Pope Elwyn Asheld held the pamphlet with hands that trembled at the edges but gripped with the determination of a man who understood that this piece of paper was potentially more dangerous than any army.
"Suppress or debate," he said. The words were addressed to the room — the Crucible's inner chamber, the private meeting space where the Pope conferred with his Cardinals and where the decisions that shaped the kingdom's spiritual life were made behind closed doors. "Those are our two options. I want arguments for both. I want them now. And I want them honest."
Six Cardinals present. Theron Krugvane. Jorik of the Ironfields. Maren of Ashenveil. Sielle of the Shimmerfields. Tessyn of the Pale Coast. And Father Harken — the newest Cardinal, the old Lizardman from the Green Basin, still wearing Basin sandals and the expression of a man who had been elevated to institutional power and found it less comfortable than the pilgrimage path.
