Sir Shahin. Are you prepared?

Shahin's fingers twitched out of habit, first towards his sword and then towards a sign. It was only belatedly that he remembered Sir Garner's telepathy charm was two-way. Settling his hands again, he fixed the mage with what he hoped was a neutral expression.

Why shouldn't I be prepared? He willed back. The peace summit is most likely the most important diplomatic event I will ever attend. It would hardly be sensible to rush in unprepared.

The corners of Garner's mouth tightened ever so slightly. That is not what I meant.

It's what you're getting, Shahin shot back. I hope King Gavin doesn't mind if I visibly loathe that brat Johnathan. I don't think I have it in me to fake a smile at the man who cut out my tongue.

Garner rewarded him with a razor-sharp, cunning grin that lasted just a moment before facing away into polite neutrality. In truth, I think a smile would unsettle him even more. We wouldn't want our dear prince to think we were up to something, now would we?

Shahin's reply was cut off by the scrape of wood on stone— the door slid open, and the delegation arrived.

First in was Adeline, in shining armor but without a helmet. Shahin was hardly surprised; he could count on his fingers the number of times he had seen her leave the prince's side. Her sword was strapped to her side, the worn handle at odds with obvious expense of her armor and fine garments beneath. Her eyes flickered across the faces of the waiting knights and royalty, glittering with barely contained loathing.

When he eyes settled on Shahin, he gave her a grin that was all teeth and little humor.

After Adeline came a boy Shahin didn't recognize, his face covered with odd markings. A mage, perhaps? The lad looked rather reedy to be a knight, and for some reason was wearing absolutely nothing in the way of armor, despite the shortsword at his side. A rough-looking woman with armor and hair in Andrea's seafaring style followed, strange silver eyes flickering across the room in a soldier's practiced assessment of danger-ally-uncertain-harmless. The prince himself was behind the sailor woman, dressed in subdued colors made of fine material and followed by two middle-aged knights, one of whom looked strangely familiar. Gray eyes lit upon him, hardened, then directed themselves to the king seated at the smooth wooden table.

Sir Shahin. Your assessment, if you please?

At the mage's prompting, Shahin narrowed his eye and gazed at the group, waiting for the telltale buzz of illusion. After a moment, he relaxed ever so slightly and willed his thoughts to the other knights behind King Gavin. Clear. I don't sense any illusions.

For his troubles, the four other knights connected by Garner's charm rewarded him with a low murmur of thought broadcast over magic. Shahin grimaced ever so slightly— this particular application of telepathy was a novelty to him, and the jangling of multiple minds against his was bound to give him a headache before long.

Adeline and the boy have some sort of magic on them, Meric reported, her mind as smooth and deep as a forest pool. Adeline's is minor— it feels like the charms we put on armor to strengthen it. As for the boy...I don't know exactly what it is. It's some of the strongest magic I've ever felt, but I don't think he's actively sustaining it.

Tedric is a known quantity, Lady Ophanim, Garner interjected. Should this come to combat, I will engage him personally.

You got it, m'lord, Cassius answered, all sly humor and biting wit. I'm more a lover, anyways.

I count two hidden knives on Adeline, right and left boots, Andrea announced, her mental voice somewhat subdued. Shahin resisted the urge to turn and look at her; though three weeks had passed since he dragged her from the forest, desperately looking for a mage who could break the enchantment the fey lord had laid upon her, she had not said a single word to him. The charm had required Garner's personal attention—though the senior mage had reported the procedure a success, Shahin feared the damage had already been done.

And the others? Cassius inquired. If that sailor girl's not packin' at least four I'm the queen of Elusia.

She might be, but if so she's better at concealing them than I am at spotting them. Andrea's thoughts felt thoroughly annoyed in the Elusian's general direction. I can't tell for sure with her. Tedric's got one up his sleeve, but he keeps fiddling with it. There's no way in hell he's got the skill to throw it and surprise the king. Boot knives for the other two, and I don't think the prince is carrying any at all. Idiot.

That sentiment was so distinctly Andrea that Shahin allowed himself to relax ever so slightly. Perhaps the damage was no so severe as he initially suspected.

The Elusians arranged themselves in a half-circle behind the king, mirroring their Adrigolan counterparts. The prince took a hesitant step forward, then another, more certain one.

It begins, Garner announced with a tone equal parts wary, pleased, and hungry.

"King Gavin Ilbertus of Adrigole," Prince Johnathan announced in impressively even tones. "Greetings and—"

"Enough blather." The king's hard rasp cut the prince off mid-sentence, and Shahin tried not to enjoy the stunned look on the brat's face, or the furious one on Adeline's. "Take a seat, Prince Johnathan. I have a city to siege and no great expectations from this summit. If you'd dispense with the pleasantries that no one here believes, we can get down to business."

It took a moment for the prince to figure out exactly how to respond; after a moment, he seemed to settle on 'coldly furious'. "If this is how Adrigole handles diplomacy, it's a wonder your nobles haven't roasted you on a spit."

The king's eyes rose form the middle distance and fixed on Johnathan's, cold and dark as a winter night. "This isn't diplomacy, child. Diplomacy is haggling over tariffs so the skinflint fishmongers pay their share to the war effort without rising up in revolt. Diplomacy is gently reminding the traders from across the sea that whatever the custom in their homelands, Adrigole has a taboo against public nudity. This is a perfunctory measure against an opponent who is defeated and knows it. If that's not to your liking, perhaps you should consider replacing your generals with cannier examples of the class."

