Chapter 34

I did not know what to expect from a Council meeting. I had some sort of vague round table and intelligent Mages speaking words of wisdom and common sense idea in mind. I should have known better. What I got was a chamber with several tables and chairs and a bunch of screaming prima-donnas. Everything that was bad about Mages in the real world seemed to be amplified here in arrogance, disdain, pride, intransigence and a general 'I know best and to hell with the rest of you!' attitude to anyone they disapproved of.

'I see you had good reason not to talk about this, my Mage, ' I murmured over a protected telepathic channel Morgana had allowed me access to as I could barely hear myself think, never mind communicate.

'Just one of them, John, just one, ' she sighed. 'It's amazing we get anything done, although the impetus has gradually been moving away from the Council to the Departments over the last century or so.'

'No wonder they don't want the Department heads to have a vote, ' I added.

'That's another, although Simon and Rowenna are behind the shift in power here and I suspect Julia is aiding them, though her own power base built around the Seers is often contrary, as she deals with far more real world issues than most Mages, ' Morgana replied.

'Is Julia a Seer, my Mage?' I asked curiously.

'No, she's far more like Róisín in that she liaises with them far better than most Mages, ' Morgana replied.

'Independent of thought and action?' I enquired.

'Very much so, John. She'll do what she thinks is right, though her motivations and sense of what's right can be somewhat obscure," Morgana chuckled mentally.

At this point Simon entered flanked by Rowenna and Julia and the uproar in the room hushed somewhat, though there were a lot of asides both verbally and mentally from the various Mages present.

"Greetings, fellow Mages, one and all," intoned Simon gravely, though there was a distinct twinkle in his eyes.

"You know exactly where you can stick your greetings, you arrogant buffoon," muttered a Mage next to me.

"It is with great happiness that I greet our newest addition to the Council and head of our Enforcement Office, Lady Morgan le Fay. I'm sure we'll all welcome her and cooperate with her as she repairs the damage cause by its previous head," he said archly, giving Mage Hermes and those clustered around him a stern look.

"Thank you, Mage Simon," Morgana replied in dulcet tones. "It is my intention to restore the integrity, honesty and indeed honour of the Enforcement Office. To that end I've authorised a full audit of its records and an investigation into its activities under Heinrich. All Mages working in the office will be required to undergo a full scan to assure me of their trust or seek employment elsewhere as I assert the independence and neutrality of the office as set forth in the original Council charter. We will no longer arrest, detain or monitor Mages or creatures of magic without a full dossier of evidence provided by those seeking our aid. Our vigilance in protecting you will be added to by a recruitment drive from the various Bureaus, as well as a reassignment of those teams monitoring your safety to avoid complacency. In short, a new broom, my colleagues, as the dishonour that stained this office's past is put to rest once and for all," Morgana announced at length.

There was a stunned silence at Morgana's announcement though I observed Simon, Rowenna and Julia looking very satisfied. The Mages clustered around Hermes though looked most put out and several looked very apprehensive as if fearing what might just be turned up by Morgana's audit.

"I call for a vote of approval for Mage Morgana's accession to the Enforcement Office and the terms she's set forth for its return to the high standards of the past," Mage Julia responded.

"Seconded," came Rowenna in reply.

"Vote is called, those for approval?" Simon announced. "Those against? Vote is unanimous, seventeen to none, two abstentions."

There was a polite smattering of applause before the general uproar resumed and the various Mages went about wheeler dealing I presumed. Several Mages did approach Morgana though and proceeded to harangue her.

"To what end will your audit be limited?" asked one Mage loudly in Morgana's ear.

"No limits, though what other Mages of other offices choose to do with anything we uncover is up to them. However the Enforcement Office will not under any circumstances deal with any known corrupt Mage from other offices," Morgana said politely.

"Guilty until proven innocent, Morgana?" sneered the Mage.

"Erring on the side of caution, I believe it's called, or do you want our secrets and procedures potentially handed over to our enemies, as we know happened under Heinrich?" Morgana asked sweetly.

"But you'd have nothing but suspicions!" retorted the Mage.

"No, the office will have hard evidence, the problem would lie with other offices not acting upon it," I replied mildly ignoring the scorn being poured forth at Morgana yet determined to get in a low blow too.

"Be silent when amongst your better's, journeyman!" blasted the other Mage.

"I hear no better, merely an impotent point scorer losing an argument. Indeed an ignorant one too, at not having introduced themselves as polite Mages are wont to do," I said then turned away.

"Have you no control over your journeyman's manners!" came an aggrieved cry.

"I taught John to speak the truth without fear or favour. What is it he said that you found untruthful?" asked Morgana archly.

"I am a High Mage! He should respect that!" replied the Mage.

