Chapter 44: Chapter 43: War And Diplomacy Part 5

Bahamut and Tiamat followed Carl into the complex that awaited behind him. Carl was still a little confused why they seemed surprised he could hear them. He just figured it was dragon telepathy getting tangled up with pet-telepathy, like when two places open a realm gate to the same place at the same time and the gate takes you to the other position rather than the intended destination.

Carl led the way through the carefully redesigned complex to a meeting room with a large meeting room. “Well, I guess we were going to start with Tiamat weren’t we? Well, whilst I wait for my chief diplomat to join us… That won’t take long.

Tiamat i formally recognise you had no hand in what happened, after meeting you both, I can tell the wyvern in question was related to Bahamut. What I would like to clarify at in the meantime is simple.

Why exactly would a wyvern of Bahamut’s lineage attack to teenagers for no reason? Forgive me but I am under the impression that your lineage is typically the aggressive sort.”

“I appreciate the decisiveness and take no offense. You aren’t wrong, the issue from my perspective was its displacement. It saw the area as its new territory and you invaded it. When dragon-kin are separated from us, their more primitive natures come out. I won’t defend his oversight but since we both have many kin and much territory to oversee, I can understand why Bahamut hadn’t known.”

Carl nodded as Gillian and Sitter entered. “Apologies for making you wait, Equinox has told me he will be monitoring the situation from outside. He deeply regrets his behaviour earlier and doesn’t feel he has a place in this meeting after his “shameful” display.”

Carl recounted the small amount of discussion he had missed.

“Right, good to know. For the record though under the terms made known to us upon humanity’s eviction from the earth, residence does not constitute ownership and that world was amongst those that the humans had claimed during the race to claim territory. He was by your own rules an invader that attacked Klair, Carl and Squidge unprovoked.”

“I know and accept that… The retaliation however…”

“…Was well within the rights of an affected party. I studied Faylorna’s unique situation a lot since you contacted us. She has an “emotional claim” over all direct descendants, which includes Klaire, a claim the Wyvern’s attack violated.”

Tiamat let out a short cackle, seemingly amused by Gillian’s rather eloquent argument. “That is entirely correct young man, however I must say that as a member of…”

“Klaire was neither a member of my household nor my wife at the time of the attack. I fully support her actions and will side with her on that argument unquestioningly, however I have no desire to see the conflict continue.”

“So we are even, is that what you are saying?”

“Unfortunately not, I was also killed in the incident, along with my first creation Squidge. As much as I would like to leave it be, I also have a responsibility as patriarch to prove my willingness to respond appropriately to acts of aggression. You are responsible For the life of my creation, who is like a child to me, and myself as well.”

Bahamut’s face began to glisten as platinum started to penetrate his flesh. “And what pray tell do you consider an appropriate response? The law is clear, you have a right to reparations, but do not get greedy human…”

“I want a clear and distinct line of diplomacy with each of you. As emissaries I’d like to use materials donated from each of you to create a pet that can act as such. Obvious they won’t be as intense as Equinox, but I would like to create a pet that doesn’t have to worry about any but your closest subordinates.”

“Why should I agree to this? You already cleared me of any involvement.” Tiamat asked, not opposed, but curious by what appeared to be an obvious miscalculation.

“Did you forget my grandma is Samael’s right-hand? If I’m not mistaken you owe her a considerable number of favours… Agree to help and I will claim them for myself and I’m sure you’d agree that anything I ask will be far less taxing.”

Tiamat laughed heartily. “You are certainly that woman’s family, adopted or not. I hereby accept your terms on the added condition I can be present when she is told our books are balanced.”

“Deal, she kind of forced me to do it anyway… Bahamut, what is your choice?”

“Out of curiosity the materials I grant you will be consumed in the process, is that correct?”

“Yes, I will not have access to the materials after, so I can’t use them again.”

“Fine then, diplomatic ties and satisfying your curiosity are small prices to pay. As you say, Faylorna had her “emotional claim” though I’m amazed that you knew of it…”

“Great, seems we can bring this to a quick end… Oh, to tell the truth we had no clue. It is incredibly secret, but Nergal was the one who made her and one of the few who possessed a hard copy of the immortal treatises. I asked him to meditate, but he said “No, this will be a good starting experience. take this and educate yourselves.” I have Gillian to thank for reading it though.”

“Of course, with Faylorna’s involvement I should have guessed he would be entangled as well.”

“Yeah I mean, I am wearing his sleeves as well, honestly I’ve worn them every day since I got them and I feel naked without them. Anyway, I’ll go grab some refreshments, I’ll leave the actual contract wording up to my diplomat.”

Tiamat laughed again. “Lillim used to do the same thing, fight the battle, then make an excuse to leave the aftermath to others.”

