The negotiation was held in a special meeting room with a large map of the territories in question filling the entire back wall. A U shaped table faced this wall, the outer edge lined with eight chairs. Even though Cassandra had arrived early, six of the seats had already been filled. She took a seat on the end just in time for Marcus to arrive to represent his own faction.
“Welcome to negotiations,” Osmond greeted them from the middle of the U. “All decisions made here are final. There will be no trading after the fact and no sharing either. Who gets what territory is all up to you to decide. I am only here to observe.”
After his short introduction, Headmaster Osmond sat at a desk prepared in the corner of the room behind them. If his intent was to make them uncomfortable he had succeeded, but thewy couldn’t forget this was all part of a longer test.
“Why don’t we start by marking out the territory we are most interested in and see how things go from there?” Cassandra suggested. She needed to see who she was up against and which territories were obviously favored.
They each took a pin and stuck it in their favored territory on the map. There were three pins in Kol, two in Omaris, one in Silvin, one in Herdin, and the last in Rutin. Cassandra had tried for Omaris, but had immediately gained a rival for it.
“Should we confirm the territories with only one pin first?” the one who had marked Silvin asked, “Then the rest of you can work yours out.”
“Let’s do that,” Cassandra agreed. A mad scramble for territories that originally had no competition would do no one any good. “Shall we start with Omaris?”
“You can have Teber if all you want is a trade territory,” the other who had marked Omaris immediately argued, “We need the central location of Omaris or we will be too far separated from our faction alliances.”
“I also have an alliance with Marcus and now Herdin,” Cassandra replied, “Cattle and other livestock cannot cross the border because of Beraud’s parasite protection policy.”
“Since you know so much about Beraud’s policies, your faction will do fine in Teber,” they pointed out.
It seemed they would not be willing to budge on this one and they did make a fair point. Besides, no one in her faction actually wanted to deal in the livestock trade.
“Alright,” Cassandra agreed, “My faction will take Teber.”
With that settled, the three way battle for Kol began with Silvin already off the table. Whether it was out of pity or the sheer desperation of the representative, Nathan’s faction successfully acquired Kol. The other two quickly agreed to Flaxen and Fisher for their territories, leaving behind both Merk and Dyment.
It was at this point the Headmaster reminded them of his presence. “We can’t have leftovers,” he asserted, “Check under your seats. The two who find the ‘winner’ card will start negotiations for their faction’s second territory.”
Cassandra had a sinking feeling as she watched the relief on some of their faces before anyone even moved. She hadn’t thought to check her chair. It looked like Marcus hadn’t either. Sure enough, both had chosen seats with ‘winner’ cards. The last two seats that had been available at the table, in fact. That seemed too convenient to be a coincidence.
“Can I have Dyment?” Cassandra asked without missing a beat. Dyment wasn’t the best, but she absolutely could not accept Merk. That was the only one her faction had unanimously agreed they must not get.
Marcus was a bit surprised by her instant decision, but readily agreed. “Dyment and Merk have a lot of dealings together, so I guess we will be working together after all.”
“Thank you,” Cassandra told him.
Headmaster Osmond stood and gave them each the management stamp for their faction’s territory, or territories. Cassandra stared at her two ornate stamp boxes full of mixed feelings. She had been sent to get once territory and she ended up with two, neither of which were their first pick.
“Congratulations on obtaining your first territory,” Osmond told them, “Now I suggest you start packing. You will be living there for the duration of the next semester.”
“How will that work for those of us with two territories?” Marcus asked.
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Osmond smiled at him as if he had been waiting for this very question. “Well, I suppose you will have to split up.”
They would have to split up? This must be why he had specifically brought up the rule about not sharing. It would be far easier to split if they could get another faction involved. She would need to talk to her faction about this. It was a good thing they had already decided to gather everyone to reveal and discuss the territory she would win. She just got a bonus they would need to discuss as well.
Marcus caught her before she left. “Can I discuss things with you after your team meeting?” he asked, “I think it would be best for us to keep working together however we can from now on.”
“Of course,” Cassandra agreed, “I will let you know what we manage to figure out.”
