Mage Vardanis was the chairman of the mage council of mage-clan Morana. As such, he knew they had to keep an eye on Aristhaeus. But the mage-clan was not as powerful as the Queen or the Archmage, so it was difficult to have someone spy on the archmage. Once again he gathered the mage council.
"We must not forget the rare chance that we have," Vardanis said. "If we can trust Mage Shahmayar's information, even the Queen doesn't know what we know. That there is such a person, a person like Elyre. We must attract her to our side." Mage Shahmayar was also among those in the council, so Vardanis looked at him. "Let's not forget that Shahmayar has lived in the castle as long as we remember, and he got this information from late Princess Magnolia Arunai. She was herself quite a skillful mage, just like her great grandfather Darius Arunai. She wouldn't make a mistake."
"I am glad you decided to summon the council once again, Vardanis. I have never doubted Mage Shahmayar's information."
"We made such an effort to discover this person, Elyre," Vardanis continued. "We succeeded thanks to all Mage Shahmayar knew. Our initial plan was to catch her and make her work for us against the Queen. Now, unfortunately, she's with Aristhaeus. This will be very difficult."
"Vardanis? May I..." Shahmayar interrupted him. "I'd like to say we don't know how much Aristhaeus knows or what his plan is. What is more, we don't have a spy with them, we don't know anything about their relationship or what they are talking about when they are alone. But we must not let Elyre be influenced by the Queen or Aristhaeus. And now we must do our best to create conflict between Aristhaeus and Elyre."
"Aristhaeus must under no circumstances understand the truth about Elyre!" Vardanis exclaimed. "Because if he does, he will make sure to win her over."
"What if he already knows?" the young Mage Darian said.
"We can't tell, Darian," Eyvind answered.
"And how would you comment on Lady Opalle, the Autumn Fae's actions?!" Darian exclaimed. "What was her aim, pray tell me? Now Aristhaeus knows that either we or the Queen or someone else is after Elyre."
"It's not necessarily so, Darian," Vardanis answered. "Amira has an old conflict with the archmage. He can't tell if the attack was because of Elyre or because of his problem with the Fae."
"I agree with Darian," Shahmayar said. "This event will trigger his curiosity. Amira Opalle is very presumptuous. Is she working for us or against us?"
"She hates the archmage. Right now, all enemies to the Queen or the archmage are our friends and we don't have much choice," Vardanis answered. "Anyway, the important thing is, all of you: you must make sure that no one gives any information away, even if your life is in danger."
"Mage Mortagon is in Vahara Arta," Shahmayar said. "He will let us know if and when he sees the archmage and Elyre. Then we can think of ways to separate them. As for Amira...?"
"Now that she already attacked him, let her just vent her anger. Hopefully, he would think she just hates him a lot," Vardanis suggested.
"Did she tell you why she did this?" Shahmayar asked. "You shouldn't have warned her of his arrival."
"We had to warn her," Vardanis frowned. "Only Amira and Mortagon are in Vahara Arta right now. We might need her help in the future. She said she wanted to test Elyre. Did not tell me she would send a dragon!"
"This is why I say not to contact her," Shahmayar replied. "You think because she is a governor of Allyria, she's a powerful ally, but she's too... impatient. Also, her ways of attack are too obvious. How could she separate Elyre from Aristhaeus? Moreover, even if she does it, she would reveal we were behind this... You should've stayed away from her. Send more people to Vahara Arta to assist Mortagon. How rare it is to be one step before the Queen, we cannot act recklessly like Amira!"