“What can I say, she was a good teacher… Maybe not the best example, but she definitely beat every lesson in effectively.” Carl concluded as he left to go grab some of the refreshments he mentioned.

When he returned though the tone had shifted. “Carl, your diplomat here says you aren’t necessarily on humanity’s side.”

“I’m not, I’m on the side of peace and quiet, I want my friends and family to be happy and free. When I have the backing to make some moves I intend to dissolve the committee that advocates inequality.”

“What if I told you that they are stronger than you think?” Bahamut said with a tone of surprising concern.

Gillian and Carl looked at each other with a level of understandable confusion before Gillian asked the question “What do you mean?”

“Not all humans were born equal, the simple fact is the majority of humans are woefully unable to make a difference, but the true leaders of the human committee are individuals of enough power to make conflict with them… ill-advised.”

“Leaders? We’re told that all members are equal. They even hold elections every five years.” Gillian continued, growing angrier as a half-breed who had experienced several uncomfortable situations with pure-blood supremacists.

“Ha! Elections, how naive are you to think so many leaders can change without any actual change occurring. When the equality movement found themselves led by a few exceptional examples the real leaders nearly stepped in, then those that had mixed their bloodlines with them backed the movement. It was very nearly all-out war.” Tiamat explained with a sense of amusement.

“Why would these secret leaders be willing to step out of the unknown? Surely that wasn’t necessary…”

“A daughter of Lillim reached a level no normal human could keep up with, a particularly gifted succubus threatened to bring every pure human line to an abrupt end and a direct descendant of Faylorna had left quite a lot of carnage in her wake after her love was beaten half to death by supremacists. In short they had no choice but to get involved once those three joined the cause.”

“Well, that explains a lot… Still, they want to try and keep my family under their control and I can’t let that happen. If they want to fight me over it, then so be it, thank you for helping me understand what I’m up against.”

“Should have known the child willing to pick a fight with Bahamut wouldn’t back down from humans… Why waste time, I like that look in your eyes and the way your mind works, I’ll enter a full alliance under the following terms:

No formal exchange in resources, but you are welcome to visit my worlds and ask for materials and even for any kin who are willing to join you, however that last part only applies on the condition you are able to fight them to their submission alone.”

“That’s very generous, but may I ask one thing?”

“Not satisfied? What?”

“No I am, truly… I was just wondering, I can assign my creations to faction members and intend to give them one each, if they want to have a dragon in the mix, could they challenge one on the same terms?”

“Hmm… I suppose that would be amusing, but I will not accept responsibility for any death that occurs in the bounds of such a contest.”

“That’s fine, neither of us will take responsibility for a death in the bounds of a companion challenge.In the interest of minimising such occurrence and collateral damage, let’s say each one must be spectated and take place on a desolate world. If numbers become too unruly, maybe we could make it a joint annual festival.” Carl laughed, but to his surprise, Tiamat seemed quite taken with the idea.

“Of course, come here and I’ll grant you the coordinates for my worlds.”

“Oh, actually, I don’t handle realm-gate stuff, let me call my guy Blanc…” Carl said as he remembered what happened when the system forced information into his brain and sent Blanc a message to Gillian’s amusement.

A short time later Blanc appeared and Tiamat gave him the knowledge. When he stopped rolling around on the floor, he glared at Carl as he ranted about hostile work environments to the backing of Gillian’s laughter.

The dragon gods watched with quiet amusement as the trio of beings, who had seen less years than it took their eggs to hatch, laughed as though they weren’t in the presence of gods.

When Gillian finally finished writing up the contracts, through his laughter at the other two. “If you’re done with your spat, maybe try to be a little more respectful of our guests. Also don’t forget with have an audience back home and Lillim and Kyubi are definitely going to watch the footage.” Gillian laughed as the two of them stopped instantly and apologised for their behaviour.

“You are strange humans.” Tiamat chuckled as she read her contract. “Seems in order, makes a change, Lillim always tries sneaking in a servitude clause.” She grimaced at the memory of nearly falling for it a couple of times.

“Mine is too, which is even more surprising given my unusual position as instigator in the conflict. Though we didn’t exactly discuss my situation with Faylorna, you did make your position clear, so I suppose if I don’t wish to be at odds with you…” He didn’t finish, just signed it and Tiamat signed hers.

“Great! Now just a little squiggle from me annnddd…” Carl signed both documents, before they glowed briefly and then combusted, then appeared as the first Chapters in a new section of the immortal treatises.

“Well I guess, it is recognised completely. Now, since we have a day to complete the emissaries, why don’t we go to our HQ? I can introduce some of my faction to you all as well. I think one of them will be challenging a dragon before too long, is there anyway for you to provide some catalogue of dragons under your lineage? I’d hate for anyone to get them confused and humans don’t know a lot about dragon-kin.”

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