Beneath the Dragoneye Moons
Chapter 636: The Treaty of Kazehara VII

I made it back to the second day of the summit about an hour early, only to get promptly ambushed by everyone and their cousin.

Lovely.

They were necessary talks, and I was of half a mind to tell everyone to just talk to me, and I’d individually process what they were saying with how many different ways I could think at once.

That was considered rude, no matter how practical and efficient it was. I wasn’t the only one with strong mental skills and the ability to communicate with several people, but it just wasn’t The Way Things Were Done. Even at high levels, we were supposed to give a show of paying attention to people.

Which… I appreciated, I guess. Night didn’t zip between eight different conversations, using the ‘thinking pause’ to talk with someone else. Arachne didn’t stare into a book while talking with me, she didn’t have rings of people around her, all getting orders at once.

The people she was giving orders to were far away.

That was with good friends and close professional coworkers! This was a diplomatic summit, where we all grasped at the dying gasp of courtesy and professionalism that the cataclysm had mostly annihilated.

I got filled in on what I needed to know, and I paused right outside of the warded boundary line.

“Hang on.” I said to Skye, then held out my hands. “Lunch.”

I [Teleported] out a nice leather bag - I’d known the cow at one point, she’d been friendly enough and I was happy to have a memento of her along for the next century or so - and filled it up with all manner of snacks. The hospitality here was good, but variety was the spice of life.

“Oh, do you have some of the cheese the Nixes make?” Skye asked. “I’ve got a particular fondness for it.”

I held up a finger.

“Give me a second, I don’t mark what comes from who… memories, memories, do you know how obnoxious tracing individual teleports over the years is?” I lightly griped.

“If it’s too much trouble, don’t worry, it was just an idle question.” Skye said.

“AhHA! Got it!” I triumphantly pumped my fist as a wedge landed in my bag.

“Oooh, you’re the best!” Skye said. “Let’s go grab our seats before the big shuffle. They’ll probably be permanent.”

I nodded and we filed in, stuck in the masses of the crowd. The High Council was already there, and I waved to Night. I got a cheeky wink back, and I practically skipped to where Susan was sitting. Wally and Royal joined us. Skye, Katarina, Queen, and the rest of the ‘Exterreri faction’ found a spot near us, and I spent a moment studying where everyone else ended up sitting.

Interestingly, it was almost a geographical mirror to how the nations were arranged on Pallos. Xerius saurians were next to Ankhelt beastkin. Centaur chieftains were on the arena floor, next to gnomes in their tiny chairs, backed against the troll [Jarls] of Lithos. The fauns and mercenary captains of Cartref Cyld were sitting near uncomfortable harpies of Aerie Heights. And so on and so forth, people who’d have to deal with each other far after the summit was over sitting close enough to whisper and deal.

Verris stood up at exactly the moment he said it would start. We were still missing a handful of people, but an attrition rate of half a percent would have one or two people out for whatever reason, before people deliberately skipping the starting day to make deals.

“Welcome, one and all! I will be brief, as our time is valuable. There are many oaths and promises that could be made at this time, but I only ask a simple one from you all. To whatever god or goddess you pray to, to whatever you hold sacred, I simply wish for you all to swear to operate in good faith, and to respect the time of the other delegates.”

Eh, I could do that.

Hey Ciriel! I’m going to operate in good faith, and respect everyone’s time. I told the goddess.

You and everyone else. She teasingly grumbled.

A few more devoted? I asked.

More that quite a few people are praying to all the gods and goddesses. Ciriel explained. It’s usually background noise, because there’s always several hundred people praying to all of us at any given time, but when our focus and attention is on a specific place, it comes to the foreground, so to speak. Not too many gods want to spend their time and effort on the summit, it’s the same old deal every time from our perspective, but it’s easily the most interesting thing going on. Most of us are watching closely, it’s fun!

Finger on the smite button? I teased back.

Seira got the last one. Ciriel grumbled. We all want the chance to show off in front of our peers.

I shivered. Uriel, the giant [High Priest] chose the moment to speak up.

