Chapter Three
As Duncan had said, the Toscana delegation arrived by the end of the week. And, as the Rangers had said, they brought news of the Temujai. The riders were scouting around the Gallican border and building outposts. It looked like they were moving into Gallica a few months earlier than expected.
The Toscana delegation consisted of six soldiers, two couriers, four servants, and three of the actual Senate members.
Nel and Cassandra watched from the window as the group was greeted and led into the castle.
"That's Fausto, head of the Senate," Cassandra said, pointing to the man in the middle of the group talking with the king, "He's a popular man in Toscana, but Dad says he's easily swayed. He has good intentions, but struggles to follow them through."
"Have you met him before?"
"Only once, years ago." Cassandra stopped to think, mulling it all over in her mind, "I must've been maybe seven years old? It was a long time ago."
The princess went back to looking out the window, "The short man next to him is Ilario, the longest serving Senator in Toscana. Very traditional, but has always voted in favor of allying themselves with other countries."
"Have you, I mean, how do you know all this?" Nel asked her.
"Dad's had me studying for weeks. He wants me to sit in on the negotiations, learn how they work and such. Plus, if this goes well and we do get a treaty, it'll need to be renegotiated every five or ten years. When I'm Queen, that'll be my responsibility. This is the best way to learn."
Nel nodded, understanding, before asking another question, "Is every delegation going to be like this?"
She shrugged, "Probably. They'll all bring multiple people to take part in the actual debate and negotiations. Also, multiple soldiers are expected. Entering any other country, even an ally, during a time of war without trusted soldiers nearby wouldn't be the smartest thing to do."
"Of course."
She sighed, "Come on. I'm supposed to meet all of them when Dad brings them into the banquet hall for dinner."
The healer didn't respond, staring intently at the horizon.
"Nellie? You coming?"
"L-Look." Nel raised a shaking hand and pointed just past the village. Cassandra followed her gaze and gasped.
"It can't be! They aren't supposed to be here till the morning!"
"B-But they are," Nel stammered out.
"The scouts told us when they were spotted. How did they get here so quickly?" she asked in astonishment.
"T-The ship looks strange," Nel said, studying it as best she could from the window, "Smaller. And it has a triangular sail. M-Maybe it isn't them?"
"I doubt it." she huffed, "The sail is different, but otherwise it's a Skandian ship. Plus, the scouts already told us about the sail."
"They did?"
"Yeah, I forgot to mention it. Come on." Cassandra turned around, hurrying down the first flight of stairs they came to.
"Ah, here she is!" Duncan exclaimed, gesturing to the blonde girl when they finally entered the room, "Gentlemen, my daughter, Cassandra."
The Toscan delegates smiled and greeted her warmly, Fausto placing a gentle kiss on her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." she said before walking to her father. Nel watched as she whispered in his ear as she hugged him.
"I know that look," a voice said right behind her, "What's going on?"
Nel jumped a little, but wasn't surprised to see Gilan over her shoulder. The man could be invisible when he wanted to be.
"The Skandians are here. They just sailed down the river."
He raised an eyebrow, "Well then, we're certainly set to have an exciting dinner, aren't we?"
Off to the side, a scout entered the room, whispered something to Crowley, and then left. The Ranger Commandant exchanged a look with Duncan, who simply nodded his head. Crowley left the room, gesturing for Pauline to accompany him, but waving off Halt's enquiry.
"Um, has there been any personal contact with the Skandians since Morgarath's invasion?" Nel asked Gilan nervously, "Or was it all in, um, written letters and such?"
"Written correspondence only." was Gilan's whispered response, "But according to Will and Cassie, Erak was only trying to keep them from Morgarath."
"I thought he meant to take them to Skandia to sell as slaves?"
Gilan was silent for a moment. Then, "It was never confirmed. But Halt did kill three of his men when he rescued them. Not to mention those who died in Thorntree during the invasion."
Nel gulped anxiously, "Oh. F-Fantastic."
"Relax Nellie," Gilan grabbed her hand comfortingly, "That was all under Ragnak's rule of Skandia. Erak took over three years ago as Oberjarl. He's been shown to be a much better leader than Ragnak."
She gave a shaky nod, thinking over his words, "Wait a second...when did you start calling her Cassie?"
