The castle was prepared for battle. It pleased Kai, making his blood pulse. The long walk through the castle let him appreciate the business and everything that came with preparing for battle. He didn't particularly listen to the conversation with their escort, although he paid attention enough to hear anything interesting. The man was talking about the castle's current situation, and the general situation of the area. Refusing the Council's authority didn't seem to be a good decision for Elensa; they could have avoided a lot of bickering just by listening to a party who had the bigger picture in mind. A picture that included more races than just humans, for instance.

Kainen hadn't thought twice about keeping up his human identity when he joined the White Shields, indeed he had barely thought about it once. But he was beginning to realize he would have to keep up appearances particularly well during this mission. He honestly didn't care if his companions found out he wasn't human, but the people of this land would make him regret it if he slipped up. Sometimes Kai was glad of his clipped ears. Although, he reminded himself, he wouldn't be here if not for his human appearance. They wouldn't have sent him, a new member of the order, on this mission if he weren't a human.

Kai sat down at the Baron's table, as did the others. They were all in a row facing Laflur, Kai sitting at the end next to Nainë with her staff between them. Glancing down the row, it looked like the three Shield veterans had sat themselves in the middle, directly across from the Baron, and the two younger men were at the opposite end of the table. The seven of them didn't look half bad together, he thought. The group was quite diverse despite the uniformity of race. Only one non-human if you didn't count Kainen, and even that one was half-human. It was strange, you almost forgot how tall Elves and Men were. Their height seemed normal without all the Dwarves in comparison. The half-dwarf half-human actually looked short.

Food and drink came quickly, as it should. This was a castle after all. Kai didn't touch anything, unlike Nainë right next to him. She dug in as if she hadn't eaten all day. Kai smirked a little, he would never have thought such a thin little thing would act like that. He crossed his arms and leaned back when the Baron started talking. Since he was kind of watching her, he noticed how Nainë's big grey eyes latched onto the Baron. The woman barely blinked. Kai was glad it wasn't him she was staring at like that... It was unsettling.

"What would you have us do? As you can see, there are not enough of us to fight an army." It was that axe-wielder talking. Nei. Kainen rather liked him: he knew what he was doing and he looked like he'd get himself dirty. His experience couldn't rival Kai's as the Man had to be in his twenties, possibly early thirties: not many years to an Elf. But a decade or so of experience in the same organization meant he really knew what he was about. Kai was perfectly content to let him or Thetrous or Leon do the talking. Anyone really, except that little prick Caden. Green as grass and thought himself king of the world. It was one thing to be young and think everything that happened to you was the center of the universe, but if you'd been out a little, fought and traveled the world and met people, it was ridiculous to have nothing to talk about but yourself. Although Kainen had to admit he found it a little amusing.

The Baron sighed. "Yes, I couldn't hire nearly enough of you for a full-on attack. But perhaps you could find another way to dissuade her." His eyes scanned the map in front of him, and so did Kai's. It was a map of the area, with Laflur's castle in the center and the city of Endel on the right edge. His neighbor Devon's lands were east of here, as big as Laflur's lands. Janus' castle was northeast, above Devon, and her lands were smaller. Hogswallup was north, where Laflur's enemies were apparently massing. Two days... That didn't leave them much time. Perhaps the most they could do in that short frame was a parley which wouldn't get anywhere. Various other names were printed around Laflur's lands, varying in size and in the colors and symbols overlaid on their section of the map. Kainen wondered who those Barons were and who they'd side with in a pinch. It might look like it wouldn't matter if their band could sort things out so as to avoid a war, but playing on the loyalties of everyone in the area could help or hinder them in that task.

But Kai didn't need to say anything, because Nei had apparently been thinking the same thing: "What about the others?" he asked, pointing to the map. "We could talk with Janus, but we would need to know exactly what we're talking about to have any chance of getting anywhere. For example, does anyone sympathize with you? Is there any chance of any other barons joining the fight on either side?" He wasn't cutting corners, that Nei. Some Barons would have been offended that he wasn't being all formal.

Kai tried to think of other alternatives to deal with Janus. They might be able to harass her army somehow, or even sneak into her castle to get information or somehow prevent her from going into battle. They could also take charge of the battle at the Castle, leaving the Baron to sneak off and try to persuade Janus. Kai doubted a Baron would be happy to relinquish command, but it was worth thinking about. The ideal solution would still be to talk with her, maybe play on some loyalty or debt or something, and get her to back down all by herself. Who knew, maybe she'd even listen to common sense. Why were all these Barons so intent on keeping things the way they were? It hardly seemed worth going to war over. Kai wondered what their true motivations were.