A somber atmosphere hung over the Bureau in the days following Zia's return. Their mission to retrieve the Almighty's Holy Scale alongside the Templar, Aeron Weber, ended as a complete failure. Not only were their efforts to locate the missing artifact fruitless, but they were incapable of stopping Aeron's fall from grace, leading to a bizarre void in the Bureau's power structure. Of course, none of this was made public, but, given the heavy nature of the events, it was only a matter of time before the information leaked. And nobody was more aware of this danger than Beurt Albere, the current standing minister.
"What the hell is this?" the man thought as he nervously rolled his fingers across his desk.
"You don't have the right to speak, Abraham! It's your lax investigating that led to this mess!" Peter Maloy, a member of Beurt's council, yelped. "You're the one responsible for managing the Templar's missions! Are you really going to tell me that you had no idea this would happen?!" It was a well-known fact that Maloy wasn't exactly fond of Aeron Weber, however, at least for now, that hatred had vanished.
"He still can't accept that one of our kin fell under our watch," Beurt surmised as his advisors bickered.
"God will have our hides for this," another member cursed under his breath.
"Calm down, everyone, we can't afford to let this shake us," Beurt said as he clapped his hands together, bringing order to the chaotic meeting.
"Look at you, acting all high and mighty," Maloy thought as he and the other advisors watched the Minister stumble down to their table. The man had lost an unbelievable amount of weight since the Templar's betrayal. To be honest, they hardly recognized him.
"For now, we have to focus on concentrating our power."
"Respectfully, Beurt, you can't be serious," Abraham, the man Maloy was chewing out earlier, responded. He was a tall Cherub whose face was dotted with red freckles and a long beard. During their meetings he mostly kept to himself, however, he was one of the Bureau's most powerful individuals. Primarily, he was responsible for controlling and documenting in-progress assignments, including the management of emergency calls. "The rank and file aren't stupid," he continued, "Most of the judges are going to find out what happened if they haven't already."
"Then what do you suppose we do?!" Beurt yelled, shocking the councilmen. "Aeron's done for! The fool killed himself! You all know as well as I how damning that is! The newspapers are already spreading rumors, for God's sake."
"He's at the end of his rope," Maloy thought as an uneasy silence overtook the room.
"Either way, this organization can't move forward until we fill the Templar's seat." The judges were partially run by the Templar, after all.
"Are there any candidates?" Abraham asked.
"Yes, though most of them lack experience," Maloy nodded. Aeron's tenure in the office was, for lack of a better term, dominating. There weren't many in The Courthouse who'd be able to fill his shoes.
"The thought of a mortal taking up that sacred position again leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that, our kin hate judges."
"I just want a better selection."
"I haven't even given you the candidates' names yet," Maloy whined as he pinched the bridge of his nose. His fellows were acting unusually idiotic today. However, there was one outlier.
"Just hand me the list," Beurt said as he walked over to Maloy's seat.
"Sure, though I doubt you'll like most of them."
"There'll be someone, we just have to have faith." There it was again. The change was subtle, but there was a weight Beurt's words carried that was all but absent before.
"He's changed." Maloy grinned.
"What about that woman from before? The one who accompanied Aeron?" Beurt asked as he flipped through file after file.
"Oh?" Abraham muttered, "Are you talking about Zia Lombardi?" It was rare for Beurt to be interested in a mortal, especially after such a catastrophe.
"I want to talk to her," he said, "have Jeremy contact her office. Tell her to bring along her bodyguards as well."
"I wonder what this is about?" It wasn't like they had any questions, Lombardi had been interrogated at length already. But the Minister's mind was set.
"I'll go ahead and give him a call," another one of the councilmembers said. It looked like this meeting was set in stone.