Lady Isis was feeling a mixture of pride and annoyance. People would surely think she had taught her son to behave like this.
If she reconsidered things she supposed she had.
Jody was mimicking his mother. Anyway, Isis always intended to train him to act like this! He was the young lord of the House, after all. They were people of status. Isis, once poor and weak, would milk this with her child. She never got a chance to slowly show him these ways because the child had apparently been born so refined!
In Jody's previous life, he was a millionaire playboy, making a living doing high-profile assassinations for the government. He always required deeper information before making a plan. Jody did nothing but ask his mother questions about the various things he had laid his eyes on. His mother answered most of these endless questions while admonishing or completely ignoring others. Nonetheless, Jody had learned a lot about the House Trillwolf.
At the top of the hierarchy was a Grand Lord of the House and three Grand Elders. Under them was a House Lord followed by other Lords of the House. Two Eminent Elders and three Exalted Disciples formed the House Lord's retinue. Below that were Honored Elders and Legacy Disciples with similar authority, followed by Elders and Custodian Disciples. At the bottom of the totem pole were teachers, Core Disciples, Inner Court Disciples, and Outer Court Disciples.
As the son of the House Lord, Jody's own status as a young lord was nothing to scoff at. In noble houses, any status above the honored elder level could be inherited by capable descendants. Of course, the prerequisite was that they be competent. As long as Jody made a name for himself, becoming a lord or even the House Lord was entirely possible.
After a while, the pair of mother and son reached a large manor's main chamber. Standing before the chamber doors was the estate's enigmatic head butler, Ke Si. Lady Isis and her son stopped in front of Ke.
"What is this? Why do you block my path, Ke Si?" Lady Isis asked with narrowed eyes.
"My lady, I'm sorry. The council would like to see the third young master alone," said Ke without opening his eyes.
Jody subconsciously took a step closer to his mother, whose body responded instinctively as she lifted him into her arms. Lady Isis' sapphire eyes begin to glow beautifully with golden sagelight as her gaze turns chilly.
She calmly retorted, "I am the First Lady of the House of Trillwolf, Isis Trillwolf, and I am the legal wife of your master. Do you know what that means, head butler? I. Am. Your. Mas. Ter." With every pause, Isis took a step, leaving pink and purple ice crystals in her wake.
Jody's eyes widen as he realizes things are about to escalate.
"You have no right to obstruct me, Ke Si. Scram the fuck out of our way." As Lady Isis' words finished, she wrapped her son in her spiritual power and waved her hand delicately.
A multicolored and powerful icy blast of serene wind energy erupted from her hand, striking Ke Si with a force so chillingly powerful that it sent him crashing through the chamber doors, which shattered like icicles. He stared up at her in confusion on his back on the snow-covered floor.
She stood over him nobly and shook her head sadly.
He couldn't resist it at all. It was too fierce, too abrupt, and yet somehow gentle enough not to harm him at all. The force chilled to the bone and gave the feeling of extreme stillness, like an ancient mountain.
Jody was able to recognize that this was a serenity force instantly! The very thing he had been struggling to gain some insight into. His eyes flashed with the light of understanding! Eureka! Perhaps he should find a way to ask for his mother's help.
Jody had continuously been struggling with how much intelligence he should be revealing. As a former spy, he knew that information was power. He had to keep his cards hidden. As the old saying goes, the tallest tree in the forest endures the most wind. It wouldn't be good to stand out more than he already does.
His own matters aside, Jody was nonetheless impressed with his mother's sudden and domineering change in personality. He had seen many new things from her today but never imagined she had this side to her as well. Then again, he also discovered she could fly only today. That was probably the most shocking for him. He suddenly realized he knew too little about his own family. This world only grew more intriguing as he grew older.
No wonder his mother could fight for the first wife position. She was this fierce and dominant!
Jody figured she was at least as imposing as the five coots that follow his father around. He now knew that these warriors were the fabled Five Element Wolf Pack. Two eminent elders and three exalted disciples. They were all powerful.
'Now those guys were intimidating! I mean, heck, their eyes glowed. How wild was that?' Jody thought to himself as if his mother's eyes weren't currently glowing in the exact same way.
Of course, Jody subconsciously avoided looking at his mother too often, as she was far too pretty. Even Kamila did the same, unable to avoid becoming shy when meeting the woman's gaze.
After landing slightly miserably in the main chamber, Ke Si's eyes opened wide in shock, as he was similarly shocked by the First Lady's current behavior and strength.