“Forgive me for speaking out of turn.” The giant rumbled from high up. “The gods have cheerfully informed me that there is an informal contest of ‘who can smite the heretics first’ going on at this moment. Should there be a proposal violating the divine decrees, I do not expect one god to smite the heretic, I expect dozens, if not hundreds, of gods to express their displeasure.”

I eyed the people sitting next to me, and theatrically scooted away from Arachne. She mock-gasped.

“I hear vampires are heathens.” I teased her.

“I hear reincarnated people don’t believe in gods.” She teased back, scooting away from me herself. We giggled, then scooted back towards each other.

“All those in favor of excusing Uriel speaking out of turn?” Verris asked the High Council. Thirteen hands went up. “You’re excused.” Verris told the giant, who nodded.

“I’m closest, I’ll get the first smite in.” One of the manifested gods said to another.

“You? Your smites are so weak it won’t count!” The second one replied.

“First order of business.” Verris spoke more broadly. “All those in favor of forbidding proposals that will violate the Divine Decrees?”

I glanced at my various compatriots, who were all raising their hand. I raised mine as well. There was a great amount of scooting away from the few people who hadn’t voted in favor. The three [Scorekeepers] had a quick word with Verris, who nodded and smiled.

“Excellent. Given the subject matter, and that we have a supermajority present even if all other votes were to go the other way, in this extraordinary case we will uphold the Divine Decrees with no contesting vote. Moving on. The members of the High Council are each permitted to put their weight and words behind a single motion, and are otherwise not allowed to directly vote or put forward proposals. They will be voted on at the end, when the rest of the treaty is arranged. Night, as the eldest, your proposal may go first.”

The vampire progenitor stood up.

“Over the many years I have been around, I have found countless dangerous classes and elements. I am of the mind to mostly permit you all to learn and discover for yourselves, and not to ban or prohibit actions out of hand. Who knows what new and fantastical discoveries you will all make? Restrictions will be called for. Restrictions on classes. Restrictions on behaviors. Restrictions on social structures.”

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Night shook his head, showing what he thought of the idea.

“None of us know the future. None of us know everything. I encourage us to step back, and give space for young minds to dazzle us, and to help civilization slowly inch forward, regardless of the long ranging cycle of warfare we find ourselves trapped in. Let us give space to people to find an answer. Restrict nothing.”

He sat down, and the Witch in White stood up.

“The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft will be opening its doors once again. I request that it be recognized by all as a neutral place of learning. Thank you.”

She sat back down, and the lich stood up.

“Let’s not get all fussed over the Pekari, hmmm? Fight them yourselves, don’t go all a-hunting together.” He sat back down with a mad grin, and a thousand whispers from people not in the know.

Arachne and I traded amused looks, and there were a good number of people looking like they were suppressing a laugh. It was a funny joke to be in on, as murderous as it could be.

The rest of the High Council continued on, then Verris stood up again.

“Onto ordinary operations. We must determine the normal rules upon which proposals will be made, who will be allowed to make proposals, which proposals will be voted on, speaking times and arrangements, and so on and so forth. To begin, each of you will be handed a number, assigned at random. This is your turn to propose rules or a set of rules, or to pass.”

Okay, I knew this one! Arachne was one of the few people who had a comprehensive package put together, and I knew of at least four voting blocks who wanted things done her way. There was no sense in trying to get a dozen different ways mismatched together, several old, intelligent Immortals had seen this summit come and go over the eons, and there were four or five big packages going around.

“Number one.” Verris intoned. A spotlight shone over a gnoll. He stood up.

“Pass.” He said, then sat back down.

“Number two.”

“Pass.”

“Number three…”

The summit got boring fast. An infinite amount of high-stakes politics, with thousands of proposals made, from the completely reasonable to utterly insane. Everyone on the same currency standard, with an arc being the lowest denomination to diamonds and rubies being the highest, the same as the prior era? Near unanimous consent. The summit was a meeting of the rich and powerful in the world, and too many of us had ‘useless’ wealth and coins still rattling around. Value was only what society assigned to it, and a massive agreement that a diamond was worth 10,000 arcs - how we ended up at a factor of 10 and not 8 I’ll never know, but I was guessing historical reasons - helped everyone. With the stroke of a pen and several hundred hands in the air, my family was once again internationally wealthy.

