Despite the hassle of the night before, I would have taken another confrontation with the aggressive ogres over this mornings activities. Mainly, having to get ready for the summit.

I had been set upon by Brixie, Luxana, and even a very enthusiastic Yevette, at the crack of dawn. The ladies had taken it as their personal responsibility to make sure I was 'adequately dressed' for the summit. From what I could tell, that basically meant that I was to be used as a doll once again.

Brixie had a heavy chest brought into my room just as other hobgoblin guards were just finishing packing up what had been set up in there already. True to her word, Yevette had chosen new rooms for us to stay near by, where the halls were not as cramped. So, while I was getting dressed up, Lagdon was supervising the move and inspecting the area for potential dangers, leaving Draxly and Brillum to guard me, along with Brixie's guards and a select number of hobgoblins. Clearly the arrival of the Ogres had set Lagdon's over protectiveness into overdrive, making him assign an abundance of guards.

Even if I wanted to complain, I didn't have the the time or opening to. Before I had time to slip out of the bed, the ladies had already dragged me out, and Brixie was removing outfit after outfit out of the chest. I saw various versions of my signature copper robe, as well as several dresses, suits and who knew what else. How all that copper, white, and bronze colored fabric fit with in the trunk, I had no idea, but I was impressed.

Brixie and Yevette seemed to be dressed in finer cloths than I had seen them in yet, so I felt I had no room to argue this time around. Though, Why I could not pick out my own cloths, I had no idea. Clearly this was just another case of me being too much of a pushover. It made them happy, and I would feel bad telling them to stop when it wasn't like it was an inconvenience or anything, just frustrating and a little smothering.

Between them all I was dressed in a silky copper robe, longer than what I usually wore at about mid calf. It was embroidered with copper vines along the hem and the long, draping sleeves. It looked like a cross between a night robe and a kimono. Coupled with an elaborate copper head piece that seemed to be an approximation of my strange branch like antlers when in my "god Form", I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be going to a summit or going to bed.

"Stunning!" Beamed Yevette, she, herself, dressed in a dress of thick fabric and a myriad of feathers that trailed past her clawed feet, as well as a very large beaded necklace.

"This seems so unnecessary, especially given I am more of an honorary guest then an actual participant." I sighed, smoothing a hand over the silk in appreciation. Those kobolds really had a knack for textiles, I had to admit.

"It is never unnecessary to make an impression, Lady Enna." Stated Brixie, reaching down and straightening out one of my long sleeves. She was dressed in a robe as well. Hers was of a more traditional design in a flattering green hue. I recognized it as being very similar to the very robe she had fist gifted me when I came to this world, though this new one was now sized for a foxmen, rather than the foxkin she had been at the time.

I remember Brixie had worried at the time that the silken fabric may never be available to the foxes again, due to the animosity between them and the goblins. The very fact that she and I were draped in the silk on available in the caves of the goblins now, was proof of our new found alliance.

I smiled at the tangible evidence of the fruits of my efforts in bringing the people of this realm together.

Escorted by Lagdon, a harpy male introduced as Zypher, and the foxmen Oren, we made our way to the building set to be used for the summit.

I hadn't seen Oren in quite some time, not since I had moved to the Estate at least. He was a man with mousy brown hair and fur, as well as a stern face marred by a deep scar stretching from his right eye to his chin. He had originally been Brax's bodyguard, but now served under Elder Brixie.

As for Zypher, he was fairly tall with a chiseled jaw and a mop of messy black hair. According to Yevette, he was amongst the strongest of the Harpy fighters, and also wielded rather devastating wind based magic. I would have loved to have seen a demonstration, but now was hardly the time.

As it turned out, we were the last to arrive at the designated location. It was a sort of open air coliseum, though I would put it at less than half of the size of the one I had read about back on Earth in Rome. The building it self was located near the back of the city, near the mountains the it was built next to. Much like the rest of the city, the coliseum was rather run down, but surprisingly clean. It was odd seeing partially crumbled walls, yet no corresponding pile of rubble beneath them.

Outside I saw that there were already several guards waiting and watching. Draxly was there, as well as Yevette's granddaughter Willow. I noted a couple familiar goblins and foxes, both races keeping an awkward distance from the others. Clearly interspecies relations still needed some work...

I saw that the ogres had chosen the uber cheerful yellow ogress, Varda, to guard the coliseum. She stood off to one side, the only ogre in attendance, and glared daggers at us as we approached, her arms folded over her muscular chest, and eyes narrowed in evident animosity.

I decided ignoring her would be for the best.

