Something Wicked This Way Comes

Adrianna gave a small bow of her own head in return. After several moments Adri whistled, calling her familiar down from the tree before returning to the casting hall, keeping to the archway leading to the garden on the off chance that a fight started.

Riley Lane
Homeland: North America
Practicing: Neo-Shamanism
Sigil:

Familiar: Silver Fox
Apprentice: N/A
Wand:
Appearance: Is often dressed in loose, open, natural clothes- leathers, silks, and cottons, often adorned with various abstract trinkets that act as a fetish for spirits that he may channel or house.  
Aura: Spectrum (Due to Fettered Spirits), Varied, Alien, Cold
Preferred Method of Divination: Trance
Diety: Animistic
History: Riley had always pictured himself a spiritual man, and in his youth he had left civilization to camp under the pretense of having a "Vision Quest." Under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms he found himself lost and dirtied in the wilderness, shivering and cowering by a stump as his enhanced perception was overwhelmed. A large bear appeared before him, wreathed in colorful leaves, and vines. It spoke to him, though he has yet never admitted what exactly the beast told him. His vision went black and when he awoke he was in the hut of a powerful shamanic hermit- a gargantuan bear skulking about outside. Since his introduction to magic, he has trained with the shaman that found him, and has traveled abroad to better round his mystical education.
Personality: Wise, Stoic, Inquisitive, Passive

Riley watched silently as the embers of the pyre burned to ashes, the bones of the Supreme Wix jutting from the pile like jagged ruins in a desert. His eyes were fixed on the dull glow emanating from the hot remains, his hands resting on his walking stick, his black-eared fox curled around his feet.

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire."

Quietly mused the man who had watched the whole funeral pyre unfold without a word, pondering the repercussions that this sudden shift of power would bring. "But if I had to perish twice..." He trailed off, his familiar uncoiling from around his ankles, stretching as Riley turned around to face the garden, two witches before him, one returning from the garden while the other haunted the corridor that lead outside.

Rhiannon met the stranger's eyes, "A Frost fan?" she asked, the familiar rhythmic cadence of one who had grown up in the Irish highlands. "I'd hardly call the death of a Supreme the end of the world, though. Another will rise and take her place. They always do. It's all a great circle, you know."

Adri felt her lips pull up in just the hint of a smirk at the poem, mumbling the ending to it under her breath. Her familiar took flight, soaring up to the top of the casting hall before finding a small, well placed outcropping to settle, perfect for observing the crowd below.

Riley's eyes followed the bird as it ascended to the ceiling, making sure he knew its vantage point before his eyes returned to the antlered woman before him. "Hardly," He agreed, taking a short moment to look behind him at the smoldering pile of soot and bones. "But I feel the late Wix might disagree with you, if she could." He replied, looking back towards the girl, his eyes finding hers again. "A perfect circle indeed. Though it has been a long while since a Supreme has been murdered. It's a very... curious happening, to say the least. I look forward to seeing how the council chooses to handle the situation. As tragic as the death is, I'm sure many of our more ambitious brothers and sisters find it rather auspicious." He said, looking around the room of witches and wizards.

Rhiannon looked up at the pair of wixen who were carefully taking down the ropes and studying their makeup, "Well, if whoever did this wanted to make a scene, they surely did just that." she looked back to the tall man in front of her with the feathers braided into his hair, "I'm Neyris Rhiannon. Though most call me by the latter. I'm the representative of the nomadic covens of Ireland. You?"

Riley turned to look at the duo as they cleaned up the murderer's handiwork, before returning to look at the Irish woman before him to agree. "That they did..." He replied solemnly, bowing his head slightly at her introduction. "My name is Riley Lane. Call me either. I'm here on behalf of the shamanistic sages of North America." He told her. He took one hand off of his walking stick, and motioned down at the fox at his feet. "And my familiar, Achak." The fox perked its head up, gazing at the woman with its head cocked.

Adrianna continued to observe the crowd, observing partly through her own eyes and partly through the eyes of her familiar. She felt the weight of her wand up her left sleeve, ready to draw it at a moments notice. Paranoia was not something she was prone to, but the murder of a Supreme was not commonplace, and so the situation warranted every bit of caution needed.

The right hand stepped forward, holding his hands out, "Disperse! There is nothing more to be seen here. A meeting will be called at the rising of the moon in the great hall for discussion on this horrendous matter."

"A pleasure to meet you both." her wolf snorted indignantly as the crowd dispersed slowly, lingering a bit, "Ah, and this is Lennox. Pardon his attitude. I fear I may have chosen a rather spoiled pup."