The elders within watched, baffled, as Lady Isis slowly sashayed through the doors with little Josiah Trillwolf on her hip. She walked gently and elegantly, without reducing her ice-cold aura in the slightest, as she stepped past Ke Si. The latter became encased instantly in purple and blue ice the moment she did.
'Poor Ke Si,' thought Jody, his face showing pity.
Even though the butler had attempted to separate them, Jody didn't have a bad impression of this now-frozen affairs manager. Seated at the oval war table in the center of the chamber were twelve imposing-looking men and women wearing the black robes of honored elders. Jody couldn't help but note how much skin the people of this era showed. Very little of their bodies were covered up in the warm seasons.
Directly across from the mother-son duo, at the head seat of the war table, was the House Lord. He wore shining jewels and all-white clothes, with a bare chest and half-cape on his shoulders. There was another half cape at his waist. The typically pleasant, smiling face Jody had grown accustomed to was currently grim and emotionless, his black eyes glowing with a harsh grey light. This slowly chilled Jody's heart as he turned vigilant.
It seems…
Something is amiss here.
Unlike Saint Temples, Sage Houses are governed by democracy. In a Sage House, the Executive Council of Elders or the executive board makes decisions for the estate. The House Trillwolf Executive Board comprises twelve honored elders who serve as the representatives of their factions. The honored elders of the Executive Council of Elders were always known as seated elders.
Each of the House's six major wings had two seats and thus two seated elders per faction. House Trillwolf's six major wings were the Fangs, Black, Myriad Rune, Slaughter, Firestorm, and Windstorm factions. Each faction had many noble and humble elders.
To become an elder in House Trillwolf, one's formula base had to reach either the Heaven's Master level of the Saint Path or the Void Door level of the Sage Path. However, to become an Honored Elder, one had to advance one step further than this. Only honored elders were qualified to be seated elders. The opinion of each seat represented one vote to cast in all the significant decisions of the House. The representatives were elected from within their factions.
Whereas the House Lord possessed two votes on his own, the seated elders from his camp, and the right to veto. No one but the Grand Lord or elders could go against the House Lord's veto. However, it required a minimum of two of the three grand elders to agree to override the veto.
Needless to say, Osiris had the most influence by a wide margin.
There were twelve elders positioned around the oval-shaped war table, apart from the House Lord, who was seated directly across from where Jody and his mother currently stood.
To his immediate left and right were the Five Element Wolf Pack members. The Five Element Wolf Pack was the Honored Pack, and its members were the House Lord's guardians. Each of them possessed their own title.
While the others didn't notice the slight skepticism and discomfort in little Jody's eyes when they landed on his father, it did not go unnoticed by Osiris himself, who raised a brow. He focused his full attention on Josiah from the moment the pair entered the manor. He even saw how the little guy looked displeased when his mother froze Ke Si.
This suggested Jody couldn't tell that Ke Si had not been harmed. Well, whether or not his pride was damaged was another matter.
Still, many elders felt Josiah had been possessed by his combat soul, or in other words, had become a Fallen One. The more superstitious elders thought he would bring a calamity to the House!
The House Lord knew that this fuss was started by his foster brother, Monte, who had joined their father's Windstorm Faction and became the representative. However, it was also not so ridiculous as a theory. The threat was entirely possible! Many strange circumstances surrounded his son. However, Osiris was genuinely fond of the little guy. Thus, as the Lord of House Trillwolf, he decided that the boy's subsequent actions would determine the former's stance.
In fact, Jody was indeed a Fallen One, but not even he understood this. He had never even heard this term.
"Your lady greets you, my lord. Greetings to you as well, honored pack brothers." Lady Isis' eyes were flirtatious as she greeted Lord Osiris properly.
She then turned and saluted the five elders closest to him with a smile and curtsy, retracting her aura simultaneously. She focused her sight back on the lord, completely disregarding the other elders in the room.
Seeing this, Lord Osiris felt a headache coming on.
"My lady, will you please thaw out my affairs manager?" sighed Lord Osiris.
"You do not need to worry, my sky, as he will return to normal in twenty minutes," replied Lady Isis with a stoic face as she closed her almond-shaped eyes. "He dared to tell his master that I was not allowed to be somewhere in my own manor. Even worse, he dared separate me from my darling shining sun. He would take my light and leave me alone in the dark."
The surrounding elders were speechless when they heard this.