Elven Diplomacy, Dwarven Issues II

Meanwhile

"I'm telling you, no, I'm commanding you! Follow your orders!" Alain screamed at Commander Alfred Dalonas as he just stood there leaning over his desk and checking through paperwork.

"We will not attack those we have been sworn to protect!"

"You have executed those who go against the rule of the king!"

"Because they were attacking my soldiers and rebelling already! We were containing the chaos they could have caused!"

"This could cause even more!"

"Slaughtering these people will destroy the city! Have you gone mad?! The entire place could go up in smoke due to these actions! You cannot fix this if we start!" Alain was fuming and looked as if he was going to pop a vein in his forehead.

"How dare you ignore my commands!"

"I don't take orders from you! My orders come from the king! I have already sent a messenger explaining the situation is under control! He needs this city to continue running for the trade it provides!" The noble looked as if he didn't know what to do, twitching and fidgeting as multiple thoughts, one of which was to try and strike the commander, flowed through his mind.

"You'll regret this."

"Noted." The fat noble stormed out of the office, flustered and angry that the military wasn't kissing his shoes. Alfred just sighed and sat down as his lieutenant took some steps from the door.

"Sir, he's going to send his own envoy to the king… we have to stop him somehow…"

"He'll do it regardless of what we attempt. Damn those nobles! Don't they see what will happen if half the population gets exterminated? Open rebellion! Word will get out that we assaulted one of our own cities! We'll have a civil war on our hands! We still don't even know what keeps taking out the towns to the west, and now they want internal strife?! This is the end of the kingdom… I just know it…"

"Sir… what if we… ambush the envoys?" the lieutenant asked, coming up with a plan. It was for the good of the people after all.

"Are you mad? We can't just… we can't… th-those envoys are… could we…?" None of the men sent out to speak with the king were his beyond the first.

"If we can get a group of ours ready, we can have the checkpoints alert us when someone is heading towards Aureos. That should give us a chance to catch them and end that threat."

"He won't send just one, he'll keep sending them as often as possible until we get replaced."

"We could forge a document from the king that he accepts our actions as noble. It will take time, and it could get the mercenaries that are out of work on our side, potentially getting some to sign up with the contingent of men we have." Alfred rubbed his long beard and nodded.

"That sounds good. If there is any hope of success, it's in this plan. Let's get to work."

Midnight

Selene received a knock on her door as the honor guard had allowed someone to wake her up. She rolled over and got up. "Who is it at this hour?" she grumbled out as she put on a robe and slowly walked to the entrance to her royal quarters.

Elsei was at the door once the empress cracked it open. "Oh, hey, what's wrong?" she asked quietly. The others were asleep, bar Morlan who was up late and talking to his parents. The hallways had turned off all normal lights in the palace and swapped to low powered LED strips embedded in the floor and ceiling, giving up a cool and peaceful atmosphere, intentionally trying to help anyone who lived there to rest well and not have eye strain.

"I'm… my apologies, I've woken you far too late, I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm sorry I requested your honor guard to let me pass and speak with you."

"Elsei, you've already got me up. Just tell me." The door opened fully as Selene motioned for her to come inside and sit down. The guards at the door closed it quietly as the elf kept her eyes averted from looking at the auburn-haired woman while she sat on her bed and waited.

"You may be wondering why they followed us all this way to your castle."

"Well, it was a little surprising they tracked you this far. I didn't tell my soldiers to keep an eye out for your kind and it wasn't as if they were on a watchlist, given we aren't at war with them." The blonde shifted on the couch and lightly touched the luxurious throw pillow next to her.

"That question was brought up." The empress exhaled with her mouth puckered and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how to answer.

"I was curious as to why, but if you wanted to share, that's your prerogative. The way I see it, helping your people against that threat might have gotten me some brownie points, though that might be pointless given your nobility are arrogant dicks that look down on everyone not them." The elf looked up at her.

"You know that Mladris is royalty?" she asked.

"I had a hunch, given her armor and the tiara." Elsei looked out the window and watched the snow still coming down. It continued for the past day, off and on, turning the valley into a winter wonderland. While it was cold, even with new clothes that the empress made sure both of them had received, they could always come back into the nice warm palace. While the elf didn't really show it emotionally, to her, this was far better than anywhere they had lived. She still didn't know why her empress allowed them to continue staying here, even though they just toadied along when she traveled. Selene herself didn't feel the cold anymore with her cold resistance being incredibly high, well past one thousand now.

