Regent Tanzband was seen travelling to the east after he had finished the year's Budget and rearranged German Economy. It seemed to be finally getting back on the right track - not that it was bad, yet there had been so much room for improvement. He was tired, but he had still other relevant tasks ahead.

He stops at a small town by the Dutch Border together with his moderate security convoy and then moves to a small palace that his family had owned for several generations now. He sits down by the entrance and takes out a newspaper which he starts to read. He seemed almost like just another common man from this town, if it weren't for the few Panzer escorts.

The Dutch representatives should be arriving sometime soon. He waited.

Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Van Oranje travelled by car to a relatively unused estate just across the German border. It was quite lovely, though the Panzers seemed to detract from the medieval beauty of the building and its surroundings. Despite this, he entered the building and found himself in a large hall. Once in the hall, he was called to another room just near him by a man. He recognized the man as the Regent of Deutschland, the man with whom he was sent to speak.

"Good day, Regent."

Tanzband stands up right away yet not in a hurry and then moves forwards to shake the Minister's hand. Then he heads inside, opening the door there himself to go sit at an armchair. A few drinks, both alcoholic and not are prepared on a small table. It was a low profile meeting, wishing to avoid the hassle of the free press.

"Just on time." - Tanzband sits down.

"So. How are things on the west? I understand that at this point with your given stability and the medium term success of the revolution you guys are looking to get the rest of your tribes back within your borders?"

And by that, he was more specific than what it may seem. Nearby was a map in digital paper showing their borders, but with several more annotations.

"I guess I can say the same..!"

The Minister remained calm and cool in his presence, taking a drink of scotch while Tanzband was talking and then a sip of water before he made his reply. His suit, which was of black material with a red tie and a white shirt, began to curl near his waist and his pants, also black, rode up near the ankles so that his black socks were visible several inches up his ankles. He moved his right leg up higher than the left, then moved his right ankle and rested it on his left knee, grabbing his right knee with his right hand in a relaxed manner. His left arm rested on the table and his shoulders remained relaxed as his head began to move with his hands. His hands helped him to speak, and he could not remember a time when he did not talk with his hands.

"The Netherlands are quite well under our current administration. It has been a time of exceptional stability in the country and it has created an environment where all people can feel truly equal, and proud of their country. More and more people are living under great conditions, conditions that are ever improving in the Netherlands. And again you are correct on the whole of our tribes."

He took a long sip of his water, draining it to a half-full glass. The liquid shook as he took it away from his mouth, and then rippled when he set it down on the table.

"Sir, I cannot stress enough the how important Frisian unity is to Magan de Vries. And I can certainly understand German unity and its importance to you and your nation. I come on behalf of Magan to discuss with you things that you already know are going to be discussed. Frisia is an ancient kingdom, and its people have since dispersed around the world and throughout Europe, though there is still a large concentration of them in what is known as Frisia and the Friesland. We seek to gain this, and I understand that you are willing to assist us with this. We are also most willing to assist you with German unity."

"Normally I would be glad to give you all of the Friesland, which, after all, is not a large territory...as long as the locals there would agree, of course. Regretfully, I do not own all of Friesland. But I would like to help you out. After that, once you have my Friesland, you'll have new Neighbors. Maybe you can talk to them. We do not cross a word with 'em. Their Government hates us. They're truly psychotic."

Tanzband takes a sip of wine and continues.

"Either way you'll find fortifications both at the coast and borders. We built those before we had a Navy. Either way the current issue is that if we wished to use our navy for defence, we'd first need to shoot our way through Lübeck. They refuse to allow our military ships through. But as we're not planning on war we're fine for now."

"Finally I must say that as you can see we've invested a lot on the area. Just giving it away would not only be a bad thing for us but also would tend to enrage our people. Is there some type of compensation that you may have in mind for this? I'm sure you do."

And another sip of wine.

The delegate sighed regretfully. He knew that he had nothing to offer, and his only offer was, indeed, a long shot that he did not think would work, but desperately needed to. His mind then flickered with a new idea. Suddenly it seemed plausible that this deal would go through. His eyelids lowered from their surprised, thinking state, and he spoke smoothly, adjusting his leg from its crossed position in the process.

"Sir, I have no land that you would be truly interested in, that is to say that I cannot offer you a direct trade for Frisia. However, I can offer you two other things. Not money, but promises. First, if the Netherlands were ever to acquire any more land, I swear to you that any part of it that is not principally Dutch will go straight to Germany until the land given to Deutschland is the same as granted to us.

Second, I can promise you our Army. One of the best in Europe, we would be willing to use it to defend you against any attack, without any obligation from you in return. We would be willing to lay down our lives for you, and ask just this small bit of land in return, a small bit that unites the Dutch people almost fully."

He reached into his briefcase confidently and pulled out a map, placing it on the table after moving the two mugs out of the way.



"The land we seek is in dark grey."

"So be it then. The German Friesland will be yours. However, let me add a condition. If your nation - may Odin forbid it - may fall, we would move to take these territories back. But only if the option is to have some other foreign nation own this, and if all hope is lost. As for our defence, that is a most interesting proposal. Our northern and southern neighbors have allied out of the blue, we fear that they may be conspiring against us. But with this extra security, we can now sleep more soundly."

"We'll have the paperwork made ready then. In a few days we should be able to make the announcement."

Within the next half an hour, two versions of the treaty were brought, one, the public version, simply dealt with the transferring of German Frisia to the Dutch.

The private version also contained the secret "one-sided defense pact" clause, as well as the rest of the details.

Tanzband would sign right away, and in the next 24 hours the young Kaiser would sign as well as Tambarskjelve. Once that the Dutch signatures were there, the fates would be sealed.

As soon as Tanzband had signed it, as he would do it first as he was the senior delegate at this meeting, van Oranje took out his favorite pen, a black fountain pen from Carthage, brought back to him by his son, who had gone to Morocco on a peacekeeping mission during Carthage's early expansionist phase, and he signed it with his name. The treaty then went back to Amsterdam for ratification by President de Vries, and once that had been done, both would be done and one would be formally announced to the world.

"Mr. Tanzband, it has truly been an honor doing business with you. I very much hope that we can meet again in the future to once again discuss our countries fates and how our futures will become intertwined. I wish you a good day, and I wish your country good luck in its endeavors, know that you will have the support of the RSSN even if we do not publicly acknowledge it. However, our steel shall always defend your people.

Good morrow, Mr. Tanzband."

"We will look forwards to our next meeting. Take care, and may you give your peoples fulfilling lives!"

Tanzband salutes.

--------------------------

A week later, the transfer of the German Friesland to the Dutch was announced. The Official Polls had run for a day, and 72% of the people had favored the transfer, the rest either opposing it or being indifferent. Those who opposed it and wished to stay German, were paid a large sum by the Government to make their relocation not a trouble but instead almost a luxury.

Everything had worked well. It seemed like an outright gift, but with this, Germany had obtained safety.