If we don't want things to escalate and Alenroux to turn into a full-blown battleground, we needed to take steps to pacify Zenith for the immediate future. If they want to fight us for control of Alenroux, they can't pretend to have the moral high ground any longer, because they'll be the ones breaking the agreement to nonaggression. And we need Alenroux more than they do, so if we can secure it by getting them onside instead of trying to destabilise and sabotage us, all the better.
That benefits you, too, you know. If this agreement goes ahead, your new home is about to get a lot safer.
Do you think I care about sacrificing my own comfort for the sake of victory?
[And maybe that’s the problem, but-]
They want to remove us! To have Meridian withdraw all their forces, pretending as if they care only that the good people of Alenroux are able to govern themselves and be “happy”-
And then once they’ve licked and lied their way into making that happen what do you think they will do? It will be Zenith that holds Alenroux.
Personally, I think the island needs to stay neutral if we have any hope of preserving it as a lifeline for Springstar. That's not just my decision, of course, but I'm laying the groundwork to help make it happen. If the arrangement goes ahead and people agree it's an effective solution, maybe we can maintain it so long as the war for the Oracles continues.
Otherwise, all Zenith need to do is torch the fields and starve us out. We have more to lose than Yima does from such a strategy, don't you think? In that case, it won't make a difference whether we fight them or not -- if anything, the fighting will make the damage even worse.
[She'll probably hate this next part, but he'll say it nonetheless.]
And besides, even if you don't care about your safety, I do. I'll feel better knowing Zenith are less emboldened to sneak around there and pick fights.
How can anything stay neutral when we are at war over the Oracles? Did you not hear me before that accursed meeting? I myself have caught multiple Zenites sneaking about our outposts, and I am only one mare. And that is now, while we actually occupy it! How many do you think there will be skulking about the island unfettered, free to whisper in the farmers' ears and spy on our military under the guise of being there to help or "support neutrality"? All in preparation for when they bully people like you and those two half-mute pushovers with you [uh Link and Dextera?] into withdrawing our forces and leaving it open for them to take.
If we occupied it properly in the first place they wouldn't have room to breathe sidewise on that island, let alone set fire to it.
[But noooooooo we had to go with this half-assed peacekeeping angle that means she can't just yeet the spies out, CyRUS-]
Zenith is already sneaking around and picking fights.
[jYN]
If you are going to care about my safety, you will have to worry about the Alenroux citizens who spit when I walk by them and curse those from Springstar's legionary all because some Zenite distracted them from the fact that we were the only ones who actually did anything to help make their lives easier.
If someone's opinions are that easily swayed, are they really worth listening to?
[Which sounds easy for him to say, but he can't quite clamp down the surge of anger he feels at the idea of anyone spitting at her and cursing her. People should be judged for their actions, first and foremost. Not this.
Still, he's not trying to feed the fire of Hayame's anger, so after a pause to collect himself, he addresses the rest of her points.]
...Anyway, Zenith don't have to spy on us anymore if we have a garrison together. Everyone's cards are on the table-- at least, in theory. If Zenites are found snooping around and causing unrest regardless, the agreement is going to collapse very quickly. I imagine anyone with any interest in preserving it will be aware of that, so we'll have to wait and see if they actually respect the deal or not.
Just give it time, okay? And if the whole thing falls apart, you're welcome to say 'I told you so'.
The slander on my honor remains whether they are worthless or not.
[Don't ask her how that works, it just is like that. Whether the person who insults her is right or not... Other people hear it. Other people will judge her based on how she responds to it. And she-]
Working together for the good of Alenroux now that Meridian has done all the actual work of making it safe and clearing a majority of the monsters from the southern fields? How convenient for Zenith.
I cannot believe that you do not see how once again we walked into a "debate" with every right and proof of Zenith's wrongdoing only to walk out having conceded to almost everything they asked for.
[Why????? PTSD flashbacks to the Manon shard debate? Yes.]
