Mira Zephyr stood in the Grand Chamber of the Archmage Council, surrounded by twelve of the most powerful mages in the kingdom, and watched her life's work get dismissed with a wave of a wrinkled hand.
"Absolutely not," Archmage Velthris declared. He gestured dismissively at the blueprint Mira had spent six months perfecting: the thermal regulation runic array that could have revolutionized magical infrastructure. "This... contraption... violates the fundamental principles of magical tradition."
Mira's hands clenched into fists at her sides. Stay calm. Stay professional. Don't give them an excuse.
"It doesn't violate anything," she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. "It's an optimization of existing heat-transfer runes combined with a self-sustaining mana loop. The theory is completely sound. I've run the calculations a hundred and seventeen times…"
