The announcer stepped aside and gave the stand to a short woman on their older side. Quill noticed that she had icy blue eyes and silver hair, matching like the sky and earth after a blizzard. After a long few moments, the bells struck.
She let her voice fill the hall, one with a lower, slightly accented timbre, to introduce herself. She had a slight Kannan accent that bled through her Zeryziani, though it was relatively easily to comprehend her speech. He figured she would have come from southwestern Sterlir, or perhaps the very edge of Rathia’s shared border with the country.
There would be no wordplay or job for him as a translator here. Surely for one speaker or another, he’d be able to take advantage, but for now the speech would be delivered in Zeryziani. For now, Quill simply had to sit back and plan his moves.
...
Speaker de Valen spoke slowly and deliberately but resolutely. She spoke of how her loved ones died. She spoke of her father, lost at sea during a naval raid, and her mother, abducted in the night. She spoke of her son, currently at sea defending against the Evil. She wondered aloud if he’d ever return. In short, she appealed to emotion. And skies above, she could not have been more direct about her feelings.
"Many of the nations only care for whether or not territory gained by the Evil will create a trade deficit", she said. Charging on, she thanked Aren and the others for their time, and closed out her speech. She had that much propriety at least.
The bells had yet to ring, so "I would like the rest of my time to be allotted for questions from the ambassadors", Terys proclaimed.
She left plenty of time for questions; barely three bells had been struck during her monologue. Aren took her chance and charged ahead. "Why", Aren asked, "Does this give reason to stop? While we can feel for your loss, what reason does the possibility that the deaths will end trump the possibility that they''ll simply infiltrate our society, and then kill us?"
"We don''t know if it will fail. If a treaty works, no one will ever have to die anymore. If one fails, then we will suffer. But if it doesn''t, our children and grandchildren will never have to know the loss we have", Terys responded.
The point she raised was fair. Aren had to concede that much; it was, after all, a basic premise of one of the arguments for offering up a treaty. It was just that she thought the risk/reward wasn''t nearly as good a ratio as Terys or another promoter of ‘peace’ believed it to be.
...
Eric had grown tired of waiting around for Aren and the Sterlir to finish arguing.
Taking advantage of a brief gap in the two’s argument, he charged ahead; "Aren, for all she''s said so far has missed pointing out one crucial detail. You talk of your mother, who you say was ''abducted in the night''. Why would a species that would abduct us want to live peacefully with us?", Eric asked, "I''ve heard stories like your mother''s dozens of times, both on the battlefield and around it. That wasn''t an isolated event. Do you truly believe that such a species would want to co-exist with us?"
"Yes. We, as I keep saying, have never so much as attempted to co-exist. We attack them. Why in the world would we not so much as try to stop the cycle of violence?"
"Why don''t they try to stop the cycle? They invade us. Why should we trust them to stop?"
"Why shouldn''t we?"
"Why shou-"
"Please, both of you, stop this inane cycle. We are here to decide if we should try to stop the cycle. Your argument contributes nothing", a third voice spoke up.
That would be Mari. She- naturally- would stand up for her fellow citizens. "Let me ask a question of my own, and one as direct and simple as possible, Speaker de Valen: Do you believe that the risk of danger being caused by letting the Evil integrate into our society is outweighed by the chance that they won''t act out against us after we compromise our security to let them in?"If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Yes. It''s not even close. For you all, the upper echelons of society, maybe it is, but for us? The danger for us average folk is that we''ll die at war now, not that society might suffer later. For us average folk, it''s just who we''re paying taxes to that''ll change", Terys responded, obviously encouraged by the question.
Mari kept on questioning, and Terys kept on answering. She was clearly being swayed towards a treaty. That could not possibly be good for Eric and the others'' chances.
...
Trici watched on as the clocks tolled, clear and loud in the morning. They alerted everyone of the time; it was 10:30 AM. The conversation died down- Council Head Rei Wathrel had taken control near the end of it. She finished taking her notes and heard fourteen chairs scrape against the stone ground. The woman in the grey dress came back up to the speaker''s dais. She explained that the council members would take a 15-minute break, and reajurn with the following bell. Next to her, Mahir immediately started peppering Trici with comments. Trici didn''t take note of most of them, choosing instead to let them go in one ear and out her other, but was quite interested in one of his remarks; while the stories he covered usually were about the destruction of villages, Terys talked about the abduction of individuals. She decided she''d prod him further on that inconsistency when he stopped talking for long enough for Trici to sneak in a question.
