✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ for the Throne [Aquaman | Orm Marius]✔

07

More than a hundred years ago, there was a man, in the world of men, whose name was Bismarck and he said, 'Lies can set wars in motion, but truths can stop whole armies'. It sounds simple and rather trite, but it was true. Many a war would never have taken place if both parties had spoken to each other first, or if one of them had not desired something that neither belonged to him nor was his. Desire and exactly there, at, from this point, the mind stops with many. The part of our brain that was responsible for rational and logical actions stops and something else takes control. What it was is a good question. Reason, however, is unlikely to be it. 'Our hopes and desires are of so childish a nature that to them the possible and the impossible seem both of a kind,' as one poet wrote.

"What do you really want?" asked Norvina Orm, who then turned his head to her side, eyeing her as her gaze slowly moved from person to person and finally, coming to rest with him, "You said you wanted a meeting with Nereus, but it seems to me as if you want to go to war with him. He is the father of your fiancée. Why then this spectacle? Moreover, it makes me wonder what part I play in all this."

"Aren't you the one who preaches diplomacy and knows the rulers of all the kingdoms?" one might think, as Orm pronounced this, as if this would be a bad thing and could only be evil, "You know the inhabitants because you have become their favorite, having certain views and believing it can work that way. I am king, so I know...."

"Someone who has to say he is king is not a king," Norvina interrupted this old thing bored because this, seemed to never stop and gave Orm an expressionless look, "Then as now. It has not changed. The boy became a man. The prince became a king. Inside, however, he remained the same. Is there something wrong with what I'm saying? You obviously don't remember.... Or, do you just not?"

Of course Orm remembered, because it had always been a sore spot Norvina hit with him. Pointing out the obvious probably meant that the person believed too little attention had been paid to a certain fact.

☬

Diplomacy. At the first moment it sounds complicated and be too difficult to understand, but it was easy to explain. Expressed in simple words and briefly to the point, it meant the art of negotiating in a peaceful and respectful manner. Nothing more. It is about two parties or more acting together. Normally, it was nations or, as here, empires that have their own interests but still try to get along with the other empires without causing a war, despite their different needs. Not always easy to come to a common denominator, when different things are in the foreground, but it was feasible and compromises were inevitable for a peaceful coexistence.

One could think that this was the very last attempt to negotiate with King Nereus to avoid a war. However, this was not the case.

"He understands the importance of this meeting," if Vulko wanted to see it that way, but there was something the advisor was forgetting and that was King Nereus himself, "He will hear you out."

"What importance, Vulko?" replied Norvina coolly, looking up at the riding horses approaching, for although the meeting was promised, it could not be assumed that both agreed, "This meeting is meaningless until we know the outcome, or at least how Nereus feels about certain things."

Army vs. So much for that, a simple meeting. A small conversation. Nothing major.