[OOC: This thread is an expansion RP in which Tavaris will establish a colony on an island in Arcturia, pictured below.]
Addressed to His Majesty King Erique III of Alksearia:
“It is our esteemed honor and pleasure to greet Your Majesty as we begin this new partnership between our nations. As it has been agreed, We are sending along with this dispatch a convoy of six ships to the island of our mutual interest, south of the lands of Balistria. They are tasked with establishing a settlement on the coast of the Concordian Ocean. We are, of course, indebted to you for agreeing to assist us in our endeavour. We have decided to name the island Elatana. In our language, it means “the new East.” …”
-excerpt from a letter from Queen Melora II of Tavaris to King Erique III of Alksearia on the occasion of the establishment of the Port of Arktorís, 1699 CE.
The Island of Elatana
Arcturia
May 15th, 1700 CE
Just as she was gathering the last of her things from her desk, Captain Vedra Kanatar caught a glimpse of the letter the Queen had sent with her on the journey east. A copy had been furnished to all six captains in the little fleet that had been dispatched to Arcturia, of which Vedra’s was the last to arrive.
It was a very nice letter, certainly, but Queen Melora hadn’t necessarily been as honest as possible with the Alksearians when she wrote it. She had, indeed as promised, sent six ships teeming with Tavari to the shores of Arcturia. The aim was to set up a Tavari colony on Elatana that Alksearians would have the right to move to and homestead just the same as the Tavari. It was just that, for the most part, the only people the Queen could spare were prisoners.
The Alksearians, a relatively young country, had only just begun to reach out into the world, but were much closer to Elatana and so provided a much easier way to get the resources required to build a colony. And so the Tavari, who had reached over all the way to Arcturia simply in the name of broadening their imperial horizon, readily agreed to allow them to settle in the colony in exchange for their assistance. But, in truth, the Tavari needed the Alksearians for another reason - their manpower was starkly reduced, still, after the terrible Fourth Banian War that had ended 17 years prior, and their economy was still on shaky ground as well. And so, with so many family breadwinners dead from the war, the only labor the Empire could still turn to lived in the prisons. Or they had, until they had reached Elatana.
The very future of the Tavari empire stood at the precipice. Though they had emerged from the war victorious, they were bloodied, bruised, and scarred. If they wanted to regain their footing and continue the work of establishing Tavaris among the great states of the world, they had to do it quickly. They had to succeed at Elatana.
Grabbing her pocket watch - Asilican-engineered and synchronized within half of a second - from her drawer, Captain Vedra turned and left her quarters. She was the last still below decks, as the rest of the ship had already disembarked. She always preferred to be the last to leave a ship. She walked up the stairs and was greeted with a breath of fresh air and… another goddess-damned jungle.
“It’s a jungle. Just like the one I left.” Vedra was disappointed, to say the least.
“What were you expecting, the lost Raonite city of gold?” Leaning on the bannister in front of her was her old friend Tamani, who had been the first of the captains to head out on the expedition. She was beaming.
Vedra threw her arms around her old friend. “Oh, Tamani, it’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, but more importantly, I hope you brought rum. Our stocks are dangerously low.”
“Oh, of course. It’s bad luck to sail without rum,” said Vedra.
“Really? I’d never heard that.” Tamani, like most sailors, was pretty superstitious. Her eyes briefly widened in concern.
“Well,” said Vedra, “anyone who has to be on a ship with me and no rum is a very unlucky person.” She grinned, and the two women laughed.
“I suppose we best be getting into town. By now, Alavra will be giving the speech.”
“The speech?”
Tamani smiled. “You’ll see.”
It was a short walk from the dock into the “town,” such as it was. Arktorís was very new, less than a year old. Town was a few wooden buildings and a mass of tents. In the center of the mass of tents was a clearing, in which stood all the people who had just come off the ship and, in front of them, a woman speaking very loudly. She did not wear the uniform of a Navy officer, but she certainly had the voice of one.
“Each and every one of you is a convicted criminal. Each and every one of you is under the custody of Her Majesty the Queen. I am here to remind you that you are not on this island because you have been released from custody. You are not on this island for a grand tour of the world. You are still in the custody of the Queen and you are still serving your sentence. Your place of detention has simply been moved. Instead of languishing in a closed prison, doomed to die of typhoid or the consumption, you have been graciously allowed by Her Majesty’s most gracious mercy to serve your sentence in the open air, on this beautiful island heretofore untouched by orcishkind. You are here to work off your debt to society, or your debt to your creditors, or both. Your task is quite simple: you are to build this city and build this colony.”
