Green was the first to speak after the messenger stopped talking, "I shouldn't be here when they arrive, and it can only cause problems if I am."
"For you, or for us?" Asked Kanieta.
"Both?" Green said, "I can easily be labeled a deserter… I might already be one, which will be a problem, and you will be underestimated more without me here. In their eyes, I will either be a pawn of someone trying to create a new tool out of you. Or a statement that you are, in fact, intelligent and can manipulate me to serve you. Neither is a good starting point."
"True enough," Said Karlonu, "But we still need the use of your services. So I would ask you to enjoy our hospitality until then."
"Need my help with what?".
"Why, with finding and killing Derg, of course. You already said he is killing your people to use in his spells. Is it not your duty to save them?" Karlonu said pleasantly.
"Technically. But it might not go as well as you would think," Green said, rubbing the back of his head. He looked even more uncomfortable as his face twisted with an internal war raging within him.
"Regardless, you are the only lead we have. I am sure that your commander would be pleased with you helping us in the name of peace. After all, Derg has proven himself a menace to both our people and yours. And he has already proven that he will stop at nothing to achieve what he desires."
“Yeah…" Green said, giving a sigh of resignation. "It's better than returning and being killed because it's more convenient." Kanieta was fairly sure they weren't supposed to hear that last part, as it was said in a whisper.
"Wonderfull," Karlonu said, ignoring his comment and focusing on what she wanted as she clapped her hands, "Messenger," The foxkin woman's head snapped up from where she was slinking to the side of the door, trying to disappear into the wall, "Take Scout Green here to one of the Stewards, and have them assign him one of the rooms as a guest. Then find and tell an elder to show our guests around our new city before bringing them to meet us here in an hour while the word spreads for faction representatives to gather."
"As you wish, Faction Leader." Said the messenger as she motioned for Green to follow her.
Green threw a few glances at Kanieta and around the room, but she looked at him impassively as he turned to leave. Only to look to the side in surprise as someone shouted, "Wait for me!"
Franklin, now covered in blood and wounds, ran up to Green, tossing a lump of meat into his mouth to a cry of despair behind him.
As the three left the room, the doors behind them slammed shut with a bang.
"Why do you want him with us to scout for Derg?" Kanieta immediately asked, "We already have a direction. I can't see him contributing much more."
"Maybe not with hunting Derg," Karlonu agreed, "But his presence will show the inhabitants of the Cradle that we are willing to work with them. And that had nothing to say about what we can discover by studying him and his newfound abilities. As far as I am aware, that was the first time a Kin has seen psy. And while it was definitely different from mana, there must be a connection. An explanation to the change."
"I must gather enchantments and see if he can power them."
Murmmered Joro. "And other Olimpians."
"The dedication to concealing our advantages is important, but aren't there other things to worry about," Kanieta said, "Like the impending arrival of the delegation."
"Haa," scoffed Joro, "that might be a concern for you, but I need to know where I should be positioned financially. If Olimpians can power enchantments, it will open up a new field of commerce that no one has anticipated. Think of the profit!"
"Oh. Well, I guess that's one way to look at it." Kanieta muttered. It's not like we will have to be concerned about our weapons and armor from our elites falling into the Olimpains' hands and being used against us… But if they could, why haven't the Letairry done it before. Maybe it's as simple as they have never tried, but I doubt it.
Coming out of her thoughts, she heard Karlonu shouting, “…bring dishonor to our people by showing outsiders our weakness, then burn and bury everything in an hour!"
"Nooo~!" wailed the collective badgers.
An outsider would think Karlonu had just taken away the favorite toy from a group of four-year-olds. Not tell a bunch of adults, some well over a hundred years old, that they had to clean up a mess.
"Be strong, my people!" Choked out their Faction Leader like he was holding back tears, "For with the appearance of a blood mage, there are bound to be more battles."
"Yeah!" Cheered the badgers before chanting, "Battle! Battle! Battle!"
It went on for five seconds before a Barlot boomed again, "Quiet! Now, eat your fill, and let's get this dreadful duty over width. For the Kin!"
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"For the Kin!" shouted back the badgers before diving for their or other's piles of rotting meat.
Turning away from the grisly display of flying chunks and slurping noises, Kanieta settled down in her chair to wait.
The feast, if you can really call it that, lasted for five long minutes before it ended with a series of contented belches and moans.
Then what had been taking all morning was completed in minutes as the bodies were burned into ash and carted out or buried deep in the ground. It was amazing what can be done when badgers aren't constantly getting in the way.
Half an hour after the messenger arrived, the chamber was nearly back to what it had been before. The main difference was the lack of chairs.
With a few pointed hints at the badgers about how shabby their Grand Hall will look to the Olimpians from Karlonu, they started walking around and dropping the room into the ground, creating circular-tiered stone seating. The final row of which was five feet from the floor the center platform was placed on. Then they made a smaller railed podium at the base of the stairs coming from the southern door for those who wished to address the Conclave's leaders.
