Been a while, no? Well, this could probably use some work, but should be of decent length. Yes, that means you should throw it away quickly to avoid wasting your time. Seriously, I hope it's okay, though dialogue seems to not be my forte. Enjoy!

Pat

Iilena made her way to the council’s chambers with no great rush. She felt refreshed for the first time since she could remember, and didn’t want this to be ruined too quickly. She wondered if she could pull this off. Only time would tell.

Finally she opened the doors to the meeting and noticed as she did that she was the last to arrive. This was not surprising. She hobbled to her seat and sat down heavily. Though the meeting couldn’t officially begin until she arrived, it seemed as though some discussion had already taken place.

"Let this meeting come to order," drones Rasis in an official-sounding voice, and banged the gavel which was the symbol of his current leadership of the council. "This meeting has been called to order to discuss the events of last night. Councilman Roschane, I believe you have the official reports taken from several people last night?"

"Aye," replied Roschane, shifting his weight as he shuffled several papers in his meaty hands. We have reports from soldiers that were on duty last night; as well as Kavak, who tends to the injured in the temporary library clinic."

Ralov sat forward in his chair, quite interested in what was about to be presented. Marya, on the other hand, scowled as she sat back in her chair. Her disdain for these proceedings was obvious. The two who had done the speaking to this point behaved in a far more deferential manner, looking much more like part of a governing body than the other two. Iilena, for her part, seemed neither disinterested, nor focused. She simply waited.

"Give us the long and short of it, Roschane," requested Rasis. "We have much to do today; this meeting is both unexpected and unwanted.

"Yes sir," replied the former captain of the guard." It seems that late last night, a complete stranger wandered into the clinic seeking shelter, or more specifically, fire. Kavak gave him what he requested, then sent a messenger out to relay this information to the night watch. When the watch arrived, the stranger had fled. Without enough men to properly give pursuit, Councilwoman Iilena was roused to asses the situation and lead the search. She personally led one of the groups, but in the end, the stranger remained unfound. At this point, Councilwoman Iilena, rather than waking more members of the council to continue the search, instead ordered the search ended until the morning. Which brings us to the present, sir," concluded Roschane. Iilena noticed the change in tone as he mentioned her course of action. She didn’t let her annoyance show.

"I see," nodded Rasis. "Councilwoman Iilena, in light of our recent . . . "difficulties" . . . with strangers, this seems an odd way to handle this. Is the story, as you have heard it retold, accurate?"

"Mostly," replied Iilena nonchalantly, implying there was more to ask about.

Rasis frowned. "Well?"

"Well, everything was right, except for the stranger remaining unfound. I found him myself."

The other four around the table stirred. Marya’s expression changed from disdain to something more curious. The others looked somewhat shocked. "You found him? What happened? Did you fight? Did he run away? Where is he now?" Rasis interrogated.

"Yes, I found him. No we didn’t fight. He didn’t run. He’s in one of my guest rooms right now."

At this, all the other members sat forward and looked at her, slack-jawed. Was she serious? If she was, had she gone mad?

"What?" Roschane finally got out. "How did-"

"What were you thinking?" interrupted Rasis, his impartial tone gone and one laced with anger in its place. "He could have killed you!"

"I disarmed him," she replied evenly.

"Iilena. Do you know how this man got in the city? If he snuck past our guards, he is obviously dangerous. He could have had a concealed weapon and slit your throat while you slept," lectured Roschane.

"Not likely. We talked for some time. He didn’t come to harm Skenic."

"How do you know?" countered Rasis. "A simple conversation? You should know by now that agendas can remain hidden for long periods."

"Yes. I think I know that just fine, thank you," bit back Iilena. She knew what he referred to.

"Yes. Jenner fooled us all for a long time," chimed in Marya, finally vocal. She smiled inwardly as the name of the former council member had it’s intended effect on Iilena.

"Thank you. As I said, I know that!" replied Iilena, her tone rising with anger permeating her words.

"Tell me, my dear," continued Marya, "does this stranger posses any . . . magic?"

Iilena’s tone turned from angry to sheepish. "Yes," she answered. "Some."

There was an uproar among the council members, save Ralov, who simply listened with interest.

"WHAT?" Rasis finally shouted. "You let a complete stranger with magic stay in your own home without telling anyone? We know you have been handling much lately, but this-"

"This what?" she screamed. "Yes, I let him stay. No, I didn’t tell anyone."

"Why?" chimed in Roschane.

"Because if I had, he’d be in prison right now, rotting away." They all stopped. She was right. And each moment that she kept them here arguing, she was accomplishing her purpose.

"Right," said Rasis, finally regaining his cool. We are fortunate that you, nor the city has been harmed by this stranger. But he will have to remain in more closely guarded quarters until we decide what to do with him."

"Like Roschane’s?" asked Iilena. Again, she had them. Destral Minare had been a guest with Roschane until he nearly killed someone. She wasn’t sure if that would work in her favor or against, but she was outraged by this indignity.

"She’s right," answered Roschane after a moment’s silence. "Destral was my guest, until he proved himself dangerous."

