The corpulent man talking was a sixth-tier priest and the head priest of Ethavel's branch of the Church of Seraphia, a deity associated with light, especially the first light of the sun at dawn. The bright yellow of their clothes wasn't just a garish clothing choice on their part but what was prescribed by their faith. In lands where the church held more sway, it was forbidden to wear the color if you weren't one of its adherents. The bald heads of both men were also another part of their religion's requirement. No one outside of their religion could as yet work out how that association was made, but, to them, a bald head represented the rising of the sun. The Acolyte being spoken of was a fourth-tier priest of the same faith. As was common in most religions they substituted one's tier with a title for it. The fourth tier being introduced was an adept, while his sixth tier teacher was a bishop.
Calyn couldn't decide whether the rotund bishop was daring, or just shameless. If Calyn could pick up on the fact that Mage Hira was annoyed by the man, then the bishop, a sixth-tier mage, had almost certainly picked up on it as well. Part of ascending through the tiers, however, was being stubborn and unwilling to give up where others would. So, in a way, Calyn could respect that the man didn't wither in the face of a seventh-tier mage's displeasure. "Even a single drop of blood, and my disciple will use the light of Seraphia to illuminate the path to the one you seek," the bishop assured with the kind of certainty only those in the school of faith seemed to have.
This was how the past two months had been since the arrival of the fleet of airships from the Draknar alliance. Unsurprisingly, their arrival had been like throwing cold water in a pot full of hot oil. Even without their alliance, seventh-tier mages were respected figures who commanded awe and respect wherever they went. When those seventh-tier mages were representatives of one of the strongest mage alliances, however, that regard only climbed several degrees higher. Being the Governor's guests, Calyn, her aunt who was her chaperone, and her cousin Nerissa, were strategically positioned to be the first people to meet the seventh-tier mages alongside the Governor.
Had they come on their own business, the seventh-tier mages wouldn't have been obligated to meet the Governor. They could have simply ignored the man and gone about their business, and there would have been very little the man could do about it. The Governor would have had to seek an audience with them if he wanted to meet them for whatever reason. With Mage Hira and Grenad arriving with the insignia of the Draknar alliance on the sails behind them, however, they were relaying that they were here on alliance business. In other words, on top of being powerful mages in their own right, whoever met them and interacted with them would also have to treat them as representatives of the alliance.
In a way, the fact that they were on their alliance's business meant that they were more restricted than they would otherwise be. If they got into an altercation with anyone, especially those with powerful backgrounds, they'd be dragging the whole alliance into trouble as well. They may have been high-ranking members in the alliance, Calyn, however, didn't doubt that their alliance would force them to pay for it if the alliance was to suffer any losses because of misconduct on their part. But, while they were restricted by their alliance, they were equally protected by it. If anyone acted against the two of them while they were on a mission given by the alliance, it would be seen as an attack on the alliance itself. In the ruthless mage world where any weakness would be like the scent of blood to predators, the alliance wouldn't countenance any such slights. Unless they encountered a mortal enemy, most people wouldn't be willing to make enemies of a behemoth like the Draknar alliance.
This situation was probably the reason the bishop was confident enough to continue singing the praises of his disciple. As little patience as she might have had for the man's transparent attempt to gain her favor, she couldn't attack him lest she instigate strife between her alliance and the church of Seraphia. Annoying as the bishop was being, he was just one of many. Having arrived in Ethavel unannounced, Mage Hira and Grenad were forced to pay a steep compensation to the Governor as a sign that they were here strictly on business and that the Draknar alliance wasn't looking to make any moves on Ethavel. In under a month, they had gotten more than twice what they'd been obligated to give, in terms of presents from all the powerful factions within Ethavel and the cities close by.
