Cease Fire
Draza made sure all her belongings were back where they aught when she approached the church with a confident stride and a little bit of a skip to her step. She knew somewhere in her heart that the children were going to find what she left and that all would be well. Rather, all on the outside with regards to them would be well, her steps into the church highlighted a tense situation, and before she could speak, she let others talk first, being polite as she recognized the voices of those speaking as well.
That was, however, until she heard a couple voices, and saw a couple of faces she wasn't entirely sure to be expecting. One more so than the other. She knew Taigyn from long ago, when she was still working with the Papacy, as one of, if not the, kindest among their ranks, bringing him joy when he seemingly needed it most, and the other was a co-worker of sorts, former employer more accurately if it could be truly said Draza worked for any but the good of all those she could run into. It was Alida, the closest thing to a mother of the republic.
Her smile at seeing those she remembers fondly caused her normally spry and cheeky grin to spread into an overt, palpable smile.
“Draza, is that you?” Alida inquires. Taigyn smiles and gestures to the table, “Please, join us. It has been some time, small one.” The two look at each other then Sisera. Finally, the Republic leader inquires, “Is she with you all?”
She wanted to speak up, her excitement all but bubbling over, when her voice caught, and she remained respectfully quiet as Sisera spoke.
“Yes, she is part of a band of merry misfits. You know it truly amazing. Right when everything is about to fall apart and the two hot-heads decide to go at it and kill each other. All it takes are some strangers to wander in with a drunk- oh that reminds me!"
He continued speaking, and in the speaking of her ... what would be the word, charge? Perhaps. Regardless, best she could manage to not interrupt, she walked over to be near her friends, the old ones, and giving a gaze to the others present, maybe some new ones?
“Good job, representing your Queen, what with the Drunk all but married to you!”
It was at this that Draza turned and looked at the 'drunk' in question, and remained composed despite a giggle in her throat. Now wasn't the time for laughs. Now was the time for boring serious but important political words.
When the sarcastic and cutting speaking had begun to simmer down, Draza finally gave the questioning look to Taigyn that she wanted to give him earlier, and mouthed a 'It's good to see you' to him but with a quick look she added on, 'Why are you here?' She was genuinely curious. In all her busy work she couldn't keep up with everything, no matter how hard she tried. With all her dealings with the criminal elements and the foreign dignitaries, it was more common for things to be addressed as the nation in a more impartial sense, than the person ruling it. The only people people she could keep track of were those she actually had to talk with, the merchants, the diplomats, and such.
She had nary a clue that Taigyn was as important as he had become. She could guess he's become more important due to him being here... but the scale was presently lost on her. As for those moving out of the corner of her eyes, she turned to where she thought Alvhi had been, but saw he was apparently busy, and so gave a shrug.
Taigyn's grizzled face quirks in honest surprise at the little one's question. "Well, after helping a pair of queens and her first band of odd-jobs banish the gods... Nearly dying and being saved by an archangel... and making a second trip across the blood sea, I figured it was time to settle down to simpler things, like leading the Templar." He chuckles more to himself than anyone, earning an exaggerated roll of the eyes from Davian. "We were supposed to be undergoing a treatise of peace, however we were interrupted by bickering and a surprise ogre." His one eye flickers over to Gahrul.
Draza's eyes follow Taigyn's, a bit curious if he meant Gahrul or... oh he did! Her face lights up again as she knows all is well, "Oh, that's Gahrul," she offers a wave and a smile to him, "He's really great and a good friend and smasher of meanies." She turns back towards those gathered near the table, "He's sweet, not like caramel, but like chocolate. You can trust him, he wouldn't hurt anything unless it was dangerous, to himself or others." She flashes her eyes with their lil twinkle, "Er ist im Grunde mein Schutzengel."
A look of amusement flashes over Taigyn's face, "And I thought Typhon was ugly." He turns towards the gathered group and scratches his chin in thought. "Mind helping this whole deal along? It'd be nice if the kid here and snaggletooth there would quit jumping at each others' throat every chance they get," he mutters to the fae.
