The mediation session went better than Erica thought it would, but she was still relieved when it was finally over. It had been a long and tiring day for the timid little woman and she wanted to go home. But before she could slip out, her boss Miss Planner asked her if she wanted to grab a quick lunch in the cafeteria. She didn't feel like she could say no.

For her part, Miss Planner was just happy she could finally get a bite to eat. She'd been too busy babysitting Elder Presence to get breakfast and consequently her stomach had been bothering her all day. It was no secret that the tiny blonde tyrant was a big eater, but Erica couldn't believe her eyes. The food on Miss Planner's plate was vanishing before her eyes, and she'd barely even started on her ravioli.

"It's hard coming in on the holiday weekend, but we've got to earn our salary," said Miss Planner before taking a big bite of her sandwich. "We're not getting paid by the hour anymore."
"Yeah... guess not."

Erica looked down at her tray of food with an uncomfortable smile. She hated eating in front of other people. It reminded her of high school.

"I'm not a big fan of the reduced menu. That's why I try to get all my work done during the week. What did you get? Ravioli? Looks good."
"Y-yeah. I'm not really hungry though. I don't think I'll be able to finish it right now."

"Are you alright?"
"I'm okay. That was just a little more.... umm.... emotional... than I thought it would be."

"That's how it always is with these little office arguments. I've seen this happen many, many times. They always start out threatening to kill each other, but once you sit them down and make it clear they're going to have to settle things like adults, they usually calm down and make up like nothing ever happened."
"Yeah... b-but it's the Sages we're talking about. I would've thought they'd be above this sort of thing..."

Miss Planner smiled and shook her head, waving a spoonful of soup around in front of her mouth.

"Hah! Don't let the the fancy masks fool you. They're normal people just like you and me. They have feelings, they get angry, they have disagreements. Maybe they're a little better at hiding their feelings most of the time, but nobody's perfect. And hey, we got it all sorted out in the end, didn't we?"
"It doesn't feel like it... the Sage of Destruction lost his job..."

"Yes, and it's a tragedy, but he did break the rules. The Sage of Hatred did the right thing by speaking up about it. And I think the Sage of Destruction is going to be happy in the end with how all of this turned out. He still gets to stay in the Tower doing the work he loves, and he doesn't have to worry about those stupid sacred rules anymore. That's the great thing about compromise. You're never going to get everything you want from it, but you can usually expect to get something."
"I just wish we could have given him a warning or something before taking his title away... I mean, I know it's not my place to say..."

"The Elders are the ones who should have done something about this. And they chose not to until the problem was too big to ignore. If I was an Elder, I would have made an example out of the Sage of Destruction much sooner. They didn't do that, so we had to come in to clean up their mess. Now it's too late to let anyone off with a warning. We'll have to demote a whole bunch of Sages now that we've set the precedent."
"B-but... can we really do that? Won't the Sages get mad at us?"

"Don't look at me. The Sages knew the consequences of breaking the sacred laws. It's not like they're innocent bystanders. That's why the Sage of Destruction backed down without much of a fight. Hmmm... I guess we won't be able to call him that anymore after he steps down, huh?"
"Yeah... former Sage of Destruction? That sounds kind of nice."

Erica picked at her ravioli. She started to get her appetite back as soon as Miss Planner finished eating.

"I guess it's up to him. Personally, I wouldn't want to be known as the 'former' anything."
"You're a former branch manager..."

"That's different. Because I'm in a better position than that now. Working for the Chosen Ones is way better than working for World Alliance Bank."
"What I'm trying to say is, it would be nice if the Sage of Destruction could find something new to do... so he can feel the same way you do... right?"

Miss Planner looked out the window, deep in thought. She was silent for a moment.

"Hmmm. Yeah. You're right. He doesn't have to be defined by his mistakes for the rest of his life."
"What do you think he'd like to do?"

"He said he wanted to stay on as a teacher. Remember? "
"Yeah..."

"But I don't think he has to be limited to that. And we’re going to have a lot of former Sages on our hands pretty soon, not just him, so we should probably start thinking about the best way to make use of their skills."
"Maybe we should ask the analysts to start looking into it..."

"Now that's a plan! You're starting to think like a manager already!"
"Th-thanks..."