“I know what this is.”
She stands, holding the arrow in her two claws. Grasping it in one, she begins to pace a bit.
“You should know, too. This is the symbol of the old Pact. Before history… before the empire, before humans… the Demon Lord of Agony invaded Materia. This arrow is a symbol for what it took to defeat him. The diamond-tipped, unbreakable hardness of the dwarven vanguard. The straightness, the flexibility of the elven skirmishers. And then the swiftness and the final guidance of the orcish cavalry. It is said that the generals argued for twenty hours and nearly came to blows over their final battle plan. The dwarves wanted to bait an attack into their fortified mountainhomes. The elves wanted a more elaborate feint. The orcs didn’t want to join a central command for the battle. There was a common thread to their concerns. The mountainhomes were safe for the dwarves; they could retreat deeper. A feinting scheme gave the elves more routes to retreat and regroup. A central command prevented orc tribes from calling individual retreats if they needed to. But when they finally agreed, it was all swept away. All of the mortals of Materia would fight together, and they would win or perish in the attempt. This arrow symbolizes all of that.
“It means… this Gremoira… it means that this is important. Life-or-death importance. It also means that he’s serious that he respects the dwarves. When he says that this Durad-Om is sacred to the both of them, he means it, that they’re in it together. He’s frustrated that they won’t honor his requests. And… this also means that we’re the outsiders here. He wants us to stay out of their business. He wants to avoid drawing us into it.”
-Lónghua