Traditions

Grandmaster Corin Harkenfield sat at the head of the table, getting impatient. It was not so much due to the fact the pair were ten minutes late but rather because his son sat next to him non-stop complaining about waiting for his sister again, doing his best to be heard by all those already present in the boardroom. Hendric went on and on with rambling about how disrespective of everyone’s time was of Shay to be late yet again. “We are all busy men and got better things to do than waste precious time waiting for her spoiled highness, don’t you think father? The very minute I take over”, he mused with almost a wistful look to his face, “that spoiled brat will be made to know her place once and for all. Her frivolity and tardiness will be punished and I will see to it personally that she is made to learn some manners.” Corin was seemingly looking at his son as he spoke but could have equally been looking through a glass window as he stopped seeing him really; hearing the words still but not really paying them any more attention as Hendric gave his best performance in delivering that obnoxious word vomit as effectively as he could, doing his best to make Shay look bad in front of the entire room of people. People of position, power and status, everyone whose voice held even the slightest amount of authority within the Coven was present here.

“Idiot”, Corin thought to himself. “If only you were more like your sister.” Corin loved his son but he realized over the years that he must have failed him at some point as a father. The boy was getting more entitled and conceited by each passing day.

“Father?” Hendric’s voice boomed impatiently now, realizing Corin was not actually taking him seriously and ruining his show. “Don’t you agree?” he tried one more time, a frown etched in between Hendric’s eyebrows.

Corin discreetly diverted his gaze back down upon the stack of papers neatly organized in front of him that got forgotten at some point during Hendric’s Hollywood-worthy performance. If anyone could not hold a candle to Shay’s responsible nature and abilities as a true leader, it was Hendric. If anyone was spoiled, it was him. Shay had commanded their troops, learnt all the workings of the coven on her own initiative, helped the people anyway and any time she could and earned the love and respect of everyone who knew or worked with her. All his son did on the other hand was sleep in, fuck anything with a skirt and look down his nose at people.

“Bite your tongue, boy.” Corin warned with calmness in his voice that somehow felt even more threatening, not even sparing him a second glance. “Your sister probably has a very good reason to be late, and unlike you she is quite aware of the reason and seriousness of the meeting in task. Now tell me boy, why are we here today?” This time Corin glared at Hendric pinning him with his eyes, daring him to say another word about his sister. “So? I’m all ears Hendric?” Corin said, knowing very well his son had just woken up after yet another lewd night spent in his quarters and has no idea what is going on really or why he was summoned in the first place. The room got silent, anxiously observing the interaction between their current and future grandmaster, and Hendric grew visibly smaller by the second.

Corin knew this was his fathers doing; filling Hendric’s head with images of undeserved grandeur. He had tried to stop it and distance him from his grandfather’s influence like he managed to do with Shay, but his beloved wife had died young during the time of the last war and he had a coven to lead. Corin’s mother and father had stepped in to help raise the children but while his mother took Shay under her wing, his father got Hendric under his iron hand, never releasing that pliable boy from his grip again, not even for a moment.

“This will always be my biggest mistake” he thought, guilt finding its way back into his heart.

Just when Hendric recovered from shock and opened his mouth to tell yet another lie about why he did not get the memo regarding the nature of this meeting, the professor burst into the room followed closely by Shay, each up to their necks in scrolls, ancient tomes and paper stacks containing laws and details on monetary system they ran in the coven. They were a self-sustainable community, something not many other covens or wolf packs around them could say for themselves. “Saved by the bell'', a chuckle sounded somewhere in the back of the room, and it spread like a wildfire through the room. Hendric’s jaw would have hit the floor that instant if he wasn’t too busy jumping on his feet and frantically searching the faces around him, faces that did not even try to hide their smirks. “Who said that?!” he whisper-yelled, shaking from humiliation induced anger. Corin watched it all happening, feeling deep sorrow and unmistakable dread due to the fact his son was about to become the next in the line of grandmasters and did not even hold an ounce of the respect from people who were supposed to be his closest subjects and advisors. Someone once said that a good leader is first and foremost a good follower, as he leads by example. Something Hendric never bothered to understand and become deserving of…unlike Shaylin.

“We are deeply sorry for making you wait for us”, Jackson breathed out almost panting while dropping his stack of papers on the large table in the middle of the room with a thud. “I swear these hellish stairs will cost me my left lung one of these days” he grumbled, visibly distressed. “Scholars were not designed for rushing or heavy lifting, especially not the old-timers like myself, so I asked Shay to come to my office to help carry over the texts. I clearly underestimated how many were needed” he said, beholding now a sizable mound of documents that formed on the table after Shay dropped her own batch down too.

“Oh you are quite fine, we haven’t started yet.” Corin replied to the professor while trying to hide a smirk tugging on the corners of his lips, seemingly amused with the professor's distressed rambling. This man grew more close to him than his own father over the years, and he loved him to death. Closing in on his eighties, Jackson was one of the wisest men Corin ever came to know and his name was well established not only within the boundaries of Amber Coven’s territory, but also amongst many others. Rarely anybody knew his real age though, something Corin never understood why Jackson was so secretive about it.

