Walking in, the room for the hearing looked very much like the scenes on television: dour older people sitting behind an elevated table, and a smaller table centered before them with a single chair for the person being questioned to sit down at. Before them were many seats filled with interested parties, mostly the media, and everyone turned to look at me as I walked in.

Because someone leaking a Sage Aura is not someone you can ignore, especially at my age and looking like I did.

Noble hit the floor with a thump at every step they all felt in their heels as I walked in, Sylune’s Grace high and swept back and long with its own breeze swirling just so. I didn’t wear heels, but high boots do much the same, and I walked in as if I owned the place.

The Congressionals opposite me paled and went absolutely silent as I met their eyes, and they had no doubts whatsoever I was looking down on them, despite their higher position. It probably wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation to them, as they rallied gamely, and a surge went through the air, subtle Wards activating and damping down my Presence... some.

They looked a little uncertain when they couldn’t quench it all, and the magic humming in the air, trying to impede any Mana draw or Casting, didn’t bother me at all, naturally.

The Senator at the center of the table managed a very lopsided smile as he rose to his feet, about the same time I came to a halt behind the table meant for me. Before he could speak, I flicked the wooden chair they had for me away to the side, and snapped my fingers to summon up a Disk to mold into my own far more comfortable Force-chair.

There were shocked murmurings all around, as I shouldn’t have been able to do either of those things here...

“Congressionals,” I greeted them first. I knew who each of them were, of course. Of the set, Rep. Janice DeWyrm from Maine was the only one without a hostile agenda. Blue.

Rep. Franklin Grossmire was a short and ascetic fellow from Delaware and the preferred mouthpiece and tool in Washington of four Great Families. Brown.

Rep. Glenn Sodelmeyer of Mississippi was a pudgy racist, a sexist misanthrope who blamed foreigners and Beasts for everything wrong with America. Red.

Rep. Jerry Dellini was a swarthy, sharply handsome Italian from New York, and deep in the pockets of both of the Mafia there and some of the wealthiest Families in the country. Purple.

The senior Senator, Alan Rickdale, was headlining this shitshow. The saturnine, patriarchal New Jersey native was one of the Synod’s pet mouthpieces in America, and loved his role. Red.

Senator Jill Guillermo of Virginia was actually an Archmage and one of the strongest mages in Congress, an all-American blue-eyed blonde who came from old Family Blood on both sides of her ancestry and of the Atlantic. Light Green.

The salt-and-pepper-haired Representative Elroy Gibbs had thirty years in the chambers, continually re-elected in North Carolina, and was on excellent terms with all the Families in his native state. Brown-Green.

I let go of Noble so he would stand alone, the Tokens on him drawing the eye as they seemed to blow lazily about of their own volition. The greed in their eyes as they stared at the Imperial Tokens and the value they possessed was not something that could escape my eyes.

“Miss Fae,” began Senator Rickdale with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, after the appropriate preliminaries were run through a touch brusquely.

There was just the lightest touch of murderous intent from the Tokens about Noble. Eyes flashed that way as blood drained from faces.

“My proper title and appellation is Healer Fae,” I corrected him in a bored manner as his next words caught in his throat. “Lady Fae is also acceptable, if not proper,” I went on leadingly. “You may also address me as the Secretary of Magic of the Coralost Corporation, the First Typeless Wizard-Sage, the Sage of Coralost, or the Envoy of Emperors, if you are so inclined.

“Please be aware that no less than a dozen Beast Emperors are listening to your words. They don’t always pay attention to what is going on around me, but my coming to the center of secular power of the Human tribes living in Thunderbird’s territory has stoked some of their interest, so they are listening and wondering what possible business you could have with one of Thunderbird’s servants.”

Senator Rickdale coughed to hide his nervousness, and even Senator Guillermo couldn’t hide her dismay. “We were hoping this could be a somewhat more private meeting, Lady Fae?” the older senator asked haltingly.

“If you are expecting me to cut off the Emperors from observing what they wish, Senator, you are a fool. If you think the Emperors care about your opinion on them observing what they wish, you are a suicidal fool.”

This was not getting off on the best foot, but I literally did not care. I knew what this was all about, and I was going to be putting my foot down in the most severe manner possible.

“Ah, yes, well...” He was having difficulty meeting my silver eyes, too, which were literally looking right through him... and the aide behind him, who was an Angel under Sariel, and shouldn’t even have been allowed in here without official Ambassadorial identification. “Do you know why you have been requested to come here, Lady Fae?” he tried again, stressing the title just slightly.

I waved at the Tokens negligently. “Explain it to the Emperors. They are most curious about this matter.”

His cheek twitched, and I saw his throat go dry. It was only a tiny thing, but their Intents cut right through the Wards here without any problem.

Senator Guillermo quickly took over. “Healer Fae,” she said carefully and correctly, “you are ranked as a Sage among Human mages, and you have even claimed a Sage Title for yourself.”

“I claimed nothing. My Title was conferred upon me by my superiors, Senator Guillermo,” I corrected her patiently. Which in this case is the akasha powering part of all Human magic, I thought to myself.

“Uh, yes,” the Senator acknowledged, her eyes constantly shifting back and forth between my lazily patient face and those tiny spears of Intent from the rippling Tokens. “In Human society, Sages are acknowledged as the apex of the world, the final defenders and protectors of the Human Species.” She paused for a reaction, but there was none, so she continued.

