Séfora is looking the other way, thinking about failure. She can feel it in front of her, the way the presence of a nearby chasm alters the feeling of the darkness ahead.  She turns around, and sees him, and gives him a nod. "Citizen. I am."

"I'm concerned about the long term future of your independence movement within Aspramunt and I have several proposals that could help secure it in a prosperous and peaceful way!"

He'll interrupt her and identify himself if she starts giving away information he doesn't know, so he thinks this is fair enough as a way to approach her.

"Not my movement." She smiles, briefly. "All I wanted was no lords and their bullies stepping on necks. I suppose I helped, inspired it, trained the peasants. Killed some folk that needed killing. Put in some money, helped with the barons. Other people were important too. They weren't invited here."

"Does it have to be absolutely no lords?  What if it was a lord... or lady, you could be sure of.  Someone you knew wasn't a bully?"

She laughs harshly. "How can you tell? The farmgirls were the same way.".

She looks away. "In the west hills I did everything I could. When I came here, I expected more of me, and less of them-" she points to a wandering sortitioned delegate, plainly a peasant. "I did not realize how far away from them I had traveled, in my thinking. Perhaps I had more to do with the rebellion than I said."

She looks at him.

"Love seems very far away, in my mind. But I don't know."

"How well you do you know yourself?  What if you were the baroness of the land you have claimed... or a step further, the countess, with both the land in the hills and the lowlands?  You could personally see to it that the people there weren't bullied or abused and the obligations owed to them properly fulfilled."

Séfora smiles. "They expected it, you know. The peasants. Once we'd killed the barons, they thought I would move into the keep. I didn't. I didn't take their houses, I didn't take their money or their daughters. The way I am-" she shugs back the hood, and the light play over her skin", that helps.

"I am half a golem, I think. I don't need to eat, and I don't need to sleep. I mostly sit on the east escarpment, watching for the new Count's men, watching the birds of prey circle, who are themselves watching the field-mice below."

She pauses, looks at him.

"I'm not sure that there ever was a noble good enough to be one. Perhaps the kid, I hear he was an angel. They went so far, the arch-mages. Were you resurrected? You have that air."

Wait… ‘their daughters’?  Hopefully she can tolerate guys well enough to produce an heir without too much annoyance?

Anyway, he should stop playing coy since he’s gotten the initial pitch made well enough.  He says dramatically:

”Indeed I have returned from Axis!  For I am Count Quirze Zacarías Espino y Aspramunt!  And although no one may be quite good enough to be a perfectly heavenly noble, I think, by my honor and my law, you might try at being a decent one!  As baroness of the land you now hold, or should your ambitions be broader… as countess of Aspramunt, as my wife!”

That rocks Séfora backwards. "I- what? But- what?"

“Lots of noble lines started as adventurers!  My great-great-grandmother was an Aasimar adventurer and it is to her an owe my magic!  As a noble you would basically be doing the job you are now, taking care of your people, just with a bit less of turning back travelers and officials at crossbow point and a bit more of contributing to regional and kingdom-wide concerns.”

"Yesterday, I would have laughed in your face. Today- I feel like I'm about to do that anyway, but not in a bad way. Can I ask you some questions, Aspramunt?"

His plan is working!

“Certainly, yes, whatever you need to know!”

"Why do you want to be a lord? You could be in axis right now. You've already avoided hell?"

“Well, the honorable sounding answer would be for the needs of my people… but the truth is, I was bored and dissatisfied in Axis.  As comfortable and pleasant as things were, nothing I could do was really important to anyone.  I had kind of drifted apart from my family, my friendships felt shallow… I wanted to do something that mattered.  And to be honest, I didn’t really think through the risk of doing Evil or Chaos and ending up elsewhere after a second try.”

He didn't think it through? She shakes her head. 

"What have you heard of Aspramunt? What do you know of how it was? Why did you come there? I realize I don't know how they asked."

“Well, I’m actually from Aspramunt originally!  It was my brother that was supposed to inherit, and I was working through my sorcery.  But Aroden died, and I died stupidly shortly after.  My older brother and sister didn’t want to come back to life, but I did, so here I am!  The people feel very different, but the physical land itself is basically the same.”

Including the hills being a periodic source of bandits and rebels, but he’ll say that part more diplomatically.

She looks at him, kind of sadly. "And what have you heard of me?"

He starts talking, slowly, as he covers wilder tales, and then quickly as he gets into what he sees as facts.

