Heeding the warning, I sent a handful of messengers to return to the rest of our army.  If all goes well, then we'll return in one piece and the original messengers will have been pointless, but if things go south I want to make sure the rest of the army has adequate time to hide.  After the messengers had their message and had left our location, I stepped out with the remainder of our forces that were over here.

As we approached, the scene was clearly very gruesome and contrasted heavily with the graceful appearance of the elves.  Once I was close enough, I noticed Elora was among the elves, though she wasn't the one standing at the forefront.  I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but one thing was clear.  Under no circumstances do I want to make an enemy of the elves in front of me.  King Besmond III and the Baron's forces may have been weakened from weeks on the island, but the ease by which they were defeated was terrifying.

An elegant, but elderly looking female elf stepped forward when we were very close and spoke fluently in the demon language, "I am the elven matriarch, Elloetta.  I know not what deal you may have struck with Rathland, so I apologize if we may have caused you some losses now, but we could not turn down such an opportunity to deal with such a problematic nation.  As long as we can come to an agreement as to what has transpired today, you have nothing to fear."

Despite how calm and friendly her tone appeared, the hostility in her words was apparent.  I had already decided that we should try to be friendly, but I now had the feeling that if we couldn't reach an agreement, no amount of hiding on the island would save us.  "I'm sure we can come to an agreement.  Do you already have something in mind as a cover story, or would you prefer to hear my opinion?"

"We do have something in mind already, but hearing another option can't hurt.  Go on, you may speak your mind."

"The Baron of Compfur had initially planned to kill The King at sea and sink his ship, claiming a leviathan killed him.  He was then going to exonerate us of the piracy claims which started the war once he gained power.  I don't see why the leviathan story couldn't be adapted to having wiped out all their ships, rather than just The King's, other than needing someone to have seen the event.  Their army apparently had already suffered attacks by leviathans on their way here so the story is believable.  I mean no offense, but depending on your reputation, your side could potentially have been witness, though it might lead to some questions..."

Elloetta watches me with curiosity as I speak before responding, "With some adaptations, that could work.  We would need to sink their ships far away from here, but it would be less likely to raise suspicions in general.  Though we'd ask that you load their bodies into their ships for us.  As for exonerating you of piracy, we'll see to some of that.  Rathland itself is very likely to devolve into civil war and collapse after the loss of both their King and their next most competent politician, so you shouldn't need to worry about them seeking any form of vengeance."

There are so many questions I have, but I'm honestly terrified to ask them, but I decide to open with one smaller one to test the waters, "I don't mean to pry, and you can refuse to answer, but all of this has been a little confusing.  Why did you kill both King Besmond III and the Baron?"

Elloetta lets out a sigh which makes me very nervous but she starts speaking after, "It's well known that Elves, especially High Elves, live for a very long time, and our reproduction cycles are very slow.  Among most nations in the world, we take on the role of advisors, archivists, or researchers.  The country we work in gains living memory of events far beyond their normal lifespan, and we gain peaceful leverage.  Due to our longevity, we High Elves become quite individually powerful, but when we only reproduce once every twenty years, a single loss is devastating.  If a human nation, which is capable of quickly replenishing it's numbers, were to remove all their Elven advisors, and begin taking over their neighbors, you could surely see our concern."

I got the feeling that wasn't the full story, but I was glad that I wasn't just killed on the spot for prying.  "I understand.  Given our reproductive speed, we'll also aim to stay on your good side, though trouble always seems to find us.  Excuse me for asking this, but as I understand it, there are other Elven Matriarchs, why are you explicitly the one to intervene here?  Wouldn't it be in all their interests to work towards this goal?"

Another sigh from Elloetta, though this one doesn't seem to be directed at me, "More than half of the other Matriarchs are more concerned with staying isolated.  In my opinion, they don't fully grasp the threat we're under.  Most of them live in more central regions of our continent, isolated from danger.  Of the rest of us, we've divvied up the human countries as to whom we advise, so we don't step on each other's toes too much.  Which is all the more reason when Rathland began on their path that we needed to act.  It would be a problem if a nation we were supposed to oversee suddenly began attacking nations that were the domain of other Matriarchs."

I got the feeling from Elloetta's attitude that I should stop my line of questioning.  "Alright, so outside of moving the bodies onto their ships, is there anything else we need to do?  We have a lot of losses ourselves, and a lot of repairs we need to do."

"Ah, there are a few matters to discuss.  First, a matter of payment for the dark elves.  They are mercenaries for hire after all, and although they're partial towards working with us high elves, we still must pay.  Given everything that has transpired, I feel a fifty-fifty split of their cost is fair, Elora will stay here after we've left to discuss the details.  Second, Elora will be staying here for at least a year.  As I've mentioned, we prefer to have someone working in countries of note.  She'll act as both our diplomat, and whatever role you wish to put her in for work.  Third, as Rathland is technically our concern, as they devolve into civil war there may be individuals who seek asylum.  Given Rathland's notoriety with both it's close and far neighbors, we may ask that you take some of those refugees in, at least temporarily."

That's a lot to take in.  I have no idea exactly how expensive the Dark Elves were.  I don't necessarily mind Elora staying, although I'm not fond of how pushy this all is becoming.  Finally, suddenly we're being forced to take in refugees?  I'm not in a position to simply refuse, but I'll need some clarifications.

"Given how devastated our economy is, it may be some time before we can provide any form of payment for the dark elves' services.  Also, taking in refugees on short notice will be impossible.  We'll need at least a year to demilitarize and recover from the war before we can even consider taking in refugees.  Also, are these refugees elves, or citizens of Rathland?  How many would we expect to have to take in?"

"Then we'll front the payment to the dark elves and Elora will handle the negotiations of repayment to us.  As for the refugees, given the time of year with which travel is possible to this island, it wouldn't likely be until next winter that you would be receiving any.  They'd be human refugees.  Individuals who are somewhat valuable, but who would be in danger staying on the continent as war breaks out.  I wouldn't expect more than fifty that we'd feel the need to send this far away."

This is all going to be a pain in the ass, but I'm not honestly able to refuse.  Unlike with Kao, where I felt I had some leverage, we're more cornered and overwhelmed, and their 'demands' aren't that much of a challenge of our sovereignty.  "Alright.  Is there anything else we need to discuss, or should we start cleaning up the bodies?"

"That is all that we need to discuss, Elora will handle more details moving forward.  You may go do what you will."

With that, the majority of the elves returned to their ships, though a few stayed to captain the human ships which will eventually get sunk further out once they're loaded with all the bodies.  Elora returned to us as we finished loading the bodies into the ships.  With that, the elves sailed away, leaving us with the job of fixing our island up, and there is a lot of work to do.