"I should be going too. My wife Lila..." began Lance Knight, the current werepanther representative on the Elders' Council.
"Of course. How far along is she again?" wondered Tachibana no Akane, leader of the Skulk and werefox representative on the Council.
"Fourth month as of tomorrow, and ravenous at times," grinned Lance. "She swears there's only one child in there, but sometimes..."
"My late husband had similar opinions during my pregnancies," remembered the elder were-vixen. "But all that excess food and energy is going to a good cause," she reminded him.
"I know," said Lance with a smile. "Before I do take off though, a question. What happened to Far Houjin and Kai Wu Wang?" he asked, referring to the visiting white furred weretigers from China. "I didn't see them with the others when I came back."
"They have volunteered to resume their covert surveillance of Jack and Kenya Crawford. As Evan Lawson pointed out, we have no idea how Jack Crawford plans to expose us if he does go through with his threat. This way, we hopefully shall have advanced warning of his future shenanigans."
"Sometimes I'm a bit envious of Far and Kai," admitted Lance. "Staying in their fursonas around the clock. Enjoying who they truly are. Yet the extra lengths they have to go to in order to keep from exposing weres' existence..."
"I know," agreed Tachibana. "Would that the world was in a position to accept us openly if we did reveal ourselves. Alas, it isn't. With the ever changing political climates and now the growing imbalance in some social and economic circles between the so called 1% and the rest of society."
"Which is why Crawford's threat has to be taken seriously and dealt with as soon as it can safely be done so. Like you said, no were is above the law," remembered Lance. "Yet there are moments when I wonder if Crawford might be suffering from some mental illness like my brother and his years of undiagnosed bi-polar disorder."
"Maybe," conceded Tachibana. "If Benton Knight's illness had been discovered and treated sooner, perhaps the bad blood that started between him and Jack Crawford all those years ago which led to where we are now might never have happened. Then again, your brother's ruthlessness was only in business toward corporate competitors. He never once went after weres in general, let alone threatened to expose us all."
Lance remained silent about all the years he spent growing up in Benton's shadow as kids. "We've weathered bad situations before. This is just another to get through. Oyasumi (Goodnight) Tachibana no Akane," he said, bowing slightly before the elder werevixen.
"Good night Lance," said Tachibana, returning the bow.
After watching her last guest leave, she looked over the remains of the hastily prepared buffet table, helped herself to another cup of herbal tea, and then Tachibana no Akane sat back down in a lotus position within her zen garden to resume mediation and contemplation of Moon Lake's future.