This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: So... it takes me a long time to update. There's no getting around it and I've given up hoping to change it. This is the first part of a series that I had hoped to have half done by now. I'm going to write it all, but yes, it's going to take me a long while to finish it.

Chapter Thirteen:

When Seth woke up the next morning, he was greeted, once again, by an imprint who had undergone some appearance transformation. Ingrid was a bit of a tomboy; jeans, Doc Marten boots, various plain fitted tee shirts and flannels seemed to comprise the vast bulk of her wardrobe. So the very formal, dressed in white, slightly off kilter CEO look was a new one for the young man to see. She was sitting in a chair facing him in the bed, white suit pants, low white heels and a fitted, boat-necked, white shirt on. Her hair was wrapped up in a tight bun, silver earrings on and was that... makeup? The only thing that ruined the effect of her about to talk mergers and acquisitions was the fact that her left shoulder was bare, it was like the material had been cut and re sewn so that her pack tattoo showed.

"Well that's a new look." he said. "Why the effort to show the tattoo?"

"Gather's are somewhat formal, so don't expect to see any ripped jeans or sloppy shirts today. As for the white, it's my pack's color, the royal white and everyone will either be baring their tattoo or wearing a pendant in the shape of it. The Fenrir nation is large and not everyone knows everyone else by sight or smell, but everyone knows the 14 pack insignias, it's one of the first things that new phases have to memorize." she replied.

"So dress nice, got it. We do clean up well you know."

"I'm sure you do. Forgive me if I'm a bit preoccupied. There's no telling how long the Gather will go. It could be one day or it can last for over a week. I'm just trying to figure out all the angles in advance. Not that that's really possible, but I'm still putting in the effort." she said. Then she stretched and pointed to the shower. "Go get ready, because the show is about to being in an hour and a half."

Seth got in the shower and then grabbed his clothes. He wasn't going to be as dressed up as Ingrid, but he would look nice, far better than his normal style. When he got out, he actually did his hair for once and got dressed in new jeans and a brown button down shirt, his shoes were even polished. All in all, like he had claimed, he cleaned up well.

When he returned he saw that Ingrid hadn't moved from her seat in the chair and was still staring at the same spot on the floor in front of her.

"So mini purple elephants are crawling out of your nose."

"That's nice Seth. Are you ready yet?" she replied.

Seth just laughed. "Yeah, I'm ready, lets go pick up the rest of my pack. We're going to be seated near your pack correct?"

Ingrid rubbed her eyebrows. "Yeah. Actually you'll be behind us. Sam as your beta will get to sit in the group. For this part of the Gather, rank and pack place matters a great deal. It will loosen up as time moves on, but the introductions, are as formal as can be. So just... follow our lead and everything should go well. You and your pack paid attention, you'll be fine. I have... faith... in you."

Seth smiled, but it wasn't his normal full toothed grin nor the soft smile he often gave his imprint. It was the smile of someone who has realized that they can stop trying to prove themselves to someone. His face was laced with relief. Then he merely picked up one of the manilla folders on the desk and followed her out the door to Quil's room.

On the way there they were met by Sam and Leah, who were dressed, rather unfortunately, in what seemed to be some bizarre couples matching clothes. Long sleeved, fitted black shirts, jeans, new black shoes. Seth said nothing, he just cocked an eyebrow at them and got the middle finger from Sam and his sister sticking her tongue out at him. Ingrid may have muttered "Cute." and Leah may have smacked her on the rear, but Seth chose to not notice that fact. Besides, they were rounding the corner to Quil's room and Quil's room had just disgorged a rather shocking surprise.

Enni walked out the door, with mused up hair, the clothes she had worn yesterday, and a happy, 'I just got laid and rather well too' smile on her face. She wrinkled her nose at the group, who were blinking at her owlishly and then vanished down the hallway. Everyone just sort of looked at each other.

"Sooooo..." Ingrid drawled. "I could get into this, but I won't. You kids have fun now and I'm going to head to the great hall. Meet you there. Don't be late. See ya!"

With that she was gone and the three La Push wolves were staring at the door to Quil's room. This was very much not the time, but still, sometimes, somethings must be dealt with whether anyone is ready to or not. So Sam lead the way into their packbrother's room and interrupted Quil buttoning up his green shirt.

"So are we ready to go?" Quil asked, nonplussed.

Sam just stared at him. "You had sex with her! With Enni! How?"

"Well Sam." Quil said sarcasticly. "I thought you learned all this in health class, but you see when a male gets aroused he has an erection. If all goes according to plan the female he's with is also aroused and is wet. Tab A meets slot B and things generally work their way towards a climax."

Sam opened his mouth to say something and then held up his hand to signal that no one had better talk, then he rubbed his eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. "You're imprinted Quil."

"Trust me Sam, no one is more aware of that than I am."

Sam rubbed his eyes harder. "So, how in the name of FUCK, were you able to complete the act with Enni? And what gave you the right to do it in the first place?"

To say that Quil got angry was an understatement of almost divine proportions. He looked livid. "Sam, you don't get to tell me how to deal with my imprint. She is SEVEN GODDAMN YEARS OLD! I am tired of trying to figure out what that says about me somewhere in the back of my mind, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the last five fucking years. I am tired of living like a monk waiting for a LITTLE GIRL to grow up so that I can have sex with her! Doesn't that notion make you uncomfortable or is it all okay just because I imprinted on her? Because honestly, if anyone ELSE uttered those words, you'd deliver them to Charlie Swan on a plate, head still being attached at the neck optional, and you know it!"

"I'm not going by the rules on this one. Her own PARENTS aren't comfortable with this and have flat out told me they don't want their daughter romantically involved with me, EVER! Look, you may have had no choice but to go along with things when it happened to you. But we know more now and it doesn't have to be the way the council swears up and down that it is. If you and Jared want to be with Emily and Kim, fine. More happiness to you. But I don't want to be with Claire, not because she turns me into a glorified babysitter, but because it's WRONG Sam! Seth and Ingrid proved there's more than one way to be imprinted and I'm going to follow their lead. I'm not living like some sick fuck, training some CHILD to be my mate when she gets old enough! I just won't."

Sam took a deep breath, then he got right in Quil's face and seethed at him. "And tell me, genius, what the hell are you going to do, when Claire is old enough to make a choice, and chooses you? Oh but wait, now you're married, damn... maybe you have kids, just like Gunnar. You willing to take the chance on doing to them, what he did to Marit, Ingrid and Magnus? What I did to Leah? Because, let me tell you something, living with yourself afterward can be pretty goddamned difficult!"

