imperious | dark is the new black

[Guy follows, though he does pause to try and steer the rappig gently with them, when it stops a moment. Once they get to the office he sets the documents down, arranges them in the correct order and urgency. Peony's being unusually eager to work, but it's just something to note.]

Here's the summary report, and here's the border reports.

[when they get to the office, Peony slams the door in Saphir's face before sitting down to look over the documents]

How about you tell me what you think, Gailardia? You know all about these things first hand, so your opinion would be invaluable.

[Guy stops, opens the door for Saphir because he figures Peony must have been distracted or something. The rappig looks confused, but rushes in after a moment, and Guy shuts the door, turns his attention back to reports.]

It's tense. But things are getting better. A history of animosity isn't going to disappear over night, and people hold grudges on the borders. But the peace is being kept. I'm more worried about nobles stirring up trouble for gain again, here or in Kimlasca. Especially Kimlasca--with no foreseeable war it's harder to get promoted or ennobled for service to the kingdom and there's a lot of young bloods who won't be happy with that.

I'm not surprised Kimlasca would pose a problem like that. So, what do you think we should do to protect our people?

Ideally I'd ship them off to work for Anise or something, keep them too busy to scheme. But most of the ones that would be trouble will be the rich and privileged. We can't do much about Kimlasca, we'll have to rely on the King for that. But for any malcontents here... Your Majesty knows the personalities of those in power better than I do.

[There are more then a few he's keeping an eye on, of course, but they haven't done anything particularly suspicious to warrant further snooping on his part.]

For now keeping alert to anything that may threaten the peace I guess. I'm sorry I don't have anything more concrete. The energy crisis is adding it's own dimension of agitation to anyone who'd want to cause trouble.

What about increasing our military presence on the border?

I wouldn't recommend it.

[That's a surprising suggestion, but he doesn't think much of it.]

Why not? It would keep both sides from doing something, right? We can say it's to protect Kimlasca from any of our knights who might act recklessly.

And then they increase their border guard. And then we have two sets of bored soldiers staring at each other across a small strip of land when tempers are already thin. Not to mention we admit to being too incompetent to keep our forces in line.

It's not a good idea.

[It is perfectly okay to tell the Emperor that his plan sucks.]

Maybe we could find a way around something that obvious. What if they weren't uniformed, and were just stationed as farmers and servants working the nearby land? They could keep an eye on things without alerting anyone.

[Now this is getting ridiculous.]

Is there something you know that I don't?

I know history, and so do you.

[a sigh]

I worry, because it's my people that are there on the borders. Their lives are the gamble we're taking when we think that peace is really going to happen. I don't know if I can leave them unprotected like that. I'm wondering if my critics are right when they say I'm too optimistic about the chances of real peace.

[Guy looks at Peony a little oddly, then picks Saphir up and leans on the edge of Peony's desk, casual, but watchful.]

Something's bothering you. Is that really all? Not that it isn't a concern, but that was something to consider when you sent a messenger of peace to Kimlasca and signed the treaty.

I guess it's just the reality of the situation sinking in. Plus, you listen to enough people, and sometimes you start to see reason.

[laughs] Would you believe even an old man like me can still manage to see reason after all these years?

Reason? [More like paranoia. Guy settles Saphir in his arms while the rappig tries to squirm away towards Peony.]

I'd say the situation isn't worse than it's been before. Probably better than it's been in years. If you weren't optimistic, we'd never even be in this situation to begin with. If you'll forgive my saying, Your Majesty, your council, Jade, even I, we're professional pessimists when we need to be. That's our job. Seeing everything that might go wrong and then preparing for it to like it's inevitable. But it's not pessimism that won us peace.

[It feels a little like talking to Luke, only Peony isn't a redheaded idiot.]

There's been peace before, and it always falls apart. Over and over and over. What if this peace is just a false sense of security? We can't be unprepared.

How long do you want it to last? I'd like peace forever, myself, but I don't think humans are that advanced. I think we can make it stick for a while, at least. I don't know how we can do more than that, but I'm up to brainstorming.

All right. So what ideas do you have then?

Short of asking Jade to fix things permanently? Take it a day at a time. And stay twenty steps ahead of the bastards that would ruin it for their own gain.

Or we could just ask Jade to fix things permanently.

[his tone is joking]

[Guy laughs.] Haha, that'd be nice.

[But more seriously he glances at Peony.]

Is there anything that put this on your mind?

A lot of things. People are getting more worried about the state of things, and I hear those worries. It's made me start thinking that I might've been naive about things.

It's a weird situation. People worry more than normal, there Score isn't there to rely on. People don't know how to deal with that, it makes them more accountable, and responsibility is stressful.

Your decisions have always been what you thought were the correct actions, right?

Yeah, but look at what other people have done in the name of what they thought was right. Look at the God Generals. Look at Mohs.

I can't dispute that. But if you're thinking about it, doesn't that make you already different than they were? It's not inherently bad to stick to your ideals, as long as you can look at things from the other perspective as well.

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imperiator.livejournal.com - 2011-08-21 17:28 (UTC) - Expand

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explains - 2011-08-21 18:17 (UTC) - Expand