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[alt_alice]

We've finished our first summit with the Goblin council. I’ll let Charlie tackle some of the nuances – of which I’m sure I missed many – but on the whole, it was a tentative success. There were some unexpected protocol challenges -- apparently, wands are classed as weapons, and their handling and table placement was a touch tricky, but I, for one, was quite pleased to see our hosts openly displaying their wands, and we followed their example as best as we could.

We have the replacement scepter in hand – it was produced by the goblins during our negotiations. The Goblins require a representative be present to take possession of the true scepter, and Charlie, love, you may have to parse out a bit what they decided regarding the finer points – but I believe once symbolic possession had been achieved, and the scepter had been inspected, their representative was willing to oversee its destruction.

Our negotiations regarding Gringotts is far less settled. We initially believed that our planned method of intrusion would provide the Goblins with a certain degree of plausible deniability, but from what I can gather, in order for our venture to be a success, enough of their security measures would have to be circumvented that they believe it would place them under too much suspicion. They were touchy enough about discussing the specifics of their security measures, and seemed to take a rather dim view of the entire matter. Apparently, getting in isn’t the issue – it’s leaving that’s the sticking point. I attempted to suggest that we might make it seem as if we weren’t aware of said security measures, but that did not have a great deal of traction. And they do have a reputation to maintain, and could fall under uncomfortably close scrutiny once the burglary is discovered – which is inevitable – so I see the difficulty of their position.


At this point, they are aware that we will attempt to access the vault with or without their help, and I believe that we have laid the groundwork for the notion that if they do provide help, it might go better for them in the long term, but I don’t believe they quite trust we’d sufficiently cover for them – trust in general is in rather short supply. Nevertheless, we have our path clear for the scepter to be taken care of, and once that’s done, if there is silence on their end, we will muddle through as best as we can.

Bill, Rachel, how soon might we proceed? Please let us know what additional support you'll require.

Comments

Private Message to Molly

[alt_alice]

Thank you for the lovely note, dearest.

My heart went out to you and yours yesterday, and I'm so very glad to see Ron in good spirits today.

Re: Private Message to Molly

[alt_molly]

I was so relieved...and then I felt guilty for my relief.

Oh, Alice, I hope we find poor Neville soon.

[alt_charlie]

Right, the nuances.

We were meeting with five of the Elders -- Griphook, of course, since he's been the one I've been negotiating with, and then four others, of varying levels of openness to our proposals. (I didn't realise until we got there that they'd appointed Elder Ur-charg to be the Objector -- yeah, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, the person whose job it is to object to everything that gets proposed with all the reasons why it's an awful idea -- which is usually reserved for more antagonistic Arguments than I'd thought this was going to be. Which is why I'm so very glad I wound up being able to make it after all, so I could be the Objector for our side. I'm sorry I didn't have more time to warn you all -- Alice, I thought your eyes were going to bug out of your head the first time I called Ur-charg a son of a rock-pounding goat.)

Protocol got a little dicey in the middle with the wands, like Alice said. I get the impression they're still feeling their own way with those. I can't remember any recorded instance of Goblins meeting with wizards with wands visible. I don't know if it's ever even happened before. So we felt our way around that a bit, but as soon as we realised they were thinking of wands as weapons instead of as tools, we were able to get our footing back a bit.

On the handover, well. I didn't realise until we got there that the sceptre (thankfully) is in a bit of a grey area, in a way that's favourable to our plans -- it isn't one of their Great Treasures, and it wasn't made by one of their Elders or honoured Masters. Nobody knows for sure which Line made it, even, which means the Goblin claim is a lot weaker than I was worried it might be. It's a Goblin work and they'll defend it for sure, but there's no particular Line to speak for the work, it's orphaned.

So, that bit about the symbolic possession, that's because it's a Goblin work -- so by giving it back to them we're acknowledging that it's a Goblin work and they're the rightful owners -- but it's a Goblin work without a Line to speak for it, and that means the Elders as a whole have the right to decide its fate, not the Elder of the Line that owns it. Once we give it over to the Elders, and they take it back into Goblin possession, the original contract under which it was made is fulfilled and they can do what they want with it. Which in this case will be to destroy it. (Well, the word used for 'destroy' is really more the connotation of 'sacrifice', but you get my meaning.)

Since it's been profaned by what's been done to it since it left Goblin hands and it no longer fits kekelochyarg -- the thing the maker intended -- they acknowledge that we know better how to sacrifice it (that was a particulary touchy bit, since it was wizards who broke the kekelochyarg) and so they'll hand it over to us to be sacrificed, as long as at least one of the Elders is there to observe. I think it will probably wind up being Tcharg instead of any of the ones who were actually there, since Tcharg is their current ... well the word is kind of like High Priest and kind of like Head Maker and kind of like 'the one who fixes all your cockups'. I don't know him as well as I know some of the others, I'm afraid.