Leah watched Sam with a less jaundiced eye. She had always been so upset with him for urging Jared and Quil to become close to their imprints. It had hurt, like he had forgotten everything that they had once shared, that Emily was the only thing he knew anymore and he wanted his packbrothers to feel that same joy. It wasn't until the other day that she found out that he had never forgotten any of it. So now she realized what it was all about. Sam, in a portion of his brain, hated himself. The man was in the grips of some pretty deep self loathing and a pile of guilt he really couldn't see around. It wasn't about tradition, it wasn't about happiness, it was about regret. It had always been about regret. Deep down, Sam just didn't want anyone else to have to do to the woman that they loved what he had had to do to her. This was Sam protecting his pack the only way he knew how to. She couldn't really blame him either. Now that she was happy with Paul, she could think back on the day he left her and see it better. Sam had looked devastated that day, like a part of him was dying, as he told her that he no longer loved her and no longer wanted to marry her. The day she had found out about Emily, he had looked at her, and he had seemed... ashamed. When she first phased, on that night, he had tried so hard to not let her see Emily through his eyes, like he wanted to protect her from at least that. Looking back on it all now, she could see Sam and his actions so clearly. He had been a man in an impossible situation and had no one but a group of middle aged people who couldn't possibly, truly, understand what he was going through. Everything he had done since then, in regards to imprinting, was to keep history from repeating itself.

Quil closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "I have to try Sam. I'd rather feed myself to a vampire then let myself become that kind of man. Claire is a child, if she grows up seeing me with someone else, someone I love, someone I have a family with, I think it's a good chance it will never occur to her to try and choose me, to break up a happy home. I've tried everything I could think of to break it and I can't. So maybe... maybe I can shape it? Make it into something different, something else. If Seth and Ingrid can just be very good friends, maybe Claire and I can never be more than a sort of niece and uncle."

Sam rubbed over his entire face. "I can't, and won't, force you down any particular path where it concerns your imprint. That choice is your's and your's alone to make. I hope you can do it, I really do. But so help me Quil, if it all goes bad, you can't say that you weren't warned and don't expect me to cushion the blow for you."

"So you'll tell Emily to get off my back too?" Quil asked.

Sam blinked and then frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Dude, she's always getting on my back, Seth's too, for not paying our imprints their proper due. It's like she takes it as a personal affront that neither of us are interested in being romantically involved with Claire or Ingrid. She also gets pissed that Ingrid wants even less to be romantic with Seth."

Seth nodded in agreement when Sam looked at him questioningly.

"Why the hell would Emily care what you two do? That makes no sense, it doesn't really concern her."

Quil shrugged. "When I asked her where she got off saying anything about it, she said she had the right to as the beta's imprint."

Here Seth broke in. "Sam, Emily has always thought and acted like she was big man on campus because of your rank. I mean, we sort of rank them in our minds based off of our own ranks and they know that, but Emily always seemed to really define herself by it."

The beta sighed and rubbed his eyes again. "I'll talk to her when we get back. She really shouldn't needle you two about your imprints. It's not her place. I... apologize on her behalf."

Leah cleared her throat. "Sam, if Emily is really measuring her entire life around being the highest ranked imprint, regardless of how informal that ranking may be, you need to address that. What will she do when Jake takes a mate? That woman will outrank her, hell if Ingrid ever actually joins our pack, you and I both know she'll actually be ranked. And once again, Emily will find herself not being top dog among the imprints. It's not healthy for her define her whole life in that capacity Sam."

"I know." Sam sighed. "I'll deal with it. But right now there's not much I can do about anything regarding Emily. Right now, we have a Gather to get to. So let's... deal with the stuff in front of us, everything else is just going to have to wait.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

Ingrid Jarlsdottir stood next to her brother and... fidgeted. She had done a lot of things in her lifetime, many them the sorts of deeds that no one outside the Fenrir would believe, but this was not one of them. A Gather, convened for this sort of crime, regarding the Jarl and and his family had not taken place in her lifetime. The last time anything quite like it had happened was around 600 years ago. She wasn't ready for it, or perhaps it would have been more fitting to say that she didn't want to be ready for this. Because the cold, hard truth was that she and Magnus had been preparing for this the moment they had fully joined their pack. Like Dagonet had said days ago, it was always going to end up here... eventually.

"You spend the night wrapped up in Yvanne?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Magnus replied.

"Because I can smell her on you. You haven't exactly been subtle about things that last few days. Not that I disapprove or anything. Hell, I think you two are really good fit, I just thought you'd go to your grave nattering on about how it was all a casual thing, or some bullshit like that."

Her twin rolled his eyes. "You're only about the 10th person to say something like that to me you know." Then he got serious. "But yeah, when all this crap is over... if she wants me, I'll mate her. Yvanne's who I love and I'm damn tired of being alone."

Ingrid nodded in sympathy. "Do you think it's weird that we're about to begin a Gather that may very well change the structure of our people and here we stand... talking about your love life?"

"Well... we could talk about your's instead you know." He was openly smirking at her.

"Aren't you funny. Besides, I have no love life. Seth and I aren't like that and I broke up with Rurik a year before I left. The only thing that has seen me naked in that time has been battery powered."

Magnus choked on nothing. "Thanks for that, really. Now that I have been fully scarred with the image of you with a sex toy, I think I'll go stab myself in the face!"

Ingrid just giggled manically at her beleaguered looking brother. There was something about being slightly immature with him that let the stress off her shoulders. This was how the two of them eased each other out, calmed each other down.

"So does Seth know that one of the alphas here is your ex-boyfriend?" Magnus asked.

"He knows I dated a wolf and that he's here. I didn't specifically mention that he's the alpha of the fourth pack."

Magnus leaned on the wall near the fireplace in the great hall. "You think it'll become an issue?"

"No. It's not like that with us and even if it was, Seth isn't petty like that. Even before he started coming into his own. Besides, Rurik isn't carrying a torch for me, so I hardly think it will matter much to him that I got imprinted on."

Every member of the pack that wasn't on patrol was in the great room. Everyone save for Dagmar. Even Gunnar was there. In about 20 minutes the Gather would start and after the introductions, the charges against Dagmar would be read. It was going to be a long day. Dagmar would get the chance to defend herself later, but right now it was the custom for the accused not be present during the first part of the proceedings. This wasn't like court, the accused had no right to face their accusers nor a right to a speedy trial. Once Magnus had contacted Freya to convene a Gather, they could have locked Dagmar in a cell until a convenient time was found. In fact, if this hadn't directly involved the Jarl, if Dagmar had been the bolverk of some other pack, she most likely would have spent the rest of the winter rotting away in a dank hole somewhere. Rank had it's privileges, and it's curses as well.

