[Durelin]

The Red Flame paced back and forth across the polished black stone floor. Her soft boots made muffled thumps and her robes swished across the stones. The wall of the same stone were hardly visible in the flickering shadows of the windoless room caused by the flames burning from the floor. Lines of man sized holes of fire formed a pathway to the center of the rectangular room, right to a large oval shaped stone carved into the shape of an eye. The Eye, with more path running around it, breaks in the flames on either side. Around the pathway curved large wooden seats made purpously to look charred. Sevora expected they had been. A sweet, misty smoke filled the air, sweet at least to the priestess's sense of smell. She had never been sure what the Keepers burned, but she expected it was a mix of dried blood and spices. She wasn't sure how they burned dried blood, but it still made this her favorite room in the entire Citadel. Today it was even better.

A few moments would bring the priest and priestess she had chosen to accompany her. The High Priest and the High Keeper would also come. It was the High Keeper's responsibility to oversee the meeting, though the High Priest would be the one to conduct it. It was also the man's (it could be a woman, but the postition was held by a man at the moment) job to carry out the Ceremony of the Missions. Whenever any member of the Citadel left on a mission the the Eye they must undergo a marking as a bringer of the faith to the infedel and must be made whole with the Knowledge that brings to them life without death.

The first to enter was the Priest Naramarth, grinning to himself. The man showed too many of his emotions, or perhaps he was just...happy. But all the same, his smile made her feel queasy, for it adorned his face almost constantly. It was such a feeling of pleasure, that queasiness. It felt so good. Yes, she had chosen rightly. The smile hid much. Sevora decided to don her own smile, one with mock warmness, the closest she could come to the real thing. She looked at him, her eyes cold, searching, while she gave him a seemingly warm welcome. "The Eye keep you in his Sight, Priest Naramarth," she said with a bow. Then she gestured to one of the chairs of black wood. "Please, sit in the heat of His burning Sight. May you be soothed by the tongues of his flame."

"I thank you, Priestess Sevora. His flames caress me to bring me life. Let them consume you to bring you eternal pleasure." He made a short bow and seemed to glide down the path surrounded by flames to where the Eye sat in the center of the room. He knelt to kiss it, then stepped around it and through the break in the flames to the right to his seat. Soon the Priestess Dristi arrived, and the process was repeated. After the arrival of the priest and priestess, however, there was no need for the ceremony, and Sevora also sat down. The Keeper did not speak; he was not allowed to. When he was made the High Keeper, the man's tongue was removed, so he only kissed the Eye before he took a seat. But he also gave the High Priest a bow, as did the others when the Highest One entered the meeting hall. The High Priest also had need only to kiss the Eye, since no others present were above him, or his equals. They could not speak to him without him speaking to them first.

This was not the smallest meeting the Hall of Undone Discord had seen, but the large room was still very empty. Every sound echoed to seem louder. A quiet voice was always more effective than shouting. "Ah, may you forever remain in His Sight, Children of the Eye," the High Priest began, smiling to show crooked yellow teeth. "The Red Flame, our Sister Sevora has called upon you to accompany her in her mission to the Eyeto bring the infidels to the Sight..." The High Priest paused a moment, licking his lips before returning them to an even wider smile. "...or to justice." Sevora suppresed the rush of yearning and excitement that ran through her and only smiled. She saw controlling your emotions as a key to power and to the utmost fulfillment of your service to the 'Lord'. "Sevora?" The High Priest turned to the Priestess, bringing her out of her reverie. "I believe you have informed your Brother and Sister of the Sight of what pertains to this mission?"

"Yes, Wisest One to the Eye," she answered, "though, if I may speak?" The High Priest gave her a short nod, and she turned to her 'Sister' and 'Brother'. "The task before us has been explained to you, but if you are not in the fullness of understanding, you must ask to receive that understanding without hesitation." She turned back to the High Priest. "Does the Highest give permission for the Sister and Brother to speak?"

"Yes, they may speak."