Trials of Sovereign and State

[hYGP]

"My friends, rally to me."

---

I knew Ophelia.

I knew where she would seek to make the biggest impact. Where she, alone, could change the tide of the battle raging all over the city.

The place most venerated by Order, which surely now had light streaming down from the heavens as the rest of the city was plagued by smoke and storm.

The Star of the City, erected on the outskirts of the capital for fear of disrupting the precise geometries that designed it. A bastion fort of precise angles and berms, meant to repel armies of men and mobs of heathens, rather than the Dragons which Oskaria was supposed to be most afraid of.

The perfect emblem for what had happened, this long century half-asleep. Without external enemies, the Compact's true enemy had become the country itself, and its guns pointed accordingly.

From there, new paladins could rest and refresh, before visiting their divine fury on the rest of the innocent city.

[Common Sense]

An army would struggle to take that fort with ten years.

We were going to try and take that fort with a mob in ten hours.

Ophelia knew all of this.

So she'd try to resolve the problem under her own power.

(After all, that's how I would solve the problem.)

If you told me the Maiden of Light could destroy the fortress, I would believe you. That was just a reflection of how powerful that Maiden was. Ophelia knew all of this. So she must surely be considering how to become the Maiden of Light once again.

I didn't know her well enough to know where we was right now.

But I knew her well enough to know where she would be going.

So that was there I needed to go.

I gripped the stone, Borde's necklace, in my hand. I could feel an immense pressure pouring through it, as though something was pressing on the other side of the door, and instead I grabbed my soul and pounded on the door. Colorless hands let go of your spirit…

"Rally to me," I whispered, and it was like a drumbeat thrum through my soul. "My friends, my allies, my comrades. There is a battle yet to be fought, and a war yet to be won. Rally to me, Captain Aisha."

June said he heard my voice, clear as day, from where they were helping old man Giuseppe get the last of his things out.

Mr. Thompsons said he felt something and grabbed his weapons to rush here as quickly as possible.

Aunt Betty heard me and offered a prayer for the higher spirits to watch over me.

Tara said nothing, only bracing a sword on her shoulder and a smirk on her face.

Deacon scowled and rushed through the door as fast as possible.

Nezhin smiled softly.

"You're more talented than you give yourself credit for," she said.

I gave her a wan smile. This isn't talent like that. I knew that talent is no substitute for effort. That was just remembering something that I should have never forgotten.

I struck out for the Star of the City the fastest path I knew; the shortest possible route.

In our way was the riotous streets of the Capital, some barricades erected around it, and footsoldiers blessed by Order.

But I was lucky enough to not be alone. Tara was there with me, and my National Guard unit soon followed.

The two of us became twenty, and all of my friends came.

June found us soon after we began, and he pointed me towards the streets that we should take to get to our destination.

He brought his friends and the people following him because "someone knew what was going on", and twenty became two hundred.

We kept moving, through the barricades and the streets. When we were challenged, we presented our medals, Mr. Thompson showed them the stamp he used to sign the broadsheet in their hands, and then there were five more of us.

Still the call went out, and all of my allies came.

Two hundred became two thousand.

As we moved from the heart of the neglected city towards the outskirts, we saw Order's influence more and more. Small groups of radiant blessed, roaming through the streets beating those unsheltered or between invalid work. Small groups of radiant blessed, demolishing and torching unauthorized shelters.

They came to block our passage, by force if necessary.

[Melee: 4 + 3]

I reminded them of the futility of their efforts.

And still that beating heart called.

Two thousand became twenty thousand, and all of my comrades on this day were here.

We were an earthquake and a tide of flesh through the streets. Angry bakers, riotous students, furious fishwives. The children without homes. The mother who'd seen that and decided today was the day she stopped turning away. The thrice-struck veteran, who still limped where the pegleg didn't fit right, and the nun supporting him.

I was in control only by being in front. I had only called them up, and given them someone to rally around. From the moment I had left the confines of my own unit, I had lost command. This was a mob, not an army. But the distinction is hard to tell, until the bleeding begins.

As we approached the Star, the radiant blessed were clearly preparing a final stand before the unstoppable tide.

But before I reached that place, Lieutenant Almiers pulled alongside me.

"You've assembled quite the army. General Theodosia has a plan for how to take the Star, if you'll follow his command. It's the only guaranteed way to take the Star and put an end to this fighting."

[] "I hear you. I will comply."

[] "My objective isn't the Star."

 

[dreamdweller]

[X] "My objective isn't the Star."

 

[Nevill]

Soooo... what are we choosing between? It's not like the two objectives are unrelated.

Submitting to the commander and taking down the Star (which may fulfill Ophelia's objective and thus relieve her of her duty), or... finding Ophelia, and then what?

I suppose in the former choice we might not make it before Ophelia somehow completes the ritual (how? not all of the components are in place), and in the second one we may be sustaining higher casualties.