Now it was time to get into the real discussion. No one had been sure how long the negotiations would last, so they planned the meeting after lunch. Everyone arrived in the same empty classroom as last time well fed and ready for a lengthy discussion. However, none of them were prepared for the surprise Cassandra had for them.
Alois was the first to notice. “Two?” he asked, looking at the boxes in her hands, “Cassandra, please explain.”
She gave them a quick overview of how things had gone and the Headmaster’s sneaky plot for the extra territories. Cassandra also explained her reasons for taking Teber over Omaris and the unfortunate leftover choices of Dyment and Merk.
“We just barely dodged Merk,” Autumn realized with a groan, “Thank goodness it was Marcus.”
“It would have been a difficult battle,” Cassandra agreed, “The most concerning part of this is that Osmond said we would need to split up between these two territories.”
“So we will need to choose a leader for each,” Caleb realized with a grimace, “I’ll work on making a charm so we can communicate easier. We will still have important things to discuss, especially if we are split. The whole faction will probably take the fall with either one of the territories.”
That was an unfortunate possibility. “I can lead one,” Cassandra offered, “I have been preparing to work with Teber since Marcus mentioned how popular Omaris would be last night.”
“I can lead Dyment,” Maximus proposed, “I have actually been curious about their dye secrets since I heard of it.”
“I will follow Maximus,” Wayde decided.
Then began the decision of how everyone would be split. Everyone made their choice, though they did have to even things out just a little bit so neither territory had too many. They also had to consider skillsets and where each person would be most needed. Alois had actually brought up the point that his merchant expertise would be more useful in Dyment than in a territory full of other merchants.
That was how it was decided that Alois would join Maximus along with Wayde and Caleb. Keane, Autumn, Rena, and Juliane all decided to follow Cassandra to Teber. It was difficult creating the balanced split, but they eventually sorted things out. After that, Cassandra hunted down Marcus to have her promised discussion with him.
Once they met, he explained his faction’s split and how they worked things out. Marcus would be leading Merk and Lily would be leading Herdin as the one who wanted it in the first place. As expected, she would have Iris with her. Cassandra was a bit surprised to learn that Elliot was not only in Marcus’s faction but had chosen to join him in Merk.
Hopefully there wouldn’t be any issues with Marcus and Maximus working together.
==========
The ten territories of Nobility used for the training of the valuable talents that would guide the future of Tethia were each supervised by a specially appointed steward. This steward was appointed by the king of Tethia to help the students as well as run the territory during the off times. Every year, after the students finished their negotiations, these stewards would be given the official list of which faction had chosen their territory.
During this time, the stewards would meet in Omaris to share and compare so they could prepare for the hectic semester to come. After all, it was their duty to protect the citizens of their territory should a problem student attempt to cause any trouble. On the look out for problem students, the steward of Kol grumbled.
“It seems I got him this year.”
“Our fields haven’t recovered yet from last year,” the steward of Flaxen sighed, pitying her poor comrade, “If he messes with the mine, your people could lose their lives. We will have to make sure to prevent this.”
“What was that headmaster’s apprentice like last year?” the steward of Teber asked, “It looks like I got him this year.”
“That’s odd,” the steward of Dyment broke in, “My papers also show his faction. Could there be some sort of mix up?”
The steward of Omaris laughed. “It’s no mix up. Have you forgotten what that sneaky headmaster is like? He always makes his favorite students suffer.”
“It looks like we have a double as well,” the steward of Merk told the steward of Herdin with a grin, “They must be truly unrefined kids to choose us. I look forward to it.”
Just like the able bodied mercenaries in the territory of Merk, its steward was a muscled mass of a man. He also shared far too many of their mannerisms after spending too long there. The steward of Herdin did not appreciate his joke and pushed him aside.
“I am sure they had perfectly valid reasons for choosing us.”
“Or we were the last pick in the pool,” he pointed out.
“It will certainly be interesting to see how this year turns out,” the steward of Omaris mused, “So far, none of them has realized Teber’s full potential. With two territories on their plate, I doubt even the headmaster’s apprentice will be able to either.”