It took Regina meeting more dark elves to realize how unusual Madris actually was — both in her own eyes and, perhaps more importantly, theirs.
So far, she had had a tendency to attribute quirks or things she didn’t understand to Madris’ race, to her shame. Although maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. If someone did come from a different culture, it was a reasonable assumption that a difference you didn’t understand could be due to that rather than just individual preferences. Still, Madris had left the Eternal Dark and lived with the human Delvers, although in a different country, for a while. Regina had never actually got a straight answer on how long. She knew Madris was about five hundred years old — which she just tried not to think too hard about all the time. She had to have spent at least the first century or two with her people, probably more. It hadn’t felt like she’d lived with that community of Delvers for centuries, they’d have probably acted a bit differently if she had.
Still, it didn’t seem to affect the dark elves’ behavior towards Madris, surprisingly. Or maybe it did, but only in subtle ways, and they still stuck to using the forms of politeness and etiquette their culture and respective social rank prescribed. And Madris was clearly very well-respected. Which Regina knew correlated a lot with her personal power and ability to impose her will on others. Still, she could read the interplay enough to know it wasn’t all because Madris was a scary high-level fighter. Well, she was scary, sure, but not just because of her high level or combat power.
Regina found herself actually liking the dark elves, to her mild surprise. Of course, she knew a lot about them due to her experiences with Madris and their brief ‘meeting of the minds’, perhaps more than the Delver realized. Although it was hardly enough to convey everything about their culture or history.
Maybe it wasn’t so surprising. The dark elves’ government had sent diplomats, after all. The main envoy of their delegation, Icnes Oliren, was clearly an experienced diplomat who’d mediated between their own factions as well as contact with other people. When Regina asked, she was happy to tell stories about her previous encounters.
They had an opportunity for that during a soirée shortly after the dark elves arrived. Kiara was hosting it, and Regina attended with the senior hive drones and her new group of advisors. This time, she was looking forward to seeing more of their new guests, so she didn’t even mind the banalities surrounding it.
"I love traveling,” Oliren confessed with a playful smile. “There are so many interesting places. And, of course, I jumped at the chance to come here, Your Majesty. It is the most interesting thing happening in quite a while, I’m sure.”
Regina smiled back. “Well, I do try.” She hesitated for a moment, then decided to just go right ahead. “I haven’t met any other dark elves before except for Madris, and all I know about your people comes from her.”
The diplomat’s smile didn’t change, and she didn’t show any visible reactions. “That is unsurprising, I wouldn’t think there are many of us up here.”
“Perhaps, I certainly haven’t heard of others. I take it you and Madris know each other, then?”
Oliren hesitated just slightly. “We are acquainted,” she said. Her tone was neutral. Regina found it really hard to get a sense of her relationship with Madris.
It probably wasn’t the time to push it, though. Instead, Regina smiled and asked a question about their relationship with the Delvers.
“I have negotiated several treaties myself,” Oliren told her amicably. “We have never been especially close, as such, but we have developed a good working relationship. Despite all their protests of ideology, Delvers are hardly averse to working as mercenaries against some threats in the underground, and we have access to ruins of Ancient civilization they want, as well as the routes to reach them. It is a good arrangement for all sides.”
“I believe the local Delver chapter used to have a similar arrangement with the elves in the Great Forest, though perhaps not as firm or wide-reaching,” Regina said.
The dark elf smiled slightly. “Ah, the city-state around Ariedel, isn’t it? I have not had the pleasure of visiting, yet.”
“Perhaps we can arrange something,” Regina told her. “We are currently in negotiations with the elves, and my hive did develop an alliance with them. We even fought together, before. I would be more than happy to put you in contact, and perhaps we can even sit down to talk together.”
Oliren regarded her for a moment. “That is an interesting development. Certainly.”
Regina didn’t say much in response. She was trying to reach out, of course. Even if her diplomatic efforts were a bit clumsy, it wasn’t like she wasn’t sincere or had bad intentions. Building alliances was one of the most important goals she had right now. She was hardly going to turn her nose up at the dark elves if there was an opportunity, even if their home was a bit far away.