A muscle worked in Johnathan's jaw. Eyes blazing, he stared down the Adrigolan king with the righteous fury uncannily like that of his fa—no Shahin, don't think about Him. It will make you soft, and vengeance brings pleasure only to those who are hardened— the righteous fury of a ruler scorned. "In that case, Gavin, why am I here?"

A jolt of white hot anger flashed through Garner at the slight—Shahin was no expert, but he was fairly certain abandoning a king's title was tantamount to spitting on their throne. Murmurings of thought hummed from the other knights—pensive consideration from Meric, sharp humor from Cassius. However, King Gavin made no visible reaction, showing he had either masterful self control or genuinely considered the insult uninteresting. Shahin was unsure which boded worse for the Elusian prince.

"Why are you here?" The king mused, the set, craggy lines of his face at odds with the thoughtful tone. "This is a room of little grandeur, in a castle pertaining to a minor nobleman who has recently been disenfranchised, in territory which is firmly under the control of the Adrigolan army. It lacks the panache you Elusians are said to value so much, and if I had the slightest doubts about my abilities to conquer your country this would prove the perfect opportunity to kill you and send your forces into disarray."

King Gavin leaned forward and folded his arms on the table. "You're here because I've captured three of your cities, one of which housed a substantial number of your troops. The location of this meeting is not something anyone would agree to if they weren't quite desperate. This, Prince Johnathan, was a test to see how dedicated you were to preventing the Adrigolan army from crushing your country under its heel. The answer, apparently, is very dedicated indeed."

The prince was very still. "A test that I have failed, it would seem."

"Quite the contrary. It's an understandable failing in a country as soft as Elusia, but it makes your not-quite-spoken threats to leave rather hollow. Sit down."

Prince Johnathan did not make a move. "I'd rather stand."

For a moment, Shahin wondered if the king would force the boy to sit—Adeline's hand on the hilt of her sword certainly challenged him to try. After a moment, however, the king shrugged. "If you'd like to posture and preen for your pretty knight, then that's not my concern. Standing or sitting, it's not like I'll magically find you intimidating."

The prince remained as stiff as a board, eyes fixed on the king. "We've talked quite a bit about why I'm here. Why are you here? You must know that with five knights against five knights, at the moment I stand at least a threat to you."

King Gavin responded with a humorless smile. "Think that if you like, boy. To answer your question: I am capable of putting this land and its cities to the sword, breaking its nobility, scattering its people, and supplanting it entirely with Adrigolan settlers until the mere name Elusia is nothing but a string of syllables to be blotted from the histories of Adrigole." The prince was very, very still. Adeline had a white knuckled grip on her sword. "And yet...why would this interest me?"

Johnathan blinked. Shahin did the same.

"It is the work of a few years to conquer your lands, Prince Johnathan. It is the work of decades of concentrated to systematically eradicate everything which would impede Adrigolan settlement. Your rich ports would require razing, rebuilding, and time to reestablish relations with far-off nations. Your people would take even longer to forget their ways, and until then would watch and sabotage the invaders at every turn. Your nobles would lead revolts—revolts doomed to fail, but not before requiring time and resources to eradicate. Even after all this is accomplished, I suspect what was once Elusia would remain an economic cesspit for perhaps a century to come, its structure and populations stripped away and requiring even further attention to recreate. This is time and money Adrigole is capable of investing, but not something we want to take. It would be centuries before the empire was able to reap the benefits of its investment, and perhaps an incompetent manager will grow tired of the process and abandon the place to it's fate."

Johnathan's expression had lost its rigid fury, though Adeline remained unmoved. Instead, he looked...pensive.

"And you think you have a way to avoid this. I would not have to face the slaughter of my people, and you would not need countless years of subjugation and reconstruction."

The king's face creased in what Shahin eventually realized was a smile. "Now you're getting the hang of it, lad. Now here's a question for you: what sort of bond will be sufficient to cement Elusia as a province of the Adrigolan empire? What will be enough for your nobility, your traders, your peasants to kneel to the throne in Erenad? I ask this genuinely—you gain nothing if I spend years successfully subjugating rebellions, and I gain nothing if I must devote my time and energy to this chore. Your people are not mine, and I do not understand them. What will they respect?"

The prince's eyes were locked with the king's for an endless moment. Then, in the space of a handful of seconds, Johnathan seemed to age far beyond his scant handful of years, seeming as worn and drawn as a man twice his age.

"I can think of only one thing. The same thing which helped my ancestors unite Elusia into a peaceful kingdom." Adeline's eyes instantly widened, and she turned to face Johnathan with a look of true shock. "A marriage. Mine, to be precise, into the Adrigolan court. You have a daughter, do you not?"

"I do." King Gavin's voice had lost none of its hardness, but seemed warmer nonetheless. "A daughter who would eat you alive if you batted your pretty eyelashes at her wrong. If you are under the impression that she would willingly take a subordinate role to you, I will be happy to disabuse you of the notion now."

"I...no. I have no such expectation, King Gavin. If it will save my people, I will submit to your daughter, becoming her prince-consort and bringing Elusia peacefully into Adrigole in such a way." The prince's dulcet tones were worn out and utterly sincere.

Victory, thought Garner.

Vengeance, thought Shahin, and wondered when the thought had lost its savor.