“I can sense by the atmosphere that the Fae Alliance has something important to say. Shall we have them open today’s proceedings?” Cain says to break up the glares.

“As our mediator may not know, Graska is the furthest Northern city within the Fae controlled western territory. With the Ogres having won the long war against the Trolls and beginning to move south to annex more territory, the Fae Alliance requires a defensible front line staging area. So again we have come here to request you peacefully relinquish control of the city.”

The entire Darklight Host contingent facepalms as one.

“Now listen here you Fairy buggering little punk.” The Dwarven King begins before Cain steps forward to stop the argument.

“Clearly you already knew that approach was not going to work. Do you have an alternate suggestion, or would you prefer for me to come up with something?” Cain insists of the Fae Alliance representative.

“It’s perfectly reasonable, all other cities in the area have joined under control of the council, except these stubborn Dwarves.” the representative counters.

“Let me see if I can explain the problem in a different way, and one of your advisors can then relate it to you. Young Fairy advisor, what might your name be?” Cain asks of the fairy on the representative’s shoulder.

“I am Nimuet, young Human Advisor.” The fairy answers with a grin.

“Well met Nimuet, I’m called Cain. The way the Dwarves are understanding your proposal is like this. Say a group of Pixies and their friends came to your garden and demanded you turn it over to their control. You could stay, but an army of pixies would make all the decisions.” yes, going by the enraged look on the Fairy’s face that explanation got through.

“That’s totally different. Pixies would be everywhere, trampling the garden, getting in the way. Plus, what do Pixies know of running a garden anyhow?” Nimuet shouts in their high pitched voice.

“To Dwarves, the mountain is their Garden.” Cain explains and the Fae Alliance group Huddles up to talk while Nimuet goes on an anti Pixie rant.

“So there’s no way we will be allowed in?” The negotiator asks after they finish their conversation. If ‘give us your territory because we want it’ us the extent of their willingness to consider alternatives, the word Alliance might not have any bearing on how things are run in the Fae Alliance.

“Have you considered cooperation? Asking them for shelter for your armies as you prepare to fight, and fighting beside their armies against your common enemy, that being the Ogres? It’s working out East, everyone gets together and fights when the Ogres attack Sunnybrook.” Kone says, hoping that a different voice might help.

“You trust Dwarves with battle tactics?” One of the advisors asks disdainfully.

“Have you looked at our Guild? Everyone makes the decisions they need to.” Vala laughs, flapping her wings for balance and reminding the two groups that she’s a Demon.

“We could let them camp in the barracks at the bottom of the mountain, but only on the North Side, I don’t trust them behind me in battle.” The Dwarven King concedes. “And they’d have to drop the embargo.”

“If you would just join the Alliance the embargo would end today. Why should we let goods go to a city that is not part of the Alliance?”

Cain is beginning to understand just how deeply the two groups despise each other. It’s like trying to mediate an argument between toddlers over a toy.

“It’s alright if you want to keep the embargo, we’ve got enough food, leather and metal to last a hundred lifetimes. How’s your army holding out?” The Dwarven King asks in a Teasing voice.

“You know very well how it’s going.” The negotiator snaps back.

Finally a chance to accomplish something. “How about a trade deal? Certainly both sides can agree to that. Trading items you’ve got an excess of with each other. It doesn’t break the embargo if it’s directly between the two governments.” Cain suggests and Vala does her best not to laugh at that logic.

“We could hold it right here this afternoon. No coin needed, just trading merchandise. I can even attend with a standard price book from both sides to mediate exchanges.”

They both begrudgingly agree to the exchange, as their forces need what the other has, and the meeting breaks up to reconvene in four hours.

“Not only did nobody die, they didn’t even throw a punch. You’re a miracle worker.” the Trade hall manager gushes in appreciation.

“Even better, they’ve agreed to hold a trade of goods between factions. The King’s party has gone to collect leather and either metal ingots or weapons.”

This trade fair might just be the most awkward thing Cain has ever encountered. Both sides have brought appraisers, as well as the Darklight Guild, who has a copy of the valuation books from both factions. The goods are clearly what the other party needs, but they don’t want to seem too eager and tip their hand as to how desperate their situation really is.

Other than raw materials, the two most common requests are alchemy potions and non iron weapons. Many Fae are sensitive to the metal and the Dark Dwarves make a great number of magical weapons from enchanted bronze, brass and mythril.

The Fae Alliance is severely short on weapons of all sorts, even more than they’re short on manpower to deal with the Ogres. They eventually convince the Dwarves to trade them a half dozen siege Cannons which look like they’d be good against Ogres, but hard to aim.

“Is there an Ogre King out west here like there is attacking Sunnybrook?” Cain asks, trying to break the tension.

“Not that we’ve seen, but there are 13 of them in total, they’re like regional chiefs. With the victory over the Trolls the Ogres now control almost all of the Northern valley, so they’re likely too busy to accompany the attacking forces.” The Fae Ambassador replies, frowning at the thought of facing an Ogre King.

“How does Sunnybrook deal with extra intelligent Ogres using military tactics?” The Dark Dwarven King asks Cain, eyes glinting with the desire to hear a good battle tale.