Instead, I allowed my eyes to linger on the two beings that stood out the most, even amongst the motley group currently standing watch. They were two- no word of a lie- unicorns! The giddy little girl in my was rather delighted to see them, even if they did not look quite how I pictured such beings in my mind. Both were white, but it was a far more natural color than the shimmering color I had expected, their coats well maintained but nothing I would describe as 'ethereal' in anyway. They both had long, grey horns, and blue eyes, though the unicorn on the left had darker ones than the one on the right.

What really set the pair apart from what fantasy stories led me to believe a unicorn should look like was their size! I would have thought them to be either the average size of a horse, or maybe a little smaller, but for these two, that wasn't the case. They were quite massive, as a matter of fact. No one would call them pretty, but rather intimidating. They were like the Lagdon of horses, the muscles making me believe that they actually could cart around my massive hobgoblin around without even breaking a sweat.

As we passed, the collective group of monsters bowed. Well, all of them but Varda, that was. I saw Lagdon glare at the woman, but decided to ignore the rudeness myself. I didn't think it wise to start what would probably dissolve into a screaming match right before a meeting designed to keep the peace.

We were just entering the long walk way to the center of the coliseum when I spotted Kishi. She was draped over a partially crumbled wall a short distance away, eyes locked on Varda. The fox guardian was no required to be here, but I was not surprised to see her all the same. She was my guardian fox, after all. I should just count my blessings that she had given in and let Lagdon be the one guard I was allowed during the summit. Lagdon eventually pointed out to the stubborn fox that, with her speed and excellent hearing, if anything did go wrong during the summit, being outside would still allow her to intervene if needed.

The inside of the coliseum was surprisingly intact. I had half expected it to be partially crumbled (All debris removed, of course), but the white stone was almost pristine. The oval shaped center was about the size of a playing field and made of packed earth with a stone dais taking up a large part of the center. The benches were high up and tiered, the farthest ring being nearly five stories above my head, and the lowest almost two.

Set at the very center of the dais were the participants of the summit. Someone had set up a rather large wooden table up there and the ogre representative was seated there, her daughter standing at her back and both watching us enter with more interest than hostility. I would take that over Varda's disdain at least.

Also already on the dais were the Equestrian representatives. If I had be expecting another unicorn, then I had been wrong. But the horse like being standing next to the table was no less majestic. I would guess it to be at least as tall as an ogre, and though it had no horn, its green hair and mane made it stand out all the more in my eyes. A long mane far silkier than any horse I had ever seen, and it had huge, dark and sorrowful eyes that seemed to be sizing me up just as much as I was it.

Blushing a little at getting caught ogling the pretty pony, I adverted my gaze. In stead I caught Yevette smirking at me, causing me to be even more embarrassed. She chuckled and hurried to ascend the short stone steps of the dais.

"At last, we can begin." Smiled the harpy as she took a seat in a high backed chair.

Brixie followed, taking a seat next to her. And, as I brought up the rear with Lagdon, I saw that Margund was already seated next to Astrid, another hobgoblin at his back. It was a testament to just how large both the ogres and the equestrians were that I had not even noticed him till this point. He flashed me a cheeky smile and a slight wave before a nudge from Lagdon had me moving away from the table.

Confused but obedient as a little chick, I turned in the direction he wanted me to go. Then i had had to suppress a horrified groan when I saw what it was I was being guided to: Yet another throne...

At least this one was fairly plain. Just a large wooden chair with a carved back and red cushions. I didn't even bother to complain other than shooting a pained look at the goblin king as I passed him, earning a small chuckle from the man.

Resigned to my fate of being the girl on a pedestal once again, I accepted Lagdon's large, four fingered, hand as he helped me onto the throne as if I really were some kind of monarch. Once I was seated, legs crossed, back straight, and hands folded in my lap, Lagdon took up a 'military stance' to my right, glaring at everyone else in the room. This got another little chuckle from Margund and a smirk from Brixie and Yevette.

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"Thank you for attending these meetings, Lady Enna." Stated Yvette, getting to her talons and offering a short bow in my direction. "It is a great honor to have our land god present."

The other representatives bowed their heads slightly in my direction and I simply smiled back at them. Gosh, this felt so awkward.

"Not at all." I said softly. "I am happy to be present for such an important meeting. I am also glad to finally meet more of the people living in these lands."

Luckily that little, painfully sad and awkward, couple of sentences seemed adequate enough to be getting on with things. They simply bowed to me once again, and immediately delved into discussions, leaving all but ignored at the back of it all. I was equal parts relieved and bored at about the half an hour mark.

So far they hadn't really discussed much. Mostly each representative merely went about making very vague comments on how each of their people had been doing since the last meeting while not really saying anything at all. It was very clear that these people did not trust one another in the slightest and none of them were ready to come right out and air any grievances.

But I wasn't surprised by this either. It was already explained to me that it would likely go this way for the first day. Yevette told me that day one was mostly an introductory meeting where everyone sized one another up.