Ingrid was about to ask if Magnus was ready when she saw Seth and his packmates enter. "Oh, by the way... Enni had sex with Quil. Have fun with Sam's bad mood over that."

Magnus looked tired suddenly. "The one who imprinted on the kid?"

"That's the one." she replied.

"Perfect. Well, personally, I don't care who Enni takes to bed, as long as everything is consensual it's none of my business. If his beta want's to get his panties in a twist about it, I've got bigger things to deal with."

Sam just walked over to them with a slightly long suffering look on his face. "I don't wear panties."

Magnus gave a short laugh and pointed to where the knot of people in white were standing. "Alright, here's how this works. You're a beta Sam so you will stand and be seated near me, but still within the area of my pack. The rest of you will stay slightly behind Sam. None of you will be introduced until after all the Fenrir introductions have been made. After that Sam will stand, introduce himself and the fact that he speaks for Jacob Black, his alpha, then you give your pack's name, and the names and ranks of the wolves with you. Because of Leah's unique situation in her rank structure, I would say discretion is the better part of valor here and call her your 3rd ranked. With the other wolf on the other side of the world right now, it's not exactly a lie."

Ingrid took Seth's elbow. "After the first part of the Gather has taken place, there will be a short break. After that, as long as you sit with the Jarl Pack, you'll be fine. Sit with whomever you want." She looked at Seth. "People will expect you to either stick close to Sam or me, so if you want to be hard to pigeonhole, don't."

A single bell tone went off and people began to converge at the large stone table that ran nearly the length of the room itself. Ingrid showed the La Push wolves where to sit and then she sat next to her brother. The Jarl pack was a sea of white, they sat at the head of the table. Gunnar however, sat in a chair on a small dais above the them all. The throne-like implications were impossible to ignore. The chair was large, stone, but otherwise, utterly unadorned. For what was, essentially, the wolf-king's throne, it was a rather simple affair.

Quil leaned over and whispered to Seth. "Why does it feel like we're in some sort of mythological story?"

"Because we have been since we first phased? Now be quiet. I'm pretty sure talking during this is considered rude." Seth replied.

Gunnar stood. He was a massive man, larger than even his son. He had cold blue eyes and a close cut pate of nearly transparent blonde hair. While phasing had made him perpetually somewhat youthful, the rigors of his life had aged him nevertheless. While he may have had the body of a 25 year old, no one would have ever mistaken him for one. To look at him was to look at a man who had left youth behind a long time ago, and in many ways. When he spoke, his voice sounded a bit like he was gargling gravel.

"I am Gunnar Jarlsson, alpha of the 1st pack and Jarl of the Fenrir Nation, for those who have never met me. You are all here because a Gather has been convened. Normally I would be running this... venture, but because it directly affects me, there is a somewhat conflict of interest. So instead I will watch, my son Magnus, who functions as my beta, will be the one directly deals with the overseeing of the proceedings."

Then the Jarl sat down and Magnus stood up. "I am Magnus Jarlsson, beta of the 1st pack and the one who called for Freya to convene this Gather." Then he gestured to Dagonet. "This is Dagonet, the 3rd ranked wolf of our pack. As this Gather deals directly with our pack, many of us are in attendance."

Then he sat down and nodded at Ingrid, she stood as well and her voice was strong as she introduced herself. "I am Ingrid Jarlsdottir, the Dominant among the all our nation's wolfblooded and I speak for them. Because our bolverk has been relieved of her duties, I also speak for the humans of our nation as well."

Then another female stood and Seth watched with undisguised fascination. She was powerfully built, but was shorter than most of the other shifters in the room. Her hair was so blonde it was nearly white and her eyes were a very pale blue. She moved like she had no concerns about anyone or anything in the room.

"I am Freya, Eldest of the Fenrir and alpha of the 2nd pack." She placed her hand on a tall woman's shoulder seated to her left. "This is Agna, my pack's bolverk and one of my direct descendents."

A heavily scarred man spoke next. Seth hadn't been aware that shifters could scar like that, but he guessed it made sense. If a vampire could kill you, chances were it could leave it's mark on you too.

"I am Lars, alpha of the 3rd pack. This is my nephew and 3rd ranked Wilfred." Wilfred for his part looked uncomfortable having to sit still at the table.

A thinner and wiry muscled man stood next. "I am Rurik, alpha of the 4th pack and this is my 3rd ranked wolf, Sten."

Seth paid more attention to this one. He was Ingrid's former boyfriend, and looking at him it wasn't exactly surprising to Seth that he was an alpha. His imprint was a dominant woman, it made a certain amount of sense to him that she would have dated an alpha. Besides, since she was only supposed to be courted by high ranked wolves, why wouldn't she have an alpha in her past? He watched their nonverbal communication with each other and felt the slightest bit relieved. They acknowledged one another, but there were no lingering glances nor tortured looks of a love thwarted or unrequited, on either side. They seemed to have well and truly moved on from each other. Though... why wouldn't they? Ingrid had told him that it had been almost two years since they had broken up. The fact that she had neglected to mention that he was an alpha actually made Seth smile a bit. She played things close to the vest, and he was finding that he was okay with that for the most part. It kept him on his toes.

Another man was talking now, a rare head of dark hair floating in a sea of blonde and the occasional

redhead. "I am Lodur alpha of the 5th pack and this is my 3rd ranked packmember Gisela." Gisela was a rather stern looking woman with an angular face who appeared to have never laughed a day in her life.

"I am Frode, alpha of the 6th pack. This is my bolverk and mate Iris."

Here Quil perked up, Frode was Enni's former alpha, that meant his pack was from Stockholm, Sweden. He couldn't help thinking about his night with her, when she had told him she was in her 60's it had brought him up short for a bit. But then he relaxed... it was still a bit of a culture shock to realize that if he didn't retire, he would look nearly as young as he was now until the day he died. Looking back at Lodur and Iris, he wondered if they regretted letting a wolf as smart as Enni leave.

The next wolf to introduce himself was Johan, the alpha of the Oslo pack who were apparently the 7th pack. The La Push wolves were unsure how it was that whole entire wolfpacks got ranked, but Seth made a note to ask Ingrid or Magnus when the opportunity arose. He was here with his 3rd ranked by the name of Lodewjik. Seth sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to call the man by his name because he was pretty positive he would mangle the pronunciation.

