A certain group of elders gathered for a second night in a row, this ti in a dimly lit study within their estate grounds. The room’s heavy wooden panels seed to absorb their hushed voices, lending the usual air of conspiracy to the proceedings. It was here they discussed the plan to steal the holdings from the Goltbred family.
It was also here that the surgery to implant the masking tool was perford... as well as the flesh sculpting imposed upon an unluckily naive rchant’s apprentice. The body double part of their plan had apparently been a wasteful precaution. However, it now seed like taking many more such insurances and safeguards would have been wiser.
"The Goltbred girl has been making waves quicker than we anticipated. Her performance at the bridal test was... unprecedented."
The eldest of them began in a voice gravelly with age. He sat in an ornate chair while the others stood in a semi-circle in front of him.
"Yes, she’s becoming a complication unlike any we dared anticipate."
A sound ca from the pressure that her ’father-in-law’ used to clench his jaw. He had dared. He had pushed them to look closer at her themselves years before during the first warning signs. The man felt now, after that arguntative confrontation with the spiritual witch, that they must have been afraid he was right.
’They waited like cowards and now we have a wolf in sheep’s clothing in our pasture.’
Knowing that two different Yecines had now compared her to that sort of animal would not have made Elua happy... even if thinking of their family as a bunch of black wooled sheep might have eased the feeling of disgust so.
"We have a problem, gentlen. We can’t deny her access to the estate, entirely. It would raise too many questions and alienate our pawn further."
"But... we can’t have her just wandering freely among our won."
"Already she has riled so of them."
"Lirades is being smug and proud once again.
"Who knows what ideas they might plant in their heads if they are allowed the ti to join forces?"
Quiet ca as the conspirators each considered the conundrum after saying their piece. Finally, Anper er Yecine decided to speak. There was a solution he felt was the most viable... and he hated articulating every syllable of it.
"If we are expected to provide her a room like the others, we rely must provide one far from the won’s quarters with a reasonable excuse for its convenience."
The elders looked at him with varied expressions before they gauged each other. The eldest of them eventually rolled his hand and prompted the younger swordsman to keep talking. Steely gray eyes looked toward a path forward he felt only he could see as he paced between the watchers.
"We offer her a room in the east wing. It’s isolated from the areas we don’t want her in and easy to monitor with attendants. If she chooses to use it, we’ll know exactly where she is."
"And if she doesn’t use it or refuses it?"
A cold smile grew on the lips of Anper er Yecine. He could only wish as much, but expected that was a foolish desire.
"Then we have grounds to question her. As long as we plan the location well, maybe even make a show of renovating or preparing it especially for her... then a refusal will harm her position with the remaining elders that were not as infuriated by my daughter’s behavior at a public event."
The elders nodded slowly, seeing the logic in the plan, before rapidly discussing it with each other.
"Either way, we maintain control."
"We present it as a gesture of goodwill, while effectively limiting her movents among our people without our knowledge."
"It could work... but we mustn’t get complacent, either."
"We’ll position servant guards discreetly. If she tries to sneak about, we’ll know imdiately."
The younger n discussed among each other while the eldest of the group tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the armrest of his chair. When they finally stopped their chatter, he gave his final thought.
"It’s a sound strategy, but we shouldn’t underestimate her. She’s proven... resourceful."
Anper closed his eyes for a long blink. He had once thought the sa, back when he first suspected her of having a questionable Astralism that affected her servants mory. However, ’resourceful’ was not the word he would use now. She was more like a *force* that didn’t need to find any clever way to act. A storm cloud... looking for lightning rods to drain its energy on.
"All the more reason to keep her where we can watch her. We can’t afford any more surprises and we can’t have her calling attention to us. For the good of the family."
The group murmured the last phrase in rote agreent with the man. The tense atmosphere in the room eased as their plan adjustnts took shape. For a while, the n talked among each other about the main preparations... noting that their rchant contact was cutting it close.
Their plot didn’t require a lot of moving parts, but it did require the right ones used at the right ti. Only a few minutes later, the eting concluded with a last confirmation from the faction leader.
"Very well. We’ll prepare and offer the Goltbred girl her own room. Let her think of it as a sign of acceptance, if she likes... or show her to be unreasonable if she does not."
The man who went along with their plots to hide his daughter’s gender, to marry that child to the daughter of his old friend, and ultimately to rid the region of Ondua and Yatrel er Goltbred... stood looking up at the sliver of moon in the sky. His face was marred by a grimace, feeling as though things had never been going anywhere near perfectly to plan.
That daughter of *his* had been an unimpressive disappointnt while that daughter of *theirs* remained an undiscovered power. That alone frustrated him. So did the words she spoke of supporting his ’heir’. They had been voiced as if there were not years of resources and training devoted to the talentless child!
’Just like her father. Always assuming. Thinking we must be unhappy performing our duties... while simultaneously expecting that we aren’t doing a perfectly reasonable amount of recognition for our people.’
The only thing Anper was unhappy about was feeling the loss of control. The resources of their cultivator family were spread too thin with their numbers. The holdings they would gain through this farce of a marriage and subsequent dark plan would help, but it was only a bandage.
Creating many well known individuals of the Yecine na seed further and further unlikely as their numbers blood... and they also risked unfilial behavior the more obvious it beca that other families had better results with single powerhouses.
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