Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:05:22 -0800 (PST)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-J] Peace Talks Aren't Always Peaceful!
Tanami
Late Night, Day 1
/snip from Arlene's post/
"I know one thing that the Kataani could help us with," Corwin
stated.
"The Kataani healers could teach our healers some of the techniques
they
used. I have been around the medical center all afternoon, and I have
witnessed injured riders who were brought in on the verge of death,
walking out of the medical center!"
Rellik nodded, "Yes, the Kataani healers have skills that humans may
not."
"And magic," Sarilyn stated softly, thinking of the battle they had
just fought.
"Yes, perhaps even some of that might be shared," Rellik again agreed.
"But what can we offer the Kataani in return.
Corwin smiled, "I already have an answer for that. Seadragons.
Tanami, correct me if I'm wrong, but you were telling me about the
dangers your people face living under the sea. Certainly a wing of
seadragons could help with many of those?"
/end snip/
Tanami nodded, thinking back on her days spent living at Neaopi, and
then later on her own as a virtual exile. "Yes, definitely. Just as
your towns and villages are troubled by wild dragons, so too are our
outlying settlements threatened by wild seadragons. They do not attack
large cities such as Neaopi, but nor can all of our people live in such
well protected places."
"Why is this?" Hsina asked from her bed.
"Because, as on land, food must be grown to sustain the large
cities," Rellik put in. "The great kelp farms cover hundreds of square
miles of sea floor, and must be tended daily. So must our fisheries
and herds of...well, our equivalent of your herdbeasts."
"I hope," said Sarilyn wryly, that you aren't using those cute
dolphins as herdbeasts."
"No, but the army does use them as scouts," said Rellik. "Has any of
you ever wondered why our people maintain such a large and well
equipped army?"
"The thought had crossed my mind," said Corwin. "Surely not just on
our account."
"An army exists to fight," Hsina observed. "If it is not kept
occupied, it will find things to keep itself occupied. Almost
certainly this would include placing its own leaders in power over the
civilian populace."
"And since the Emperor remains in power, it means the army must have
a purpose for its day-to-day existence," Sarilyn concluded.
"And so it does," Tanami agreed. "The army must protect not only the
sources of our food supply, but also the lines of supply that lead back
to our cities. Seadragons are but one of the menaces that they must
confront, and the reason they are so well-organized into units of
different sizes is that one never knows where a threat may suddenly
arise, and how many soldiers may be needed to confront it."
"Aye, just like Lord Grouty has ships of his own that patrol the
waters to make the pirates keep their heads down," Corwin agreed.
"Without them, the pirates would become so bad that it would be
impossible to have any seagoing trade."
"And without that trade, Cabral could not exist," said Rellik. "It is
the same for Neaopi and our other cities. As my niece just said,
seadragons are just one problem. There are many others, some even
worse."
"Like the kraken we fought to get through to where the Emperor was
imprisoned," said Tanami. "Even with four seadragons, we were
hard-pressed to hold our own, and in the end it was magic from Keersach
that turned the tide in our favor."
"The list of such enemies is long," Rellik agreed. "The Shadow
Stalkers are perhaps the worst."
Tanami shuddered. "When Kethriss and I lived on our own in the sea,
we were in constant fear of encountering them. It was only through
luck that we found our way here before that happened."
"What are those?" Corwin asked. "I've never heard of anything such
as that."
"We do not know," said Rellik, looking grim. "Few have ever seen
one...and those who have been found alive after encountering them are
reduced to mad ravings. They strike in the dark, silently, at isolated
outposts and farms. Even the army has learned to use great caution
when one of their attacks occurs."
"I have heard army officers say that it is useless to try and pursue
them into the dark depths," said Tanami. "If you send out a hundred
soldiers, they come back and report that they have seen nothing and
could find no trail to follow. If you send out ten men, they do not
come back at all."
Corwin cleared his throat. "This sounds like a bigger challenge than
I thought," he admitted. "I was thinking in terms of things like
chasing off marauding sharks and squid, or Kataani bandits. It looks
like our knowledge of what is out there in the deeps is...well, to coin
a phrase, we've just scratched the surface."
Rellik nodded. "Just so," he said. "Your wing is composed of mainly
young riders and dragons. I recommend that tonight, while I am
instructing young Sarilyn here on Kataani protocols, you speak with
Tanami and decide how much help your wing can provide."
(Tag Arlene - I assume this would take place after the current
meeting breaks up?)
