The Jongurian Mission (24 page)

“Now, to the proposals,” he said, gesturing toward Jossen Fray.
“The first policy proposal will be submitted for your consideration by the delegate from Regidia, Jossen Fray.”

The hall politely applauded as Jossen slowly stood up, his left hand clutching his cane for support while his right he held a sheaf of papers.

“Mighty king, honored queen, esteemed delegates, distinguished gentlemen,” Jossen began, turning to look at all the people around the room, “we meet here this morning to create a lasting policy of trade with Jonguria.” He paused a moment to let the anticipation for his remarks build, laying the sheets of paper down on the table in front of him. “I think it’s obvious to all that an agreement will not come about without serious compromises made between us. But those compromises shouldn’t come at the price of a province’s livelihood. Too often in the past one province has suffered while another has prospered. No longer can we allow this disparity to occur; and by supporting my trade policy, we will ensure that it does not.”

A smattering of applause from Jossen’s side of the table greeted his remarks, and he paused, the sneering smile appearing on his face as he continued.

“My policy would continue to allow the provinces to trade with Jonguria freely. No powers would be taken away from them. To ensure that all provinces are able to trade on an equal footing, however, I propose that we divide Adjuria into two zones of trade: a northern and a southern. The purpose of this would be to ensure that there are not any disputes between provinces which produce similar goods. The northern section of Adjuria would contain all of the provinces north of the Montino Mountains and Tirana Forest. These would be Shefflin, Hotham, Allidia, Mercentia, Montino, and Tillatia. The trade from these provinces would be shipped by sea from the ports along the Tillata River in Tillatia or overland across the Isthmus.”

“The remaining provinces would comprise the southern section of Adjuria
,” Jossen continued. “These provinces are Oschem, Equinia, Fallownia, Regidia, Portinia, Culdovia, and Duldovia. The goods from these provinces would be shipped by sea from Dockside or overland across the Isthmus. Because the goods from the two sections would be going to different regions of Jonguria, the amount of competition between the provinces should drop substantially, or cease altogether. What I think is most important about this deal, however, is that the authority to trade remains within the provinces and is not taken away by the government here in Baden. Gentleman, I urge you to consider the benefits that Adjuria will reap under such a sectional trade policy.”

The room applauded, much louder this time, as Jossen took his seat.
Several of the delegates talked excitedly to each other and their advisors. It was obvious to Bryn that a lot of people liked the plan, and he had to admit it did seem to have merit. Perhaps a policy which divided Adjuria into two geographical sections could solve the trading problems of the past.

Tullin rose from his chair behind the king and raised his arms for the room to quiet down once again.
“Gentleman, now we will hear the second proposal for your consideration this morning, which comes from Halam Fiske of Tillatia.”

The delegates and advisors clapped politely as Halam rose from the table.
Unlike Jossen, he had no notes to read from, nor papers in front of him to guide his words. On the matter of trade, Halam would be speaking from the heart. The hall quieted to hear his words.

“I’d like to begin by thanking the king and queen as well as my fellow delegates and their advisors for allowing me this opportunity to speak,” Halam began, his voice tense.
“I have to admit that at first hearing, Jossen’s trade plan sounds good.” This drew a few mumblings from Halam’s side of the table and several smiles and chuckles from Jossen’s. “However,” Halam continued, “Jossen’s plan does nothing to ameliorate the animosities between the provinces that trade has had such a large part in creating. Just because goods are now being shipped from the north and south of Adjuria doesn’t mean that all of our problems will be solved, far from it. In the past all of our goods have shipped from Portinia and traveled by sea to ports in southern Jonguria. From there the imperial government portioned them out based on where the need was and sent them to the different areas. If we begin to send goods from north and south, the same will occur, just in two different locations this time instead of one. In no way will this decrease the competition between the provinces. Jonguria will still trade first with those provinces closest to her shores.”