About Gringotts, I don't know. I thought we were getting somewhere until they all just clammed up. Let's hope that us keeping our side of the agreement with the sceptre will help them to realise we're dealing in good faith.

[alt_alice]

Once I understood you were objecting as a matter of course, that did make my heart start beating properly again.

And having the scepter presented right then and there was unexpected, but in a good way, and I got the impression that they enjoyed their opportunity for a bit of showmanship.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting that, either. I think they got a kick out of the looks on our faces.

I'll teach you lot some good insults for the next Argument in case they appoint another Objector next time. There's a real art to it, you have to be creative without straying into any of the taboo zones. (Don't ever use any sunlight metaphors or compare someone to daylight or anything like that in the context of an Argument, it's a mortal insult. I've never been able to figure that one out. It's only during an Argument. Nobody's ever been able to explain that one to me.)

Overall I think we did pretty well, though. Although I almost wonder if they're objecting so hard to the Gringotts breakin so we'd think they were being reasonable about the sceptre.

[alt_alice]

That angle does make sense. I was concerned that I'd taken too hard of a line by implying we'd move forward with or without their help. But they didn't renege on the scepter, though, which is something.

[alt_alice]

Well, at the very least, they now have a courtesy of a fair warning. I suppose going to Gringotts without letting them know that was our intent regardless would be far worse in the long run.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah. I'm trying to decide if they want us to go ahead without them, or if doing so will damage the alliance. I think it's even odds, and depends on which of them wins on their end.

Merlin. I like the Goblins, but they're exhausting. (Which reminds me, I should give it another few weeks and then go back and see if the Centaurs are ready to talk to us again yet.)

[alt_alice]

You are a prince.

I might ask Albus to go with, if that would help.

[alt_charlie]

Yeah. He'd probably have more luck.

[alt_alice]

They have all the reasons in the world to not believe a word we say.

The Goblins. The centaurs. The werewolves. The people we've enslaved.

And even when we've gained the upper hand (together, so help me) we'll have to keep proving ourselves worthy of their trust, over and over again, and rightly so.

Private Message to Charlie

[alt_alice]

...Apologies.

You're right. It is exhausting.

You did good work today, Charlie. Thank you.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

Haven't I said half a dozen times through all this, you don't ever need to apologise for snapping at me? It's not like you're yelling at me, anyway, and sometimes we just need to yell for a bit.

Anyway I think sometimes this is good practice for us. The learning how to reach people who have very good reasons to distrust and hate us, I mean. Because you're right, someday we're going to win this, all of us together, and we'll have a whole lot of people we're going to have to convince to work with us, to let us help them, to let us help all the things that other wizards fuck up. And it's going to be a long hard slog of figuring out all the prejudices we don't even know we have, even those of us who want to think we don't have any prejudice against Muggles at all, and I think that all the practice we're getting now is going to help.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_alice]

And we'll need to drag our people to the table too.

Practice is a good way to think about it, though.

It's difficult to know whether we're going about this in the right sort of way, and I've a feeling we'll get our fair share of judgement when all is said and done.

But we must keep trying.

You're right to say that it can be especially difficult for people who think they're already enlightened -- who assume they've nothing new to learn as a result.

I suppose this is one way of keeping us honest.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_alice]

...That doesn't mean it's not frustrating as hell to be in the middle of, though.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

Me, I think it's more that people are very good at being complacent, and dislike and disapprove of anything that knocks them out of their usual patterns.

Which just means that we're going to have to think of a bunch of damn good reasons beyond 'because it's the right thing to do', and then spend a lot of time shouting those reasons at the tops of our lungs.

You know. Wasn't there a thing where the Americans wrote a big long list of their grievances with the King, to start off their war? Maybe we should do that too. Publish it everywhere we can and read it out over the radio once a week and keep expanding the list of what they've done wrong.

And, I know how frustrating it is. And how heartbreaking. Especially when it feels like we aren't getting anywhere.

But we are getting places. We're making progress, even if it doesn't seem like. And we have a plan, and things are always better with a plan.

Now go to bed, Fearless Leader.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_alice]

The list is a good idea. I think I shall have to use it.

Thank you.

Good night, love.

Re: Private Message to Charlie

[alt_charlie]

Anytime, Alice. Anytime at all.

Sleep well, you.

[alt_bill]

Sorry for the delay in replying. Rachel and I have been going over the plan with Remus and Tonks, using our memories from the Pensive to plan our strategy. Remus will give you a run down, but we're quite confident we'll be able to make the switch with no one the wiser.

[alt_alice]

Good to hear. Thank you, Bill.