And, frankly, probably everyone else, including the Scarlet Chorus, they're just better at hiding it.

"If you feel as though your time is being wasted, Archon of Secrets, I hardly have the authority to compel you to this table."

"Oh, no, I'm sure I'll have a grand time," he says, slouching in his chair and half-laying Final Scream on the table. "Well, what were we talking about?"

She raises an eyebrow.  "We were not, seeing as you were not present at the time.

"Regardless, I know you are known, Voices of the Archon of Secrets, and that is your Fifth Eye - who rightly is more like your seventh - and you have brought with you in addition...?"

"Wandering Knife, Fatebinder; one of the scout coordinators for the Crimson Spears."

She nods.  "A pleasure to meet you, then.

"Proceeding 'round the table, then; would you introduce your party, Tarkis Demos?"

"Captain Tarkis Demos, brother of Senior Captain Tarkis Arri," he says, nodding, "And, again, my regrets that our senior captains could not attend. These are Scout Barnas and Sister Nested Clause of the School of Ink and Quill."

"There is a small matter that I'd like to consult them upon in particular, but as I've said, we are gladdened by your presence here to begin with.

"Archon Ashe, I believe it is your turn?"

"Indeed. Graven Ashe, Archon of War," and he nods in a quasi-bow. "This is Earthshaker Tola, and" - the Marshal retakes her seat and hands a small note to him -"this is Iron Marshal Erenyos, my second in command. Thank you for attending."

"And, as I hope we know by now, I am Fatebinder Ophelia Vaudelle; I was dispatched here with the intent that this conflict come to a halt by my hand or my voice, and given that Kyros has spoken...I felt it prudent to call this meeting, in the interests of seeing all of us free of the headsman's axe."  She doesn't reintroduce Lantry.

For which he is thankful.

"While we appreciate this meeting, I should say that it is the general feeling of the Vendrien Guard that we have little cause to negotiate at the moment. We have been holding off two numerically-superior forces for several months now, and see no reason we cannot continue to do so for months more. A year is very long in campaigning time."

He doesn't really believe what he's saying; he wasn't picked for his skills at diplomacy, so this is evident to anyone perceptive.

"Your presence here would tend to cut against that position.  You did not have to attend any more than Nerat did.

"Let us review the text of the Edict of Execution, shall we?"

She produces a copy in a smooth gesture, and intones, just slightly louder than is comfortable to listen to:

"Those who defy Our just and lawful Order are traitors to Our Empire. Those who fail in their duty to bring justice to traitors are, in Our eyes, equally treasonous. Let Our armies prove their good faith by retaking Vendrien's Well from those who defy Our Will. Unless Our representative holds the Hall of Ascension on Our Day of Swords, all in the valley of Vendrien's Well shall perish."

As she does so, an iridescent blue glow limns the paper and the text, then fades into a red glow over the last sentence.

(This is her doing, incidentally.)

"Really, the pronouncements of Kyros have quite a bit of - extraneous speech.  The important part is almost always the last sentence.  In this case, it reads - Unless Our representative - myself - holds the Hall of Ascension - the present seat of the Vendrien Guard - on Our Day of Swords -

"I am ever so glad to have been able to give you that year, incidentally.

"- on Our Day of Swords," she continues, "all in the valley of Vendrien's Well shall perish.

"It's rather straightforward, and equally final.

"It is also not something that will promote the Vendrien Guard's goal of provoking revolt across the Tiers by dying heroically, because no-one will survive to tell of it.  No matter if you won today, you would still lose.

"I've heard that another thing the Guard can be said to want is for the Tiers to self-administer.

"That is something that is still on the table."

"That means one of you has to survive a year," he says with a shrug. "I'll grant it doesn't sound easy, but neither did opposing two of Kyros's armies at once for eight months without losing significant ground, and we managed that."

"Oh ho, he's a sparky one!"

He frowns at Nerat. "-Now, personally I got beaten and would probably have been executed had you, Fatebinder, not intervened to arrange a trade. And that does put one in a more peace-making frame of mind. But the senior captains... are mostly inclined to see how this plays out for another several months, and see what terms you offer then."

"There are limits to my ability to offer you things that, I believe, will increase the longer your command waits - and in the meantime, I'd have little choice but to put my best effort towards worsening your negotiating position.  And believe me, I may not be General Ashe when it comes to planning individual maneuvers - but when I organized a campaign against the Archon of Stone, a force with the inevitability of an avalanche and the durability of a mountain -

"He not only bled, but screamed.

