Sword and Snow

Avuri

Avuri blinked, unsure what to make of the statement; and given the silence in the room, it seemed like no one else on her side of things did either.

Eiry saw the looks of general confusion and chuckled lightly. "Maybe that was a poor choice of words, my apologies. I'm not asking for marriages or something similar. More along the lines of treating us as family. Or, perhaps, uncles and aunties."

The silence still ruled as the Cultivator side of the room remained quiet in thought. As Avuri mulled it over more, she found the idea to be far less objectionable than her initial gut reaction had taken it. As it was, Avuri had been treating Lyn like an auntie to their family all along. She saw Cyril a good bit less than Lyn, but had treated him in the same way, too.

Admittedly, Avuri didn't interact with Ray, Eiry, or Vyne all that often, but she still had generally positive views on each of them. Especially Vyne, after how much he had helped Stena in the last several months. Eiry had seemed very uptight at first, but she had thawed massively over the years, and her cousins seemed to respect her a great deal. And while Avuri thought that Ray was a little too hot-headed, he was also straightforward and honest, which was generally good.

"In any case, you all can think about that later. We still have more pressing issues to deal with." Ray said, waving the letter about. "We need to figure out what our plan is to deal with this, regardless of whether we're all going to be one big, happy family later."

Avuri sighed. "Ray's right. I'm sorry for derailing everything."

"Don't apologize, it was a valid question." Lyn said. "Especially if you're worried about overstepping."

"For now, if it helps, consider yourselves all city counselors in training." Eiry said. "We're looking for more input, and we've come here to get it. Don't be afraid to speak your mind if you have any ideas."

Everyone in attendance seemed to accept that, and the discussion was finally getting back on track.

"So, given your experience as long-time city Elders, what would be your general plan here?" Emery asked, the first to speak up. "Do we act passively for now? Preemptively attack them?"

"Unfortunately, we're going to be forced into a passive role for now." Eiry said. "Now that we've received the message, if we attack Bouquet outright, they'd have an even easier time of gathering allies."

"Eiry is right. The best chance we have of evening the battlefield when it comes to support is to goad Bouquet into being the aggressor." Vyne said. "Given the veiled threats in the letter, I don't imagine they'll need to be prompted, and will attack us eventually regardless of how we respond. The question is how long they'll drag out the outward appearance of sending political messages back and forth."

"So the goal right now would be to look like the scared target of bullying." Avuri said.

"Without appearing too weak, yes." Eiry sighed.

"The balancing act is remarkably tough." Cyril chuckled wryly. "We need to appear weaker than Bouquet, enough to garner some support. But if we look too weak, no one will bother to aid us. We also need to play somewhat dumb in our responses to avoid any sort of indignant response from otherwise neutral cities, but if we go too far, we risk looking dismissive or arrogant, which is just as bad."

"You can't honestly tell me that sending a scathing, barely veiled threat of a letter is somehow a brilliant opening move." Emery said snidely, but she clearly hadn't expected the silence she got as a response.

"Seriously?" Stena asked.

"It's a product of the overall situation." Lyn said. "If things were more equal, it wouldn't pose nearly as much threat. The complication is Aysol."

"How so?" Emery asked.

"The assumption at the moment is that Aysol controls several major cities." Avuri said, and the Elders collectively nodded. "If that's the case, then Bouquet knows that once it declares our city an enemy, they'll immediately have several cities to back them up."

"And when it's suddenly, say, five aggressor cities against one defending one, one side looks far more like an attractive prospect than the other, no matter how 'right' it would be to defend the one being attacked." Vyne said.

"We're going to almost certainly need to rely on the goodwill of righteous allies and wandering Cultivators to come to our defense. And I fear that as much as other cities like us, I don't know how many of them would be willing to go up against an alliance led by Bouquet."

"There must be something we can do to even the odds, right?" Cierra asked. "I mean, you all repelled an invading force last year with almost zero bloodshed just by virtue of appearing on the battlefield. Surely that news got around."

"Yes, because news of a city defended by dragons is nothing but good news." Avuri muttered.

"What?"

"It won't be the case everywhere, but other cities are bound to feel threatened." Avuri explained. "I'm sure my father will use that little detail to his advantage."

"He will. It was even in the letter." Ray said flatly. "He said that he was worried about Flowing Dragon City becoming too powerful with the dragons involved, and whether we would end up bullying the cities around us. Ironic, isn't it?"

No one responded to that, leaving the group in silence for a while as everyone was lost in their own thoughts on the situation. Avuri was no different, but she was mostly trying to separate the overall situation from the anger at her family.

"So…what do we do?" Mica asked eventually, breaking the hold on the room.

"We don't know. That's why we're here." Eiry said.

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"The easiest route to take is basically what Cyril was joking about." Vale said, speaking for the first time. "We play the whole scenario passively, trying to build an alliance with sympathetic cities once Bouquet makes its official move. We defend ourselves the best we can, and hope that we aren't simply attacked from all sides by whatever alliance Bouquet puts together."

"That's the easiest by virtue of basically taking no action ourselves." Stena pointed out.

"Yes. But it's also the easiest to predict the outcome of once things get going." Vyne said. "It's the plan least likely to either go wildly off the path, or explode in our faces."

"But there are other options?"

"Of course there are, but none of our current options stand out as being notably…good." Eiry answered. "We could preemptively attack, for example. There's honestly even a decent chance of doing so going over well for us, at least to start. Unless Aysol is actively based in Bouquet, we likely have enough strength in this room to take over Bouquet."

"But if we do that, we're likely to make many, many enemies." Avuri said.