As the harpy predicted, the meeting was steered mainly by Astrid and Margund. Both were the clear power houses amongst those gathered here, and both were bull headed and sneaky in how they spoke. It actually made me smile a little to see the ogress play so well at Margund's game of politics. From how the ogres had been described to me up until now, I thought that they would simply start making brash demands and belittling remarks. But Astrid had a very cool and collected demeaner about her, and seemed to make sound points throughout the proceedings.

Eventually I learned that the harpies were enjoying a more bountiful season than they have had in a long time, hampered only by the fact that several ogre tribes had been making hunting in the mountains difficult for them. Of course, the foxes and the goblins did not have too much to complain about, but they also didn't go into too much detail as to what was happening in their cities nor at the estate. I got the feeling that they were trying no to reveal too much to the ogres.

It appeared that the Equestrians were the only ones having much of any trouble. The only ones openly stating it al least.

The horse race seemed to use some kind of thought projection to communicate, involving a mixture of broken words, impressions, and mental projections of the senses. It was confusing when I first experienced it, but after about two hours I was adapting. Enough to at least understand the gist of what he was trying to say.

I couldn't tell how I knew the green stallion was, indeed, a male, other than that was the impression I got from his projected thoughts. I also learned that the Equestrians did not have official names. They didn't need them given they way they communicated. As a formality he chose the simple name of 'Speaker' for the purposes of the summit.

Speaker informed us, in a series of images and impressions, that the plains to the east have been going through some hardships. My influence had yet to fully reach the other side of the mountains, and, they were experiencing several years of drought, each year getting progressively worse. On top of that, I saw though Speakers eyes, that, with the continued absence of Aeros, eastern human kingdoms have started to encroach on the plains. On top of that, a race of demi-humans have started to compete with the Equestrians over territory.

Through the eyes of Speaker I saw that the threat to their homes was none other than centaurs! I watched the visions pass by of people who were half horse and half human, galloping over the plains, hunting various monsters for food. They did not appear to attack the equestrian's directly, but there antics were disturbing their ancient haunts, places where the Equestrians birthed their foals and where they spent their days grazing...

"It sounds as if the Equestrians are simply weak." Sighed Astrid. Her red arms were folded over her chest but her voice held no inflection, despite the inflammatory nature of her words. "These demi-humans can not even use magic. Both they, and the humans, should be easy enough to drive off of your lands."

Speaker let out an irritated snort, his ears flicking and a single hoof striking heavily upon the stone dais. "Despite what the ogre tribes may think, violence is not always the answer." His voice sounded in my head, accompanied by a sense of irritation and offence. I was a little surprised, given that before now he had not used actual words at all.

"Besides," Interrupted Brixie, giving Astrid an annoyed side eye. "Lady Enna has forbade any direct confrontation with humans or demi-humans unless ones own life needs protection."

"Both are existences that have long since been forbidden to be in these lands." Huffed Astrid. She may be a little less confrontational than her counterpart, Varda, but it was clear that she was still a stubborn Ogre all the same. I wasn't very surprised. It wasn't like generations of bias could be change over night. Not voluntarily at least. "If you were to take my advise: use the considerable magical powers of the higher equestrians such as yourself, Speaker, and wipe them off the face of the plains for good. Make it swift and complete to discourage any farther stupidity on part of the dim witted humans."

"Enough, Astrid." Stated Margund. He looked mildly displeased, but his voice was cool and collected. "As Elder Brixie already stated, Lady Enna has forbade any such rash actions."

"Communication may very well solve the issue readily enough..." Said Yevette, though she did not look convinced of that. I couldn't blame her. Humanity wasn't exactly famous for talking out their problems peacefully, especially when they think themselves the righteous ones.

"A weak minded response." Snapped Astrid, her calm demeanor starting to crack. "I see no issue with simply removing the issue. If you are so opposed to killing them all, then why not kill half and give the rest a days head start in fleeing back to the holes they came from in the first place."

This way of thinking was rubbing me the wrong way. I was in agreement in that I would rather try and work though these issues diplomatically first, before resorting to violence. Not only to stop the whole sale- and probably needless- slaughter of humans and centaurs alike, but also because of the retaliation that was likely to follow such a massacre. It all seemed very rash and simple minded.

But, I had decided to let the monster try and work out these things on their own first. It was stupid, given that I had no intentions of letting this issue go Astrid's way, but I didn't want to seem like some kind of dictator to these people. But, for the good of my lands, there was no way, no matter what the consensus, that I would let any of them thoughtlessly wipe out the humans and centaurs.

The argument went back a forth for another forty minutes without actually coming to any sort of resolution. It felt more like everyone had simple decided that this topic was the best one to use to spark arguments. The constant back a forth with zero forward momentum was getting on my nerves, and I was seriously debating going back on my own resolve to interfere, when Yevette raised a hand, calling everyone to silence.