I do not need time. I will tell you so right this minute.
[He'd say that the Manon debate was an attempt to save the guy's life, although Aetós' surprise appearance... put something of a wrench in that. Whew???]
For now, there's value in keeping the peace. Peace always means making concessions, but we're not doing that from a position of weakness.
We still have the bigger military force, and that makes Zenith nervous. If push came to shove, we could reclaim Alenroux, though I'd rather we avoided more fighting for the reasons I already mentioned. And while Yima obviously never cared about the place, at least now Zenith can take some responsibility for the neglect the island fell to, instead of blaming Meridian for setting it right.
That means we can focus more attention on the things that really matter, instead of fighting over land and resources. I'm sure you want that, too, right?
[The Manon debate was Meridian walking into a talk with a majority on numbers and proof Manon had left Zenith and was courting joining them, and somehow leaving with Manon’s shard and his revival in some kind of joint custody!!! And look what happened! If they’d kept his shard to themselves as was their right after she and Liem retrieved the shard in the first place, that mess probably never would have happened! (Right?)
But she glowers through his talk of peace, unable to see it and half unwilling to after having to hold her tongue and just watch the ambassadors say things she would never agree to in a million years.
Figuring out what's really going on here. Finding a way to restore our homes. Having the capacity to deal with future crises like the Blight better.
Back in Fódlan, Emperor Edelgard thought the only way to change anything was through war. In that regard, you and her would probably see eye-to-eye. But even when she waged that long and bloody war, there were people behind the curtain... People who were pulling the strings, turning us all against each other. She was too caught up in finishing what she started to turn around and pull the curtain back, even though she knew they were there all along, and so it fell to me to save Fódlan from destruction.
[He's not saying it as a weird flex; if anything, he sounds weary, resigned. That the haste for some on both sides to rush into an ever-escalating conflict without ever understanding the bigger picture just feels like the same mistakes being played out all over again.]
You heard what people said in that meeting, right? There are Zenites that don't trust Yima, but Cyrus' methods have managed to alienate them too. If we can reach out to those people, it has more worth than dancing along to our leaders' tunes and showing them blind faith. In a way, we're just pawns to our leaders, in the same way Zenith was trying to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of people in Alenroux.
You're a free mare now, Hayame, so you get to make certain choices. When to pick your bow up, and when to put it down. I know you'll always fight for what you believe in, but not everything has to be a fight.
[We don't have to fight, is the implication he leaves hanging. He's glad they can talk about this honestly, but it pains him to think he's angering her to this extent.]
So do that! But until you do, the Oracles are the only thing that might get us home, and I will fight for them. Which means fighting Zenith and anyone else who wants to stop us from claiming them!
[And she can’t do it. She’s tried. Winning hearts, convincing the others with her words… it always failed. It failed this time, too. Which means… which means…]
[It's all he can think to say at first, because he's momentarily stunned that she had interpreted his words the way she had, about her, her methods. No-- maybe that was his fault, for being too blunt, too careless with how he said it.]
I know you want peace, more than anything. I haven't forgotten the village, and how hard you fight for it. [Immaterial as Communion is, he offers the sensation, the memory on her skin, of his hand touching her cheek. He wishes now that they had talked about this in person, and he didn't have to try to mask the heartache that burns under the touch.]
I just want to buy us all time. Expand our possibilities. You're not my enemy in that, and you never will be.
[It sounds shameful- that she wants peace. She doesn’t… she doesn’t not want it, but-
She wasn’t supposed to be alive when it happens. So that she wouldn’t have to try and figure out what a weapon did when it had no more battles to fight.
How she hates it- that she feels comfort and is tempted to lay down her arms when she feels the sensation of a hand gentle on her cheek. But she can’t, she can’t just give in like that, that’s how Meridian keeps losing-]
Why can you not buy time without making us look weak?
We achieved our objectives, we made Alenroux a better place, and we brought Zenith to heel through legitimate means when they tried to undermine our efforts through underhanded ones. It's not a weak position at all, if you look at it from that perspective.
