Sword and Snow

Vale, Emery, and Avuri made their way through the Elders’ pavilion. The building was still as massive as Emery remembered it being the first time they had visited, but she had grown used to it over the years.

That’s not to say they visited often, but two or three times a year added up. And with fifteen or so years, the building felt somewhat normal now. The opulence of it all was still a lot to take in at once, though.

The trio made their way through the halls and toward the large throne room and audience chamber. When they finally arrived, the door to the tea room in the back was open, and chatter could easily be heard from inside.

“Hurry up, you three.” Lyn shouted. “Get yourselves in here already.”

With a quick glance amongst themselves, Emery, Avuri, and Vale half-jogged over to the door. All five Elders were seated around the same table as always, looking impatient as they motioned for the recent arrivals to sit.

“So, Vale,” Eiry began, her eyes settling on him, “care to explain why you needed to meet with us so urgently that it couldn’t wait a few days?”

Vale took a breath and let it out as a sigh. “I’d rather you all be the judge of the urgency here. There may be a war headed your way.”

Everyone went still for a moment, interest overtaking the mild annoyance they had been showing.

“War?” Ray asked, incredulous. “You can’t be serious.”

“He’s just not good at explaining.” Emery said, trying to settle everyone down somewhat. “But he’s right that there may be a fight approaching.”

“You’re going to have to do a better job explaining than that.” Cyril said, crossing his arms. “Out with it. What’s going on?”

Between the three of them, they explained. It took some time to make sure they got all of the pertinent information out there. The Elders took in the news with interest, but didn’t show the anger that Emery had expected. It was more mild annoyance than anything else.

“Vyne,” Vale said, finally, “are you able to see out to Meteor Lake with your Earthsense? Get a sense of their group size?”

“Yes, I can reach.” Vyne said as he stood. “I’ll be right back, I’ll go see what I can see.” With a small, polite bow he left the room. The conversation slowed for a while as Lyn and Cyril passed out tea and snacks to everyone, and everyone picked at it during some small talk.

It wasn’t long before Vyne made his return, and gathered a small plate of snacks before sitting down again to relay what he found.

“Simply put, the group seems like they’re still amassing followers; or at the very least, have not left Meteor Lake yet. They number somewhere between five and six hundred, currently.” He explained, as he took a bite of a cookie.

“That’s still not too threatening, number wise.” Eiry muttered.

“No, but it depends on their individual strength levels, too.” Lyn pointed out.

“They’re Cultivators from The Deposits. I would guess that most are at least Earth Realm, easily. The question is how many are Sky Realm.” Cyril said.

“I’m not sure it’ll matter if they actually chose to march on us. It’s a fight either way.” Ray said, acting his part as the battle maniac. “I am curious who they’re being led by though. It’s certainly out of character for the Deposits Cultivators to be so hostile.”

“The most obvious, however disturbing, reason is that The Deposits themselves are beginning to run dry, right?” Avuri said, as she poured herself some tea. “Hopefully that’s not the case, given how much everyone relies on the ore they produce but…it’s the simplest reason as to why they would decide to march on another resource rich area.”

“If The Deposits have actually been picked clean, we have much bigger problems to worry about than just the Cultivators there wanting to find a new mine.” Eiry said, staring deeply into her own cup. “If they stop producing ore and metal, the whole region is in trouble. We all rely on them.”

“Would they have any reason to just assemble a team and try to expand into a second materially rich area?” Emery asked.

Vyne shrugged and answered, “Just as simple as the first option, I would imagine. Like any wealthy business or country, they have the wealth they need to expand, so naturally they just do.”

“But if this were to be approached as a business expansion, they wouldn’t need the show of force that they’re slowly putting together, no?” Ray asked, puzzled.

“We were wondering about that too.” Emery said. “We came up with a few different reasons. Presumably, if they gather a large enough force, they could force you all into submission without a fight. I don’t see that as very likely.”

Ray snorted in derision, and the same sentiment spread around the table. Emery smiled. “Right. If we’re lucky, they’re gathering a small army as a simple show of strength before they meet with the City at a business discussion. It wouldn’t be the first time a company has decided to avoid showing weakness before a trade negotiation by bringing an army.”

Then Emery sighed. “And, of course, if we’re unlucky they could be simply fixing for a fight.”

“Surely they wouldn’t want to have an outright war with Flowing Dragon City.” Avuri said, idly poking her teacup. “Even if they didn’t know what they’re truly up against here - the city is well known for being difficult to siege.”

Eiry stroked her chin in thought. “That becomes less true for every earth and metal focused Cultivator they bring. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for their entire small army to be capable of breaking right through our walls, given where they’re from.”

“Vyne, you could reinforce the walls with wood if it comes to that, can’t you?” Cyril asked.