"I foresee one additional problem," said Rellik. "It may just be the
imaginings of an old scholar...what we really need is a professional
soldier to comment on this." He looked back and forth from Hsina to
Corwin. "You two are the closest we have here right now, so I put this
question to you: If you offer the support of your wing and you DO
succeed in supplanting even some of the army's functions, how do you
believe the commanders would react to this?"
Corwin looked thoughtful. "I remember that when Tara formed our
Maritime Wing, there was grumbling from a few Alpha Wing riders that we
were cutting into their territory...and that despite the fact that
their dragons can only go out to a distance of several miles offshore,
whereas our seadragons can only come in about that far inland.
Everyone realized early on that we weren't really competing with each
other, though. We were doing separate duties, except when it involved
wraith attacks right along the shoreline."
"But my uncle brings up a good point," said Tanami. "Unless we place
our wing under command of the Kataani military - which I do not think
we can do - we will no doubt rouse some bad feelings among Imperial
officers and soldiers who feel they are being 'displaced,' whether this
is actually happening or not."
Rellik turned to Hsina. "Queenrider, I know it is your intention to
take part in the negotiations, but I must ask you to consider that a
soldier - when threatened - will instinctively strike at the weakest
point of his enemy. And you, my dear, are this warren's weakest
point."
Hsina's eyes went round as saucers and she moved her hand
instinctively to where her sword hilt would have been had it not been
taken off and placed in the corner of the room. "Explain yourself,
scholar," she said.
"I am not speaking of your fighting abilities, Queenrider," said
Rellik, holding his hands up placatingly. "I mean to say that if one
wishes to weaken an enemy, one destroys that which the enemy needs but
cannot replace. In the case of Jasra Warren, that is you. Without you
and your queen, the warren loses its ability to expand Corwin's
Maritime Wing, or even to replace losses. Finding the odd seadragon
egg on the shoreline simply cannot give the needed numbers.
Queenrider, I ask you to reflect on what will go through the minds of
certain Imperial army officers if Jasra Warren offers the aid of its
joined seadragons. Any who might be so minded to prevent this from
happening might...just might...look to eliminate that possibility by
eliminating the one person without whom the alliance could not become a
reality. I think, Queenrider, that in your own interests and that of
the warren, that you let Lecia preside over the talks to avoid making
yourself a possible target."
(Tag Andrew)
* * * * * *
Later, in Sarilyn's quarters
"And now, we must begin getting you ready," said Rellik. He handed
Sari a thick, dusty tome that he had hurriedly retrieved from his
quarters before Lunath had brought them here. "This is an etiquette
manual for the Kataani imperial court. It looks old, I know, but
nothing has changed in over a hundred years."
"There's quite a lot here," said Sarilyn, leafing through the book.
"And it's not even written in our language."
"I have a proposal to make," said Rellik. "It will probably cause
some ill-feelings at first, especially from the likes of Baron
Kiriisha...but it might work to our advantage. It occurs to me that
since we are not at the Imperial Court but rather at Jasra Warren, it
is incumbent upon the visiting delegation to learn the ways of their
hosts. If I know Emperor Toru, he has already thought of that.
However, Baron Kiriisha and the others probably have not and will not.
And I do not think the Emperor will tell them."
"Why not?" Sarilyn asked.
"Because he wants to test us," said Rellik. "See how formidable we
are - you notice how he refused to support Kiriisha's demands earlier?"
At Sarilyn's nod, he continued. "My recommendation is this - you
learn enough Imperial Court protocol to show that you are at least
somewhat knowledgeable in the ways of our people - but make it clear
that the negotiations will be carried out under local customs. This
will put them at an instant disadvantage, and will doubtless gain some
points with the Emperor."
(Tag Jeanette)
NRPG: Got a couple more things I'm working on, hopefully will get the
rest out tonite or tomorrow.
Submitted by:
John
Tanami and Kethriss
Rellik and Leviathan
Jasra Warren
Summary:
Late night, day 1: Tanami, Rellik, Corwin, Hsina, and Sarilyn hold a
"strategy" session in Hsina's room at the med center, where they talk
about the upcoming negotiations and potential problems that may arise
from them.
Later, Rellik goes to Sarilyn's quarters with her to begin
instructing her in Kataani protocol. He suggests to her that they put
the Kataani off balance by insisting that local customs take precedence
over the rigid Kataani rituals.
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