Marissa’s eyes flew open. “What for? So he can ambush us?”
“That’s what I thought at first,” Aimee replied, “but I think the invitation is genuine. There’s some discrepancy with the border up there. We all saw that for ourselves, so it only stands to reason the other borders might not be so well defined, either. That could be what’s causing all the wars.”
Chris snorted. “If we make peace, we won’t have to worry about that.”
“It’s just like Aquilla to come up with some nonsense like that to draw us into a trap,” Marissa muttered.
Chris turned to her. “Honestly, I don’t know how Penelope Ann can stand to live with him.”
Aimee took a deep breath. “Actually, I’m beginning to understand it a little better myself. And even if we can’t trust Aquilla completely, I’m certain we can trust Piwaka.”
Chris frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” Aimee replied. “If there are problems with the borders now, a peace agreement won’t solve them. We better get all those the problems straightened out now, when all the Alphas are in the same place, or any peace agreement we come up with won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”
Chris and Marissa exchanged glances. “What do you suggest we do?”
“I’m quite certain the other Alphas will jump at the chance to negotiate with Aquilla,” Aimee replied. “That’s the reason we came here, and now he’s inviting us to come and meet with him. The question is whether the meeting will lead to any constructive conclusion or if we’ll all leave here to prepare for another war.”
Marissa shuddered. “Don’t talk like that, Aimee.”
“If we’re going to have any chance at success,” Aimee replied, “we better be prepared for the worst case scenario, and if the Alphas meet Aquilla at the big rock tomorrow morning, the worst case scenario is exactly what we’ll get.”
“There must be a way to prevent that,” Chris told her.
“The only way,” Aimee replied, “is for all of us—all of us women—to use our influence with them beforehand, whatever influence that may be, to sway them in favor of peace.”
“But all our mates already favor peace,” Marissa pointed out.
“They favor peace,” Aimee replied, “but they still mistrust the Avitras. It’s our job to break down that mistrust so the negotiation has a chance to succeed.”
Chapter 10
The sun touched the treetops and set them on fire. A line of people stood on one side of the wide rock on top of the Eastern Divide. Donen stood with Aria, Renier stood with Carmen, Caleb with Marissa, Turk with Chris, Faruk with Emily, and Anna stood with Menlo.
Only Aimee stood alone at the far end of the line, but for the first time in her life, she no longer felt out of place among all these powerful couples. She no longer belonged on the desolate frontier between people and the trackless wilderness. She had a place in the universe, and that place was Angondra.
She scanned the trees on the other side of the rock. The Avitras was in there somewhere, watching them, and Piwaka was with them. Her heart skipped a beat. She would see him again in a minute, but she wouldn’t be able to rush into his arms and kiss him the way she wanted to. She had to hold her place and keep the facade of separation going—at least for a little while longer.
The branches swayed. A ripple of tension traveled down the line, and even Menlo shifted from one foot to the other. His hand moved to the weapon at his waist. “Here goes.”
Donen spoke low, but he didn’t move. “Keep your hands away from your weapons.”
Menlo lowered his hand, but the tension didn’t fade. The branches parted, and the Avitras emerged from their hiding places. Penelope Ann stood at Aquilla’s side, and Piwaka stood at the other. Aimee swallowed hard, but Piwaka showed no sign of recognition. His face remained impassive. He surveyed his adversaries with a practiced eye.
The events of last night flashed through Aimee’s mind. After the evening meal, Donen met with Renier and Caleb according to their habit, only this time, Aimee walked over to them in the middle of their meeting. Donen’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
Caleb waved his hand. “I’ll handle this.” He rounded on Aimee. “You know this is a private meeting just between the Alphas. Go back to the Ursidrean camp with the other women.”
Aimee pursed her lips and swallowed her irritation. “I wouldn’t presume to interrupt your meeting, but I have a message for you from the Avitras.”
Once they heard the message, of course there was no more talk about her going back to the camp with the other women, but Aimee didn’t stick around to listen to the rest of their conversation. She’d delivered her message, and Piwaka filled her mind too full to think about anything else. She went back on her own.
The Alphas talked strategy late into the night, but around the thermal transmogrifier, Aimee and her friends discussed a different strategy. One after another, the men wandered back to camp, and her friends drifted away to talk to them in private. They disappeared into their tents one after the other and didn’t come back. In the end, Emily and Aimee remained in front of the box.
The transmogrifier radiated golden light and heat in a six-foot radius circle, and they sat in its glow for comfort. Emily rubbed her eyes. “I’m exhausted, but I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to walk out into the cold to find my tent.”
“Where’s Faruk?” Aimee asked. “He hasn’t come back from meeting Donen.”
Just then, footsteps crunched through the gravel and Faruk sank down on the bench next to Emily. His shoulders sagged. “I’m beat, and we have an early morning tomorrow, too. Let’s turn in.”
Emily nodded and touched his arm, but her eyes found Aimee’s. The two women nodded to each other. “Aquilla has taken a big step, inviting us to this meeting.”
Faruk shrugged. “He’s only done the reasonable thing. He’s intractable. We shouldn’t bother with him. Donen should seal a peace deal with Renier and Caleb and call it quits. Let the Avitras wallow in their own squalor. We’re better off without them.”
