Negotiators from Velmara and Draveland sat down together on Thursday for the first time in six weeks, restarting talks over access to the Kestrel Strait that had stalled after a patrol-boat confrontation left both sides accusing the other of bad faith.

The session, held in the neutral port city of Ostrahn, produced no signed agreement. But delegates from both countries described a shift in tone that had been absent since the talks collapsed in early July.

“We are not there yet, and I want to be careful not to oversell one afternoon,” said a Velmaran delegation spokesperson, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “But for the first time in a long time, the room felt like it wanted an answer, not just a position.”

At issue is a 40-kilometer stretch of water that carries roughly a fifth of the region’s grain exports. Draveland has insisted on inspection rights for vessels transiting the strait; Velmara has called those inspections a pretext for slowing its shipping to a crawl.

Fictional analysts who have tracked the dispute say a narrow technical deal — allowing joint inspection teams rather than unilateral ones — is the most likely off-ramp, if either government can sell it domestically.

“Both sides know what the deal probably looks like,” said a maritime-trade researcher who has briefed regional officials. “The hard part was never the terms. It was finding a moment when neither government looked like it blinked first.”

Talks are expected to resume Friday, with a second, larger session tentatively planned for next week in a location that has not yet been announced.