Gilan was silent another minute or so, apparently thinking it over. Then, he shrugged, "Must of picked up on it from Duncan."
Nel narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't push farther. Instead, she turned her attention back to the King who was in the process of informing the Toscans that the Skandians had arrived, the servants already setting extra places at the table for the added guests. She knew it was much longer, but Nel could've sworn that only a few more seconds had passed before Crowley had returned with the Skandians.
Nel didn't recognize any right away. But, from the description her father had given her, the tall, blond man leading the group was Erak. He was massive, and muscular, like most of the Skandians she had seen.
The interesting thing about the Skandian group was that the majority were young, younger than even Will; in their teens. One was a girl, with long black hair tied back. Another was slighter, smaller than the others, yet stood at the front of the group as if he was a leader. A third in the back was massive, towering over anyone else in the room despite his youthful face. There were three other older Skandians, although the most notable feature was that one of them was missing an arm, having a club attached to his arm instead.
"Your majesty, may I present Oberjarl Erak and the Skandian delegation." Crowley said, loudly enough for the entire room to hear, before stepping out of the way.
Nel quickly looked around. None of the Rangers were letting any emotion show. Neither was Duncan, Cassandra, or Pauline. The Skandians stood proudly. The rest of the Araluens were visibly nervous, along with the Toscans. This was the first major contact with the Skandians since their alliance with Morgarath. If this went wrong, they might as well say goodbye for any chance of a treaty.
Duncan smiled, nodding his head slightly "Oberjarl, welcome to Araluen."
A smile broke out on Erak's face, "Now there's something I never thought I'd hear."
"It's something I'm happy to say."
"I believe that." the Skandian chuckled, turning to Cassandra, "Nice to see ya again Princess."
Cassandra smirked, "Yes, you as well. I'm glad we can finally talk under more...pleasant circumstances."
Erak outright laughed at that, "That's certainly a way of putting it!"
"It's not like our previous meeting set very high standards, now did it?"
"No, no it didn't." Erak laughed again.
Duncan smiled, glad that everything had gone well so far. He gestured to the table, "Please, join us. We were about to eat. After that we can get everyone settled into their rooms."
Erak was shaking his head before Duncan had finished talking, "Not yet. First, I'd like to talk to one of your Rangers. The same one I met the last time I was here."
Gilan cursed.
The shock was evident in Duncan's eyes, but he waved Halt forward. The Ranger did as he was asked, stepping up to the massive warrior. Nel began rubbing her palm, fear clutching her heart.
Erak eyed him up and down, "I lost a lot of good men cause of you. Including three of my best shipmates and the son of the last Oberjarl."
"You kidnapped our Princess and my apprentice."
"Rescued."
"Yes, that's why they were in a rowboat when we met, about to sail away from their home."
"Safer than on a horse."
"Depends on how you look at it."
They were silent a moment longer.
"You're shorter than I remember."
"That does tend to happen."
"You get shorter?"
"Your memory fades."
A few of the Skandians let out barks of laughter and the smile reappeared on Erak's face. He stretched out a hand to Halt. The grizzled Ranger returned it, shaking hands firmly. The friendly look on Erak's face dropped quickly, "You harm another one of my people and I swear by Ullr you'll regret it. That clear?"
"Crystal." Halt forced out through gritted teeth.
Erak released the Ranger's hand. As soon as he was able, Halt began massaging it, holding back exclamations of pain. There were a few more snickers from the younger Skandians.
Nel let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank goodness." Gilan breathed out, "He kept his mouth shut."
"That's what you were worried about?"
"Of course!" he said as loudly as he could without drawing attention, "It's not like they could seriously hurt him, not in the middle of Araluen surrounded by Duncan's personal guard and half a dozen Rangers. But if he had made any more comments he might've cost us the alliance!"
"Fair point," she conceded, turning her attention back to Erak who was introducing who he'd brought, although her eyebrows were still furrowed with worry.
"This is my hilfman, Borsa. My first mate, Svengal. This is Thorn. And this is Hal, skirl of the Heron and leader of the Heron brotherband."
Duncan greeted each person as they were introduced, but stopped at Hal, "I've heard of you. You're the one who designed a whole new ship, aren't you?"