Is this a dilemma between public and personal duty, then? The mob/army we gathered are people who know us, yet are not ours to command them as we will. We can turn them over to the rightful authority who would put them to "greater good", or utilize this resource to save someone we feel personally responsible for.

 

[hYGP]

Soooo... what are we choosing between? It's not like the two objectives are unrelated.

Submitting to the commander and taking down the Star (which may fulfill Ophelia's objective and thus relieve her of her duty), or... finding Ophelia, and then what?

I suppose in the former choice we might not make it before Ophelia somehow completes the ritual (how? not all of the components are in place), and in the second one we may be sustaining higher casualties.

Is this a dilemma between public and personal duty, then? The mob/army we gathered are people who know us, yet are not ours to command them as we will. We can turn them over to the rightful authority who would put them to "greater good", or utilize this resource to save someone we feel personally responsible for.

Click to shrink...

As an officer, the correct decision as per hierarchy is to report to your superior, and with this many forces behind you that's very very good for him. Please understand, however, that once you report in as his subordinate, you will be taking orders from him; your goals and his orders may conflict.

Otherwise, much of your other speculation is fair and on point. This can be seen as a dilemma between personal and public trust, and it can be seen as a dilemma between how much you trust Theodosia your general to have your interests at heart.

 

[Nevill]

We can trust Theodosia to have our interests at heart so long as they are not in conflict with the interests of the revolution, or the city. Then the question becomes: do we have any reason to assume they could be conflicting?

I still have no idea what Ophelia is doing.

As for Theodosia himself, during our brief encounter the man questioned us and not vice versa, so we don't have that deep of an insight into him. Still, there are two pieces that stand out:

Spoiler

Theodosia leaned back. "My question remains the same, but I see now that I should explain myself, so I shall. In my experience as an officer, most young recruits come to war bringing some starry-eyed idealism. But when the fighting and the dying starts, most of them will abandon their ideals, for in the mud and the blood their ideals will have abandoned them first. War is unkind to idealists, Aisha, and a revolution is quite the war indeed."

Click to shrink...

"Despite that, you were there first, Captain, and you were the last one out." Theodosia said. "That's important because it means you were at the forefront, and you are the face everyone remembers from that fiasco. I need you there."

"And you think this is the best way I can contribute now?" I asked.

"Absolutely. Your reputation makes you the perfect candidate for this job. I don't believe I have a single better candidate for this task."

"Are you so certain that I could do the same thing again? And even if I could, would you want me to?" I said.

"A general must take risks," Theodosia shrugged. "I will choose to believe in my most capable subordinates. As we have more need of you, I sincerely hope you will do the same."

Click to shrink...

He is opposed to starry-eyed idealism, but he believes in his subordinates and is willing to take risks betting on them. A conflicting message in our circumstances (since saving a friend definitely counts as being idealistic), but given that we took care of Borde for him, I think our standing is enough that we can be afforded some flexibility in how to go about it.

[x] "I hear you. I will comply."

 

[Parzival95]

[x] "I hear you. I will comply."

 

[Solarstream]

[X] "I hear you. I will comply."

 

[silentorphan]

[x] "My objective isn't the Star."

 

[TheShadowOfZama]

[X] "I hear you. I will comply."

 

[hYGP]

"I hear you," I said. It was unthinkable otherwise. "I will comply."

Lt. Almiers, a dark elf dressed in his perfectly maintained dress uniform, saluted me.

"Come along, then," he said, perfectly placid. Eerily placid, in fact. "The general is waiting."

Behind me, Tara grabbed my shoulder heavily.

"I'm coming with you. You still have it with you, don't you?"

I didn't trust myself to say anything. I just nodded.

"Wait for us, Captain!" June shouted. "Don't go ahead without us!"

I stopped for a moment. I…they were here for me, were they?

I grasped the necklace that was responsible for this. I felt the warmth and smiled.

Then I turned, because I had to an officer to report to.

We didn't have to go very far. General Theodosia had arrived to this place with maybe a hundred of his most loyal men and officers, at most, in such a haste that his clothes were unkempt and without horse. Nevertheless, his temporary post was a hive of activity as he sent runners across and around, staring down the few paladins stationed on the other side of the bridge to the Star. But even though they were hurried and frantic, there was an air of professionalism and power to his camp.

I was awestruck. So this is what Theodosia the general is like.

"Captain Aisha!" he said, as Almiers and I approached. He spread open his arms, welcoming us as he dismissed another messenger. "I hear that it is your army that you have gathered on short notice at the Star?"

"Yes, sir," I uncomfortably admitted, even as I could feel my unit behind me shift under the weight of the air. Heavens above, compared to the professionalism of Theodosia's elites, I could feel how ragtag my own Guard unit was. I felt embarrassed, honestly, and the look Almiers was shooting me told me he thought I should be embarrassed.

"Excellent work, Captain," he said. "Take a moment to rest, we'll take over the forces you've brought to us and prepare to besiege the Star of the city. Once you're fresh, we'll put your unit in the vanguard, understood?"

