.

"They can't block a distress call. Our connection is too strong. Qetesh could barely block a weak image from Sorin and they will be much closer than they have been." Sephira guessed.

"I'm concerned about fighting our own people. I don't think I can do it." Craven told them.

"If Sorin doesn't get my mask in time, I can't fight on the other side to maintain my cover. I could focus on not using deadly force, but I'm sure I will end up killing some." Sephira sighed.

"Could you hide during the battle?" Rauka asked.

"Probably not. The Grey Council will be watching me too closely, I think." Sephira said, the idea of hiding from a battle practically made her sick to even consider even if she'd be on the wrong side.

"Could we change clothes? Fight with the orcs? Would they notice?" Craven asked.

"I think you should." Sephira agreed.

"But what about you?" Rauka asked, thinking about her trying to fight both sides and them having to prevent their own comrades from killing their inside man.

"I'll be fine. I will have to be strategic. The dragons may be able to help me." Sephira considered flying high above the battle to shoot down with arrows from her gold dragons while she had Caius attack the Grey Council members and the Generals.