"She is the princess of our people. Her mother, as you may have guessed already, is Queen Ynshael Silverleaf. To answer the next question, yes, they are alike in attitude towards others they deem below our people… at least at the beginning. Ynshael is… odd, compared to Mladris. You would need to speak with her to know what I am talking about. She does not have the same… understanding… of the outside world." Selene let out a dry chuckle.

"I had a feeling that was the case. Does the whole of the nobility act that way?"

"To an extent. There has never been a change in the casts… at least… until one hero of ours showed up."

"Hero?"

"Yes. My mother… she is the one that defeated the first faith eater."

"Ooooooh… I see…" the picture was coming together for the empress. "I can see why they wanted you to go back and handle this one. Well, everything is taken care of, so your mother can sit around, though I guess she wanted to see you?" Elsei let out a trembling sigh.

"She's… the hero that is locked away, frozen in a crystal of unknown creation."

"Oh, you said something about that once before. The… oh what was her name… there was an A in it…"

"I am… sorry to say… unaware of what that might refer to." Selene cocked an eyebrow.

"You mean to say you don't know your own mother's name?"

"She went by many names from what she had told me, traveling abroad before settling down. I really only knew her as mother, that was what I called her, and she always answered to my voice. I believe the name she used was Mitsuri. There is no A in that name." The dev shifted on her bed and pushed back some stray hair dangling. Despite what most might think an empress would look like as she woke up, Selene seemed unkempt obviously, with her hair in disarray.

"Oh… so, maybe there was more to this than meets the eye? Did they want you to go back and maybe, I don't know, see her, or, hmm, pay your respects or something?"

"It is possible. Given what I have needed to do in the past, they might believe I could try again."

"I'm not sure what you're saying."

"My… calling."

"Calling? You mean, your job class?" Elsei nodded to that. "Ah, so, what, a warrior, ranger…"

"Guardian Priestess."

"Oh. Does the halberd factor into that?" The elf shook her head.

"It would have normally been a mace or staff… I… chose to use anything other than those now that I am alongside Morlanion." The dev waggled her eyebrows a little and blinked, sniffing to clear her nose and help wake herself up a little more.

"Well, um, you are what you make of yourself after all, you don't need to be a priestess anymore in my empire if you don't want to."

"I thank you for that."

"Well… I… take it since you fought one, a faith eater… wait, hang on, your mother fought one as well?" Selene asked, her brain waking up to that question rolling around and finally passing her lips, swapping thoughts mid-sentence. Elsei nodded to answer.

"That I know of, this would be the third time one has shown up. The last time was… about one hundred years ago." That made the empress's eyebrows raise as she blinked at her.

"Sheesh, well, it seems they might be rare at least… a century ago, wow… so you're…"

"I shall admit, I am one hundred eighty years old by your standards."

"I doubt I'll live that long for this joke to work, but I hope I look as good as you at that age." Elsei gave a slight grin at that.

"As I have seen, many things are possible, even a much longer life, or immortality, if you strive for it." Hrist twitched in her bed while clutching one of her prized plushies as if something poked her.

"Yeah, well… who knows, right? So, your mother took one out, and… what… how did she get imprisoned in the crystal?" Elsei tried to remember all the details as it was so long ago.

"She used a… sort of… artifact if you believe it as such; I am unsure though how it did that to her. The artifact was supposed to drain all power from a creature, mana, everything. It… might have reacted to the energies the faith eater used and… trapped her." The elf looked slightly distraught at remembering those memories that she had cast from her mind so long ago. She had seen it with her own eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that happened. Did you use the same artifact on the next one? Probably not, right? I mean, you aren't stuck in a crystal…"

"I was very nearly in the same prison as my mother."

"Oh. Shit… um… how did… how did you manage to escape?" The blonde moved the pillow behind her back and straightened up a little.

"I stopped using it halfway and proceeded to sacrifice the trees in my name to crush it and keep it still."

"Wait, with the fog?"

"The trees absorbed all of it to protect me, killing them in the process, then used their fallen to contain the creature. Once it was still, I harnessed as much divine magic as I could muster to destroy the creature, severely weakened as it was."

"Wow. You managed to do this on your own?" Selene was surprised a level 35 had done it solo… if she was even a level 35 at the time the battle took place. They had a raid the last time and people were dying constantly. Hrist and the dev hadn't gone all out for that, but it was clear these things were no joke.

