"If I may speak," Machtahn interrupted with a gargle, "while it is not my place to 'throw my hat into the ring' as humans say, I believe that your argument is compelling, High Priestess Vala."
All heads turned to the Sharkman and looked at him with respect, all but Vala, who had lost her faith completely with this band of High Priests. The gills on the side of his head opened up as he took a deep breath before he continued.
"I have no children of my own, but I have grown up knowing the few hundred kin of my kind and developed close relationships with all of them. I have seen people marry, people hate, children grow up to be fine young Fishfolk and some, unfortunately, lose their way, possibly losing their lives.
"The sacrifice you are making, what Cain is making, is one too big for all of us at this table to talk about and decide on our own. I'm sure we all have our own personal thoughts on this matter, and as his mother, you should be the one to dictate his early life and raise him well.
*sigh* "It is unfortunate however that while you are his mother, there are billions of potential mothers all around the world that need your son's help. There are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of different species that wouldn't hesitate to steal your child away for their own gain.
"While it may seem that the council is also taking your son away from you, we have a duty, that we swore to uphold, and that duty tells us that Cain needs to be in our care so that he may grow up, knowing what he must do for this world and in a safe environment."
While it was hard to tell, the beady eyes of the Sharkman that stared at the grieving mother were full of pity. As the descendants of Sharks and humans alike, he could smell blood from about half a kilometer away at least, while his human side could feel and interpret the emotions in the woman's voice and actions.
His powerful Olfactory receptors allow him to hear and smell the way the blood in those around him move, making it way easier for him to see the underlying emotions of those around them. While the 3 who were against Vala were mostly angry and frustrated, the old geezers felt a lot of sympathies while the glaring, stoic woman standing up was actually fearful and sorrowful inside.
She was able to hide her inner thoughts and feelings well, unfortunately, she couldn't get past him. He could only imagine how this drama was affecting her so all he could do was try to convince the next Grand Council meeting to allow her to stay by her son's side and raise him well, while he still trained for his 'Holy' position in life.
"I am sorry once again for stepping in when I shouldn't have," Machtahn continued, straightening himself out to be more dignified, "but now that I have a better grasp on the situation our blessed child is in, I will have to request this information remain confidential and will bring it up once more at the next Grand Council meeting."
While everyone was shocked at his declaration, it was for many different reasons. The three against Vala were angry that they not only felt humiliated after this meeting but also lost the opportunity to better their standing within the Lailan Council by directly admitting the 'blessed child' into the Academies on Carvfall.
The two geezers were just plain shocked that a Grand Priest would 'abuse' his powers like this to essentially postpone Cain's fate. Never in their almost thousand years of living, and several hundreds of years as members of this Council, where hundreds of thousands of members have died and been replaced as members of the High and Grand Councils, or have retired from old age.
Vala was the worse since it took her a while to register his words with all the emotions flowing through her. It took her a few moments, but she eventually calmed down, sitting and bowing to the Grand Priest.
"Thank you, Grand Priest Machtahn. I understand that this matter is TOO BIG for THIS COUNCIL to decide on its own and will await their decision."
She had a slight smirk on her face while she emphasized 'too big' and 'this council,' which only served to anger Kelsti, Taz, and Bastion more as they realized too what Grand Priest Machtahn was saying.
She basically was given another 6 months at least to spend all the time in the world with her son.
That was because unlike High Council members who met every month at least to discuss important issues, the Grand Council only met every half year or so. They had many other important duties to attend to, since they still technically had the same duties as High Council members, only they covered a wider area by themselves.
Usually a normal Council member would stay within a region or a close area of cities, being the representative in that area. Those areas combined to form the area that a High Council member would oversee, and all those High Council areas were then over saw by a Grand Priest or Priestess.
With hundreds of different kingdoms and Empires all across the world, both in the sky and on the surface of the planet, the dozen or two Grand Council members had tons of work to do and not enough time or hands to get it all done at once.
Especially with all the trouble that was going on with mana, beast activity, and now the blessed child, they were extremely backed up and running on fumes. It might even be more than 6 months with the rate of their issues piling up.
While the High Council members weren't aware of just how backed up the Grand Council was, they knew they were extremely busy, which was why this meeting with Grand Priest Machtahn was shocking since he had so many things to do.