“However, that power also comes with obligations and responsibilities, because Sages have also been responsible for some of the most tragic and harrowing incidents of magic in our history, including atrocities, catastrophes, rebellions, and murderous assaults upon our own.” I did not bat an eye at those descriptions, as she was absolutely correct. Like, the Dead Zones. “Sages, left unchecked and unsupervised, are not only our greatest protectors, but also our greatest dangers. As such, every Human government in the world treats their Sages with both care and caution, as they are great assets that are also great threats.”

I still had nothing to say to that. Senator Rickdale found his courage and took over the microphone again. “Lady Fae,” he began, and probably couldn’t even feel the gentlest of Imperial ire at the fact he could not address me by my proper, High Emperor-granted Title coming off the Tokens, “the Sages of America are treated with respect, but they are also carefully monitored and tracked, simply because of the dangers they can pose to whoever rouses their anger, and the innocents who can be caught up in such matters.

“While the nation has been occupied by recent matters extensively, and your own contributions have earned you considerable leeway during that time, this panel would like to know why you have not submitted your rank and accomplishments to both the Magic Association, doubtless earning you worldwide acclimation for your rapid rise to power-”

More like the instant hate and envy of almost every Sage in the world, I thought at that.

“-but also why you have not registered with the Council of Sages here in America, to take your place among them.”

And thereby submit to official government oversight, regulation, and monitoring, in return for being the pre-eminent advisory body and center of the men and women with the most personal power in the country, there to engage in shadow games of influence and power while the factions ‘loyal to the country’ all ensured we tread a narrow line and didn’t go off our rockers or something.

“I am not an American Sage, so why would I register with such a political body?” I answered him calmly, and watched the glitter rise in his eyes at falling into his trap. He was about to say more when I continued, “I am a Sage of True Emperor Thunderbird, and I go where He directs me, when He directs me, for reasons that are His to determine. He has not the slightest care for your Council of Sages or the Mage Association, and the idea of one of His Sages being subordinate to either is, well, quite laughable.”

His declamation of my status here in the States died strangled in his throat. No, I was not an American citizen. I hadn’t renewed my green card in years, basically since I’d been summoned to Thunderbird Emperor. If Thunderbird Emperor said I belonged here, then I belonged here, and mere Human laws didn’t mean anything.

“So, you acknowledge that you ain’t an American!” Rep. Sodelmeyer fairly crowed with glee. “And you think you can live here among Americans, and not obey our laws?” he challenged me with almost the right mix of proud long-sufferance of fools, definitely not catching the atmosphere.

I tilted my head slightly at the portly man. “Do you believe you can live here without obeying Thunderbird’s laws, Representative Sodelmeyer?” I asked him archly, and his patronizing smile froze, his eyes drifting to that white-tipped black Feather among the Tokens there.

“Uh, no, I...” his words caught in his throat.

“Which do you imagine is the higher law of the land, Representative Sodelmeyer: the laws of the tiny little Human tribes busying themselves with their innumerable tasks at the edges of Thunderbird’s domain, or the laws of Thunderbird True Emperor?”

He had sweat beading on his forehead right quickly. His smug smile quickly became a very pained grimace.

The other Tokens had stopped moving. Only that single Feather was still fluttering... and in his direction.

All the color drained right out of him, going from red-faced to almost yellow instantly. “Th-Thunderbird Emperor’s laws!” he managed to squeak, staring at the Feather, knowing he was looking into the eye of a Beast Emperor, and the wrong answer could very well mean his doom.

I nodded slowly, meeting the eyes of each member of the board there, watching some plans topple, some desperate schemes rise, some registering real fear as they finally realized they were playing games with creatures who didn’t play such games. If I’d been alone, they could try to lean on me morally and politically, but that wasn’t who I was.

“Now, see here, young lady!” My eyes turned slowly to Rep. Dellini of New York at the patronizing term from the photogenic womanizing New Yorker. “The Oversight Committee already receives a considerable amount of flak from multiple parties for what amounts to special treatment for you! There is no Sage in the entire country, perhaps the entire world, who gets away with the unrivaled freedom and flexibility you display! The clear favoritism being displayed to you is undermining the authority of the government and belief in equal treatment before the law!”

My, wasn’t that an inspired defense. He was REALLY out of his depth, however.

“Representative Dellini believes I am being treated with undue favor by Thunderbird True Emperor?” I asked him calmly, and he blinked in shock at the sudden elevation. “To whom am I being compared, that Thunderbird is treating me any different than any other Sage in His service?” I inquired mildly. “Because I don’t know any other Human Sages in His service right now.”

His mouth flapped once. “I... was referring to the Council of Sages...” he began lamely.

“I do not belong to the Council of Sages, I am at the service of Thunderbird True Emperor,” I reminded him kindly. “The Council of Sages and the rules and regulations surrounding them are of no relevance to Thunderbird True Emperor, as your own peer noted a moment ago.” I nodded at Rep. Sodelmeyer, who was back to pasty white, sweating freely, and trying really hard not to look at me and Noble. “Furthermore, none of the twenty-six Sages of the Council, or the three American Sages not on the Council, are in Thunderbird Emperor’s service, either.

“Perhaps you should be addressing the three other Sages in America, the ones not serving His Imperial Majesty, these tough questions? Although I understand they’ve simply been hiding out, and not contributing to the defense and well-being of the people of America or the rest of the world during this time.”

Ah, yes. Three of them knew who at least one of those Sages were, including Senator Rickdale...