Draza mimes an equal pondering before responding to Taigyn, "Only if I can give an impassioned speech."
It appears to be Alida's turn to speak up, "Anything but listening to another retelling of Spellbreaker here's misadventures." She gestures for Draza to take the 'stage.' The seconds of the rival factions both seem to loose an insulted snort before watching expectantly at what the little person would do.
With the floor granted to her, Draza did her best to appear large and speak with a voice larger still, surpassing her meager frame.
"When I first arrived in town, and left mein Schutzengel Gahrul to safeguard things here..." she pauses, and says in her best rendition of a 'boys will be boys' tone of oops, "Zugegeben, ich wahrscheinlich sollte man über seine Sanftmut erste gesagt haben..." before resuming the grandiose tone of earlier, "My instinct was to speak with the children, they're wonderful blights, and I was hoping to glean information while making their day a bit brighter," she sighed, "And I met a woman, a mother, who I feel embodies this entire bloody affair."
With a bit of a hand gesture, she swept across those at the gathering, "She was tired, frustrated, worried, and couldn't trust after it all," her hands go to herself, "And in her state of mind, even I was seen as a horrifying threat to her, and her children."
Her hands go back to the top of the table, "She wanted what was best, but there had been so many troubles in her life recently, that she didn't feel she could trust me, and from her words, she probably feels she couldn't even trust anyone at this table either."
"So what good are we, if for all our good intentions, we bicker amongst ourselves while the people suffer? We fight and refuse to trust. We are not, and should not be each other's enemy. There are too many lives, good innocent lives, at stake!" She pounded her tiny hand on the table for whatever diminutive effect it would bring.
Draza took a slow breath before continuing, "We may not have to be friends in this time, but we should not ignore good allies in the face of greater enemies. There are great evils in the world, and when good men and women sit idly by or worse, fight their brethren, that evil only becomes stronger. The Papacy, is one such evil, and you all know it. I know it. In my years I've worked for many people, the Templars, the Republic, and also the Papacy. With it's veneer walls and shimmering facade I worked there, and did what I do best," she reached into her backpack and pulled out a scrumptious looking cookie, "I baked, I did parties, I lifted spirits, I tried to make everyone smile and be happy."
She held the cookie aloft, and sighed listlessly, "But, the Papacy has a way now of ruining good intentions. With the strength of giants, they smashed!" she brought the cookie down to the table, breaking it a bit, pieces coming off of it, "The joy, they smashed!" and again she hit the cookie down, more of it breaking, "The hope, they smashed!" and once more she brought it down, it finally crumbling from her tiny hands. She breathed a few times to calm down, "They smashed all that was good, and turned it into a crumbling heap that we have before us. Two peoples, divided and bickering, like children over a broken toy, and even the Papacy's own people are being broken just so their unchecked desire for power continues to go unchallenged."
Draza began to sweep the crumbs into a bag for cleaning purposes, "We may not all agree on everything, but I certainly hope we can agree to set aside our difference, work some terms out, and fix the problem staring us all in the face, before it's too late." With all of the crumbs brushed into the bag she looked at her friends and smiled, and then to the more spurious support of the second in commands, "I know we all have our differences to be sorted, but today is not that day," she then looked at every one in kind,
"Let us talk our terms, and deal with the Papacy, and the other true evils, before good men go to war with each other. Let's show the people, the mothers, the fathers, everyone, that we can trust, we can grow, we can work together. Let them no longer have to hold fear for everything, even the small."
Throughout Draza's speech, many of the Templar and Republic find themselves nodding along. A few of the Republic even smile, their very thoughts echoed in the tiny titan. Alida and Taigyn both offered forth quick words of approval and Hans finds himself wiping away a small tea, dismissing it as dust from the ransacked church. However, small factions remained, on both sides, unmoved by her speech, a time-old hatred and rigid tradition holding fast, glaring across the room at each other. Davian, unable to take another word from the little woman's mouth slammed his fist down beside the diminutive diplomat. Draza, with the grace and and agility of her people, managed to not only move carefully away, but even managed to stay upon her feet as the table shuddered from the impact.