The woman, apparently named Alavra, was pacing back and forth along the first row of people, gesticulating dramatically as she spoke.
“You will not be chained. You will suffer no more surveillance as you work than does any ordinary laborer. You will be provided food and housing for the duration of your sentence. If you keep in good behavior, you will be paid wages in rum. You have far more freedom than does any prisoner in the home islands, and you should consider this a great privilege. For those of you who are Akronists - which is probably most of you - you should find it quite easy to find your seven things for which to thank Akrona each day. All seven of them will be your stay here on this island. And for those of you who are not Akronists…” She paused and then smiled. “Congratulations on resisting for this long.”
There was scattered laughter across the crowd of people. Vedra found herself laughing as well - and she was an Akronist herself.
“Some of you may find yourself thinking, incorrectly, that you have a chance here to escape. You do not. If you attempt to escape, no one will bother to stop you, because there isn’t any hope of success for you. You are on another continent, thousands of monai from home. The only ships that stop here are Tavari or Alksearian, and the Alksearians aren’t very likely to pick up people dressed in rags who don’t speak a word of their tongue. You’re welcome to swim if you like; you will die before you reach any of the other nearby islands that are equally full of jungles and wild beasts that will also kill you. And if the wild beasts don’t kill you, the Balistrians will. They’re hardly better.”
More scattered laughter, though much of it was from Alavra herself.
“Your stay here on Elatana will be as good as you make it. If you are smart, you will make it good. If you are stupid, you will not make it. If you take anything at all from my speech, take this: be smart.”
Alavra stopped pacing, faced the crowd, and clapped her hands together once so loudly that Vedra jumped. “That’s it. All of you, you know who you answer to. Get to work. Dismissed.” With that, Alavra walked away from the crowd and seemed to cease acknowledging they existed at all. Instead, she headed straight for Vedra and Tamani.
“You must be Vedra,” Alavra said, still in the same authoritative tone. “Do you have any rum?”
Vedra smirked. “I certainly do. In whose tent shall we drink it, yours or mine? I admit I haven’t had any time to clean. Or to find out where it is.”
Alavra laughed. “I like you, Vedra. Get a barrel and bring it to the… well, we’re calling it a tavern. It’s a wooden tent.” She pointed at one of the wooden buildings. “Now that all of our ships are finally here, we’ll need to discuss supply and survey missions. I can pay you in rum and našdat if you stay with us to make supply runs, we need good captains. She’s no good.” Alavra nodded her head towards Tamani, who was smiling.
“That sounds fine, I was expecting to do so anyway. I’m not a prisoner but I don’t have anywhere else to be.” Vedra shrugged. “I do have one question though. Did you mention, in your speech just now, wild beasts?”
Again, Alavra laughed. She laughed so loudly that several heads across the sea of tents and prisoners turned to stare at her. “I’ve seen nary even a parrot so far,” she said in a low voice. “The mosquitoes aren’t even too bad. But whatever you do, you musn’t tell the prisoners that, or they’ll all be running away into the jungles and setting up their own wild, lawless villages.”
“Fair enough,” said Vedra. “And the others you mentioned… Ball… what was it?”
“Balistrians,” said Alavra. “Balistria is the country to the north, they lie between us and Alksearia.”
“Are the Balistrians a threat?”
Alavra did not laugh this time. “I don’t know,” she said. “Time will tell.”
Ouraboruos, Balistria
May 20th, 1700 CE
Grand Vizier Li’nel Kap’lan walked through the State House toward his office. It was hard being the first Ursine elected to the position, while also being the first non-noble elected to the office. Most people look down on him and assume he is incompitent at some degree. Not today he thought. Today, he believed he did his absolute best to show that he knew what he was doing, and that he was going to have a good day.
Or he was going to have a good day until he saw the Minister of State and the Chief General of the Military in his office. Kap’lan knew this was not going to be good. He tried to duck down another hallway when the Minister of State caught his eye. Kap’lan took a deep sigh, and walked into his office. He closed his door and locked it. If he was going to get yelled at, at least he was going to do it behind closed doors.
“I see you two have made yourselves at home in my office. I hope you enjoyed your stay, so I will ask you two to spit out what you came here for.” Kap’lan said, walking over to his desk. Just as he sat down at his desk, the Chief General started speaking.
“It appears as if we have a bit of a situation on our hands.” General Ambe’breu said.
