My plan went swimmingly, well, a little too swimmingly if I were to be honest. Chien had let Isha know the trading was on while I spoke to the elder, hoping to get attention quickly and boy had they. She was deep in negotiation with several small clans while he was nowhere to be found by the time I was done.

I'd cleaned myself off before going to join her in her escapades in one of the inner circles of the heating room. Donating mana wasn't a challenge right now for me and if I were being honest sitting back in one of the pools while she went back and forth with several other elves was relaxing. I could see why the people here had fallen into the trap they had, it was comfortable.

“We could arrange a whole chamber for you and your family if you like? I assure you that my brother is the best at making furnishings in all of Icehome and I know he would be willing,” one of the perspective traders offered, trying to get Isha to agree.

“We need portable goods, not large ones,” she clarified.

This had been going on for the better part of an hour, with more people appearing with offers slowly over the time. I watched on from the side, happy to be ignored for the most part. That looked to be changing though, as Oma and several others with shocks of white hair decorating their heads came up from the inner tiers. I hadn't even see her return after she'd run off to see the Matriarch, so I was surprised.

“Come to stop things Elder Oma?” I asked her as she approached, trying to be as polite as I could. There was definitely a non-zero chance that she'd been ordered to do just that.

“Not quite, though the Matriarch has requested that three of your products be reserved for her. I'm assured you'll be compensated generously.”

“And the meeting?” I asked.

“When you're done with this,” she said, indicating the trading.

That was a relief, as was the fact that they didn't seem to want a fight. With how little the people here actually used their magic I might have been able to fight one elder, but the five who'd arrived could most certainly have dealt with me, if for no other reason than the fact that they'd have more stamina. I did have a trick or two up my sleeve if it came to that though.

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She nodded to her companions, and all but one of them moved to speak to Isha, the younger elves, knowing that more serious parties had arrived pulled back a bit. All of knew that Elders weren't to be crossed lightly. Even me, the leaders of Atal could have easily subdued me had they wanted. Oma, having what she wanted seemed content to let her fellows make their trades.

“It occurs to me that perhaps I should speak to you instead,” said the man who'd held back as he looked at me. “Young Isha may be the one who trades for your group, but you're the one who made these heating crystals no?”

My wife looked more than a bit taken aback by that, and I was too. She'd been the one handling this up till now, the one who wanted to, the one I wanted to as well.

“No,” I said in response.

“No?”

“No, I dislike negotiating trades intensely.”

“And I much rather speak to those who are actually in charge of things, rather than some girl,” he said flippantly.

I stood from the pool of water I'd been lounging in, letting it flow off me in rivulets as I released my hold on my magic. All around me the air filled with the power of the aura every spellcaster let off, pushed out by my anger until it flowed down from the tier I was on. Most of the time I ignored auras, pushing them to the back of my mind as just another natural part of this world, like shadows or the smell of the wind, but when we were angry we could loose them, and I did so now. The small green bubbles that were always around me now pushed out like a wave.

Those who lived here had likely never seen war, never had to fight against our own kind seriously, and never expected me to respond so harshly. After all, I'd been fairly laid back until now, but there were things I wouldn't stand for, and disrespecting Isha was on that list. The people around me saw that, and many began to pull back, eyes widening as I prepared to fight if I deemed it necessary.

“You should leave,” I warned him.

“There will be no fighting here!” Oma shouted, moving between the two of us, flexing her own power as she put barriers into place. “Eren, you're out of line. Our guests told you who to would handle the trades and were more than willing to engage with you properly.”

“My apologies Oma,” he said, bowing a bit as he took a step back.

“And you,” the diminutive woman said, turning to me once he'd gone. “You are a guest here, and should have let me handle that. This place is too important for you to be fighting here, regardless of the reasons.”

“Understood,” I said with a bow of my own. It rankled, but she was the one in charge of this area, so she could enforce her rules, and I was a guest here.

Eren turned towards Isha, who was looking at him with a small scowl. “Would you be willing...”

“Why would you speak to me Elder Eren? I'm just some girl,” she said with envenomed sweetness.

“I suppose that settles that,” Oma said, clearly indicating that the other Elder should leave.

After he'd left one of the others who'd come with Oma laughed under her breath, apparently Eren wasn't well liked by his contemporaries.

Isha continued on with her trading, managing to get a good stock of the lights they used here and some other trinkets that were honestly of little value to me. Icehome it seemed had it's own form of dyes that were more vivid than what could easily be made back in Atal, and a few unique herbs from mushrooms or the small plants that dotted the icy tundra that surrounded us. She secured ample amounts of those and even a recipe for a magical tattoo ink that served to bolster one's resistance to cold, not something I had in my repertoire, but would surely be of value to someone.

Once she was all done Oma took me off to go see the leader of Icehome. Technically Chien still had a few of his trinkets to trade, but we didn't actually know where he'd gone off to, and I didn't really expect to see him for a bit anyway. He could handle it though, though I hoped he didn't get involved with that other Elder.