Organizing a diplomatic conference between two hostile powers was never as simple as sending out two letters with the words, "You had best make peace!"
The very thought was laughable.
No, such endeavors were a maze of plans made over other plans, where every choice, down to the smallest detail, carried weight.
Where the delegates would sit, what banners would hang above the hall, who poured the wine, all of it could be read as a statement, a concession, or an insult. But the greatest question of all, the one that had to be resolved before pens even touched parchment, was where to hold the meeting.
That decision was everything.
Allowing the conference to unfold on the soil of one belligerent was unthinkable, both practically and symbolically. It was not simply a matter of safety, though the risk of assassination or military coercion could never be discounted.
