The Master of survival stood "I will. I worry that her lack of strength would prove harmful to those around her in battle. A soldier must be able to defend the man next to him as well as himself." He sat down, several people nodding their heads in agreement.
Standing Takal spoke his rebuttal with an air of calm professionalism he didn't quite feel and reminded himself he would need to maintain that professionalism throughout the whole preceding. "To that, I can say I have already fought with her in battle and though she lacked formal training, she killed three demon hybrids two completely on her own, alerted me of danger twice, and risked her life to save my own when I was overwhelmed." He paused and everyone stared at him in shocked silence.
A little unsettled he continued "True she was not strong enough to stab a demon through its chest plate, but few are, that's why we learn to stab underneath it and angled up to the heart, still without this knowledge she improvised and sliced open its throat. She may not be as strong as many of the skilled fighters in our ranks, but she is stronger than many of the boys still in training, and she knows ways foreign to us. She knocked a demon out with one bare-handed hit to the neck completely disabling it in order to deliver a fatal blow. I believe with training; she could very well become a skilled and valued fighter." He took his seat and waited for the next comment.
"Why would she want to do this?" The master of demons asked.
"For the same reason that everyone here serves, family. When the demons captured her, they also captured her sister and she hopes to rescue her if she is still alive and avenger her if she is dead. Some of the women that serve us here such as the Master of food and Master of the cloth help out using their own strengths for the same reasons, but Nieka is a fighter or she would never have been able to escape. So, I see no reason why she can't help fight."
The Mater of Moral stood "How do you think the other soldiers would react to having a woman fighting with them? Most would want to protect her and could get distracted in battle. Many would feel uncomfortable training properly with her because it is wrong to strike a woman; others may even feel emasculated if she proves to be as good as them. And some would be too distracted by the presence of a woman to learn. I fear the benefit of adding one fighter even if she is good may be outweighed by the damage it would do to the troops." There was more nodding as people agreed with his points.
He did not want to admit his own distraction having worried that something might happen to her but for the most part, she was able to protect herself. Besides, he was sure that knowing her capabilities now he would not feel a need to protect her… as much; especially if she had their training on top of her natural survival instincts. Instead of answering, he opted for another option.
"I would like to call Major Tornjak to the stand as a third party opinion and the only other soldier to see her fight. As well as stating that yes there could be those who have a problem with her, but there are also those that have a problem with me or someone else that already serves here. The solution is normally as easy as not pairing those people together." Someone got up and went to the door where Tornjak was waiting on the other side along with Murin just in case their presence was requested.
Tornjak came to stand beside him and the questions were posed to Tornjak as to how he would feel in those situations and how he thought others might react to her.
"How would you feel about striking at this girl Nieka in training?"
He started to laugh but then cut it off abruptly when Takal discreetly kicked his foot as a reminder to stay serious. "I'd be a little afraid of what would happen to me next, she has very unusual fighting methods and I would be hard-pressed to predict her counter." That's a damn good answer Takal thought relived.
"You wouldn't be afraid to hurt her?"
"I'd feel bad if I did," Tornjak admitted, "but she'd likely be mad if I held back and she heals so quickly that I wouldn't have to feel bad long." Good save Takal commended silently.
"Would you consider her distracting to you or possibly other soldiers?"
"If she was to wear a dress most certainly, but not so much in the men's clothes she wore home." Trails suddenly pictured her as she stood in the middle of the battle over a demon corps, tattered and blood-smeared, she was amazing. He was glad no one asked him if she was distracting…
"Do you think the other soldiers will accept her as one of them?"
"I think that like every new recruit she'd have to prove herself first and it may take longer because they might need more proof that she has what it takes but after seeing her not only survive the battle having even killed some herself, she helped drag bodies to be burned, so I think she does. Besides she fought well enough to get a halfway decent complement from Takal so that alone tells me she's better than half our army." Torn joked and received another small kick to the boot.
"Thank you Major Tornjak that is all." Torn nodded his head and let himself out.
The master of vigilance stood "Why is it exactly that you stand here to defend this girl today? I cannot believe she is as spectacular as you and your best friend have described, and how is it that you, our best warrior, were the only one severely injured; when it was her they were after. I heard about your visit to the healers and see that you still favor your right arm.
"I am more apt to believe that you were so distracted by this girl's presence that it nearly cost you your life. Several times actually if she had to warn you of incoming danger you should have already been aware of. If you fancy the girl so much why not just marry her and she could stay here without all this nonsense." The man gestured to the whole of the room. implying he was wasting all their time.
There had been a time when Takal looked up to this man for his powers of observation, he had been one of his favorite teachers in fact, but right now he suddenly hated him. He hated the fact that though he could mask his feelings well the man could probably read him like an open book and he hated that in some ways he was right and that he had done more than call him our for wasting time, he'd insulted his abilities to fight and stay level headed.
Trying even harder to conceal any emotion he began. "You make many good points. And I have to admit that I did not believe her capable of escaping the demons for how could a girl do that when no one ever had before? And when she claimed to have killed some in her escape, I thought it was complete rubbish… until I saw her fight."
Now for the low blow since he questioned his honesty, he'd question his sight. "Sometimes we see only what we want to see because accepting the truth can be harder." It was one of the man's own favorite sayings and the stab was not missed by anyone, especially the master of vigilance who glared him down.
"Yes, I was injured," he continued "but so was Shadow who if you noticed I had to leave behind because she couldn't make the trip and the girl if not for her healing magic might be dead right along with Tornjak's horse. And Torn well, he fought from safely outside the main battle as a well-needed archer. We fought twenty-three demons, I killed fourteen; myself. I doubt you have killed half as many in one sitting in your whole career, and you have not been without an injury or two.
"I am not too proud to admit that even I can be overwhelmed, I may be a strong offensive mage but that does not make me invincible against organized attacks in which we are greatly outnumbered against demon mages we did not know even existed." Ok, that was a bit more of a challenge than necessary, and though he never raised his voice there was no doubt he was losing his cool. Hopefully, the other masters saw it as one of his many challenges against authority or even defending himself and not proof that somehow this girl was clouding his judgment.
The room was silent for a moment waiting for the master of vigilance to respond to the challenge. Not many would dare call out a master, especially amid a council meeting, but well, he'd done stupider things…