Of course, any alliance wasn’t going to be built in a day. Oliren was clearly still trying to gather information, and Regina would let her do that. This whole thing was also an opportunity to see what her reputation was in more distant lands. She had no doubts some interpretations wouldn’t be favorable. Better to let the visitors see some things for themselves, like proof of Regina’s ‘Precursor knowledge’.
At the end of the evening, Regina wandered over to Madris, who looked like she was about to leave any moment now. “So, did they send an idiot or not?” she asked lightly.
Her teacher sighed and looked at her. “You realize she could hear you if you were just a bit closer, don’t you, Regina?”
Regina shrugged, but lowered her voice a little anyway. “I think I have an idea. Still, you didn’t answer my question.”
Madris rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. Although it might have been less irritating if they did.”
“So, how do you know the envoy?”
Madris twirled the glass she’d picked up at some point between her fingers. “We were part of the same house, once,” she said after a pause.
Regina frowned. “Doesn’t that mean you’re related?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Not really, no. I joined their house for a short time after my own went under, before I … technically founded my current house.”
Regina tried not to show her surprise. She had the impression that kind of thing was pretty uncommon. Then again, Madris wasn’t exactly your usual dark elf. “Really?”
“Yes.” She didn’t seem inclined to say anything else.
Regina wouldn’t push the issue. It was only a matter of time until she learned more, anyway. At the very least when she touched her mind again, as would no doubt happen during further training. Regina had already made peace with the thought that some of her own secrets, such as they were, would probably be open to Madris.
“What about her politics?” she asked. “She’s not an isolationist or anything, right?”
Madris smiled briefly. “No, you should have no trouble with that. I’m sure you’ll manage to impress her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Your Majesty?”
Regina nodded and gestured permission, so Madris bowed her head politely and took her leave. Regina turned, noting the people watching them, and decided to make one more circuit of the room. Talking to diplomats really wasn’t the worst part of her job.
Now if only certain people would actually accept her invitations for diplomatic niceties. She thought mostly of the gnomes, of course, who probably wouldn’t send an ambassador unless they thought they could use it to assassinate her, but the new Western Confederation had also been pretty reticent.
Well, Regina would give them some time. Seeing that the Empire was more concerned with other matters should help to calm a few fears, hopefully, and being aggressive would probably be the wrong move here. Unless it did need a more forceful resolution, but she hoped it would never come to that. In the meantime, Kiara’s spymaster, Daine, had already started efforts to get an intelligence network up and running. He was coordinating with his Nerlian colleagues, but seemed to come out on top in that particular field. Regina didn’t care much one way or another so long as she had someone competent to run such an important area. Although she would probably need to take steps to assure herself of the loyalty of whoever did end up running the Empire’s intelligence operations in the long run.
Which probably meant going digging in their minds to assure herself of that loyalty. Oh joy. She’d make sure to get informed consent and everything, of course, and it would probably be helpful for her training, if nothing else. She just hoped Daine would realize the necessity and not take it personally. From what she’d seen of him, that seemed likely, at least. Her hive would also be involved in those efforts, of course, considering the skills the psychic link gave them, but they didn’t exactly have a network of contacts to draw on.
From what they could tell so far, the Western Confederation was having a bit of trouble getting off the ground, something Regina could certainly sympathize with. They seemed to be handling it worse, though. Considering there were more nations involved, that wasn’t surprising. And they seemed to lack a clear leader. Their information so far largely came from Nerlian traders, so there were no doubt things she was missing, but it also looked like they had established contact with the Esemen. At least, people had heard of an Esemen ambassador arriving.
There was no sign of the gnomes becoming involved yet, at least. Regina really wasn’t sure if or how they would do that. It was irritating how much she still didn’t understand them.
Luckily, they now had more avenues of finding that understanding. They’d been interrogating prisoners, of course, but that didn’t necessarily give them a full picture. Now, though, the hive had captured a major gnomish city. Just watching the way the civilians reacted would already give her some clues, and actually interviewing them, and trying to set up some sort of oversight and provisional military government, would only yield more insight.