“I could.” Vyne nodded. “It would likely set off mass panic, though. A display of power on that scale would probably scare everyone in the city.”

“If they attack, it might be our best move.” Lyn put in. “If it could scare the populace, it might be enough to stop their attack.”

“If they’re approaching the city with the intent to tear down its walls and siege it, I don’t think that sort of show of power would deter them.” Ray said. “They’d have to be battle hungry to attack like that outright.”

“Ray is right.” Vale said, finally adding his voice to the conversation. “If they attack outright like that, we should respond in kind with an overwhelming show of force.”

Eiry chuckled. “As much as I would love to just tear them apart, if six dragons show up and attack randomly like that, it would create just as much chaos.”

“...What if it wasn’t unannounced?” Avuri asked, her eyes focused on Emery. Everyone turned their attention to her, then followed her gaze to Emery.

Emery squirmed under the sudden scrutiny. “Uh. Why are you looking at me?”

“It hopefully won't come to it.” Avuri prefaced her idea cautiously. “But. The City knows that there are a number of powerful Cultivators that act as its protectors. They don’t know any of the faces or names, just that they exist.”

“Sure, but - “

“What if we made one of them known to the city? And furthermore, known as a friend to dragons?” Avuri said.

Eiry and Cyril, who caught on quickly, burst into laughter. As eyes settled on them and Avuri smirked, Emery asked, “What are you planning?”

“Why not have such a city protector appear when the enemies attack, act all dramatic about it, then call on their dragon friends?” Avuri said, now trying her best not to picture it and smile. “It would give you all a reason to show up - at least as far as the City is concerned - and might be enough of a show of deadly force to shove them off of the city.”

“That is an absolutely stupid idea.” Lyn said firmly, but she was smiling. “I kinda love it though.”

As nods and thoughtful but optimistic expressions moved over the table, Emery couldn’t help the slight feeling of dread creeping up her back. She shivered. “Avuri, you - “

“Yes.” Avuri said, with a nod.

“No. I’m not doing it.” Emery said, shaking her head vehemently.

Lyn, hiding a smile behind a hand, said, “Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options. Most of the Cultivators that we’ve hired to act independently the way you two do don’t actually know that they’re contracted by dragons. In fact, you two are the only ones.”

Emery leaned her elbow on the table and rested her forehead in it, rubbing. She could feel a headache coming on. “Can’t we just get some random person to do it? I don’t want something like this to make it difficult for my family to get around the City.”

Avuri delightedly played with her snacks as she acted completely innocent of her part in this. “My dear, costuming and makeup can go a long way to fooling a populace that isn’t getting close to you.”

Emery’s mouth dropped open as she saw all of the Elders nodding in agreement, their scheming clearly shown on their faces.

“There’s no way you’re all actually considering this.” Emery said in disbelief. She felt a heavy hand fall onto her shoulder consolingly, and turned to see Vale’s face. Amusement and pity warred for control.

“I’m sorry, Emery. I think you’ve been out-voted.”

Emery was still grumbling about it when they returned home.

The discussion went on for some time after that. Collectively, they decided that the ‘dragon friend idea’ would be something to keep in mind as a backup, but certainly not a first option.

As before, the hope was still that the incoming Cultivators would just be looking to sit down at a table for some kind of trade negotiation.

Emery and Avuri were surprised to find that the Elders weren’t immediately dismissive of potentially allowing the Cultivators to do work around the Peaks. If they made a friendly approach, the Elders were willing to talk. Emery doubted that they would be willing to offer whatever the Cultivators were actually going to ask for.

After the long talk, almost everyone agreed that it felt like the incoming Cultivators probably wanted full access to the Peaks, which just wasn’t feasible. Not safely anyway. Too much of Flowing Dragon City’s economy was based around controlling access to the Peaks, and giving any external artisan unfettered access to the resources found on the mountains would be a bad idea.

“I won’t lie,” Avuri said when they landed, “I really kinda hope we get to see you play a dramatic hero, Merri. I bet the kids would all get a kick out of it, too.”

“You really just want to put me in a silly outfit and make me act, don’t you?” Emery grumbled.

“...No.” Avuri said, dramatically looking off to the side. “But I do think it would be really fun. And getting you all made up in a disguise?” When Emery made another disgusted face, Avuri grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close. “Oh, come on! It would be fun!” She said, laughter in her voice.

Emery sighed, “On the off chance that this might actually happen, I will let you - “

“Yes!” Avuri shouted, and practically started jumping up and down in exaggerated excitement.

“ - I will let you prepare an outfit and practice some kind of makeup scheme. Twice. And only twice.” Emery said firmly. “But I suppose it’s better than doing it last minute and the whole costume being rough.”

“You won’t regret this.” Avuri said, already mentally planning out the outfit she was going to put together.

“Oh, I’m sure I will…”