One by one the rest of the alpha's introduced themselves and either their bolverk or their 3rd ranked packmate. When there were no more Fenrir left to be announced, Sam stood. This was his first official foray into international shapeshifter politics, he had handled the Volturri, years ago, with aplomb. But that had been vampires, this was his own kind, this was different and since up until several months ago, he hadn't even been aware that any wolves besides his tribe's pack existed, it meant more to him. Making a good impression wasn't just about holding their own, it was about making a grand entrance on the stage. He sent a quick and silent prayer to whomever may have been listening and then introduced himself and his packmates.

"I am Samuel Uley, the beta of the Quillete wolfpack. Our 7th ranked wolf, Seth is imprinted on Ingrid Jarlsdottir, and as such, through him, we have a stake in this Gather. My alpha, Jacob Black, in deference to the fact that we have no standing treaty with the Fenrir has sent me, Seth Clearwater, our 3rd ranked wolf Leah Clearwater and our 8th ranked wolf Quil Atera as well. He chose to stay and protect our lands and our people with the remainder of our pack. I speak with his backing in this matter."

His eyes flicked from alpha to alpha, before settling on Magnus. Then he sat down, realizing that most, if not all, eyes in the room were on him, he leaned back in his chair with an ease he didn't truly feel. However, by holding each gaze for a moment before acknowledging that a room full of alphas were more dominant than he, but yet not once protecting his torso, in fact leaving it open, sent a message. It told anyone who knew how to read shapeshifter body language that he was confident in his abilities and could hold his own. That he was astute but not overly cocky . In essence, the perfect wolf to have been sent by his alpha to do this job.

After the Quillette introduction Magnus stood and read out the accusations being made against Dagmar. All of the people here already knew why they were convening a Gather during Winter War, but there appeared to be a very formal ritual at work and the Fenrir were following it to the letter. Seth watched all the wolves as they were told the extent of the ineptitude of the Jarl pack's bolverk. Some seemed nonplussed, but he was willing to bet it was just that they didn't want to give anything away that someone else could use against them. Some seemed briefly angered until they too, became a little too calm. This was why Seth was glad he wasn't Sam. Politics was always going to be bit out of his league. At the end of the day, he was too honest to be a politician, wolfen or otherwise.

Once all of that was done, there was a brief break and everyone was told to go stretch their legs, because the next portion of the Gather would be long and intensive. It could be the wee hours of the morning before anyone got back to their rooms and their beds. The La Push pack stuck close together through the break, occasionally talking to Ingrid, Magnus and Enni. They could feel curious eyes on them, but only Freya came over to talk and she mostly just pulled Sam off to the side to speak. No one got the chance to ask what they talked about however, because as soon as he came back, the bell sounded and they returned to the great hall to continue the Gather.

It was long. There was no getting around the fact that nearly everyone was speaking in English in deference to the Quillete wolves and a good half of them weren't happy about it. First the members of the Jarl pack who had had close dealings with Dagmar spoke. All of them did so with some show of baring their throat to their Jarl and alpha. It was becoming increasingly hard to ignore just how powerful Gunnar was and how much control he could have if he chose to exercise it.

Enni had to show the assembled alphas her evacuation schedule that she had given to Dagmar months ago. She talked about how Dagmar had taken it and had been more interested in talking about Magnus and Yvanne, and of course... Ingrid. When asked whether she thought Dagmar deliberately left those people up there and stranded, her answer was interesting.

"No, I don't think so. I think... I think she doesn't understand how important it is, what we do. It's like trying to explain to a child why they have to go to the doctor's office even though all they want to do is run around and play outside. She has her, I guess you could call it severe focus points, but I'd call it obsessions, and those take up the bulk of her effort and mental energy. Whatever is left over after that is what she puts towards being the bolverk, it's always been that way."

The 13th alpha Nicklaus asked her an interesting question. "But I thought that she gave up being bolverk when Ingrid reached 15 years of age. Maybe that was her realizing she wasn't up to the task?"

"No." Enni paused here and then frowned. "She didn't walk away from the job very willingly the first time. She's never liked the twins and she's always been very resentful that that training injury took her ability to have children away. She has been verbal about her dislike that Marit's children will carry on the Jarl family line and not her's. She hated the fact that Ingrid took over for her and was better at the job. She just didn't have a choice in the matter. The pack was chaffing against her holding that high of a position. I'm not ranked highly enough to know what went on behind closed doors, but one day Dagmar was out and Ingrid was in and that was that and things ran more smoothly."

After Enni spoke, Karolina was requested to tell them about how she had been affected by the bolverk. As one of the humans that was most tightly bound to the 1st pack, she had quite a lot to do with Dagmar.

"I may not have her breathing down my neck quite like Magnus and my mates do, but life with her is no picnic for me either." Karolina was blunt. Maybe it was the fact that she had her hands in just about everyone's innards after awhile as the pack medic, but sometimes, when the little human was annoyed, she was like a cold brisk wind right up the nose.

"She thinks that she should have a say in treatment, who gets priority, who gets mercifully put out of their misery and how. She... " Karolina paused, then she looked Magnus, Dagonet and Hilde right in the eye. She was going to air some very dirty laundry and it was going to make her some enemies, but it was long since past the time where this knowledge should have been made public to the nation.

"Dagmar refused to let terminally bitten wolves be allowed to die. What I mean is... she made us keep them alive, made me keep them alive. No matter how much they screamed, no matter how hard they begged, I couldn't end their suffering and neither could any of the pack. Eventually she relented and allowed venom saturated wolves to be mercy killed. But... that's always been the job of the alpha, but Dagmar found that too disturbing so she begged him not to do it anymore, and he shoved the responsibility off on first Dagonet and then his son. Because she asked him to. For years now, Magnus has had to send these wolves to Fenris and he was nowhere near old enough for that sort of responsibility when he started. And it's not the beta's job, it's the alpha's. She finds the things she thinks are too brutal and she demands that they change, with no understanding as to why the pack may do things that way in the first place."

Frode looked at Magnus. "Is this true?"

"It is." Magnus said, carefully avoiding looking at his father as he spoke. It was hard, one part of him was the beta of his pack, with a duty to each and every person underneath him. But another part, a smaller part was still that small boy in that kitchen all those years ago, still wondering why his father had ceased to care.

