Page 54 of Saving the World and Other Bad Ideas (Grave Concerns 3)

Chapter Twelve

The council meeting was far more tedious than I’d prepared myself for. I had thought a room full of magic users would at least have cool special effects. If nothing else, I wanted magical slide shows orsomething. Points made with fireworks and flames and people getting turned to dust.

Instead, as person after person aired their grievances, I had to admit, this was as much fun as an HOA meeting at a senior community.

Tim doesn’t cut his hedges enough. Karen lets her kids play outside at seven in the morning on a Sunday and wakes me up. The Kalvery territory keeps creating protection potions to sell and they stink of onions and the scent comes into our territory.

Basically? Adults—or in this case immortals—with the complaints of kindergarten students.

They wanted the council to fix everything, and it was obvious there would be no fix that would actually satisfy them.

Grant remained silent for most of it, though the deep lines in his cheeks said he wasn’t a fan of the majority of rulings.

When one group felt another took too many of the new mages, leaving their numbers dwindling, Jameson announced the creation of a sub-committee to look into the problem. When another group complained about vampires killing a few of their members, Jameson said he’d set up a meeting with a representative from the coven.

All in all? After three hours of listening to complaintsno onelooked any happier than they’d been when the thing started. In fact, everyone just seemed worn out. Was this how the guild kept power? By exhausting everyone with so much pointless bureaucracy that they were too annoyed to revolt?

I’d been a life insurance saleswoman before everything had fallen apart inmylife, so I understood bureaucracy. It wasn’t as if I’d never dealt with red tape before. I’d done my share of pointless running around over dumb forms and duplicates and nonsense.

Still, I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced anything as mind-numbingly unproductive asthismeeting. In fact, at that moment, I would have happily skipped away to fill out a P-147 form in triplicate with notarization if it saved me another minutehere.

A glance in Grant’s direction told me he felt the same, although he had a lot more anger about it than I did. Then again, these weren’tmypeople. It was easy to see it and almost laugh at the stupidity, but I hadn’t lived it. I hadn’t witnessed what it did to the mages not lucky enough to be here, to have the clout to have their voices heard.

Still, the monotony of it all had me yawning.

Sure, it was rude, but I couldn’t help it. I’d thought the damn meeting part of our plan would last all of ten minutes before we could escape and get to therealaction.

I hadn’t been prepared to deal withthis.

Grant offered me a side-eye before rising from his seat.

The room fell silent, the speaking mage freezing as if suddenly in the sights of a much larger predator.

“Let’s take a break,” Grant said.

“But, Magistrate,” Jameson argued before a stern look from Grant stopped whatever he planned to say. Jameson nodded, though he didn’t look put in his place. “Of course. I forget you lack thestaminaas we have for such meetings.”

The subtle-as-a-brick-to-the-face jab didn’t faze Grant. “My companion doesn’t portal well. I’ll make use of the personal chambers here, and we’ll meet again in an hour.”

Jameson narrowed his eyes, as if he knew it was a ploy but didn’t dare say anything.

Grant didn’t wait for an answer. He held out a hand to me, which I took happily.Anythingto get us out of that damn council room.

“Hasn’t anyone heard of cushions? I get that the whole ‘carved from rock or made from bones’ gives a certain aesthetic to things, but I’m telling you, a few throw pillows could really make these things more comfortable.” When we were safely down the hallway, away from prying eyes, I rubbed my ass, which had fallen asleep a very long time ago.

Grant reached down to cop a feel that he didn’t try to disguise as helping at all. “The meetings didn’t always take so long, not when the council was first made.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Believe it or not, the guild was good when they created it. At least, that’s what the records say. They had a council of four and the Magistrate. The Magistrate broke ties, kept people on task and the council was made up of mage specialization. Destruction, healing, artifacts and dark. It gave everyone an equal say in how disputes were handled. Below those four were others, who typically handled physical territories, and thus the mages of that type within those areas. They delegated smaller matters so they didn’t waste council time on things the lower groups could fix themselves.”

I thought back to the squabbling, to the petty problems that all sounded like those annoying first-world issues instead of real complaints. “What happened?”

“What always happens. Some people became entrenched in the system, twisted it for their own gains. Even when I joined, the council only had seven, based on political dealings rather than magic type and territory. Now council members have to have serious connections to get a spot andneversee those they supposedly represent. It leaves us with a few powerful, untouchable mages and a whole lot of people who get no say.”

“Can’t it get changed back?”

“Probably not. Even after I took out the entire council, when they could have builtanythingin its place, they twisted the system even more, made it worse than ever. Places of power create vacuums, and they’re always filled by people whowantthat power.” He sighed as he waved his hand in front of a large archway in the stone. The action made the rocks float apart to let us pass before reassembling into a solid wall. “I’ve realized the only people who should lead are ones who don’t want to, which is the dig of it all. Anyone who wants to rule isn’t qualified, and good luck forcing someone who doesn’t want to into that seat.”

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