"There was… some help… a boy that liked me was willing to lead the puppets away from the area while I dealt with the eater. Once it was defeated… I… was confused, incredibly dazed. I was not in the right state of mind, not thinking clearly at all. I wandered off, just barely to the edge of the woods. There were slavers ready to capture any who showed up, I didn't have the strength or the mind to even fight. The rest… I'd rather not tell. That is a story only Morlan would know about."

"I'm sorry. That must have been harsh." Elsei seemed to smile a little.

"Well, there were some bright points. I was supposed to… would have… been betrothed to the prince once I returned, as you have now heard."

"You said something about this during breakfast. I take it you didn't want this, from what was already explained." The elf cocked her eyebrow.

"Perceptive. Yes, it was an arranged marriage. It would not have worked out."

"Didn't like him?"

"It wasn't that… you'll see it if they ever come here. I'm… sorry I woke you to explain this, I simply knew you'd be confused if there was another meeting. I wanted to make sure I was not… what is the saying… leaving you in the dark?"

"I can pick up pretty quickly on the hints once they rear up, though thank you for the abridged version. Hopefully Miss "I'm better than you" won't come stomping around again for a while." Elsei chuckled, the first time the empress had heard her do that.

"I should let you get back to sleep."

"Elsei." The elf stopped getting up and looked at Selene.

"Are you afraid to go there? Is that why you are telling me all of this and wanted me to help?" The blonde hesitated for some seconds before answering.

"I… am… worried they hold me on a pedestal in the forest, since the last time I defeated a faith eater and my heritage. I… would think that I have changed too much from their view of me before… and… I don't want to open past wounds. Queen Ynshael may ask for… she may ask to reengage her son to me now that I have been found again. My heart belongs to another obviously. The other issue is… they may hope I might be able to free my mother somehow from her prison. I tried once before… and I failed. I do not believe it is possible to shatter that crystal, ever."

"It's not as if she can force you to obey."

"I'm worried she will not take no for an answer."

"And? It doesn't matter if she doesn't take no for an answer, she has to deal with it or deal with the consequences. Me" Selene told her calmly, a smirk playing onto her mouth.

"I'm afraid Queen Ynshael will not see the power that you wield and blunder into an event she cannot get out of, just like Mladris. As I said, she's… odd. I fear that you may need to resort to a show of… force…"

"I'll try and make sure there are examples if she makes an appearance." The dev exhaled and wiggled her left foot, ready to climb back into her bed already.

"Do you still have that artifact?" the dev asked, a slight questioning wince popping onto her face.

"I do not own it. It is closely guarded by my people, and… I dropped it during the battle. They must have retrieved it since then, once they surveyed the destruction and attempted to find survivors."

"I see… well, that's interesting to note. Thank you for sharing all of that with me. I… I don't know why you did it, I wasn't pushing for any of it, but thank you."

"This was simply to make sure if she does travel this way… you are at least somewhat informed. I was not intending to tell you my entire past. Sleep well, your majesty." The elf got up slowly then bowed and turned around, heading for the door to leave. As she left, Selene just huffed at her bangs and climbed back into her bed, hopefully getting back into the dream she was in.

Morning

Selene got up and headed down for breakfast only to see Elsei staring at her, blinking. "What's wrong?" she asked. The elf averted her eyes and pointed at the front door. A quick check from her security and she noticed they hadn't raised the alarm involving a certain form keeping its distance from the castle, just watching. "Oh hell, god damn it… well, you did warn me…" she whispered. The queen of the high elves had shown up, with other forms coming up to her side, her daughter included.

The empress headed back upstairs to get changed quickly into some more regal attire, tasking security to head out and escort them to the gates and into the palace. The elves didn't unsheathe their weapons after being approached by the automatons, which was at least a good sign.

I really don't give a damn about the armor right now; I'm going in with a gown. I doubt intimidation or flashy gold plates will help anyways.

She put on a black steampunk Victorian dress and boots then headed downstairs to her throne room. Elsei sat down next to her with Morlan at her side, while the Rikter parents sat to the other side of her throne. The queen and her daughter, now also with her son Prince Ralyf, were led inside and stood there, surveying the throne. The queen seemed to noticeably gulp, as if she didn't want to be there and was worried about something. Then, just as quickly, she put on a mask of stone, with no emotion showing on her face. The clothes that Ralyf wore seemed… unbecoming of a man, given he instead decided to wear something that looked like a modified sailor scout outfit. It might have looked normal if he had a bust to fill out the chest, but he didn't.

