12 Magus Asada's Protégé

"It would be our pleasure to escort you inside. This way please, Magus." One of the guards spoke up and indicated with a hand. The doors opened and I followed the guard inside.

Within seconds, my eyes became acclimated to the dim lighting. I continued behind him, past the darkened granite foyer to another set of doors which led into the main assembly room.

For a moment, the bright lights blinded me. I could not see much of my surroundings. But then my sight returned and I was able to see the platform stage at the end of the auditorium, where the House and Discipline Heads were seated.

From my vantage point, the auditorium splayed downward like a wooden folding hand held fan, with maple seats angled at the stage, descending in staggered formation until it reached the orchestra pit, where an entire group of musicians were seated.

I steadied my nerves, took a deep breath, and followed the guard through the assembly hall.

As I made my way down the aisle, I heard excited chatter flowing through the crowd in a rippling pattern, followed by the shushing of the crowd as I moved forward.

I tried to keep my eyes from wandering around the auditorium but I could not help seeing the astonished upturned faces of all the high-powered mages as they shifted in their seats to ogle at me.

I continued walking down the aisle, my skinny stick arms sticking out as I held the bubble encapsulating the image of the Magus' detached head.

Ignoring the growing clamor of the audience, I headed straight for the stage where the seven Heads of Houses sat across from the six Heads of Disciplines behind two long tables covered in white linens.

I nearly laughed out loud when my eyes came in contact with the same glitter-speckled silver-haired mage that I had spoken with earlier. He was the youngest mage onstage and looked completely ridiculous in his House Imara blue robe with the corn flour symbol stamped on the vestment.

He stared at me as I approached the stage with growing recognition. His face turned an unflattering shade of beet red with displeasure.

I turned away from him with my nose in the air. What a retard!

The blue robe he wore insulted my eyes. It was not even the right color blue for Imara House. Cerulean blue was a much deeper, much richer color than this mediocrity of a blue.

For the second time that day, I was wondering why my parents not here to lead the Imara House and why they were allowing him to parade around in fraudulent vestment colors with cornmeal emblazoned on his chest.

My eyes moved past him to the red-haired lady standing on the other side of the stage in front of another podium with an engraved symbol for Speaker of the Council.

I stifled a giggle as it hit me that it was none other than the Council Speaker who had helped me deliver the cactus to the Main Office. She grinned and gave me a quick wave.

The guard paused near the front podium and spoke a few words with someone standing on the dais. The person turned to look down at me from his four-foot perch.

It was Paulson, the head of House Monteceto.

He had a shiny bald pate with a gold wire cinched around his beefy temples to indicate that he was part of the aristocratic Monteceto lineage that had deep connections to the Royal Family.

His heavy jowls and bushy black eyebrows complemented his rotund body which was draped in a white robe covered by a deep gold vestment. Around his waist was a broad, white, gem-encrusted cummerbund and on his feet was a pair gold-embroidered curly-toed shoes.

"Magus Asada. You have finally decided to grace us with your presence."

"Lord Paulson of the House Monteceto. It has been awhile." Magus Asada's voice issued from the bubble in my hands.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your scry-visual presence?"

"Not to what but rather to whom," Magus Asada corrected. "The Official Representative of the Augury Discipline is Inanna Imara, only daughter of Harrington, Head of House Imara."

I held back a chortle as I heard a gasp coming from the white-haired mage in Imara vestment.

Idiot.

Paulson sneered. "I know who she is. We all do. You dare bring Harrington's whelp, a magikally-disabled child into a High Mage Council Meeting and have the temerity to call her an Official Representative of the Augury Discipline?"

"Regardless of how you feel about my protégé, it is not for you to decide who I can and cannot appoint to the position of Representative of the Augury Discipline."

"The Academy has no School of Augury. She is no Augurer!" Paulson pointed an accusing finger at me, nostrils flaring.

"She is an Augurer if I say she is an Augurer!" Magus Asada lashed back. "Augury is my Discipline. She is my choice for the position of Official Representative. From this point forward and until further notice from me, you will confer to Inanna Imara every privilege and respect that an Official Representative of the Augury Discipline deserves and commands."

The crowd's murmur rose to a dull roar at Magus Asada's assertion. I looked up at Paulson and my eyes were immediately drawn to the nervous twitch on his left cheek.

He was furious!

I was not sure why he was so angry. I also did not know what the big deal was that I was Magus Asada's Representative. I was only here to bring the Magus' scry-visual bubble to the Council of Mages Assembly and to help her cast a single vote. Unfortunately, it seemed as if this was a major point of contention for the Head of the House Monteceto.

Paulson looked as if he wanted to yank me up by the scruff of my collar and drag me out of the assembly hall but Magus Asada was not just an Augurer, she was a powerful wizard in and of her own rights. One does not mess with a powerful mage of Asada's caliber without very good reasons.

Bolstered by the Magus' preeminence, I returned Paulson's glare with a withering look. I resisted a powerful urge to stick my tongue out at him but I could not stop myself from smirking just a tiny bit.

"Very well." He glared down at me. "What do you want?"

It seemed as if he was talking to me but in reality, he was looking at the image of Magus Asada.

