Amazing what a good night's sleep can do for a person.

All the troubles of the previous day gone and nothing carried over to darken the bright morning sunshine heralding in a new, better day with fresh air and the slow, waking commotion of birdsong and various breakfast smells. The sweetness of brewed tea, the hearty thickness of morning sausages and ham mixing together with freshly baked bread to entice and mark the start of the day which would make the one that came before it be just a faded memory destined to be swept away by the bright and brilliant rays filtered through the morning dew hanging in the air.

"Item twenty-three regarding the state of luxury trade between Monster Country and Xoff."

God, Cter needed more than just one good night's sleep for what she was forced to stay awake through.

"Arguing in favor of loosening the restrictions made on the export of Golden Flower tea and similar monster-primary items in return for higher presence of Xoff military along the main roads to levy taxes and provide a marketplace where the merchants from Monster Country can buy and sell without further travel into the country."

Mostly it was the mere audacity of the proposals that kept her awake at the large table stretching in a circle wide enough to cover a large portion of the ball room where the Three Country Council had been gathered and inaugurated by King Asgore. The energy and presence he brought with his speech filling the large room with a voice of calm urging the council's members to keep in mind that they were all gathered to repair what the last years have made unstable.

"Let us put an end to sleepless nights worrying about where the world is heading and what set it on that course. Let us come together in mind, heart, and soul, to embrace what makes us similar once more. The pain and coldness of growing apart we all have seen and felt, so let us bring the warmth of love back between our two races today, and close this chapter to begin one anew and prosper once more."

Cter had never seen him bow so deeply before. Deep enough that his crown should have fallen off his head, and his cape should have folded over his head, yet neither did.

"Together."

His short and concise speech he left to echo against the ball room walls where purple-fabric curtains had been collected at the corners to bring in more light in the room. Even if they had been unfolded to cover the walls like they were during the dances and balls that Cter attended, but not as much participated in, King Asgore's voice would still have echoed as much as they did. His words were that important. They had to be repeated, but not by him.

For he only had to say it once.

And the effect of his words were quite substantial in the early hour of the council, where items one through fifteen went off without barely any hitches whatsoever. Granted, they were rather vestigial things to test the waters, like the easing of the luxury definition on various foods.

Sir Gerson's investigation into the Spider Butcher's contacts showed that the luxury stamp on the more expensive foods like cheeses, cured meats, and fermented beverages had largely been ignored along the major trade routes. People and monsters alike enjoyed eating well, as his investigation turned out.

"Food and beverages being labeled luxury goods has not had the believed effect, neither positive or negative. In fact, the local villages around the border between Xoff and Monster Country have largely been unaware that what they were serving had been labeled a luxury. One tavern owner decried that he had not heard it before for otherwise he would had been able to raise his prices."

It even garnered a titter from the council with how Sir Gerson phrased it with a playful cadence and an amused tilt to his head. That added to the Monster King's short speech had the first hour and the first dozen or so items flow like a gentle river during early summer. Its cool water chilled the feet tired and blistered having walked through such rough and unstable ground.

Many of the first dozen or so items on the compiled list of issues that the council was to sit through and work out were in the similar vein as the luxury label on the more expensive foods. They were all largely ineffective as they pertained to trade that were...well...common goods.

"Not a single vendor the Investigators talked to had either heard or cared about these policies, let alone wanted to hear or care about them once they knew about it," had Sir Gerson continued with along large sweeps of his green hands.

The Investigators Cter had a mixed feeling towards. On the one hand, they were a very shrewd group of reptile-monster merchants that made for good administrative logging and long-term-focused growth. On the other though, most often than not the one that shook with the Investigators to complete the deal or free lunch, told of their smiles being a bit too eager, helped not by their small assistant birds picking the crumbs out of said smiles.

Couldn't fault the way they dressed though with their suits, top hats, and monocles chained to one of the teeth in their wide smiles.

The free lunches were nice as well.

"Most importantly, this has proven that these policies and restrictions put in place have not been for the good of neither the humans nor the monsters," Sir Gerson then continued on since he had managed to get the round table's attention on his side.

