This disruption of the Chalcedean slave trade was a major area of conflict. It had brought into new prominence the old disagreement over where the Chalcedean-Bingtown border actually lay. In both of these areas, she hoped that the Six Duchies would recognize the legitimacy of Bingtown’s position. She knew that Shoaks Duchy welcomed escaped slaves to their lands as free men, and that Shoaks had also suffered from Chalced’s efforts to claim lands not rightfully part of that dukedom. Could she, perhaps, then hope that the Six Duchies would grant what their previous envoys had proposed to the most gracious and royal Queen Kettricken? An alliance, and support for the war against Chalced? In return, Bingtown and her ally had much to offer the Six Duchies. Open trade with Bingtown, and a share in Bingtown’s favorable trade agreements with the so-called Pirate Isles could be of great benefit to all. The gifts bestowed today represented but a small part of the spectrum of goods that would become available to the people of the Six Duchies.

Queen Kettricken gravely heard her out. But at the end of Serilla’s speech, she had offered nothing new to us. It was Chade, in his role as councilor, who gravely pointed this out. The wonders of their trade goods were well known, and justifiably so. But not even for such wonders could the Six Duchies consider moving into war. He concluded his remarks with “Our most gracious Queen Kettricken must always consider first the well-being of our own folk. You know that our relations with Chalced are at best uneasy. Our grievances with them are many, and yet we have held our hands back from waging a full war with them on our own accounts. All know the saying ‘Sooner or later, there is always war with Chalced.’ They are a contentious folk. But war is expensive and disruptive. War later is almost always better than war now. Why should we risk provoking their full wrath on Bingtown’s behalf?” Chade let the question hang a moment, and then made it even plainer. “What do you offer the Six Duchies that will not eventually come to us, regardless of the outcome of this war of yours?”

Several dukes in the back nodded gravely. All knew this was the Trader way. All they knew was bargaining and trade. They expected Chade to haggle, and haggle he would.

“Most gracious Queen, noble Prince, wise Councilor, and lordly Dukes and Duchesses, we offer you . . .” Serilla halted, obviously flustered by the directness of Chade’s question. “Our offer is a delicate one, perhaps best reviewed in private contemplation before you seek the agreement of your nobles. Perhaps it would be better . . .” Serilla did not glance toward the nobles in the back of the room, but her pause was plain.

“Please, Serilla of Bingtown. Speak plainly. Put your proposal before all of us, so that my nobles and my councilors and I may discuss it freely together.”

Serilla’s eyes widened, almost in shock. I wondered what sort of place Jamaillia was, that she was so surprised by my queen’s forthright answer. While she floundered, the man with the parrot on his shoulder suddenly cleared his throat. Serilla shot him a warning look, but the man stepped forward anyway. “Most gracious Queen, if I may presume to address you directly?”

Kettricken’s response was almost puzzled. “Of course. You are Trader Jorban, I believe?”

He nodded gravely. “That is correct. Most gracious Queen Kettricken, ruler of all the Six Duchies and heir to the Mountain Throne.” I felt uncomfortable for the young man as he strung the titles awkwardly together. Obviously such flowery address was new to him, but despite Serilla’s angry glance, he was determined to forge ahead with it. “I believe you are a person, a queen, that is, who can appreciate directness. I have chafed under this delay. But now, hearing today that you have as little love for Chalced as we do, I dare to hope that you will be in favor of our proposition as soon as you hear it.”

He cleared his throat, then plunged on. “We come to you seeking to forge an alliance against a common enemy. We have had three years of war with Chalced. It has drained us, and our early hopes for a swift end to the conflict have faded. The Chalcedeans are a stubborn folk. Every defeat we deal them only seems to make them more determined to injure us. They thrive on war; they love raiding and destruction, as we do not. Bingtown needs peace to prosper, peace and free seas. We depend on trade, not just for our livelihoods, but for our most basic needs. Magic and wonders we may possess in Bingtown, and yet we cannot feed our children on that alone. We have no vast fields to grow grain and pasture cattle. Chalced would overrun us, out of simple greed. They would kill us all, to possess what we have, with no understanding of what that possessing requires of us. They will destroy what they seek, in the very act of trying to possess it. What we have cannot be taken from us, and still exist. It is . . .” The man’s words shuddered to a halt, like a ship run aground on a sandbar.