From my perspective, all I could see was the empty bubble in my hand but from the way all others were looking at the bubble, it was obvious they could see her face.

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, Magus Asada's voice issued from the bubble and reverberated throughout the amphitheater. She had utilized 'Rangwuodasheng' the Amplify Command through the scry-visual. It was an amazing feat of magik that had everyone gasping in amazement.

"I am here to cast my vote. Since I cannot personally be there to cast the vote, I have appointed my Representative to do so. From this point forward and until I revoke her powers, Inanna Imara will be accorded the necessary required implements so that she may vote on my behalf."

From behind me, a clamor arose as the audience reacted to Asada's announcement.

"This is ridiculous!" Paulson spat. "You have never shown any interest in voting before. Why are you here now?"

"I have never felt the need to vote in any Council of Mages Assembly before. Nevertheless, I am still within my rights to do so." Magus Asada responded.

"That is absurd!" A voice called out from the Council Head Table. I turned to the dissenting mage. It was Vara, elected Head of House Sylphyte.

She wore the iconic Sylphyte dove white vestment of an acolyte over her basic black mage bodysuit. On her head was a white wimple which hid the fact that Vara was completely bald, as required by her House requirements.

The only sign of her position as Head of House Sylphyte was a gold chain with the symbol of The One True Soul, a white disk with a single black dot at the center.

"I beg your pardon?" Professor Pomello spoke up. "What is so absurd about a Discipline Head exercising her right to vote?"

Vara turned to Professor Pomello with blazing green eyes. The acolyte's features were so androgynous that I would have never guessed what her gender was had Mother not revealed to me that she and Vara used to be close friends in grade school. Vara's voice, though strong and commanding was no less epicene.

"The Augury Discipline has been absent from the Assembly of the Council of Mages for over five decades. Within that time, the Council of Mages have had to deal with innumerable issues, all of which Magus Asada has been completely oblivious to and utterly disinterested in."

She looked at each Head of House and Discipline in turn.

Since there are seven Houses and seven Disciplines, we have a total of fourteen votes to cast. For over fifty years, the Augury Null Vote has been the deciding factor that has kept the Council of Mages from ever having to face the unlikely event of a tied vote."

She stood up to emphasize her next words.

"Without the Null Vote, we run the risk of Deadlock. Once Deadlock has been reached, the Assembly is effectively crippled with no way to break the tie vote." Vara's words caused an uproar to the assembly seated in the auditorium.

The noise was most noticeably arising from the right side of the auditorium. It was filled with a gaggle of House Sylphyte acolytes all wearing their dove grey vestments and white wimples.

Borlik, the head of House Jaynami rose from his seat. The silver-haired wiry warrior sported a curled mustache and long silver beard to match his hair. He wore his heliotrope purple cloak with the ermine fur trim over the basic black mage bodysuit and combat boots.

The man looked as if he was in a state of constant battle-readiness. He stood with arms akimbo and his head thrown back. In a booming war cry, he announced to the audience.

"For the good of the Council of Mages, I propose we continue assigning the Null Vote to the Augury House until such time as Magus Asada has officially informed the Council of Mages of her intent to re-enter the Assembly of the Council of Mages. She cannot simply show up unannounced and cause a ruckus to ensue in the Assembly Hall."

"Uh—Borlik." Professor Jonesbarry interjected with a bright and desperate air. "You know that's illegal, right? You can't just ban a full member of the Council of Mages from a vote."

"Then what is your suggestion?" Borlik faced a flustered Jonesbarry and stared him down.

Professor Nimitz gave a loud, boisterous laugh. He tossed his long wavy chestnut locks and clapped his hands once to gain the attention of the Council. "Come now, gentlemen. Why are we discussing something that may or may not happen? Why don't we simply vote and then if there is a deadlock, that's the time to discuss this situation. No need to borrow trouble when it has yet to manifest."

From the audience, I could hear the squeals and shouts of support from Nimitz's many fans. I sighed and rolled my eyes with disgust. The problem with Nimitz's fan support is that it really did not matter what he said.

Anything he said or did would be wholeheartedly endorsed and approved by his fans regardless of content.

Professor Nimitz saw my eye-roll and chuckled as he gave me a discrete wink.

Paulson cleared his throat. "Well then, shall we continue with the voting process?"

Without waiting for anyone to agree to his suggestion, he launched into the main topic of the day.

"Let's pick up at the point where Magus Asada entered into the picture." He heaved a huge theatrical sigh.

"As you know, the Mage Elites have outlined their plans for moving the fighting forces out of Topaz and into the Magelands. They are asking us for troop reinforcement. In return, they are willing to assist us with the issues surrounding the widespread disruption that is being felt sporadically around Topaz."

He looked around the audience, focusing in on a few individuals. "This is a simple 'Yes' or 'No' vote. 'Yes' means we send them the troop reinforcement they ask for. 'No' means we don't. Any further questions?"

I glanced furtively at the members of the Council of Mages and noticed that they were holding their collective breaths and hoping that no one would say a word to avoid any further delays.

Seeing the all-clear signal from the mages, the red-haired lady in the green suit raised her hand and waved a silent Command.

A white box appeared at the center of the stage, hovering in mid air.

"Your vote chip is on the table in front of you. Please cast accordingly."