"The hindrance of trade has been a decision made from the above without any thought as to the shadow cast due to its decision. A set of decision made through emotions and not through thought which even the common merchant could tell as they happily traded on as if the policies did not exist. Let this set the tone for the rest of this council. Let this first revoking of the label of luxury goods on butchery and cheeses set a precedence for what this council should be remembered for. A council were both humans and monsters remember what makes us stronger and more prosperous. It is our ability to work together that we should reinstate today."

While the applause Sir Gerson received as he sat down were mostly out of courtesy, among it all was a slight rhythm of hands that agreed with him. Not a fully convinced rhythm, but an agreeing one. He set the first tone of the council, and though that tone quickly drowned underneath the drab white noise of necessarily boring policy revoking and making, it was still set. Seeded, planted, but not watered just yet.

The dryness that eventually led to both humans and monsters alike struggling to keep their eyes opened after the thirtieth item on the first section of the long list set to be ironed out at the Three Country Council eventually began to risk people collapsing out of thirst.

"Motion for a break?" asked Terri Fyed before the thirty-first item could proceed. As the Royal Mage of Hjearta he had been appointed to be the first secretary of the council. Him proposing that the council take a break was the first he had spoken at all throughout the first three and a half hours. Immediately after he asked, arms of various fabrics shot up in the air, passing the motion with an overwhelming majority. Those that did not raise their hands looked as if they had fallen asleep. "Motion passes."

The ball room's walls echoed harshly with the squeaks and scrapes of chairs being vacated with sighs and stretches, gathering around with their countrymen into groups of murmurs which seemed only barely tangential to the council they had taken a break from.

"It is good, I think," commented Kry with a stifled yawn. "The council is going smooth enough that they don't feel that they have to discuss things they are displeased about." He lifted up his glasses and painted two strokes of ice magic under his eyes which had them opening up a bit more. "I counted four that I saw fall asleep."

"Five here," said Kurant. "Six had not the Royal Mage of Ice startled the woman sat next to him with his proposed break." With a small grunt she lifted up her left foot onto her chair and tightened one of the straps on her knee brace. "These damn chairs are too tall for me. I might have to resort to make a small foot rest since we are already hours into this and we haven't gotten through the first section."

There was slight forlorn in her voice.

"Why do we have to make Xoff sausages and Xoff cured hams into two separate items?" the forlorn had her whisper to herself. She rubbed her eyes. "I mean, I know why, what with the curing process and tradition and what have you, but still..." Her head shook childishly. "Blergh."

Cter concurred wholeheartedly.

She knew why, just as well as Kurant did. Both why they were separate items and why they should be grateful that it bored them rather than made them angry and anxious to the point where they had to immolate their sleeves.

But still…

"Cover your yawn please, Cter."

"Sorry," she said to Sir Gerson's elbowed nudge and whisper out the side of his mouth. She had her back against the round table, but with how her yawn popped her ears it must've been visible from behind. Cter managed to keep it quiet though. "Good thing I got some sleep last night, otherwise I'd be snoring loudly whilst slumped in my chair."

"You already did that."

A rush of cold shot up Cter's spine, exploding her eyes wide like icy water thrown over her head. With a whip, her eyes looked at Sir Gerson who raised an eyebrow while stifling a snicker.

"You awake now?"

Oh that damn turtle…

The snicker touched at Kry and Kurant's lips too which curled upwards slightly before Cter shot a glare and a small puff of crystal magic at her colleagues. Out of the corner of her glare she caught the soft movement of a large, green hat shifting slightly.

"So we should just continue along since things are going along smoothly?" took her attention away from the Royal Mage of Noitaidarr Castle and back to Kry who's sharp chin was nested inside his sleeved hand, rubbing it like King Asgore did his beard. "Xoff doesn't seem to be that much against easing the trade restrictions with us. Hjearta neither, although comparatively they've just had a handful of items compared to Xoff."

"Furthers our suspicion that Hjearta did it due to the same knee-jerk due to the truth of the Cooperative Connection, the same as Xoff, and not as solidarity towards Xoff," added Kurant with her hand instead balled underneath her chin, the same as Queen Toriel. "Not sure how to make of it though since it's been a while sine we were correct in things, it feels." The bitterness of her own statement had Kurant smacking her lips with a wrinkled expression.

