Green Canyon Magic - Ch.16 - Preliminary Negotiations (Patreon)

My heart rate climbed as the three of us slowly emerged from the woods together. My ears were folded back while my tails all hung down low behind me, twitching slightly from side to side. Stef's and Theo's tails were both puffed up, while their ears angled back the same as my own.

Every single one of the men was staring as we made our way towards where the group of civilians were standing. And I couldn't help looking back at each of them, as I took in their expressions and tried to guess what they were thinking about us.

The one who'd called out to us appeared to be the oldest of the group. He was also the guy someone addressed as 'Minister', according to Stef. And he did seem sort of familiar, like maybe I'd seen him on the news somewhere.

He looked to be in his late fifties, maybe even into his early sixties. He had short light-grey hair, silver-framed wire rim glasses, and an angular face. His figure suggested he was relatively fit for his age, with only a few extra pounds on him. The expression on his face made him seem wary and calculating.

The man standing to the minister's right was only a few years younger, he was probably early fifties. He was a tall slim man, with a dark grey moustache and silvery grey hair. He struck me as another politician, although I was sure I hadn't seen him before.

The third civilian stood by the minister's left side. He was in his mid to late thirties, and looked very fit. His dark hair was in a short business-like trim, and his demeanour exuded confidence. He was one of the guys who'd spotted us with his binoculars, and now he was watching the three of us with a cool wary expression. All that made me think he probably wasn't really a civilian, despite the clothes.

And finally the fourth one in that group was the youngest, a man in his early thirties. His short brown hair was a little bit messy, and he looked like he felt awkward or out of place. He wasn't as fit as the first three either, with a bit of middle-age spread already settling in around his midsection. And he definitely appeared uneasy, maybe even a bit nervous as he fished a notepad and pencil out of his pocket like he was going to take notes. On the other hand, out of the entire group he looked the most friendly or approachable.

One of the soldiers was also there with the group of civilians. He stood average height, and appeared to be relatively fit. He had short blond hair and a matching blond moustache. His blue-grey eyes watched us with wary suspicion, and we could all see the fancy rifle slung over his left shoulder and the pistol he had holstered on his belt.

The last man with the group was their photographer, a guy in his late twenties or early thirties. He was dressed very casual, but his sandy brown hair was in a short business-like trim. It was hard to get a feel for his expression though, as his face was hidden behind a camera most of the time. He was snapping pictures of Stef and Theo and I as we made our way towards where the men were waiting.

Apart from those six, there were four more soldiers all standing guard towards the edges of the clearing. Each was armed with a modern assault rifle, that they held at the ready as they stared at the three of us. And finally a sixth soldier and the group's guide were off to the side, looking after all the horses.

"Don't worry my little star," Stef whispered. "Remember what Gaia said, they can't harm us."

I nodded slightly, "Yeah I know. I still don't like all those guns around us."

Theo added softly, "Me neither. If they become threatening I will melt them with my magic."

That put a little smile on my face, but I quickly suppressed it as I whispered, "Thanks Theo."

A second or two later the three of us came to a stop, a couple meters back from where the group of civilians were waiting.

"Greetings," the older minister guy began, "And thank you for joining us. As I said, the Chancellor sent us to try and open a dialogue with you two young ladies."

"You do work for Gaia, yes?" he added. "You are her representatives here?"

While I definitely appreciated the validation of being gendered correctly, my tails twitched in irritation over the fact that the guy misgendered my enbyfriend. And he completely ignored Theo.

So I frowned slightly at the older guy and stated, "Perhaps we should begin with introductions, so that we're all clear on who we're speaking with? My name is Stella, my pronouns are she-her. This is my partner Stef, their pronouns are they-them. And this is our colleague Theo, his pronouns are he-him."

"Theo is Gaia's representative," Stef added. "He speaks for her directly. Stella and I are Gaia's ambassadors. We'll try and help clear up any misunderstandings between Theo and you folks."

By that point the men had some very different looks on their faces, and it was hard to tell what got under their skin the most. That I made a point of telling them all our pronouns, that Stef was non-binary, or that Gaia's actual representative here was really our wildcat friend.

"And who might you all be?" our furry feline diplomat asked as he looked up at the group of men.

The way their eyes all widened as they stared down at him answered one question I'd been wondering. Sure enough, they could hear and understand Theo. And the reality of a talking wildcat was obviously something none of these guys were prepared for.

The minister recovered first, although it took him a couple seconds. He finally blinked and shook his head before responding, "Pleased to meet you, Stella and Stef. And ah, Theo. My name is Karl Pierer, Minister of the Interior."

"And this is Josef Fersti, advisor to the Chancellor," Pierer continued, as he gestured to the tall slim man on his right,

My eyes narrowed slightly as I looked back and forth between the two older guys. Then I addressed the minister, "So how come they sent you? Isn't your ministry all about security and law enforcement?"

"That's a very good question," Stef agreed. "Austria has a ministry for Climate Action and the Environment. Seems to me like a bit of a snub, not sending someone from that ministry to speak with Gaia's representative and ambassadors."

Pierer gestured to the younger man off to the side, "Mr. Huber is here on behalf of the Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology."

The anxious-looking guy gulped and gave us all an uneasy smile as he greeted us, "Hello. I'm Hannes Huber, my pronouns are he-him. And like Minister Pierer said, I'm a staffer with the BMK. It's nice to meet the uh, three of you."

So far Hannes was the only one to tell us his pronouns, and that along with his friendly face made me like him a little bit more.

"What about you?" Stef asked the confident-looking guy. "Are you here for the climate and environment too?"

I was already pretty sure he was some sort of undercover agent, and I was positive my enbyfriend thought the same thing. For a moment I wondered if he might not answer, he definitely looked like he wasn't happy about having to talk to us.