He paused before continuing to take a look at Millen sitting beside him.
“I don’ see how the rancor over the grain trade between my province of Tillatia and the province of Fallownia will be solved under Jossen’s plan. Each province will have to work out a trade deal, then send their goods to their area of the county for shipping. Tillatia’s, being closer to Jonguria, will continue to arrive quicker and at a cheaper price than Fallownia’s. Jonguria knows this, and will seek out our goods before Fallownia’s. As in the past, resentment will occur between the provinces that obtain good deals and those that don’.”

“What I propose gentleman, is that the government in Baden be given greater authority to regulate the trade of the provinces.”
A few mumblings and disgruntled remarks met Halam’s declaration, but he continued on. “Many of you do not like the idea of giving more power over to the government, especially since a war was fought just a few years ago which took power away from the king and gave it to the provinces. But I tell you gentlemen, it is sorely needed. Watching the discussions yesterday, it was obvious to me that the provinces, if left to their own devices, will continue to undercut one another, and if we allow that to continue, I see nothing short of open hostilities breaking out between the provinces.”

“My policy would allow the provinces to sell their goods to the government at fair market prices, and from there the government would negotiate a trade deal with Jonguria.
Besides reducing animosity between the provinces, I believe this will increase the prices the provinces receive for their goods. Furthermore,” Halam went on, “the shipping costs that the provinces had to bear will now be taken on by the government. Only the cost of getting the goods from the provinces to Baden will factored in, eliminating the need for expensive shipping costs overseas. The choice before us is great. We have the opportunity to open a new path to trade, or we can continue to tread the same tired road. The choices are before us; let us choose that which is not only beneficial for Adjuria economically, but also one that does not create an atmosphere of discontent between neighbors.”

Halam resumed his seat to the applause of the delegates.
Bryn heard quite a few murmurings of consent to Halam’s proposal, more so, he thought, than were heard for Jossen’s.

Tullin rose once again to address the hall.
“Well gentlemen, you’ve now heard both proposals. I think this would be a good time to adjourn. Talk amongst yourselves; ask questions; debate. Let us meet again in this hall following lunch a few hours hence.”

The hall exploded with the sound of voices as delegates and advisors rose from their chairs and began to debate the merits of the two plans.
Halam stood to shake Rodden’s and Orin’s hands, while Millen came up from behind to pat him on the back as Pader also walked over to offer his congratulations.

“I think that went over quite well,” Pader said to Halam as he approached.

“Now the question is which plan a majority of the delegates will support,” Halam replied.

“If it comes down to the provinces that supported the king during the
Civil War and those who supported Regidia,” Rodden said, “then we’ll have more delegates.”

“Yes, more delegates, but not a majority,” Orin said.
“It seems that both Ithmia and Montino are content to stay out of the process entirely.”

Halam looked to Orin.
“Ithmia I can understand; I talked to Palen earlier and he won’ budge. But Montino as well? Does Whent really think that by staying neutral he can secure what’s best for his province?”

“From what I garnered talking to some of the other advisors earlier, Montino was approached by those supporting Jossen’s plan, and he flatly refused to even hear it,” Pader said.

“Yes, well that’s Jossen’s plan,” Rodden replied. “It’s no secret how Montino views the Regidians. After all, they were the one’s who first rose up against the seizure of the crown in both Civil Wars.”

“Yes, just because Whent w
on’t throw his support to Jossen doesn’ mean he won’t give it to us,” Halam agreed.

“He
’s a stubborn one,” Pader admitted, “but not without reason. I’ll have a word with him and do what I can to pull him to our cause.”

Willem Pritt walked over from where he was speaking to some of the other delegates and advisors across the room.

“I’ve just asked Dolth what he thought of Jossen’s proposal,” he said, “and he told me that it appears very sound.” The others looked up at him with worried eyes, but he continued before they had a chance to speak up. “I reminded him that yesterday he’d agreed to support us, which he quickly assured me still remains his intention. He added that Jossen’s plan was appealing in that the provinces would still retain their authority to negotiate with Jonguria themselves.” He stopped to look around at the others. “I don’t know. If we had to rely on Dolth’s support alone for our proposal to pass, I’d be worried.”

They looked across the hall to where Dolth and his advisors stood talking and laughing with the Regidian and Allidian delegations.

