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Once the , Seth discovered that the food already on the table had only been appetizers Course after course brought endless dishes both fas sat alongside stuffed pheasant and bizarre shellfish Seth tried to pace hi the unique sauces and seasonings

Mom and Dad war loud jokes and consu enormous quantities of food while Seth timed them The at, Seth almost felt like nobody in his family had ever been abducted or presumed dead By the time the dessert carts heeled in, he felt stuffed and relaxed and less worried than he had for as long as he could reoblet with the side of his fork The diners grew quiet as the aging wizard prepared to speak

"Thank you all for joining me for dinner This is the most spirited feast I have enjoyed since before most of you were born That includes Stan and Hank"

Everyone laughed

"Together, we have won anarrowly avoided disaster, I suspect we can all look on the simplest of pleasures with renewed appreciation We now have an opportunity to help define a new future, to safeguard it against some of the perils we have endured, and to recover from the losses we have sustained Let us take a moment to re us this victory"

Seth stared at his lap, trying not to think about Coulter, willing his eyes to stay dry He pushed awayJaw clenched, he fought to ignore ht of theain in a ad had not brought such strong e with change in the coad went on "For most of us this will be welcoes Preserves will be restored and reorganized Where appropriate, new leadership will be appointed Much of what has been broken will be er than ever We will rebuild, and a new era of peace and security will dawn"

This earned spontaneous applause

Agad stroked his beard "I will bear many responsibilities as I seek to establish further protections for the new demon prison In the end, once the artifacts are stoay, along with a variety of new protocols and precautions, I believe the prison will be nable than ever As the new caretaker of Living Mirage, I will base my activities from here, and some of you may be involved from time to time I don’t want to drown this merry occasion with tedious words, but there is one roup before I can proceed with my duties This matter involves the punishment of the Sphinx"

The room was dead silent

"After the battle on the Shoreless Isle, I pondered on how to deal with the Sphinx He offered us pivotal assistance at the end, but it was aid for a catastrophe that he had worked tirelessly to e, and even murder My inclination was to let nature take its course The Sphinx had been prolonging his life using the Font of Immortality, and I decided an appropriate punishment would be to forbid him use of that artifact--in essence, a death sentence

"When I delivered this verdict to the Sphinx, a long conversation ensued The Sphinx accepted the justice of the proposed punishment, and then proposed another solution Personally, I would be willing to accept the alternative he offered He submitted to scrutiny from both Bracken and the Fairy Queen, who believe he is sincere

"We all know the Sphinx is a master of persuasion I decided to lay the matter before you, without the Sphinx here to exercise his powers of influence I avow beforehand that, regardless of my own opinions, I will abide by whatever decision we e of his seat He glanced at Neas gnawing on his fabric napkin, eyes ith interest

"As I lock the new dead explained "By now, all of you know the role the Eternals played in keeping Zzyzx closed The Sphinx would like to be one of those Eternals"

An uproar of ad held up his hands, and thequieted

"Allow me to set forth the details for your consideration Essentially, the Sphinx is attee an execution for life in prison Consider these points As an Eternal, the Sphinx would not be able to open the demon prison unless he was dead He has never believed anyone but himself should open the demon prison, which he proved on Shoreless Isle, so he would alevity, and for protecting himself He kno to keep a secret, and how to hide He is re and patient He has successfully coped with the challenges of a long life, and craves more As a volunteer ould fulfill the requirements of an Eternal, I do not believe we could find aan Eternal is more punishment than prize Ask Bracken or Kendra-- and considered their fate a weighty ordeal An unnaturally long life, hunted, on the run, is no paradise

"Considering the Sphinx’s history, I would take extra precautions, personally ical and practical safeguards I would give him some latitude to choose a hideout and to implement whatever defenses he dee into this request, would we be rewarding his crimes? Under other circumstances, I do not believe the Sphinx would want to be an Eternal But as an alternative to death, he see Let’s have Bracken testify to his ad extended a hand and Bracken stood up "The Sphinx has a strong will He has hts from external scrutiny But as I extensively probed his mind, I came to believe he wants to become an Eternal for acceptable reasons First, he wants to persist He has a profound fear of death, coupled with a powerful enjoyment of existence Second, he wants a shot at redemption He knows he spawned a catastrophe, which was never his intention He wants to do everything in his power to ensure that a siuilty and sees this as a fitting punish and hard This is all I found"

Nodding at Agad, Bracken sat down

"If you wantthe Sphinx die would be a punishment quickly served from which ould derive no benefit apart fro him an Eternal would cause hi and difficult service to huladly hear any objections"

Nobody spoke People at the table eyed one another Seth ave one back, and she stood

"I hate the Sphinx," Kendra said "I despise him for his lies and for what he did to us If what helife, I desperately want to take that froht of hi like he wormed out of the consequences of his treachery But I think this punishment makes sense"

She sat down Seth stood up "Me too"

Bracken stood "My horn has kept him alive The influence of my horn will continue to keep hi the Sphinx survive under these conditions I agree that he will fill the role well"

Vanessa rose "I have known the Sphinx for a long tiad mentioned at the outset, he is a deceiver, ahim an Eternal see his interests ad is delivering his rhetoric The Sphinx has a sinister history of workinga friendly face The only way to be safe from the Sphinx is if he ceases to exist"