“We were wrong to presume that the fools known as Tavari would leave us alone. We have intel to report that they are in fact building a colony in Lower Balistria.” Duke Onyx’gut said.
“Well, wouldn’t you know? Elves don’t know how to leave well enough alone. Maybe we should show them what it means to colonize our land the same way we showed the bastards to the north what happens.” Kap’lan explained.
“While I do believe that showing force is the right move, we do not have the manpower for an all out war. I suggest something a little less direct: a blockade. If they wish for the blockade to be relieved, they would have to negotiate terms with us because we own that island.” General Ambe’breu explained.
“We should also formally warn the Alk…I mean the bastards to not interfere either. If they do, then I guess we have another war on our hands, eh?” Duke Onyx’gut said.
Kap’lan grinned for a moment. It was the perfect chance to stop the Elvish incursion. After all, elves were a plague on Ursine kind, and they wanted to deal with these new elves as fast as possible. Kap’lan continued to think for a moment longer before he responded, “If we blockade them, I trust you would be able to block them off completely. Our next step after that is to flush them out. Find where their settlement is and we will send a couple troops in the night to burn it all down. That should break their morale and have them turn tail.”
“Yes sir” the General and Onyx’gut said.
“Good. Get to it. I don’t want them hanging around too long. Dismissed.” Kap’lan ordered.
August 12th, 1700 CE
“Goddess spite it all, is this a blockade?” As if it were smudged, Vedra took her spyglass and rubbed the lens with fabric from her sleeve. She brought it back up to her eye, only to bring it right down again. “Damn it.”
Kavan, her first mate, reached for the glass and took a look for himself. “Damn it,” he agreed. “Balistrians.”
“I was afraid that’s what that flag was,” said Vedra. She sighed angrily. “It’s a good thing we stopped in Nyveldet for supplies rather than going all the way home. Who knows how many there could have been if we had been gone for longer.”
Vedra and Kavan, along with two of the prisoners - or, rather, two of the colonists, as they were trying to call them - were aboard Alavra’s cutter ship, the Toucan. They had gone for a small supply run; Arktorís was beginning to run short on things and there was only so much jungle fruit people could yank off a tree and eat before they got sick of it. Wergby, a Norgsveltian port in northeastern Gondwana, was much closer to Elatana to trade, but it was still a 6 week trip one way - at least. Apparently, three months gone was enough time for Balistrians to set up an entire blockade.
“This is outrageous,” said Vedra. “This is an act of war!”
“Maybe so captain, but this is a cutter. We’re barely armed. We couldn’t handle one of those ships of the line, let alone as many as there are.” Kavan had a sour look on his face. In fact, he looked like he might be about to be seasick.
“We have to get these supplies to the island. And as far as I know, there isn’t another way around.” Vedra’s mouth was a thin, angry line across her face. “Do you think they’re bluffing?”
“From what I’ve heard about them, no, captain, I don’t think they’re bluffing.” Kavan was indeed walking toward the railing on the starboard side with a face that was greener by the minute. Of course, he got seasick plenty anyway, but Vedra didn’t blame him this time.
Vedra took one last look through her spyglass. “Well, we can see them, so they can probably see us. And, at this point… well, we obviously can’t outshoot them, but we can outrun them. We’ll have to run the blockade.”
It was at that moment, naturally, that Kavan was finally sick. He was sick for what felt like quite a long time, but when he lifted his head from over the side of the boat, he had a look of determination on his face. “I’ll get on the ropes then. Spirits speed us.”
“You talk to them, I’ll talk to Akrona. Hopefully with both of them, we’ll get through,” said Vedra with a smile. The moon was indeed visible in the daytime sky, and she stared at it while whispering the Mariner’s Canticle. She repeated the stanza about swift voyages a second time and then, to be as certain as possible, she decided to say it five more times. Seven was the holy number, and she needed to be as holy as possible.
“Captain, there’s a spot to the south where the gaps between ships are wider,” Kavan shouted. He had climbed up the mast somewhat to get a better view and to better be able to control the sails.
“Aye, but we’d have to cross in front of all these ships to get there,” replied Vedra. “Although… actually… Kavan, I want you to move us in a southwesterly direction. Make it look as if that’s where we’re headed. They’ll close up ranks down there, and we’ll slip through up here while they’re distracted.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Kavan looked like an entirely different person from the one who had gotten seasick just moments before; he was grinning with excitement and looked ready to take an ursine down himself if need be.
