Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Five - Casus Antibelli

“Hello,” the grenoil Cold-Blooded Politician said. She was half a head taller than the other two, which meant that she reached about my nose in height. I imagined she was taking the lead because she was their leader, being a politician and all.

Not that I really knew enough about politics to comment.

“Hi,” I said. “Come on in, the water’s nice and warm and cozy.”

Awen scooted over to the side, even though there was plenty of room for everyone in the warm waters, and after just a moment of hesitating, the three grenoil dipped into the bath. They sighed, obviously quite pleased. “I was not expecting to meet a harpy, a bun, and a human here,” the grenoil lady said.

“There aren’t that many grenoil in Goldenalden either,” Amaryllis said. “I’m Amaryllis, Amaryllis Albatross. These are my friends, Awen Bristlecone and Broccoli Bunch.”

I waved at the three grenoil, my hand splashing out of the water to do so.

“Hello Lady Albatross,” the grenoil lady said. “And Lady Bristlecone and Bunch as well. A pleasure. I’m Sylvie Robespierre, and zese are my companions, Chloe, who is a secretary at ze embassy, and Lucrece; she’s one of my greatest friends in Goldenalden.”

“It’s good to have friends when you’re so far from home,” I said. “It makes it less lonely, and you know you have someone to rely on if you need the help.”

“It does help,” Sylvie said with an agreeing croak. “I must admit to a certain level of curiosity, it is not often zat we meet so many non-sylph in Goldenalden.”

Amaryllis leaned back against the smoothed stones around the edge of the bath. She slid her talons through her feathers, straightening them out where I’d been playing with them. “We’re here for the summit. I presume that it’s the same for you?”

Sylvie nodded. “It is. So, zis is a political meeting zen?”

“All meetings are political, once you can exert a certain amount of power,” Amaryllis said. “But I don’t think this has to be anything like that. Though, I would love to chat about the summit. I do have an agenda to push, after all.”

Sylvie chuckled, a raspy laugh that sent ripples across the water. “Of course. Well, I suppose I can’t blame you for trying. What agenda are you trying to push, exactly?”

“We want to avoid war,” Amaryllis said. “And we’re trying to discover those responsible for spurring on the nations gathering here towards a war that no one sensible wants.”

“Is zat ze opinion of all ze harpy?” Sylvie asked.

Amaryllis shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t have been possible for Rainnewt to create this narrative if the foundations for it weren’t laid out already.”

“Rainnewt?” Sylvie asked.

I decided to pipe up, to help Amaryllis since she was the only one talking. “He’s this big meanie who’s been trying to trick everyone into attacking each other. He started trouble here in Sylphfree, and in Port Royal and even in the Harpy Mountains. He’s very dangerous. We know that he’s destroyed some dungeons already, and I think that maybe he's trying to cover for that by fermenting war."

"Fomenting." Awen corrected. "It's 'fomenting war.'"

I blinked. "Really?"

"Ze little lady has ze right of it," Sylvie said. "But zat is quite ze accusation ... it stretches plausibility to its limit, and perhaps beyond,” Sylvie said. She turned to her friend, Lucrece, who nodded once. Sylvie’s brow rose at the confirmation. Did Lucrece have some sort of social skill?

“Is it truly that implausible?” Amaryllis asked. “My family is one of the largest producers of airships on Dirt. We stand to profit handsomely if widespread war breaks out, simply by launching new warships to bolster our navy and replenish any losses." She looked the grenoil square in the eye. "Since I am willing to throw all that away, it should give you some idea of how seriously I consider the threat presented by Rainnewt."

"It would certainly indicate you consider zese accusations to have merit," Sylvie agreed. "Perhaps you would be willing to share why you are so convinced?"

"Of course," Amaryllis nodded. "Our first encounter with him was when he sent me on a cartographic mission that resulted in me nearly being kidnapped, which he tried to pin on the Trenten Flats. Then, at a ball in the Nesting Kingdom, Rainnewt caused an explosion that killed multiple members of a sylph delegation ... Obviously you can see how that might spark a war between our two nations. Lastly, we believe he likely killed multiple dungeons around the Kingdom of Sylphfree, which I suppose is not directly likely to cause a war, but certainly speaks ill of his character."

Sylvie sat back in the water and regarded Amy for a long minute.

I started to fidget, despite myself. Awen looked a little nervous, herself.

“I’m not entirely sure I believe you,” Sylvie said. “Are you really so altruistic zat you’d come all ze way to Goldenalden to stop a war zat would help your family profit?” Sylvie asked.

I nodded. “Of course Amaryllis would. Under all the meanness and huffing she has a heart of gold. Besides, it would be wrong not to give it our all to stop something as awful as a war. So many innocent people would be hurt. If we don’t do what we can to help, then we’re in a small way responsible for them being hurt.”

Amaryllis huffed most mightily. She really couldn’t take a compliment.

“But let’s presume zat I do believe you,” Sylvie continued, “How are you trying to stop zis war from happening?”

“Well, we have a two-part plan,” I said while raising my hand out of the water. My poor fingertips were getting all wrinkly. “First, we’ll meet with the grenoil, the cervid, the sylph, and the harpy delegations to ask them nicely not to go to war and to explain that it’s not a very nice thing to do.”

Sylvie stared for a moment, then started to giggle. “I zink I see. Do go on.”

I only had my index left pointing up. “Well, the last part is to beg really really hard for people not to fight. Maybe we can even find Rainnewt and, like, arrest him or something. A lot of the things he’s done caused big misunderstandings, and he should at the very least apologize for those. He, he also caused people to die, which is... it’s bad.”

