Lanius gave them a few minutes to digest his statement. He then looked at both the Blade Dancer and the Enlightened. Conflict was painted in their faces.
"Impossible? Quite possible."he started to talk again." Ionia is a land full of magic. We simply need to unify that power."
"And...how exactly do you plan on achieving your goal? Aside from magic, this land is also full of division." Karma finally spoke.
"Oh, Enlightened One. I have thoroughly thought of a strategy to fix this." Lanius spoke now, slightly bowing with his head out of respect. He had known...or rather heard of her from the previous Winter's memories.
Another ability of the Winter was to be able to see the memories of the past Sovereigns. In at least two, he found info about her.
"We must fight together...not just humans, but also Vastaya." several sighs. The vastaya councilor looked at the young man with a bitter smile.
"Unite humans and Vastaya?!"
"Nonsense!"
"Utterly impossible!"
"Let me speak!" The Winter raised his voice, prompting them to silence.
"We have to fight as one, both humans and vastaya!. We must be one fist!. You failed all these years because you viewed yourselves as the sole fighters. And not only that, you also forcibly enslaved the vastaya to use their magic!" he now said.
"And what should we have done?" a councillor asked.
"Not force them! Magic is crucial to vastaya. You wrongfully tried to tame it, instead of making it part of you."
The councillors then began to barrage the young man with their words, and so did he.
"Enough!" Irelia yelled, silencing both sides.
"Winter, you come here and demand the unification of the land, not just of the humans, but of the anarchists as well...I say that what you are saying is nearly impossible." Irelia said.
"Those anarchists that you speak of...Irelia Xan, are nothing more of people that were fighting for their homes. Wrongful and forced usage of magic by humans forced them to take action. Its is the Shadow Clan and the Navori Brotherhood that causes these vastaya to take action." he then directly looked at the vastaya councillor. A spark of hope and relief was lit in the vastaya's eyes.
"I suppose it is correct...but how do you plan on turning them to our side?" Irelia asked.
"I will personally speak to the one that does the biggest damage."
"Xayah, The Rebel?" Karma asked. The young man nodded.
"You think that the vastaya rebel will hear a human?" Irelia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh...im not entirely a human. I'm a half vastaya after all. They might not listen to you, but they will listen to one of theirs." Lanius explained.
"So you did all of this because you're a vastaya?" the old man asked.
"No, I do this because of my tribe, the Verhea. Noxians obliterated all of them but me. I want to get revenge on them." he said, looking at each and every one of the councillors.
"Many also lost their people from the atrocities that the Noxians committed." the vastaya said.
"Councillor Zheu is right. The Wuju village was also decimated." Karma said.
"That might be true, but this is a hubris against the Spirit of the Winter and the Great Cryophoenix. They killed them all but me, and then sealed me in a Cave for fourteen years...fourteen years in a coma!" Lanius said. His voice was bitter, full of pain.
All of the councillors instinctively lowered their gazes to the floor.
"Feel it! It is time for us to drive them out! This winter, it will finally snow! This is our chance!"
"Winter...I have a question..." Karma spoke again. "Is the Spirit of the Winter really with us?" she asked.
"That is a pretty good question. Freida?" he said.
The rooms temperature instantly dropped a few degrees, starting everyone but Lanius and Ahri.
"Councillor's of Ionia. Leaders of the First Continents. I assure you that the embodiment of the Winter over here is speaking to you with truest honesty. I am with you." Freida spoke to the council outside of the Winter's head.
"Very well...Lanius, the Winter. We stand with you..." Karma said.
"..We are willing to fight with you to free Ionia from the enemy." Irelia finished her sentence.
"Very well. My fellow councillors, I now want you to organise our warriors." Karma turned to them. "Councillor Zheu, can you talk to the vastaya? We think that you are the one suitable for this."
Councillor Zheu nodded wholeheartedly.
"Leave the Navori and Shadow Clan to me. I will also speak to the Rebel." Lanius exclaimed.
"And where will you find her?" the old man asked.
"Simple, near a Shadow Clan outpost. I will now will leave you organise things."
"Of course. The hearing has been concluded. You and your acquaintance are free to go." Irealia said.
The young man nodded. "Farewell, we shall soon meet again." he walked off, followed by Ahri.
.
.
.
"You did a great job there." Ahri' spoke when they got in their room. Her voice seemed distant. Lanius raised an eyebrow.
After they were done, they explored more of the city. Ahri was very gloomy and Lanius wanted to cheer her up. She seemed to get better until the evening came, when they decided to eat something and sat at a nearby open restaurant. As they ate, some guests talked at a nearby table about some encounters they had and the duo silently heard them as they ate.
"They said that in reality, the White Demon was a mad human that considered his effigies art. He apparently also calls himself" The Virtuoso"." said an elderly vastaya that resembled a canine with lizard scales.
"Art? These atrocities? Art? Bombing the Spirit Blossom Festival? Nonsense!" another man replied.
"Yeah, a Piltovan merchant also mentioned that the Virtuoso had gone to their land and committed his vile "art" there as well. The Kinkou people went there and found him. Somehow he fled again to a location that only the gods know."
"Now that you mentioned about the Virtuoso, at first I thought that the soul stealing demon did those things."
"Me too, but some observers said that it was a vastaya that resembled a fox with nine tails."
"Who knows...maybe we won't have to worry about her anymore."
Lanius grit his teeth once he heard that and his eyes fell upon Ahri, who was supporting her head with her right hand, looking like she had a headache. Lanius could feel the gloomy aura now return, heavier than before.