The Need for an Endgame

The elfs and humans discussed the situation and decided to leave two group each of three persons to watch over the area and send word when the meet was about to occur. In the meantime, the elf leader sent word to her people of the alliance she had formed, then went with the humans to their camp. The Elf Wocan(War Leader) would come with the messenger to meet with the human leader and give formal ratification to their treaty and alliance. The Wocan was second in rank only to the Mother Elf, who by tradition, was never allowed to depart the ships, but would accept the Wocan's word, and would welcome the human leader, should she decide to pay a state visit.

As soon as the warriors arrived at the human settlement, they began forming preliminary plans. The Wocan would hear and add input to these plans as soon as she arrived, and then plans would be implemented. All this was necessary since, until now, all of their joint actions had been the quick plans of a pair of junior leaders. Now formal alliance was being ratified. This was especially necessary since, while trading partnerships were common enough, actual treaties of mutual protection and alliance between humans and off-worlders were extremely rare and ground breaking. By everything the humans had observed though, the elfs were a peaceful people who fought only for protection of their interests and those of their friends. These were exactly the kind of people the humans wanted to court friendship with, and where they came from was beside the point. On the elf's part, humans so understanding and accepting were a rarity to be treasured and cherished. This alliance opportunity simply had to be nurtured at all costs.

Anaya wanted more than a simple agreement built on necessity. She wanted two things. First, a mutual protection treaty that would bind each tribe to the other against any mutual enemy and ensure that they would never stand alone against any who chose to banish their peace and tranquility. Second was a matter of those who were not previously enemies of both. If either elf or human was threatened by a group previously friendly to the other, then the other would attempt to arbitrate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. If this arbitration were to fail, then the other group would be told in no uncertain terms that an enemy of this ally was their enemy as well, and failure of arbitration was a declaration of war.

Never before had the Salayans considered such an all encompassing alliance with anyone, including other human tribes. There was just something about these elfs that told Anaya it was time for a radical change in policy and that these people were the ones who were worthy of that change. She eagerly awaited the arrival of their Wocan, and prayed to all the gods and godesses that she would find this pact equally beneficial.