<div style="text-align: justify;">Fyr’s astonishment at the presence of an escaped prisoner at the table was nothing to what he felt upon seeing the head being placed upon the table. It only just qualified as such in his eyes; devoid as it was of any resemblance to a real face. Not wanting to look too hard at the decapitated head, he instead turned his attention back to the young man, Siravii Korsish. He had felt Siravii’s eyes upon him earlier, though he couldn’t explain any possible interest in him. As the queen’s son, it was true that he was privileged with a special sort of education that could prepare him for life as a ruler, but there was no guarantee he would ever reign over the light elves. Their king or queen was elected – for life - but had to undergo annual evaluations by the people and a special council, and regicide was not unheard of in cases of perpetually unpopular monarchs. <br/><br/>Fyr blinked himself out of the web of thoughts he had woven. He was to pay attention to what was going on before him, not sink into revision of the light elf political system. The head grinned at him with all its teeth. There were so many it barely looked like a mouth; from his stolen glances at it, Fyr couldn’t figure out where or if the teeth ended anywhere.<br/><br/>“What is that?” said Seifr stiffly, staring at the head. Again, rhetorical more than anything – Fyr, too, would prefer the head to be a cruel practical joke. Seifr turned to face Aloth, a smile, too wide, frozen on her face. “Where was this found? Don’t tell me your prisoner actually faced one of these alone and lived.” Fyr could detect a note of panic in her voice that he usually associated with an evaluation taking a little too long. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">If fairy tale monsters were suddenly popping up from the ground, and I were an escaped prisoner, I think I’d come running back to my cell, too,</span> Fyr thought. Oddly, Siravii seemed the least unnerved of all of them. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he was deliberately choosing to ignore the horrifying prospect he had brought to the table.</div>