Vedra felt herself smiling as well. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that they would succeed. There were, after all, several dozen casks of finest Ranat Reserve rum on board. Nothing, not even a blockade of brutish Balistrians, could keep rum out of the hands of a Tavari mariner, let alone an entire island of them. With a sense of pride filling her chest, she took her place at the ship’s wheel and gazed over the prow at the line of ships in front of her.
“Try and stop me,” she dared them in a righteous whisper.
With the sound of canvas sails snapping in the wind, the cutter began to move. It wasn’t long before the Balistrians began to move, too. Just as predicted, they began moving south, and Vedra chuckled. “You’re gonna have to be better than that to blow a Tavari out of the water, you damn bears.” She was still grinning - in fact, though she would never admit it out loud, she was having fun. She almost wanted them to start firing on them.
Just as she finished that thought, a cannon shot hit the water several nai off starboard - an absolutely wild miss. She would have laughed, but the second cannonball cracked the tip off the prow. “Right,” she said. “Alright, let’s get serious then.”
“I’m always serious!” Kavan shouted. A rather thin man, he was almost being swung around by the ropes rather than the other way around. He was clearly having fun, too - and why shouldn’t they have fun? Life at sea was dreary. Might as well enjoy the exciting moments, right? Especially the exciting moments where you could die. Vedra Kanatar did not intend to die, but even if she did, she certainly did not intend to die bored.
And so the Toucan sailed on, unintimidated by the cannonballs that began to come down like a particularly thunderous torrential monsoon. The wind was in their favor, and Kavan had thrown the sails open as widely as possible so they could pick up as much speed as they could. It made the sails a target, for sure, but the Balistrians had brought out their largest ships-of-the-line - powerful, yes, but slow and awkward. By the time they had aimed and fired their shots, the Toucan had already moved.
This was, in fact, one of the more basic things one learned in the Navy. Surely, the Balistrians must have known the Tavari would have at least some small, maneuverable ships. The gamble the Balistrians had taken was just to appear big, threatening, and intimidating. Well, they had managed that, but Vedra wouldn’t be intimidated. Not when rum was on the line. And foodstuffs, she supposed, but the rum was most important.
“Captain, the ships down south have gotten closer, just like you said! Should I move us due west?”
“Due west, Kavan! Full speed ahead!” And then, something else occurred to her. “Kavan, drop the sails!”
“Drop the sails?!” Kavan looked incredulous for a moment, but his grin quickly returned. “Aye, captain!” The sounds of canvas rippling and ropes running quickly filled the air for a moment, followed shortly by the thuds of rope hitting the deck and, soon, the sails themselves. The Toucan was already moving quickly, and with their direction changed, the wind in their sails could actually slow them down. They had more than enough momentum to make it through, and without sails, they were even less of a target.
From her belt, Vedra pulled a pistol. She prayed she would never have to use it, but they were getting close now and she wanted to be prepared. They would be cutting it close to some of these Balistrian ships, there was a chance some of them might even try to come aboard. Quickly loading it with powder and a bullet, she whispered the prayer of safety and, for good measure, another repetition of the prayer for swift voyages. No Akronist ever wanted to take the life of another, not if you asked Vedra anyway - she was no Ilarist - but sometimes one had to defend their own life at the cost of another.
“Goddess above, please, please let these Balistrians be stupid,” she whispered to the moon. “Please, let these Balistrians be stupid and keep them off this ship. I don’t want to have to kill them.” When she looked back at the sea, the Balistrians were a lot closer, and she almost gasped. But she saw no ropes coming down their broadsides - no Balistrians coming down yet. And now that they were closer, they were somewhat safer, since the Balistrians would presumably hesitate to shoot at their own ships.
“Please, goddess above. Spirits, hear my call. Ademar? Anyone who wants to listen. Please, please let these Balistrians be stupid,” Vedra prayed again. She wasn’t even looking ahead, she was just staring at the hull of the nearest Balistrian ship. They were so close it almost seemed like she could reach out and touch it. It wasn’t until Kavan came over to her and gasped that she realized she was holding her breath.
“We’re so close,” he said.
“Right now, it’s our saving grace. That, and the Balistrians might be stupid.” For some reason, Vedra insisted on speaking in a hushed whisper.
Time seemed to slow down as the Toucan sneaked between the Balistrian vessels. Cannons fell silent, but a few Balistrians on deck on the ships resorted to shooting their handguns. It was an eerie sensation, Vedra thought, to feel time move so slowly while she was being shot at - she felt like she could simply walk away from the shots. They were poorly aimed, anyway.
