Finally, we were standing at the border, the scene, from the outside, would undoubtedly be rather funny. About thirty centaurs all trying hide behind an elf, and one young centaur being restrained by said elf.
"Darrell, stand still please."
I said to the centaur I was holding by the arm.
"I want to see the ogres!"
"I realise that, but it won't do you much good if they don't know what you're saying now will it?"
"Well, no I guess not."
"Good. Now just stay here while I go and look for them."
Really I was just making an excuse to get away, the Ogres undoubtably already knew we were here, at this point I was beginning to wonder if I could convince Ogres to eat Centaurs!
This was not the same area I had been in before, but the Ogre tribe was just as reasonable. They took me back to their camp, as I suspected they were already aware of the centaurs presence. They agreed to grant the centaurs safe passage and protection from humans until all of them arrived and decided what to do.
That was the easy part, the difficult parts were convincing the centaurs that the seven foot tall furry Ogres were not going to eat them, keeping Darrell out of the water, trying to convince the centaurs to speak human so they could communicate with the Ogres, convincing the Ogres that the Centaurs did appreciate the help despite the complaints.
Anyway it went on for several hours and nothing was achieved. Finally, I stood up and spoke, very loudly, first in Centaur then in Ogre.
"If you want to stay here all day and argue like a bunch of humans, go right ahead. I am going for a walk, you can sort yourselves out!"
Dragging my feet through ankle deep green muck did very little for my mood. I found a relatively dry patch of grass to sit on and, well, I sat and looked at plants. Not a terribly interesting way to pass the time, but it was relaxing and improved my mood.
That was where I stayed until one of the Ogres came to find me. She explained politely that the two groups had settled their differences but needed my translation skills to settle the details.
"I'm glad you got it sorted out."
I stood up and followed her back. The rest of the day was somewhat tedious but far more productive and resulted in the first cross species treaty.
Present:
"That explains a lot," says Ani'ca. "I don't suppose you have a copy of the treaty?"
"No," replies Lheora, "but I can remember all the details and record them on parchment for you in about a minute."
"Another new trick?"
"Yes. It is very handy for record keeping."
"So the centaurs with you were safe and we have records for the others but I would like to hear what happened to you. Did you stay with the Ogre group?"
"No. Thankfully, the two groups could speak human well enough between them to communicate. I, on the other hand, was suffering from an overwhelming need to travel alone."