Noah simply shook his head at this. In that moment, watching her justify her breach of confidence with platitudes about trust and strength, he lost all respect for her.
Trust was not something to be assumed or demanded...it was earned through consistent action, through keeping one’s word even when circumstances made it difficult.
Gwendolyn turned toward the other Dukes, continuing despite his obvious disapproval. "Knowing of her survival, also know that she shattered her Realm and is now reestablishing it...rebuilding her purpose. To allow her to become an Honored Existence and then grant her the power of a Duke and even higher will need the resources of all Living Origins. That is why I told you. As for where she is now..."
"Don’t fucking say that too." Noah’s voice cut through her words like a blade through silk, the profanity carrying more weight for its rarity!
Simultaneously, Duke Whisker’s voice joined his in urgent warning. "Don’t... reveal that."
Noah’s eyes met Duke Whisker’s, a moment of unexpected alliance passing between them. This mouse was much better to his liking than the Duke he thought would be a decent ally!
The ancient mouse spoke toward Gwendolyn with his wizened stellar eyes carrying gentle but firm reproach.
"It is enough for us to know she lives," Whisker said carefully. "Even though we are powerful, there may always be those stronger. Even though we believe nobody is listening, someone could always be listening. The walls of existence have ears we cannot perceive, memories we cannot erase. The return of THE Living Order is a momentous occasion that we must approach delicately, not with the blunt instrument of full disclosure."
Duke Gwendolyn appeared surprised by Whisker’s words, perhaps expecting support from the being who verified truth for their circle.
But she nodded, seeming to finally understand that she had already said too much. Her attention returned to Noah, and when she spoke, her voice carried a mixture of authority and something that might have been plea.
"All is known between us now. Can we continue counting on your support? With THE Living Order? Against the schemes of the Living Paradoxes?"
Noah looked at her with that same stern gaze of disappointment, his voice emerging cold as winter’s final breath. "You can count on my support."
The words were delivered without warmth, without the earlier ease of their interaction!
His displeasure at her revealing information about Sigrid, THE Living Order...radiated from him in waves that made the impossible plants in the garden lean away from his presence.
Because the more beings that knew such secrets, the more possible variables entered the equation!
And things were already messy enough without adding unnecessary complications. Who needed more variables when the board was already so complex that a single misplaced piece could topple everything?!
---
Across the folds of existence, through layers of reality that most beings would never perceive, through the Transcendent Temporal Folds where time flowed like rivers, through the Transcendent Origin Folds where beginnings were born, and through multiple other domains of impossibility, there existed... the Transcendent Conceptual Folds.
In the depths of these Folds, where abstract thought had been given form and substance, rose the Ethereal Summit of Unspoken Truths...a hazy silver mountain surrounded by thousands of swirling multicolored Wheels of Existence.
Each wheel contained within it concepts that had shaped reality itself: Love, Hatred, Justice, Mercy, and thousands of others that most minds couldn’t even name.
Deep inside the mountain’s hollowed core, in a domain protected by immense waves of Living Conceptual Authority where silver and white seas mixed in patterns that resembled thoughts becoming real, there existed a plain that defied every expectation of what power could create.
His gaze found the Living Origin among their gathering, and his voice emerged with casual curiosity that belied the weight of his words.
"I sense you have found something critical. What is it, O Valen?"
BOOM!
The shocking revelation settled into the space...among these terrifying beings, Duke Valen actually maintained one of his bodies here!
The Blind Oracle who had traded his sight for true vision seemed troubled as he rose from his seated position, his white robes flowing around him like liquid truth.
"THE Living Order," he said slowly, each word carrying the weight of impossible discovery, "has been found once more."
...!
Schrodinger’s hand froze above the game board, a piece that was simultaneously Victory and Defeat hovering in his grip.
"Oh?" The single syllable carried more interest than entire speeches might have contained.
The game was forgotten as he turned his full attention to this revelation, his beggar’s appearance doing nothing to diminish the terrible intelligence that blazed in his ancient eyes!

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