[And while agreements can easily be broken, he just has to hope that will be later, rather than sooner. That this has a chance to work, at least for a while.]
I'm not asking you as the face of the ambassador program, but as someone who cares about you. Give the agreement a chance before you write it off.
[Even if it's just in Alenroux, if the island is secured, she might be able to experience the peace she wanted after all.]
No, we didn't. How can you think that going from a occupying the island to moving towards withdrawal and some sort of happy-go-lucky hand-holding garrison is bringing Zenith to heel? It's letting them put their feet even more solidly in Alenroux, it's letting them
[And perhaps that is the problem, that they will not agree here on what they should have been doing, what they were doing...
But she isn't cutting him out. She's trying, she's trying to understand, just-]
... If I work against this foolish agreement, if I call it what I see, all of Meridian will once again dismiss me despite all I have done. How can you ask me to give it a chance when I have no other choice but to suffer and bear it or become the enemy of my so-called allies?
I won't dismiss you. I hear your concerns, and I appreciate them. If this doesn't work, I'm fully prepared to drop the concept altogether.
Cyrus and Yima might not even agree to it, you know? They gave their blessing, but that doesn't mean they'll approve everything we come up with... To say nothing of the pressures other parts of Springstar have been putting on the Tribune.
But if it does go ahead, I just hope you won't work against it without a good reason. [Reasons like more suspicious, if not outright hostile Zenith movements, for instance. He's sure he doesn't need to spell it out.] You might not trust mine, but I trust your judgement.
You had better hope that once you realize it doesn’t work, once Zenith sends someone in to sabotage the efforts and somehow again manage to blame it on us… that there is still time to repair our military presence damaged in pursuit of “neutrality”.
[She views it as a matter of “when”, not “if”. Either the one-eyed gaki, the demon, or “Melshi” and Jyn- Jyn, who had the bravery to pretend to be an ambassador when Hayame wasn’t seated there among the Meridians to call her a liar and a spy to her face…
Gods, she hopes Cyrus refuses. She hopes General Zaman refuses. She hopes this would all just be easier somehow, that he would see what she sees-]
I am leaving for the northern forests of Alenroux on a mission from the General.
[There's a spike of concern he can't quite hide, though he tries to push it aside hurriedly before it can cause offense. It's not that he doesn't think she can take care of herself, but he worries all the same.]
I'm sure you'll all handle it, but just tell me if things get bad and you need emergency backup. Naira and I can cross the island in no time.
[He'd be the first to concede he wasn't exactly an expert on Alenroux's affairs, and such knowledge would have been useful with the benefit of hindsight. Still, it's something that's been bothering him too, so perhaps the mission can finally offer some answers.]
All right. How long do you expect the mission to take? Want me to keep an eye on your home while you're gone?
[She mentioned magical locks on it, but he has no idea what other protections it might have if she's gone for days or weeks at a time.]
Someone might lay traps if they know you live there, if not just wreck the place outright. It'd be a shame for anything to happen to it after Liem's hard work.
[... Plus he's just kind of nosy, and wouldn't mind seeing it for himself.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
leicesters) wrote2022-12-06 08:26 pm
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I do not mean it.
[... She probably did not have to say that, but. Just so that it's clear.]
What were you thinking?
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That benefits you, too, you know. If this agreement goes ahead, your new home is about to get a lot safer.
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[And maybe that’s the problem, but-]
They want to remove us! To have Meridian withdraw all their forces, pretending as if they care only that the good people of Alenroux are able to govern themselves and be “happy”-
And then once they’ve licked and lied their way into making that happen what do you think they will do? It will be Zenith that holds Alenroux.
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Otherwise, all Zenith need to do is torch the fields and starve us out. We have more to lose than Yima does from such a strategy, don't you think? In that case, it won't make a difference whether we fight them or not -- if anything, the fighting will make the damage even worse.