She was pretty much done and about to head back to her chambers when she caught sight of Marianne Neralt, who she’d just been thinking of, and said hello once more. “I hope you’ve given your options some thought,” Regina said after the greeting and a few pleasantries were exchanged.
The Cernlian woman smiled wanly and nodded. “Certainly, Your Majesty. Do you need a decision now, or …?”
“No, there’s no rush. I’m happy to keep you on as an advisor until we find a perfectly suited position.”
Marianne’s smile widened. “Thank you. I admit that I would hardly dislike an administrative role, but there is also something about the ‘meeting of minds’, so to speak, which comes with diplomacy that calls to me. One of the best things about this Empire is the way different cultures meet and come together to create something greater, isn’t it?”
Regina smiled back. “It certainly is. I’d say we could use your talents with the gnomes, for example. Perhaps not right now, but I hope there will be opportunity soon. What do you think?”
“I hope so, as well.” Marianne dipped her head. “Negotiating a peace settlement would be a challenge, but I hope my experiences with the Esemen would give me some small kernel of experience and insight. And for a more permanent solution — well, I am sure you can guess that I support my son’s position on the matter.”
That wasn’t exactly a surprise to hear, no. “Of course. And what do you think of his progress, Lady Marianne?”
She didn’t hesitate to answer. “I’d say it’s early days still, but I would call it promising, My Empress. The civilian population of the city is clearly on edge, to put it mildly, but they hardly seem about to revolt. To whatever extent the anti-Hivekind propaganda was disseminated and believed, it is clearly not entirely taken for the truth of the matter. I imagine that the presence of human, especially Delver, troops, contributes to that.”
“As well as the fact we haven’t killed them all yet,” Regina muttered. “That should contradict some part of the propaganda, too.”
“Quite so,” Marianne agreed with a serious tone, although the corner of her lips curled up slightly. “I wouldn’t know how much the average citizen has heard of the founding of the Empire, but that alone should also show the Hivekind as more than brutal monsters. Those rarely build civilizations with other people, after all. Elric’s interrogations, from what he’s said, also seem to indicate that at least some soldiers have doubts about the ‘party line’.”
“Good,” Regina murmured. “I’ll ask him for more details, but it’s good to get your assessment.”
The lady dipped her head again. “While we are here, I assume you would like me to attempt to develop a working relationship with the dark elves?”
“That would be nice, yes. I don’t think they would object to making contact, so to speak.”
“Then I will talk to them and keep you apprised of my progress.”
Regina nodded. After a few more words and polite goodbyes, Marianne melted back into the thinning crowd and Regina turned to leave.
It was late, but instead of going to sleep right away, Regina dipped back into the psychic link once she reached her rooms. Her hive was churning along like a well-maintained machine. After briefly checking on a few drones, she focused her attention on the gnomish city they’d captured recently. Ins-On-A-Rock wasn’t quite asleep. She could tell, with her psychic senses, even at this distance, that many of the gnomes were still awake. Anxiety hung over the city like a blanket made of fog, punctuated by the odd spike of other emotions — fear and rage and grief, mostly. But there was some hope as well, dwelling under the blanket of fear like the light of many small candles being reflected back into their world.
The hive had left quite a few troops behind, working on rotation, to garrison the city and prevent any activity from the Gnomish Confederation. If there was a determined effort to unseat them, they might even succeed; there simply weren’t as many soldiers or War Drones as gnomes here. But Marianne was right, the city didn’t feel like a boiling pot of rebellion.
We need to make sure to increase and guard the food supplies, Regina made a mental note. And maybe a few other things wouldn’t go amiss? It couldn’t hurt to start early in showing the gnomes what they could expect from the Empire, anyway. Maybe even its benefits, although that might be expecting too much. Still, Regina made a mental note to send some of the scholars they were gathering and training south. Now they finally had the opportunity for exchange with gnomish scientists and engineers. As long as they made sure it was safe, of course, but she hoped starting now might help.