Heeding the warning, I sent a handful of messeo return to the rest of our army. If all goes well, then we'll return in one pied the inal messengers will have been pointless, but if things go south I want to make sure the rest of the army has adequate time to hide. After the messengers had their message and had left our location, I stepped out with the remainder of our forces that were over here.

  As roached, the se was clearly very gruesome and trasted heavily with the graceful appearance of the elves. Once I was close enough, I noticed Elora was among the elves, though she wasn't the oanding at the forefront. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but ohing was clear. Under no circumstances do I want to make an enemy of the elves in front of me. King Besmond III and the Baron's forces may have been weakened from weeks on the isnd, but the ease by which they were defeated was terrifying.

  A, but elderly looking female elf stepped forward when we were very close and spoke fluently in the demon nguage, "I am the elven matriarch, Elloetta. I know not what deal you may have struck with Rathnd, so I apologize if we may have caused you some losses now, but we could not turn down su opportunity to deal with such a problematiation. As long as we e to an agreement as to what has transpired today, you have nothing to fear."

  Despite how calm and friendly her tone appeared, the hostility in her words arent. I had already decided that we should try to be friendly, but I now had the feeling that if we couldn't rea agreement, no amount of hiding on the isnd would save us. "I'm sure we e to an agreement. Do you already have something in mind as a cover story, or would you prefer to hear my opinion?"

  "We do have something in mind already, but hearing another option 't hurt. Go on, you may speak your mind."

  "The Baron of pfur had initially po kill The King at sea and sink his ship, g a leviathan killed him. He was then going to exoe us of the piracy cims which started the war once he gained power. I don't see why the leviathan story couldn't be adapted to having wiped out all their ships, rather than just The King's, other than needing someoo have seen the event. Their army apparently had already suffered attacks by leviathans on their way here so the story is believable. I mean no offense, but depending on your reputation, your side could potentially have been witness, though it might lead to some questions..."

  Elloetta watches me with curiosity as I speak before responding, "With some adaptations, that could work. We would o sink their ships far away from here, but it would be less likely to raise suspis in general. Though we'd ask that you load their bodies into their ships for us. As for exoing you of piracy, we'll see to some of that. Rathnd itself is very likely to devolve into civil war and colpse after the loss of both their King and their most petent politi, so you shouldn't o worry about them seeking any form of vengeance."

  There are so many questions I have, but I'm holy terrified to ask them, but I decide to open with one smaller oo test the waters, "I don't mean to pry, and you refuse to answer, but all of this has been a little fusing. Why did you kill both King Besmond III and the Baron?"

  Elloetta lets out a sigh which makes me very nervous but she starts speaking after, "It's well known that Elves, especially High Elves, live for a very long time, and our reprodu cycles are very slow. Among most nations in the world, we take on the role of advisors, archivists, or researchers. The try we work in gains living memory of events far beyond their normal lifespan, and eaceful leverage. Due to our loy, we High Elves bee quite individually powerful, but when we only reproduce every twenty years, a single loss is devastating. If a human nation, which is capable of quickly replenishing it's numbers, were to remove all their Elven advisors, and begin taking over their neighbors, you could surely see our ."

  I got the feeling that wasn't the full story, but I was gd that I wasn't just killed on the spot f. "I uand. Given our reproductive speed, we'll also aim to stay on yood side, though trouble always seems to find us. Excuse me for asking this, but as I uand it, there are other Elven Matriarchs, why are you explicitly the oo intervene here? Wouldn't it be in all their is to work towards this goal?"

  Anh from Elloetta, though this one doesn't seem to be directed at me, "More than half of the other Matriarchs are more ed with staying isoted. In my opinion, they don't fully grasp the threat we're under. Most of them live in more tral regions of our ti, isoted from danger. Of the rest of us, we've divvied up the human tries as to whom we advise, so we don't step on each other's toes too mubsp; Which is all the more reason when Rathnd began on their path that we o absp; It would be a problem if a nation we were supposed to oversee suddenly began attag nations that were the domain of other Matriarchs."

  I got the feeling from Elloetta's attitude that I should stop my line of questioning. "Alright, so outside of moving the bodies onto their ships, is there anything else we o do? We have a lot of losses ourselves, and a lot of repairs we o do."

  "Ah, there are a few matters to discuss. First, a matter of payment for the dark elves. They are meraries for hire after all, and although they're partial towards w with us high elves, we still must pay. Givehing that has transpired, I feel a fifty-fifty split of their cost is fair, Elora will stay here after we've left to discuss the details. Sed, Elora will be staying here for at least a year. As I've mentioned, we prefer to have someone w in tries of note. She'll act as both our diplomat, and whatever role you wish to put her in for work. Third, as Rathnd is teically our , as they devolve into civil war there may be individuals who seek asylum. Given Rathnd's notoriety with both it's close and far neighbors, we may ask that you take some of thees in, at least temporarily."

  That's a lot to take in. I have no idea exactly how expehe Dark Elves were. I don't necessarily mind Elora staying, although I'm not fond of how pushy this all is being. Finally, suddenly we're being forced to take in refugees? I'm not in a position to simply refuse, but I'll need some crifications.

  "Given how devastated our ey is, it may be some time before rovide any form of payment for the dark elves' services. Also, taking in refugees on short notice will be impossible. We'll least a year to demilitarize and recover from the war before we even sider taking in refugees. Also, are these refugees elves, or citizens of Rathnd? How many would we expect to have to take in?"

  "Then we'll front the payment to the dark elves and Elora will hahe iations of repayment to us. As for the refugees, giveime of year with which travel is possible to this isnd, it wouldn't likely be until wihat you would be receiving any. They'd be human refugees. Individuals who are somewhat valuable, but who would be in daaying on the ti as war breaks out. I wouldn't expect more than fifty that we'd feel the o send this far away."

  This is all going to be a pain in the ass, but I'm not holy able to refuse. Uh Kao, where I felt I had some leverage, we're more ered and overwhelmed, and their 'demands' aren't that much of a challenge of our snty. "Alright. Is there anything else we o discuss, or should we start ing up the bodies?"

  "That is all that we o discuss, Elora will handle more details moving forward. You may go do what you will."

  With that, the majority of the elves returo their ships, though a few stayed to captain the human ships which will eventually get sunk further out ohey're loaded with all the bodies. Elora returo us as we finished loading the bodies into the ships. With that, the elves sailed away, leaving us with the job of fixing our isnd up, and there is a lot of work to do.