He'd rushed through his introductory speech a little hastily. It still felt like he was being put on trial, sitting before many of his fellow Councillors and peers, but then he'd brought it on himself, asking them for help. Some small part said he should have just gone by himself under a cloak of anonymity and gotten the job done in secret, as had always been on the table, but he'd never hear the end of it from everyone involved, even if it wasn't strictly against any rules he'd seen before. No different than someone capturing and training their own Scalv Sohr Khal, no matter how much noise was made to the contrary.
Oram spoke up first, and Nir'wei nodded, but corrected him quickly. "Access to the Stormwastes, yes. A base of operations or anything similar is completely out of the question, however. This would need to be carefully negotiated on their terms, but we'd focus on a small team of skilled individuals, working directly with the Lightning Knights as assistance. At best, a small squad or two of Elements and a Ranger hunting pack for guidance, reinforcing a group of civilian naturalists." A mixture of all three would be most likely to put everything necessary on the ground at once, and would leave questions on the actual numbers looking smaller than they actually were. "Our goal is to bag two fliers. Male and female. They'll be briefed on what to look for and how. Naturalists extract and retreat." He was concerned though by what Oram had meant - his brows pressing close at the mention of children.
Zana, however, had much more positive information to relay, and he found himself doing little more than nodding along for the most part. She'd done her homework - though he waited until she'd thrown all the questions she'd prepared, then glanced between her and Oram questioningly. "It's interesting that you've taken all the time to research my friends and acquaintances, but not thought to look into my previous employment." He was almost tempted to honestly question if they'd thought he'd fixated on the Jacadons for no other reason than he'd heard some pretty cool stuff about them one time. "In case you weren't familiar, yes, I am good friends with Faith Augustin. We first met in Rynmere, where she was a slave to some Venoran noble, and I had just taken my first job as an animal handler in the Skye Verath Lodge - maintaining, breeding, and training the Volareons and Jacadons used by the Rynmere Sky Knights. I learned under their Jacadon Expert, Gaspard Verath. Over a full arc... so, skill would be appropriate." More than enough time to become quite familiar with the creatures, though his work had more often than not revolved around the less-famed Volareon with Poppy. "I feel confident I could teach Rharne representatives in proper care and management, as well as train them in riding."
His mouth twisted slightly as he thought a little more. "As for anyone else... unless Gaspard himself was forced into fleeing, you won't find anyone else. Especially not a rider, short of an actual Sky Knight. I also have a few links to Rharne myself. A good deed involving saving a town square from Faldrun, while he was still alive, that earned me a signet of the Lightning Knights to call in favours. A few gifts from Ilaren herself as well. I was once almost a Lightning Knight. Didn't quite cut it."
Nir'wei was about to turn to Rand, who'd remained silent, but Kura spoke up instead. He couldn't mask his surprise at her criticism - he'd expected more of it to come from the Militant than her, though it was clear she wasn't categorically opposed at the least, and that meant there was room to make his case. "I was going to get to that part." His face didn't move from Kura, but his eyes slid to Rand again, and he sighed in slight resignation. "The Elements, as they stand right now, don't stand a chance in hell of handling the Jacadons, either as riders or as combatants when something goes wrong. Left loose and without anything in place to properly contain them, they could cause quite a bit of damage to unsuspecting civilians, plenty of harm to parts of forests or jungles. But. I feel confident we can put something in place before then, if given the time to work closely with a team or two of the best and brightest." His gaze slid back to Kura. "I take lead of a team of Air Elements and they'll be ready to answer any Jacadon threat, with Jacadons themselves. The ecosystem will be strained, but I am confident it will handle it. I'm more worried about the Jacadon being killed by our wildlife than I am the Jacadon causing trouble in ours - and if worst comes to worst, we have our own region with little natural wildlife for competition, after its volcano erupted. Plenty of people nearby that'll be happy for an influx of Elements and Rangers for business." Faldrass did always seem to get the new toys, didn't it.
"Who gave you the authority to run a team of Air Elements?" Rand spoke up at last. His voice was firm, but unlike Kura, there was an edge of steel to it.
There it was. Nir'wei swung back. "I told you, the Elements aren't prepared to handle this. I can, but if I'm going to do it and do it right, I need a guarantee that what I say, they do. That means I have operational control on Jacadon matters. Whatever they do for you is your business, but when they're on Jacadons? I decide what they can and cannot do."
Anyone else might have looked like they'd been smacked. Most might look ready to smack back. Rand was unreadable. Just the level of stoic calm on his face through it all was frankly intimidating. "If you believe that is how this works, you have misjudged the Elements very poorly," he replied in a tone laced with disappointment. "You're in no position to be making these demands. The Alberach is correct. These Jacadon sound more trouble than they're worth."
"So, pray tell, what happens when I bring one back from Rharne?" Caution to the wind. Propriety be damned. "Just a single one. They fly, so it could be done. Stormwastes, Stormlakes - I walk right in, get one, come back. What happens to your Air Elements and the reputation to the population if I do whatever I want, maybe become a mercenary for hire or a vigilante, and you can't stop me, because I have something you can't compete with, barring setting up ballistae at every village. What happens if it's not me, if it's someone with a slightly less savoury reputation? What if there's more than one of me? Gonna lose half our Enormowls, maybe more, against a lone rogue? Because you couldn't swallow enough pride to make sure we were ready?"
It was a little far-fetched, and he knew it, but there was technically nothing stopping that exact scenario from happening, however unlikely, and the results were bleak. "Jacadon also aren't like Enormowls or Storm Rocs. They aren't even close to a Scalv Sohr Khal. They bond with their rider at a young age with an emotional connection that makes them almost incapable of working with another human, and they only do it once in their lifetime. That means every Air Element capable of riding them also has to train and care for them until they can be convinced to not snap at the necks of any other trainer that tries to get close. Every specimen pulled for your team is another permanently removed from the breeding pool, since it replaces their mating bond and makes them incapable of siring. Combine that with the sheer power of one, and a capable rider... if this is going to work at all, it's this, or nothing. There's no negotiation."
