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He paced up and down in his office, occasionally checking the time on the digital clock on his desk. In less than twenty minutes he would be called to accompany his CEO and her guests around the facility. Jeorg had prepared everything he could think of, from basic explanations to the more complicated answers he could expect the guests to make. He had no idea what the background of these guests was, nor was he able to find out anything more about them such as their names, and it made him nervous. He never liked secrecy, at least not government secrecy, and when he picked up the job, he gave up on the concept of "free flow of information" to hold on to such a rare opportunity.

He glanced at the clock again. Fifteen minutes.

He decided that wearing down his office's floor wasn't gonna do it, and thus grabbed his badge and walked out. Jeorg exchanged a few good mornings with some colleagues and subordinates as he walked down the hallway. The people who worked here were fine people, but the way the company was structured impeded him from truly enjoying this characteristic. Tight work schedules, and even tighter access authorizations. He continued on, until he arrived at the security station to leave his current part of the building. He hated how much of a waste of time these security measures were, but considering that he currently was ahead of schedule, he didn't mind taking his time. Anything would help to ease his nerves.

"Good morning, Mr. Kil." A security guard greeted.

"Good morning." Jeorg answered.

"In a hurry uh?" The security guard asked as Jeorg quickly handed over his badge ID.

"Not quite, just nervous." He returned.

"One of those days, isn't it?" The guard mused as he scanned the ID.

"Yes and no." Jeorg simply added.

As soon as the guard finished scanning his ID and opened the gate, Jeorg resumed his walk. He passed in front of a digital clock above a set of elevators. Ten minutes still. The hallway continued for a dozen meters more before he reached a large door. He swiped his ID on the electronic lock, and the door opened automatically to let him through. As he took his first steps forward, the offices' warm air conditioning contrasted with a rush of cold air from beyond the door. He was now entering his actual workplace, the Material Sciences laboratories.

Once through, the door closed behind him. He headed for the locker room, and changed from his suit into his lab coat. He wasn't expected to be at the actually working at the laboratory today, but the partial freedom of movement compared to the suit really helped him. The lab was unusually empty, apparently most of the personnel had been given a day off. Jeorg reasoned that it likely was to keep undesirable rumors and indiscreet eyes at bay.

He entered his lab section. It was a large room with a long center table with a number of papers stacked on it, while at the sides of the room were a desk and some file cabinets. Currently on the table were his last test notes. His current project had been assigned directly from the higher ups, and he was specifically requested to keep it as secret as possible, no one was to know of the project's existence outside of the company's internal supplier and Jeorg's superiors. He reached for his notes to refresh his mind on the subject. He wanted to know what could be so important to require such secrecy, after all his project was a simple improvement of the properties of some civilian aerospace materials, nothing that even comes close to the level of secrecy that they wanted of him.

Just as he began taking mental note of some details in his lab notes, the door behind opened.

"... And this is one of our specialized Material Sciences laboratories." A deep female voice explained as she walked through the door. "Oh, Dr. Kil. I see you are already here. Good."

Jeorg turned around fast enough that he felt his neck strain in protest. It was his CEO, Miss Daria Zarodav herself, and she was here with who he supposed were her guests.

"M-miss Zarodav!" Jeorg stammered as he realized with a quick glance at the clock right above the door that she was exactly on schedule. "Y-yes. I'm here."

"You look startled, Dr. Kil, is everything fine?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, approaching the man.

"No, everything's fine, I was absorbed by checking these notes." He said as he turned to reorder the notes in a more presentable state.

"I see." She nodded as she turned to her guests. "As you can see, our labs are equipped ad hoc for any ongoing project. In this case, Dr. Kil is working on improving the baseline quality of commonly available aerospace materials for air and spacecraft construction."

One of the guests stepped forward, looking around the laboratory room, passing his hand over the center table's top.

"What is the exact purpose of the end result of this project?" He asked.

His tone was almost bored, with a slight annoyance dripping through as he then looked intensely at Jeorg.

"The purpose is to create the patents and bases for superior products." Jeorg explained.

That man unsettled him, the way he was staring at him especially made him feel like a rat in a lion's cage.

"Our customers and engineers want the highest quality products possible. Using specialized materials, however, is more expensive than technically feasible, and so alternatives and equivalents are required."

"So you don't know the end use of your work." The man said.

"No, I don't." Jeorg answered. "It is not my job description to. My job is to create new materials, and to ensure that they conform to the requirements set forth by the project. Who uses them, how, why and where are unfortunately beyond the scope of my knowledge and not within my authority to determine."

Silence fell over the room as the man kept staring at Jeorg, who was starting to sweat and shiver under the daunting, unblinking stillness of those eyes. As a drop of cold sweat rolled off the side of his forehead, Jeorg mustered enough composure to analyze that man like he would with a sample.

He was wearing a modern-looking suit, but of a completely outdated style, made with what looked like a very soft felt-like cloth. On the suit's cuff he had a rather expensive looking cuff link made with what looked like silver and set diamonds. His hair was essentially black, but under the room's light it had a dark grey shine. What captured Jeorg's attention though were the eyes. The man's eyes were extremely light in color, like a silvery blue, but Jeorg felt like they were boring into him, as if scouring his very mind and soul. Jeorg remained locked in his stare with the man's eyes, and he could feel a stinging cold feel creeping up from his hands and feet and into the rest of his body.

"Hurik, cease. Now." Jeorg heard someone say. It sounded like a very far voice, but something told him it was actually very close.

