Kosala switched to speaking Hindi with Bandyopadhyay here, the intimacy of their shared strat-language demanding extra honesty with it. She has kindly translated for me.

Kosala: “Do you think the Mitsubishi Hive might split?”

Greenpeace: “No, but there’s been discussion|People will be more comfortable if it’s clear that, if things do turn sour, these properties will still be governed by Greenpeace members, the slice of the Hive that’s likely to be less involved in violence|The landgrab isn’t Greenpeace’s policy, after all|”

Kosala: “Are the properties being offered all Greenpeace-owned?”

Greenpeace: “No|Actually hardly any of them are, but the owners who pledged the land have agreed to Greenpeace Members overseeing things|”

Kosala: “How much of this land comes from Mitsubishi ruling families?”

Greenpeace: “Some, I guess|I’d have to check how much|”

Kosala: “And how soon can I have it?”

Greenpeace: “Today, if you want it|”

Kosala: “I do, but I’m going to sleep on it, run it by some people|Is forty-eight hours alright?”

Greenpeace: “Sure|Oh, there is one other proposal|”

Kosala: “Proposal or condition?” The backroom-savvy Cousin Chair pricked her ears as deer do at the rifle’s loading click.

Greenpeace: “Somewhere between|We want the Cousins to help us push a Senatorial Consult through Romanova|Well, a Blacklaw clarification, actually|”

Kosala: “The set-set law?”

Greenpeace: “No, no|A clarification of the Second Black Law|”

“Now?” I cried aloud as I read the transcript later in the safety of my cell. “You’d bring another assault on the Black Laws now?”

Kosala: “The Second Law?”

Greenpeace: “We want Romanova to officially declare that engaging in combat in designated nature reserves, or transporting or storing war materials there, legally constitutes ‘action likely to result in extensive or uncontrolled destruction of Nature,’ and is thus banned by the Second Black Law|We have a list of about two hundred and fifty thousand individual areas we think are justified in being declared off-limits to the war|”

Kosala: “Doesn’t the Second Law already restrict what can be done in nature preserves?”

Greenpeace: “Yes, but its past interpretations have all related to restricting particular types of equipment or materials|We want to argue that any kind of military action, even just having food stores there, or moving troops through, will give the enemy an incentive to destroy the area, thus endangering Nature|”

Kosala: “You’re asking me to create borders|” I imagine Kosala sighing like some great shaman whose apprentice pledged to join the master’s desert journey of enlightenment, but arrives for embarkation still clinging to a teddy bear.

Greenpeace: “I’m asking you to create borders around rainforests, and orangutans, and baby elephants|We need these borders|”

Kosala: “Creating peace zones means creating war zones|”

Hobbes: “More than that: creating a peace zone is the announcement that you have given up on peace. This will feed fear, and the Will to Battle with it.”