Threads 372-Friction 2

Cao Chun’s expression scrunched up in utter disbelief, as did the faces of many of the other imperials. Wang Lian looked intrigued. Luo Jie and Meng Deming both looked mildly horrified and disbelieving.

“Tribal barbarians do not ascend.”

“Ridiculous…”

“Nonsense!”

“They do, fools,” Meng Deming said. “If you kept your histories half as well as you should have, you would know that. It has happened, rarely, and not at all since the days of the empire’s strife, but it is not warriors who ascend. The closest was the beast Ogodei.”

“There was one,” Ilsur rebutted. “Your Horned Lord would remember.”

Meng Deming scoffed. “Perhaps he would.”

“Our people have invested in this project for the last hundred years, and we have yearned for it longer. It will be a shard of the sun raised back into the sky, a wonder to exceed any other in recent history. Its existence is not negotiable,” Jaromila said. “As a sovereign, it, too, will be constrained by this treaty.”

“You speak very rudely when we have not even spoken on the matter. You cannot simply dictate—” one of the courtiers on their side began.

“On this matter, the White Sky will. We have made great allowances, and we have accepted much of your requirements. However, we are not people to be bullied either. Our pride exists, and here, I stake it. The White Sky will not accept any interference in this matter.”

“Hmph, look at you all. Have we not always said the problem with the cloud men is that there is nowhere to trace agreements to? No place they must keep? These foreigners have gotten them to solve that problem themselves!” Wang Lian exclaimed. There was a glint of interest in her eyes.

“You are far too flippant, and your conflict obvious, scion of the Builder,” Luo Jie said gravely.

“I am confident in our Emerald Seas and our lady duchess,” Wang Lian retorted.

“I, too, believe this to be a fortuitous development,” Ling Qi interjected. “After all, a city can hardly raid. By definition, it will be full of people, people who could not withstand the speed of a high realm’s full acceleration. If it were ever to be used offensively, would Her Grace not respond immediately?”

“Indeed. I do not believe my mother would be troubled by this,” Cai Renxiang said calmly. She tilted her head up toward the general. “Does this truly change anything?”

“There is no fortress which Her Grace cannot breach,” Xia Ren declared. “Requiring her to do so would be unfortunate, but there is little in these mountains to be harmed by it.”

“Yes,” Ling Qi agreed, lowering her head. “Worthies of the empire, we have a great deal of land to police and settle and enough foes to consider. Let us not bicker over distant hypotheticals. There is no need to deploy armies nor sovereigns in the depths of the Wall.”

“The White Sky acknowledges the state of war that exists in the eastern lands, and we are open to temporary wartime measures in that region,” Jaromila soothed. “At a baseline, we must agree that potentially threatening movements toward each other should not be taken up at a whim, no?”

“Cultivators of the sixth realm and above are best deployed sparingly,” Wang Lian said. “In a war, it is one matter, but to respond to raids? You will destroy more than the raiders did.”

“Let us agree in principle that cultivators of such strength should remain in our own borders, save for the case of countering the appearance of a peer among the enemy,” Cai Renxiang proposed. “Deployments over the company level beyond our agreed borders must be cleared with embassy staff or a representative of my Cai family, who will make explanations as needed.”

“Agreeable,” Xia Ren said grudgingly before continuing, “if terms agree that this will be revisited as settlement of the mountains increases.”

It was a close decision. From the general, she felt the heat of great fires and the clash of steel against nightmares. It was Wang Lian who had saved them from her ire here, Ling Qi thought.

“This one agrees with the general. At this moment when trust is small still, it is best not to allow the overeager latitude on either side,” Luo Jie said, cutting off the remaining grumbles from their side. “The exceptional circumstances in the east remains to be negotiated, after.”

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“Oh, yes.” Rostam smiled brightly as he thumped a fist on the table. “Do not think the badlands are unconcerned about the east either! We have our own eyes there and reason to prepare defenses.”

Some of the tension left the room.