“I’ll do whatever I can to get the king to reason with us,” Crow nodded eagerly, pleased with the sudden turn of events. It looked like Albin really had been considering his council’s opinions. Well, either that or he’d been hoping someone else would come up with a reason for him to disregard the signatures on the petition, and they hadn’t met his expectations. Whatever the case, they were finally on track to make peace with Younis and stop the destruction that the gods had been warning them about. He just hoped he would be able to negotiate well enough to convince the foreign monarch to come to an agreement that his father would be willing to take.

“Now that that’s settled, we just need to lay out the terms of the treaty,” the king announced, turning back to the rest of the noblemen. “Gerard, Malgerius and Collin, stay. The rest of you may return to your other duties.”

Crow plucked a grape from what was left of the banquet and chewed idly while the other nobles compliantly filed out of the chamber. Fischbach shot him one more spiteful look on his way out, but the viceroy just turned away from him, purposefully shrugging off the older man’s attempt to get under his skin. He would have liked to leave with the rest, since he was still clinging to the hope that he would be able to take a nap before supper, but if his father wanted him to stay, there was nothing he could do about it.

Once the room had been all but cleared, Albin leaned back in his chair. “Pay close attention,” he said to his viceroy. “Everything we discuss here will be recorded in a scroll written by Malgerius, but it is vital that you remember as much as you are able to make negotiations with the Younisian king run more smoothly. He won’t take you seriously if you fumble through your meeting with him. Do you understand?”

Crow nodded. He was still unsure how much he could trust his father in general, but when it came to the advice the monarch gave about being an ambassador, he took the man’s word as seriously as a religious text. Albin had been the youngest and arguably one of the most successful viceroys in Brerra’s history, so the insight he offered was invaluable to the former peasant who knew next to nothing about international affairs. He didn’t want to spoil the peace treaty by coming off as insecure or unprepared.

“Good,” Albin smiled at him. “Now then, I would like to arrange multiple offers for you to propose to king, three in all. The first will be intentionally unreasonable, but not so much so that Younis will be offended and unwilling to hear out the others.”

“It’s just like bartering,” Crow noticed, thinking aloud.

“It is,” his father agreed amusedly. “The first offer’s purpose is to make the second more appealing, while the third will be a last resort that you will only bring up if the king of Younis is absolutely unwilling to take the second. It is your job, Collin, to persuade him as if there is no third offer at all. Make the middle ground sound like the best deal that king will ever see in his lifetime. Do you think that’s something you can do?”

“I think so,” the viceroy shifted his weight tentatively. It was just like bartering… except the stakes were far higher.

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Albin rested a firm hand on his shoulder.

On the king’s other side, the elderly man, Gerard, cleared his throat. “The most ideal agreement in this case would be a trade of resources, my liege. We have an overabundance of lumber and farmland, and a shortage of ores and fineries that are in high demand among the upper class. Negotiating for these things would bring exotic riches to the kingdom, while we would lose nothing, because we do not utilize all of our land to begin with.”

“I agree,” Albin nodded, turning to the other man at Gerard’s side. “Write this down. The first offer will be for an immediate payment in gold amounting one thousand ducats with the addition of regular sums following annually. In return, we will give the Younisians lumber from our oak and maple trees.”

Crow wrinkled his nose. Even as an uneducated criminal, he could tell that the deal was weighted absurdly in favor of Brerra.

The king went on, “For the second deal, we will propose a regular trade of goods. Lumber from our forests, produce from our farms and animal products from the pastures. In exchange we will accept ores and silk textiles from Younis.”

“We will need something more binding than a contract to make this last,” Gerard mused.

Albin drummed his fingers on the table. “A marriage,” he indicated to Malgerius to write it down. “There is nothing more binding than matrimony. We will seal our sisterhood with Younis by giving one of our own to a noble of the Younisian king’s choosing.”

“Who will you give?” Crow asked, casting his father a curious look. “Braden?”

“No,” the king shook his head. “Braden is the heir to the throne, so his hand will be reserved for a union that will benefit our kingdom far more than this. Besides, there are plenty of other eligible young men and women in the citadel, sons and daughters of high ranking nobles who would all make excellent candidates. But we can decide whom will be chosen after the Younisian king agrees.”

“And for the third offer?” Malgerius queried.

“The same as the second, with the inclusion of some of our less disposable resources,” Albin answered, rising from the table. “I’ll refine the details at a later point, but for now, we’ve made enough headway to justify making the preparations for Collin’s departure.”

“Already?” Crow blinked and looked up, surprised at how quickly his father was sending him off.

“All this planning has gone on long enough,” the king sighed. “The palace staff has already begun gathering the supplies you would have needed to make the trip to Gorm. I’ll send my attendant to notify them of the changes we’ve made today, but there’s no reason to delay this anymore.”

“So… when will I be leaving?” the viceroy asked hesitantly.

“In three days,” Albin replied.