"Priestess Elsei Ironbark" the silver haired elf responded in the middle, her small crown glinting. "Why did you not answer our request?"

"Queen Ynshael Silverleaf, my name is-" Selene started to introduce herself but was cut off almost immediately.

"I did not ask you to speak, human, nor do I care what your title is. It means little to me. Elsei, I say again, why have you ignored our summons?" The empress glared at her in annoyance.

"Excuse me?" Selene asked, her voice sounding cold and collected.

How… dare… she… in my home… is this what Elsei was warning about? Her being odd?

"I said, I do not care about your title, are you hard of hearing?" Ynshael said, no emotion showing on her face. Morlan tensed up. Shit was about to go down.

"Your majesty, please, she does not-" Elsei tried to calm her down as the empress stood up slowly and walked down the steps from her throne. The honor guard stationed at different points throughout the room all turned their heads and looked at the queen. Selene stood right in front of her, a few inches taller.

"You dare insult me, inside my own home? I kept my cool when your daughter acted unprofessionally before, but coming from a queen, what the hell are you thinking?" she asked, a look of disdain washing over her face. Hrist and Brynhildr came up next to her. The elite elven guard pulled their weapons at the invasion of personal space for their ruler, being incredibly stupid in their actions. They dropped from rapid taps done by the honor guard, dead before they even hit the ground. The automatons weren't taking shit from anything; the elves drew their weapons, after being told not to.

While the royal family was at first unimpressed before, believing these mechanical soldiers were just slow golems that the dwarves used, just more advanced knock offs, they now realized this empress was far from what they expected, their weapons leagues above what they thought possible. Mladris was in shock, with Ralyf soiling his pants at the sound of the machine cannons firing. It took all of two seconds for them to lose their escort, the honor guards tracking them carefully. The paneling in the pillars dropped, with auto turrets engaging and aiming straight at them. The three remaining elves were surrounded. A small swarm of spider mines crawled in and sat, ready to leap and detonate.

"Apologize, or your next. I'm done with people being giant douches when in or near my castle. I'm not taking this bullshit anymore." Ynshael's eyes were wide with fear, not sure what to do. "Very well then, ready, aim-"

"Wait! Wait! I… will apologize for my error. What is your name? Please… reintroduce yourself."

I wonder if I should extend my official title just to fuck with them now…

"I am Grand Empress Selene Cordell of the Clockwork Empire, Goddess of this Golden Valley." Mladris's mother seemed to be twitching her lips around, trying to form words but no sound was coming out. "Empress Selene should suffice if you can't remember all of that. By the way, you should use your imperial majesty to refer to me beyond my name or title… given I clearly outrank you." Her last words seemed to drip like venom from her mouth, her voice hinting she was holding back a little malicious intent.

"I… I…" was all that managed to come out of the queen's mouth. Lightning arced from Selene's dress twice to drive the idea of her being a goddess home, despite not actually becoming a real deity just yet.

Did I break her? Serves her right.

"Mother! You… you could use that… that… use wild magic on her!" Mladris said, trying to snap her out of it.

"Hoooooooold up. Wild magic?" Selene asked as everyone went dead silent, the honor guard moving in carefully. "From what little I've heard about it, that takes souls… does it not? Are you sacrificing people?" the empress asked, with the three elves in front of her now realizing what they say next could end them right there and then.

"Be silent Mladris! That is only for ending an impossible threat and the utter destruction of our people!" Ynshael yelled at her, fear etched in her eyes. She jumped and winced a little at being chastised by her mother. The dev was right in her face, mere inches away and smiling. Ynshael could almost see the fangs coming out of her mouth and the glint in her eyes.

"Care to explain? For the record… you currently are facing an impossible threat." The queen was sweating bullets. At that moment, she wasn't even sure if wild magic could save her.

Meanwhile

Commander Alfred stuck to the envoy like glue heading for the checkpoint that would allow him to leave Silvinholm. Despite Artinia taking full control of the city, a city that already belonged to the kingdom, it tended to act as its own fiefdom away from the rule of the king. While Alfred didn't want to create a bias towards either side, being simply in command of the men and women stationed here, he did believe the orders they were given were insane. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the king's rule was wrought with issues like this for some time.

