Karal rubbbed his forehead. "There are people, Companions, who are certain that the final solution, the permanent barrier to the mage storms will have to involve Hardorn, and that is the country they have occupied. Conditions are desperate over there, for the Imperials and the Hardornens both. But no one on the Grand Council would ever consider offering them a place in the Alliance. So my thought was that...maybe the Alliance could go to them. Maybe I could go to them. If the Imperials approached the Grand Council, then they would have to listen."