*clack**clack* "Grand Priest Machtahn, *clack* while I believe your words are *clack* insightful, I do believe that this matter should be addressed immediately rather than later. *clack**clack* It is too big of a risk to *clack* wait until the next Grand Council meeting for a final decision when *clack**clack* the survival of tens of thousands of species are at stake!"
Kelsti clacked more often, showing his agitation to this decision while still being polite. Taz was refrained from showing his feelings while Bastion removed his frown from earlier and only knitted his brow in annoyance.
"Grand Priest Machtahn!" Taz slammed his claws on the table and scratching them up, "while I do not question your judgement, just as High Priest Kelsti has mentioned, the existence of hundreds of thousands of clans are at stake! People just like my kin, Tiger kin, whose breeding cycles are even more spontaneous than most are some of the most endangered people on the planet!
"And while there are hundreds of thousands of humans born everyday, I'd have to guess only 50,000 at most on a good day, are born every day from all other beastmen species combined. It is true that the young Kaiser is Vala's son, but she can always have another child while it takes a miracle for us to even birth one child in our lifetime."
"I concur with those thoughts, Grand Priest Machtahn," Bastion spoke up while glancing at the livid Vala, "Forest Elves like myself can only give birth once in their thousand-year lifetime, making it extremely difficult for us to grow in numbers.
"The only way around this is the 'Child of All' who can bypass those biological barriers and give rise to a higher population. I implore you to allow us to continue this discussion."
"You bastards have got to be f*cking kidding me!" Vala growled and released a large chunk of her mana out into the building.
The three against her narrowed their eyes, ready for a fight while the geezers twiddled their thumbs after casting protection spells on themselves.
"Silence." Machtahn growled himself, revealing the razor-sharp teeth that were gritted in frustration at his fellow Council members' actions. This was not what he wanted to happen. The blessed child was meant to be something that brought everyone together, not further apart.
"Is this how your Council holds their meetings?" He questioned The High Council, who most, avoided his predatory gaze, "We do not fight amongst ourselves. We do not criticize each other's race, culture, or beliefs, and we do not play favorites in a situation like this one.
"While you have all have reason to believe you are right, in the end, you are not. The Grand Council, which oversees all races with unbiased eyes, will be the ones burdened with the fate of this world and this blessed child.
"You have shown me today just how severe this issue truly is and I will be spending my time before the next Grand Council meeting to figure out what our best course of action is, not just for all races, but also the child who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"As Grand Counselor and Grand Priest, I adjourn this meeting. Speak nothing of what happened here otherwise don't expect to keep your positions, or your lives, for much longer."
With a last gargling growl, the Sharkman stood up and walked back into the inner chamber to already begin preparations for the meeting ahead for him. There was a moment of silence in the room before Vala stood up and glared at everyone, even the old men weren't free of her anger for staying silent the entire time.
"It seems this Council is just as shitty as I remember leaving it over 5 years ago."
With her parting words, the doors to the chamber finally closed as she let the mana within her body spiral out of control into the surroundings, forming cracks along the walls and scaring the shit out of other members who were unlucky to pass by her.
The council room was also a complete mess as Taz went nuts, smashing their table to pieces and destroying a non-bearing column.
"That Bitch thinks she has the power to hold the world hostage?!" He growled furiously.
The other members also had their own thoughts, with the old geezers wondering where everything went wrong.
"I believe it is best to bring up High Priestess Vala's conduct at the next meeting. It was unsightly in front of Grand Priest Machtahn and has now postponed the fate of the world for an unknown time in the future when many races will undoubtedly face extinction." Bastion spoke his own thoughts and looked to his fellow Priests for their thoughts.
"Damn right!" Taz crudely responded while Kelsti agreed with several clacks.
When the three looked to the geezers, the old Dwarf and Elf sighed in defeat. While they sympathized with her and felt that Machtahn wasn't offended by her conduct, it was still unsightly and inconceivable for a High Priestess such as herself to do. Especially in the presence of her boss essentially.
Vala had made many more enemies today than she wished for, but it wouldn't matter now that she would spend every waking moment with her child if possible before his fate was sealed.