"Right. The main reason Bouquet is able to act as an aggressor here is because they know they'll be backed up by enough other cities that standing up against the bully looks like a bad idea." Ray said.

"Couldn't we just raise an alliance of more cities in opposition?" Cierra asked.

Vale smiled at Cierra as he took the question. "Ideally, yes. The unfortunate issue is that it's remarkably unlikely that we could. In an ideal world, every other city not under Aysol's influence would stand up to the bully and help us win the day. In reality, it's far more likely that many of our potential allies will see acting against Bouquet as a needless risk. Why would they want to get involved in a fight if they don't need to? Or, better yet, they can take the bully's side so they avoid getting themselves attacked later."

"But that's -"

"Yeah, we know." Vale said, and sighed. "The truth of the matter is that we honestly don't know how many people might come to our aid. It might be far more than we expect. But we also have to keep in mind that we're thinking of cities like individuals, but that's not what they are. I don't envy any of the leaders that are going to have to make this choice in the coming weeks, because it's not as simple as just supporting the 'good guys'. It's also potentially choosing to send hundreds of people, or more, to their death in an attempt to do the right thing."

"Even so, at least you know you did the right thing!" Cierra reiterated.

"Did you?" Vale asked, his voice questioning, but still calm. "If you act on the side of 'good' here, and end up costing the lives of half of the people you rule over, was that the right thing? What happens if you do that, and your side loses? Or your city is wiped out because you tried to do the right thing? Is it still the right thing if, had you chosen not to act, everyone in your city would be alive and well?"

Cierra was clearly bothered by Vale's points, staring at the ground.

"I'm not saying you're wrong, Cici." Vale continued. "I'm just saying that while it's easy for an individual like any of us to join the fight for 'good', risking our own lives in the process for our desired outcome, it's not as easy for a leader to condemn their people to die for nothing other than righteousness. It's just not that simple."

"I get it…" Cierra said.

Avuri took a deep breath. The group had gotten sidetracked enough, and she felt like it was bound to happen again if they didn't get to the actual meat of the conversation. "Alright, you wouldn't be Elders if you didn't already come up with a basic strategy, at least. What's the plan, exactly?"

The Elders shared another look, their expressions finally firm and resolute. "For now, we think the best approach is the easy one." Eiry said. "While there is, perhaps, some merit in the idea of striking first with a team unrelated to the city proper, we would rather have more information before we do so. If nothing else, there's a chance that Aysol himself is stationed in Bouquet, and if we sent a team that was unprepared, it would be nothing but a disaster."

"In addition to that, there are three of you that will have your Bond formed in the next couple days. That should not be rushed, nor should the training that follows." Eiry added. "We are open to suggestions on how to proceed from here if you have them, but our current plan is to simply continue our current path and remain on guard."

"Are you planning to send a reply to my father?" Avuri asked.

"Yes." Ray said, pointing at her with the scroll. "We have no choice but to respond, as remaining silent on the issue will only strengthen their position. However, if you'd like, you can pen it."

Part of Avuri desperately wanted to take the Elders up on that offer. She would love nothing more than to write a scathingly polite letter to her father. However, she also recognized that, at least for the time being, the response being a measured and politically even one would be the much better option.

"I might take you up on that if the correspondence continues. I'm not sure I'd be able to keep the hatred out of my response."

"Then the honor will be all yours when the time comes." Ray chuckled."We'll be sure to keep you informed as the missives come in."

"I appreciate that. Thank you."

"Of course."

"So…that's it? We just had war declared on us, and we're just going to take it?" Mica asked. Despite her choice of words, there wasn't any real anger in her tone, only mild incredulousness.

"For now." Eiry said. "For the moment, we'd rather focus on getting you all up to fighting strength. If nothing else, I doubt Aysol is expecting our side to have six Dragon-Kin Bonds. They'll likely still outnumber us, but it still gives us a small advantage they won't be prepared for."

"Training is about to get a whole lot more brutal, isn't it?" Cove sighed.

The grin that broke out on Eiry's face sent a shiver down Avuri's spine. The only way she could describe it was predatory.

"I do believe I told the lot of you that I expected you all to learn to fly before I Bonded Mica. You haven't. And while I understand the necessity of performing the Bond ceremony sooner rather than later, especially now, I haven't given up on the three of you quite yet. After the ceremonies tomorrow, we're going to redouble our efforts."

Glenn and Cove both looked like they might be sick, they had gone so pale. The look on Mica's face told Avuri that she was so preoccupied with the Bond ceremony that she wasn't even thinking about anything beyond it.

Despite her words, Avuri didn't think Eiry's training would be all that bad. She could be severe and even brutal on occasion, but Avuri could see the care in her expression when she looked at the siblings. They were in good hands, even if they were too close to see it.

"The same goes for you two, as well." Cyril said. "Cierra, you're ready for the Bond and the addition of my fire Qi, but your training is going to get difficult after that because we'll need to teach you to utilize it quickly."

Vyne chuckled for his part. "Stena, you've honestly already done the hard part. We're going to be working on your Domain, mostly. But make no mistake, you're over the hill, but your training won't be easy."

Ray merely looked at Kord and punched one of his hands into the other. Thanks to his active Qi, the impact reverberated throughout the room, and Avuri felt the deep, resonant tones deep in her bones. Kord didn't speak either, only offering Ray a shaky bow over a martial salute.

Avuri and Emery took a breath together. With their shared Qi, they were more in sync than ever, to the point that it sometimes felt a little strange. And the still unexplored weirdness of it reminded Avuri that they had a lot of work to do as well.

"I guess we have our direction, then." Emery said.

Vale snorted. "When has 'get stronger' ever not been your direction, Em?"