“Emphasis on ‘potentially’, here.” The Firstborn Banshee snorted. “For now, only the elves have benefitted from the Fringe while the rest of us have to fight for our lives while waiting for your call.”
“How many times do I have to apologize for you to drop this?” Aalejah replied.
“Drop what?” Solus asked in confusion.
“If the elves of Setraliie are scared of their allies despite being forewarned and having agreed to join our forces after countless deliberations, imagine how the elves of Medolin feel.” Aalejah said with a sigh.
“On top of that, they have no deal with the Kingdom. They have no obligation to help us or anything to gain if they do. They consider the people of Zelex no different from the monsters of the tides and the undead as dangerous predators.
“The elves of Medolin refuse to meet and talk to non-elves even via the amulet. It took me quite some effort to be granted an audience with their Parliament after their scouts reported who I was associated with.”
“Which leads us to this point.” Ilthin interjected. “With the elves holed up inside the Fringe and our communications reduced to a bare minimum.”
“Is it true?” Lith asked.
“Yes and no.” Aalejah shook her head. “We moved inside the Fringe because this way we could pass every single morsel of food we received from the Jiera’s Council to the colony. We ended up staying holed up because our plan worked too well.
“We’ve drawn the attention of the monster tide away from our allies at the expense of our freedom of movement. How do you think you got the time to restore the land without swarms of monsters feasting on your job, Ilthin?
“If not for the help from the elves of Medolin, we’d be still fending waves of attacks daily. A monster tide can afford to ignore a few hundred of elves and their arrows, but not thousands.
“You may have not noticed our presence but you sure have benefitted from my strategy!”
“Wait a second.” Lith put a hand on the elf’s shoulder to calm her down. “You just said that the Jieran elves didn’t want to help. How did you get thousands of them to fight for you, Aalejah?”
“Not for me. With me.” She replied. “Even though their Parliament of Leaves has yet to reach a consensus, I used my time with them to lead by example. I showed, not shared, them the communication amulets, the magic books, and everything that the Kingdom has to offer them.
“I told them that they could get the same deal as my people if they helped us to protect the settlement. After greed got the best of the members of the local Parliament, I invited them to follow us outside and witness with their own eyes how powerful modern magic is.
“It’s only then that the elves of Medolin understood the threat that the monster tides pose and realized that if they kept doing nothing the Fringe would turn from a sanctuary to a prison.
“That the moment their population exceeds what the Fringe can feed, they would be forced to cull their numbers until the monsters die out and the land recovers. It scared them so much that the Parliament of Leaves reconsidered my offer and declared the state of emergency.
“Until they make a ruling, their army is going to support Setraliie’s forces and follow us into battle. The only problem is that they still refuse to cooperate with the colony and consider its existence a point of contention.
“Every time I speak or meet with Ilthin, the discussion of the Parliament gets thrown back of days if not weeks.”
“You’ve been here for months!” Kamila said in amazement. “How can the elves of Medolin have wasted so much time? I know that politics are slow, but this is ridiculous.”
“The problem is that I can speak for Setraliie, not the Kingdom or the Empire.” Aalejah replied. “Medolin doesn’t trust humans to keep a verbal agreement just based on my word. They demand to meet someone with real authority.
“I’ve been waiting for you guys to arrive while doing my best to keep everything from falling apart.”
“Well, we are here now.” Lith shrugged. “Orion carries the Crown’s seal and Kelia is the Empress’ daughter. Just tell me when and where I can set up a meeting.”
“Not so fast.” Aalejah raised her hand. “The location of the Fringe has been kept secret for millennia and the people of Medolin want to keep things that way. I first need to go to them and find a neutral location.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” Solus said. “The Fringe is the perfect base for the allied military forces. They can hide inside when needed and strike without warning. Denying them access is going to hinder the elves’ plans for freedom.”
“That’s only in wartime.” Aalejah shook her head. “When and if we solve the current crisis, the elves wouldn’t have anywhere safe to go in case the humans go back on their words.
“With the allied forces knowing the Fringe’s position and how to get in, the elves would be slaughtered in a single night. On top of that, even if those entrusted with this secret kept confidentiality, the Awakened Council is bound to discover the location of the Fringe.
“The elves don’t like the idea of being sieged and sooner or later the Awakened would find a way to get in which brings us back to the same issue with the humans.”
“I see.” Lith nodded in understanding.
The alliance had yet to be born and even if the forces of Jiera and Garlen reached an agreement, it would be paper thin. The elves had no reason to risk their city getting invaded and their resources stolen in case things went south.
Giving the humans access to the Fringe would have created an opening in the elves’ impregnable defence that couldn’t be closed. After all, the War of the Races was a myth to humans but recent history for the elves.
“I’m going back to the Wayfinder. I’ll explain the situation to Orion and Kelia while I wait for your call.”
“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take long.” Aalejah sighed. “The elves of Medolin are as eager to learn modern magic as I am of getting out of here and stop listening to their endless bickering.”
***
Returning to the encampment took just a few Steps thanks to the Home Stone Lith had left in Friya’s hands.
The dimensional device acted as a beacon, giving Lith direction and dimensional coordinates that allowed him to cross the distance between them as soon as he was in the Home Stone’s area of effect.
He brought Kelia and Orion up to speed about the rest of the allied forces’ circumstances and in turn they called their respective rulers to receive permission to conduct the negotiations.
Both of them also needed to know how much they could offer to the elves officially and how much they had to keep for a backroom deal that would put their respective country ahead of their temporary ally.
Meanwhile, Solus was curious to learn if and where the merfolk would build their first outpost on the surface and went to speak with Rem.
