Sword and Snow

“Your turn. Best of luck, my love.”

Avuri took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to her small team. “We’re up. You two ready?” She asked.

Mica stood from her chair and bounced on the balls of her feet while shaking out her limbs. The whole ritual looked far more like preparing for a fight than it did preparing for what were hopefully peace talks. Meanwhile, Ieji stood off to the side looking entirely too comfortable given what they were about to do.

“If you’re both ready, we can go.” They said, and wove their Qi around them in preparation for their disguise technique. Once Avuri and Mica both nodded, Ieji threw the vale of Qi over their group, allowing it to settle neatly into place. It took barely a few seconds for each of them to completely change in appearance to that of the given Elder they had planned on being for the day.

“Right then, let’s go.” Avuri said. Her voice came out different than she had expected, sounding remarkably similar to Lyn. When she looked over at Ieji, confused, they smiled.

“I imagine today isn’t the day to hold back.” They said, entirely in Vyne’s voice. “I layered in a technique to change our voices as well as facial expressions. I’d recommend still trying your best to play your part, but the technique will add little tweaks and cover small mistakes to keep you as in character as possible.”

Avuri and Mica both nodded. “Understood.”

“It’s still best to not make any mistakes though. So don’t slack.” Ieji said one final time, then walked toward the door. Avuri and Mica fell into step behind them, and the three all left the building together.

The relatively short dash through the city was uneventful. They made sure to keep their speeds fairly low, since the Elders weren’t known for their great strength - aside from Ray - but rather their business acumen. They didn’t want to be the ones to accidentally display a higher level of strength than they were supposed to have.

Moving at a more easily perceptible pace also meant that they got a lot of stares as they ran through the city. Some people cheered or yelled out support, but most seemed to be offering silent support instead. There were many serious nods of approval and the like speeding by on the sides of the road or seen through windows of houses.

When they made it to the outer wall and gate, they quickly made their way up the wall. It only took a few good leaps to make it to the top. For better or worse, walls didn’t really do much to keep Cultivators in or out - it was more for show than anything else.

Once they were there, Mica took the lead as Eiry. She carried herself remarkably well for a leader, likely from her training as a Mephra as a child. That sort of drilling stuck with you for a long time. Avuri was still using the same training to project the air of a noble as well.

Hovering in the air out past the wall was Emery in her armor, looking very impressive. Beyond her were six people in cloaks also standing in the air. One had pushed their hood back and appeared to be waiting patiently for them to arrive.

Avuri’s team all stepped up to the edge of the wall. “Greetings.” Mica said, her voice now a perfect match for Eiry’s. “The three of us are here as the representatives for the Elders of the city. I am Eiry Sirrus. To my left is Lyn Solei, and to my right is Vyne Morin.”

The man in the middle of the opposing group of leaders inclined his head in recognition. Avuri was hopeful that this show of decorum was a good sign going forward.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sirrus. As you have brought three of your number for this parley, we will put forth three as well.” As he spoke, two others stepped forward from the line and pulled their hoods down, while the rest began to make their way back to the ground.

“I am Firmis.” The man said with a slight bow.

To his left was a woman. Her long hair spilled out behind her now that her hood was down, and it was a huge, messy nest of curls. She had darker skin and looked as though she were stained with caked on dirt and grime. “I am Quarris.” She said, her voice sounding oddly upper-crust given her appearance.

The third leader to the first man’s right was a second man who looked very young. Potentially even a teenager. “Terrane.” He said happily. Having put down his hood as well, he took a minute to shake out his hair and roll his shoulders. He seemed about as comfortable up in the air as anyone could be.

“No family names?” Mica asked, trying to be polite. It wasn’t proper etiquette to call people you just met - especially during business like this - by their given names.

“Just using our names is fine.” Firmis said. “When you spend so much time in the mines, family names become somewhat obsolete. Typically we would use clan names or the like, but for this purpose, they become too confusing. Especially since the three of us here are all from the same clan.”

“May we have the clan name? If only so we know who it was we were speaking to in full.” Avuri asked.

“Steel River.” He answered. “But please, if you must address us, just use our names.”

“Very well.” Ieji said. “Shall we find a safe place to talk?”

“I can handle that.” Mica said, and pulled on her Qi. She sent it straight down into the ground below them, a little ways away from the wall. In moments an entire hut made of dirt and stone rose from the ground, with a simple entrance on both sides. “Is something like that agreeable to you three?”

Terrane was the one to respond this time. “Yep, should be fine,” he said, and simply dropped to the ground. Quarris and Firmis weren’t far behind, also simply dropping to the ground.

