Zakroti shifted awkwardly in place and continued to eat from the bowl of soup as he peered at her, watching her sign away the specifics of the history with interest. The Drakken were hardly ones to allow themselves to be taken advantage of, the nobility of the west had hardly taken it lying down either; Ever since the False Truce of Depuce the Oshwel had taken great exception to such dealings, and their imperial dominion during its height had made it practically standing policy to make an example of those who reneged on agreements with them. The sack of Caradhangias had in fact directly resulted from such, and it was said that their forces had left not a stone for a bird to perch upon once they had razed the city-state to the ground and sold its population into slavery. The effect was pronounced; The other vassal states of what was then known as the Mavakian Mountains had quickly fallen into line and it was a century before any of the city states dared to raise an objection to their control again, and only then as the winds of fate had changed and the imperial prestige had vastly declined. The Great Drakken themselves had similar stories, for the Kingdom of Drakka was ruled in such a way that treachery and double crossings, while not uncommon, could carry disastrous consequences for those who engaged in them. Although duels were not an uncommon way of settling disputes, all out war between vassals of the Drakken royal family had resulted from disputes between noble houses over everything from land, trade down to alleged insults and slander. From his own perspective, the Gemmenites had truthfully gotten off lightly, for there were a great many worse things done between the Drakken on account of truce breakers and those who had forsworn their oaths, good intentions or not. Still, this had been an internal Gemmenite dispute, and if they were unable to find a method by which to fulfil the original terms of their agreements, they ought to have had the foresight to seek a solution to the problem. It was an entirely understandable objection, but then they had agreed to it in the first place and been utterly unable to put a stop to it. Morally, he understood precisely the conundrum the Gemmenites had found themselves within; A generally peaceful people, the cataclysmic upheaval that they fell prey to and the dangers that lurked in the south, let alone those waiting across the mountain, had forced them into a losing hand and they had tried to play it as best they could to buy their time. Was a stipend for volunteers moral? Far from it, he understood far too well that the economic incentives for that effectively shuffled the entire burden from the rich and powerful onto the poor, and the former would undoubtedly be incentives to ensure that it remained that way lest they have to give up their own daughters. He knew that the Muthseran had at the time petitioned multiple times to introduce terms and - subsequently - to renegotiate the contract to include terms that would prevent precisely this. Not, of course, that the Muthserani had cared at all for the moral and ethical considerations, such a move was hardly motivated out of altruism but rather out of pure pride and political concerns. In deed, taking those who would inherit had been [i]precisely[/i] what some of the Oshwel Orthi had in mind. Zak mused for a moment; The Drakken king had brought the Muthi off in the end through the transfer of the vassalage of the southern realms, which had long ago been annexed into Drakka. Ironic, considering that access to the very brides that they were now being brought off dictating the terms of had been a buy off for western military support for the campaign against the then independent Drakken tribes in the north east most part of the Drakken Kingdom. Of course, that these lands now became a problem for his own family by empowering a rival due to the split between the various noble families in the west after the collapse of the dominion, was perhaps only more irony to top off this bestial arrangement. He also wondered whether the Gemmenites were knowledgable at all about the handful of brides who had been given to the Kalderans by the Oshwel some 80 prior, a payment to the mercenary warriors that the Unalim family had recruited to supplement their own numbers during the civil war where the Unalim family reclaimed much of their predominance over the other Oshweli families. The Kalderans did not possess the same qualities as the Drakken, but the so called 'Gaunt Drakken' of the Aylhame a Vorgula did and the tribes had sought to trade these Gemmenites with them. True to the common abbreviation - or perhaps rather slang term - of 'Gems', these women from the east had been exploited more like objects than people right across the continent at one time, and he doubted in truth that it would come close to an end soon. "When you are sharing a den with a wolf, it is wise not to starve him; They ought have been more careful with their social policies." Zakroti replied as he continued to listen to her story, taking up another spoonful of soup and slipping it into his mouth. "It was a better system to keep it strictly voluntary, perhaps your rulers ought to fix the mess they have created. The Great Drakken are not known for their restraint, I doubt they will back down from this of their own accord, they'll have to be brought off, or they're likely going to continue this." That was not precisely in the best interests of the Oshwel either; Gemmenite brides had become something of an accepted feature in the west, and were highly prized as they were in Drakka. There were many practical reasons for this beyond the aesthetic, as there often were when it came to Drakken interbreeding with other races, and the academics of the west had long since been engaged in advising the great and small on breeding with non-Drakken kind, and with their own kind. Although such a mindset might seem crude, uncouth and barbaric to outsiders, to the Drakken this was a necessary part of their survival and had been their greatest strength in adapting to the world. Losing access to this valuable source of traits and features from the east could cost the Oshwel severely, shortening their pool of respective partners and leaving them less capable to begin their reconquest once the matter of who truly held the Imperial Mandate was settled. If that matter was ever settled. Nastaki had come closer than any other in centuries to finally reestablishing the Imperial mantle, and he had been very clear to Zakroti that he desired him to ensure it was achieved - not that the favour of his Grandfather had done him any individual blessings, given the pressure to excel it had placed upon him. "What do you mean by that?" Zakroti asked with a pause, peering at her carefully. The implication of the words was obviously that she had volunteered, but that did not seem to be at all what the appearance of her face was suggesting. Been volunteered perhaps? He wasn't sure, but he would rather know than not know. He returned her smile warmly "What tongues do you know, then?"