While all this was being done, Elders and Chieftains for every faction started arriving, with the temporary representatives joining Kanieta and the others on the central platform.
The Cats were still absent, but the Twin Horn, Dark Haven, and Shimmer Scales had older chieftains on stage.
Those everyone knew would step down soon and become an Elder and couldn't use the temporary bump in power for their own grab for the position.
When the hour was up, the southern doors of the chamber swung outward, and the messenger stepped forward, only to be startled as she looked down into the new chamber.
Looking to the side, Kanieta froze as she didn't see who she expected. Master of Ceremonies Ko, or that old rabbit she had known all her time as Faction Leader, wasn't there.
In his place was a bullkin who still had a hint of youth in his form, though his horns were faded and the tips were chipped from age. He was far past his prime but nowhere near the brink of death like the old Master of Ceremonies.
Not that Master of Ceremonies Ko was on the brink of death anymore because he had already passed over the veil.
The Stewards, the semi-faction the Master of Ceremonies belongs to, came into being when the Conclave was created. They were the peacekeepers between the factions and arbiters of disputes. And over the course of their history, they developed a field of magic all their own.
They were the ones who discovered how to make oaths and bind the terms to the takers' mana, making it impossible or deadly to break. Creating magical binding documents and the ability, to tell the truth from falsehood.
And there was so much more that they could do, but exactly what was hidden behind the wall of their order. What the old Master of Ceremonies had done was one of their secrets, which involved the badgers apparently. Though even now, they were being cagy with their answers.
Whatever the spell was, the price was the Master of Ceremonies' life. Kanieta was unsure if it was just one of the costs of the spell or if the old rabbit was so old that he couldn't take the strain of casting it, but the result was the same.
Kanieta had few interactions with the old rabbit, but they were on friendly terms. And seeing his spot taken up by another was another reminder of her failure. Another debt Derg would have to answer for.
"Who comes before the Conclave of the People." Boomed the new Master of Ceremonies.
The messenger's eyes flicked to the side quickly, and her feet shuffled in place as Kanieta heard a faint murmur. Then she said, with growing confidence, “…I— bring before the Conclave, Shree Ponpti, scion of… House Ponpti? Envoy and Tribune Latic of the 15th Legion. And her retinue."
A quiet murmuring ran through the crowd at the number of titles that were given to the messenger. It was expected that everyone who came before the Conclave would have some number of titles. Why else would they have the right to be seen? But to have the announcer pronounce many was just not done.
It was commonly accepted among the Kin that only one title should be used when introductions were made. Because while a person's titles said much, far more was said about them by what they chose to present.
While there was no reasonable way for the envoy to know of their traditions, it didn't start off this meeting on the best foot.
"Enter Shree Ponpti, Scion of House Ponpti, Envoy and Tribune Latic of the 15th Legion, and bring your message before the Gathered Factions of the People." Said the Master of Ceremonies from his position.
A moment after the words, an Olimpain woman strode into the room, her head held high. She was wearing a bright yellow dress that hung from two straps on her shoulders, leaving her long neck and upper chest open, and that draped over her form and trailed behind her. Every one of her steps pulled the dress tight against her figure as it followed behind like it was falling in endless waves.
Even as she descended the steps and placed herself below everyone gathered in the room, she looked at them like they were all beneath her. Like it was all their greatest honor to be in her presence.
Behind her was a man in black legion armor and another woman, who could only be described as delicate but with eyes like steel, in the traditional red and brown of the legions.
Of the three, Kanieta had the best opinion of the smaller woman. She was also striding into the room, but it was the stalking of a predator on guard. There was confidence in her steps, but it was that of an equal, not someone looking down on those around them.
The leading woman didn't even pause as she strode up to and then onto the smaller stage, claiming it as her own with her flowing dress trailing onto the steps up, then proclaimed, "I have come here on the orders of the Guardian of the Northern Line, he has assured me that you are seeking to make peace with us, though you have a strange way of going about it. So I am here to accept your surrender."
No one said a word from shock before Kanieta spoke, "We destroyed and captured two-thirds of your fort in a night. You were unable to so much as press our defense of the Northern fort. So we decided to give it back, as you so clearly desired, as a show of good faith." There was no need to go into their internal problems, making them look weak. "Why would we be surrendering to you? If anything, it would be a merging of equals. Or your surrender, we would be fine with that."
"Heeh," Scoffed the woman again, "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent? You beg for help against a foe and warn us that they are already among us. But I have seen no proof. Instead, I think that if this enemy exists at all, you have lost to them and are bringing them to our doorstep. To fight this battle for you, we demand your surrender. Come to the properly manned Triad when you are ready to talk terms."
With that, she turned and started striding away without anyone able to say another word.