The council
Tea was brought after brief introductions, a strange somber brew with a mild sour taste compared with the bitter sweetness of other pegasi teas. It must've had some kind of ritualistic purpose, then, given that other occassions beverages were typically meant to be enjoyed whereas this instance it was unduly bland. As far as Danny was aware, it hadn't been drugged and the others were also drinking the same. The only thing he could think of was that it was made specifically for these kinds of sessions as a way to hydrate the participants without distracting them from the meat of the proceedings. Nonetheless, the meeting had the air of an execution, or perhaps to be more accurate, a stay from the noose.
The new pegasi introduced himself as Virtue, an odd informal title for oneself, but perhaps a placeholder for something much more insidious. Night's memories had previously told him that everyone within their society served a role, but what her memories hadn't told him was that this castle in the sky up on its mountaintop was a mere outlier satellite to a much more complex dense population. Virtue explained that he'd been summoned as soon as Danny had his owl prophesy, reminding them that any ideas outside of the ordinary must be examined and put into practice gradually or purged from memory altogether. Danny wasn't alone in how that last statement raised up misgivings, the Flightmaster and Dreamspeaker giving the ever slightest uncomfortable twitches at such an announcement.
The human soul trapped within the female pegasus body got the underlying message pretty quick, almost instantly reminded of the witch hunts and inquisitions in his ancient history. Whatever this Virtue wanted to hear, it wouldn't be explanations of culture and how they did things on Earth. Such mentions would get him in trouble very fast. After all, he got the impression none of the scouts posing as humans hadn't sent back much information, and there was no way Night's soul could have the wealth of information he had of Earth even if she consulted his subconscious memories. It's a trap. If he wanted to keep his individuality, he'd better keep his ideas down to things they could comprehend or discover on their own eventually. Using a big bonfire to turn night into day might be a radical concept for them.
Unless, well, the pegasi were certainly capable of thinking for themselves, weren't they? What if he wasn't responsible for putting all the pieces together, what if they came to a consensus right here? He thought for a moment, biding his time with further sips since none of the councilors were in any hurry to push his thoughts out. In this, there was a unique wisdom, as rushing someone to action or to speak never gave good results except in situations where an enemy was equally disorganized. "I convened this meeting to put forth a discovery I had after my vision." Even now, it was still strangely absurd to hear his thoughts being spoken by a feminine tone!
Virtue was trying to be as equally observant as the other two, but Danny could see the twitch in his nostrils that threatened to boil over with indignant rage. He hid his emotions well, but Danny's statement had angered him, and present company soon discovered why when he launched into an arrogant jumble of less than virtuous accusations. "Yes, how about that vision, eh? Your Dreamspeaker couldn't properly interpret what you saw and left the recipient to decipher its purpose! I tell you, that is not how it is done, but I guess when you have no other options, it seems the most feasible means to interpret the unknown. You had a vision of a bird with big eyes, perhaps you see too much. Perhaps, you think too much, as well." So,that's what the bug up his ass was all about. They'd broken some rigid protocols of some sort by the Dreamspeaker not properly performing his function, and instead of dreaming about one bird or another, he dreamed of the one no pegasi had ever done before.
Danny thought very carefully about his next words, wanting to get on with the purpose of their meeting but yet the formality dictated that he had to address the complaint before continuing. "They probably didn't think it was too important to bother other more important sectors with the nonsense spouted off by one random reborn soul becoming re-accustomed to society. As highly significant as the flight vision is, I doubt every single one we have has been flawless in its inception. Besides, what did you expect our Dreamspeaker to do? Lie or give an answer that he couldn't be absolutely certain of?" Now there was something Virtue hadn't thought of. If there was one thing pegasi didn't like, it was lying, and the scouts serving in the field probably did it if they didn't want to compromise their mission or get put in a psychiatric ward. As crazy as religious zealots were, they weren't completely unreasonable. As many rules and structures as a given church had for its followers to adhere to, there were always stipulations for extenuating circumstances. For instance, the hebrews were allowed to eat pork only if there was no other source of food and they would starve otherwise.
By the way Virtue responded, Danny knew he'd scored a point against this mysterious witch hunting equine in their midst. Nonetheless, with his plan about the mirrors it left a troubling choice to make, and that was which of the other two would be more likely to come up with the plan he'd already made in his head if he suggested it to them? Jarvi was more conventional and adaptive, but would probably be against encouraging pegasi to fly at night with searchlights, not to mention once the deed was done he'd have to find a new way to test the soul-reborn without all the implied dangers of being left down there to fend for themselves. The Dreamspeaker had no flexibility to speak of, and was unlikely to come up with such an unorthodox plan with how he couldn't even interpret a vision out of the ordinary, but if he did think of the searchlights, it would allow him to save face with the inquisitor for failing in his duties previously and Danny already knew he was in a high position and could be easily manipulated if the human needed an ally to call upon in a pinch.
Written by FluffyPony on 05 October 2017
