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Deep inside the willow tree, the venerable High Magister Dephronyis, head of the Odonata Council, lowered his craggy head and banged his staff again on the rough wood below his tarsi, the sound echoing around the Council Chamber over the strident conversations taking place between the other occupants of the hall. Jraconi nobles lined the edges of the chamber hewn in the heart of the tree. They stood shimmering wingtip to shimmering wingtip, jostling for position, their lush green carapaces adorned with handsome stones mined from exotic stream beds. They shouted to be heard, the room so full that many Jraconi had scaled the vertical sides of the chamber, clinging to the fibrous woody walls, and looking down from the lofty heights.
Pausing, Dephronyis allowed his mind to reach into the xylem and phloem of the wood around him, seeking the Vivo energies that pulsed throughout the tree. Absorbing a few delicate strands of the ambient Vivo, the life force contained within all living things, Dephronyis smoothly wove the threads into a pinch of Ar - Elemental Air magic - about him to augment his voice. He shouted "Silence!", his ageing voice now resonating strongly, "I demand order here!"
Almost instantly the room fell silent, so quiet a trained ear could hear the stream passing outside through the thick bark of the willow tree. Only the rustling of a hundred or more papery wings broke the stillness, that and the occasional scrape of a bristly leg on a hard carapace.
Dephronyis coughed. The effort of raising his voice had left him light-headed. He released the remains of the invisible strand of Vivo, sensing its serpentine return to the fibres beneath. Lowering his voice, the urgency in his words still apparent, he said, "We must not lose our heads over this. This is but one incident in many days, we must stop acting like young Naiads, and muster a sensible course of action."
Murmurs of assent flowed across the gathered crowd, interspersed with expressions of outrage and distress. Nervous wings flicked as noble councillors gossiped truths and half-truths with their neighbours once more.
From the cool shadows at the side of the Council Chamber, a figure stepped forward, his iridescent compound eyes lowered deferentially towards the fibrous wood surface below him. Stubby antennae moving ceaselessly, the figure spoke, "Lord Dephronyis, with all due respect..."
Dephronyis inclined his head, interrupting with a gentleness that belied his authority and considerable size, "Lord Hydrea, you can speak freely here."
Lord Hydrea nodded his head politely and continued, "My Lord, there are some who are a little more pessimistic, who count this 'incident' as one of many, and the accumulation bears heavy on the Odonata. The Hawkers have continued to infringe on our borders for many moons now, testing and pushing at our defences. They have become an intolerable wound in the side of our society that refuses to heal."
Dephronyis knew his fellow council member spoke the truth. The Hawkers were growing in number and tenacity by the day, and all attempts at peace talks over the many cycles since the Battle of the Basilica some generations ago had failed. Dephronyis had been just a Naiad during the Battle and the time of the Hawkers' Banishment from Odonata society...
Lord Hydrea's voice brought the High Magister up from the depths of his mind, "...but since the Battle, the Hawkers have always refrained from such blatant confrontation. Now, this."
Dephronyis reeled his thoughts from the documented annals of history back to the present as, with a sad flick of his wings that spoke volumes to the amassed nobles, Lord Hydrea swept his foreleg in a gesture towards the centre of the chamber. All eyes turned once more to the scene before them.