The well-dressed messenger checked around him, not to see if he was being tailed, but to find out which street he needed to go down next. The commander continued after him, following right behind easily despite the crowd of people flowing throughout. As he got closer, he readied a knife covered in poison and reached his target. There was a side street that didn't usually have anyone constantly walking through it, which gave him the chance to strike.

The blade nicked the hand of the envoy as he recoiled in pain and held the arm, looking at him in the eyes in complete confusion as the poison quickly set in. As much as he hated doing this, there was no way he could afford the king finding out there would be no slaughtering of innocents. He couldn't imagine what would happen to the city if he went through with his orders. The place could become abandoned, causing trade to split away to nearby towns to take up the slack, probably destroying the economy. It could take decades, maybe centuries to rebuild what was lost due to such shortsightedness.

The envoy quickly fell to the ground, his heart stopping before he even hit. There was a scroll case hanging from his back which Alfred grabbed and pulled away quickly, checking the rest of the body as fast as he could to make sure it was what he was going for. The seal was correct as he stuffed the case in his cloak and slipped away immediately, with almost no time to lose just as a few people turned the corner and saw the messenger lying there… and ignored him. It was possible they thought he was drunk or passed out, except his eyes were wide open.

The commander headed back to his office and unraveled the scroll, looking it over and seeing what he had dreaded. It was warning the king that the commander was not going through with his orders, to send someone loyal to Silvinholm and remove him from command. "Damn you Alain… damn you for making me have to do this…" he whispered as he used a fire starter to burn the scroll, dropping it in his wood stove heater. There would be more in the future, with the nobles wondering why no response has come from their ruler. It took on average five days via horseback to reach the capital, with another five to come back with news.

It could take even longer for them to find a replacement commander or General to come with extra forces, so he had at least some time to send his own messenger informing the king that everything was going along smoothly. He didn't know how long he could keep this up, at least until the citizens calmed down and accepted the military as the policing force. The mercenaries were not taking this well, with a hefty chunk of them either leaving for other towns or becoming adventurers to receive some coin to eat and have a roof over their heads. Some were offered a chance to work in the army, to regain their old jobs with a lower pay.

Alfred checked the drawer of his desk and pulled out the bottle. It was already two-thirds empty. This whole plan was going to work on his nerves, he was sure of it.

One Hour Later

Selene sat back in a chair while the queen of the high elves begged for mercy, her hands clasped together and shaking. She had explained the reason why they had come here, what little information that she had involving wild magic, the one single spell she knew to cast, and why they needed Elsei. "You're bad at diplomacy if this is the way you come walking in here. Your cousins were a hell of a lot better at this when I saw them to the south." Mladris made to speak, but her brother put his hand up to not get their mother in trouble. "Ugh… that smell…" the empress muttered out as she realized that Ralyf had soiled himself. He did his best to stand as still as possible.

A quick cast of [Scrub] on him and he didn't need to take a bath or get new clothes. The prince no longer looked like he would start waddling with a payload, though his makeup was washed away as well. Despite being feminine in appearance, there was still the main signs of a male jawline and broad shoulders, just crossdressing fit into the equation. "So now you have everything I can tell you, your imperial majesty" Ynshael said in a pleading tone.

"Elsei, it's just the aristocracy that does this, right?" Selene asked. The blonde elf nodded. The dev sighed and leaned forward. "You need to learn some manners, Queen Ynshael. I would have been a lot nicer if you had just shown respect where it is clearly due. You have obviously no experience in going anywhere outside your forest. You're lucky that I even allowed you into my palace, given the previous actions of your daughter."

"M-much apologies… Empress Selene…" she stuttered out.

"Mother…" Mladris said, almost attempting to goad her into standing up to this human.

"Ah, you still want her to use that wild magic. So, if my information is correct now, that would have sacrificed a good chunk of your people for… what? Harming me? You'd do that just to go after someone you weren't at war with and start something that would end in your entire forest wiped out? That's foolish, Princess Mladris." Ynshael and Ralyf both glared at her, trying to show they didn't share the same mentality. The princess was oblivious up until now about what using that magic system would entail from her mother, the cost of her people. Now that she had that bit of knowledge, the look in her eyes showed she was extremely hesitant about her words and actions now.

