Jai listened to the man rave and let a small smile curve her lips, when he had done a laugh parted them and she rose from where she knelt. Seeing the look of fury on Jin's face she touched his shoulder and shook her head gently before he could speak, speaking to her man and not to Kev, "Say nothing Jin. Lyr'in sees all and the wheel turns. We always knew another such as he would come, we will bend as the reed and when the storm sweeps away the Norven armies in pain and blood, we will remain. You have known this since your earliest days."<br/><br/>Looking up at her Jin finally nodded his head and rose from his place at the head of the table, bowing to Jai he murmured, "I will see to the stores and the treasury and the grain and gold collected. It will make for a lean winter but if we ration stringently most will survive."<br/><br/>When he left Jai turned her gaze back to the invaders and took Jin's seat at the table, "As you seem to wish to insult my gods and myself I believe I will take over these talks. As High Priestess of Lyr'in it is my right and my people will adhere to my word."<br/><br/>Turning her gaze to Gem she offered a small smile as she spoke, "You are quite correct, your King knows nothing of diplomacy, it seems he knows only rage and violence and thinks them strength. Looking on my people he sees only weakness without knowing anything of us. We believe in balance and we yield to the storms in life as the reed bend in the wind. While the mighty oak cracks and falls to the storm, we rise once more after the winds are gone, battered but still whole."<br/><br/>Looking back to Kev she let her eyes roam over him, eyeing him the way you would eye a horse for purchase, doing all but checking his teeth while he groped the serving girl, "You, Stranger, are crass and brutal. You think us weak and foolhardy but it is not<em>our</em>hubris that will one day be out downfall. You want men and women, both will go with you. I have 100 able priestesses in my care and as you have claimed my body for your own, they will follow me into exile. I will ask for volunteers among our young men. Many in the first blush of young adulthood chafe at our ways and will no doubt leap to join your army. Perhaps upon seeing the live of violence and bloodshed they will realize that home is not so bad after all."<br/><br/>Looking around the Hall she motioned a young servingman forward and spoke to him, her voice gentle but carrying, "Go to the taverns, find the 100 young men he demands and then go to the High Temple and call my priestesses to me; only those in prime childbearing years for I have no doubt their service to these men will be harsh indeed."<br/><br/>When the man left to do her bidding she turned her dark gaze back to the men before her, knowing by now the dark blue would be nearly black, feeling the temper she held in check wanting to boil to the surface but not showing her internal struggle in any way but the darkening of her eyes, "As for our gods, you may place whatever effigies you wish in the temples, for there are none there now. We worship before an empty alter believing our gods faces are unknowable to us just as their ways and thoughts are unfathomable in the shortness of a human life. You can make a people give lip service to your gods but you cannot turn a heart with violence and I cannot turn it with a command. All I can give you in this demand is the appearance of obedience. As for our banners, they are easily drawn down and if you have Norven flags to fly they can easily be raised. If you have no spares our seamstresses can easily stitch them and have them on the ramparts as you wish but they will need to know the design and as guests in Jenta your men will of course be quartered in our homes and their needs satisfied.<br/><br/>Finishing listing his demands and knowing her words would be carried through the city, servants were so good about such things, she found her hands clenched in her lap, her body drawn tight as a bowstring and now she let her eyes flash with the fury that raged within her soul. It had been long since her temper had been let loose but now it was running through her spirit, boiling her blood and carried on the edge of her voice as she never dropped her gaze from Kev'Lach's, "I see why Lyr'in brought you to us. Such rage, such passion and fury and utterly untempered by mercy or compassion. You are a frightful thing and I am honored that Lyr'in would have such faith in her servant to send such quarry to my gates but doubt even I can bring balance to such a soul. You have claimed my flesh as your own, where am I to meet you once I have seen your other demands carried out?"