Eventually, the Toucan slipped out of the gap. Without even being told to, Kavan rushed back to the mast and began raising the sails once more - they couldn’t bank on momentum forever. But they were on the better side of the blockade now, and if they were lucky, there would be Tavari ships around to provide some cover. They were fairly close to the island at this point - they might even survive if they had to swim ashore.
Cannon shots resumed quickly enough, with the first blast more than enough to snap Vedra out of her strange time warp. There weren’t any Tavari ships awaiting them, but at the very least, there weren’t any additional Balistrian ships, either. The sound of wind in the sails covered up some of the distant cannon blasts, and Vedra felt the ship picking up speed again. She didn’t bother to look back at the Balistrians behind her. Her gaze was fixed on the dock at Arktorís, and she kept it fixed there so determinedly that, by the time she was close enough to see people, her eyes hurt.
“Spirits above, they’ve done it! You’ve done it!” Alavra was jumping up and down on the dock, waving frantically at Vedra. She grabbed a rope and helped tie the ship herself, repeating “you’ve done it!” over and over all the while. When Vedra finally stepped off the ship, Alavra threw her arms around her and Vedra allowed herself to remain for a moment, relishing the sense of safety. Despite Alavra saying it over and over again, it was hard to believe that she had, in fact, done it.
“Vedra. Vedra, my dear, my oldest friend, I beseech thee… please, please tell me you have rum. Please tell me you ran some rum through the blockade.”
Vedra was silent for a moment, long enough for Alavra’s face to fall slightly, but then she grinned. “We ran the run through.”
With an uncharacteristically emotional whoop, Alavra turned to face the rest of the village and bellowed at the top of her lungs “THEY RAN THE RUM THROUGH! THEY RAN THE RUM THROUGH! WE HAVE RUM!” There was a tremendous roar from the village, and then another, and another. They were cheering, in fact. Vedra could swear she could see some of them crying.
“Goodness,” said Vedra. “It isn’t as if we’ve won a war.”
“Oh, Vedra. They’ve been blocking us for months. You’re the first ship to reach us since… well, since you left. We’re short on just about everything, and you’ve brought us more than rum. You’ve brought us hope.”
“Food as well,” Vedra added.
Alavra chuckled. “I suppose that’s good as well. At any rate, though… we can’t survive on just… running rum forever. We’ll need more supply, and quickly.”
“Then I suppose it’s time we reach out to our partners here. The Alkari.”
Alavra nodded solemnly. “Aye. We can’t make it out here alone. Hopefully, with their help, we can get out of our… bear problem.”
“Don’t worry too much, Alavra. I’m pretty sure they’re stupid.”
September 9th, 1700
Roshal, Alksearia
“Vedra, you stared down the ursines yourself, even as they shot at you, and that was well and good… and now you tell me that you are too nervous to meet with Alksearians?” Alavra arched an eyebrow at her friend. They had only known each other for a few months but Alavra had thought she had gotten a good read on Vedra—and she hadn’t pegged her as the anxious type. “They’re elves! They’re skinny orcs with no tusks. What could you possibly be worried about?”
“A lot is riding on this, Alavra! The fate of the entire colony, in fact, and nothing less! And you must know that, Alavra, surely. We can’t survive a Balistrian blockade, not when we’re ten thousand monai from… from… from all of civilized society!”
“Oh, come now Vedra, Alksearia is a civilized society. Didn’t you read the letter Queen Melora wrote them? They have a king and everything.”
Vedra pinched the bridge of her nose. “That… that was not the most important part of what I said, Alavra.” The two Tavari women were standing in the relatively cramped cabin of the Toucan, which had just docked at a port town in southern Alksearia. It had been some weeks of tense, slow sailing as they attempted to pass through Balistrian waters undetected. It would have been too obvious (and therefore too risky) to travel through the open ocean to Urgia-Nova, the Alksearian capital, so instead they had to travel along the coast of continental Arcturia, trying to stay concealed under the seaside jungle canopy to avoid Balistrian patrols. Thankfully there had been quite few—the bulk of the Balistrian Navy was likely concentrated on the island of Elatana—but even so, Vedra could not shake the lingering sense of fear and paranoia. And that was the least of her worries.
“Alavra, if we don’t secure Alksearian support, then Elatana is finished. Simply because they agreed to our offer of allowing them to settle on the island does not mean they are willing to risk life and limb, sacrifice their own ships and their own sailors, to defend it. They could just as easily cut their losses and expand in any other direction they want.”