Damian gazed back at the Right Hand as he spoke, then looked back to Rhiannon. "The pleasure is ours." He said politely, before looking down at his fox somewhat affectionately. "I believe we end up spoiling them whether they come that way or not." He replied. The room soon returned to silent murmurings as the witches began to retreat to the myriad nooks and crannies of the estate. "I think I'm going to go on my way, before I anger the hand. If there's anything you'd like to discuss, you'll be able to find me in the garden." He replied, bowing his head to her, then walking off towards the garden located down a nearby corridor.

As he walked through the passage towards the outside, he turned to meet the analytic gaze of Adriana with a humorless smile, and after a short moment turned to look ahead as he continued out to the garden.

Adrianna's eyes followed him for a few moments before returning to the main gathering. Her familiar continued to watch as the witches and wizards scattered before taking flight and returning to her, landing on her shoulder. She uncrossed her arms, her right slipping into her pocket and resting there, and her left moving up to gently scratch the Raven's head.

Rhiannon looked up at the hand and sighed, shaking her head and heading back to her room to do her meditations before the evening ran up.

Riley's eyes opened from the trance he had induced, faint moonlight glimmering off of his watchful orbs. The moon had risen, and the council would likely be gathering soon. He put his hands on his knees, standing up from his cross-legged position with a bit of an "Oumf" before strolling back towards the entrance.

The council chambers slowly filled, the murmur of shifty eyes and the whispers of the untrusted creating their own spell over the air like buzzards circling a dying fox. Rhiannon twisted locks of curled chair into braids, playing with emerald and wire to see where it landed among her own frizz. The Right and Left of the former Supreme seemed anxious, like they had words fighting to free themselves of pursed lips. But many still dawdled in their entrances. And many more seemed cautious of their seats.

Adrianna very loudly cleared her throat, already in her seat and tapping her wand against the table before her. "I've the utmost respect for the dead, but there comes a time when order must take its course. Your seats, if you please." She said in a cold tone, staring down any who would challenge her request.

Slowly the wixen present took their seats, murmuring about the strange representative from England who had no authority over the council itself.

Riley was one of the last to enter the foyer, walking in from where he had been meditating in the garden. He remained on the fringes of the gathering, keeping mostly to himself as his eyes calmly scanned over the noisy crowd. When Adrianna finally made her statement, he offered no resistance and found his way to a seat near Rhiannon to pay heed to the meeting.

Adrianna said nothing once the assembled took their places, her attention fixing on the Right and Left. Surely they would be first to start the conversation, be it talk of the next Supreme or accusations as to her killer. In the event of the latter, she kept her wand at the ready, tapping it at a measured pace to an old tune she knew. Overhead, her familiar moved, landing at another spot where it could observe the gathering.

The Right scoffed a bit, an air of pretentiousness to her. The left nodded his head, and the right spoke, "Upon further examination of the crime scene, we found a clue that could lead us to our killer." she proclaimed proudly. "A fragment of a wand, possibly broken off during the struggle with our dearly departed supreme!" she placed it within her own circle on her desk.
Rhiannon pushed slightly more air though her nose in a sort of 'huh, that's interesting'.
The right took some crystals from her breast pocket, setting them around the fragment, chanting, "Bit of bark, bit of bone, guide me to thyne proper home" to herself as she focused in her energy on the wood. A simple mending spell that would place the piece of wood back in the wand it came from.

Savoring the bated breath of the room for just a moment, the right finished her chant, the splinter lifting from her circle as she held her hands wide. The splinter turned, finding it's own orientation, then suddenly burst forth.

Straight into the Right's heart.

The room sat silent, stunned, as the right dropped dead over her circle, blood trailing down her podium like some unholy anointing.

Rhiannon furrowed her brows in thought, shaking her head like she was holding back a smile. She looked very certainly like she knew something.

The left jumped to attention, frightened, waving his hands, "Uh.... Dismissed. Everyone, please, return to your rooms! Clear the floor!"

Adrianna was among the first to stand, surveying the assembled group of witches and wizards and pursing her lips. She pushed away from the table, leaving the assembly with angered haste. Her familiar, silent until now, flew down to her shoulder, relaying all that it had seen.

Riley's eyebrows raised slightly in renewed as the splinter burst backwards into the chest of the hand... he certainly hadn't expected that. He looked left and right sketchily, gauging the reactions of some of the other witches, before slowly standing, turning to walk back towards his room, meandering slowly through the dispersing crowd.

Rhiannon made her way through the doors as well, thinking to herself and damned near chuckling of all things. By the time she was back at her room, she was full out laughing.

Riley made his way back to his room as well, his fox weaving between his and the other mages feet as he neared his door. Once inside his room, he set his wand down, sitting on the bed cross legged to meditate. Riley was a hard man to startle, but, the death of both the Supreme Wix and the Right Hand seemed to startle him.