Karolina answered more questions, most of them regarding the disaster at Northcape, and then she got up and left the room. Unlike other non-wolf members of the 1st pack, her duties kept her far too busy to spend the bulk of her day in the great hall listening to endless testimony. Seth watched Dagonet and Hilde's eyes track their mate out the door, they were worried. The medic's statements were dangerous. It not only cast the bolverk in a very bad light, it did the same to the Jarl, and that put anyone, but especially a normal human, in a risky position.

The rest of the testimony went like this, nervous wolves and wolfblooded telling the assembled alphas and company about various run in's with Dagmar and of the massacre that had set the Gather in motion. Other humans spoke up as well, not just Karolina, and it went on for what seemed like forever. There was no way this was going to be wrapped up in one day. Hell at this point Seth was wondering if it would get wrapped up in month. When everyone adjourned for the evening, Dagmar had still not been seen nor heard from. Leah asked where the woman was and Ingrid told her that until everyone else had their say, only then would Dagmar get the chance to defend herself. So no one but Gunnar would see her till the very last day.

That night everyone slept fitfully. Magnus wrapped himself around Yvanne, hoping that holding her would keep old and awful memories of abandonment away. Dagonet, Hilde and Karolina ate a large supper together and talked about their children. All of Dagonet and Hilde's young were long grown now, and it was on this night that the three of them decided that their family needed to grow larger and that come spring, Karolina would carry their newest addition.

Sam and Leah spent the night talking, planning, wondering why there were here and what, exactly, anyone expected them to say or do. Leah felt energized by the new lease on life that seeing the she-wolves had given her, but at the same time, she was rather happy that Jake and the rest of them had only one pack and one treaty to deal with. A whole nation? Right now that just seemed like a giant clusterfuck to her. Sam thought that he was done feeling sorry for himself. After listening to the testimony of the people that had spoken today, he realized that unless the Olympic Peninsula became ground zero for an epic war, he would never see death, destruction and pain on the level that the Fenrir did every single year. He was grateful for that. And both of them, before they went their separate ways, mentioned that they now realized the risk they had taken in agreeing to fight the Volturri with the Cullens over 5 years ago. It was sheer dumb luck that it hadn't gone badly, and win or lose? It would have been a bloodbath that day.

Ingrid and Seth... drank. Tomorrow she and her twin would testify, tomorrow was the day that any of the convening members of the Gather who had dealings with the 1st pack's bolverk would speak. What little was left of the veil they had worked so hard to maintain over the years was going to come crashing down. And Ingrid thought everyone could just go sit and spin if they thought she was being irresponsible for having 3 scotches on the rocks. In fact, they should get down on their knees and thank Fenris that it wasn't 13. Seth drank 3 as well, though with his metabolism, it might as well have been 3 glasses of water but, in his experience, when people were on the cusp of a life changing event, they disliked drinking alone.

"You handled yourself well today you know. You asked all the right questions. I mean we all know that your step-mother is as fucked as a baby seal in a shark tank, but you never once looked like you were intentionally gunning for her." he said.

Ingrid laughed. "You seem to be finding your inner sarcastic wit. I like it, one day you may even equal your sister."

"Are you kidding me? I've learned to never take any titles away from Leah, she bites. I'm happy to just be the Vice-President of sarcasm to her Prime Minister... or what the hell ever."

After they were finished with the alcohol, both went to bed. Seth never mentioned to Ingrid that she cried in her sleep about something. He had the sneaking suspicion that it might not be an abnormal thing for her. And wasn't that just more evidence of her crapsack childhood.

Quil on the other handd wanted to reaffirm the fact that being in the presence of a female that he was highly attracted to didn't make his chest explode, his wolf insane or Taha Ahki come down from... wherever he was... and smite him. When he knocked on Enni's door, she let him in and she smelled nervous. That night he learned something, Enni was far more submissive than him. He knew she wasn't dominant, but somehow he hadn't realized that she was her pack's omega. She had spoken against her bolverk, most likely angered her alpha and Jarl. She was very much not up for sexual shenanigans of any sort whatsoever. Funnily enough, neither was Quil after he watched her pace around the room casting furtive glances in all directions. So, much like Magnus with Yvanne, he slept curled around her, but unlike the beta, he was the one doing the comforting. It made Quil feel better than he had in a long time that an adult woman was accepting comfort from him. If anyone had asked, he would have said that it made him feel like a man.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

The next day everyone woke up pensive and quiet. Today the big dogs were going to take the floor. Anyone and everyone who was on the convening council of the Gather who had had pertinent experience with Dagmar was going to speak. Today was also the day the last eyewitness account of what had come to be known as the Slaughter of Northcape would be heard. No one was really looking forward to it. It would be tense, all that dominance in one room, alphas possibly breaking faith with the one person dominant enough to demand and to receive their loyalty and submission. But most of all, everyone knew that both the Jarl's children were going to have to talk about things that would put their father in a bad light and would possibly crucify his imprint.

No one was looking forward to it. At the same time, no one could say that it wasn't going to be interesting.

Enni stood by the door and with Quil watched Ingrid and Magnus stand a few feet from their father, watched them unable to come together as a family.

"I once told Ingrid that her family was like a fire. That it kept the Fenrir safe and warm, but if that heat, if those flames ever escaped the fireplace grate it would burn us all alive." she said. "Unless the twins have had a change of heart... today is the day the flames jump over the hearth and onto our fur."

"Hoping for a peaceful outcome?" Quil asked.

"No, just realizing how true it is that sins always come home to roost... eventually." she replied.

Then once again the bell sounded and everyone went into the great hall and took their places. First the 3rd ranked and the bolverks who had any dealings with Dagmar spoke. Then it was the alpha's turns. Some of the testimony was cautious, some was inflammatory, but all of it was digging at the truth. And that truth, as far as the La Push pack could tell, was whether Dagmar was fit at all to have any dealings with the Fenrir, indeed to determine if she even merited being one of them at all anymore.

Then Freya stood to speak. The moment she opened her mouth she had everyone's undivided attention. She was shorter than everyone in the room, not too surprising seeing as how she was prehistoric, but the power behind her made her seem 8 feet tall. The only other person who commanded this level of respect was the man whose wife was on trial, and Freya did not look happy.

First she gave Gunnar a long stare, which he returned. Seth watched and decided that he was glad he wasn't in the middle of it. He was pretty sure that if he was, he would have lit spontaneously on fire. There was no love lost between these two, that much was obvious. Ingrid had told them that Freya had always been open about her disdain for Dagmar and her choices and how their father did not fight harder. It reminded him of what she always said about the ancient wolf. Only the first Jarl was ever able to control her, the rest had had to settle for containing her.