“You say all of this as if they have nothing to lose from Balistria gaining control of the island. They have everything to lose. If we lose Elatana, that’s one colony, we have plenty more. If Balistria becomes too strong, though, Alksearia could lose their entire country.” Alavra crossed her arms. “But you’re thinking too strategically. If you walk in there with such a dire mood, they are sure to ignore us.”
Vedra crossed her arms as well, glaring at Alavra for a moment. “You would drag them into a war on our behalf but attempt to do so without talk of strategy? But regardless, no matter how much you tell me I shouldn’t feel so anxious, I do anyway. As I said, much depends on the success of our endeavours here! The successful habitation of Arcturia assures the Tavari position as one of the great seafaring nations. We have an opportunity here to do so much, with not as much as a single Banian or Raonite to hold us back! We-”
“Yes, yes, I know why Elatana is important. I simply mean that if all you think about are the possible negative outcomes of this meeting, then you’re more likely to cause them to happen! I know that we are of different beliefs, but even so, surely we can both agree that it is important to have faith?”
Vedra smiled. She had not told her friend that she was an Akronist, nor did she tend to tell many people—she had been afraid. She had already lost many friends, and in fact, she had volunteered for the assignment in Elatana simply because she knew there were more Akronists there, prisoners though they may largely be. It was a relief—an incredible relief, she realized suddenly—to know that Alavra would not abandon her because she had abandoned the ancestral spirits of the Tavat Avati.
“I suppose you have a point, Alavra.” Vedra sighed, not able to entirely convince herself. “Akrona doesn’t have very many teachings applicable to sensitive diplomatic negotiations, but she would at least want me to give it a try.”
“Considering all my family were peasant farmers until the Fourth War when we all got drafted, I don’t think my ancestral spirits have much to say about diplomacy either. But we’ll manage.” Alavra had a goofy smile on her face as she tried to prevent herself from laughing at her own joke. “Now come. It’s time to face the music. The Alkari minister should be waiting for us in the town square.”
Allowing herself one last sigh, Vedra dragged her hands down her face and then, with a great inward breath, stood herself up at her full height and walked off the boat. “Nothing less than the Empire at stake,” she muttered to herself.
“And nothing more,” Alavra added, with a pat on Vedra’s back. “Plenty of other islands Queen Melora can put in her empire.”
“Maybe next time she can pick one a little damn closer.” Vedra had still been muttering, but Alavra burst into laughter and soon Vedra was too. It was not until the two noticed heads turning that they realized how loud they were being. It was quite likely that they were the first orcs that some or all of the townspeople had ever seen. Vedra supposed that it was better to be seen laughing than anything else, considering how some of other species treated orcs, but she still made sure she lowered the volume of her voice.
The walk from the harbor to the town square was not long, and it was a rather handsome town. And in fact, once they were no longer laughing, very few people paid any attention to the Tavari at all. Perhaps they had seen more orcs than Vedra had feared, or perhaps they simply did not care—Vedra was not going to complain either way. At the end of the day, she figured, most people simply wanted to do what needed to be done and then go home. That was something that applied no matter what species one was.
By the time the two reached the square—elegant cobblestone pavers and bright banners of red, blue, and silver draped upon lantern posts, a handsome but not ostentatious presentation—Vedra had forgotten that she had ever been anxious at all. There was a very well dressed elf standing in the very center of the square with a monocle on their eye, accompanied by someone who was clearly holding a roll of paper and a quill. That had to be the minister they had arranged to meet.
“Do you think we ought to have gotten wigs? Or at least powdered our hair?” Alavra was suddenly biting on her fingernails.
“Akrona’s tits, Alavra, you can’t be getting nervous on me now.”
The women approached the diplomat laughing at the top of their lungs.
[OOC: Joint Post with Ben]
Clearing her throat and silencing herself, Alavra approached the Alkari minister and, in her best Staynish—praying the Alkari spoke the same, because she certainly did not speak Alkari—said “Good afternoon. My name is Alavra, I am the administrator of Arktorís in Elatana. This is Captain Vedra, who is in charge of our fleet.”
The Alkari looked at Alavra confused and with a certain glance of insulted. Who was this…thicker elf with tusks to speak to him? He looked over at the person holding the paper and quill. The assistant finally realized what was going on and spoke, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. This is Lord Martine of Roshal, first of his name and rightful Lord of the surrounding town. What business do you have here? The Lord is terribly busy.”
