[h2][center][i]Prelude to Negotiation[/i][/center][/h2]
[i]A Collaboration between [@TheDuncanMorgan] and [@Sundered Echo][/i]

“Long may he rain!” Lana joined in the cheer throughout the hall, her voice thoroughly lost among the many others present. She couldn’t help but be caught up in the collective joy the crowd exuded, grinning from ear to ear as they new king took his place on the throne. The ceremony was filled with a lot of dull and often religious formality, but it was all very impressive, and that was what mattered. But now the most tedious part of the formalities were over, Lana would have a chance to really ply her trade.

She was putting on a grand illusory display. Officially it was her gift to the King, but she knew it wouldn’t impress him. He didn’t seem like the type to be cowed by a flashy light show, and being so close to Aurelia, magic was clearly no stranger to him. But impressing the King was for another time, the coronation was at its core, for everyone else. The nobles and commoners alike loved this sort of gathering, the nobles all got to show off and those of lower birth who were able to take part got to bask in the presence of their betters. Lana was simply going to be the showiest of all. Of course she would make sure everyone knew she was doing it in honor of the King, it was his day after all, but all the same, she would send the message that in the new regime, mages were back, and the King held their support and respect.

After the demonstration, the large crowd she had gathered began to slowly move away. They had been quite enraptured by the performance, but Lana knew that she was not likely to get any trouble from this crowd. The ones that still had a problem with magic were the lowest born peasants, particularly the outlying villages. Changing their minds would be far harder. She was about to consider leaving the event, or perhaps drinking a lot of wine while some of the castle's best stock was still available, when one of the king's servants approached her.

"My Lady." He began, with a small bow in deference to her rank as a Magister. "His grace requests an audience with you, at your earliest convenience after the coronation ceremony." She nodded, replying "Thank you for delivering the message. I will not keep him waiting." She took one last wistful look at the wine, then turned on her heel and strode away from what remained of the celebrations.

~Some time later~

Once again, Lana found herself approaching the Kings chambers with butterflies in her stomach. She was unsure what he wanted, and she could only hope he wasn't in some way displeased with her actions. She needed to keep him happy so that he would continue to grant concessions to mages and pass favorable laws. Still, if he wanted something from her, she had a few things in mind that she ask for as recompense for her services.

The guards at the door had clearly been informed that she would be arriving, as they quickly completed the process to allow her entry. When she stepped into the opulent chambers once more she saw Duncan in his usual place at his desk. She bowed, as was customary, then spoke. "Your Grace, you summoned me?"

Duncan had been lost in thought; his thoughts were completely focused on Aurelia and their discussion. He had completely forgotten that he had sent for Lanaya and was taken by surprise. "Lady Lanaya, forgive me I forgot I had invited you, please take a seat we have much to discuss" Duncan said as he gestured towards the chair that Aurelia had been sitting in. 

Lana's immediate reaction was to be somewhat insulted she had been forgotten, but she made sure it never showed in her expression as she took a seat.

"No apologies required your grace. It has been a long day and you have countless other things to occupy your mind." She began. She noted his expression before speaking had been one of deep contemplation and perhaps a hint of contentment? It quickly changed once he had begun though. It made sense. Being officially pronounced King had to be one of the best days of his life.

"As you already know House Blackwell has separated from the crown and declared itself independent. Though they are not at war with us, I am uncertain of their motives, and uncertainty is an unpleasant feeling for me. I wish to see them join the Imperial Concord, and now that House Manshrew has attempted to assassinate Giles and his family, this is the best opportunity" Duncan said with a sly smile "As much as I hate to admit it the Concord needs Blackwell, we need their army and land, but we also need their weaponry and armor. Even Cawanor can't arm and supply all the of the soldiers under the command of the concord. Unfortunately house Blackwell doesn't look all that fondly on the De Reimer family and everyone on the high council either lacks the diplomatic skills needed or are otherwise occupied. As such I am asking you. Aurelia places great trust in you, and from our discussion together you seem to have the right temperament for negotiating with them. I can assure you I will make it worth you time"

Lana found herself pleasantly surprised by the request Duncan was making. He was asking her to act as a diplomat on behalf of the Concord and in doing so, putting great faith in her abilities. When she had been summoned, this was not at all what she was expecting. She took a moment to compose her reply.

"You have my thanks, your grace, for your confidence in my abilities. I realize that securing Blackwell aid is extremely important to the war effort. I must warn however, for the sake of clarity, that I will not risk using my magic to beguile them into agreement. Setting up a comprehensive illusory scenario to push someone's opinion in favorable directions is a complex and uncertain task. In addition, Drevala Blackwell is an unusual mage, and I am unsure whether she has any expertise in detecting and dispelling illusion. This mission will stand or fall on words alone."

She was unsure whether to mention that she avoided heavy use of illusion around Duncan for the same reason - Aurelia would discover such very quickly. Ultimately she decided to leave that unsaid however, for it implied too many potentially paranoia inducing factors.

"I am curious, however, how you plan to make it worth my time. Other than my vested interest in seeing the Concord victorious of course."

"I would strongly advise against performing such tricks on him. Giles Blackwell is a strong willed individual, even with your level of expertise on such magic, he would see through such illusions. However I know you are wise enough to already know this. If not you would have likely of tried the same idea on me when we first met. I must say I am glad you decided against it, mages have tried such spells on me in the past and the consequences of using such tricks were not pleasant I can assure you" Duncan spoke with a mixture of calmness and seriousness. Though he didn't speak particularly aggressively or even unfriendly, it was clear he was letting Lanaya know the consequences of using such magic on him. There was a slight pause as he let Lanaya process what had just been said before he continued in a far more upbeat manner "From what I gather, House Dionisa has lost next to all it's influence and social standing to the point that most people outside of Nyhem are unaware it still exists. If you succeed in these negotiations I will restore your families name back to it's former glory; the manor house that originally belonged to house Dionisa here in Nyhem will be returned to you, various area's of land will be given to you and most importantly you will have a place here in the royal court" Duncan said with a smile.