"Well let us hope that it will be a bit more sweeter for us then." The turtle monster reached into his ceremonial jacket's pocket and brought out a round tin which Cter had guessed was his magnifying glass he had been carrying with him the day before due to the outline of the pocket's fabric. "The humans all seem happy enough with me being the only one talking so I'm gonna continue with that until they feel they need to get a word in edgewise outside of saying 'yay' or 'nay' when voting."

With a swift flick of his claw he bent open the lid of the circular tin can, catching its dramatic spinning with stasis magic summoned by a sturdy look. From the can he found a fresh tea leaf which he bit down on with a suckle, shifting it up underneath his upper lip. "Mmm, lemongrass," he hummed, pleased. With a click he shut the lid on his tin can, pocketing it once more. "You think you can get through the rest of the day being bored out of your souls?"

The three Monster Mages nodded in unison.

"Then color me thoroughly impressed with all of you." After some slight regret that he had already clicked close his tin can for dramatic effect, Sir Gerson instead had to resort to a nod back.

He gave it a good bounce though to emphasize.

"If I may?" came a voice from outside the Monster Country gathering, turning the four heads. "A question?"

Manny?

What was he doing there?

"Can it wait until the council has concluded, young mage?" voiced Sir Gerson back to the human. The two had been around similar height during the trial at Noitaidarr Castle, but when stood as he did in his regal outfit decorated with the night sky found in Xoff with all its many glittering dots on a dark-purple canvas overlooking the golden dunes, it was clear that he had grown a bit.

Cter hadn't really noticed that when the two sat and talked in the Royal Garden since she was too busy digesting her farce with Rasliela, nor when Manny arrived as she was…

She was…

Not paying attention, apparently.

"It can..." the young mage agreed while lifting his neck from looking down towards Sir Gerson. It didn't look as he fully agreed though. "However I think that it is not important enough to have to wait until the end of the council?" Not fully convinced of his own argument either, or was it that he wasn't convinced it was good enough? Cter would have loved to be able to tell.

Had not Rasliela's dampening presence been around the young mage like a magical duvet thick like tar during winter. Taking her adopted grandmotherly duty to the extreme in protecting her grandchild, or simply acting just enough in protecting and it only looking like she was doing too much because an outside perspective could not possibly understand?

It reminded Cter of how Romrom used to make sure that Cter's magical prowess wasn't...abused with too much by a certain son-in-soul-and-law to Romrom, in her own words.

Cter did not like that it reminded her. She did not want to associate her own grandma with Rasliela. There was too much she suspected would fit if she did.

"Interesting point," churned Sir Gerson, mostly so that he had the excuse to tilt his head and move the tea leaf he was chewing slowly on without the young mage noticing. "Interesting enough to convince me to hear your question. Please, pray ask, young Shuuja."

Hearing his last name, Manny straightened himself more, placing his sleeved arm in a right angle across his chest. "Thank you, old–"

"Try again," Sir Gerson was quick to correct, sending a shiver up the young mage's spine all the way out his combed hair. Cter took a peek at the Xoff delegation, but none had heard that Sir Gerson was requesting more respect out of their next Royal Mage.

"Thank you, Leader of the Royal Guard," Manny got right on his second try, breathing out the shiver with a gentle smile. He waited for the correctly addressed Leader of the Royal Guard to nod his approval, then asked his question. "Priestess Frioke, why isn't she attending this council too?"

Seemed innocuous-enough a question to Cter which should have an innocuous-enough of an answer to it.

"Hers is not on the side of political managing," said Sir Gerson before turning his head towards the large double doors. "She should not be hard to find after the council is over should you want to meet her. Should I arrange for a lesson, young Shuuja?"

The young mage held his eyes on the double doors with a minor pout to his lips. "If I may a follow-up, Leader of the Royal Guard?" There was more weight in his words, something that Rasliela could not hide. "And since you did grant me the question I will now have to insist that you answer my next one too otherwise it will plague me for the rest of the council." His sleeved hand creaked as he closed it.

Sir Gerson's eyes swept over the two human gatherings in the room to assess, noticing nothing that might suggest that Manny did not approach out of his own will and volition. "That so, young Shuuja?" he stalled for a bit longer to observe. "And what question would that be then?"

