SIL'VAR

Three tens since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

Sil'var fell into the chair of her office. She was finally back at the Embassy. After Joa'na's inexplicable tantrum, she had hoped to relieve her tension on the humans. Despite her limited meetings with them in the past, she knew how to be intimidating with them.

However, the treaty meeting had been boring. There had been nothing to do at the meeting, nothing to protest, nothing to elaborate or scrutinise. It baffled her. Humans were excellent at bureaucracy, something she thought impossible. In her mind, they should not have been a match for Alyar in business and paperwork.

One of her hearts skipped a beat when she saw a blood red cube on her table. A bloodstone. She examined the stone for a few moments. Another one of the humans' forays into arcane mysteries. Its origin lie in sin, but it had become a most useful tool. One that the Alyar had adopted too. So far she had not needed to use one of these, but she knew about the way they worked. She placed her hand on the stone.

"Warm greetings under the sun, Ambassador Sil'var." A voice echoed in her head as she became aware of a presence everywhere and nowhere at once. She knew somewhere the High Magister was speaking aloud to himself, with a hand placed on a piece of stone. Strange.

"Many greetings under the sun, returned to you, most esteemed one, Kael'varin." She said out loud.

There was no sign that those words had gone anywhere, but a response arrived in her mind. "I hope you bring good news for the Three Dominions."

"Today I attended my first meeting." Sil'var sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. It was impossible to concentrate. "The committee discussed and passed nine points of interest today. They delayed one once more for lack of information about certain hygienic and conservational properties of various food items. The committee is working hard and the pace of work is unhindered by the misbehaving corrupted sunshard." Sil'var felt her mind melting.

"That's it?" Came a slightly surprised reply.

"Most esteemed one, there really is nothing much to tell you. I am unsure if this is normal or not. I have been on house-arrest for the past three tens." Sil'var stammered.

"Judging by this one day, the committee works efficiently. Not unlike our High Magistrate?" The High Magister's voice sounded uneasy. Could Sil'var have imagined it?

"I am not a bureaucrat by choosing, most esteemed one. You know my chosen profession. A military leader is not fit for this, I am afraid. I apologise for falling short of your expectations." It flustered Sil'var.

"You saw, but you didn't look." Kael'varin's voice sounded pensive.

"High Magister?"

"No. Forgive me, Ambassador. You failed nothing. You are the right person in exactly the right place. I understand your confusion. Being assigned to the empire of sin would challenge all the best of us. Rational thought often fails there." Sil'var listened with surprise. The High Magister's words kept haunting her. You saw, but you did not look. What had she missed about the meeting? "I sent you because I trust you and you alone. I merely wanted to see if you saw anything without my influence swaying your bias. So, the committee works efficiently?"

"There is little conflict. None, actually. All points of interest are discussed thoroughly, but a decision is always reached by consensus. And if something does not satisfy one side, then the other has an offer that exceeds expectation. This applies for both us and the humans."

"No friction between the Alyar and humans." The High Magister sounded puzzled.

This surprised Sil'var. "That was my assessment, exactly. It has been a while since our two kinds had any meaningful channels of communication. We would not truly know what the other side has to offer after such a long silence." Sil'var attempted to reason.

"Several thousands of years of strife between our kind and we suddenly find the strength to absolve the sins of the past sitting behind a table, discussing how to transport food, furs and trinkets when even the war with the Draig'yar failed to unite us?" Kael’varin’s voice sounded dull as if he was unimpressed.

Sil'var opened her mouth a few times before saying anything. "It was the High King's desire to see our two kinds come closer together once again."

"His desire. Not a challenge, nor an expression. I sent you there, Ambassador Sil'var, because this trade treaty is not between the Empire and the Alyar Dominions, but between the Empire and Verdant Dominion. Although this treaty passed our Magistrate, our High King never declared it as a challenge for the Three Dominions, nor was this the expression of the three domains or our Magistrate. There are some who would go as far to say that the High King is abusing our laws for personal gain."

"High King Var'adiel has ruled us as wise as all of his predecessors. I would rather put my effort into finding out the culprits among us who dare turn such meaningless gossip into lies!" Sil'var thought about the quarrel with Joa'na.

"What no one remembers, is that High King Var'adiel is born a verdant one. He had been a Dominion Monarch for nearly a thousand years before taking over rule of all three Dominions." There had been relief for a mere moment. The High Magister had sent her here with a purpose. But his secretive talk, as if there was a hidden divide in the Dominions, angered her. It seemed as if Kael'varin had ignored her previous words. "The verdant ones have always done as they pleased. They have had most contact with the human lands."

"There is no they. There is only us, Alyar. No matter the Dominion." Sil'var hesitated for a moment and then added. "I apologise for this sudden outburst, most esteemed one."

"No. No need. Your input is valuable. But consider this. That there is even talk of discord among us and at the centre of those discussions, our High King. This is enough to investigate the matter of this trade treaty. And another incident regarding these talks. There is someone in the committee, a human who is urgently trying to get into contact with Var'adiel himself." With every word, Kael'varin's voice grew darker.

Sil'var was stunned. She stayed silent, waiting for a joke, anything. When it was clear it was not coming, she muttered in a half-hearted tone. "Why would a human want to speak with our High King?"

"Only the Light and our determination shall reveal that answer to us. You are to seek out this person and make contact on the High King's behalf." Everything Kael'varin had said to her sounded like the trade treaty was a plot between the High King and one person in the Empire. "I decided not to inform Var'adiel of this, because the High King has cited failing health and has spent more and more time away from Falls Under the Sun. It is rather difficult to reach him."

"He is old. He is one of the few who still remembers the entire war with the Draig'yar first hand." Silence. Sil'var continued quietly. "High Magister Kael'varin. The Alyar know no discord among their kin." Her thoughts were stuck on Joa'na's words from before. What was happening? "We do not question our kin. High Magister, I was under the impression you sent me here because you felt it would be prudent to look at this treaty with fresh eyes. This morning I was nearly being accused of being a spy."

"Ambassador!" A stern voice sounded in her mind. "That there is even talk of discord and rumours among us in preposterous. In truth, the High King is missing! We can not be certain he has retreated to his home in the Verdant Dominion. Certain measures have to be taken now! I ask this of you because I trust you and only you! I know that you are a capable asset, no matter your field of service. Investigate everything surrounding the treaty and Verdant Dominion."

As Kael'varin's faint presence dissolved from her mind, the conversation had ended and Sil'var sat there, the red cube squeezed in her hand.

A knock sounded on the door without warning. She quickly drew her hand off the cube and stood up. She approached the door with hesitation.

"Yes?" She called.

"I have come to collect the bloodstone." Joa'na's muffled voice sounded through the door.

Sil'var opened the door. Surprised, she locked eyes with the beryl Alyar, but the intruder would not answer. Sil'var was about to tell Joa'na of the most ridiculous joke the High Magister had told her.

Joa'na strode past her and grabbed the red block of stone from the table.