"That is enough for today. It is getting late and none of us have eaten." She sighed, looking her age for once. "Let us pick this up again tomorrow, after we have had some time to rest and think about it amongst ourselves."

One of the things I loved most about monsters was that they were not huge on formalities. There was simply a collective sigh from the group, followed by everyone getting up and separating without a further word.

I had just gotten to my feet as well when Astrid and her daughter approached, being sure to keep far enough back to not aggravate Lagdon too much. She glared briefly at the hobgoblin, before turning back to me. She offered a short bow... More of a nod really.

"Lady Enna, thank you for your attendance. We will take our leave fist." Astrid said, her daughter offering a slightly deeper bow behind her back.

Without even waiting for a response from me, the two ogres spun on their heels and stepped off the dais. The other participants watched the pair leave the coliseum with a mix of relief and irritation.

I wasn't really sure how I felt about Astrid at the moment. She seemed far more honorable than Varda, at least, but there was an air of violence and aggression around her that I wasn't sure I would ever be able to break through. It was a shame, really, as I also felt like she did have the best interests of her people, as a whole, at heart.

Other than the burst of aggression she had just shown, she had been fairly collected throughout the days talks, and even communicated calmly with the others at times I had thought she would blow up. I saw there was a time or two that her daughter was nearly fuming from the ears. I felt like I could grow to like Astrid, if only she could let up on that need to kill anything that got in the ogres way.

Taking Astrid's lead, the other representatives also came up to me and thanked me for coming to the summit. All of them being far more polite than they usually were. Though, I had to admit that Speaker seemed almost regal compared to the others. He may not use many words, but there was just an air of dignity and grace about him that I found refreshing.

Plus, It was very hard to resist reaching out a hand to stroke that super glossy mane of his. I managed to hold back, barely, as he and I exchanged greetings.

"I am sorry to hear that you and your people are having trouble, Speaker." I Told him as he and his unicorn guard stood before Lagdon and I, the others in the coliseum making their way out. "It is my wish to unite the many and varied peoples of my lands together, and the Equestrians are no exception. If I can, I hope to help you with the problems you are facing once this summit concludes. It may have to wait until the spring thaw, but I swear that I have no intention of abandoning you and your people to their plight."

Speaker's tail flicked and I felt a tingle of amusement pass over the telepathic connection between us. "That is appreciated, Lady Enna." He said as a curious image of a stunning sunset over a field of high grass passed before my eyes. It was hard to interpret the images he transmitted, but I thought that they tended to associate with the emotions Speaker felt towards them. And it was a very pretty sunset, So I would just assume that he was happy. Until I had reason to believe other wise at least.

"As upsetting as the humans and centaurs are, it is the droughts that are the main issue at the moment." Said the unicorn. It was the first time he had spoken since the summit started. During the meeting, typically it is only the representatives that are aloud to speak. Out side of those restrictions, the unicorn must have felt fine to speak now.

I nodded. "Indeed. It is rather upsetting, I agree. I am surprised that my influence has had so little effect over there still. It may be due to the fact that there is still some opposition to my supremacy over these lands from the ogres... Faith has a large influence of my reach at the moment. Hopefully, with time, that will matter less... But for now, I must rely on my people as much as I do the powers of a land god that I possess."

Speaker nodded and a series of images flash before my eyes: several herds of Equestrians in a rainbow of colors, a crystal clear lake, and a bright blue sky with a single, white fluffy cloud skirting across it. "I may speak on behalf of my ilk here at the summit, but I do not control their hearts. I can tell you, for my own part, that you have my devotion, Lady Enna."

I actually felt touched, and smiled, unconsciously sending the sensation across the connection between us. I sensed the surprise of the two Equestrians. "Thank you. It is most welcome, and I hope that I will not disappoint you, and the faith you have given me." I said sincerely, a hand over my heart.

Speaker and the unicorn knickered and I could feal their amusement and delight. "To think you can speak in the way of the Equestrians already! Most impressive young goddess."

Another moment later, it was just Lagdon and I on the dais. The Equestrians having left in better spirits than when I had first met them. With any luck, by the time this summit ended, I would have gained at least some trust amongst the beings gathered here, and that should speed up my influence over the east. If I could manage that, then the spring might very well be better for the Equestrians out on their plain.

Better for the humans and centaurs too, I would assume. Though, they were going to be a problem for another time. Their invasion could not go on being ignored, of course, but until the snow thawed and the rainy season of early spring passed, it would be difficult to travel there and do what needed to be done.

For the first time I actually wished that I could manifest that scaly slime bag that now rested in my mind space. His wings and bulk would come in real handy right about now...