"But he did prove himself dangerous," hissed Marya. "That’s why he wound up in a cell, and this man should be no different!"

Rasis rubbed his face. This was all quite different than he had ever expected, and it was awfully early to be dealing with so much. And there was so much rebuilding to be done. The other members of the council seemed nearly ready to tear into one another. Finally, he spoke. "We shall leave it with this. We have much to attend to, and this matter, though important, is but a small fraction of our problems. We shall meet again after half the day is done to vote. Your options are these; either this man shall be Iilena’s guest until we can come to a consensus on what shall be done with him. Otherwise, he will be placed in prison until such a time. Think it over during the day. I shall see you when the time comes. Now get to work with our city! This meeting is adjourned." He banged the gavel once more, and the council broke up. Marya was the first to go, he fists clenched tightly, mumbling to herself. Next was Rasis, followed by Roschane, who had to stop to clean up all the papers he had brought with him. Finally, Iilena rose, feeling like she had staved off an attack from a juggernaut. She turned to leave, when she felt a hand at her shoulder. She turned to face the hand’s owner. Ralov smiling slightly back at her.

"I am with you on this," he whispered, before walking on ahead of her, out of the double doors, past the guards outside. She stood frozen for a minute. She had forgotten he was there. She hoped his vote would count.

Estrenar, meanwhile, had been busy sleeping in. He had been traveling for so long, a bed was a luxury he couldn’t pass up. He always was a deep sleeper. But he did finally awake, when the light from his window fell across his eyes. How late was it? He wondered where Iilena was, and what might be in store for him today. He forced himself from the soft, luxuriant warmth of the bed and dressed himself. He noted how dirty his clothes, blankets, and indeed his own skin was. Traveling wasn’t for the anal, he mused. After his tunic, chain mail vest & coif, and other garments were on, he went to the door. Locked. He recoiled from the door as if it had been a snake that had just struck him. He tried again, the knob still not budging. He searched for a way to unlock it, but found none. "A door with no way to unlock it from the inside?" he thought. He had been betrayed, and worse, he had been a fool. But locks were easy enough to bypass with the right tool. He pulled his lock picks from his pack and knelt in front of the door. He was about to get to work when he heard something just outside the door. Peering through the keyhole, he saw very little, but it looked like clothing and it was moving. Guards? He couldn’t believe he had allowed himself to trust someone he barely knew. Of course he was locked in, and there were guards! Few people had earned his trust, and he supposed that the few he’d been with lately had made him soft. He went back to his bed, packing all of his belongings into his pack once more. The blankets, the tools, everything except his rope and grappling hook. His outlook was grim. In broad daylight, he would be spotted quickly, and with just his throwing knives, he was poorly armed. But he sure wasn’t going to stay here. Flight gave him a much better chance than whatever awaited him if he remained a prisoner. He hated everything about this place, it had been like a cage to him ever since he arrived, and he needed to be free once more. He threw the window open, looking down. No guards there. He fastened the grapple on the ledge and was about to throw the rope out when he heard the lock on the door move. Quietly, he drew a knife and quietly moved into a shadow in the corner of the room. The door opened only halfway at first, then flew open fully as he heard an alarmed voice.

"Estrenar?"

His muscles relaxed a little, and he hid the knife quickly away as he recognized Iilena’s voice. Still, he was going to make his feeling about being locked up known. He moved into the center of the room.

"Hello Iilena," he tersely said. She didn’t notice.

"Oh, thank the gods you are still here! I was afraid you had found your way elsewhere."

"With a locked door and guards posted outside?" he spat back at her through clenched teeth. She certainly noticed his petulance now.

"What? You expected to just walk out of here? I told you there was to be a meeting. You want to be thrown in jail?"

"How different would it be? I’d still be stuck in a room with a locked door!"

"True," she replied coolly, keeping her anger in check, "but no bars. A nice, clean bed. I shall be your hostess, rather than a jailer who would just as soon see you dead." He said nothing in reply to this. He tensed a little, knowing that he was damned either way. He sat back down on the bed. holding his face in his hands. Finally, after calming himself, he spoke.

"How did the meeting go?"

"Hard to say. There will be a vote later today to decide your fate. Either you will remain here as my guest, or be put in jail."

"And my say in this?"

"No. I’m sorry, I think your presence would only make matters worse. While you exist as "the stranger" in abstract, they are more likely to think of this in a theoretical sense. If they saw you, it might make it too real to them, make it too easy for them to have you put in jail." He shook his head, resigned.

"I just want to leave and find my friends."

"I know," she said, "and we’ll try to make sure you get your wish after we make sure you’re safe here."

"Thanks. And sorry. This just sucks, it isn’t your fault." He finally noticed the strain evident in her visage, she looked even worse than the previous night.

"I know, and I’m sorry too." She really did feel a twang of sympathy deep inside of her. He may as well have been thrown into a cage of lions. But, she could only do so much for him right now. "Now then, is there anything I can get for you?"

"Um . . . got an outhouse?" She blushed.