Lana ignored the warning, she already knew that being caught manipulating leaders via magic would bring a swift and probably very unpleasant end to her career in politics. That was why she was so adamant about avoiding the risk altogether.

Her eyes lit up at the mention of having her name restored though. It was ironic that she would be going back to the original plan her parents had had for her, and she recognized that, but what she was going to do with it was so very far beyond their wildest dreams it was barely the same any more. She could not hide her enthusiasm for it even if she wanted to, and it would be clear as day in her expression that Duncan had her hooked with the promised reward.

"Your Grace... I am not often lost for words..." She spoke with a rare uncertain tone. She quickly composed herself, moving onto the business of the matter.

"I am quite familiar with the Blackwells, but I must ask two questions of you. First, if there is any knowledge that may help in securing their loyalty, any secrets or information that might be strategically revealed to them to gain their favor. And second, what are we willing to offer them? They will not be pushovers at the negotiation table, and a price will be exacted of us for their support... What price are we comfortable with? I imagine they will desire retaining their independence at the very least."

Duncan thought hard on Lanaya's question. In truth not even he knew much about house Blackwall; their presence in political affairs had always been brief. Not to mention, after all of his spies in Alenius had been killed during 'Manshrews' assassination attempt, there were no more reports coming out of Alenius. Finally Duncan spoke "I know that during the assassination attempt on Giles his daughter Naomi was severely injured. If you wish to appeal to Giles then I would suggest appealing to his sense of revenge" Duncan suddenly felt uneasy. He had heard many stories about Giles’ love for his youngest, and of his fury towards whomever might harm her. Duncan feared for his family's safety should Giles ever find out about the De Reimer's involvement.

"My offer to him is as follows: I will give him both the Kingdoms of Glarmion and Akki, making him one of the most powerful lords in Formaroth. We will also give him the chance to execute Andrew personally should the opportunity arise. Finally the De Reimer family is willing to arrange a marriage between one of his daughters and my brother Patrick De Reimer. Whichever daughter he choices will of course take up the De Reimer name, but he will gain a firm alliance with the De Reimer family. In exchange they will help fight the usurper Andrew Manshrew and Alenius will give up it's foolish independence to rejoin the crown". As soon as he finished Duncan lifted a envelope from his desk and handed it over to Lanaya

"Before I forget, take this. It will be useful in the negotiations. House Manshrew will likely play innocent on the matter of Giles execution and say they were framed. These documents contain all the information on the lead Assassin 'Aashiq Fadil'; they show that he works directly for Andrew and is one of his highest ranking spies. Our own spies were able to get these documents at great risk" Duncan lied. In truth the only reason he had the documents was because Aashiq had given them to Patrick shortly after he turned on house Manshrew to work as a double agent.

Lana listened intently as Duncan spoke. She already knew that Naomi was injured, Drevala had been quick to inform her of the attack and its results by letter. There was information she could use here, but she was unsure the Blackwell's would be willing to accept a deal that, if anything, secured the De Reimer families position even more thoroughly. That said, the lands on offer were valuable prizes, and given the Blackwell penchant for vengeance, it might well be enough, at least in the short term.

"Thank you your grace. This will come in very useful. If I may, one final question. It is well and good to secure an initial alliance, but to ensure it lasts, it may be advantageous to paint the Manshrew Alliance in as negative a light, from the Blackwell perspective, as possible. The Blackwell, and by extension the people of Alenius, have come to respect some very different values to us. If we can highlight the cultural differences and personal views of the various involved parties in such a way as to pain you and the Concord as being in alignment with Alenius values while Manshrew and his Alliance are made to appear the very antithesis of those values..." She paused to take a breath, she was already thinking of several points she could spin to this end and getting perhaps a little over-excited about it. "Nothing any of Manshrews very best diplomats can say will have any effect, for their words will fall on ears deafened by hate, not only for personal reasons, but for philosophical reasons. And so the question is, is there anything you can tell me of Manshrew's personal beliefs, or the beliefs of the other families, that the Blackwells and the people of Alenius will despise?"

Lana was in her element now. That the day had been long and oft tedious was forgotten. Now was the time to plan, and to find all the strings that would let her puppet a powerful family, without their knowing, to not only the Concords benefit but her own.

"I can see a couple of differences between the two kingdoms that would make Alenius hesitant to join up with the Manshrew Alliance. For a start house Blackwell fought against House Manshrew during the civil war. Not to mention House Manshrew supported the original rulers 'House Willow', whom as you probably already know were not popular with the populous of Alenius. A second is that Alenius values meritocracy and gives people power and wealth based on their usefulness to the Kingdom. However in Uzgob most people are of near equal wealth, and power is in the hands of very few. The people of Alenius would not prosper well under this new way of life". Duncan replied.

"Thank you your grace. I will fly to Mercy come the dawn. Is there anything else?" She asked of Duncan.

"No. You may take your leave." He replied, simply.

"Thank you your grace." Lana said as she stood, documents in hand. She bowed to him, as was custom, then turned on her heel and left. She would rest for what remained of the night, but with the rising of the sun she would need to alter form to a bird capable of long distance travel, with a more complex spell so as to carry the documents with her, and depart for Mercy. It would not be a quick trip, but it was certainly faster to fly than taking a carriage or even a ship.