The Elders (Sky: Children of the Light)

~Chapter Nine~

ETHIS'S POV

Among other things that Ethis hated, he hated meetings. They were long, boring, and completely unnecessary. But this time around, many secrets had been revealed, such as Tam being Mez's twin and Mez's metal hand, which she stubbornly refused to talk about.

But honestly, who cared what Ethis thought anyway? He was just "the grumpy dude".

Whatever.

"Bro," Kira elbowed him. "Pay attention or I'll have to shock you again."

He kicked her foot under the table, and she glared at him.

". . . With or without help," Sunny was saying. "She can't keep getting away with these things! I mean, we have no idea where Edna is, or if she's even alive."

That weird Rythulian was just sitting silently. Sage, was it? Ethis didn't know why she was here, or where she had come from, but she had helped Sunny and Ace and hadn't done anything especially sinister, yet.

"Now to mention she can control people by their light magic. You saw what she did to Tam!" Mez added. "But we have to find out where she is hiding first."

Sage spoke up, "You should start in the Sand Kingdom."

Avala looked at her, then seemed to remember something. "You can take off your cloak, I trust these people."

Sage shook her head and Avala shrugged. "Why the Sand Kingdom?"

"Before I came here, I started hearing news of strange. . . Anomalies of sorts. Glowing eyes in the dark, black sand pouring like water from the cliffs. If anything, it should be something worth investigating."

"It sure helps to have someone up to date on news from another Kingdom!" Zaira said, twirling a coin between her fingers before stashing it in her pocket with a flash of gold.

Sunny nodded, "We should organize a group to go there in a few weeks, so we have time to prepare." She stood up and pushed her chair in. "I think we're done here, but please, if you see anything out of the ordinary, make sure to tell someone. We don't want someone else to get kidnapped."

Ethis got up with Kira, ready to leave, when suddenly he was across the room with his metal rod at the ready, electricity crackling up and down the surface. How had he gotten there?

"Ethis?" Kira tilted her head, walking over to him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not-I'm not sure." He said, putting his rod away. The rest of the Elders were leaving, and he dismissed it as nothing. "I thought I saw something." He lied, exiting the room.

✧

Kira was talking with one of the Valley spirits, discussing something about a new building being constructed in the coliseum. The spirit was sketching something down while she talked, but Ethis wasn't paying much attention. He was sitting against the wall, making light mantas swim through the air above his fingertips.

He knew he was supposed to be interested and all, but it didn't matter to him if the banners were red or blue, if there were stairs or an elevator. The planning of a building was not something he found exciting. Of course, Kira motioned him over. In a daze, he walked to the table, pretending to be interested. His mind wandered while he said the occasional "ok" or "sure".

Kira snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"What do you mean the candles should be the color of 'freshly spilled blood'? What has gotten into you?"

Ethis shook his head to get rid of the mental fog.

"I said that?"

She sighed, "Yes! Can you please focus?" Then she snapped her head towards him and pulled his face closer to hers.