Lenore pondered over the question, reconsidering the importance of it just in case she'd missed something, before settling upon her opinion. "I did not go to the area itself, but I think the evidence of their stories is clear enough. Actively diverting a river is a massive undertaking, but Bogun didn't see any such activities on his guarded border. Both of them spoke dismissively of the land in question. Bogun wanted recompense for the lost land, but he didn't make any mention of lost farms or villages. If he was using it at all, it wasn't anything of value."
Her eyes roamed idly over Dracula's form, interested in how he seemed so much more relaxed in her presence. She worried that her results in this matter might be seen as a failure, since what she'd uncovered was purely about hurt feelings on both sides, and she had no actual solutions as of yet.
"I had hoped that there would be something they both wanted, something that could be negotiated between them, but they're ... they want to expand but they prevent each other's expansion, and neither is stronger enough than the other to--" She stops, head tilting a little and eyes flicking back and forth over unseen thoughts as she considers a new idea. Sitting forward once she has enough of the idea to present, Lenore talks faster, a little bit inspired and trying to shape out the idea as she talks. "Their expansion is prevented by each other on their shared border, and their other borders are you, a sea, and the Ottomans. Whose expansion is already a source of concern for us. They are one of our front lines, and we could position them to be one of the most important front lines. I know that I'm no general, and the battle logistics of this are beyond me. I was thinking that the best I could do would be to work on them both, soothe their pride and soften their anger toward each other. But if they have a more important enemy to focus on ...
"We need not make any moves toward the Ottomans. That decision and timing--I can't advise on that. I can help to investigate and I can go to the Ottomans as your envoy, but otherwise I know that advising on war or not is not my place. But we could tell Bogun and Predimir to make ready, to be ready, to prepare their defenses and gather their armies. They can't keep up their petty quarrel if they have more important priorities and a true threat on the horizon."
no subject
Her eyes roamed idly over Dracula's form, interested in how he seemed so much more relaxed in her presence. She worried that her results in this matter might be seen as a failure, since what she'd uncovered was purely about hurt feelings on both sides, and she had no actual solutions as of yet.
"I had hoped that there would be something they both wanted, something that could be negotiated between them, but they're ... they want to expand but they prevent each other's expansion, and neither is stronger enough than the other to--" She stops, head tilting a little and eyes flicking back and forth over unseen thoughts as she considers a new idea. Sitting forward once she has enough of the idea to present, Lenore talks faster, a little bit inspired and trying to shape out the idea as she talks. "Their expansion is prevented by each other on their shared border, and their other borders are you, a sea, and the Ottomans. Whose expansion is already a source of concern for us. They are one of our front lines, and we could position them to be one of the most important front lines. I know that I'm no general, and the battle logistics of this are beyond me. I was thinking that the best I could do would be to work on them both, soothe their pride and soften their anger toward each other. But if they have a more important enemy to focus on ...
"We need not make any moves toward the Ottomans. That decision and timing--I can't advise on that. I can help to investigate and I can go to the Ottomans as your envoy, but otherwise I know that advising on war or not is not my place. But we could tell Bogun and Predimir to make ready, to be ready, to prepare their defenses and gather their armies. They can't keep up their petty quarrel if they have more important priorities and a true threat on the horizon."