Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made

Senna froze a bit, caught off guard."It was a historical artifact."

"It was my body."

Senna closed the report and quickly changed subjects. "And now half of my museum is gone."

The chamber cooled by several degrees when Danistasia leaned forward. "That brings us to the reason for this meeting."

Yorrick placed the damage sketch onto the table. "The central exhibition roof collapsed. Three support walls cracked. Two upper galleries were destroyed, along with several lesser relic displays. Twelve students suffered minor injuries during the evacuation. And seven of them are visiting students from other academies."

"There are more injured from us as well," Danistasia pointed out. "The Class Group-S students with the scorch marks around their torso."

Solaris’s feather-crown gave a faint pulse beneath her hair. "Those students were injured because you sent them to surround me."

Danistasia’s stare sharpened. "They were injured because you seized them with fire."

"They moved against me."

"They took defensive positions in case you attacked."

Solaris glared at her. Such a blatant liar. She could sense the heat waves from those students. They were not being defensive, they were planning an attack.

Helagreem raised one hand before the exchange could turn. "We are not here to repeat the confrontation."

Elian Vossard opened a disciplinary file. "Damage to Academy property at this scale normally carries imprisonment, financial restitution or removal from the grounds. Assaulting students and faculty makes the matter worse."

Solaris turned toward him.."Imprisonment."

Lancet saw the fire gather behind her eyes. He gave her a hard look.

Solaris looked back at him.

For a moment, neither moved. Then the fire faded.

The administrators noticed this. Even Danistasia did as well, causing her to glance at Ordenance.

Lancet stepped half a pace forward. "Administrators, I think we should be considerate here."

They lowered their shoulders and listened.

"Solaris had just completed a fifty-year resurrection. She woke in an unfamiliar building, surrounded by people, with no understanding of where she was or what had happened to Cinderhold."

Yorrick tapped the report. "That does not repair my museum."

"The roof was destroyed by the resurrection itself. She didn’t wake up and decide to tear through it for fun. A phoenix’s rebirth burns through everything, we know this."

The Administrators looked at each other.

Lancet continued. "As for the students, that confrontation should never have happened. Solaris was already speaking with Dean Ordenance. No one had attacked anyone."

Danistasia’s expression changed before he reached her name.

Lancet went on anyway. "Then Headmistress Danistasia sent Class Group-S students to surround her."

"I prepared a defense."

"You prepared an attack around someone who could sense every body through its heat."

"She had already destroyed a building."

"By waking up."

"She threatened the Academy."

"After she realized people were taking combat positions around her."

Danistasia’s fingers pressed into the table.

Helagreem glanced between them. "Mr. Leogardt."

Lancet lowered his voice but not his point. "Simple dialogue was working. Force made everything worse."

Danistasia leaned back slowly. The natural frost from her at the edge of her chair stopped spreading.

Lancet turned toward the rest of the council. "Solaris understands the damage she caused. She also understands that this is not Carrion Spire, and that the people here are not her enemies. Nothing like that will happen again."

Several administrators looked at Solaris.

She looked at Lancet. Lancet gave her the ’please just do it’ nod.

Solaris’s jaw tightened, but she slowly faced the table. "It will not happen again."

Silence followed.

Yorrick stopped moving his pen. Mirelda looked over her spectacles. Senna Marrow glanced at Danistasia, then back at Solaris.

It was not the apology they might have wanted, but it was more than any of them expected.

Helagreem studied Lancet again. The old man’s eyes sharpened despite the weakness of the body around them.

"You have remarkable influence over her."

Lancet kept his expression neutral.

Solaris didn’t. She wanted to deny the allegations that this boy had some control over her, but saying anything would tarnish their plans.

The Head of External Relations leaned forward for the first time. "Solaris Ashen. What are your intentions with Carrion Spire? Do you still plan to attack the bastion city?"

Solaris’s eyes moved to Lancet. The trick, as he had told her, was not to lie. Just tell them the truth in a way they would like to hear it.

Solaris turned back to the council. "I have not abandoned Cinderhold."

Several faces tightened. The External Relations administrator glanced toward Helagreem.

Solaris continued before they could interrupt.

"I will restore its name. I will reclaim its history and give it its independence. But I will not do it through war."

That answer surprised them

Solaris placed both hands behind her back, the strange modern coat pulling tight across her shoulders. "I have already attempted war. It failed."

No one at the table expected her to admit that.

Solaris continued. "The world now uses forms of rule that did not exist in my time. Elections. Public representatives. Votes. Agreements between cities and governments."

Lancet kept his face still.

Hearing her repeat his explanation made democracy sound like an experimental weapon.

"I will use those methods," she said. "Cinderhold will return through dialogue, public support and lawful separation from Carrion Spire."

The administrators looked at one another..

They would have preferred Solaris to declare Cinderhold dead and accept whatever place the present offered her.

But none of them would have believed it if she had done exactly that.

A woman who had died twice for the same city did not wake and abandon it after one conversation with a student.

What she offered was manageable. More importantly, it sounded possible.

The Head of External Relations rested one hand against the table. "Carrion Spire will not welcome such a campaign."

"I do not require them to welcome it."

"But you will not attack the city."

"Yes. I will not begin with war."

The phrasing drew several frowns.

Lancet spoke before anyone turned it into another argument. "She means she’ll use political methods. If Carrion Spire attacks her, that becomes a different matter."

Danistasia’s gaze shifted to him. "You answer for her often."

Lancet smiled faintly. "Well, seeing she’s from the past, Lady Solaris isn’t used to these political and tactical questions as most of us. I don’t want her to be trapped and say something she doesn’t mean."

Danistasia gave him a cold look, as though she approved of his smart answer.

Solaris looked at him.

"The problem still remains, however." Danistasia looked at Solaris. "You are a woman from another era carrying enough power to burn through the Academy’s strongest barriers. You have already shown that you act before understanding the consequences."

Solaris turned to her, eyes cooled.

Danistasia continued. "Why should we trust that you will not decide tomorrow that democracy is too slow and fly directly to Carrion Spire?"

"You should not trust me."

A low murmur passed around the table. Solaris did not change her answer.

"You do not know me. I do not know you. Trust would be foolish."

Danistasia rested both hands on the table. "Then you understand our concern."

"Yes."

"And what prevents you from becoming a danger?"

Lancet answered before Solaris could. "You don’t have to worry about that."

Danistasia turned toward him.

Ordenance rested his chin on his crossed hands, and Helagreem’s brows drew together.

Lancet continued. "Solaris won’t be doing anything dangerous without my permission."

No one spoke.

Even Solaris looked at him from the side.

Danistasia’s voice came slowly. "What do you mean, without your permission?"

Lancet looked across the council.

The surprise was already there. He could see them trying to understand how a Level Thirty-Five student could place any restriction on a resurrected God Phoenix.

Helagreem leaned forward over his cane. "How is that possible?"

He shrugged. "Because Solaris is my Summon."

The chamber went dead silent.