Regis and Seira were escorted into the empty council chamber by a Nazgul woman whom they'd never seen before. It was a large room with space for perhaps two-hundred spectators.

"There's the Dwarf representative," the Nazgul woman pointed out. Then, she rejoined the guards at the outskirts of the room. "Thanks," Regis said. Both he and Seira were solemn.

It had been four months since Regis' coming-of age-ceremony, and he had not fit into his societal circle as well as his grandfather would have liked. When he sat in on Clan Leader meetings, he tended to expound on the virtues of trade with the Humans and the Dwarves. He was polite, but he seemed to have lost many of his standards during his coming-of-age ceremony. He was overly sympathetic towards the Human supplicants who came to beg favors from the Elves. And, certainly, a noble was expected to be upright and moral, but Regis was a bit too... compassionate. One had to have standards, after all. It was what separated nobles from the common Elves.

Even Seira was demonstrating the same unsettling qualities, and she'd had one of the worst coming-of-age experiences Gejutel could remember. Sooner or later, the two of them would have to learn that this kind of behavior had consequences. Certainly, it was their right to act in such a way, but if they were going to get involved with the outside world, they weren't allowed to stay exclusively among the Creatures of Light.

This would help them in the long run, it really would.

Well, the Dwarf named Hammer was quite possibly the fattest person Seira had ever seen. He ate constantly, and talked their ears off for a good fifteen minutes. Seira was beginning to seriously consider saying something rude to him, when the Human representatives, bound and gagged, were thrown into the room.

They didn't have a chance to get a good look at them, other than to see that there were far more Human ambassadors than Regis and Seira had expected. They also appeared to have been tied up by the guards. However, almost the instant the guards let go of them, the humans escaped their bonds, stabbed the guards, and ran out the door... well, six of them did. The other four apparently hadn't been in on the plan.

Three guesses on who those four were.

"What the heck?" said Hammer. "Did that really just happen?" He took the opportunity to escape himself.

Regis and Seira weren't listening to Hammer. Regis had gone over to heal the guards, and Seira was doing her best to untie their Human friends.

The Elfin mage started with the mortal injuries and worked his way down in scale. The guards recovered quickly, and they soon noticed what Seira was trying to accomplish.

"What are you doing?"

"We know these four. They do not deserve this treatment," Seira explained.

"Don't untie them! They're criminals! Couldn't you tell from the others? Humans use the diplomat system as a dumping-grounds for their dregs of society. The ropes stay on until they've been judged for their crimes."

The Nazgul woman who'd led them in didn't look too good, but she stood up. "Did you see which way the escaped Humans went?" she asked Seira.

"Out the door, and off to the right."

The six of them were left alone without so much as a 'see you later'.

Well, Seira and Regis decided 'to heck with the orders' and untied their friends at first opportunity. Then, the six of them sat down to catch up with each other.

"So," asked Yuna, "what're you guys doing here? You don't seem like the types to get in trouble," asked Yuna.

"We must have rubbed off on them!" exclaimed Suyi.

"I don't know," said Ikhan. "Whatever got them here's got to be the Elven equivalent of our crime, and even I have a hard time believing we did that."

Seira and Regis exchanged a glance. "Elven ambassadors aren't chosen as punishment. We don't lose any rank or status," she explained. "We just have to hang around the realm of darkness for five years."

"Oh." Suyi hadn't expected this.

"What did you do?" Regis wanted to know, looking concerned.

Shinwoo grinned hugely. "We broke into the Union headquarters," he said.

"You didn't," said Seira. She was disapproving.

Shinwoo nodded. "We let let Ikhan loose in their records archive."

"I can only imagine the damage that caused," mused Regis.

Ikhan folded his arms. "It's not like they can't put it back."

"Well, we got bored," Shinwoo continued, "and started wandering around looking for something to do; so Yuna shot out the eyes of all the portraits."

Regis shook his head.

"And Suyi and me carved some messages into the walls. We made a pyramid in the great-hall out of all the chairs we could find. We unlocked all the doors, and warped the keys with fire. That's about when they caught us," he finished.

Regis digested this. "Is there any point in asking 'why'?" he wanted to know.

Yuna shuddered. "There was this creepy lady from the Union: Iris. She seemed to think we were like Human dolls, or something. Kept going on about how she could mold us to be the best warriors ever. She wouldn't leave us alone."

"You trashed the Union headquarters because you were annoyed." Regis was trying to wrap his head around the concept.

A bit of fear mixed with Shinwoo's smile. "You only say that because you haven't met her," he said. "Anyway, Crombel wasn't about to cut us any slack after what we did to his hair-"

"You did what to Crombel?" Regis was appalled. Even he would have hesitated before messing with the Union officials.

Suyi shushed Shinwoo. "They weren't there for that!"

"Oh, never mind." he said quickly. "For a few reasons, the Union heads weren't very happy with us, so they kicked us out of the Human race." He grinned like a maniac.

Ikhan shook his head. "Shinwoo, that's not something we should be proud of."

The swordsman just kept smiling. "Speak for yourself."

Yuna sighed. "It's not all fun and games, though. The Union turned us over as treaty-breakers; said we were the ones who maimed that pack of Werewolves a week ago."

"They claimed you as their own members?"

"Well, yeah, they weren't about to hand over Jake and Mary—remember them? Turns out they're pretty powerful... and they have a habit of antagonizing the Creatures of Darkness. Well, these people seem to have bought their story, and they hate us now."

Seira touched Ikhan's shoulder. "Sorry you've been falsely accused."

The Human just waved his hand dismissively, smiling slightly. "Oh, I regret nothing," he assured her. "but speaking of 'no regrets', is 'Ambassador to the Realm of Darkness' a title of honor among the Elves? You two don't seem to be too shaken up about it."

"Well, I wouldn't say 'honor'" said Regis. "It's more like they gave us the title in the hopes that we'd be scared straight and stop being such a nuisance in court."

"So we have had an influence!" Suyi was ecstatic. "Well, it's really good to see you two again—any ideas on what happens next? The description the Union gave us seemed to involve a lot of screaming and torture."

'I doubt that," said Regis. "Besides, we're too useful to trash. My guess is, they'll use us for slave-labor."

They mused about their future prospects for another few minutes, until a guard came to get them. "Come with me, all of you," he said.