"No ma'am," he finally responded, despite his obvious reluctance. "Franz Kofler, assistant to Minister Pierer."

"That's Mx, not Ma'am," the catkin corrected him with a firm voice.

Then Theo added in a pointed tone, "Do assistants normally smell like gun oil? The scent seems to be coming from under your jacket, Franz."

That confirmed my suspicions about the guy. He had to be some kind of undercover special police or anti-terrorism agent. He was probably telling the truth about working for the minister though, since law enforcement fell under that purview. For now Kofler looked like he was acting as more of a bodyguard, based on the way he kept close to his boss.

Pierer spoke up, maybe to try and defuse the tension and keep the conversation moving. He introduced the uniformed man who was with his group, "This is Lieutenant Stadler, he is in charge of the soldiers who accompanied us here."

The military officer just gave us all a curt nodd but remained silent. And nobody else said anything either, so for the next few seconds we had an awkward silence that was only broken by the sound of a camera shutter.

"What about the photographer," I asked as I looked over at that guy. "Who are you?"

He seemed surprised to be involved, but he lowered his camera and replied. "My name is Werner Seidl miss. I'm just here under contract, to take pictures for the government."

That covered the half-dozen guys in front of us, but it didn't seem like anyone was going to introduce us to the four soldiers on guard duty. Or the guide and the remaining soldier who were still looking after the horses.

During that short awkward pause I came up with another question. I looked at the lieutenant and the secret agent and asked, "How did you two know where to find us? It looked like you knew exactly where to point those binoculars when you got here."

When it became clear neither of them were going to answer, the advisor fellow finally spoke.

Fersti had been quiet up until that point, but he explained "Mr. Seidl took a great many pictures when he was here with the earlier expedition. Every single one of those photographs was analyzed very carefully the moment he got back, and it didn't take our people long to spot your faces hidden among the foliage at the edge of the woods."

"We didn't know for certain you'd be here today in the same location," he added, "But it seemed like the best place to start looking."

Stef and I both exchanged a glance and a little grimace. It never occurred to me that those old cameras could be that good that they'd pick us out in the background of the other stuff Mr. Seidl was shooting. But after thinking it over I realized that the government probably had people pouring over every frame with a microscope or something, looking for any clues or information they could find.

"And that brings us to the purpose of this meeting," Mr. Pierer stated. "I have been authorized to offer you both, er, all three of you I mean, official recognition as diplomats of Gaia. That includes diplomatic immunity, dated retroactively to begin at the time of Gaia's speech on the twenty-ninth of September."

He continued with what sounded like a rehearsed speech, "According to regulations we can only conduct negotiations with recognized diplomats, so that is something we'd need to get out of the way up front. And on that note, it would be considered a gesture of goodwill if you would restore power to those Austrian towns and communities that have been cut off since the appearance of that mountain on September twenty-second."

Fersti clarified, "That would be Retz, Niederfladnitz, Merkersdorf, Hofern, Mitterretzbach, and Unterretzbach. There's even more communities on the Czech side, but it will be up to them to negotiate with you regarding their territory."

Pierer added, "We need power restored to more than just the town and villages. It must also be restored along the roads, streets, and farmland that connects those locations. We need to see power returned to those people who've done without for the last two weeks."

My enbyfriend and I glanced at each other again, and it was clear they didn't know what to tell him any more than me. We had no control over that sort of thing, that was the mountain and Gaia herself. Fortunately we had one of her direct representatives right there with us, and he didn't hesitate to deliver the bad news.

"No," Theo replied calmly. "Gaia has reclaimed the territory surrounding her spire, and the ban on human technology in this area was her decision. She has graciously allowed humans to remain on her land, for now, but if they choose to do so it will be without access to their electrical devices."

By the time our wildcat friend had finished speaking Stef and I were both looking down at him in mild surprise. I couldn't help noting that Theo seemed to be taking his job very seriously. In fact I found myself wondering if he was somehow in contact with Gaia already, that maybe she's the one who told him what to say.

Meanwhile the men were staring at him too, and a few of them appeared to be angry rather than surprised. Pierer seemed especially put out, perhaps because his request had been shot down without a moment's hesitation. Or maybe because it was a cute little wildcat who'd done it.

The minister frowned as he insisted, "We are talking about Austrian territory! Those towns and villages are not Gaia's to take. Nor are the privately owned homes, or the farms that have been held for generations."

"And I'm sure I don't need to remind the three of you about the murder that was committed here last week, in front of a dozen witnesses?" he continued in an irritated tone. "An innocent man was killed for no reason, and a second man faced life-threatening injuries. If you're not prepared to make the goodwill concessions we requested, then I won't be able to offer you immunity from prosecution for those crimes."

The implied threat was very clear, considering we were facing a military officer and some sort of undercover agent, not to mention the other armed soldiers who were standing guard around us. The minister obviously wanted us to think we were going to be arrested if we didn't do what he said.

Stef's tail twitched and their ears remained folded back as they stated, "None of us were responsible for that. It was an accident, nothing more. Those guys got too close to that giant stone lightning rod over there."

"That's right!" I nodded. I was about to point out how we helped save the other guy, but quickly changed my mind. Even though witnesses saw that magic happen they didn't know for sure it came from us. And I didn't want to tell them just yet.

Theo turned slightly, shifting his attention away from Minister Pierer. He focused instead on the younger man who'd been busy scribbling down notes during the entire conversation. Our wildcat friend addressed him, "If we are to negotiate with the humans then it will be with Hannes. Since he is the only person here from the ministry of climate and the environment."

The nervous bureaucrat looked up from his notepad with wide eyes and all but gulped, "What? Me?!"

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Lucy who commissioned it! **