"You don't want to have me as your enemy.  The same wit that right now has found you a way out of dying for a cause you can't achieve any success in, is readily turned to making you wish you had.

"I don't want to do that.  Please don't make me.  But if it's the Vendrien Guard's lives, or the lives of everyone else in Vendrien's Well...I'll make my choice with no regrets."

"Well, I am here, and for a reason. Let's discuss what things are on the table. I understand that a strict interpretation of Kyros's Law might say that, other than the few who evaded the oath of surrender, all our lives are forfeit for breaking the peace. Needless to say, none of the officers would be willing to agree to anything that tries to enforce that penalty; for their commands, more than for themselves."

"And neither would I try to impose it.  That would be a resumption of the war with extra steps.  There are certain precedents that could be drawn upon both to mitigate the demanded punishment, and absolve the crime - most notably, while it is usually an Archon's remit to forgive a criminal they swear to their service, I, as a Fatebinder and duly invested official of the Empire, can take vassals in the same mode.  I would be keeping a much closer eye on the Vendrien Guard, this time, and there would be no further mercy to be had should you think to make of me a fool - at least, not short of finding a second Graven Ashe, which you would have been shouting to the skies if you did - but you would keep your people, and furthermore have my ear.  I take my duties seriously, and to see to the needs of your people would thereby become one of them."

"I hardly think you have jurisdiction for that, Fatebinder; you may be an instrument of Tunon, but this war has been my domain - and, I suppose, the Archon of War's. Oh, we could make some deal, I'm sure, but it wouldn't be quite so generous. No would the old grump's."

"Jurisdiction is an issue. But mine is undisputed. And I consider the Fatebinder's suggestion... conscionable. With some conditions to ensure the parole was not easily dodged or lightly sworn to, I might facilitate it. Delegating vassals to another, even one a servant of another Archon, has no issues of jurisdiction."

The Iron Marshal goes slightly still, and Tola shows unconcealed surprise.

"What are you, so soft it's gotten to your head? These little rats broke your precious three honors and ambushed a peacetime garrison, and now you're messing around with amnesty? Are you even still trying to complete the Conquest?"

"I could make an argument otherwise regarding my jurisdiction, especially given Kyros's words upon the subject, but I am equally willing to work with Graven Ashe to deliver a properly iron-clad peace, so let's consider that settled for now.

"As for the question of the Conquest - Do you not destroy an enemy when you make of them an ally?  The people of the Tiers have been hard done by, and even Kyros's Peace bends before Kyros's Plenty."

"Oh, certainly, certainly. But letting them run away again without demonstrating commitment, that's just asking for five more rebellions the minute we look busy."

"Fret not; I have several proposals upon the subject for our consideration."

She does, in fact, have several proposals, both upon what would demonstrate appropriate commitment (branding, surrender of weapons and armor, Barik's proposal of a loss of a finger or hand or perhaps a foot, exile or commitment to service directly beneath an Archon (or Fatebinder) as an option for ringleaders...) and as to what could constitute acceptable amends.  (Here, she encountered a bit more difficulty, but her general thought is to keep them under someone's eye as they clean up the mess everyone's made.)

"...And, to return to a point that I failed to adequately address prior - while I might not be the most specifically honor-bound person, myself...If I look at the Vendrien Guard's actions, and the policies they undertake and represent themselves as having, their honor is a different honor than that practiced by the Archon of War, I think - an honor of accepting the consequences of your actions, rather than per se oathkeeping, if I try to pin down my impression of it - but I could reasonably argue that they nonetheless have it.  Perhaps even that under their view of their honor they were rightwise provoked to this, with a bit more research.  It could be argued that taking an expansive view of their obligations - and I do believe that they care about all of the Tiers, separate from whatever treaties may exist - that an expansive view of their pre-existing obligations, the ones that were not even necessarily dissolved in the first peace, much to my surprise - means that in fact, with the several Edicts of Fire, Stone, and Storm knocking Kyros's Peace out from under most of the Tiers in fact if not ever so precisely in law - means that in a sense their oath was broken from the other side first.

"Not that this has meaning in the Law, but - perhaps it matters, nonetheless."