"As you wish." The man said, blinking his eyes and turning away his eyes from Jeorg's.

Jeorg stammered back, only to be helped into a chair by one of the other guests. He looked up, his body still feeling stiff and cold, and met the gaze of an elderly woman. She smiled at him, holding his hand as she helped him sit. Her hand felt warm, very warm.

Darzarath stormed into her office, followed slowly by her guests as they kept a safe distance from the furious woman. Not even ten minutes ago, one of her most trustworthy employees had almost been frozen to death by one her guests, and now that guest was holding his head high in spite of her nigh-murderous fury.

"I can't believe that are so full of yourself to try that!" She shrieked as she slammed her fist on the wall, leaving some slight cracks in the previously smooth concrete and plaster.

"Your thralls are weak, Darzarath." The man, Hurik, commented, completely unfazed by her outburst. "Someone of your caliber should know better than acquiring such weak minds under their ranks."

"Spare me your psionic war tactics!" She reacted, rapidly moving around her desk and standing in front of him. "This is not a war and that man was no soldier! You have no right or reason to attack him or anyone else in a thousand meters!"

"And how would you uphold such claim?" He said. His face was perfectly blank, emotionless, still. "And how do you maintain such trust with such weak and easily manipulated beings?"

"I uphold my claims because I trust them." Darzarath growled at him. "I need not to prove anything to you, or anybody else."

Darzarath and Hurik continued their verbal sparring, much to the embarrassment, annoyance and boredom of the others in the room. Sivos was there, trying to look away from the scene unfolding before him. He looked at the wall that Darzarath had punched a few moment earlier, and he moved over to look at the various frames hanging on it. Photos, awards, certificates. He quickly scanned over them until one caught his eye. It was a small letter, not too old judging from the printed text quality, but it wasn't the quality that struck him, it was what it contained.

Dear Ms Zarodav,

_It has been many years since the passing of my father, and in all this time your support for me, my mother, and my brother has been of enormous help and very much welcome. You followed our family closely, and we cannot help but think of you as part of the family. You paid for our insurance, provided us with safe jobs, ensured that we would have a fair home and a good living. After dad died, his part of the family did nothing to help us, they abandoned us, took his death as an excuse to be rid of any obligation to us. I know that my father was a very close friend of yours, and that you grieved deeply with us at his passing. What I wanted to say, is that we thank you. We thank you for all that you've given us and that you're likely going to give us whether we want or not. We should meet again at some point. _

_Yours truly, Saria Kil _

P.S.: My brother Jeorg has recently graduated with an Engineering Ph.D., but aside from Dracotronics there doesn't seem to be many good options in the region. May I ask you to take a look at his CV and see if his credentials fit? I'm pretty sure he'd dedicate his full self __on anything you hand to him.

Sivos pondered for a moment. The Darzarath he knew would totally help mortals, sure, but display their return of affection so openly was something he never thought she'd do. He turned to face the raising commotion. Darzarath and Hurik were still arguing, and it seemed that Hurik's mask of condescending indifference was cracking.

"Be silent for once, woman!" Hurik eventually thundered as he raised a hand, preparing to strike Darzarath.

Time seemed to slow as Sivos saw a mistake beyond repair unfold, with Hurik's hand moving towards the furious woman. It was nothing more than a blink, a flash of motion, and Hurik's hand was blocked, with a sickening crunch accompanying the sudden stop.

"I've been silent for long enough." Darzarath growled. She had stopped his hand with her own, and now her grip was slowly cracking and breaking Hurik's arm. "I've been silent and compliant with the whims of wishes of the Council for the past two millennia. I've been standing my ground and watched from a distance as the others of our kind put in peril my work and my interests. I've let others lay claim to my lands and skies because the Council would not heed my calls for a change of our traditions."

Darzarath reinforced her grip as Hurik groaned and cried in pain as he was forced to kneel. He couldn't hope to defeat Darzarath in a physical confrontation, and the incredible pain he was going through impeded him from concentrating on his mental powers. He acted careless, and now he was powerless.

"Darzarath, let go of him." A woman stepped forward from the group. "Now."

Darzarath glared at the woman, who was wearing a bright green robe with golden patterns and figures. She didn't seem to be too impressed, but she nonetheless let go. As Hurik fell down, holding is broken forearm close, Darzarath slowly turned and went to the large window that was next to her desk. She stood in front of it, as others of the Council helped Hurik up and quickly tended to him with simple healing spells. Sivos stood in silence, watching as Darzarath looked out of the window and the woman that intervened continued to glare at her. He didn't know what to do, what to say, the whole situation had escalated much faster and more violently than he had predicted.

After a couple of brief minutes, Hurik's arm was fully healed, and the group formed itself back at the far end of the room, next to the door.

"I believe that this... instructive... day has reached its conclusion." The woman in the green robe said. "The Council will now leave, and once we reach consensus on the next proceedings, you'll be informed."

Darzarath didn't react. She continued to look out, with her back still towards the woman.

Noticing that lack of reaction, the woman sighed and motioned for the others to leave. Sivos hesitated, looking back to Darzarath once more before crossing the door.

Once alone, Darzarath sat down at her desk, turned on her computer. This day had begun mostly fine, and had just concluded in a near disaster. She had been willing to go through this in the most peaceful way, and yet she managed to spoil it with her volatile temper.

Leaning back into her chair, she ran her hands into her hair. She has to fix this.