THE GROUNDS NO LONGER EXIST

Elaris's POV

The clearing is silent after Averic announces his claim.

No one immediately responds to him.

The council escort holds their position where the shift had left them, a number of the warriors watching Averic as though he was set to disappear as soon as their gazes fell away.

Sennik lowers his eyes to the records in his possession before returning his attention to the ground where the transformation had taken place.

He flips through several pages in the document at hand before coming to a stop on a page detailing the actions that had led the council here.

None of them can explain what they have simply seen, however.

Sennik finally closes the file.

"The medical record states permanent loss."

Averic replies in a steady voice.

"It was wrong."

No one immediately pushes back against his claim.

The evidence stands before them.

Caedmon is the first to find his voice again, and his phrasing suggests that he has spent some time choosing his words.

"The council acted on medical testimony."

He argues against his own placement in power by claiming, "Averics' condition was considered irreversible at the time of removal.

A single witness shift at night following an unknown recovery does not automatically grant political authority."

"The pack is not governed by what appears convincing in one moment, it is governed by what sustains it through what is known as a pack life," Caedmon replies carefully.

This is why his statement is more dangerous.

He is no longer pretending that the wolf does not exist, but arguing that it should not have mattered if it did.

I watch the council warriors closely.

A number of them exchanged uncertain glances after Caedmon laid out his claim.

He has reached the last available ground he has.

Procedure.

Averic does not become defensive.

He simply looks into Caedmon's eyes.

"Then what would satisfy you?"

Averic continues his questioning before Caedmon has the chance to reply.

"Another shift?"

Averic's voice holds no emotion.

"Medical examination?"

He gestures towards the council healers who are not present but whose findings brought them here.

"Or do you require me to prove the same fact to you for every inconvenient conclusion the council draws."

A hard look crosses Caedmon's features while Sennik lifts his hand in warning.

He has no desire to see the argument turn personal.

Still, the question had cut to the problem Caedmon's stance presented for the rest of the council.

There was no further need to demonstrate that Averic was capable of shifting, the council had already witnessed it.

Instead, Sennik was the one to step forward.

"The shift was witnessed."

Sennik looked over each one of his escort members in turn.

"By council representatives, sworn warriors, and myself.

I will not record what we witnessed as uncertain."

This announcement was enough to alter the mood of the council, even if the legality of the events which had transpired was a separate issue.

Sennik spoke again, more formally.

"The removal must therefore be reviewed."

Caedmon's head snapped toward Sennik.

"Reviewed?"

"Yes.

Tonight?"

Sennik looked at him in a hard way before saying, "not here."

This was an intentional distinction, for the council seemed to have been pushed toward reconsidering the issue of their decision entirely.

Caedmon refused to allow the matter to die there.

"If the removal is reviewed, the reason for it must also be reviewed.

You surrendered your wolf voluntarily, accepted removal, and the council acted in order to prevent instability."

Averic said nothing.

It was Caedmon who continued speaking.

"Your recovery does not erase the fact that the pack was left without an Alpha, someone had to step forward to fill the vacancy."

Averic listened closely.

Caedmon was attempting to steer the council toward remembering that it was his selection which filled the vacancy that should have belonged to him, and not merely an opportunity for ambition.

No one immediately dismissed the argument, including Sennik.

I take my first step forward into the confrontation.

Everyone turns toward me as I do so, but I do not raise my voice.

"Averic did not leave the pack because he wanted to.

He gave up his wolf to keep me and his child alive.

The council removed him because you believed the cost to have been permanent.

That was the cost he paid."

I pause to place my left hand over my abdomen but do not continue speaking immediately.

"The same decision you are questioning now saved the woman with his child and preserved the life of the next generation of his bloodline."

Simple. Straightforward words that do little to embellish or change the meaning, although nothing speaks loudly of an accusation.

The only response the council has is a noticeable shift of attention from one of the younger warriors toward my abdomen before another looks up at me and sees the mark at my neck.

Several of the others turn back toward Averic before looking once more in my direction.

Up until this point, the council's decision to have Averic removed had been more of a political record.

Tonight, however, the cost is standing right here.

Averic does not interrupt me, nor does he try to rephrase or turn the cost of the council's actions into an achievement.

He only continues to watch.

Caedmon watches me for several seconds.

His expression gives away very little, but I know that he knows what I have said.

I was once the woman who fought to keep him on this earth.

Now I stand side by side with the man who fought to keep the promise that he would.

The comparison does not have to be said.

Sennik breaks the tension by saying, "Your circumstances will be included in the review."

I glance at him.

"They should be."

Sennik straightens his council cloak.

"This cannot be settled on an outer road and in the middle of the night.

At dawn, both men will appear before the full council."

Caedmon says nothing as he begins to speak.

"Before the review has taken place, no interim authority will be exercised until the review."

This is the first concesesion of the evening.

Caedmon's claim for a temporary road to power had been stopped right where it formed across the council floor.

Sennik turns toward Averic.

"Until the determination of the council, you will not act as Alpha.

And Caedmon?"

Sennik looks toward him.

"You will not act as interim Alpha."

It is the first time neither of the arguments have held one of the positions.

The council has been left with a temporary vacuum rather than allowing one to fill at either side's insistence.

The escort begins rearranging themselves while horses are gathered and records for the council safely secured.

Still, it is an entirely new set of feelings that greet us tonight.

Caedmon mounts up slowly and gazes up at Sennik in turn.

"Perhaps that will bear in mind when the council reviews this, the pack cannot be ruled by sentiment."

Sennik replied immediately, "It cannot be ruled by a decision that no longer matches the facts either.

Neither can the council be ruled by its own uncertainty."

Caedmon says nothing as he settles in his seat.

Averic waits for the council to depart.

Neither of us sees the victory of the evening in his hesitation.

The actual contest has simply moved to a larger location.

Before Caedmon has the opportunity to turn his horse down the road, his sight turns toward me once more.

It is a number of seconds before either of us say anything.

There is too much of what has transpired between us for it to fit in one exchange.

I remember the few years I spent keeping him alive.

I remember the loss I suffered and the accusation that followed.

Now he is looking at two very different things.

The mark on my neck along with the proof of life beneath my hand.

There is no room for the version of me he may once have known.

He could once command me with a word as I had believed his life to be worth the effort of destroying myself for.

That woman is gone.

Caedmon seems to realize this without the need for me to spell it out.

He opens his mouth as though he might try saying something, before doing so once more.

It is clear that whatever he might have tried to say remains unsaid.

His horse turns and the council party follows in his wake.

Their formation holds formally even as they retreat down the road at a steady pace.

Sennik does not look back, but Caedmon does.

Only once.

Then the darkness swallows the riders one by one.

Neryss lowers her weapon for the last of the council horses to pass.

The house feels different after the departure of the council from its door.

Not necessarily safer.

Just quieter.

Averic still watches the road where the council went.

But only when the last of the riders has moved does he turn back toward me.

"They will try to control the review.

Caedmon will not step aside easily.

When we stand to meet the council at dawn, remember that this was once again in their hall that they removed me from.

It is the same hall where I will face them to see if Averic lives as a man whose powers have simply returned."

I place my hand over the child and look toward the road where the council went.

"The final stretch is no longer hidden."

Averic nods as the council passes through the gates.

"At dawn, we face it," Averic says. There will be no darkness to help them to conceal themselves.