"Respect needs to be earned. Your verbal point scoring earned you no respect from John. Indeed you should have made an introduction as is customary when addressing a Mage, journeyman or apprentice, instead you led off with an insult towards his Mage on a point of personal honour," came Morgana's rejoinder making the point that the other Mage had breached protocol thus allowing me to do so as well.

"He should have known!" came the sniffy reply as the other Mage saw and heard the laughter and derisive looks from the other Mages surrounding her.

"He did," Morgana hit back archly. "He chose to put you in your place with a well-timed comment about your ignorance of Council policy and lack of good manners, as well as an attack on my personal honour in upholding the spirit as well as the letter of the law here. Now is there anything else you wish to make a fool of yourself over?"

The other Mage simply turned and minced off with a haughty sniff that had several Mages grinning at her discomfiture.

'Well done, John, a brilliant deflection, ' came Morgana's telepathic comment to me.

'They seem to have no comprehension of the rules, my Mage, ' I mentally chuckled in return.

'They spend too much time here rather than in the real world, ' Morgana replied. 'Something that I will not permit for you or any Mages working for me.'

'That's a relief, my Mage. This place is somewhat suffocating," I replied.

"Ah, Mage Morgana, I just came to offer my congratulations on your ascension," came the voice of Mage Julia.

"Thank you, Mage Julia," Morgana replied graciously as I also gave a formal bow, conveying respect and honour.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing this audit and report on your new office and rest assured the Diplomatic Office will act on any evidence you uncover with regards to my staff," Julia followed up.

"As will Medical," came Rowenna's voice. "Greetings to you, Mage Morgana, and to you, John."

"Greetings, Mage Rowenna," Morgana replied as I also gave her a formal bow, only to be swept up in a hug by her.

"You needn't bow to me, John. You know that. Friends like you and Róisín need never do that," she chuckled.

"Here today at least I believe that protocol must take precedent. Plus it's a lot of fun putting a few ignoramuses in their place because they do not appear to have mastered the basic concept of expected behaviour between ranks," I replied with a grin.

"Oh, he's going to cause so much trouble here," said Julia, her grin matching my own.

"And about time," added Rowenna.

"All part of the job I gave him. His very rank will protect him from bullyboy tactics too," Morgana said to the two Mages. "There are damned few if any of equal rank that could match his prowess with magic, even if he does struggle with control and subtlety at times."

"And qualified Mages would look like idiots challenging him, particularly if what I heard about Mage Indira is true," chuckled Julia.

"He makes me quite proud at times, when he's not making me wince with his suicidal acts of bravery," Morgana sighed, yet her eyes were twinkling with mirth.

I could feel myself blushing fiercely at Morgana's compliment to me. I rarely got them in public, and indeed, even in private they were often more in the way of a backhanded compliment. I knew I still had an awful long way to travel in my studies to even approach the level of the High Mages (the real ones, not simply the senior Mages)

It was at this point that we were approached by another group of Mages who gave formal greetings and then proceeded to grill Morgana on the direction she intended to take the office. None of the questions or indeed the questioners were impolite, merely inquisitive so I simply chose to observe what was happening in the chamber and see who was talking to whom. It was fairly easy (I thought) to make out just who the factions were, though not their names as I was only aware of two and it seemed the same old rule about not talking about Council business or politics still applied to a certain extent to non-Council members.

I did notice a few other casual observers and recognised that they were the heads of the Bureaus, a non-voting yet powerful faction, I thought, as they were the ones who mostly got their hands dirty when dealing with the likes of the Coalition or the Nephilim. The Council enforcers mostly dealt with situations that the Bureaus couldn't deal with and mostly appeared to act as auditors to the Bureaus in a who watches the watchmen manner as well as dealing with off world disputes save only for Nephilim invasions, not espionage. The system in place was at times confusing and there was some overlapping, but essentially the Office of Enforcement of the Council were the equivalent of Internal Affairs for the Bureaus as well as the enforcers or indeed executioners for the Council, assuming they (the Council) could make their minds up over anything which admittedly I'd seen no sign of so far. From a few hints and comments I'd gathered that there were some sort of rear-guard attempts by certain Council members to stop the gradual slide of the Council's power to the Bureaus who had, over the last 300 or so years, gradually become more and more autonomous in their actions and ability to deal with threats to our Earth. Some, like the Vanguard Entente, recognised the changes and wanted the Council to adapt to a more advisory role, others, like the Amity Caucus, were grimly determined to hold onto power at all costs which had in the end left the Council adrift in a stalemate, which Morgana's accession finally seemed to have broken. Not that I suspected my Mage of ambitions to break the Council nor ally herself with any of the factions, if anything Morgana seemed determined to chart a path between all and be a voice of reason despite her clear and obvious friendship with Simon, Rowenna and Julia.