Right before they arrived, Calyn had been planning to leave Ethavel. With their arrival, however, all such plans had been put on hold. Even with her nonexistent interest in politics, she wasn't blind to what an opportunity it would be if their Sydrak clan could somehow be allied with the Draknar alliance, even tangentially. Which is why it came as no surprise when her aunt told them that they'd be staying a while longer as the Governor's guests. Of course, at only the second tier, neither she nor her cousin, Nerissa, were qualified to even speak in the presence of the seventh-tier mages. Not unless they were spoken to first. It was her chaperone, Aunt Lina who had taken up attempts to get closer to the two mages. Coming from a clan of Body-enhancing mages, it came as no surprise that her aunt chose to get closer Mage Grenad as opposed to Mage Hira. Given how long-lived mages were, relationships could sometimes take cycles to fully be established. As such, Calyn knew she might be too hasty in making this judgment. Still, she couldn't help the feeling that none of the people trying to win Mage Hira and Grenad, her aunt included, were making any headway. The two seemed only interested in their mission and nothing else.
One of the first things the Governor had sought to find out after he'd received the two seventh-tier mages was what they were after. This was, after all, what would determine how they would interact going forward. Not beating about the bush, Mage Hira had plainly stated that they were on the trail for a seventh-tier mage that they were trying to recruit. From the way the man's lips had pressed together, Calyn could tell that the Governor was a shrewd man. Just because the objective of the two mages didn't have anything to do with him didn't mean it couldn't be a disaster for him and his city.
To begin with, there was possibly a hidden seventh-tier mage within his city. Someone like the Governor was certain to have accrued several life-preserving measures throughout his life and tenure as Governor. Still, even if he didn't die, if a seventh-tier mage chose to attack him, he'd lose a pound of flesh in the process. And that was to speak nothing of the city itself. If half of it wasn't wrecked in that fight, then the Governor could only count himself lucky. The fact that Mage Hira and Grenad were on this hidden seventh-tier mage's trail, was a clear sign that he wasn't interested in joining the Draknar alliance. Though low, there was still a very real chance that negotiations might break down and things turn violent. The Governor was only a sixth-tier mage. If a fight instead broke out between two seventh-tier mages, then his only recourse would be to try and run as far as he possibly could before he was also caught up in it. As for Ethavel, there was no point in hoping to preserve it. The Governor would simply have to find a way to start over.
With this in mind, the most logical course of action would have been to try and get as far away from the two as possible. However, mages were exactly the kind of people to run headlong into danger if there was even a sliver of a chance that it would help them gain power either personally or through association. Being allied with one of the most powerful mage alliances was exactly that kind of opportunity. And so, like moths to the flame, all the most powerful factions in the city and beyond had been trying their level best to earn the favor of the two. For whatever reason, the chase the two had been on seemed to have hit a dead end in the city, forcing them to stay with the Governor for the past two months. In that time, they hadn't managed to go longer than three days before a social event of some kind or other had been thrown at the Governor's palace.
Everyone knew that it was just an excuse to try and get closer to the two high-tier mages. Still, every event was attended religiously by everyone who was anyone in the city. Calyn was certain that if not for the fortuitous fact that they were the Governor's guests at the time of their arrival, even her clan would have traded favors with others to ensure they always had someone present at these parties. Their luck didn't just end with being able to attend all these parties for free. The fact that they share the same roof as the two high-tier mages had caused the factions within the city to take note of them. Despite her dislike of politics, even Calyn had taken advantage of this. The number of resources she'd managed to accrue from the major players within the city and beyond was such that, even with the marriage falling through, this trip to Ethavel had proven more than worth it.
The factions weren't idiots, they knew that second-tier mages didn't hold that much sway with seventh-tier mages. In the fierce competition to stand out over others, however, none of them were willing to give up any chance they might have to gain an advantage. No matter how small, if throwing a few resources at second-tier mages happened to increase their chance to succeed at their larger goal, then they were more than glad to do it. That's why, despite having grown tired of these all-too-frequent events, Calyn was dressed in a form-fitting, rosy-red dress with a glass of Ember wine in her hand, watching the bishop as he tried to convince Mage Hira of his disciple's abilities.
