The alliance of the Dreamers of Light and House Calenture was a powerful one.  Both violent and combative houses alone, their combined might was formidable.  One fought for the cause of the Freesoul faith, their beliefs strengthening their blades.  The other fought with a raging battle-lust, fueled by the belief their house was threatened.

 

Like a cresting wave, they fell upon the unsuspecting Gathering of the Entranced, washing away all opposition.  The Gathering had its share of warriors, but none could stand against their powerful enemies.  They had sensed an approaching threat to their  house, and had taken to arms, but no preparation they could make would have been enough.

 

The leading waves of GateKeepers smashed through their hastily-erected blockades.  The leading wave was followed by a wave of Kabalist warriors, firing powerful chakrams with abandon, and cutting a large swath for the following waves to enter.

 

Within moments, the attackers had forced their way into the house, and laid siege to the Prime room.  The rulers of Calenture and the Dreamers of Light made their way inside, while a core group of defenders remained outside.

 

Ravage was honored to be one of the trusted defenders.  He held both his swords tightly, his back to the portal of the Prime room.  Sweat dripped from his chin, and a wild grin covered his face.  His hair was even more unkempt than usual, spiked out and windblown.

 

“We did it!” he thought to himself.  “Still, they were quite ill-prepared for a house planning on war.”

 

Just as he thought that, the entry portal began to hum.  A body slowly materialized in front of it, clad entirely in white.

 

Ravage gripped his swords tightly and eyed the forming avatar, but he relaxed slightly when he realized that only one person was coming through.  He looked around the room.  Seven other defenders stood nearby, more than enough to deal with any single dreamer that the Gathering might be thinking of sending to attack them.

 

“Even Talon?” he thought to himself, then shook his head.  Even Talon couldn’t outfight eight experienced warriors.

 

The dreamer’s avatar coalesced, and came into focus.  It was a formal looking gentleman, clearly one of their diplomats.  He was dressed in a fine, (if somewhat ruffled) suit, with a ceremonial sword slung into a jeweled sheath at his side.  His eyes were piercing as he looked at the defenders, but he made no move to attack.  Instead, he raised his head and looked at the dreamers..

 

“Well fought, sirs.” He said, bowing his head respectfully.  “I am Drake, an ambassador for the Gathering of the Entranced.  May I ask what the cause is for this assault on our home?”

 

“As if you didn’t know.” Scoffed Ravage, as he lowered his blades.  “You can’t fool us with this ‘innocent’ act, diplomat.” He finished, with a sneer.

 

“I’m afraid I truly do not know what you speak of.”  Drake replied, steadily.  “However, I do wish to find out what has happened, and what has caused our peaceful house to come under such an assault.”

 

“Feh.” One of the other defenders snorted, “Get out of here, you stinkin’ Illuminate.  We won’t let you threaten our houses, and then try to sneak by with some claim of innocence.  We’re going to sever your link with this house, and drain its energy dry.  The next time we meet, your house will be dead, and you’ll be holding your meetings in Threshold.” He finished, smirking.

 

Drake’s face flushed, and his hands clenched and unclenched.  One hand began straying toward a chakram hung at his belt.

 

 Ravage coughed.

 

“Get out of here now, if you value your coherence.” Ravage said firmly.  “We are going to sever the bonds of this house.  We won’t listen to your two-tongued double-talk.  We will not speak with any member of the Gathering.  We will destroy your house.  If you try to stop us, then we will destroy you too.”

 

Drake’s eyes narrowed dangerously toward Ravage.  Realizing he was facing impossible odds, however, he whirled and stormed out the portal.

 

The remaining Freesoul Alliance members cheered and congratulated each other.  Ravage, however, maintained a vigilant watch on the portal.  Not long after Drake stepped out, the portal began humming again.

 

This time, however, an elderly woman hobbled in.

 

Ravage stared blankly at the newcomer.  No Gathering of the Entranced crest marked her body.  He vaguely remembered her standing in Threshold helping young newly awakened Dreamers; he couldn’t remember her name, however.

 

The other dreamers quieted down, and readied their hands on their blades.

 

 Seeing the old woman looking around in confusion, however, Ravage raised his hand and motioned for the other dreamers to hold.  He stepped forward, and looked at the elderly dreamer.

 

“Greetings, madam.” He said, formally.  “I’m afraid that I must ask you to depart.  I know not what brought you to be here, but I am afraid that you have stumbled into the middle of a conflict.  We shall not harm you if you choose to depart; we cannot, however, allow you to continue on into the chamber of the Prime.”

 

“My word,” the elderly woman exclaimed, looking around at the stern guardians.  “So t’is true.  I heard rumor in Threshold that the Gathering had come under assault.  I couldn’t believe my ears, so I had to come up to see for myself.”

 

The elderly woman turned, and looked reproachfully at Ravage.  “Now, why would you want to go harm these peaceful dreamers, young man?” she asked, gazing at him.

 

“Er… well…” Ravage stammered, “I’m afraid that they aren’t… as peaceful as you think, ma’am.  We have strong reason to believe that they were aiding and abetting an attack upon our house.  Given our information, we had little choice but to strike first, in order to protect ourselves.”

 

“Oh, my!” the elderly woman exclaimed, clapping her hand over her mouth.  “Never such a thing have I heard of in all my dreams!  I can barely imagine them being capable of such a cruel, underhanded act!”