“We are here on behalf of the Kingdom of Tavaris. We had arranged to meet with a representative of the Alkari government regarding the colony of Elatana, at which our countries are cooperating. In truth, we are facing a Balistrian blockade, and we need…” Alavra paused, trying to find the right words. “We deeply implore his Lordship and the Alkari crown to assist us in our mutual endeavour. The colony will fail if the Balistrian blockade is not broken.” Perhaps Vedra had been right to be nervous, she feared. She had failed to take into account the fact that most government officials were incorrigible.
Lord Martine looked at the two orcs standing before him. He almost pitied their situation. He picked his head up slightly to look more authoritative, “The King’s Hand is in town currently. You’ll find him holed up in the tea house over there. But be careful in how you address him. You don’t want to be on his bad side.” He points down the road slightly toward a sign in Alkari.
Alavara clasped her hand to her chest and bowed, in the Tavari style. “Thank you, your Lordship,” she was sure to say. Vedra mirrored the gesture but did not speak—she knew not a single word of Staynish. “We are to meet the King’s Hand in a tea house,” Alavra said in Tavari in a low voice to her companion. “I am told that we should be careful in how we address him as we don’t want to be… on his bad side.”
“Well… a tea house sounds nice,” was all Vedra could say. It appeared that she, too, had returned to nervousness. The women were silent as they walked in the direction Lord Martine had indicated and walked into the tea house.
As the two women walked into the tea house, the noise from inside the building flooded out into the street. The place was crowded with all different sorts of official looking people moving from one side of the building to the other. The sound of mugs banging on the table echoed through the main hall in a rhythmic fashion. Music being played could just barely be heard over the mugs and the sounds of people talking or laughing or walking from one side to the other. Through the crowd of people, the two women could see what could be presumed to be a bartender standing at a long counter with different drinks labeled in Alkari mostly, but a couple were in Staynish.
“This is certainly an active place,” Vedra said, looking across the din. “All of these people seem… formal, but I don’t know which one could be the King’s Hand.”
“Well, Vedra, they called it a tea house, but with music, crowds of people, and a bar… then I know exactly where to go for information.” Alavra allowed herself to smile before taking a deep breath and making her way to the bartender. “Good afternoon,” she said in Staynish again, trying her best not to sound like a buffoon with an accent. “We’re Tavari officials, we’re looking for the King’s Hand and Lord Martine directed us here. Do you know where he is?”
The bartender looked at them strangely. She started speaking Alkari back at the women. One of the fancy looking men walked over to the counter and said something in Alkari. The bartender nodded and went to work making three drinks. The nobleman looked at them and started speaking Staynish, “Why, it’s not common to see your kind around here. How long will you be here for?”
“Well, we’re not certain. I don’t presume that we’ll be here long, to be honest, we’re on an assignment of dire import in regards to the colony on Elatana. We have been dispatched to speak with the King’s Hand. Is that with whom we have the honor of speaking now?” Mindful of the warning about “bad sides,” Alavra decided that she would treat everyone she spoke with as the King’s Hand until told otherwise. The Empire was at stake, after all.
“Well, the King’s hand is here. I can ask the bartender where he is, but I request a favor back. There’s a gala here tonight and I would love it if you both would accompany me to the gala” the nobleman said, extending his hand palm up at Alavra.
Alavra looked to Vedra, unsure of what facial expression to make, and then back to the nobleman. “A gala? I… well, I suppose that would be perfectly fine. We would be glad to accompany you.” Looking at the man’s outstretched hand and unsure what to do, she reached out her own hand and placed it atop the man’s. She presumed that if she committed some terrible faux pas, she would be corrected. Better to make a mistake now than with the King’s Hand.
The nobleman spoke to the bartender one more time, and whatever he said upset the poor bartender and she started screaming at him. She screamed for a solid 5 minutes before the nobleman looked back at Alavra, and put his other hand on top of hers, “You will find the King’s Hand in the back room. Ask the guard at the door for chips, and he will let you through. Do take care ladies. I can’t wait to be the center of attention tonight.” He took Alavra’s hand and kissed the back of it before walking away from them.
“Alksearia is… a very different place,” Alavra said, barely above a whisper, to her friend. Vedra nodded with wide eyes, and then the two walked to the back of the tea house, where a rather stern looking guard stood at a door. “Ah, good afternoon…” She said in Staynish, unsure of how to proceed. The guard’s face was unforgiving. “Do you have any… chips?”
