Page 238 of Elemental Becoming

Seven chairs surround it. One belongs to the Warlord, one to the War Veteran, one to the Diplomat, and one to the Scholar. The remaining seats are held by those who have earned their place through service, experience, and sacrifice.

For generations, the people seated at this table have shaped the course of the Fire Clan.

Now, there is an eighth.

Mine.

I should feel honored.

I don’t.

A chair is just a seat. But what it represents settles over me like iron. Responsibility. Expectation. The knowledge that every decision made at this table will ripple far beyond these walls.

The council watches me. I feel the intensity of their scrutiny, their calculations, their judgments. They still don’t know what to make of me. Even after witnessing my power at the ball, I remain an outsider. I wasn’t raised among them. I didn’t grow up learning their customs, their politics, or their history.

And yet, here I sit in an eighth chair, breaking another of their traditions.

I meet their gaze one by one.

Lord Edric Voss, the grizzled war veteran with battle-worn hands and eyes that miss very little. Lady Sienna Dain, the diplomat, composed as ever, her dark blue eyes sharp as flint.Master Orlon Revic, the scholar, his embroidered robes marked with symbols of old magics.

Then there is Rowena, Valen, and Garrick.

The torches flicker, throwing shifting shadows across the walls. Thane sits at the head of the table, his presence calm and unshaken. His gaze sweeps the room, lingering on me for only a moment before moving on.

He gives nothing away, as always.

I don’t want to be here.

The council chamber feels too small for the expectations pressing in from every side. Every seat around this table belongs to someone who earned it through years of service, sacrifice, knowledge, or experience.Years.

I know that I have earned my place differently, but that knowledge does little to quiet the discomfort sitting heavy in my chest.

That morning, after Thane called me little zephyr, I stood with my arms folded and tried to make him understand.

“This isn’t my place.”

“It is now,” he had said, unyielding.

His words hadn’t sat right with me then. They still don’t.

But now, seated at this war table and surrounded by seasoned commanders, politicians, and warriors, I find myself replaying the rest of that conversation. I had demanded answers, and the ones Thane gave were difficult to argue with, no matter how much I wished otherwise.

“Because the castle was breached,” he had said, as though the answer should have been obvious.

“And?”

He paused, studying my face, as if choosing his words carefully.

“And the council is stuck in its ways. Firepower. Brute force. Open war. That worked, until it didn’t.”

I had frowned, but I hadn’t argued because he had been right.

“You think differently,” he continued. “You see problems from angles the rest of us miss.”

I had crossed my arms tighter across my chest. “That doesn’t mean I belong on the council.”

“It does mean you belong in the room.”