Throne's Censure
First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
Alas, you do not have a throne to loom over the combined delegations of Yin and Trader Town, for it would be an undeserved honor to grant such a private audience. Instead, you make use of one of the more austere meeting rooms, designed in fact mostly with the Legion and other military commanders in mind. It is meant to give an impression of cold practicality and allow one to get down to business without the eye wandering over ornamentation. As a venue to meet diplomats, it has the virtue that nothing can distract them from your own less than pleased presence.
There are not even any refreshments in sight, a fact which you had to impress upon the palace spirits who were less than pleased at the lapse of hospitality, until you had explained just what crimes the ones you were meeting had made themselves guilty of.
From the way more than a dozen pairs of eyes flash across the chamber, as though looking for a corner to hide in, one can call the attempt a success at least...
"I shall be brief," you begin coldly into the dead silence of the room. By spellcraft you speak perfect Yi Tish with the sort of archaic flourish that only makes it seem more formal.
There shall be no misunderstandings today, you vow. "It does me no joy to be in this position as a host, but your deportment during the coronation yesterday must be addressed." You turn first to the eunuch near to trembling in his fine silks. Though you project no dragon awe, you might as well be doing it.
"Both the undertones of your speech and the gifts offered are blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention, and rest assured I was doing so. I threw lifeline after lifeline to prevent more of a scene than was already made. I do not care if this was the result of arrogance, sabotage, simple incompetence or, as I personally suspect, a mixture of all three. I have sent a letter to the Son of Heaven, and since it concerns you I shall share the salient point. He may not send diplomats to anything more important than a pigsty until he has cleaned house in the Diplomatic Corp, which upon careful consideration does seem to resemble said pigsty. I would also suggest listening to those who both know the realm of which you speak and have the wit to conduct diplomacy," here you nod slightly to Hua Fen, who starts as though from a daze.
You are not done, far from it.
Turning now to Pol Ning, her flames dancing close in a sort of warding corona of balefire, you explain in like tone, "Releasing a potentially hostile kami in the middle of a courtly function would have constituted a breach of guest right at the least and manslaughter at worst if anyone would have died from the envoy's actions, as you have no doubt guessed. I do not know what was passing through your presumed superior's head, and frankly I do not care." You glance at the other shugenja, only the briefest look of distant contempt. "Had the Lady not interfered you would most likely be dead either by the hand of palace security or a hanging for the death or other harm brought to the citizens of the Imperium. You shall be removed forthwith and shall never set foot on the grounds of the palace ever again."
The man tries to open his mouth to protest, though he is wise enough to close it as Varys peaks out from among the folds of your cloak, hissing just on the edge of human hearing, a sound that you imagine would have set many to flight already.
"The Imperium is neutral in the matter of the conflict for the Throne of the Golden Empire and shall remain so regardless of yesterday's events,"
A fact for which you all should be thankful, you add by way of silence heavier than words. "If it should come to pass that in the future Imperial citizens are harmed in the furtherance of said war, especially if it is done with the intent of framing one's rivals, the result shall be swift and decisive."
This time the silence stretches uncomfortably until it is Pol Ning who realizes you are done speaking and says simply, "We hear and understand." Not quite the phrase they would have given to their own Emperor, which replaces 'understand' with 'obey', but the sentiment is the same. As the envoys file out, you make a mental note to speak with both Hua Fen and Pol Ning privately again under less fraught circumstances to explain that you do value their aid in untangling the threads their countrymen have cast.
What do you do over the days ahead?
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OOC: I thought about doing the meetings with Hua Fen and Pol Ning too, but this was already getting really long so that is going in the background so we can move on with the main story thread. Also, fun fact, Varys shares all your skills, including intimidation, so she could technically scare off a company of charging knights or something with a perfectly pitched draconic hiss.
