Meeting at the light

[Anastasia]

"I don't believe they'll take that offer," Barachiel says, "They are of stone, able to be stubborn and willful as the most long enduring mountain. Terms that are merely our goals presented differently will be rejected. I would settle for letting the xorn go and leaving them to their own devices."

[Corwin]

"I don't see the difference between demanding an end to slavery and demanding that they let the xorn go," Seira admits. "Could you clarify?"

[Anastasia]

Barachiel is silent a moment, "Liberation for the xorn is different than banning the entire concept, as distasteful as it is to allow it to continue on others."

[Corwin]

"Rather than our idea being victorious, we'll settle for the practical rewards with the dao?" Seira muses. "Since the efreet are the true enemies here, the resolution of our war with them will have the most profound impact so I don't mind that. What does it mean on our end, however? Are we to cease all attacks? Call off all our allies? If so, for how long? I don't intend to enforce neutrality on Earth indefinitely. Ah, and would these terms allow the dao to enslave the xorn at a later point?"

[Anastasia]

"That," Barachiel smiles tightly here, "Is why we have some of the best diplomats and negotiators in Lunia. Even then, we are under a time limit if we wish for this to be done before the three day's grace is expired. Moore." A look to him, "Are you experienced in that level of negotiation and treaty diplomacy?"

[Nephrite]

"I learned a great deal from Morniel on this subject." Moore says. "I have faith I could handle the matter."

[Anastasia]

"We'll need to establish what our minimum acceptable result is and what we wish to stand firm on, what we can bargain away and what we can use as willing sacrifices to get other demands met," Barachiel says, "Though our strength remains giving them a way out of a war rapidly turning against them, before they have a chance to possibly find allies or spread this war further. The points Seira raised are all ones we need to consider and address."

[Corwin]

"How about Celestia provides a lawyer for the specialist portions of the negotiations?" Seira suggests. "I'll ask Lady Honeydip's for her time, and together our insights should be sufficient. Can you arrange for the invitations while Moore and I work through our list of acceptable demands and trade offs?"

[Anastasia]

A nod at that, "It is Celestia's will," he agrees, as...

Go ahead you two.

[Corwin]

"To the best of my knowledge," Seira tells Moore, "the dao have only enslaved the xorn. Earth elementals are debatable, given the way things are set up in the Inner Planes. So long as we reserve the right to hit any raiders, slavers and slave owners among the dao, we can keep things manageable in the near future assuming they do free all their captive xorn. Then, we only need to prevail on Fire and start changing things for the better. Within a generation, we should see results, and that would in turn affect the dao. As for those fighting on my side in this war, Yan-C-Bin may well wish to continue raiding the dao, and I see no reason to hold him back if we are forced to compromise, so let's keep that in mind."

[Nephrite]

"I think your idea earlier of paying them for the corn may not be a bad idea to fall back on." He says with a nod. "I know it isn't exactly perfect, but if it gets them to accept the idea in the short term we can pressure them later."

A pause there. "I don't feel like it will take a lot of haggling with them, but if we assume they're stubborn then we may want to have a lot of very small concessions to erode them, so to speak."

[Corwin]

"We absolutely need one of two things, here. Either freedom for all slaves, or freedom for the xorn who make up the absolute majority and the ability to launch strikes at slave owners without dragging things into a war, much like was the situation previously. We'll need a lawyer to put it better, of course, but that's what it comes down to."

[Nephrite]

"So let's say they won't budge at all." Moore says. "I would be really surprised to hear that from them considering the war itself, but let's pretend: is that the complete end of the negotiation as far as you're concerned? If so, it wouldn't be a terrible idea to have something prepared... either a strike or some other kind of pressure."

[Corwin]

"If they won't budge at all, we'll seek to keep negotiations going past the Sultan's deadline to put pressure on him, and then see if we can come to an accord with him after all. If, however, all negotiations fail then I will proceed with the strike at the City of Brass."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "I think that's perfect. So we have our minimum acceptance... I imagine they'll have some counter offers but hopefully it won't be as embarrassing as what the Sultan tried."