Emily kept her eyes locked on Aimee’s face. No doubt the others were having conversations exactly like this one at this very moment. “This peace process hasn’t got a prayer if everyone feels the way you do. We have to give Aquilla some concessions if we expect him to soften.”
“We don’t have to give him anything,” Faruk shot back. “He’s the one who should be giving us concessions.”
Emily shook her head. “He has every right to want to keep his sovereignty. He’s been in two disastrous wars with the Ursidreans in recent memory. He has no more reason to trust us than we have to trust him. Someone has to take the first step to break the stalemate. We’re the ones who came here to make peace with him, so we should take the first step.”
Faruk shrugged. “You might be right.”
Emily pressed her advantage, and Aimee heard her own words coming out of Emily’s mouth. They just might have a chance with the Avitras tomorrow. “You might not trust Aquilla, but what about Piwaka? Do you trust him?”
Exhaustion pulled Faruk’s shoulders down. He could barely rouse himself to move. “I guess he’s all right. At least he’s not as hostile as Aquilla.”
“He’s Captain of the Guard,” Emily pointed out. “He’s got Aquilla’s ear, so he’ll use his influence to swing Aquilla around to our way of thinking. Not all the Avitras are intractable.”
Faruk didn’t look up. “I never said they were. They’re Angondrans just like we are. They’re our own people.”
Emily burst into a glorious smile. “Then we can talk to them as such tomorrow.”
Faruk’s head shot up. “I never said that. We’re going up there to get our border established with them, once and for all. There won’t be any room for wavering.”
“But you have to admit,” Emily argued, “the Avitras thought their border was significantly over this side of the Divide. Who’s to say they wer
e wrong and we were right? They could have been right all along, and the Ursidreans were the ones who provoke the wars by invading their borders without meaning to.”
“You just said it yourself we didn’t mean to,” Faruk countered. “We honestly thought our border was at the top of the peak. Now we find out the Avitras think it’s farther down here. Misunderstandings were bound to happen.”
“Then it only makes sense to agree on the border now,” Emily told him. “We have to go into tomorrow’s meeting with the thought that the Avitras aren’t any more wrong than we are. They’re people, just like we are, and they have as much right to defend the border as we do.”
“Of course they do,” he replied, “but....”
“We should be thanking Aquilla for giving us the opportunity to negotiate with him,” Emily concluded, “instead of throwing the negotiation out the window before it’s even started.”
Faruk didn’t answer. Aimee could have thrown her arms around her cousin then and there, but those arguments had to appear to come from Emily herself. All the women agreed on that.
Faruk sighed. Emily took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go to bed. You’re too tired to talk about this anymore tonight.”
She led Faruk away toward their tent, and Aimee sat alone in front of the transmogrifier. One more reinforcing conversation between each of her friends and their Alpha mates in the morning before the meeting, and her job was done.
She didn’t know how long she sat in the heat, but the transmogrifier wasn’t as comforting as a blazing fire on a cold night in the open. She finally went to her own tent and climbed into her own bed, but she didn’t sleep. She stared into the dark and floated in the depths of Piwaka’s eyes again. She could float there forever and need no other rest.
Now it was morning, and here they were, face to face with the Avitras. Aimee would be reaching for her own weapon at a time like this if Piwaka wasn’t standing across the rock from her right now. He anchored the whole meeting. Even the Avitras seemed calmer and less anxious with him here.
Aquilla stepped forward, and Penelope Ann and Piwaka joined him. Donen took a step, and the whole line matched him until they faced Aquilla in the middle of the rock. “Here we all are.”
Donen nodded. “Thank you for inviting us.”
Aquilla cocked his head. “Don’t thank me until you’ve heard what I have to say. You might not like it very much.”
“I’ll thank you no matter what you have to say,” Donen replied. “I didn’t think you would negotiate with us, and I’m grateful to you for the opportunity. I’m happy to hear whatever you have to say. It’s better for us to talk about our differences openly than to fight each other.”
Aquilla frowned. He wasn’t expecting this. “You want to hear what I have to say? All right. Here it is. This rock is in my territory. The border between our territories is over there, where the hill falls down steep, not back there on the mountain peak where you thought it was. You coming onto this rock was an act of war, and I intent to respond accordingly.”
Donen didn’t flinch. “I had no idea you considered the border farther down the hill until we arrived here. I have no trouble establishing the border down the hill if that will set your mind at ease and give our factions a chance at peace.”
Aquilla glared at him. “So you concede the point—just like that? What’s in it for you?”
“I’m happy to concede a few feet of territory,” Donen replied. “I consider such a concession a small price to pay for equanimity between our factions. I would have done it a long time ago if I had only known you considered this land yours. If we discuss these things in a rational way instead of jumping to war, we can solve our problems without so much destruction and loss of life.”
Aquilla blinked once. Then he turned away toward the Renier. “And the Felsite will have to destroy their city on our northern border. It’s overhanging our territory by a quarter of a mile.”
Renier frowned. “Which city do you mean? None of our cities is anywhere close to your border.”