[She'll probably hate this next part, but he'll say it nonetheless.]
And besides, even if you don't care about your safety, I do. I'll feel better knowing Zenith are less emboldened to sneak around there and pick fights.
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If we occupied it properly in the first place they wouldn't have room to breathe sidewise on that island, let alone set fire to it.
[But noooooooo we had to go with this half-assed peacekeeping angle that means she can't just yeet the spies out, CyRUS-]
Zenith is already sneaking around and picking fights.
[jYN]
If you are going to care about my safety, you will have to worry about the Alenroux citizens who spit when I walk by them and curse those from Springstar's legionary all because some Zenite distracted them from the fact that we were the only ones who actually did anything to help make their lives easier.
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[Which sounds easy for him to say, but he can't quite clamp down the surge of anger he feels at the idea of anyone spitting at her and cursing her. People should be judged for their actions, first and foremost. Not this.
Still, he's not trying to feed the fire of Hayame's anger, so after a pause to collect himself, he addresses the rest of her points.]
...Anyway, Zenith don't have to spy on us anymore if we have a garrison together. Everyone's cards are on the table-- at least, in theory. If Zenites are found snooping around and causing unrest regardless, the agreement is going to collapse very quickly. I imagine anyone with any interest in preserving it will be aware of that, so we'll have to wait and see if they actually respect the deal or not.
Just give it time, okay? And if the whole thing falls apart, you're welcome to say 'I told you so'.
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[Don't ask her how that works, it just is like that. Whether the person who insults her is right or not... Other people hear it. Other people will judge her based on how she responds to it. And she-]
Working together for the good of Alenroux now that Meridian has done all the actual work of making it safe and clearing a majority of the monsters from the southern fields? How convenient for Zenith.
I cannot believe that you do not see how once again we walked into a "debate" with every right and proof of Zenith's wrongdoing only to walk out having conceded to almost everything they asked for.
[Why????? PTSD flashbacks to the Manon shard debate? Yes.]
I do not need time. I will tell you so right this minute.
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For now, there's value in keeping the peace. Peace always means making concessions, but we're not doing that from a position of weakness.
We still have the bigger military force, and that makes Zenith nervous. If push came to shove, we could reclaim Alenroux, though I'd rather we avoided more fighting for the reasons I already mentioned. And while Yima obviously never cared about the place, at least now Zenith can take some responsibility for the neglect the island fell to, instead of blaming Meridian for setting it right.
That means we can focus more attention on the things that really matter, instead of fighting over land and resources. I'm sure you want that, too, right?
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But she glowers through his talk of peace, unable to see it and half unwilling to after having to hold her tongue and just watch the ambassadors say things she would never agree to in a million years.
If she had-]
- and what really matters?
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Back in Fódlan, Emperor Edelgard thought the only way to change anything was through war. In that regard, you and her would probably see eye-to-eye. But even when she waged that long and bloody war, there were people behind the curtain... People who were pulling the strings, turning us all against each other. She was too caught up in finishing what she started to turn around and pull the curtain back, even though she knew they were there all along, and so it fell to me to save Fódlan from destruction.
[He's not saying it as a weird flex; if anything, he sounds weary, resigned. That the haste for some on both sides to rush into an ever-escalating conflict without ever understanding the bigger picture just feels like the same mistakes being played out all over again.]
You heard what people said in that meeting, right? There are Zenites that don't trust Yima, but Cyrus' methods have managed to alienate them too. If we can reach out to those people, it has more worth than dancing along to our leaders' tunes and showing them blind faith. In a way, we're just pawns to our leaders, in the same way Zenith was trying to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of people in Alenroux.
You're a free mare now, Hayame, so you get to make certain choices. When to pick your bow up, and when to put it down. I know you'll always fight for what you believe in, but not everything has to be a fight.
[We don't have to fight, is the implication he leaves hanging. He's glad they can talk about this honestly, but it pains him to think he's angering her to this extent.]
