Gillin saw the red minion, or 'imp', as he had gathered they were called here. It stared at him, and he did likewise. After a few moments of this, both began to wonder whether the other would initiate conversation. The imp, who the reader has already been introduced to as Haqq, decided to speak. "Who, and what, are you, stranger?" Gillin noticed his accent, and, although no obvious grammatical errors were to be found, there seemed to be some sort of difficulty with his speech. He assumed that this wasn't the imp's first language. His response was what one would have expected of him. "My name is Gillin. I, well, I was a brown minion of the Overlord. I don't know what I'm called here."
Abdul-Haqq pondered this Gillin creature's response. Who or what was the 'Overlord', and what did he mean by 'here'? "Where are you from?" Gillin, though doubting his partner in speech's belief, told him.
In the great forest of Evernight, Cắt waited in a tree. The abilities of his kind allowed him to blend in better than any chameleon, in spite of the fact that his smell was much stronger than any chameleon's as well. He was additionally hidden by his location, which happened to be on an inconspicuous root, traversing over one of Evernight's numerous ponds, that was too weak for many creatures larger than Cắt. Two other roots similar to that one supported an equal number of his people, both likewise camouflaged. "What we here for?" asked Xe, apparently ignorant of their objective. Thư máu, the commander of this party, responded rather angrily, "Silence, idiot. Hivemaster himself order this. So we do without question." They were a practical people, who rarely bothered with past tense words and other such grammatical laws. As long as others could understand, one was speaking perfectly. They also didn't go for such frivolous activities as regular cleaning or etiquette, practices that they deemed as useless. Lack of doing them had led to being put at the bottom of the social order. As the two quit their argument, movement was heard.
Gillin was uncomfortable. Maybe it was the hard floor, or the hotter-than-average temperatures, or possibly even the various imps (the word had been fully ingrained in him by now) staring at him, occasionally whispering to each other. They surrounded him, but at a distance. He stood in the center of the Cavern of Council, awaiting a decision. He didn't know what was being decided, but hoped the choice in whichever side favored him. The one called Abdullah was arguing with the one he had met outside. The one who had apparently been tasked with managing the event, who was called Abdul-Sami, looked tired. "Have you reached a decision yet?" "No," was the response. Sami sighed. Sami disliked cases like this, where no evidence came into play. Everything came down to one imp's word against another's. In this particular one, the words being argued were between the spy, whom he trusted as much as all of the horde, and the Abdullah, who had thus far given no reason to consider any advice of his faulty. Abdullah thought this outsider was a lying miscreant, and as such be tried as one immediately. Abdul-Haqq claimed that, although at any other time absurd, his story matched with the Great Ones' predictions. This incessant bickering continued for quite some time before Sami, out of annoyance, interrupted them. "Why don't we ask the Great Ones? If he's from the future, then the Hivemaster should know about it. If he's a spy or such, then our masters should surely be informed of it."
"What should we be informed of? We only heard the last part." Everyone turned, shocked, to see that the Great Ones had arrived. "The Hivemaster ordered our presence here."
"Sirs, this creature claims to be from a time yet to come. Absurd, I know, but his description of it matches with the Hivemaster's vision. I think he may be a sign." Haqq humbly answered. Abdullah just stared. Gillin saw two imps that looked like red Gnarls.
Cắt was completely silent. A procession of elves had gathered. Half of them bore the crest of the current leader of their people. The others wore clothing made of animal bones. They were arguing about something. What does the Hivemaster want with this? He shrugged it off, knowing the value of doing his duty.