"Well... you know how folk hero rumors get.  Some say you are a Brass Dragon trapped in human form, attempting to undo their curse through righteous deeds.  Exact specifications of the curse vary between tellings.  Others say you are the daughter of Milani and a Golem or a Golem Milani breathed life into.  Others... you are a human cursed to be a Golem until she has stolen her body weight in coinage.  Or the other way around, a golem cursed to be a human.  Or a child of a bronze metal elemental and a human... I don't think metal elementals are a thing.  As to firmer facts I've learned... a few travelers were turned back at crossbow point by the peasants you've trained.  Which is really quite impressive, even if, as I assume, there are other travelers not quite so lucky who have died in the... 'turning back process'!  Most peasant rebellions would lack the discipline to handle travelers nonlethally, especially with the unrest throughout the country and so many travelers being bandits.  Really, you are probably at least in the upper quartile for Goodness and discipline out of historical west hills rebellions and banditry!"

"I tried. Both Baron Escurçó and Malcor's children are still living. Even that vicious little shit of a son of his,  though he's taken a few lumps." She sighs.

"The truth is that I was an adventurer. I fell into a trap. From what I learned after I beat my way out of it, it was a golem-making trap. There were all kinds of creatures down there, converted to brass, not quite golem, but not really living, that had been caught through the centuries. They worked together, you know. Brass foxes carrying scorpions to sting you. That ruin was ancient, and deadly, and I came out of there- strong. I could likely kill any man here who is not a wizard."

There's a long pause. Séfora looks about herself, hugging her body. "I am not saying no. Perhaps I'm not just saying no yet. But I have never met a noble who was not evil. Certainly not in my committees today. We should talk. It would be the responsible thing to do. It would be what a hero does."

She looks away.

"Perhaps we could come to some type of accord."

She looks at him seriously. "But absolutely no bedding!"

Okay, she's sharing her entire backstory.  Does this count as the sort of negotiation where you aren't trying to adversely gain information?  He should have paid more attention to that stuff in Axis.  Anyway...

"If you accept my plan of integrating into the reforming structure of Cheliax by becoming nobility, whether as Baroness or Countess, you will need to have an heir at some point, it is destabilizing not to.  Arrangement with adoptions are prone to being challenged.  Well maybe... there might be some arrangement of titles that would put you in as a temporary regent of the barony you control... I would need to look up the precedent and feel out the Duke if you want a less standard arrangement like that?"

Yeah he has no idea what the Duke is like... mail and information has been disrupted and he's been back for less than half a year.

"That's moving much too fast. We should talk. Like a committee but intending good instead. The committee for Aspramunt."

She sighs.

"There is thirty and some folk who will not accept it. Mostly peasants. The will say they will die, or leave before accepting another lord or tax over them."

Fuck, the west hills always end up like this.

"We may not have that long.  I need to meet my Duke sometime during this convention, and he's going to want to know how my lands are doing.  If he knows Aspramunt's history, he's going to be worrying about farmers turned bandit.  The west hills have less farmland, so one bad season can push people into banditry, even when their isn't a rebellion going on isolating them further.  You are some ways off the most major road, but if some, or all, of your people go bandit, they could extend their reach to it, at which point it is entirely out of my hands and the Duke will come down on you whether I want it to end that way or not."

Her gaze hardens. "Not long enough to talk today? To talk tomorrow? No, have to talk first, or no deal. I could be worse. We are not bandits. Not yet. We could be. We are well organized. The hills are high, and there are many places to hide. He could come down and find no-one. Empty farms. Arrows in the dark. I have money- we could hire a wizard and a cleric, here, in town. Be real bandits. I would not like it. Bad for the soul. We'd get ground out eventually, but it would be much trouble for him. For you. For the roads. If he's so bad as to allow no talk, best to know now, so we can all leave, all the peasants. Even you, if he is bad enough."

"Alright then, let's talk now.  I am staying at an Inn, if you'd rather talk with a table and meal in front of us instead of standing outside?"

And the modesty of the inn will show his practicality and frugality... somehow that minor success doesn't feel very satisfying.  Also he is kind of gambling she doesn't just murder him then although if she does, well, Axis is already looking nicer by comparison.

She looks a little surprised. "Oh, I don't need to eat, or breathe, or sleep. Since I got here, I walk into the sea at night. To think, and not be disturbed by folk. I was going to ask the arch-mage, if he knew a way to make the peasants like me. So they don't starve in bad years, and can earn more. But now I am not sure if he can be trusted. But I will come with you to the inn, and talk."

“Okay then, I’ll lead the way!  It’s a bit of a walk, the inn was cheaper being further away.”

He is content to walk in silence if she is.

Séfora walks in silence for about six seconds. Then sighs. "Would you like the counts' signet back? I took it off the old Counts's corpse, and it's not like I'm going to use it."

"A signet and a few other identifiers of my rank were among the few things I was actually equipped with upon my resurrection.  But I would prefer it back yes.  Are you sure you are willing to give it back?  It might be useful in some deceptive scheme and we haven't actually reached an agreement yet."

"Not my style. I'm a rebel, not a bandit, notwithstanding what the people in the hall think." 