"For many years I have spoken out about Dagmar Jarlsson's behavior. I have asked questions and demanded answers from our Jarl. To this day I have not once gotten anything satisfactory from him, but I have kept my eyes open, and I have listened even harder. I have seen a Jarl have less and less to do with his people and eventually his own pack, sequestering himself with his imprint. An imprint who seems to be a black hole of need. No matter how much attention is paid to her, it is never enough. Her needs rival that of a newborn's requirements; constant, immediate, and frighteningly intense."

She began to pace around the room, like a wolf working out it's paws. In many ways she seemed to be half canine no matter what she did. Like she and her wolf had spent so much time together that they were now a fully melded and inseparable whole.

"I have spoken to her many times, demanded answers and gotten petulant replies. She reminds me of a child. She wants what she wants, when she wants it and she is utterly unable to understand when things do not work out in her favor. Most people, when they do wrong, they know it somewhere deep in their hearts. They may lie to others and to themselves for a time, but inside they know and eventually the truth will out. But Dagmar? She is not like that, it is my belief that she, somehow, does not realize the extent of her actions nor the wrongness of them. And that, in my opinion, is the most dangerous thing about her. As the Christians have often said, the road to their hell is paved with good intentions. No matter how awful her choices may be to us, I would be willing to bet my tail on the fact that she has no fathoming of how wrong they really are."

Then Freya gave an exhaustive account of each and every encounter she had ever had with Dagmar that had ended either badly or with a severe case of the well-this-isn't right. It was a long testimony, but unlike when anyone else had begun to ramble, no one in their right mind would have thought to signal her to hurry it along. When she sat down there was silence for a time.

Now there were only four more people who needed to speak today. Hilde, Dagonet, Ingrid and last would be Magnus. Freya nodded to the wolblooded at the door to go and get Hilde. While everyone who had been at Northcape had spoken yesterday, Hilde's version of events had been saved till today. She was tasked with giving the complete history of what had happened, of tying all the different versions together. After all, save for Magnus, she had been the most dominant wolf there that day.

When the dark haired woman entered, she looked old. It wasn't that her body seemed elderly, like every wolf, she was locked in perpetual youth, it was the way she walked, the way she stood, the way she spoke. Three centuries of life was long and Hilde was getting tired of accumulating more and more bad memories. She didn't even wait for anyone to start asking her questions, she simply stood and spoke, her eyes focused above the heads of everyone, looking at something only she could see.

"It was awful. When we realized that the Northcape Sami hadn't been evacuated, we were expecting the worst. Even the young ones, no one really thought it would be all okay and that they would be in their tents, peaceably waiting for us. But you hope, even when you know it's pointless, you still hope." she said.

"They were dead, all of them. Eaten, flung around. Most of them still had their eyes open, most of them looked terrified, in pain. Even the children. The kids are always the worst. I've seen more than my fair share of children turned into vampire-chow... but it never gets any easier. In case anyone wants to know, 9 children lost their lives up in Northcape due to our bolverk's mismanagement of the evacuations. Grand total there were 37 fatalities. We thought that a small group of them had survived, but when we tracked them down... they were dead. All of them were wounded and hypothermia killed them less than 2 miles away. They weren't dressed properly to make it in the snow."

"Are you sure that they didn't choose to stay in their settlement?" asked Agna.

"None of our pack, not wolf, nor wolfblooded went there to get them. You can't refuse an option that no one gives you. I saw the evacuation schedule and they were supposed to be taken to safety first."

"Why did none of you realize that no one had gone to them?" Rurik's gaze was piercing.

"I think everyone just assumed someone had gone and that the job was done. When we realized that it hadn't, that they were stranded, we got there as fast as we could. The fastest runners and the best fighters went. I brought my own mate on my back because we were certain that survivors would need immediate medical care, possibly in a combat situation. But... there was nothing left to do when we arrived but to burn the bodies. They had all been dead for some time, Karolina had a hard time determining exact time of death thanks to the permafrost up there, but she was pretty sure it was at least 4 days."

Here Hilde had to stop and take a deep breath before continuing. "They were already dead before we noticed a thing, if Enni hadn't figured it out, we might not have known till the spring thaw. We were supposed to protect them. That's all we do, it's what Fenris created us for... and thanks to a spoiled CHILD... we let them die."

Then the fourth ranked she-wolf took out pictures, more than anyone wanted to see, but everyone looked. Even the La Push pack. Murmured curses and quick intakes of air were heard as the photos made their way around. It was one thing to hear about the deaths, it was another to see the color photographs of the dead. Seth swallowed hard, if he never had to see another picture of a murdered child, it would be too soon. Looking at what was so obviously food and nothing more to vampires, he started to wonder how cows felt and thought if it was possible for a shape-shifting wolf to be a vegetarian, he might have taken it up.

When Hilde was done and when the photos had been fully examined and questioned, the Gather broke for a little while. It wasn't to make it proceed more efficiently, it was to give everyone an emotional break. Instead of conversations, everyone left in silence, packmembers stayed together and nearly everyone felt the need for a stiff drink.

The La Push pack stayed together as well and only one person spoke.

"Some things can never be unseen. I'm getting so tired of looking at pictures of massacres I can do nothing about." Sam growled.

It took an hour before the bell sounded again. An hour of mostly silence, punctuated by murmurs. There were only 3 more testimonies to be given and then they would be done for the night. It was hard to tell exactly what everyone expected. No one in the 1st or 2nd packs seemed to have any illusions about how things would go with the twins. But everyone else seemed to think there might be the possibility that they would side with their family, such as it was anymore. As Seth watched the siblings he could see so much passing between them non-verbally. He was pretty sure that they were going to do whatever they thought was best for the nation, regardless of how that worked out for them personally.

He had the idle thought that guys his age were usually in college and getting drunk on the weekends. Maybe they were in love, maybe they weren't... but they were still caught up in the pursuit of sex and the fun that went with it. And here he was, involved in something that if it were taking place in the human world, in his country, would be a televised hearing on Capitol Hill. His was ever so much not the life of the average 20 year old guy.

They went back into the hall and took their seats. Dagonet stood up and greeted everyone, then he began to speak. What he had to say was a bit different, it spoke mostly to who Gunnar had been and how he had changed after becoming imprinted on Dagmar. How the man he had known had deteriorated in front of him, slowly in some ways, lighting quick in others.

