"Your Excellency, I'm empowered—"
"Not here, you're not!" Qorn trumpeted. "Want peace, do you? Well, I don't want peace! I've had a surfeit of peace these last two centuries! I want action! Loot! Adventure! Glory!" He turned to look down the table. "How about it, fellows? It's war to the knife, eh?"
There was a momentary silence from all sides.
"I guess so," grunted a giant Qornt in iridescent blue with flame-colored plumes.
Qorn's eyes bulged. He half rose. "We've been all over this," he bassooned. He clamped bony fingers on the hilt of a light rapier. "I thought I'd made my point!"
"Oh, sure, Qorn."
"You bet."
"I'm convinced."
Qorn rumbled and resumed his seat. "All for one and one for all, that's us."