Starter for @inspired-flame. Sorry about the delay! I was battling a light headache & nausea combo as I was editing this, so it's a little rough 'round the edges.
Algor agreed to host this meeting, not that he had much of a choice. The good steward took special care to accommodate the unexpected guests, tidying up the town hall, stringing up some frayed banners, and despite his best efforts describing the setting as ‘modest’ would be almost too kind. The Drakkengate couldn’t hope to compare to Prime or Tereshni.
Tensions raised from the arrival of two recent news: the Mist was spotted rapidly advancing from ruined Demacia, and the visiting diplomat was revealed as belonging to an opposing faction. Mariam almost commended her bravery, and then remembered this was the same woman who reduced an entire warship to cinders just a couple of years back — with her mind. Safe to say she was not disadvantaged despite being denied rest by her Noxian host. They argued time was brief, which it was, while evidently aiming to exploit her travel-weary state. For her part, Mariam had nothing to gain from breaking Karma down, so she focused on formulating a plan to combat the impending threat.
Her compatriots were firm in their own agendas, spreading a map over the table with little wooden figurines placed over notable landmarks. As the hour candle melted down to a stub, so did their pretense. Mariam felt her face heat up with embarrassment as the discussion began to veer off towards matters of war. After a few more minutes of thinly-veiled threats, she stood, collecting the figurines against a backdrop of protests from her fellow Noxians.
“We are overdue for a break,” she said, dropping the carvings back into their box. “Take this time to revise your strategies. I would like to hear suggestions from you as well the next time we gather around this table.”