“I agree,” Pader said, “I’m not sure how much longer we can count on Equinia.”

“And what of Mercentia?” Millen asked. “Can we still number Iago as one of our supporters?”

“I’m not sure,” Halam replied.
“We’ll have to talk to him again to see. That goes for Edgyn as well. I’m sure that under Jossen’s plan the Portinian’s will find some way to profit from shipping in both the north and south. That will appeal to Edgyn’s money-seeking ways.”

“So we have our work cut out for us this afternoon,” Orin said, and they all nodded.
“Let’s talk with who we can. It’d be best to not write anyone off. Discuss our deal with those we think are already supporting Jossen’s plan. It’s worth a try. But the most important thing is to keep the support we still have.”

“Millen,” Willem said, turning toward the man, “you talk to Edgyn again.
Convince him that his support is critical to our success.”

“I convinced him yesterday,” Millen replied, “I’ll do the same today.”

“Halam,” Willem continued, “talk with Iago again. Get his firm support.”

“Aye, I will,” Halam replied.

“Orin, we’ll need you to do all you can to keep Dolth with us. The man must be convinced that we have his interests more at heart than Jossen does.”

“I
’ll do my best,” Orin replied.

“Pader,” Willem said, “there’s got to be a way to pull Whent off the fence.
We need his support. There must be some way to persuade him to end this ignorant view that Montino can somehow remain aloof from the affairs of Adjuria.”

“I agree,” Pader replied.
“I’ll speak with him. It should be easy; looks like Jossen’s written him off.”

“I’ll speak with Jocko,” Willem said.
“I’m not about to write Shefflin off just because we have the support of Mercentia. It’s high time those two provinces put aside their differences for the common good.” He paused to look at the men again. “When you aren’t talking to our supporters, follow Orin’s advice and talk to Jossen’s. Do what you can to convince them that our plan is better. Win them over.” They all nodded their agreement to the Duldovian’s words.

“Now, we have a few hours of morning left.
Let’s use that time to our advantage and then meet in the great hall to discuss our progress at lunch.” They all nodded, already working out strategies for winning over the delegates still skeptical toward their plan.

THIRTEEN

A few hours later the men sat around a table in the great hall staring into the dishes in front of them.
The main course this afternoon was spit boar from the King’s Wood. Several had been hunted down the day before and now graced the tables of the men crowding about the noisy hall. Myriad conversations sounded all around them, but the men whose support lay with the Tillatian trade policy remained quiet. Finally Bryn decided to break the silence.

“We can’t be certain that Jossen did any better gathering a majority than we did,” he quietly said.

After a few moments of silence Rodden looked across the table at him. “No Bryn, we can’t.”

Bryn and Rodden had been the first of the men to arrive in the hall for the lunch feast.
Since they were the only ones now around the table that hadn’t had any delegates to persuade, they’d spent a rather boring morning wandering the halls of the palace looking at all of the different tapestries and paintings that lined the walls. With their stomachs growling and the smells from the kitchen beginning to waft by their noses as they took in the great scenes, an early arrival to the hall seemed entirely reasonable. They, like other advisors with nothing else to do, had wandered to the hall to enjoy the different plates of fruits, cheeses, and sweetbreads that preceded the main course. When the food arrived, but not the men whose results they so eagerly anticipated, anxiousness set in. As the minutes went by, both began to worry that the only reason for their absence was that the negotiations hadn’t been successful in convincing the men.

Finally after what seemed an eternity to them, the others began to arrive.
First came Orin, and none to happy by the look of him. Next was Millen, who appeared satisfied, followed by Pader, who did not. Halam and Willem were the last to arrive, both walking over together to sit down. When it appeared that none were eager to report their morning’s results first, Rodden went ahead and asked.

“Were you able to pull Whent down off that fence,” he
asked of Pader.