 

“Aye, it took many of us by surprise.” Ravage nodded, solemnly.  “Our diplomats all claimed that the Gathering was, by nature, a fairly peaceful house.  But even they had to admit that such a situation would be possible.”

 

“Especially if they were pressured by the Illuminate Front.” The elderly woman mused, rubbing her chin.  “I almost wonder if… no… it couldn’t be…” she continued, mumbling to herself.

 

“Ma’am?” Ravage asked, tilting his head.  “Do you know anything about this?”

 

“Know?” the elderly woman looked up, startled, as if she hadn’t realized she’d been mumbling out loud.  Seeing Ravage’s questioning eyes, however, she sighed deeply.

 

“Well, I don’t want to believe it true, but it’s the only logical solution I can come to.” The elderly woman paused, then continued.  “As well, I know that you Freesoul dreamers are usually quite noble and honorable, and would never want to harm an innocent party.”

 

Ravage smiled, listening quietly.

 

“It’s just, well… I really don’t think that the whole house is behind this.  In fact, I think most of them aren’t even aware of it going on.  I’m sure if you asked any of them, they’d be completely clueless as to what’s happening, even as they asked you for chakrams to use to fight against you.”

 

Ravage raised his brow, but remained silent.

 

“My daughter is even a Ruler of this house.  She’s been quite upset that I wouldn’t join along with her but, well, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.  I’ve been a Freespirit most all of my dreaming, and I’ll always remain one.  She’s the cutest little thing, though.  Have you ever met her?  Her name’s Felia.  An absolute doll!”  the elderly woman clasped her hands together, and raised them to her chin.

 

Seeing Ravage’s frown, she cleared her throat and continued.

 

“I’m sorry, lad, I’m rambling.” She said, smiling softly.  “Well.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t believe that Felia, and the majority of the Gathering are behind this.  See, a week or so ago, I was sitting in Threshold teaching.  One of my students is a Guardian of the Protectors of Radiance, and I was teaching her a few tricks I know about Combine.”

 

“Midway through our lesson, an Initiate of her house stopped by, and whispered something to her.  Now, I wasn’t intending to be nosy, but I’d heard something about the Gathering, and that piqued my interest right there.”

 

“She took her leave of me, and hastened off.  I focused my concentration on her location, and sensed as she passed through the City, eventually ending up in the Treaty Room.  Since I’d heard mention of the Gathering, I switched my focus to sensing their leadership.  At that time, there were only three Rulers: Mikael, Laila, and Justaius.”

 

“Justaius was off in the rifts, doing chaos-knows-what.  Mikael was here at the house.  But Laila, Laila had wandered to the Treaty Room, too.”

 

 “Now, I don’t know what was said up there, but I know that the Protectors don’t care for your house very much.  Can’t say as though I care for their house that much, myself.  They’ve always been rather rude and single-minded about things.  Felia wanted to join them once, you know.  It took me a good week or so to talk her out of that!”

 

Ravage coughed again, and the elderly woman blushed.

 

“Rambling again, yes, I’m sorry.  Anywho, it sure looked like Laila was sneaking off to a secret meeting, without alerting any of the other Rulers; a meeting with a house that really doesn’t like yours at all.”

 

“Even though I don’t share their beliefs, I’m a welcome guest at this house.  I don’t care much for most of them, I really only come up to visit with my daughter.  I can tell you this, however; no talk of combat with your house has gone on in the public meetings, and as far as the initiates are aware, there are no plans to combat your house.  I trust my daughter enough to know, as well, that if there were plans in the leadership to attack your house, she would have at least told me.”

 

The elderly woman’s eyes focused on Ravage, and she spoke the next part steadily.

 

“I believe that this is most likely a plot of that conniving Laila.  She quite likely struck some sort of deal with the Protectors, and is now sending her own housemates out to help them unwittingly.”

 

“The wrong wasn’t committed by the entire house.  The wrong was committed by one person.  Punish that one person – not the entire house.”  The elderly woman said quietly.

 

Ravage rubbed his chin.  Her words had merit.  It was possible that this was all a misunderstanding, and he would hate to punish people who weren’t responsible.  He sheathed his swords, and folded his arms.

 

“I will speak with the leaders.  Please, wait here a moment.”  Ravage said.  He turned, and headed toward the portal.

 

The elderly woman waited outside with the defenders.  A few moments later, Ravage stepped back out.  He approached the woman.

 

“Are you certain that Laila is the one responsible for this?” he asked, looking sharply at her.

 

“Indeedie, dearie.” The elderly woman commented.  “I know these people.  None of the rest of them would be capable of such a thing.”

 

Ravage frowned, then continued.

 

“Well then.  As you said, we would not wish to punish an undeserving party.  You can tell your ‘friends’ in the Gathering that we propose this solution: the demotion and public denunciation of the Ruler Laila, along with her essence.  We will withdraw from the Prime Room at this time.  However, if the essence and public statement are not issued within one week, we will return; and this time, we will hold the Prime until the house falls.”

 

The elderly woman nodded softly.

 

“I will pass along the word, dearie.  You know, I still wish my dear Felia had chosen a Freesoul house.  You’re all such sweet people.  Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to swing her around, but until then, well.  Kids will be kids!” she said, smiling kindly.  “It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, Mr….?” she asked.

 

“Ravage.”  Ravage replied, smiling warmly.  “And yours?”

 

“Baila.” The elderly lady replied.  “My name is Baila.”

 

She smiled, and turned, departing through the portal.