"It was a fair question. But the world is not fair." She shrugs again. "I've no issues with official condemnation and outlawing. It is precisely what I've asked for." The real question is if they can enforce it.

What is it about Voshrelka that makes Eulàlia not attack her? It can't be anything she said, Eulàlia attacked Feather before she had said anything in the committee yesterday!

Voshrelka wants them to give up more than Feather did, because they're not getting dryads from Ravounel Forest. She offers them less than Feather did, because Feather started by offering plant growths and then kept going. And all she got in return was insults and threats.

Voshrelka said approximately 'don't bother understanding them, just offer plant growth and grovel'. Feather didn't even see her grovel.

The world's not fair. Yeah, Liushna's getting that. 

Valia was so brightly-shining, though, speaking out this morning. 

(Seguer is near the Barrowood. Eulàlia hates forests as much as any patriotic Chelish person but if your nearby druids have a specific demand and do a plant growth as a show of good faith you make whatever it is they want happen. Especially since as far as she knows there is zero dryad-harvesting industry in Seguer!)

Tuimfane thinks that the difference is that Voshrelka is a talker-to-humans and Feather isn't a talker-to-humans.

"All in favor of a ban on the harvest of dryad trees as per Delegate de Seguer's proposal, then? Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Obviously."

"Yep."

"Yes."

"Emphatically yes." 

"Sure."

"Abstain. We will be asked to defy this rule, eventually, so I ought stay impartial to its creation. We will of course enforce it once the convention and Queen have passed it."

"If you say so," says Soler dubiously. "Voshrelka, d'you reckon the Barrowood would like an ambassador? We resolved yesterday to send one to Ravounel Forest, since Feather says they've got a council."

“Absolutely not,” she says, immediately and firmly. “Do not send anyone into the Barrowood that you want to see again. The druids of the Barrowood will notice actions, ambassadors are for when trust has been earned. There currently isn’t any.”

"The one sent to Ravounel isn't going to come back either but they still wanted one."

“Do you have a lot of experience with the ways of Ravounel, Delegate de Seguer?” wonders Voshrelka, who has ever been in a bitch contest, and has won most of them.

"I think no Chelish person alive has such experience, ma'am."

“Considering that any who would try were under Asmodean ruling, I quite agree. But since we are in a new regime, let’s not, what’s the phrase in this language. Burn the barley before it’s planted?”

"As you say."

"I came here under a pledge of safe conduct from your Queen, delivered to the Forest personally by the archmage Naima Cotonnet. Without it I, too, would have feared to come here." Feather hopes this comes across as conciliatory, since she is acknowledging their great power? She doesn't know what 'groveling' would look like in this scenario, and Voshrelka sure isn't leading by example. Luckily, this is an objection her instructions had actually prepared her for!

"As part of that understanding, we of course guarantee safe passage to any return diplomats from Cheliax who come to the Foreat to negotiate. However, if you do not trust us, we are willing to continue negotiations on neutral ground, as long as the Queen and the archmages guarantee the safety and in case of need resurrection of any who attend from either side, just as they have for this convention. We only want the meeting place to be close enough to the Forest for quick travel and passing of messages."

"See? There you are." Good job, Feather. She gets an approving look from the older druid; apparently this was grovely enough for her tastes.

Hey nice she was absolutely not expecting 'we can meet outside the forest' as a concession, let alone a promise of safe passage! They'll probably break it, but still!

Feather has trouble thinking of something as a "concession" if it doesn't cost het much and she has already decided to give it away! She (or rather, the Forest) is agreeing for pragmatic reasons, because they want the talks to actually happen. She's not asking for things in return for making the talks happen at all, because if the other side doesn't also want them to happen and acts the same way, then they'll obviously just... not happen?