"Hold that, Fatebinder. 'Kyros's Peace bends before Kyros's Plenty.' Does it?", asks Fifth Eye. "I'm not familiar with that... principle. When Orphan Midwife let the enemies of the Empire learn her sigil, she ceased to make fields bloom, bound in punishment; is that not prioritization of the Peace over Plenty?"

It's noticeable how Fifth's rhythm of speech is similar to Nerat's, though his tone of voice is higher, steadier, and less overtly sarcastic.

"It is in fact neither of those things, Archon Nerat.  That case was a consequence of an Archon enabling the breach of the Magician's Folly, and Kyros's preference being the exertion of stricter control over her, rather than, exempli gratia, her death for treason; the effect upon the fields was incidental, albeit of an impressive magnitude."

"But to a more prosaic example of the principle - the Courts of Tunon, every year since their accession, have reports of cases where a farmer believes they should keep more of their produce than Kyros remits them.  That is and has been enforced by violence, in the extreme - a thing that Kyros's Peace otherwise forbids."

"I think that is sophistry, Fatebinder, but lay aside my objection for the moment."

"I shall choose to take your insinuations as a compliment upon my attention to detail, for it would be most unwise of me to lie about the law of Kyros not only before the Archon of Secrets but in a matter that has Tunon's, Bleden Mark's, and for that matter I dare suspect Kyros's personal attention."

Nerat waves his hand dismissively, and no further comment comes from his edge of the table.

"I do not think our code of honor has ever been written explicitly, though some codes of courtly behavior, proper conduct in truce, and similar have been, and violating those is surely dishonorable - by our reckoning. Certainly Kyros does not follow our conventions of war, in which captives and those who surrender would never be executed or compelled to service, nor would whole nations of peasants be punished for the crimes of a few."

He pauses, struggling for words but waving off anyone else who begins to speak.

"I would say that we certainly consider it less dishonorable to break a compelled oath than one freely given. We have... maybe more respect for tradition than principle, in matters of honor, and to force an oath is not done. And while I fought in wars against the Bastard Tier and Azure myself, we share most of our traditions, from the trivial like timekeeping to the major like the inheritance of land and sea and the customs of war. It would be wrong to say I felt a duty to avenge slights to Azure or to Stalwart - but a duty to avenge offenses against the traditions of the Tiers, of the common heritage of the Five Wives and Seven Husbands, yes, I would say most soldiers of Apex felt that, and I would wager the Unbroken, the army of Azure, and even the Sages would say the same." (The Sage at his right hand nods.)

Ophelia can only give a solemn nod at 'whole nations of peasants punished for the crimes of a few'.

If she tried to use words to respond, she would start properly crying, and then where would she be?

By the time that Tarkis Demos has finished finding his words, though, she has regathered herself.

"...I thought it might be something like that.  Thank you, for your honesty and candor."

"That seems a code more easily twisted to serve your current ends, particularly by your leaders, than the rigid code I expect of my Dishonored. Or the code of law expected of the Fatebinders by Tunon."

Demos is unable to suppress a wry look, and decides to commit to it, saying "Yes. I could name several times when it was, and I resented my leaders for their weak honor. But it was the leaders who bent it to surrender, and the captains who held rigid and refused."

"I suppose it was," Ashe says, sounding a touch satisfied.

Earthshaker Tola has a contemplative look, as well.

Ophelia allows them both a bit of time to work through their thoughts on the subject.

(Really, she's glad to take a minute herself.  She's still not entirely together from having her failure thrown in her face, behind her much sooner regained composed expression.)

"...Would it be correct to say that we have an agreement in principle, at this point, to finalize a proper peace?  Archon Ashe, Tarkis Demos?"

Her voice treads lightly, for all the weight of hope it carries.

"Oh, by all means, trade masturbatory praise about your respective honorable traditions like you actually stick to them. Like Tarkis wasn't sent on a perfectly futile attempt to assassinate the Fatebinder because his commanders didn't want to admit it was futile when they failed to deliver his mage in time. Like the Disfavored weren't perfectly happy to break their rules about punishing oathbreakers when those oathbreakers had a prisoner they really wanted. Idiots, the both of you, and you'll spit on this treaty just the same if you actually care about something else."

"Oh, come off it, Nerat.  That the Disfavored are willing to do prisoner exchanges is just a plain truth, not some - dirty little secret - and it speaks better of them than otherwise.  And as far as assassins?  That's just the only way to win against an Edict; I've no grudge on them for trying.  If I had been in their position, I would have ordered the exact same thing.  If anything, they've my respect for taking an impossible task and trying to win anyway, especially in the way they still accepted my offered hand afterwards, rather than begrudging themselves against it for what it carried.  Do you have substantive objections?"

