Silence flooded the room, save the crackling of the fires, as Felicity tried her best to maintain eye contact with Gemshine. The dark elf looked over to the person next to Felicity, Andrew Column...

His footsteps echoed across the stone room as he switched from one side of Felicity to the other. "He honestly appointed a child to lead us..."

Felicity could not hide her visible wince this time.

"You are probably not even in your twenties. I bet you are a virgin too!" The old man scoffed as Felicity turned her head to one of the fireplace's, face feeling hot. "What on earth was he-"

"-Andrew."

Both individuals turned to see Gemshine glaring at Column with her hands on her hips. She shook her head, messy hair moving like water. "This is still your general, who Lord Osiris himself appointed. Remember, respect."

Her slurred words were still stern, and Andrew looked sheepishly away from them both. From the other end of the table, the dark elf sighed. She looked to Felicity as she anxiously watched her. The woman tapped a part of the map with her finger. "I already sent Morloth to scout the region west of Whitevale, entering the deeper parts of the river. We have herd strange rumors from there..."

Happy to move on from the ridicule, Felicity looked up again, no longer squeezing her crossed arms. "What rumors?"

The elf leaned against the table, resting on her arm. "Well, the ash clouds have been quite a hindrance to crops. Very little food to go around. Yet, in a portion of land by the river, there has been worse than the loss of crops..."

Felicity leaned in closer.

Gemshine started playing with her split hair, "Even the remains of grasses and plants are gone. Nothing but dirt, even the trees are somehow completely rotted away. A foul stench has been reported, and most people abandoned the stretch. It's not natural. However, if a wizard were involved..."

Felicity raised an eyebrow. looking down at where sh had pointed on the map. "I feel awful about this, believe me, but this portion of land is not controlled by Whitevale. Why is this a concern to us?"

"Oh!" the elf pushed herself up, a strange smile across her exhausted face. "Well, you see!" She grabbed a red pen from the table and drew a line on the map of the reported area. "It has been expanding - the area that is, and look where it is headed!"

Indeed, tracing the lines, Felicity could see that the current direction of the pestilence lead straight to Whitevale's agricultural area. Sudden shock flooded her as she realized that this was a potential attack on her new home's resources!

"So..." Felicity asked aloud, "You think Arius is responsible for this?"

"What else!" The elf rasped, dropping the pen. As the pen rolled off the table and pattered on the floor, the messy elf wiped her nose with her sleeve. "If a dragon could not work, why not a drought during another drought! If he can get rid of our food supplies, there is no need for an attack!"

"So," Felicity spoke her thoughts aloud, "Arius could be trying to be subtle with his attacks..." Felicity eyed the elf, "How long until your scout, Morloth, is back?"

Just when she asked, the door slammed open without warning behind them.