"They are the Codex's hands," Elenora said. "They do the direct work the Codex chooses to do. When you were carried out of the mist by them, you were being handled by the realm itself. Not by a bureaucracy of the realm. By the realm."
Bruce absorbed this. It was a piece of context he had not fully understood.
He asked about the other Nonagon members. Elenora sighed, slightly, the first small sign of tiredness she had shown, and gave him a careful summary.
Nine members. Herself. Three others who tended to vote with her on most issues, a soul named Rowan Illmoor, one named Vessa Ket (no relation), and one named Halcyon Drift. Four who tended to vote against her, the most prominent being Ashen Carr, whom the guard had mentioned, and three others named Dain Verse, Ovar Fane, and Sisel Marn. One who voted independently and unpredictably, a soul named Grave Ondar, who was the oldest member of the Nonagon and had been on it for over three centuries.
