Chapter 104: Emerald Kingdom Departure
Three carriages moved through the white in a slow, steady line, two of them running wing-support on either flank, master mages inside each throwing heat against the snow ahead of the wheels. It melted before it ever became a problem, leaving a dark, wet trail behind them that the storm filled back in within minutes.
Arthur sat across from Solenne, Theodore beside him. Thalon sat next to Solenne, his arm still stiff in its sling, watching the window without really looking at anything through it.
"Would the elves even accept a meeting?" Arthur asked.
"That, I’m not sure of yet."
"You didn’t send a letter ahead?"
"No." Solenne shook her head. "Arriving directly gives us better odds of a response than a letter would. It also shows we’re already in motion to address this — not just talking about addressing it."
Roz stayed quiet on Arthur’s shoulder. Vexis was watching the white road roll by, saying nothing either.
"My bellus can act as translator, at least partially," Arthur offered, gesturing at Roz. "When we got attacked outside the fortress, he communicated with the elves there directly. I’d bet they’ll take a meeting if he’s the one asking."
"We can’t be certain of that. It’s been days." Solenne shifted in her seat. "Don’t worry, though — we’ve brought a relic that handles translation both ways. We speak our language, they hear it in theirs. And the reverse."
"Oh. So basically a Google translator, but medieval." Arthur said it half to himself.
"A what?"
"Nothing, Princess. Just remembered an old friend."
Theodore shifted, his bellus tucking further under his coat against the cold. "Um — Princess, how long until we reach the Emerald Kingdom?"
"Roughly two and a half days. Three, if we run into trouble."
"Have you been there before?"
"Once. I was young." Solenne’s eyes stayed on the window a moment before coming back to them. "Keep your aetheric field as low as you can once we’re inside their territory. Elves are observant in ways we’re not. They can sense a signature, sometimes even scent it, and read a lot into what kind of person’s carrying it."
"Right, the slits." Theodore glanced at Arthur. "On the sides of their faces. Looks a little unsettling, but honestly I kind of like it."
"Yeah. That was the first time either of us had actually seen an elf up close."
Solenne smiled slightly. "Well, at least you won’t be caught off guard when we get there."
Cael, who’d been quiet since they set out, finally spoke. "What if they do hear us, and decide to stay skeptical regardless? Or reject the alliance outright?"
"They have every right to be skeptical." Solenne’s gaze drifted to the window again, to the snow coming down in heavy sheets past the glass. "Humans committed the first offense here. If it comes to war after all, the Allright Council handles it from there."
A pause.
"And the three of you go home."
Nobody said anything for a moment.
"The moment we cross the border," Solenne said, "nobody speaks unless they’re spoken to first."
Theodore blinked. "That strict?"
"Yes."
"They’re proud people," Thalon added. "Showing restraint earns more respect than trying to impress them."
Arthur rested an elbow against the window.
"So we just... wait?"
"We let me do the talking," Solenne replied. "The delegation exists because I’m the representative of the Elercross Empire. If they reject me, they reject the empire. If one of you says the wrong thing before that..." She shrugged. "We may not get a second chance."
Arthur nodded slowly.
"So diplomacy first."
"Always."
Cael folded his arms.
"And if they refuse to meet us altogether?"
"Then we wait outside their gates."
"For how long?"
"As long as necessary."
Thalon glanced at him.
"It wouldn’t be the first time a delegation has waited days for an audience."
Arthur frowned.
"They’d really leave us standing there?"
"They’ve done worse." Solenne’s voice stayed calm. "We’re asking them to trust humans after what happened to their children. If making us wait is the price of proving we’re serious, then we wait."
Nobody argued with that.
After a moment, Theodore raised another question.
"...What if they arrest us?"
"They won’t."
"You sound pretty confident."
"They respect diplomatic customs." Solenne looked toward the window again. "Even if they hate us."
Arthur leaned back.
"And if someone attacks us before we reach the capital?"
The room grew quieter.
"The escorts deal with it," Cael answered.
"And if the attackers are elves?" Arthur asked.
"Then nobody fights unless I give the order," Solenne said immediately. "Self-defense only. The last thing we need is one frightened soldier returning home claiming humans crossed the border and started casting magic."
Arthur understood.
One spell.
One misunderstanding.
That was all it would take for diplomacy to end before it had even begun.
The carriage continued through the snowfall, each of them silently rehearsing what the first meeting with the Emerald Kingdom might become.
The carriage rocked gently as it climbed another snow-covered stretch of road. Outside, the wind struck the glass in uneven bursts before fading again.
Theodore rubbed his hands together. "It’s colder than Creslan."
"It gets worse the closer we are to the border," Thalon said. "The mountains trap most of the snow."
Arthur looked out the window. Every now and then, he caught the silhouette of one of the escort carriages through the white, only for it to disappear again behind the snowfall.
"I can’t believe people actually live out here."
"They’ve lived here for centuries," Solenne replied. "Trade routes don’t stop because the weather gets worse. You adapt or you leave."
Arthur nodded.
"I guess that’s true."
A comfortable silence settled over the carriage
"Then let’s say, hypothetically," Arthur said slowly, "the war does happen. Elves against humans." He looked at her directly. "Who do you think wins?"
Solenne didn’t answer right away.
She looked at him with the expression of someone who’d never actually let herself sit with that question before — not out loud, not with anyone listening for the answer.
I already know this, Arthur thought. In the novel, the war happened. Humans and elves. It happened, and it wasn’t close.
Humans lost. Badly.
Solenne finally spoke. "The elves." She touched a hand to her own chest, over the sternum, where the mageia core sat in a human. "Their core is five times the size of ours. Five times the output. And when it comes to raw magic, there isn’t a contest to speak of."
Her jaw tightened. She glanced down at the sword at her hip.
"If I fought an elven mage as a swordbearer." A beat. "I already know how that ends."
"I’d lose."
The carriage went quiet.
Vexis was listening now, fully, the way he did when something actually mattered. Roz’s ears had come up.
Theodore’s face had gone tight with something close to fear.
Arthur had wanted her to say something else. Had wanted, stupidly, for her to say humans could win. Could at least stand a chance if it came to it. Some part of him had been hoping for that answer the whole ride, even knowing better, even having read the ending already.
Something twisted low in his stomach.
"Then let’s do everything we can to make sure it never comes to that, Princess." Arthur’s jaw locked. "Whatever it takes."
Solenne held his eyes for a second.
"Yes." Her voice came out steady, certain in a way that didn’t match the numbers she’d just laid out. "We will stop it."