(52)
Fear slapped Nestra like a cold napkin. What the absolute fuck was wrong with Ilar? Why did he have to kick the hornet’s nest when Nestra was the equivalent of a jam-slathered toddler? For a moment, she fully expected the assembled Elders to pile on, or for Ilar to pull a carefully hidden Shinran out of his hat because why else? Gleams were arrogant. Enclave gleams were even more arrogant. Now Ilar had gone and pissed a whole bunch off. He and what army?
Despite Nestra’s expectations, violence didn’t interrupt though the tension didn’t let off. The Elders quickly returned to a sullen, tense silence thanks to their fast minds. Something complicated passed between Ilar and the Patriarch. Their dear host had this wounded look that spoke of betrayal, as if saying ‘I opened my doors to you. How could you do this?’. Ilar didn’t relent. He vaguely shook the datasheet in a way that replied ‘Promoted state-sponsored grand theft, got caught, and now you’re being a bitch’.
Nestra turned to watch the augs. Weiwei looked just as baffled as Nestra, but Derek seemed confident. There was something she was missing. Muttering bloomed among the Elders. To Nestra’s surprise, the aggressivity was aimed at each other. It appeared not everyone had been aware of the patriarch’s activities. Now, those pristine fingers that had been left out of the pie eagerly pointed at the guilty parties. Her visor couldn’t follow the machine-gun fast Vietnamese, but she was willing to bet there were a lot of accusations being thrown around right now. It looked like the situation was going to devolve into an all out brawl, until the patriarch’s mana spread like a mantle over the assembly.
For a moment, Nestra forgot how to breathe. The man’s soft brown iris cracked, red light seeping into the world. It was like standing in front of a volcano. Fortunately, it subsided, and Nestra gasped for dear life.
“Fuck…” Derek whispered by her side.
Fuck indeed. The room was quiet now. With slow determination, Patriarch Nguyen addressed Ilar, in English.
“I assume you want to revisit the agreement.”
“The agreement itself is fine. We separately want reparations for the offense, and all stolen goods returned.”
“We have entered other agreements for some of those goods.”