“I have ze impression zat you have a razer simple worldview.”

I laughed. “I prefer to call it optimistic. I’m just a small bun in a very big world, and there’s a lot of scary things out there, things that are really complicated. So I just hope that the world is a nice place, filled with people that are friendly deep down, and who aren’t all that different from me. They just need a friend, someone to listen and help them through the worst days they’ll face, when things are hard. Seeing people actively trying to hurt each other, because of things that aren’t important? That hurts.”

“You zink ze war would be over unimportant zings?” Sylvie asked.

“Wouldn’t it? Nationalism, patriotism, a huge emphasis on the things that are different from the people around you, instead of the things that are similar. I think they’re all rather dumb things to fight over.”

“Zose are what every war has been fought over,” Sylvie said.

I shrugged. “Then all those wars were dumb.”

Sylvie croaked with suppressed laughter. “Oh, you’re an opinionated young bun, aren’t you? I zink a few of ze lords and ladies zat fought in zose wars and who promoted zem would disagree. Worse, zey might find insult in what you say.”

“I’m not sure I can agree with someone who thinks that they should be proud about that kind of thing,” I said.

Sylvie eyed us for a moment, then leaned forwards. “Very well. Let’s say zat I enjoy your optimism. It’s certainly better zan ze way a lot of ze sylph around here zink. What exactly is your plan to stop zis war?”

“As I said,” Amaryllis began. “We mostly want to meet with all of the representatives from the groups attending the summit and convince them to take a more peaceful route out of this current political mess. It’s in everyone’s best interest, especially seeing as how this war is being spurred on by a third party.”

“You know zat convincing some of ze delegations will be complicated. And while ze delegations have some political say from here, not all of zem are all zat powerful. While I can push ze Deepmarsh agenda here, and what I report back may have an impact on ze choices carried out by ze king, zat doesn’t mean zat I could stop the king’s choice if he decides to push for war.”

“Maybe not, but your word might carry just enough weight to it that it might be enough to shift the balance,” Amaryllis said. “I know that the harpy are looking to this summit with great interest. If things go poorly here, that would be enough for the warhawks to push towards open conflict. And if things go well and end agreeably, then that will give those who want peace proof that peace can be found if everyone is willing to work on it.”

Sylvie leaned back and let her eyes close a little so that her second eyelid could blink across her eyes. “I will ask you to do a favour for me,” she said.

“What kind of favour?” I asked.

“Nothing too complicated. See, if I merely listen to you because we happened to be in the same bathhouse, then your words will mean little. But if you assist me in some small way, zen I have a reason to report back zat I find you trustworthy.”

“Oh,” I said. “That makes sense.”

Sylvie nodded. “It’s nothing too complicated, just a delicate matter zat would actually help the embassy anyway, which is part of what you want, isn’t it?”

“Awa, that sounds a bit, ah, openly manipulative,” Awen said. She’d been mostly quiet the entire time we were in the bath.

“Better openly zan hidden,” Sylvie said. “Besides, it is a simple thing. A shipment destined for ze embassy arrived at ze port two days ago, but it never made it to ze embassy. We’re only a hop away, and ze cargo was labelled as politically sensitive, so it’s strange zat it has not made it to our doorstep yet.”

“That is a little weird,” I agreed. “You just want us to fetch it?”

“Or find out what happened to it, if it’s truly lost. Chloe, would you mind fetching a copy of the details?”

The Secretary bobbed her head up and down and climbed out of the bath with a splash. I felt a little bad for her, having to leave the nice warm water so soon after arriving. Then again, we had been talking for a good long while. My fingers and toes were both going to be extra wrinkly.

“I’m sure we can manage that,” I said with a glance to my friends to make sure they were okay with the idea too.

Awen and Amaryllis both nodded.

“Helping a new friend is perfectly fine,” I said.

“As long as said new friend needs the help and isn’t just using your innocence against you,” Amaryllis added. She didn’t need to. Someone that did something like that clearly wasn’t a friend to begin with, though they might just be someone that did need help.

“I’m glad you’re willing to assist us,” Sylvie said. “Chloe will leave ze papers with ze sylph by ze exit. Paperwork shouldn’t be brought into a bathhouse.”

“When we’ve retrieved your cargo, where do you want us to bring it?” Amaryllis asked. “And how can we know that you’ll actually help us?”

“You know because our goals align,” Sylvie said. "Deepmarsh doesn’t want a war any more zan you do. We’ve defeated ze cervid once before, but it was a near zing. Zeir own stupidity cost zem more zan our attempts to slow zem down did. If another war were to start with ze cervid, zen none of ze lords and ladies of Deepmarsh expect us to be able to win it, not if ze war goes on for long enough, and not if ze cervid have an ounce of wisdom between ze lot of zem.”

It sounded like they were more concerned because of their own safety than anything else, which... was fair, I supposed. “Okay,” I said. As selfish as their reasoning was, it wasn’t something I could blame them for feeling. Heck, it was quite the opposite. “I trust you.”

Sylvie’s brow rose. “For a group so steeped in ze darker side of politics, you truly are optimistic. I hope zat your optimism will be rewarded.”

“I hope so too,” I said. I sighed as I stood up, warm water dripping off of me. “I guess we should get going.”

Awen and Amaryllis rose too, and then we said our goodbyes to Sylvie and her friend before leaving the bathhouse. It was hard, mostly because the air just outside of it was so much chillier.

It was time to do some side quests!

***