“I want to talk to you about the situation between Varden and my tribe.”

Save from Adeline and Venice, who he had already told, Garik’s statement catches the attention of everyone in the room.

“Things haven’t been well between us, and I want to change that.” He looks at the lord directly, “We’ve been at each other’s throats for years. We have never warred with you, but I believe that we’ll both be better off by restoring the peace we once had.”

Virgil leans in, placing his elbows on the table. “And why is that?”

“Well, this happened before I was born, but my grandmother, our leader, told me about a trade deal we had. I was thinking we could start by doing that again, and go to more stuff after that.”

Rosa smiles politely and speaks up for the first time, “I must say this is an unexpected proposal. Are you here on behalf of the tribe or is this a personal wish?” 

Not expecting this question, Garik takes a moment before answering. “I guess it’s some of both. I’ve been living here for a few years, and it hasn’t been easy. My first year here, a group of people nearly killed me.” He instinctively puts his hand on his neck where he had been stabbed, and the hosts nod in recollection of hearing about the event.

“It is mostly personal, but I’ve told our leader what I want and she agrees that this is for the best,” the half-orc finishes letting out his thoughts with conviction.

“May I ask, why do you want peace after what has happened to you? Before our talk earlier, I was under the impression that your tribe just wanted to be left alone,” asks Venice.

Garik’s face turns serious. “You’re kinda right about that.” He takes a long sigh before continuing, “The number one goal of our tribe is survival. We aren’t interested in conquering people or taking land. We have always lived by defending our people and our territory, and have only attacked anyone who might pose a threat to us by trespassing on our land.”

AHEM!

Everyone turns toward Vikar, the source of the loud noise. He has his eyes shut and is clearly annoyed by the conversation. 

“Please excuse me, but I think we’ve heard quite enough undisputed information from you.” He stands up, now glaring at the half-orc as he continues, “So I have a proposition. In the interest of making sure my dear family isn’t being deceived, would you allow my guest here to use his abilities to make sure what you’re saying is truthful?”

Virgil’s chair creaks as he quickly rises out of his seat. “Uncle! You can’t be suggesting we use magic on the boy? This is not an interrogation, he is our daughter’s friend and our guest!”

“How will our family look if we’re known to be so distrusting of people to cast magic on them whenever we want?” Rosa adds in support of her husband. The other two women echo her statement.

Vikar turns to his family with an innocent expression. “I’m not insisting that we harm the boy. It’s just a simple spell that will keep him from lying to us. Grant this old man some peace of mind, please?”

Virgil sits back down and gives it some thought. After a moment of silence, he relents. “Let’s be fair about this. If it is okay with Garik, you can go through with it.If he refuses, we continue on as before.”

“So how about it, Garik?” Vikar asks, a smug smile crosses his face as he says his name.

Garik didn’t expect to be backed into a corner like this. He has always had an aversion to magic, and, aside from his mother using her healing, has hated when anyone cast spells on him. Despite the lord’s words, Garik knows that refusing this offer will undoubtedly eliminate any trust the family had in him.

So this is why I’m alone on this side of the room. He had this planned all along!

He looks around the room. His aunt looks concerned, both Venice and her parents look anxious, the man who had challenged him continues glaring at him with a wicked smile. The cloaked mage’s face remains hidden but he is now leaning forward, clearly eager to play his part in this meeting.

Through gritted teeth, Garik says, “I’ll do it.”