hile Pendaran wore the mask, everyone treated him with kindness and gentleness. Zhou had not said a harsh word to him in over a week and demanded nothing more taxing than silently offering his perceptions of the people they were meeting with. Pendaran was now accustomed to the darkness, it allowed him to see with his inner eye and the world was a more beautiful place to him because of that. Living things were complex tapestries of color and sensation. He could perceive the gentle harmonic of voice that signified a sentient mind. It contrasted sharply with the single-minded buzz of animal mind as he discovered when one of Ebony’s cats curled into his lap.

“Did you have enough rest before this meeting?” asked Zhou.

Pendaran nodded. An hour was sufficient to meet with his children and have lunch unencumbered by duty. Now he felt calm and relaxed. His belly was warm with soup and his thoughts were untrammeled by grief or the desire to lose himself. He set the purring cat down on the floor and stood when he detected Zhou rising to greet the new visitors. Right away he knew there were three strangers. Pendaran could recognize the distinct mental imprint of those he knew as easily as he could recognize their faces.

“Three are here and they dislike you,” Pendaran told Zhou. He focused for a moment, aware that one of them had withdrawn from him and was trying to hide, “One is a mesmer.”

“Welcome,” said Zhou to the visitors, “Please make yourselves comfortable and let my servants know if there is anything you require. I am Master Bei and this is my servant, Kai. I am the leader of the alliance on this island.”

“I was not aware there was more than one guild residing here,” said a grim female voice. Pendaran felt Zhou’s annoyance that the woman would not return the gesture of introducing herself or her entourage. He could sense that his master had not wanted to talk to these people and found them despicable.

“That woman is a fire elementalist, I recognize the smell,” he continued, surprised that he could pick up so many details so quickly.

“Master Bei, you did not fill out the required documentation about your guild or your alliance, nor have you paid the required fees for this land. You must obey Krytan law.”

“I did obey Krytan law,” Zhou said smoothly, “The code in regard to the registration of guilds and release of rosters clearly states that I am to report annually to the king or queen. Since they are not currently available, I have held that report aside. As for the matter of payment, I have not received documentation from the prior holder of this land. If you could direct me to the holder of the deed, I would be happy to comply.”

Pendaran smiled beneath his mask, amused by Zhou’s calculated lies.

“Do not play the fool with me,” snarled the woman, her chair protesting as she thrust to her feet. Pendaran’s hackles rose and he locked mentally upon the woman, a hex lurking behind his lips. The magic so long denied to him surged through his body, heady, almost intoxicating.

“Stand down,” Zhou said into his mind, “I am in no danger here.”

“The royal family is driven out. We are the authority of this land now and you will bow down to our laws!”

“You will pardon me, but the registrar in Lion’s Arch assured me that no new laws are currently on the books which effect guilds or their property.”

“Listen closely, Master Bei, the time when your kind could make their own rules with impunity and subjugate the good and hardworking folk of this country with your superior powers is over. You may choose to cooperate now and ensure the safety and survival of your people, or you can resist us and pay the consequences.”

Pendaran outwardly remained calm, keeping himself beneath the notice of the visitors while inwardly he shuddered at the blare of undisguised loathing the woman felt for Zhou.

“She is hoping you will get angry and provoke a fight… her mind is… relishing the thought of burning you alive.”

As lightly as a fly crawling over exposed skin, a foreign presence attempted to slip past Pendaran’s mental defenses undetected. The invader suspected he was a fellow mentalist but Pendaran made no move to push the intruder away, instead doing as Zhou had taught him. He silently formed a pattern of calm images in his mind, luring the invader into idle thoughts of wandering around the island on a warm summer day. Sloppy technique, Pendaran decided when the sensation passed and the mesmer decided he was too dim and boring to trouble.

“The mesmer scanned me. I diverted him.”

“If you cannot be civil as a guest of my guild and alliance, then we are done here,” Zhou said smoothly, “However, you should know that I do not react well to threats. In my experience bullies never respect appeasement. You may leave my island alive, but if you return, I will view it as an act of aggression. Good day.”

