It was strange, how much Sol found she had in common with Veliuona. They both were direct, cunning, and favored many of the same methods. The largest divide in their thinking came from their thoughts on the undead: to Sol, they were merely abominations and horrors, while Veliuona thought of them all as 'her children,' and treated those she had converted into Velites and servants of darkness as if she had saved them.
In spite of their attempts to remain peaceful, soon Veliuona and Sol began to debate this point. Sol said they were nothing but drones, constantly in pain and sorrow. Veliuona countered that she left the free will intact in her loyal servants, and that they no longer felt pain, or hunger, or tiredness. She made them stronger and took away their need to rely on the kindness of the world: Sol responded that she had also taken away their ability to give birth, to find meaning in life, to experience the joys and pleasures that only the living could.
Veliuona snapped that the living most often regretted living. Sol retorted that the dead were left regretting the life they didn't live and their eternal undeath.
Then Titan interrupted them by declaring that he would happily see if Veliuona was more alive or more dead, because she was as pretty as a flower.
This short interruption halted the arguing between the Goddess of Cursed Shades and Sol, at least for the moment. Instead, they turned their attention to other things, as Titan happily trotted along behind them, and Morgan and her paladin followed last. The paladin hid behind his love, while Morgan began to feel less fear, and more fascination with Veliuona. She exuded a dark magic... but it was not entirely evil, she thought. Veliuona herself, she was undecided on, but her presence was not as terrible as Morgan had expected.
When they sat together with the Baron and several of his mages and advisers, Veliuona was quick to take charge of the conversation, laying out a plan for a direct assault on a Wyrm nearest to her territory. Her plan was crude, but would be effective... yet all the same, Sol countered that Veliuona's armies of the dead could hold back the Wyrms there for now. Instead, they should focus on securing several important trade routes that at least two Wyrms appeared to be heading towards, likely drawn by the easy prey that merchant and transport caravans would provide.
Veliuona eventually relented... but Sol thought it was too easy to convince her. She suspected, in fact, that Veliuona had only opened with her initial plan of attack in order to test them. A popular negotiation tactic: open with a demand, allow the other party to argue it down, and then later, when the other party felt confident and comfortable, like it was controlling the table, slip your real demands forwards.
And as she had expected, it wasn't long before Veliuona made her real request, and one that Sol had not expected.
Veliuona smiled at Morgan, and asked her to accompany her back to her camp, so she could teach her the true magic of the night. And even though Morgan looked afraid, and Titan looked uneasy, Sol's mind leapt at the opportunities it would provide... even if in her heart of hearts, she feared what places agreeing to this request might lead to in the future.
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