Diplomatic aftermath

[Anastasia]

Basically.

"A little," Lady Sanzha says, shaking her head, "Implications and hints that she's in Dis, but precious little proof. Nothing surprising there, except one reference to Yemimah the Gray."

[Corwin]

"Meaning?"

[Anastasia]

"I don't know, but it could be a sign that she's coming to be more steel like, more like the iron Dispater represents," Yemmiah says after a moment's thought. "Also, I suspect I'm being lead around to a degree. It could be just to milk me for money and bribes or it could be misdirection and enemy action. With the mercane, who can say?"

At this Lady Sanzha takes another long sip of her tea, "However, I lean towards it being one of the two scenarios. The first is that the new leadership does not approve of us or myself. Secondly, with a shift in leadership, various mercane could be seeing it as a chance to extract more money while things are in flux. I lean towards the first."

[Corwin]

"Interesting. In that case, we'll be able to tell more soon," Seira voices. "With us following our hearts, so to speak, if they truly favor the other side in this conflict we'll see some proof of that."

It's a shame that there isn't more, but such is life. "On my front, I've been focusing on gathering allies to the banner, and took the liberty to make some of the Cauldron appointments official. Are you interested in the foreign affairs ministry?"

[Anastasia]

"I will need something to keep me busy besides my research," Lady Sanzha says, "So long as it isn't too time consuming or vital."

[Corwin]

Seira nods. "Then you're the Cauldron's foreign minister. Just find and nominate a secretary to take care of some of the workload and we're all set. I'll introduce you to our new arrivals later-- ah, and actually, how are we doing with the volunteer red dragons? With the war on our doorstep, having some tangible results would go a long way to show the others that we're good at our word, and that might matter given we share Astral."

[Anastasia]

"That's another thing to do," Lady Sanzha finishes her tea, "It seems my life is busy again." With the faintest hint of a smile, "Water rarely stays stagnant for long."

[Corwin]

Seira smiles back at her. That's a non-answer, but sometimes reminding her friends of a matter helps put it higher up their priorities, so she can expect a report soon enough. For now, she decides to contact Donald and Kascha in hopes of hearing some good news from their current posting.

[Anastasia]

"Well," Donald comes in after Sanzha leaves, his helmet off as he takes a seat, "Aurora's a bit occupied to say the least. Vampires and vampire problems, but they'll make an effort to peel some troops away to help. Their retired archmage Tepen may be willing to do some support magic for us for free, but does not wish to engage in battle, too."

Grinning, "Use your magic to show yourself the battle Ebony and Canderella ran out from the baths to help win, stark naked. You should hear the songs about it!"

[Corwin]

"The efreet already think they are involved, and we can't exactly do anything about that with Duke Moore right in the middle of things. We might as well make it official, while understanding it's not their main focus. And should the efreet break themselves on Medi's impregnable fortress in their misguided beliefs, all the better."

Peering at Donald, she asks, "Are you done with your Aurora adventure, or planning on returning for some glorious battles after this report?"

[Anastasia]

"I'm done. You need me here," Donald shakes his head, "Someone has to bail you out." He smiles at that, "Good thing I'm here, so I got it in hand."

[Corwin]

"Bah, you could do it from there!" Seira scoffs, making shooing gestures at him. "Say, how did it go with the Guardian of 21? Was Kascha able to get some nice insights, at least?"

[Anastasia]

"Nothing too helpful," Donald says, "Mostly digressions, it seems to follow Kascha's mental flow."

[Corwin]

"It would've been too much to get some good news, yes," Seira agrees with a snort. "Listen, until hostilities begin I'd like you to consider adopting an innovation from Aurora. The Mission Arch, was it? I've toyed with ideas for one during peace time, to help our people live better lives. But you'd be able to look at it from a soldier's side, and hopefully without the blind spots someone who has as much magic as I would have. I'll count on you."

[Anastasia]

Donald nods, "I'll get it done," he says, "Easy as can be."