Chapter 18: The Eastern Empire's Move

The eastern empire made their move in the third year, and it was not what Sera had expected, which was its intelligence. They did not send an army. They sent a marriage proposal. The proposal arrived through formal diplomatic channels, addressed to the queen of the ash-people — the term had become an official designation, which Sera had decided to own rather than dispute — from the eastern empire's second son, who was by all accounts educated and not unkind and entirely beside the point. The actual message was not the marriage. The marriage was packaging for the actual message: the eastern empire was prepared to offer recognition, trade, and protection in exchange for a political alliance. They had watched Sera build for two years. They wanted what she'd built. She convened her full council, which now included Drusse as an equal voice, and laid out the proposal without commentary. The council's response was immediate and unanimous. 'No,' said Drusse, before the others could speak. 'Not because of the alliance terms, which could be negotiated separately. But because an alliance built on a marriage proposal is an alliance built on the premise that you can be acquired. And you cannot be acquired.' 'The recognition is valuable,' said Rael, who had joined the extended council the previous year. 'The recognition is already established,' Sera said. 'The Archive has acknowledged our standing. The Kador agreement includes recognition. We do not need the eastern empire's recognition because we have built enough relationships that their withholding it costs them more than it costs us.' She looked at the proposal. 'I'm going to respond,' she said. 'Diplomatically, respectfully, and clearly. We are not available for acquisition. But we are interested in trade and alliance on equal terms.' She paused. 'They will either accept equal terms or they will reveal that they never wanted equal terms, which will tell us exactly what we need to know about them.' The response took three weeks to arrive. They accepted equal terms.