"So, Commander, you really think Caudecus caused the blast to reverse itself?" asks Marjory.

"Possibly. Vetareh, Caithe, and I found ground zero and determined something or someone soaked up most of the magic."

        "Hmm. The timing of his escape was suspicious," muses Canach.

"He might not be the one to have soaked up the power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that he wouldn't have been brave enough to personally try it. It'd be risky to put that much power into someone. It's more likely to kill the subject than anything else. Most mortal beings just aren't able to handle it."

"He is also... somewhat troubled," Canach explains.

"Well, if he has soaked up the power, it hasn't yet killed him, but it might be well on its way to it. If we're lucky it'll be a slow bleed-off."

"I should hope we'll be so lucky, but... Anise has described him as a 'cockroach'."

"What a charming description. Hopefully he stops being our problem soon enough."

Marjory is frowning, though. "But what was Caithe doing here?"

"Investigating the blast. She asked that I forgive her for stealing the egg and... everything."

"Hmmm... I don't know if I'd be able to. I don't think people can change that much."

"Ever the cynic," snorts Rytlock.

"See? Point proven. I'll never change, either. Ask Kasmeer."

"She seemed... sad. I didn't get the impression she was insincere."

"It would be hard for me to blame Caithe for her actions while Mordremoth was alive... But let's save the philosophical arguments until after the minister is dealt with."

"Then let's lay the man to rest!"

"I think you mean return him to safety," says Canach politically.

Rytlock chuffs. "I'll never understand human politics."

Snort. Yeah, Rytlock, she won't, either. Or maybe the better term for that is 'doesn't care to.'

They reach the top of the stone stairs, right outside a door to a circular room that's presumably the coliseum. James raises a finger to his lips again—

—but it turns out to be quite unnecessary; with the way someone's yelling in there, they wouldn't hear the party anyway.

    "Why do I feel like I'm repeating myself? YOU follow MY orders! I don't know where these delusions are coming from... There is one White Mantle, do you hear me? ONE!"

        "Minister, I understand but—"

    "But! But! Quiet! Now tell me again what this pile of rocks can do. Are there magic words? How powerful is it? Well...?"

"That would be him."

"Reminds me of a boss I had at the cotton-candy stands when I was younger," Marjory says, shuddering lightly.

"'Pile of rocks,'" she observes in an undertone, frowning. "Somehow I don't think he means another elemental."

He gives James a look and then looks back at the door.

"Use your words, Canach," says James, sounding amused, but he does kick that door open, too.

Canach walks in and starts his speech: "Minister Caudecus, it seems you have been taken prisoner by the White Mantle. Please, allow us to return you to the safety of the Royal Palace."

    "Let's drop the charade, shall we, you ignorant leaf! I will not be returning to Divinity's Reach until I wear the crown!" calls a man who's presumably minister Caudecus, standing atop a standing ground on the coliseum wall across the room from them. There are two more White Mantle to either side of him, high-ranking if judging by the robes, as well as several other White Mantle scattered in the actual coliseum, all of them surrounding a pile of green-purple stone and taking pieces of Bloodstone crystals around to it. More White Mantle start filing onto the top of the wall surrounding the coliseum, coming from a staircase behind the minister.

"So you're saying," Canach continues, neutrally, "that you work with the White Mantle."

    "Are you quite touched? I'm their supreme leader! And they will carry me all the way to the throne of Kryta!!"

He offers James another one of his meaningful looks.

"Yes, I witnessed his words also."