"My ears and eyes know what the captains have been saying in their camps better than this expendable prisoner sent because he hadn't learned anything important recently, and I am sure they will not be convinced by this little pageantry. Oh, probably they'll blame me and claim I subverted Tarkis Demon, when he didn't need my nudging, but that doesn't matter. I see little reason to back peace anyway; a few more span and they'll be opening their doors to me anyway, as I always planned."

"I would be more likely to believe you had actual intelligence upon those camps if Fifth Eye here had not just the other day asked for my assistance finding one."

"Details, details. I have so many details, I can't even keep track of which ones I lied about. Not any of this, though. This is a parley, after all. Musn't make a mockery of it! You'll all do that better than me anyway, entirely by accident."

"Perhaps you should pull the other one; it's got bells on.

"Moving on.

"Where were we...ah, yes, agreeing that it's possible to agree to a peace, which I believe is at this point firmly established, since we're not presently throttling eachother.  Would it be useful to have that in writing?", she directs at Tarkis Demos.

"We have agreement to at least this: that we are people capable of negotiating in good faith with each other, that we can make promises to each other we expect to keep and be kept, and that peace is desirable."

"We do. And yes; Nested Clause has written it down" (this is true, she's quick) "but it would be useful to have that signed, to send onward."

If Ophelia was not carefully tamping down the expression of her emotions, she would be beaming.

"Wonderful."

BE IT KNOWN:

That on this the FOURTH DAY of the MONTH OF BLOOD of the year FOUR-HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE of Kyros's TRUE RECKONING, the parties undersigned did meet in parley under a blue flag and come to the following agreement, as drafted by FATEBINDER OPHELIA VAUDELLE:

ITEM THE FIRST:

That this parley and the events preceding have demonstrated to the satisfaction of GRAVEN ASHE, ARCHON OF WAR of KYROS'S EMPIRE and GENERAL of the DISFAVORED, TARKIS DEMOS, representative of the force under arms sometimes known as the VENDRIEN GUARD, and FATEBINDER OPHELIA VAUDELLE of the COURT OF TUNON, ARCHON OF JUSTICE, that the parties so named are CAPABLE OF GOOD-FAITH NEGOTIATIONS,

ITEM THE SECOND:

That furthermore the parties so named are CAPABLE OF MAKING AND KEEPING PROMISES TO ONE ANOTHER SUCH THAT IT IS CORRECT TO EXPECT THAT THEY WILL BE KEPT, including but not limited to HONORING THE BLUE FLAG OF TRUCE and CONDUCTING PRISONER EXCHANGES,

and ITEM THE THIRD:

That PEACE IS THE DESIRED OUTCOME OF CONTINUED NEGOTIATIONS.

SO SIGNED, SO SEALED, AND SO WITNESSED

BY

Fatebinder Ophelia Vaudelle, Signatory

Archon Graven Ashe, Signatory

Tarkis Demos, Signatory

Lantry, Witness

Nested Clause, Witness

 

I do so attest in Kyros's name that this was produced of all parties' free will: Fatebinder Ophelia Vaudelle.

"You know they all think you're strange for being so long-winded and didactic in everything you write, don't you? Tunon doesn't mind but he doesn't mind anything as long as it's technically within the Law."

"Do I look like I care?", she doesn't say.  (She might care a little.  But Nerat is a lying liar who lies, so obviously she's not going to take his word for it.  Besides, Calio appreciates her work and Calio is practically Tunon's right hand.)

"I don't tell you how to organize spy networks.  Besides, laying absolutely everything out in ink upon the page is the point of my written judgements.  If ever a dispute either upon the judgement's nature or of a similar underlying kind arises in the future, which is my expectation when I issue such, a clear and thorough record of the decision and its rationale is indisputably useful to have, for reference - though I can see why you wouldn't appreciate such committment to legibility."

"Oh, of course I don't, it would just interrupt my fun. It's just that none of the other Fatebinders do either. They all laugh when you're not there; it's just a matter of who they're laughing at." "Most of them think you'll grow out of it," the whispers say, "And why would I lie when the truth is so easy to weaponize?"

"Why would you lie when the truth is so easy to weaponize, you ask me - without even the courage to cast your aspersions aloud - when I already know the truth is not on your side.

"Really, Nerat, are you a child?  It would make sense of some things."