I was a little bothered by it. A half-remembered conversation I’d overheard a [Student] at the School a century ago. How a fixed currency was inherently deflationary, which prevented investment, and caused stagnation. My reading on the subject suggested the benefits outweighed the problems… but there were no [Economists] at the summit to interrogate. The absolute landslide of the votes also suggested huge momentum against the idea. I didn’t know the answer, and it bothered me a little.

It made a grim sort of sense. The only people here were the wealthy and powerful. We - I had no delusions that I wasn’t part of the group - were the only ones who could afford to take weeks off of work, travel a significant portion of the world, then go back home. Travel was expensive. Not working was expensive. I knew there were dozens and dozens of major tribes in Dairalt alone - they had five representatives, and one of the tribes had even managed to send ‘two’ in a sense, with the son trying to sneak in. From what I knew, all of them had gotten invited. Most of them couldn’t afford it.

Nime didn’t seem to exist as a nation anymore. To my understanding - good riddance. Who wanted a nation of Spore, Poison, and Miasma users that flouted all agreements?

Looking at the world from this point of view was enlightening. Not necessarily in a way I liked, but certainly enlightening.

Meeting Silon was enlightening. Most of what he had to say I’d already heard, but it was good to confirm it, and get a first hand look at his experience.

“Elaine Elaine.” He smiled, shaking my hand warmly as we sat down in a private booth. They were the name of the game at Kazehara, basically every place people could meet and talk had a number of them scattered around, from smoking parlors to restaurants. “Your credentials are nothing short of stunning, and I’m honored that you wanted to talk. Your impact on medicine is literally indescribable.”

I smiled at the elf, food being delivered just minutes after we sat down. There was no ordering here - we got what we got. I liked it, a way to be forcefully adventurous.

“Silon. It was never my goal to become famous or anything. I just wanted to give other [Healers] a helping hand. I myself stand on the shoulders of giants. I wasn’t the one who collected all the knowledge, I simply wrote down what other people had discovered over the years. I was also lucky. Right time, right place, and I gave a few copies to the right people. Honestly, Lumornor should get most of the credit for it becoming so widespread.” I said.

“Humble too.” Silon said.

“I live in Orthus, in Exterreri.” I said. It was a bit of a non-sequitur, but sometimes just doing it was the key. I then gave a description of how he could find the place, even pulling out my map to show him a few landmarks and notable cities. “After this is over, you should come over and visit! We’d love to have you, and I’m sure you’ve got countless stories.”

“I would enjoy that.” He said.

“Now, I apologize, but I’d like to dive directly into the heart of why I’m here. What happened last time? How did [Healers] get restricted?”

Silon gave a long-suffering sigh.

“I’ve been asked that question countless times.” He said. “One downside of being a representative that’s not advertised. When something goes wrong, you’ve got several centuries of everyone interrogating you about it. In short, during the Taizui era, Immortals were permitted in mortal lands. Several [Healers] had gotten the skill to grant lasting Immortality, and briskly traded their services early in the era, to a large number of [Warlords] and other such fighters. They frequently clashed with each other, [Healers] preventing the most powerful from dying, and it was a particularly violent era. When the tides turned, and Taizui made way for Kyowa, the rich and powerful were well represented, and there was significant resentment to how things had played out. [Healers] were the easiest to blame, as none of the ones causing problems were around to defend themselves, and made for an easy scapegoat.” He shrugged. “I politicked to the best of my abilities, but as well organized as Verris and the High Council is, at the end of the day a lynch mob is a lynch mob, and [Healers] were strung up as the victims. Mark my words, it’ll happen again. Some poor class or element - we must be fair, after all, and not pick on a nation or species -” His sarcasm could cut through solid wood. Actually, with how the System worked, it was possible to have a [Cutting Sarcasm] skill that could do exactly that. “Will be strung up and declared the nemesis, no matter how unreasonable the logic. Inevitably, the kings currently at the top of the heap will remove any number of effective weapons against them in the process.”

