She stood and faced her audience.

"Now is the time to act. We must begin, for the time is crucial, and we shall otherwise fail."

"Alas, but what will become of us should we begin too soon?" a deep voice rang out into the following silence.

"That is a risk that is unavoidable. However, remaining relatively dormant is an even greater risk. One that we cannot afford should we fail."

"Yet we can afford rash actions?

"We cannot afford any actions but the right actions. And who is to proclaim that? No-one but--"

"But I," a soft, young, and feminine voice interrupted.

Heads turned to recover who had dared but defy the riennre.

The young lady stood to reveal herself to the council, gaze evenforward and set on the pert woman at the head of the table.

"You dare such actions?"

"My ladyship, there is none of your power, but I have yet to reveal some sort of power that haunts me, for it tells of great tribulation. Please forgive me my audacity."

The older woman gazed coldly down at her caller, obviously deciding whether to excuse or dismiss her. To dismiss her would be fatal to the girl, but to excuse her would perhaps be fatal to the order.

"You may be excused, with reason of interruptance, that will be to my pleasing."

"My humble gratitude, my ladyship. For the past years, I have been tortured by the gifts of dream. Every night is the same, as I hold the fate of Cindurell in my hand. The fate lies in the form of a pendant, dark and yet translucent at the same time, hung on nothing but a thread of gift, concealed into the form of a string. And yet these past few nights have proven more eventful, for in them, I see the world, ravaged by war, deep into the crevices of obliteration. Our armies were not ready. A strand of parchment rests in my hand, with nothing but a date written on it."

The girl fell into a feared silence.

"What was the date, young caller?" A middle-aged man gently questioned.

"The date," she stumbled over her words, faltered. "is less than a fortnight away."

"So then we wait two!" the men and women cheered, obviously relieved.

When a lone tear from the girl glowed on the table, the whole room turned in question.

She let her eyes drop to the floor as another tear slid down her smooth cheek. Then, with sudden despair and determination, she lifted her head higher and spoke loudly for all to hear.

"We were not the attacking army."