"To think they'd hold a Ten Wizard Saints gathering somewhere like this."
Makarov looked around the area. He knew it well enough, given how close it sat to the old Council headquarters.
Three days had passed since the letter arrived. He and Rhodes had made the trip through the Hex Gate that morning, and the place looked nothing like it had before. More tents had gone up since their last visit, and construction workers moved between stacks of building materials covered in tarps. The Council's reconstruction had already begun in earnest.
"We're early," Rhodes said, scanning the area. No familiar faces yet.
"Let's find Mr. Org first."
They located his tent without difficulty, but the guard at the entrance turned them away politely and directed them to a waiting tent nearby. Inside was sparse.
Four square tables had been pushed end to end into one long surface, with seven chairs arranged around it, three on one side and four on the other. Rhodes and Makarov took the left side. Someone brought tea shortly after.
They had not been waiting long when the distant roar of an airship passed overhead and faded out somewhere nearby. A few minutes later Jura and Bryliens came through the tent flap together.
"Master Makarov, Mr. Rhodes." Jura smiled, hands tucked into his sleeves as usual. "You've done another remarkable thing."
Rhodes laughed. "Don't make it sound like we've caused another disaster."
Makarov had been about to laugh along before he caught himself. Jura's exact phrasing was, now that he thought about it, more or less identical to what people said whenever Fairy Tail had leveled something.
"Hahaha, absolutely not what I meant!" Jura said quickly. "Dismantling Tartaros and wiping out the last corner of the Balam Alliance is a tremendous boost for every legitimate guild out there. Especially with Face gone, if it had ever been activated..."
"If only it hadn't been destroyed!" Bryliens cut in.
Jura turned to him. "Please don't joke about that, Mr. Bryliens. Something as dangerous as Face is far better off gone."
"No, no, you misunderstand me entirely." Bryliens pressed a hand to his chest with the expression of a man in genuine mourning. "A weapon of that scale, that concept, erasing magic across an entire continent. I'm not saying it should have been used. I'm saying I should have at least been allowed to look at it first. Even once. Just a glance!"
The idea had never occurred to him before hearing about Face. A device that, upon activation, simply removed all magic from the surrounding area.
If something like that could be refined, miniaturized, directed, what would it do to an opponent who depended entirely on magic to fight? The possibilities alone were worth years of study, and someone had gone and blown it up before he could get anywhere near it.
Jura looked across the table at Rhodes and Makarov with a helpless expression.
They had both met Bryliens at the previous gathering and remembered this about him. Once something genuinely interesting crossed his field of vision, the rest of the world stopped existing. He meant no harm by it. He simply had no awareness of when to stop.
Whether to let him anywhere near the next crisis was a separate question entirely.
They were still talking when loud laughter preceded the next arrivals into the tent.
"Ha, hahaha! Still the same as ever, Ulfheim. Your skin looks like tree bark."
"You're the last person alive who should be commenting on that, you old tree."
"Hahaha, just a joke, just a joke!"
"I'm not joking."
"Ah, come on, hearing that actually stings a little. Just kidding. Honestly I'd take it as a compliment."
Ulfheim did not dignify that with a response. He pushed through the tent flap, took one look at who was already seated, and dropped into the chair directly across from Makarov with his hands behind his back.
Warrod strolled in behind him at his own pace and settled in beside Makarov. "Oh, so many people here already." He glanced over. "Makarov, Rhodes. Good work this time around. Though I must say, still not quite as beautiful as the flowers I tend."
Makarov, still slightly adjusting to the presence of someone so senior, straightened up a little. "Well, we still have a great many shortcomings to address..."
"Just kidding, just kidding!" Warrod waved a hand before he could finish. "No flower I have ever grown could compare to the victory that blooms when a guild stands together. Truly."
"Ah, well, thank you for..."
"That was a joke."
Makarov stopped.
"The previous sentence," Warrod added helpfully, "was the serious one."
Makarov: "..."
It was not the first time Makarov had been on the receiving end of a conversation like that, but it still left him wanting to hit something. He exhaled slowly and leaned slightly toward Rhodes. "Can a senior of that stature really not manage even a little dignity?"
"Master Mavis is a senior," Rhodes said. "Do you think she's dignified?"
Makarov opened his mouth immediately. "That's different. Master Mavis passed away very young. If she had lived to my age..."
"I think if you retired and settled in as the guild's elder statesman," Rhodes said without mercy, "you would not be much different from Mr. Warrod at all."
"That is completely.." Makarov planted a foot on his chair and stood up. "See, I say one thing and you immediately, which dignified senior jumps onto a chair in the middle of a conversation?"
He looked down. He was standing on his chair.
He got off it and sat back down, jaw tight.
Rhodes pressed his lips together.
Across the table, Warrod was examining the ceiling with great interest.
Fairy Tail had been a lost cause from its very founding, that much was clear. The first generation had set the tone and every generation since had faithfully continued it, including the current master who apparently still harbored illusions about what kind of person he would become in his old age.
"Being lively is not a bad thing," Rhodes said, letting the smile through this time. "Honestly I think the second generation caused the trouble it did precisely because it wasn't lively enough."
The subtext being, as it always was: so stop trying to hand the presidency to someone as thoroughly un-lively as me.
They waited a while longer. Eventually the tent flap shifted and Hyberion stepped through, goblet in hand as always, the milk inside sitting at its customary level of about half full.
Ulfheim looked at him. "You live the closest of anyone and you are always last."
"Living close and receiving the letter close are different things," Hyberion said without any particular hurry. "I have been traveling. I was looking into Tartaros, had just found a promising lead, and then the matter resolved itself."
Makarov scratched the back of his head and produced a very sincere smile.
"A result like that calls for no apology and no modesty," Hyberion said, taking his reserved seat and pushing the waiting teacup to one side in favor of his goblet. "Every mage on this continent owes Fairy Tail something for what was done here."
Makarov was visibly pleased.
"We were in the right place at the right time," Rhodes said on his behalf.
Hyberion settled in and the conversation resumed its loose, unhurried pace while he swirled the milk slowly in his goblet. A few minutes passed that way before the tent flap opened again.
Lahar came in first. Behind him, Doranbalt guided Org's wheelchair through the entrance and brought it to rest at the head of the long table. Org folded his hands in his lap and gave a small nod. The two younger men went back outside to take up their posts.
Org looked along the table at the seven Ten Wizard Saints assembled before him. He took a slow breath and coughed twice, a quiet sound that nonetheless settled the room.
"I appreciate everyone making the trip." His voice was steady but carried its age. "You have all seen the state things are in. The Council as it stands cannot continue to maintain order in the magical world. Not like this." He paused.
"I have gathered you here without much ceremony because I want to discuss what comes next. The remaining mid and senior Council staff and I are in full agreement on one point." His eyes moved across each of them in turn. "We need your help."