The guard looked at them for a moment and started laughing. He opened the door and motioned for them to go through the door. On the other side of the door, was a hallway leading to another room in the back. In the back, there was a long table with men sitting on all sides. At the end of the table sat a man with a crown on his head, and everyone’s attention was focused on him. As he saw the two women walk into the room, everyone stopped talking and stared at them.
He rose and gestured to them speaking in Tavari, “Greetings. Please take a seat. I will be with you shortly.”
The two women bowed deeply and took the proffered seats. “It is our pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Alavra said, relieved to hear him speak Tavari. Vedra looked relieved as well, but perhaps only slightly. The feeling of being the “odd ones out” in the room was quite overwhelming. In fact, Alavra almost wished the King’s Hand would take his time before speaking with them, in the hopes that they would have some time to prepare themselves.
The men continued their conversation for another 15 minutes in Alkari. The King’s Hand did not look very interested in the conversation, and when he finally had enough, he held his hands up, said a couple sentences in Alkari, and all of the noblemen in the room left. All of them grumbled and stared at the two Orcs in the room before leaving. As the last noble left, the King’s Hand’s head shot up after he heard something in Alkari said. He looked at the one guard and motioned to the door.
Speaking in Tavari, the King’s Hand addressed the Orcs, “Apologies for the delay, and for some of my broken tongue. I’m still new at this. I welcome you here on behalf of King Erique, the third of his name, King of Alksearia, protector of his realm and his people, Governor of the Church, and Chief Commander of the Navy and Soldiers. I am Lord Duke Frabrice of Nova, first of his name, Duke of Nova and her territory, and the hand of the King. How can I assist you both?”
“It is an esteemed pleasure, Lord Duke. I am Alavra, Administrator of Arktorís, and this is Captain Vedra, who leads our fleet. As you know, both of our governments are cooperating together to settle the island we call Elatana. Of late, there has been a Balistrian blockade around the island. We have only managed to make one supply run in the past few months, and we fear it is unlikely we will be able to do so again. We are here to deeply implore you, sir, to assist us in removing the Balistrian threat. We have only seven ships, and it will take half a year or more before more Tavari ships can arrive from the home islands.”
The Lord Duke sighed, “I heard about the Balistrian blockade recently. I do not know why those batareds are trying to start another war. As much as I would love to say that we will send the Alkari navy to fight, it is not my place. Only the King himself can declare war on other nations, and only the King is the Chief Commander of the Navy and Army. Best I can offer for you both right now is immediate passage back to the palace to plead your case before him, but you would have to be willing to leave early tomorrow morning with me on my ships, and it may take a couple weeks to complete the journey and to get an audience with the King himself. The other option you have is to try and convince the southern Lords, who will be attending the gala tonight, to help fight the Balistrians while you plead your case before the King.”
Alavra looked to Vedra and they communed silently for a moment. “As it so happens, a gentleman outside invited us to the gala, so I suppose we were already going there anyway.” Alavra sighed. Several more weeks to meet the King was several more weeks than Elatana had, but then, there wasn’t really another option. “Since we’re going anyway, then we can make our case to the Southern Lords and then depart with you in the morning to meet with the King.”
The Lord Duke nodded, “it is decreed. I will assist you at the gala, though I think I know the man who invited you two. I’ll keep an eye on him. Also, do try to enjoy yourselves tonight. You both look a little too uptight. Were you warned about my ‘bad side’?”
Unable to contain herself, Alavra began laughing. “As a matter of fact, yes, we were. Forgive us, it is sometimes difficult to be an orc in a foreign country. That said, we are pleased to have your assistance. And since it’s likely that we will understand very little of what will be said at the gala anyway, perhaps it won’t be so bad. How many lords will we have to speak with? Are there several?”
“There are several, but I assure you that most of them will be an easy sell, and most of them speak Staynish, so I hope that is not too much of a bother for you. And don’t worry about my bad side, unless you insult me or my guests, we will have no issue. I don’t mean to cut this sort ladies, but I do have other business to attend to. Please, enjoy a mug of tea before you leave. It is simply…fizzy” The Lord Duke said standing and bowing to Alavra and Vedra, “I will see you both tonight.”
The two women continued sitting for a moment, relishing the silence for just a moment. “Alavra, that word he said, do you know what it means?”
“What word?”
Vedra made a concentrated face in an attempt to repeat the word. “Viži. Er… Fiži?”
“Oh. Fizzy? No, I have no idea what that means, but there’s an easy way to find out.” She smiled and patted her friend warmly on the back. “Come, let’s try and lighten up a bit.”