"Our Jarl was not always like this, when he ruled with Marit as his bolverk, he was a fair man. He was still stern, but not hypocritical. Dagmar, like Freya has already said, is frightening in the intensity of her needs. She's always been like that, but as the years went by, she got worse. When Marit died and the children came back to the pack, it was like watching someone unravel. I'm not sure if it's jealousy or something deeper, but she hated those kids, and when Magnus phased for the first time, I thought she would choke on her own tongue. She had never been very good at handling the requirements of being a bolverk, but after our beta phased... she seemed to come a bit undone."

The third ranked wolf kept looking at Ingrid and Magnus. In some ways, in many ways, he was their father figure more than their real one. It hadn't exactly been hard to step into the role, after all, no one had fought him for it.

"After a few years, three actually, Ingrid started unofficially doing the work. Packmates started going to her instead of Dagmar. Keep in mind, she was only 14 years old at that time. After a year, it was official. The entire pack requested that Ingrid take over, wear the torque. And she did. And Dagmar became more and more insular. She still made pronouncements, still tried to control things through Gunnar, but until Ingrid left, she was cut off from a lot of direct action."

Dagonet took a deep breath. "The thing is is that she was allowed to live such a protected life, a far softer life than anyone who wishes to call themselves Fenrir, wolf, wolfblooded or human is generally allowed to have. You all know how it is, If someone wants to run with the pack, be part of the nation, then they had better be able to stand with us. They have to contribute something. Not everyone is a warrior, but everyone had better have a use, a function to perform. Dagmar has no function, no use."

Seth watched the way Gunnar's eyes were boring a hole into the back of Dagonet's head. He had the sneaking suspicion that the only reason that the old wolf was even able to make such statements at all was that he was facing away from the Jarl. As it was, his voice was rougher than usual and it was quite clear that he was having to put an effort into speaking these things at all. As the Gather had gone forward, Gunnar had been getting angrier and angrier and by now it was a very good thing that no low ranked or submissive pack members were left to speak.

"Our Jarl has changed too. Beyond what everyone has already spoken about. He's become nearly irrational in his desire to cater to his imprints needs. Now, I'm not saying that he should ignore her. I'm imprinted myself and I realize how nearly impossible that is. However, he has lost sight of what he is, and how to care for his pack, for his nation. Things should never have gone as badly as they have, in choosing to cleave so obsessively to his imprint, he has nearly abandoned us... and as the Jarl he just does not have that luxury. When Dagmar first started taking this pack down a bad road, he should have stepped in, and he didn't. Now people, many people, have died and I wonder if he, even now, hold her accountable for her actions."

Before Dagonet sat down he looked at the twins. "I've known your father all his life and this is not what he aspired to be."

It was quiet in the room. Dagonet's words could be taken as a direct attack on his alpha and Jarl. Seth wondered if the man would have to change packs after this. The way Gunnar was looking at him, it might appear so.

Next it was Ingrid's turn, all of La Push's eyes were on her as she stood in the center of the room. She was the highest ranking non-wolf in her culture and even if that was all, her words would have meant something. But she was Gunnar's daughter, his oldest child, Magnus's sister and that meant what she had to say would carry even more weight.

"I'm not going to rehash what Dagmar has done or not done. We've all heard it by now and at this point it would just be redundant. We all know she's utterly incompetent, we all know that she cares more for the idea of being the Jarl's mate rather than the duties that position brings with it. We all know what happened between her and my mother. We know it all. At this point we have to look past all that and to what is best for this pack and this nation. "

She began to gesture with her hands and walk in a wide circle, catching the eyes of everyone there.

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. An imprint has to walk a fine line because they have absolute power over their wolf. Some women can walk that line, can remain ethical, honest and good people. But many cannot. It starts with a little slip here and there and I've heard many Fenrir speak about how imprinting gone wild, running rampant through too many wolves would destroy the Nation. I wish I could say that Dagmar's descent to where she is now was slow, that ultimately she just couldn't stand up to that siren song of power that imprinting sings. But I would be lying. She fell nearly instantly and to this day no one knows why. We all know how her and my father's relationship started and I ask everyone here: Is that the sort of woman who should hold such a high position? She influences decisions that can potentially affect every man, woman and child of the Fenrir. At some point we must examine the content of her character. We must measure it against the her actions. And we must also measure the Jarl... and his complicitness in allowing this to have ever happened.."

Seth, Sam... hell everyone had been expecting more, a longer speech. Instead she turned and calmly walked back to her chair and patiently waited for Magnus to get up. Her statement had been short, but it had also been powerful. Ingrid had essentially broke ranks, officially, with her family. If Magnus did as well, and Seth was willing to bet his own tail he would, than the Jarls' family would truly become a house divided.

Magnus's voice boomed as he spoke, Yvanne had come into the room after Dagonet's statement she never once took her eyes off her mate. Magnus spoke of years of slowly but surely watching his father bow to an ever increasingly unstable wife, how this had affected him directly and how it had affected the pack. Ingrid's words had been a prelude for her brother, a set-up that was perfect. When he had finished he took a deep breath.

"Dagmar has broken faith with our people and she has been allowed to do so at every step along the path. And now, she refuses to even speak in her own defense."

Here there were murmurs and confused glances. After all the testimony... she was supposed to offer up her own words as an explanation for her failings. To refuse was like political suicide.

"She believes she owes us none. That she is bolverk and the Jarl's imprint. She offers to step down and return her position to Ingrid."

Again there was confusion and on not a few faces, anger. This was nearly unprecedented and it foolish beyond measure. Magnus turned to his father and stared at him, met his gaze piercingly. It was like watching a balance of power start to shift the slightest bit.

"You've hidden long enough Father, you've hidden with her behind me, behind Ingrid, behind Dagonet. You have one last opportunity to punish her as she deserves. You retain that right as she is your imprint, your mate and your chosen bolverk. If you give up that right, this Gather will do it for you, you must know she cannot walk away unscathed. There are too many deaths now."

Gunnar looked like a massive cloud of fury. His fists were clenched on the arms of his large chair, his brows were furrowed and he was visibly grinding his teeth. "I am her wolf, she is my imprint. I cannot punish her. I leave that in the... eager... hands of the Gather. If you will excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

He stormed out of the room and all the lower ranked wolves of the 1st pack were dismissed. When the room was empty of all save those who would be deliberating and the La Push representatives that old doors were locked and it was time to determine what could be done.

It wasn't exactly a long deliberation, no one had any notions of not punishing the woman. The question was how to punish her.