"The monsters have throughout these last years argued that the truth of the Cooperative Connection should not be held in such weighty regard as it has. Argued that the lie was to protect and to moderate human exploration of magic, but not to hamper it. The Fusion was not due to humans and monster coming too close to the other's soul, but what happens when magic is not kept within the boundaries which the Cooperative Connection had to lie about."

Sir Gerson nodded to show that he was listening. Only listening though, not agreeing. Not yet.

"My question then is this," continued Manny with a pause for breath. "Wouldn't it show more faith to that argument if Monster Priestess Frioke did attend not only this council of the Three Countries, but also at the Noitaidarr Trial?"

Another pause he let hang for effect.

"It has been some thinking of mine on this, especially since a lot you monsters' arguing has been to let the truth of the Cooperative Connection be put in the past and for us humans to understand why you had to...steer human magic the way you did. Surely the monster who discovered human magic and who was responsible for inventing the Cooperative Connection should be present in the council which aims to settle the insecurities brought forth by its truth?" His sleeved fingers rubbed together restlessly. "I apologize if it is a bit too much to ask so...casually? This council is meant to stabilize things between humans and monsters, but I..."

Sir Gerson took another glance over at the two human gatherings before he cleared his throat so that the young mage wouldn't push himself further. "It is a good question," he agreed with a small cough into his balled fist which he collected behind his shell along with his other hand. "However I am afraid that it is a good question that will take a bit too long to answer, young Shuuja. Answer properly to satisfaction, that is."

If it was even possible.

"Because truth is that Priestess Frioke was planned to attend at the council, but could not due to personal circumstances."

Involving two emptied bottles of the mead brought from Fenkeep Castle.

However that was not exactly something that could be disclosed to the young mage who obviously looked up very much to Priestess Frioke. There was still some innocence in him despite of everything that had happened to him, and that was worth preserving. Rasliela might have had a bigger influence on him, but Manny was still the next generation of human mages. A generation that would grow up knowing about the truth of the Cooperative Connection.

There had even been graduates from Soul's School who knew about the truth of the Cooperative Connection before they enrolled. Graduates who were under closer observation than the previous batch of alumni mages. There hadn't been anything systemic found by the time the Three Country Council took place, but still, only one of the mages had to do something taboo for things to escalate once more in the world.

And telling Manny Shuuja that Monsters Priestess Frioke could not attend because she had forgotten how hard Hjearta mead hit her, with all that in mind was…

"I apologize for her absence and ask for your understanding, Manny Shuuja," said Sir Gerson with a bow. "You might find it easier to get an answer in private with her later on, I think too. Name a time today after the council and I will make sure that you get time with her for a lesson."

After some healing magic and a bucket of icy water, most likely. Unfortunately, due to her life before she became a Monster Priestess that was only possible after she had woken up herself first.

"I…" exhaled the young mage with a reluctant furrow to his brow. It was clear that it wasn't what he wanted, but at the same time it wasn't what he did not want. Sir Gerson was correct in that Frioke would be the best one to ask about the topic of Frioke, and a private lesson with the Monster Priestess wasn't something that was denied with a dismissive denial. Even the Monster Mages found use in some time spent with Frioke to focus their souls and auras.

Although why it had to be this one day for Frioke to have to focus her soul and aura had to be some cruel roll of fate's dice.

"You don't have to give me a time now, young mage," eased Sir Gerson calmly. "Give it some thought. I can arrange for tomorrow too if that fits you better."

Manny nodded once. "I...will." His expensive clothing swung with him as he turned around, walking back to the Xoff gathering.

"Despite that I think it might've been for the better that we found Frioke with one of her ears inside óne of the mead bottles this morning," came from Kurant after Manny had managed some distance back to his people. "At least now we can warn her about the question."

"Hopefully she will be in awake-enough condition to heed the warning."

With his shell turned towards the humans, Sir Gerson brought out his tin can again from his pocket, adding another tea leaf under his lip. "Oh well," he sighed. "Hopefully that will–"

"The Hjearta delegation would like a vote on the motion to discuss the question of the succession of the Xoff throne once the council reconvenes after the break."

A few, hard blinks traveled across Sir Gerson's eyes, widening with each one that passed. With a stab from his claw he inserted another tea leaf into his mouth.

The taste had him grimacing.

"Bitterleaf."