Pader rubbed his eyes and let out a sigh.
“He wouldn’t budge.” Pader reached for the flagon of ale and a cup set in the center of the table and poured as he continued. “I tried to tell him that by not supporting Jossen’s plan he may as well support ours, but the man wouldn’t listen. He kept saying that Montino had no need to insert herself into the affairs of the provinces, like he was part of some separate country. I tried to argue that the profits for the minerals mined from the Montino Mountains would only be greater under our plan, but it didn’t seem to concern him. He only waved his hand and said it wasn’t of importance.”

“With Whent and Palen remaining on the sidelines,” Rodden pointed out, “that means there
’ll only be twelve delegates voting.”

“So we
’ll only need to have seven votes for a majority,” Bryn quickly pointed out.

“Alas, Bryn, it w
on’t be that easy,” Orin replied, looking up from his cup of wine for the first time since sitting down. “The majority will come from those delegates present, whether they vote or not; we’ll still need to have eight votes for our plan to pass.”

“Were you successful in keeping Dolth with us?” Pader asked.

Orin took a long swallow from his cup before speaking. “No, the man’s decided to follow the Regidians once again.”

“No!” Halam said loudly.

“But he just ensured us we had his support only a few hours ago,” Millen said.

“Aye, that he did,” Orin replied. “Something changed his way of thinking in that span of time, however, for now he believes that Jossen’s plan will do more to benefit Equinia than ours. Nothing I could say would convince him otherwise; his mind was already made up.”

“So w
e’re down to six now,” Pader said, looking over at Millen. “Is that correct?”

“We still have Edgyn,” Millen responded, to smiles and sighs of relief from the table.
“While he said that Jossen’s deal has its appeal, he was quick to add that he’d given his support to us first, and that as a man of his word, he intended to stay with us. Portinia will side with Tillatia in this fight.”

“That
’s certainly good to hear,” Halam said. “Iago said much the same.”

“That’s wonderful,” Willem said.

“Jossen’s plan had its appeal, he told me, but he remembered the rancor of yesterday and didn’t think that dividing the country into two trading zones would stop the disputes between the provinces.”
Halam paused a moment, looking down at the table before looking at the men again. “Mercentia will stay with us.”

Their eyes turned next to Willem at the far end of the table.
He looked down, folding his hands in front of him, then looked up again.

“I wish I could bring good news,” he began, “but I was
n’t able to convince Jocko to go along with us. He knew that Iago supported us, and he said that he couldn’t go along with a plan that Mercentia was a part of; the people of Shefflin would never forgive him. I tried to convince him that Jossen’s plan would do nothing to ease the battle that Shefflin and Mercentia face on the open market, as they would still be part of the same trading zone under the Regidians’ plan. This didn’t seem to concern him,” he said, looking around the table. “And when I tried one last attempt to appeal to his sense of honor by bringing up Shefflin’s role in fighting against the Regidians during the Civil War, he only laughed, saying that was in the past.” He shook his head a few times after finishing and stared back down at his hands.

“Well,” Orin said, “some men just
can’t be convinced no matter what.”

“What else do we know of Jossen’s support?” Rodden asked.

“Before I came to the hall I inquired about that,” Pader said. “He had Oschem, Hotham, and Allidia with him.” He stopped, looking over at Orin and Willem. “We can put Equinia in that category now, as well as Shefflin, giving him six votes, the same as us.”

“So we
’re still pretty much deadlocked, then,” Halam said. “So long as none of us goes over to him, and none of his supporters comes over to us, then neither plan will pass and the conference will be a failure.”

“The hopes of both plans therefore reside with Whent and Palen,” Pader said.
“There must be some way to bring them over to our side.”

“We’ve tried,” Halam said, his frustration bringing an edge to his voice.
“And we know that Jossen tried. Neither will budge. They’re useless!”

Quiet descended on the table then as the men stared at the boar in front of them, uncut and with the large red apple still stuck in its mouth.
None of the men had much of an appetite this afternoon. The hall began to empty as people headed back to the map room for the afternoons discussions and the vote on the two plans.

“I’m just not that hungry this afternoon,” Halam said, “I think I’ll head back to the conference table and hope that some development occurs that brings us success.”
He gave a half-hearted smile as he said the last, then rose from the table and headed toward the doors.