Avuri’s team shared a quick look among themselves before letting their respective airstepping techniques drop. Each of them fell to the ground, catching themselves just before impact with a quick cushion of Qi - except for Mica, who used her earth Qi skills to soften her landing with the earth itself. It would be good to keep the appearance of her being Eiry, after all, and not using skills she was known to have could create some dissonance.

All six leaders entered the stone hut roughly together, but from their separate sides. Mica hadn’t created any tables or chairs, but before she was able to rectify that herself, Firmis did so. With a quick stomp and burst of Qi from his foot into the ground, a long table rose in the middle of the simple room with three chairs on each side facing the middle. They were large and comfortable looking, despite being made of stone and dirt.

“Thank you.” Mica said as she moved to sit in the middle. Avuri and Ieji joined her.

“It’s only fair. You provided the cover, after all.” Firmis said as their side took their seats as well.

A moment of silence pervaded the space as both sides looked each other over in the quiet of the little hut. Neither side was particularly excited to start, but eventually Terrane took the plunge with a laugh.

“I have to admit,” he said, “I never would have expected you to be guarded by six dragons of all things.” He glanced over at his fellows meaningfully. “It seems that the intel we were given was greatly mistaken.”

A quick look crossed over Firmis’ face before vanishing again. Avuri caught only a glimpse, so she couldn’t be sure what meaning there was in it. But if they were willing to divulge information like that so easily, maybe this meeting would actually go somewhat smoothly.

“Given that your side were the aggressors here, we would like an explanation as to why, exactly, you approached us so brazenly.” Ieji said. They sounded unamused and flat, even as Vyne at the moment. “Even if you were to put aside our defenders, approaching a city with the express purpose of crushing it is…well…”

“We had no intent of ‘crushing’ the city, as you put it.” Quarris said indignantly. “We simply wanted to bring you and your resources to heel. Flowing Dragon City is well known for being the gate to the resources within the Dragon Peaks. You are not well known for your martial strength.”

“I’m not sure how that is connected.” Avuri said. “While it is true that our city is not known for being martially inclined, since when does that give anyone permission to strike like this? Had you gone through with your attack, surely you know that you all would have been doomed both politically and commercially afterward, don’t you?”

Firmis scoffed. “I’m not so sure that’s true. We had it on good authority that we would have been fine on both counts.”

Terrane cut in then with something of a vicious, predatory smile. “Your little city has plenty of enemies, you know.”

The grin and words together immediately set Avuri on edge. She grasped tightly onto her link with Emery, and quickly relayed what was said to her through it. She could feel Emery’s unease as well. Being told that the city had no shortage of enemies wasn’t exactly surprising on its own. It was a major hub of trade that often beat out competitors for various work, so it was no surprise that the city had enemies.

But to say it so openly was a potential cause for concern. Being able to say it - to their faces, no less - meant that whoever these enemies are would be significantly powerful in some way.

The worst part of it was that Avuri had a pretty clear idea as to who one such enemy could be. But even if the Mephra family was still out to get them, they wouldn’t be able to mobilize a group like this alone. And they sure as hell didn’t have the political capital to assure these attackers that they could recover in that way after this attack. Commercially they may have enough pull, but there was no way they were working alone in this, if they were even connected at all.

Mica let out a sigh. “Fine. Let’s proceed under the impression that that is indeed the case. What would you like to do from here?” She lightly placed her hands on the table between the two groups and folded her hands. “Given that you pulled back your forces and relented to these talks, I assume you don’t wish to go through with the attack as a whole?”

“No.” Firmis said. “We will pull back. We don’t have nearly enough manpower to go against six dragons. And that’s not counting your Cultivators.”

Avuri and Mica both blinked. “You want to retreat? Just like that?”

Quarris shrugged. “Not much else to do, given the situation.”

Avuri and Mica exchanged confused looks, while Ieji spoke. “Very well, then. If you’re planning to retreat, shall we end the talk here? Or would you like to discuss anything else?”

Avuri sent her confusion to Emery through their bond. “What is going on? They’re just giving up. No business talk or anything. They’re just leaving.”

“I have no idea.” Emery sent back. “It doesn’t make sense. Unless they were really only here to attack us for no other reason.”

“I think we’ll take our leave.” Firmis said, and offered a small incline of his head. “We sure as hell weren’t offered enough for this.”

He stood, with Quarris and Terrane not far behind him. Avuri, Mica, and Ieji watched them go carefully, alert for any kind of trap.

They each ducked out of the dirt and stone door, but before fully leaving, Terrane turned back to address Mica.

“You said you were Eiry, yes?”

“Yes?” She responded, sounding mildly confused.

“I don’t like having to travel all this way and then accomplishing nothing. But even more so, I hate having been used and lied to. Aysol sent us.”

Having said his piece, Terrane flashed a brilliant smile and turned and left.