She reaches her hand into a purse on her belt so rapidly it has to be a bag of holding, and removes a worn and slightly stained ring, and gives it to him.

A cursed or trapped ring doesn't really seem her style and she probably lacks the magical support to pull it off... but he doesn't have detect magic, and thus even an obvious trick might work, so he isn't going to bet on it.  He puts in his pocket without trying it on.

"Thanks."

He continues on in silence.

Upon reaching the inn after a long walk, he turns to Sefora.

 “You don’t need to eat, but do you enjoy it?  The stew here is typical but better than nothing in my humble opinion.”

"Food is a bit tasteless, like eating gravel, but I can eat." She nods to the stew. "So how would we do this, if we were doing it? We'd both have our own... friends? I know the nobility does that."

He didn’t mean to pressure her to eat do something that feels like eating gravel!  It feels to awkward to say something though.

“I don’t quite follow your meaning- oh you mean if we were married.  Uh yeah, as long as we have a legitimate heir and a spare and any ‘friends’ don’t give cause to anyone to doubt their legitimacy?”

She nods. "We should let the unhappiest peasants leave. I could maybe get them a boat to Andoran or Galt. There's always folk who would take their farms if they left. Yes?"

He nods at that.

“Well the hills are bad enough farmland I don’t know it even makes sense trying to move more people up into them.  And it’s not like there is currently a baron to complain about the meager reduction in revenue.  If you have the money to send them on their way that is probably the cleanest solution available.”

"We have to use every rood- even every perch, it feels like. The taxes- well, they were ruinous. Maybe they'll be different now?"

He pauses a moment to do some mental math.

Comparing what records he could find in his manor to his faint memory from life… the taxes and rents and dues didn’t seem that different?  What could be different?  He can think of one obvious thing…

“Maybe it’s the lack of plant growths?  I mean compared to before.  And I, I mean we, could declare a reduction in rents and dues to last until we have obtained plant growths for the land?”

And now he just has to hope she doesn’t ask about the taxes, not much he can do about those!

"That might just work, Quirze. If we could significantly increase harvests..."

She looks off into the distance. 

“Other things to resolve… I don’t know you or those under your command to have killed anyone after the Four Day War.  If, hypothetically of course, some peasants killed clearly legitimate travelers afterwards (against your command obviously)… it might be best if they are among those you relocate to Andoran?  And for the baronies… there will need to be new barons, we need to start thinking of strategies to get someone strong enough to deal with problems like bandits and monsters, acceptable to the current government, and for alignment, at the very least non-Evil.”

"I'm a hero. The peasants- the peasants I've taught- they believe. There's been some taxmen beaten, I suppose, some of the evil folk who tried to come up will have gotten a club to the belly or two- but no deaths."

"For the barons? Maybe raise some village mayors?"

Is she naive about her peasants?  Or are they actually that disciplined?  Or maybe she’s is a really smooth liar?  He should probably figure out some precedent or argument to allow him to extend the Queen’s amnesty to them, just in case.

”I’ll need to research the exact precedents available, but elevating someone liked and trusted by the people to baron seems workable for each of the two baronies.”

Possibly any surviving kids of the barons might be a problem, but he’s not going to be the first to suggest more violence.

“Are the candidates you have in mind at least strong enough to handle the occasional bandit?  The Longmarch in general may be more peaceful, but the West Hills of Aspramunt are prone to attracting bandits, and if they extend their reach to the main road they can be quite a problem.”

”Anyway, probably the first test of the new barons will be getting the people to accept a return of the rents and dues and eventually royal taxes once the Queen resumes them.  Can the candidates you have in mind manage that?”

This is so much work just to get things to a functional normal, but hopefully she will cooperate and it will make things so much easier.

"They have experience killing bandits now. Guards, too. I should think they will do fine."

She frowns.

"We'd have to live in the low country, I suppose? It feels smarter to have the strong people living up in the 'hills."

“The seat of authority in Aspramunt has always been the same location, I think maintaining the traditions that pre-dated Asmodeus’s takeover is wise.  We will want a decently capable baron in the hills, though, yes.”

Séfora is feeling she's being pressured into something she doesn't want. But it shouldn't matter how she's saving the peasants, right? She's a hero. Heroes do things like this all the time. But she doesn't have to agree to this today. No, waiting and thinking is best. She'll probably do it, though. It's the best thing for the peasants. 

She stands, almost hurriedly. 

"Okay. It might be that this is the best thing we could do. Let's talk again tomorrow, Quirze."

“Sure, that’s fine.”

He thinks he is seeing some reluctance?  What could be causing it?

“And remember you could just take the Barony in the hills and be Baroness if you don’t want to deal with the whole county or don’t like the lowlands?”

She nods.

"See you around, Quirze!"