"Not quite King, just a new sail and rigging." he explained, "It allows us to sail into the wind and is much faster than a normal square sail."
"Ingenious." one of the Toscans, Ilario, said, "And so young! How'd you do it?"
Hal shrugged, "Simply watched how the birds flew. Herons, to be more specific. Modeled it after their wings."
"Amazing!"
"Hal's one of the best inventors you could ever meet." another of the Herons spoke up, swinging an arm across Hal's shoulders, "When he double checks all the details that is."
"One time." Hal huffed under his breath.
"More like one hundred." Thorn said, nudging him playfully.
Duncan raised an eyebrow, "I take it there's a story there?"
"Plenty. And we'll be glad to tell them all over dinner." the young Skandian said, grinning proudly.
"Oh no we won't." Hal said warningly, but was promptly ignored by the laughter from the rest of his crew.
Duncan chuckled before calling for the food to be brought in and inviting them all to be seated. Nel ended up sitting between her father and Gilan, across from one of the Heron crew. With a smile, he introduced himself as Edvin and then fell into an easy conversation with Gilan.
Nel glanced at her dad out of the corner of her eye. His hand seemed to be doing ok now. She'd double check later when they were alone.
Farther along, Hal was detailing all the different improvements that he had made to his ship to a very interested looking Will.
Erak was explaining to Duncan that Temujai scouts had been spotted along the Skandian border, prompting their early arrival in the fastest wolfship they had. Crowley reasoned that they were simply preparing for a future invasion after Toscana, but nothing in the immediate future.
She could tell that the subject of the treaty was something everyone was dying to talk about, but seemed to be avoiding. There was a tense atmosphere throughout the room.
"Nel?" Gilan laid a hand on her arm, bringing her back to reality.
"Y-Yes?" she said, seeing that both him and Edvin were looking at her expectantly.
"He was asking you about your work." Gilan explained.
Edvin nodded, "You're a healer?"
"Oh, um, yes, I am." she said shyly, "I just got back from training with our country's foremost healer."
"That's amazing!" he responded enthusiastically, "I'm the Heron's healer, but most of what I know is self-taught or from a few books that we have."
"Perhaps Nellie could teach you a little bit while you're here," Gilan suggested.
Edvin looked at her hopefully, "Would you mind?"
"O-Of course not. I've just, well, I've never taught anyone before…" she trailed off.
"That's ok," he shrugged, "I haven't taken very many classes before. But I do want to learn."
Nel smiled at him, "Th-That's good. Um, how did you end up as the crew's healer?"
"Just kind of happened that way during Brotherband training." he told her, "None of the others really had an interest in it to be honest."
"But healing is such an important skill, for everyone."
He finished chewing some of his food before responding, "I know. But we've all got these roles and skill sets on the ship, ya know? I'm the healer and everyone trusts me to do it. I'm also the cook. Hal's the skirl. Thorn's the Battle Leader. Ulf and Wulf trim the sheets. It works."
"That must be...difficult."
"Sometimes," he said, staring into his plate thoughtfully, "There are definitely times that I wish someone else would be the healer. The crew puts too much trust in me knowing how to fix things. But most of what I'm doing is guesswork. There was this time that Ingvar got really sick. A bad fever. All I had was a vague hunch from a comment in a book about what to do. We were just lucky it worked."
"That's why you want to learn more, isn't it?" her voice was soft as she asked him, looking at the young man patiently.
He nodded.
Nobody said anything for a few moments, choosing to eat in silence.
Eventually Nel cleared her throat quietly, getting their attention. She didn't look up, keeping her gaze on her hands, which were clenched tightly in her lap.
"Um, I'm free after lunch tomorrow. My room is on the third floor, the north hall. We can go over some poultices or ointments...if you want. Maybe even some herb mixtures I have."
Edvin smiled brightly at her, "Thank you. I'll be there!"
Nel's response was an embarrassed blush as she turned back to her food, letting Gilan take over the conversation again.
Professor: Just to re-clarify things, but I am changing the timeline to fit with my story here. I love the Heron Brotherband and went out of my way to include them in this story somehow. They probably won't play a major role, but, well, we never know. *shrugs* Hope you enjoyed this. Please review!