“The forbidden four.” I muttered to myself. I wasn’t quite buying the ‘mob mentality’ aspect that Silon was espousing, but I suppose from a certain angle and viewpoint, it could look like that. Hey, I was here to learn.

Silon nodded.

“Exactly. Or perhaps the forbidden eight. Or forbidden three. Or a set of classes.” He shrugged. “Best advice I can give? If they’re being bullheaded, try to find a different target to redirect people towards. Moving on, you want to be hidden, under the water. You don’t want to be visible, or make people think about [Healers]. Freedoms are rarely encoded into treaties, only restrictions. Out of sight, out of mind. Your goal is to find and counter proposals against [Healers], assuming you don’t have an additional agenda.”

He peered at me.

“It is easier to promise to abstain on a critical measure in exchange for an abstain vote on your measure. This allows you to sell your vote to both sides in a critical proposal, as opposed to being forced to take one side or another.”

I nodded. Arachne, then Skye, had both coached me through a similar thought process.

Silon and I continued to talk for a while. I eventually had to leave, cruelly realizing that I had a lot more people to chat with and connections to make, every second an opportunity, while Silon was just around to enjoy the festivities.

I had a moment of realization walking away from the [Healer]. Fortunately, it was only the second day, I hadn’t lost much time.

“I’m an idiot.” I moaned to myself, putting my face in my hands. “A complete idiot.”

Having realized what I needed to do, I hunted down Arachne. The one woman I was sure knew all the proposals that were going to be made already. She was busy talking with several other people, and a few more petitioners were waiting for her. I dutifully waited in line, and a strand of threads worked their way over next to me.

What can I do for you? The threads spelled out. Hey, it was still polite, we weren’t trying to have several different conversations in front of each other. Arachne still looked like she was paying full attention to her conversation partners.

“Is anyone trying to restrict [Healers], and how do I have to vote to prevent it from happening?”

I was no [Mastermind], and my [Thinking] skills and training didn’t go in this direction. I was already allied with Arachne and the Exterreri faction, why do it all myself when I could just ask for help from the woman who thrived on this stuff like a reasonable person? I swear, Arachne hadn’t brought it up herself just so I would ask. All the hints had been right there in front of my face.

A piece of paper snaked its way over, carried on threads. I read it from a distance, and wanted to groan again.

Crow take it all. She’d anticipated my question, and already had a list drawn up.

A list… when most proposals hadn’t even been made yet, and everyone was still in the initial stages.

“If I wanted to prevent [Healers] being restricted, and allow full travel across Pallos?” I asked.

The paper that came over was, of course, pre-written and dated a week ago.

Ciriel, I regret to inform you that I’m an idiot. I prayed to the goddess.

Hey, chin up! We all make mistakes! You figured this out like THAT! How many people here are going to do something similar, versus thinking that they’re the smartest person in the room and doing it themselves? She said.

Well, they could be trying to level. I vaguely protested.

You’re being SMART. She reassured me. I’ve got endless stories of being a complete idiot.

Thanks Ciriel, you’re a good friend.

Anytime Elaine!

The summit was a lot more fun with my primary concern mostly handled, leaving me to my secondary concern - was I voting for anything I fundamentally disagreed with?

It really didn’t help that a modest, mortal-driven, anti-[Healer] proposal was going around. Nonsense about ‘Well, that’s how I did it, and my parents, and my grandparents, and so on and so forth, and it clearly worked, so let’s do it again!’

Bah humbug.

I wonder how many of them would change their tune if they were suddenly Immortal themselves…? Bribery was explicitly allowed.

I snorted at the thought. I’d come full circle. From [Emperor] Augustus twisting my arm to obtain Immortality, to me twisting other people’s arm in the political sphere with it.

Oh goddess. I didn’t die a hero. I lived long enough to find myself becoming a villain.

Ah well. The poetic justice spoke to me, and I hummed cheerfully to myself as I went to find my first vict- patient.

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