“Some development,” Pader said.
“Yes, that would be good but I don’t see one on the horizon.” He stood and paused to look around the men at the table. “I hate to say it, gentleman, but we may have to go along with Jossen’s plan. I don’t like it any more than you do,” he said quickly as the others began to voice their protests, “but we have to do what’s best for Adjuria, and leaving this conference without a trade deal isn’t it. Let us hope that Halam’s wish comes true, but I deal in realities, gentleman, and the reality is that we did our best, but it just wasn’t good enough.” He too headed for the doors, leaving the others at the table shocked and downhearted by his sudden confession.

“He may be right,” Willem said to the shock of the others.
“I don’t like Jossen anymore than the rest of you, but his plan would bring trade back to a country which badly needs it.” He too rose from the table to leave. “If we don’t have the votes after the first few attempts,” he said looking at Millen, “then I think it best that we give our support over to the Regidian plan. We need a trade deal, and one that passes the conference with the support of as many of the delegates as possible will do much to heal the wounds of this country.” He looked at each in turn before leaving the table.

“Well, this
has
been a very depressing lunch,” Orin said as he finished his cup of wine. “I thought the boar had it bad, but now I realize that we’re the ones who have been spitted.”

“All hope is not yet lost,” Millen chimed in.
“Anything can happen in that conference room this afternoon. Perhaps when confronted with a deadlock, one of the delegates of Jossen’s will come over to us. And I know it’s farfetched, but Whent or Palen could still change their minds. The worst thing we can do is to think that all’s lost when we’ve come so far.”

Orin and Rodden gave him a reassuring smile, but both Millen and Bryn knew that there was no real hope behind them.

“Well,” Millen said after a few moments, “I guess I’ll go back to the hall as well.”

“I see no point in sitting here staring at this pig any longer. I’ll go with you,” Orin replied, and Rodden said the same. “Bryn, are you coming?”

“I’ll stay just a few more minutes,” Bryn said.
“I’d like to have a little more of this fruit first.”

Rodden smiled.
“We’ll see you in a few minutes, then.”

The three headed toward the door and Bryn was left alone at the table with only the boar to keep him company.
In truth, he had no desire for any more fruit; that was simply an excuse to stay in the hall for a while longer. He had spotted Palen sitting alone at a table across the room, and although he was nothing of a diplomat like the others who he’d just been sitting with, he figured it couldn’ hurt to plead their case one more time to the delegate from Ithmia.

Palen was finishing off the last of his lunch when Bryn approached his table.
An empty plate sat in front of him, the juices from the boar shining red from the torchlight on the wall overhead. Palen was soaking them up in a heel of bread, and Bryn was about to clear his throat to draw the man’s attention when Palen spoke.

“You’re a long way from Tillatia, young man,” Palen said, still looking down at his plate as he wiped it with bread.
“And I see that your entourage has already headed back to the map room. So pray tell, sir, what are you still doing here?” He looked up at Bryn, his light-grey eyes seeming to bore into him as he waited for an answer.

Bryn took a deep breath as he steadied himself and gathered his thoughts.
What could he possibly say to this man whose life was devoted to protecting the welfare and ensuring the safety of the citizens of Adjuria? How could he, a mere peasant from Eston, hope to do what his uncle and everyone who supported him could not? Finally, after what seemed an eternity to Bryn, he found the words.

“I’ve come to ask for your support
for my uncle’s trade policy,” Bryn managed to say, his eyes locked on the plate resting on the table.

“I’ve already been asked to support your uncle’s plan as well as Jossen’s,” Palen replied, sticking the dripping bread into his mouth, “and I’ll give you the same answer that I told the others:
no.”

Although he was nervous and felt out of his element, Bryn pushed on.
“Why won’t you support one plan or the other?”

“Ithmia does no trade with the rest of Adjuria, nor did we do so with Jonguria before the war,” the man explained.
“We produce all our own goods and guard the Isthmus against any threat to the country, as we’ve done for countless generations. We’ve found over the years that it’s best to remain out of the political affairs of the provinces. Too many times we’ve seen nothing but heartache and despair for those who wade into those waters.”