...
Tria slumped down in their seat. Maybe just a wink of sleep wouldn''t hurt. They let themselves drift off, sixteen voices calling out to them.
...
"Not good, not good, not good", Aren muttered, pacing. The first speech, bluntly, had gone terribly. She''d expected Rei to be in favour of a treaty, but Mari had obviously been swayed by Speaker de Valen. She and Quill had found a small room off to the side and were using it to talk privately.
"Aren, calm down. We have only a handful of minutes to figure out how we''re going to reposition and not let anyone fall too firmly towards the side of a treaty during the next speech
"Pyros, Pucoths''s translator, lost family to the Evil. While that''s far from a guarantee he''ll be against a treaty- just look at Terys- I do think he is. He''s the only one of us who knows Gilish, so he''ll be translating. I doubt that Pyros will twist words like I will to make or dampen a point, but he likely won''t be looking to paint the Evil in a redeemable light in his translation", Quill assured Aren.
"True, true. But your twisting of words isn''t going to be that useful until tomorrow, right? That’s when you and Liara will have a whole speaker to yourselves. That''s when we can really try to make strides forward by making arguments for armistice seem silly", Aren replied, "For now, we need to plan out our moves to minimize how much anyone is swayed towards a treaty. Are you sure we can''t get Pyros to join us?"
"Yes; he''s far too rigid in his moral code to do anything but faithfully do his work. Liara likely would, especially if we get Eric to work with us and directly agree to such a plan, but I doubt the others would bend the speakers'' words like that."
...
Eric, Liara, and Tehran gathered around a small table in one of the many small rooms off to the side. "Liara- you don''t have many people you need to translate for over the trial, right?" Eric asked.
"No; we agreed that I''d only have one speaker overmorrow. Other than that, I''m free from duties"
"Could you take notes, maybe? If we can call up speakers later, it would be wise to keep track of who can help make our points the best"
"Yes, that should be rather easy. Anything else?"
"No, not for now", Eric replied, finishing the exchange. He turned towards Tehran. "Can you run a message for us, Tehran?", he asked.
The wiry teen rolled his eyes. "That''s my job, isn''t it? I''m your errand boy, not your king."
"Tone, Tehran. There''s no reason not to ask nicely.
"Now, here''s what I want you to do: Go up to the post office and send something to this effect back to Arginos: ''First speech went badly. If you can, get someone to find out the other council members'' opinions on the matter''"
"Will do. I''ll be off, then", Tehran replied. He turned to leave, and strode up to the door, but quickly turned back. "No cipher or anything?"
"No", Eric confirmed, "The information is mostly public anyways, so it''s not like we''re letting a third party see anything classified."
"Gotcha. I''ll be back by lunch, I suppose", Tehran said, leaving at last.
Liara spoke up a few seconds after he left; "Guess we should start heading back?"
"Sure"
...
Mahir relented after some time. Trici, after waiting what felt like an eternity, questioned him, "Did you mean anything when you mentioned that Terys talked about abductions while you see villages burned?"
The response was rather disappointing. "No", he said, "I just tend to cover the large-scale things. You can still find plenty of disappearances if you know where to look. It''s just not my specialty."
Disappointed, Trici turned away from him. He seemed happy to leave their exchange there. She noted that the 3/4 hour bells were ringing. She supposed that the break was over. She nudged the teen behind her, who had fallen asleep during Mahir''s monologue.
...
Tria snapped awake from a dream of times since past. They thought they remembered seeing Monk Orir, but the details were already fading. They thanked the woman in front of them, and quickly focused their attention on the chamber''s doors, which were now grinding open to mark the return of the diplomats.
...
Aren and Quill split off from each other, promising to uphold their previous lunch date. Yet another speaker who yearned for a dangerous change would be up next. Quill just hoped that Mari wouldn''t be dragged further towards the other side.