"ENOUGH!" the Templar second-commander boomed, "If perhaps the Papacy were cookie-men, this would be fine. We are dealing with our own people here, seasoned warriors. You propose we fight them off with smile and the sentiments of women?! That by taking these people, these farmers, housewives, urchins and children into our midst will strengthen us? It will weaken us, to have to protect them. And for what? Resources we need. We could take it if we wanted, but we would be weakening the life blood of our country." He looked up, looking at Alida and Taigyn, eyes narrowed. "We are the true fist of the gods, and we are sitting here talking peace while the deceivers are probably planning our downfall." Davian withdrew his hand, looking at all those present across the room. "I know my men follow me, but you let any into your midst who 'are for the cause'. Who is to say you don't have spies within your elite? Why would I place my men in your companies with the all too real possibility of assassination?"
Alida stiffened, her hand reaching for her weapon when Hans stood and barred her hand. "You will respect the Leader of the Rheinfeld Republic and those who have risked their lives and continue to in order to stop the reign of murderers, false mouth-of-the-gods and tyrants alike." He looked to Draza and bowed his head slightly in respect. "This small pink-skin is correct, we cannot linger on these old grudges. We need your arms, your training, you need our supplies. We both need to stop the senseless bloodshed. We came here, ready to negotiate for a treaty, and I realize the time for reparations of past grievances is not now." Davian gnashed his teeth but rested back in his chair, crossing his arms and glaring at the pixie. As he did so, Alida sighed and returned to her seat, followed by Hans. "Have you more to say, to lead us into negotiations?" the orcish man inquired, grinning and showing off his metal-filled mouth.
Draza smiled at Hans, and gave a nod, "Yes, I do, thank you." She turned to Davian, "I understand your sentiments, meine große und prestigeträchtige Herr Kommandant, but the notion of taking to fill your needs is a short sighted one. It takes time, labour, and effort to cultivate the resources you seek, those farmers and housewives do not sit on their asses as the ground gives things to them, they work for it. They till the soil and process the goods into something you can use. If you were to take, the supply would either run dry as their blood, and the blood of your men, spills, or if you were to attempt to force subjugation upon them, that would certainly take far more effort and manpower than to extend your protections a bit further north along the border. A war is not won by soldiers alone, do not disregard the importance of support."
"You already have the disproportionate share of border and trouble with the Papacy, and with the logistical aid of supplies, from craftsmen and farmers, without your number of men decreasing, you can better maintain order in the areas you have, and then some. Furthermore, there are more than simple farmers, there are young men who can be trained to bolster your numbers for defence, and more enticingly, for a mighty siege. You have so much to gain, and really, for so little."
She paused and gave a bit of a sigh, "But I do concede your point on some of the worry of a more subterfuge based threat, with assassins, in that such is indeed a present danger., but it's not a danger exclusive to the Republic. You have your ways to assure your protections, and to keep the ranks free of moles, and this will be pushing you on that. I feel that is the greatest cost we ask of you, not to let your guard down, no, but to associate with more than those immediately around and supportive of you."
"I know you do not trust those gathered her as much as would be desirable, but that's okay, trust can be built by both sides, and a cease fire can be brokered. Do not make more enemies, when you do not have to."
Davian's face twisted a little as understanding began to pass... before he nodded in concession, "You speak wisely, even if you are a sprite." He reached a hand out, and Draza watched as he seemed to reconsider that action, before she took one of his fingers in her hands, and gave him a shake and a nod, "Ich danke Ihnen für Ihre Worte." She took her hands back and he simply nodded again. "I am happy to have you here, to speak truthfully about the situation of things when I would not normally see them. Let us proceed with the conditions of the agreement."