"So, let me get this straight as to why you are here. You came to get Elsei, in an attempt to marry her to your son, so that afterwards said new royalty can meet with the dwarves and negotiate mining rights for mithril?" the dev asked.

"That's… correct… your imperial majesty…" Ynshael squeaked out, almost looking as if she would start hyperventilating any second. The empress sighed and stood up, with all three elves tensing up in front of her. She simply walked behind them and looked at the bodies of the rangers that had come with them, lying on the ground. "Do you have a purse of gold on you?" The queen looked behind herself and immediately pulled a small purse hidden in her dress, handing it to the auburn-haired woman. "Good. No way I'm spending my treasury on bringing them back."

With swift placement of two coins on each pair of eyes, she cast [Mass Resurrection] to bring them back to life, also informing Jeeves and the maids that the carpet would need to be shampooed. The fibers themselves would repel the blood that had spilled before and push it to the top, drying quickly in a thin film and scrubbed away without any effort, if any stayed after the resurrection. The empress wanted to make sure her throne room would not be in any way close to the king of Artinia in aura, behavior or feel.

Something Selene noticed was that the Ferryman looked straight at her after bringing back the souls of the guards, almost in an odd questioning glance of "Why am I bringing back those that you just ended?" It seemed despite being what he was, he did get confused and probably had a sense of humor.

"Hey idiots, don't start anything. We can just as easily return you back to the land of the dead. Your weapons get relinquished immediately." With that, Selene quickly turned around and tossed the purse back to the queen, no longer needing it. The rangers all looked highly confused, wondering what was going on. Mladris begrudgingly ordered them to keep from looking threatening in any way, now realizing there was no way to fight back. "Follow me. Also, let's make one thing very clear right now. Elsei is my citizen, my subject. She has freedom to pick and choose who she is with, no arranged marriages happen. Don't like it? Tough shit." The elves were unsure what just happened, but now they were ordered to walk behind the human woman to a small meeting room with a long table. The dev requested some tea to be brought in and some documents, very special documents, to be placed in front of her.

"What… do you want?" Ralyf asked quietly, his voice sounding lilted and a little high as she wrote down the race in a blank spot on the papers.

Huh, I know it doesn't work all that well, like maybe one percent of the time, but my gaydar is going off for him.

"Here's the deal. You've clearly come into my home and pissed me off. My guard killed your guard, I was ready to end your lives. You threatened to use wild magic, which from what I can see, is kind of like threatening to use Weapons of Mass Destruction. That's fact. You came here to take Elsei, my subject, and nearly force her into an arranged marriage. I'm just reiterating here; in case anyone has forgotten. Last time I checked, that's pretty much declaring war if you aren't aware. At least I'm considering it declaring war." Prince Ralyf looked as if he was going to soil himself again and faint right after.

"What… can we do to stop this?" Ynshael asked her. She was pushing her pointer fingers together, trying to keep her eyes focused on the table. She had gotten her people in a real mess now.

"Sign these documents saying your forest is annexed into my empire. You'll be entered into it, treated fairly and respectfully, just like the dark elves. You'd be surprised how little we'll interfere in your forest, just like your cousins, though they've been with us all of a week. They seem to like not worrying about slavery or indentured servitude, the safety and security we provide, the trade that is offered, capability to travel anywhere… too many benefits to name. I can request that King Weren and his daughter, Princess Silara, come here to attest to this if you need."

"You… want me to sign our surrender?!" Queen Ynshael said in utter shock.

"The other option is you don't sign, and we go to war, you know, the whole us invading thing. My army will be on your doorstep by the end of the day, probably nonlethal weapons… probably. Your people won't put up much of a fight, bar that wild magic you might think of using, and that will kill them instead of saving them. You'll still surrender, though from a military conquest standpoint, that will mean internment camps, holding your subjects for inspection, martial law, the list goes on. It won't be nearly as nice as just signing on the dotted line, heading back to your people and informing them of the situation. It's a lot smoother, they go back to their lives, just now a part of my empire. You'll still rule, I don't want to deal with untangling your traditions and elven law just yet, provided it doesn't cause a conflict with my own. I have enough on my plate as it is."

The three elves of the royal family looked at each other and blinked, unsure what to really say. "Don't do it mother! There's got to be some way we can-" Mladris started mouthing off, her overconfidence in their superiority dwindling by the word that escaped her mouth. While the high elves were in some ways better than the humans of Artinia, these humans they were speaking with were a whole new type of scary. What they didn't know was that the humans in that palace were special compared to the civilians in the towns.