Aquilla waved his hand. “The city sits on a slope between two mountains at the bend in the Borlass River where it exits these mountains on its way to the southern ocean. If you refuse to remove it, I have no choice but to consider this an act of open aggression.”
Carmen whispered something into Renier’s ear and he nodded. “Oh, of course. I know the city you mean, and we can remove it if it bothers you. We considered that stretch of land unused by anyone, so we built a city there. We never would have done so if we had known the Avitras claimed it as their own.”
Aquilla’s eyes flashed. He said something to Piwaka, and Piwaka murmured back to him. Then Penelope Ann said something.
Aimee caught her breath. It was really working. Kindness and concessions defused Aquilla’s hostility. He came armed with impossible demands, and the other Alphas bowed to his will and gave him what he wanted. He wasn’t prepared for that, but Piwaka was. He spoke up for the first time. “If there are no further difficulties with the borders, perhaps we can move on to the question of how you plan to maintain this peace once you establish it.”
“Once we establish peace, we won’t have to do anything to maintain it, Caleb replied. “That’s the primary reason for us to establish it. We can live in peace without wasting our resources guarding our borders and fighting each other.”
“So you won’t guard your borders anymore?” Piwaka asked. “Will the borders become totally porous, with Felsite and Ursidrean free to cross and hunt in Lycaon territory whenever they wish? Will the Lycaon run through the Ursidrean mountains and sleep in the caves for shelter? Will the Ursidreans share their technology with the other factions so we can all benefit from their labors? Is that what you mean by living in peace?”
“Of course not,” Caleb shot back. “I only meant.....”
“Which part of it did you not mean?” Piwaka asked. “Did you mean you would shoot on sight any Felsite hunting in Lycaon territory? Did you mean the Ursidreans would have the right to track down and exterminate anyone who comes into their caves and takes their technology without permission? Did you mean anyone who wants to cross the border will have to carry a token of permission from the other faction giving him a pass to enter your territory? What exactly did you mean?”
Caleb blustered, and Turk spoke up. “You’re doing everything you can to undermine our negotiation by throwing these impossible scenarios in our faces. We all know none of that would ever happen.”
Chris spoke to him under her breath, but everyone heard her. “It could happen, and it will happen if we don’t agree here and now how we’ll deal with it when it does happen. Piwaka is right, and so is Aquilla. Our borders aren’t firm enough to be secure, and our factions are still too far apart to leave the borders unguarded. We have a long way to go before we can live in peace.”
Piwaka’s eyes flickered over the company. “The Avitras suggest all our border patrols meet and walk along the borders together. The Avitras will meet the Felsite along our shared border, and we will travel it all the way from one end to the other, just to make sure we agree where it is. Then we will do the same with the other borders. You will each meet with the other factions and do the same thing.”
Menlo snarled at the other end of the line. “That could take years.”
Penelope Ann answered him. “It’s the only way we can all be certain the borders are where we think they are and we agree on them. It’s the only chance for any really lasting peace.”
Emily nodded. “Good fences make good neighbors.”
“In the meantime,” Piwaka went on, “we can think about what measures we intend to place on our borders for the other factions to cross into our territory—or not, as we deem fit. We can meet here again and discuss the next phase of the peace process.”
Chapter 11
The Alphas started to withdraw, but Aquilla turned on Piwaka. “We can’t just let them walk away, with no consequences.”
<
br /> Piwaka faced him. “There is a consequence. They’ve lost the territory they thought was theirs on this side of the rock, and their peace process is delayed by years, maybe even decades. If no one can decide and agree on the location of their borders, the peace process is dead.”
Aquilla thought it over. Then he nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
Faruk leaned toward Donen, but he kept his voice low. “So that’s it? That’s the end of it? Are we going to let him kill our peace agreement without even a squeak of protest?”
Donen laid his hand on Faruk’s shoulder. “You heard what he said. He said when we finish establishing the borders, we will meet here and discuss the next phase of our peace process.”
Emily came to Faruk’s side. “That means the peace process is still alive. All we have to do is meet each other along the border and make sure we agree where it is. Since the Ursidreans, the Lycaon, and the Felsite are already at peace, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“If it is a problem,” Chris added, “we’d better get any disagreements out in the open now. We have to resolve any border disputes before we can discuss anything else. It’s the perfect test of the peace we’ve already won.”
The whole company turned away, and the Avitras started to retreat. Renier cast a glance over his shoulder at Piwaka and Aquilla still watching them. “I don’t like leaving like this. We’ve come so far. It seems a terrible waste of all we’ve accomplished to be sent packing at his whim.”
“This could be the end of the negotiation with the Avitras,” Carmen told him, “but no one is making us leave. The Felsite, the Ursidreans, and the Lycaon can stay here, well inside Ursidrean territory, and discuss our own plans to settle conflicts across our borders. Aquilla can’t stop us from negotiating with each other.”
Renier’s laugh rolled across the rock, and he threw his arm around Carmen’s shoulder. “You’re right, as always. By golly, we’ll go all the way. We won’t let him stop us from building peace between our three factions. If he wants to drag his heels, let him. He can patrol his border alone for the next ten years while the rest of us live and thrive.”
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