"I don't have time for your creepiness, Effervescence. I have something I need to do first, so let's go, guys."
He put on his armor and held his spear before going to the zaoris' pyramid and stood before the throne, the jackal waiting for yis long awaited answer. Effervescence, however, wasn't too happy of what just happened and was left standing awkwardly in the street. She was outside of her environment, but that wasn't the only reason she felt like crying.
"Already dressed for war?" Oriyis said. "Have you come to a conclusion?" He frowned and leaned forward in his throne. "Or have you come threatening me?"
"Yes," Stelimus said. "I accept your deal."
The zaoris smiled. "Good. I expect a fleet of your finest warriors here in two weeks."
Stelimus chuckled. "I hope I know what I'm doing. You didn't let me finish."
"What?"
"I'm not going to war with your enemies."
"Then you don't accept my proposal."
"That is false. I accept it, but with changes."
"And what makes you think that I would accept any sort of change?"
"Because I realized something interesting: Why else would you suggest such a thing if you didn't need us. If you're really as grand as you seem to laud yourself as, then you would have already recovered your lost lands. This 'enemy' of yous seem to have you stuck, and you need a second force to break the stalemate, am I right?"
"Go on."
"Furthermore, I also need you to explain the source of the black snow to me, but I can't refuse the offer because I need to know where it comes from. This is why we need a mutually beneficial 'contract' between us."
"You seem to have changed in just a few hours. That is unusual," the jackal spoke with a grumbling voice. "Then what can you propose to help alleviate the issues?"
"Let us go in as a 'forward operations' team. We'll go in, disable what you consider threats, then your troops can go in anyways."
"And what do you have to gain from something like this? There is no glory in such actions. No recognition."
"I don't seek glory nor do I seek recognition. However, since no one here knows what us reindeer are, the enemies there will not seek to war with my people if we're caught."
"And what will you do if they catch and kill you? What then?"
Stelimus looked down and clenched the frost essence around his antlers. "They don't exactly see me in good light, so they would be rather...ecstatic to know that I am dead."
"Stelimus," Copper exhaled.
There was a moment of silence. Stelimus was entirely knew to this whole 'negotiations' system, so he was incapable of thinking up a better method of proving his trustworthiness. Still, he hoped it was enough foe convincing.
"You do know that, by telling me this, you put your people in a position of weakness, yes?"
"I know that."
The zaoris nodded in approval. "You already learned to negotiate using a weakness as an advantage."
"Huh?"
"You know that you are weak, and that we are at war, but by stating that your people would be happy in seeing you dead, you put yourself in a position of strength. A--" Ye twisted his hand in circular motions. "position of sacrifice. If you succeed, you get the information you require. If you fail, your people end up better off because of it."
Stelimus smiled sheepishly. "Right."
"Very well. I accept the proposal. If you succeed in the tasks put before you, then you will get the information that you want. If you fail, well, the outcome is obvious."
"It is..."
"Well then. I consider this to be a successful negotiation, so you may continue walking around the capital and educating yourself on our methodology of combat. You will be summoned tomorrow...whenever the preparations to leave north have been completed. You may return to your chambers here whenever you are ready as well. They weren't given to you for only a few hours."
Stelimus saluted the zaoris and walked out proudly, refusing to slouch in the slightest. The anyubinites were unimpressed, although they were quite stoic for basically anything and everything happening around them. If anything, they had far more discipline than Gregary had observed in his own reality. Such a thing terrified him. No creature should ever be like a machine, just waiting for the opportune moment to grab him and throw him into the inescapable sinkhole below the throne.
The deer king took in a deep breath after getting outside of the pyramid and almost fell to the floor. It felt like his heart was blowing dynamite in his chest in order to escape his rib cage, and he could feel cold sweat pouring all over his body, and it had nothing to do with his actual association to the cold.
"Are you okay?" Copper asked.
"Y-yeah. I'm just...I never expected such a thing. It's incredibly stressful," he wheezed.
Copper took the opportunity to hug him and nuzzle herself under his neck. Unlike most times, he didn't fight what she was trying to do and she could hear his heartbeat slowing down.
"Congratulations, brother," Yolumay said as she walked towards him. "You stood up to another ruler of a country; One as dreadful -perhaps even more-than- as our father."
"It didn't feel good, I can tell you that," Stelimus gasped.
Effervescence was sitting on her haunches and fumbled with her forehooves, occasionally lifting a hoof slightly and opening her mouth a little bit, then retracting the actions. Stelimus noticed her and did his best to speak to her with his usual tone, but he was still reeling from the incredible amount of stress.
"What are you still doing here?!"
"Well...I just thought..."
"You just thought what? That'd you'd try to finish corrupting my sister?"
"I didn't--"
"Or that you would attempt to corrupt my mind as you did those kernels of corn you have scattered around your forest domain?" He pointed at Effervescence, poking her muzzle. "I remember you trying to kill me when I was about to leave. You tried to kill her, especially. Hell, you were toying with Yolumay the whole time."
"W-well, if it wasn't for me," She pushed forward a little more, but her voice was still trembling. "-you two would have never shed your differences and become closer!"
"AND THE SOLUTION TO THAT WAS TO MAKE US WALK CLOSER TO THE BOUNDARIES OF DEATH ITSELF,!"
"I--"
"No! If you want to hang with us, then go ahead, but I've had it up to Jupiter with the stupidity of this bizarre family." He backed away from his aunt and narrowed his eyes. "Only Grimliss and Yolumay are good members of my 'family', and it took Yolumay several years to change."
"But, I'm trying to change too!"
"No you're not," Stelimus spoke in a disgusted tone. "You're just trying to compensate for the feelings of inadequacy that you got when you discovered that you couldn't control me and when you lost to both my sister and I when we fled your realm. You can't stand that not everyone can love you, despite you actually brainwashing them to get to that point." He snorted. "You're trying to make yourself feel better by using artificial methods of winning back my trust." The deer king tapped his head several times. "That's not how this works. You can plug up mighty stone walls with little plastic toys." He walked back to Copper and put a hoof over her back and under her wings. "And Copper is one of the best ponies I've ever met, and even she is a better part of my family than you."
The mare was torn between feelings of guilt and pity for Effervescence, and feelings of joy and romance with Stelimus. "Should I say something?" she thought to herself. "...No. I'd best keep quiet for now. I also need to improve myself, and the way I am now, they wouldn't listen to me, and I would make things worse."
Yolumay glared at her aunt for a long time while the two bodyguards of Stelimus couldn't care less. The only thing they cared about was protecting their king and friend. Meanwhile, the god-king was left to fester in her spot. She made little circles in the sand with her hooves and sighed.
"I am too trying to improve. I'm just...bad at it."