A Secret Is Revealed And Shed

If only you could tell the members of your Clan that you secretly loved the son of thier rival's chieftain, but now you see a chance to reveal it in a safe way, and you, of course, are smart enough to take it.

"So, you know that your father, greedy and paranoid churl that he is acknowledged to be by nearly everyone who meets him, sent you here to die, knowing that even as incredible as a warrior as you and your personal guard are acknowledged to be, you still couldn't defeat our entire clan all at once if anything was to go wrong with your offer? He also knew, being equally acknowledged to be both cuning and shrewd to the same degree that he is paranoid, this was a likely enough outcome that your father could make the ploy and use it as justification to re-start the war, while eliminating the threat to his power you represent as the strongest warrior either tribe has seen in three generations, do you admit it?"

Your rival's son, Herrick, nodded, stroking his hairless chin. Like most orcish men, his beard hair was filling in along his jaws from the back toward the front slowly as he aged, only elderly orcish males could grow a full beard. "I know my father, Witch, and yes, that makes all too much sense. What do you propose is to be done of it?" He counters.

"Don't go home, he will try again. Instead I will send some of our people under horn of peace, saying that we will agree, but under our own terms. You are his son and heir, I am my father's only full-blooded child and his heir, I will marry you and you will succeed him as chief, where I will succeed my father, and so in our heir the two clans will then be united. In the mean time, some of your clan's daughters will marry our clan's sons, and our clan's daughters will do the same with sons of your Clan. These couples can prove we are strong enough to be worth joining our clans together. To prove that he won't betray the agreement and that we are also sincere, you are going to stay with us and be mated to me, while Two of your Companions will head home mated to strong girls of our Clan, as will be whichever one you choose to stay with you as your bodyguard and right-hand." You explain, winking suggestively at him.

He doesn't have to consider for long. "Done, Chieftain's daughter. Gulvok and Brulëhor will return, Brulëhor is my father's man
sent to keep me in his grip and Gulvok has wanted a mate for some time but didn't have the experience to attract one of our women, being surprisingly skilled for one so young, he doesn't even have his sideburns yet. Hakapahlë is my man, I've saved his life more than once and he owes me a life-debt for it, him I can trust." He agrees after tossing a swift and subtle wink back. The subtleties of the wink say as much as his words: he apparently has long desired you as well, and believes that you are the one to take him in hand and make him happy as his mate, who he wants to be more than his equal, he wants to be a figurehead for his chieftess.

"I will make our decision known." You reply, pleased by what he has conveyed to you, and you both stand to leave the tent.