<font:Arial:16>      Stephens had fought well for someone of severely-diminished capabilities.  I wondered if Edge had done something to influence his combat.
      Staring out at the vista, I thought of the Conclave: how significant was this Ring of Obfuscation?  I didn’t want to know.  I turned back towards the landing site, ready to launch myself across the landscape and back to the comfort of my ship.
      “So, it’s you who has caused my inconvenience,” said a low voice.
      I turned to see a figure astride a mountain, cloak twisting into intangible shapes, the arcane forces by which we power our flight and sword-play warping about his elegant frame.
      “Simply protecting my own interests,” I said, stepping forward.
      “You may not understand the events which go on around you, “ he said.  “But you are implicated in them.  You know the ludicrous time-wasting behaviour you have demonstrated on this planet: you’ve held the Omphr cause back several decades.  Simply organising the Conclave was a logistical nightmare.”
      “We’re all after the same thing,” I said.
      “That’s where you’re wrong,” he replied.  “And now, my sword is going to visit a thousand deaths upon your weak ideology.”