Thanksgiving and the Mayflower

"I thought we'd wiped out the Kolozun Church in Scotland. What's this American Kolozun Church that's suddenly appeared?" Cassilius's short gray-white hair was neatly combed against his head. The middle-aged man made a dashing grimace. Cassilius now cared more about the present than the past. Alcohol had taken many things from him, and nightmares of his late wife rarely troubled him anymore. "If The Venerable One called me back just to arrest a few cultists, then this matter clearly isn't so simple." He stood on the Helicarrier's bridge, his eyes fixed on the woman standing at the command station amid the busy staff. "It seems... ma'am, your presence only proves that The Venerable One had the foresight to see this coming."

Agent Hand silently withdrew the hand Cassilius had kissed. His terrible sense of humor did not make her laugh. Behind her, a gigantic flaming bird perched atop the eagle-winged throne, while a lazy lion slept on the steps. It made her feel as though she were in a zoo rather than War Machine's command center.

The thought irritated her immensely.

"The King has ordered the Intelligence Department and the Sisterhood to assist Kamar-Taj in wiping out those cultists. This is Kamar-Taj's first collaboration with the City of Immortals." Agent Hand adjusted her glasses. Her impersonal manner had not changed in the slightest because of the different assignment or the cloying flattery. Though Cassilius was handsome, he was not enough to move a professional agent like her. She scrutinized the Arcanists seated around the round table with suspicion. The sight of those spellcasters meditating and reading filled her with instinctive distrust. "Though you are all The King's colleagues, I do not want anyone holding us back during the mission."

"Most of those who came this time are Arcanists who have