“A likely excuse, coming from you!” Hendric spat out doltishly. “Shay is always late. She just loves to make everyone wait, always needing to make the grand entrance.” Hendric was now pacing angrily, annoyed with the fact he was the one to get humiliated in front of everyone and not Shay, even though she was clearly deceiving everybody and using this old gaffer to condone her behavior, he thought.

Corin couldn’t help looking at both of his children as Shay made her way around the table to her chair on his right. He noticed how all the advisers nodded their heads to her in respect and pride swelled in his heart; He knew very well that respect had not been earned lightly.

Even though his two children looked similar, they were in fact nothing alike in their very essence. While Hendric had grown into a very tall and handsome man with hair the same shade of dusty blonde as his mother’s, his soul did not follow suit. Tall, lean and muscular with strong chiseled features and glacier blue eyes, he was everything half the women in the coven were drooling over; the other half being already bonded to their beloveds.. Unfortunately, the blessings their beloved Gaia endowed upon him in the physical department never extended to his personality…or were cut short early. No child should witness his mother’s death, let alone in age Hendric was at the time. Corin knew it had to leave at least some consequences to the frail child’s heart, and he was not wrong. However painful it was though, there was something even more sinister growing inside his son’s soul and as much Corin had hoped that as he matured Hendric would learn compassion, it hadn’t happened yet. The more Corin witnessed Hendric’s behavior toward his own blood, the more he became sure of it and it scared him to no end. His son scared him and that realization hit harder than anything else.

“Hendric, that is not the way to talk to your sister. Unlike some people, she has already shown her worth to everyone sitting around this table” Corin chastised his son. “And some still have a long way to go but not much time, I’m afraid, to convince everyone here he is worthy of their trust,” he continued, worry evident on Corin’s face however eagerly he was trying to hide it. If only he could pin-point exactly what made him feel that way, Corin thought, maybe he would still have time to act on it. But one thing life taught him over these past years, and that was never to doubt his intuition.

“Now that everyone is here we can begin,” Corin dismissed Hendric by turning away from him and addressed the room with a resounding voice. ”We have two important matters to address. Some of you are probably already aware, but for those who are not,” he paused looking around, making sure everyone could hear him loud and clear, “soon I will be stepping down from my position as a grand master and take on the responsibility of becoming the new elder of this coven. I have served all of you long enough as your leader, too long maybe, and it is time for another to take over the day to day governance. As tradition mandates, the power is only to be transferred to no other than the first male descendant of the grandmaster.” He did not have to look to his left to notice how Hendric’s back straightened and how his chest puffed out at this announcement, making Corin sigh internally. ”Modesty is a virtue my son, he thought, wanting to drill that into that boy’s thick skull but choosing not to address it in front of the audience. “Naturally, our first issue at hand is the Transition ceremony in three months. We have invited a few covens that are our old allies and some of our furry neighbours to attend the announcement ball in two weeks' time,” drawing a chuckle from almost everyone present but at the same time earning a reproachful look from his daughter. Knowing Shay for her almost unhealthy fascination toward wolves ever since she was a little girl, Corin raised his hands in playful surrender and continued with an animated smile that lit up his face: “Naturally I am speaking of a delegation from the Nightblade pack. It is in our hopes to keep the frail relationship we worked long and hard for a friendly one even after the succession of the grand master title to my son, which is why it is of utmost importance to have them accept our invite as honourable guests to attend the power transfer ceremony. It is also why we will have to work our asses off at the announcement ball for it to happen. Each one of us present here will be designated with a specific delegate to tend to during the ball, none less important than the other. Last but not least, it is my great hope that my children will have the opportunity and maybe find their beloveds at this ball. It is about time both of them found their destined halves...no man is complete with a missing piece of his soul.” With those words Corin’s face suddenly fell and Shay knew in her heart her father was thinking of his beloved wife, her mother Mina. Saddened with her father’s pain that she could feel in her own heart too, Shay’s eyes inadvertently gazed upon her brother Hendric who was throwing daggers at her knowing very well she was one of the only people who witnessed him already finding his beloved and immediately rejecting her. The poor girl was guilty for no other sin than for being from a family of lower status than his pretentious grandeur required. She couldn’t bring him any political power and as such was of no interest for him, and interest was all he was brought up by their grandfather to care about. Giving Shay the most sinister look he could muster, Hendric was silently threatening her to hold her tongue about what he had done or suffer consequences. Shay could easily hold her younger brother’s gaze as she was not intimidated by him, but Corin’s voice startled them both out of that ‘clash of the titans’ eye wrestle they were throwing.

“lt’s time for the next generation to take over. My children are now 26 and 25 and it’s time for them to lead our people into the new future.”

“I have another announcement to add to all this, before we go on to the bad news,” concerned whispering that broke out at that immediately thickening the atmosphere. “After extensive discussions, it has been decided between my father and I, that while Hendric will take up the mantle of the leader of people in general, Shay will be appointed a new title and will become the leader of our warriors. She will be in charge of all matters of protecting our people, concerning both offense and defense. Alas, my good people, it is time for introducing new traditions and from now on future generations will be answering to and led by two independent leaders who will have to learn how to coexist and work together for the benefit of all,” Corin announced much to the shock of everyone in the room.