By later in the day, the mana levels in the capitol had risen back up to the elevated levels that the dwarves had come to expect. Considering the dwarves consider the eagles to be powerful protectors and we consider them to be something of a nuisance on our island, I hope that many choose to return to the dwarven capitol from our island. I asked around and got information on what exactly happened to the eagles during the war.

We had a few show up over time, but it wasn't until ParTor was broken that a large number showed up all at once. While the details aren't exactly known, the dwarves estimate that around 60% of the eagles were killed fighting demons. They've found areas with large numbers of charred bones, which they presume where where inedible portions of the eagles were disposed of. From what I could gather, it seems like the eagles, while quite effective against smaller forces, struggle against coordinated powerful individuals. I know from experience that with clever tactics it's possible to kill them as I myself have done so. I'm guessing that the eagles probably did slow down the demons from advancing for a time, especially around the capitol, but eventually they were overwhelmed just like the dwarves themselves were.

While I waited for the banquet, I had the opportunity to meet back up with Zaka, to discuss how things had gone on his end. From what he said, things went pretty smoothly, the discussion with Kao to pay us some amount of the owed debt early so we could distribute it to the dwarves we brought along went well. Shasta assisted in determining the exact amount that should be paid and distributed, based on the prices of goods that they'd seen around town and how long they planned on staying for. While it was a decent chunk of money, it was quite a bit less than the total contribution of the dwarves on our island, so it wasn't exactly that much of a negative either.

We haven't brought all the dwarves back to the mainland, and many of those that we brought along still have family on our island. Zaka was informed that there would be some kind of meeting two days from now to discuss the exact details of our cultural exchange cities. I'd imagine there will be quite a bit of bureaucratic effort to relocate people between locations. With many smaller villages on the mainland completely destroyed, some dwarves will probably be more than willing to relocate to our island, while some on our island may want to return to their homeland. Oversight and approval of those decisions will probably have to be a joint political effort between both our country and the dwarves'.

I also had the chance to read what Kao's speech was. While much of it was what I'd expected with statements about having overcome adversity and rebuilding stronger than they were before, I had not expected that we'd be the only other country mentioned in his speech. Before he mentioned ParTor, he'd made statements that, while demons may have been the invaders, that Kembora, a nation of demons, was also the reason they were able to reclaim their homeland. He'd also mentioned that he intended to deepen their ties with us to repay our assistance, at which point he then mentioned that we graciously had even replaced ParTor as a gift.

While some dwarves might be reluctant to accept us, the speech probably goes a long way to differentiating us in the public's mind. Of course, it also paints a bit of a target on our back politically for other nations. Us being the only ones called out by name in the new dwarven king's coronation speech means that regardless of whether other nations want to accept it or not, we're a player on the world stage. That means nations will probably begin trying to establish political ties. I'm glad that this will almost certainly be a different minister's problem to solve.

Envoys from various nations were all present at the banquet. Zaka and myself were seated with the dwarves, reinforcing the image that Kao had started to establish with his speech, while most other envoys were situated with their own races at their own tables. Not all were, however, as some of the humans, whom I recognized from earlier trade negotiations in the war were also intermingled with dwarves.

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The dwarven tables were also much closer to the head table, which I assumed indicated something about our relationship. In previous banquets I'd been to with dwarves, there were certain rituals that were followed related to drinking, but it seems they were being forgone for this particular banquet. Considering only about 1/4 of the guests were actually dwarves, that could be the reason for it. I also recall that those rituals normally happened on the first night of arrival, so perhaps they had already had an initial banquet themselves days ago, and did all of that.

The banquet, while partially to celebrate the coronation, was more focused on celebrating the end of the war and the reclamation of the dwarven continent. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the event itself, but I had envisioned something pretty normal, focused on a dinner and some thankful words. What actually happened, however, was very different than that. While it opened up that way, Kao then encouraged everyone to intermingle and begin discussing matters related to rebuilding.

I was a little confused, so I asked a dwarf sitting nearby to help explain what he meant. Apparently, after a war against a demon king like this, it's customary for whatever country was most afflicted to host a banquet where open deals can be struck between regional lords to assist in the rebuilding of their region. There is frequently extreme damage, which would take decades to repair from the ground up. Seating is usually oriented in a way to favor those more local to the region or those more favored to actually assist. Many of the humans that were seated among the dwarves, for example, represent regions around Bonbordon and the previous kingdom of Rathland, which are territories closest to the dwarves.

It seems like a lot of thought went into where everyone sits. After some asking around, I've realized that Zaka and myself were seated near dwarves representing regions that historically had large harbors, which makes sense for how effectively we could potentially assist them. Basically, anyone was allowed to get up and say or do anything within the social setting involved, but most of the dwarves remained seated near their geographic neighbors. That generally preventing private deals from getting struck that would prevent a neighboring region from getting too good or too bad of a deal.

Not that the process was meant to be exploitative though. From the offers I was hearing, it did seem to be pretty fair deals getting brought up. Most of the offers were for laborers in exchange for promises of resources. Rebuilding demolished city walls, buildings, and roads takes a lot of hands to accomplish, which is one of the things we don't really have to offer. For the most part, the dwarves have plenty of their own resources as well, since most things are built from stone around the continent. As such, there really wasn't even much need for us to transport goods, though we did negotiate to bring in food at a pretty steep discount for the cities with harbors to help them feed the workforces that will be coming in to rebuild.

With most of the giant clams gone, we've been producing more food than we've needed for some time now. Most of the fish meat has gone back into the ocean as chum and bait to catch large fish, since our industries are quite reliant on fish fat for producing nitroglycerin, lubricants, and soap.

At the end of the banquet, we were given a list of dates and times spaced out over many months when future trade meetings will be occurring. After basic provisions are taken care of, given the degree of destruction that happened during this war, it was decided that a lot of industry and previously established trade would likely no longer be relevant, and so new trade deals and agreements should be established. Considering everything, I'd say that in addition to this being Kao's entrance into the world stage as the king of the dwarves, it was, to a lesser degree, our entrance as well as a recognized political entity on the international scale.

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