"We can't let her stay, we just can't. We would have a revolt on our hands if we did." said Rurik.

Freya was silent, her chin resting on steepled fingers. "I am curious about what La Push's beta has to say. You hold no vote Sam, but... your tribe is now irrevocably connected to us. Treaties will be made and signed, mutual protection agreements could be on the table. So I want to know... what do you think of all this?"

The spotlight couldn't have been more on Sam if one had actually popped out of the ceiling. Internally Sam was sweating it, he hadn't wanted to put his two cents in if for no other reason that he didn't really feel that it had much, if anything, to do with what would happen. But one did not tell a woman who was older than the oldest, tallest tree he knew, no.

"My tribe does not have our imprints and human family members so tightly tied to pack life. Mostly they lead the sort of protected life that is not respected here. We are a small pack within a small tribe and we have to play things closer to our vests than you do. Our tribe just can't survive the sort of attention you risk here. However, if any imprint, no matter how tightly tied to their wolf, caused something like this, there is no way our alpha would not punish her. Regardless of who she was and who her wolf was... there would be no choice. I can only imagine she would be culled from the pack."

He got a pensive look on his face as he thought about the consequences for the wolf if his imprint was thrown out of the pack. "The more dominant the wolf, I would imagine the less negative the outcome for him. I think, though I am not sure, that for a more submissive wolf, having all contact with his imprint severed by force of an alpha order it would be worse... but it would be the action we would have to take."

"Thankfully we've never had to deal with such a situation. At least not in living memory." he said.

"And do you agree with many of us that she should, in fact, be culled?" Freya asked.

"I do." said Sam. "And I believe that the feeling is unanimous among my wolves.

Leah, Seth and Quil all nodded affirmatively when the rest looked their way.

"It would rewrite a lot of what we think about imprinting and it's place in our culture, and it would be very uncomfortable... but it would have to be done." Sam concluded.

There was more debate after that and much of it centered not on whether to punish the bolverk, but the form it would take. Everyone had noticed that Gunnar seemed not to be himself and the twin were all very glad that he had opted not to speak much during the hearing. In fact they had been expecting a much stronger defense laid down, but it was almost as if they were laying down and baring belly to a far superior foe.

But then the degree of punishment became a sticking point. By agreeing to step down, it appeared that Dagmar was admitting she had been wrong, there seemed to be a degree of assumed remorse. Some hardline traditionalists wished only for her to give up her position as bolverk and retain all other privileges as the Jarl's mate. After nearly 7 hours of back and forth, a decision was made and the assembled Fenrir opened the doors and all spectators were allowed back in. Gunnar took his place on his dais and once everyone had taken their places, Dagmar was lead up from where she had been held during the proceedings.

Finally the La Push pack was getting a look at her. She had honey blonde hair and large green eyes, freckles dusted over her nose and cheeks and she was positively skinny. Her frame was slight and her breasts and hips were those of a girl. The woman was a waif. That this tiny, scrawny thing could be the cause of so much angst was a bit ironic. Then they got a good look in her eyes, they were had as stone and twice as cold. She looked at everything like it belonged to her and to her alone. It was a mixture of need and something else, something none of the wolves could really put their fingers on, but it smelled... wrong.

Seth looked around the room, his pack was where they had been this entire time, with the 1st pack. Freya had moved to the middle of the room. As the next highest ranking alpha after Gunnar, she would read out Dagmar's sentence, not Magnus, like Seth had at first thought. In fact... the twins were in the back of the room, standing near the fireplace, watching everything dispassionately.

Freya waited till Dagmar had taken her seat then she began to speak. "Dagmar Jarlsson, you have proven yourself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, fully incapable of handling the duties and responsibility of the bolverk. If that were your only crime you would merely be stripped of your position, but would be allowed to remain with the pack and with your mate. But we all know why you truly here."

Freya's voice became more resonant, power seemed to nearly bleed off her as she spoke the next words. "Dagmar Lisbeth Jarlsson it is the decision of this Gather that you are to surrender your status immediately, no longer will you carry the title of bolverk to the Jarl's pack. In addition you will remove yourself from said pack and have no more contact with the Fenrir nation till such time as you die. A member of my pack will escort you to wherever you wish to go, however, from then on in you will be on your own. You will receive no assistance from the Fenrir, it will be as though you were never a part of us. The sentence will commence at first light tomorrow morning."

When she finished she looked Gunnar dead in the eyes for a moment and then walked back to her place. Dagmar looked horrified, and angry. "You... you can't DO this!"

"We can, and we have." replied Freya.

Gunnar stood up, his whole being bristling with rage. "No, this will not happen. Dagmar will do nowhere, she will remain with us. There will be no exiling of my imprint! My daughter will merely take over her duties."

Seth looked back at Ingrid who had the hardest look in her eyes when her spoke of her.

Freya shook her head. "Then step down Gunnar, step down and let your son lead us. You are no longer what the Fenrir need to lead us."

"I will do NO SUCH THING!" Gunnar roared. "I am Jarl here and not my get. He will inherit the title when nature and Fenris see fit and not a moment beforehand.!"

As Seth was looking at her, Ingrid strode the rest of the way to the fireplace and lifted her father's ancestral sword form it's place over the stone mantle and held it horizontally in her hands, like she was about to present it to someone. Then she began to walk to the middle of the room, Magnus meeting her as she stopped and both twins stood in there staring defiantly at their father.

"You have betrayed out people and the sacred trust we have to protect them." Ingrid's voice was steady, no emotion flowed from her. She was almost eerily calm.

Magnus spoke next. "You are no longer fit to lead our people, if you will not step down, you will be removed!"

Then Ingrid took the sword and holding onto the hilt, she let the point crash down into the floor. Magnus lifted his foot and with a powerful kick he crashed it through the sword, shattering the blade in two pieces. Kicking the one on the ground, he sent it skittering across the floor towards his father.

"As you have broken faith with us, so we have broken your sword." Magnus yelled.

Next to Quil Enni gasped. "My G-d, it's civil war."

*** So, this one took FOREVER to write. Between real world stress, I have also realized that I do not have it in me to write a prolonged trial. I consider this to be my weakest chapter yet and will never be writing any sort of court proceedings again. This chapter nearly killed me. Towards the end I was rushing it just to get to the end and ended up cutting some stuff out. So in that vein, I want to thank Guns and Drums, Okamihybrid and Midnightstar for dealing with my never ending nail chewing on this, if not for them... I may have taken this story down. But onward and upward to the rest of this story! ***