Chapter Nine: Arin

Arin presides over a contentious meeting in Hatem Hall, imagining burning it all down as counselors bicker. He critiques three emerging proposals: crushing Omal’s lower-village rebellions to flush out the Jasad Heir, rallying allied monarchs to open their lands, and reinstating rapid conscription.

Arin rejects intervening in Omal, invoking Nizahl’s founding law against meddling without a magic threat. He dismisses courting Sultana Vaida, Queen Hanan, and King Murib, citing Vaida’s habit of testing the Zinish Accords, Hanan’s frailty, and Murib’s ineffectiveness while Sorn effectively runs Orban’s military.

The council notes Sorn’s obsession with curing his comatose Champion, Diya, which makes him unreliable. Arin refuses Bayoum’s push for conscription, recalling his own abolition of non-wartime drafts and asserting that the army answers solely to the Commander unless removed by death, treason, succession, or a rare Nitraus Vote.

Arin briefly considers the Nitraus mechanism—historically used to start or end wars—but sets it aside as a relic. He also battles private doubts about the Jasad Heir’s possible collusion with the Urabi, weighed against her choices during the Alcalah and his failed attempt to free her.

Amid Layla’s careful diplomacy and Faheem’s tentative management, the argument spirals again. Arin holds his line—no foreign interference, no risky alliances, no conscription—grounded in the Madeen Declaration and Nizahl’s laws. At Faheem’s suggestion, he authorizes adjournment until sunset.