“The White Mantle outnumbers you by the score, Master Bei. You are a fool if you think the old gods will save you. Accept their failure, abandon them while you still can.”

“I surmise this has more to do with tyranny than piety. I will not bend my knee to Confessor Scarpia or any who serve him. Go, I am done with this matter.”

Pendaran waited until the delegation had been ushered out before he attempted to reach out to Zhou again.

“Who were they?”

“Confessor Scarpia’s toadies. She gave her name as High Savant Nyendi. The others were not introduced to me.”

Zhou offered him his forearm and Pendaran grasped it lightly.

“Master, why did they come? Who is Scarpia? Are we in danger?”

Zhou paused, sensing Pendaran’s anxiety about being harmed again.

“I am not certain how well you kept up with politics in your youth, but the old royal family of Kryta was weak and corrupt. While I served Orr, this fact was often used to Orr’s advantage to stir up civil unrest. The various guilds and petty nobles were constantly slaughtering one another. It was always Orr’s intention to subjugate Ascalon first because your homeland was the greater threat, then pick off what remained after Kryta’s civil war.”

Pendaran nodded. He knew from talk among his relatives that Orr had always been considered a greater threat than Kryta during the Guild Wars. It was sad and ironic that Kryta, the least advanced and feared of the three nations, had come out on top.

“Regardless of our feelings toward the White Mantle, they did save Kryta from the Charr and the undead that swept in after Ascalon and Orr were destroyed. In the eyes of the common people, it is not difficult to believe that the Five Gods failed or brought calamity upon them as the White Mantle claim. It is also true that those same gods favored the cruel and powerful who ruled this land and turned its villages and fields into their playground and battlefield.”

“But their gods are the Mursaat. They want to destroy us all.”

“Yes, we both know that now, but we have observed that the Unseen clearly allow those whom the old gods have gifted into their ranks. I have to assume these misguided souls believe they will be spared if the Mursaat, or those they serve, persevere.”

“Yes, I see that now.”

“This is not to be made open knowledge, but because you are now my confidante and therefore, my counsel, I will tell you something that I have only told one other person. We are not safe here. There was a vision Haodrim gave to me through you and I am seeing signs that there was truth in it.”

Pendaran’s heart thumped and his gut knotted. Despite Zhou’s rather forceful cleansing rituals to prove Pendaran could not possibly be possessed, he could not shake how violated he still felt from having that horrible Margonite dwelling inside of him.

“Easy now, my friend, I am right here beside you,” Zhou said gently and clasped his hand. Pendaran allowed Zhou to enter his mind and soothe him, helping him recover a pattern of pleasant and reassuring thoughts about the present until he was calm once more.

“Thank you.”

“The vision was of dragons, the old ones, the serpents that forged the world with thought and breath and song,” Zhou continued, “They were the shapers and the destroyers, all things are reflections and facets of them. The scholars say these creatures dream the world, and when they awaken, they shake everything back down to dust and start anew.”

“What did you dream?”

“An immense dragon thrashed its tail beneath the sea and a wave was born. There was an earthquake and the land collapsed. Where we stand now was swallowed by the sea. They awaken.”

“I am afraid, Master.”

“As am I. If I were not seeing other signs that this vision was grounded in truth, I would not have burdened you with it. Even if it is false, the fact remains that the White Mantle grow in strength and those who resist them are few and scattered. Our island is safe, but it will become a trap when the civil war on the mainland presses in around us. That is why I am seeking allies in far flung places. I have one remaining Celestial Sigil in my treasury. I am going to gift Brigit’s people with it.”

“But what about those who have never traveled to it?”

“It matters not when two sigils are aligned in one alliance. That is why I placed one here and attuned the one in Kaineng to it. Unfortunately, the sigil itself cannot be moved via a portal. It will become unattuned. It will need to be borne overland when the passes open in spring.”

“We thought we were safe,” Pendaran lamented.

Zhou squeezed his hand.

“We are in this moment, and I will do what I must to ensure that continues to be the case. I am here, my friend, and I will protect you.”