"Shut up Mladris! You have always attempted to try and prove yourself against the humans! This time it will end in our destruction!" Ralyf snapped at her. "Far too headstrong!"

"Mladris, there is another of royal blood that seems to act just as you, or at least did. I'd suggest you do what she did and go on a cruise provided by Sweet Water" Elsei commented calmly.

"I would never be bought by… by… … dolphins?" she shifted gears mid-sentence, her voice suddenly sounding innocent. The princess, unlike Silara, had a glint in her eyes as a dream arose. It was as if her personality had performed a 180-degree turn. The thought of going to see cute sea creatures made her change her view of the empire that quickly. That surprised the dev.

She acts like an angsty teenager, then turns cute and bubbly! How old is she?!

"Dolphins" the blonde elf replied. Mladris went from arrogant and haughty to smiling giddily and lost in her dream of swimming with them. The mountains closed them off from the ocean, with the Kaldanas peaks extending in some cases to well over 20,000 feet, making flying on an eagle an adventure.

Good to know, elves like sea animals and being tourists. Oh god, I just got that picture in my head of seeing them with fanny packs and sunglasses, zinc on their noses and taking pictures of everything with magic cameras… Sweet Water might turn into a tourism spot…

Ynshael picked up the fountain pen and steadily wrote her name on the documents. There were tears building up in her eyes as she knew she was surrendering due to blustering into Selene's home, not realizing they couldn't intimidate anyone in the empire. This was not Artinia, not by a long shot. "It's… done…" she said, her lower lip trembling.

"Good. Now with that out of the way… you said you need mining rights for mithril. Let's see what we can do for that." The Silverleaf family looked surprised. "You're now my citizens. We do this. Now, why would you even need to have Elsei show up as part of your royal family? I'm seriously wondering why this is even a thing. Couldn't you just send an ambas… sad… or… oh… yeah…" Selene realized she had just told the queen that she was really bad at diplomatic negotiations. "Alright… well… that would explain why they didn't want to talk to you…"

Ynshael, despite being a high elf and probably as old as King Weren, was about to break into tears. "I'm not good at speaking to other races! It's not my fault! They always act mean when they meet with us! They called me names!" Her silver hair flowed as she started to sob, with Selene and Elsei confused and glancing at each other. A quick move of the empress's hand and the documents were removed from the drop path of her tears.

"Uh… wha… uh… there there… uh… it's… well… I don't know if I should say it's ok… damn it…" Selene watched as her son and daughter tried to console her as she brought a finger up to her eyes and push away tears.

What a weird family… very odd idiosyncrasies…

"Look… I… we will speak to the dwarves… obviously it will be easier than letting you do it…" Selene told her as she winced from the wailing and sniffling. Ynshael stopped sobbing and looked at her.

"You… you'll do it?"

"Yes… though it might not be immediately."

"B-but… we need it, to… to…" Ralyf started to say.

"You humans are disconnected from the rest of the world that you don't realize there are other threats to civilization!" Mladris snapped. The empress looked at her with a half-lidded gaze.

"We're disconnected? Look who's talking, Miss 'I can take you all on.' If you are referring to Artinia, yeah, we're handling it. We already dealt with the faith eater, by the way. 9th Brigade already reported in; the thing was turned into Chile Con Carne." The whole battle had taken a mere few seconds, as the creature had enough time to see a heavy tank knock over a tree, mulch the bark with its treads, turn its turret and fire. The fog didn't give it any help at all with the vacuum vehicles rolling around sucking it all up. If the fog was alive, the evaporators in the vehicles made short work of it as well.

"I wasn't meaning them! I mean the Drow!" That caught Selene off guard a little as she raised an eyebrow and was interested a bit more.

"There's an entrance cave from the under dark to your forest?" the empress asked, remembering what it was called when she had to do research for any fantasy game contracts. Ralyf nodded rapidly, his pigtails bouncing and the pink tassels in his hair flailing around. The whole motion looked rather weird coming from someone she knew was a man, even if he looked very feminine.

"The dwarves would allow us free mining of mithril in their mountains in exchange for trade of jewelry and clothing. It's surprisingly difficult for them to grow anything that can be used for cloth under that stone" Elsei informed the dev as she leaned in. It seemed logical to have that kind of relationship between them given they lived so close.