Chapter 126 -Moat Cailin (VI)
"What have I done?" Leaf asked himself years later, looking at the land suffering from the excavation of natural resources and the forests disappearing because of human greed.
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Leaf looked at Aenar and couldn't help but be speechless. The conditions he imposed may have seemed simple, but they were anything but. What he was asking was for the Children of the forest to stop following the Old Gods. Thirty thousand years of culture and reverence being denied with one simple sentence.
"Your Grace is asking too much. Even if I accept, my people will not. We have followed the Old Gods for tens of thousands of years and we will continue to do so." Leaf shook her head and replied with a determined tone.
"Then we have nothing more to discuss, Queen of the Forest." Aenar said with an indifferent tone to her refusal. It wasn't him who was asking for something, but Leaf who wanted something from him.
From the start, it was Aenar who was leading the conversation, and no one else. Leaf had placed herself in an inferior position in the negotiations ever since she had come to him to surrender.
She bit her lip at Aenar's indifferent tone. Leaf could see that he didn't care about her power or that of the Children of the forest. This frustrated her enormously. In her eyes, Aenar was being stubborn, someone who sought absolute power.
After ten long minutes of silence, Leaf spoke:
"Your Grace."
Aenar looked at her and smiled mischievously, as if anticipating the words he had wanted to hear all along.
Leaf held her gaze and continued: "I and my successors will agree to follow your orders and customs, but the others can continue with their faith and customs."