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[And she can’t do it. She’s tried. Winning hearts, convincing the others with her words… it always failed. It failed this time, too. Which means… which means…]
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That I am like your other woman and you have a duty to save this world from me?
[It stings more than she expected.]
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[It's all he can think to say at first, because he's momentarily stunned that she had interpreted his words the way she had, about her, her methods. No-- maybe that was his fault, for being too blunt, too careless with how he said it.]
I know you want peace, more than anything. I haven't forgotten the village, and how hard you fight for it. [Immaterial as Communion is, he offers the sensation, the memory on her skin, of his hand touching her cheek. He wishes now that they had talked about this in person, and he didn't have to try to mask the heartache that burns under the touch.]
I just want to buy us all time. Expand our possibilities. You're not my enemy in that, and you never will be.
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She wasn’t supposed to be alive when it happens. So that she wouldn’t have to try and figure out what a weapon did when it had no more battles to fight.
How she hates it- that she feels comfort and is tempted to lay down her arms when she feels the sensation of a hand gentle on her cheek. But she can’t, she can’t just give in like that, that’s how Meridian keeps losing-]
Why can you not buy time without making us look weak?
[Just-]
Surely there is a way…
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[And while agreements can easily be broken, he just has to hope that will be later, rather than sooner. That this has a chance to work, at least for a while.]
I'm not asking you as the face of the ambassador program, but as someone who cares about you. Give the agreement a chance before you write it off.
[Even if it's just in Alenroux, if the island is secured, she might be able to experience the peace she wanted after all.]
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[And perhaps that is the problem, that they will not agree here on what they should have been doing, what they were doing...
But she isn't cutting him out. She's trying, she's trying to understand, just-]
... If I work against this foolish agreement, if I call it what I see, all of Meridian will once again dismiss me despite all I have done. How can you ask me to give it a chance when I have no other choice but to suffer and bear it or become the enemy of my so-called allies?
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Cyrus and Yima might not even agree to it, you know? They gave their blessing, but that doesn't mean they'll approve everything we come up with... To say nothing of the pressures other parts of Springstar have been putting on the Tribune.
But if it does go ahead, I just hope you won't work against it without a good reason. [Reasons like more suspicious, if not outright hostile Zenith movements, for instance. He's sure he doesn't need to spell it out.] You might not trust mine, but I trust your judgement.
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[She views it as a matter of “when”, not “if”. Either the one-eyed gaki, the demon, or “Melshi” and Jyn- Jyn, who had the bravery to pretend to be an ambassador when Hayame wasn’t seated there among the Meridians to call her a liar and a spy to her face…
Gods, she hopes Cyrus refuses. She hopes General Zaman refuses. She hopes this would all just be easier somehow, that he would see what she sees-]
I am leaving for the northern forests of Alenroux on a mission from the General.
Do not expect to hear from me for some time.
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[There's a spike of concern he can't quite hide, though he tries to push it aside hurriedly before it can cause offense. It's not that he doesn't think she can take care of herself, but he worries all the same.]
I'm sure you'll all handle it, but just tell me if things get bad and you need emergency backup. Naira and I can cross the island in no time.
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I only wish the order had come down sooner so I could have armed you ambassadors with the knowledge and watched you-
[Not even fucking use it.
But she bites it down before the more bitter part slips out, leaving her fuming instead.]
I will not need back up.
I have selected a team already.
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All right. How long do you expect the mission to take? Want me to keep an eye on your home while you're gone?
[She mentioned magical locks on it, but he has no idea what other protections it might have if she's gone for days or weeks at a time.]
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[It depends on what they find… and she hopes it is a lot. She hopes she is gone for a week.]
- Why would you need to do that? There is nothing inside to steal.
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[... Plus he's just kind of nosy, and wouldn't mind seeing it for himself.]
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[If it is wrecked or destroyed... She supposes it would be more likely the Alenroux residents themselves to blame.]
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