"I have now caught you!" Elder Lionel smirked as he stared at the now clear looking glass. It was a mirror just like any other but different in that it was imbued with the power to spy and to see through time. The man stroked the clear looking surface and it rippled all the wall to the its gilded and the man sighed filled with yearning for a time when the future and the past had been available to them, but all this mirror could see was the present. Another side effect of the tragedies that had befallen Triberias. Oh, how he wished for a better age. An age of power that rivaled that of the Ancients, but what was left now was scraps...He would remedy that. Starting with a certain aberrant in the name of his useless Appriser's apprentice.
"Rufus!" he shouted.
Right there and then, his portly assistant in his blue and gold shimmering robes appeared before him.
"Rufus, what did I tell you about using the sanctuary portals?" the older man scolded.
"I am sorry my lord. I happened to be in the lower levels and I did not want to keep you..." The elder waved him off and immediately the shorter man stopped talking.
"Find, the Chamberlain. Have him send out a call to the other elders. We are going to have a council meeting." he told him and Rufus stared back worriedly at the rare smile that was now pulling at his master's lips.
What is he up to now? Rufus found himself thinking. Either way, he quickly removed himself from the Elder's quarters and went out to find the Chamberlain.
****
Havillah had been surprised to receive a summon to the gathering of the council of Elders and the fact that her mother was not around did not bode well with her.
Something was aloof and she found herself wondering if the good elder Lionel had finally found himself a way to rid himself of her, his apparently useless apprentice. Even as she walked into the chambers, the girl trembled and as the charges levelled against were laid out before her, Havillah found that it was not what she had initially thought in her mind. Either way the accusations being made were not any less grievous, for she had been found guilty of breaking the Sanctuary's big rules on association and lnterference. She had brought a human to the view point and had even helped him with the tools that had been meant for just the Great.
"So you see Havillah; we have no choice but to cast you out from this place. Triberias is far greater than any of us and it is our duty as the Great to protect it. You've failed as a Great and have tainted yourself and the city with it. And as much as I feel sad to let you go, it is the law and we all must abide by it." The man, Elder Lionel said as he turned his gleaming eyes at the red robed girl.
The girl turned to the rest of the elders that had turned up to decide her fate, but each one of them looked away. Her gaze drifted to the empty seat, the seat of elder Tamaar and a silent sigh escaped her mouth.
"What am I thinking? Not even my mother can help me now." She thought as her gaze dropped in defeat and she awaited the sentencing that was sure to come.
A golden seat scraped the crystal floor beneath them and from her periphery, she observed as the embroidered purple and gold robes that belonged to the Chamberlain floated towards her. A pregnant silence engulfed the entire council chambers as the man moved forward towards her to perform the exclusion rights. Were they sorry or were they just anxious?
"Havillah, daughter of Jaykob and Tamaar, elder of the Great, you have been found guilty of breaking the Sanctuary laws and rebelling against this great city. Through visual evidence that has been presented before this council, it has been determined beyond reasonable doubt that you have tainted yourself and your calling as a Great by associating and interfering with the matter of humans. Therefore, by the authority granted to me by the Great and Eternal Light as the Chamberlain of his Great Sanctuary and as the head of the council of the Elders of the Great, I hereby sentence you to exile."
"You are now banished from this Great city and from this moment onwards, you are an outcast!" The Chamberlain reached out his right hand and touched each of Havillah's shoulders and as he did so, the golden embroidery on her red Triban robes disappeared. The Chamberlain then withdrew his hand and as he did that too, Havillah gasped as she watched her robes turn from a brilliant red to an ink black swirling with darkness.
"Havillah, you are now banished, but for the sake of your mother, Tamaar, elder of the Great, the elders have all agreed to let you choose where to send you." The Chamberlain added and Elder Lionel turned to her with his signature sinister smile plastered on his face.
"Why Chamberlain? Just send her to that filthy human."
The Chamberlain looked at him and sighed, before turning back to face Havillah to ask. "Bethesda?"
Havillah nodded. With all that was happening around her, she was too distraught to protest or even say anything.
"Very well, Havillah. It is now day but the sun will be up for only for a few more hours. Find shelter and stay in until it comes up again." The Chamberlain told her and as he spoke, he flicked his arm and a white mist invaded Havillah's vision.