This, though, this was easy.

"Yes, sir," I saluted.

Tara sideeyed me, while June and his boys tried to imitate me.

"Excellent. I take it the situation with Captain Borde has been dealt with?"

I pulled my lips tight and looked down.

Dealt with was a way to describe glassy eyes – and then I forced myself to look at the general, because that was what I was here to do.

"Yes. Captain Borde was leading the paladins, so I put an end to that."

Theodosia's eyes glanced down to the glowing stone clutched in a deathgrip in my hand, at Tara behind me, and then back at me.

"I understand. You look shaken. Was it your first kill?"

I nodded. "But I can't stop," I said, looking down at the stone. I…I still hadn't decided what to do about this stone. I was waiting for something. Maybe when I confronted Ophelia, I'd have a real answer. "I have something I need to do."

Something shifted in the air. I swear I could hear a hand reach for a hilt.

Theodosia sat up.

"What is that? Tell me. Even the smallest thing could be relevant."

I breathed out a stabilizing breath. I could feel one of my friends, feeling the tug and waiting with her feet dug in. I could feel a bond pulling me. Telling me where she was, watching the fortress from atop a tower.

"There's a Maiden nearby," I said, "and I owe her an answer."

"As in, the Maiden of Light?" Theodosia said, as Lt. Almiers frowned and reached for his own sword. You turn back to look at Tara, who stares at you with eyes like a steel blade, pointed at you.

I didn't trust myself to speak, so I nodded, head still turned.

Tara's eyes moved away from me for just a moment, looking at how she was surrounded by a sea of armed people, few of them friendly. She scowled and took her hand off her sword. She looked back at me and mouthed "Remember," at me.

Remember that I was trying to find something better to do with this rock, right?

"But not quite," I said, finally turning my head back. "She's not the Maiden of Light right now, and that's what I need to talk with her about."

Theodosia stood up. He radiated seriousness, and the air shifted.

"Lt. Almiers, tell Lieutenant Devon to continue with siege preparations. This situation is serious enough to handle personally. Where is she?"

I continued staring at the huge cathedral, which dominated the nearby cityscape with a height of eight stories. If I squinted, I could see a small shape at the belltower, small enough to be a girl.

"There," I pointed. "Let's go."

We set off towards that huge building.

I recalled that the things I'd read about the Spire. Construction began shortly after the end of the first Wyvern War, nearly 200 years ago, to celebrate the victory and survival of Oskaria. It started and stopped several times during the two hundred years inbetween, sometimes due to the great wars, or because the reigning king simply didn't allocate funding for it.

But now it was nearing completion, complete with the decoration of two hundred years. People were saying that full completion would be in about ten years, and perhaps that would have been a capstone for a new King, if we had one worthy of the name. As is, the cathedral was currently unused, scaffolding still up where the painters were supposed to finish up some of the last murals on the roof.

We stood before the ornate doors, before Theodosia turned to the gathering crowd on the steps. My followers, apparently, who hadn't stopped rallying to me.

"The Captain and I have business inside the cathedral, that we'd like to discuss in private. Do not disturb us," his booming voice sounded. I saw the crowd behind us, June, Tara, and Mr. Thompkins among them, and I saw them nod at me, and hold the crowd back for me.

"Thank you," I said. Then Theodosia and I went inside the building, and up to confront Ophelia.

At the end of a tight circular staircase, Ophelia stood at the top of the belltower, looking down at the Star and the city. She was dressed in the clothes we had lent her, worn and slightly beaten from her escape. She must have slipped out when we weren't paying attention to her, and although her legs quivered like she was in pain from the climb, she didn't let it show on her face.

She turned to look at me.

"Aisha. Theodosia?"

"The very same," Theodosia said. "Now, what was this business about being the Maiden of Light?"

"I am her, yes. Although I am not channeling the will of Oskaria right now, I have the ability to be a vessel for Oskarians. All I need is the gemstone in your hands, Aisha, and you will have done what I asked of you."

"You say that all you need is the necklace to be the Maiden of Light again?" Theodosia asked.

"I got this from Captain Borde," I cut in, slowly and hesitantly bringing it up. I didn't know why, but I could feel deeply uneasy about it. This isn't the place.

"I'm not sure if this will work for the spirit of the nation, rather than Order," I continued. "And, uh…"

I sighed. Theodosia held back his own words, and Ophelia's flat face only remained so, hand still outstretched.

"I saw Borde's last moments," I continued. "The spirit of Order took her body after she had given up. The spirit couldn't give up its Paladin, and that killed her more surely than my own spear did. Ophelia," I said, staring at her intensely, "I'm told that you're close to the precipice as is. If I give this to you, you won't survive."

Theodosia's lips tightened, and he looked back at Ophelia, who nodded indifferently. "True enough. If I take that on, this weak farmer's girl won't come back. That much I know for sure. But we'll be able to take down the Star of the City, destroy the threat to the capital, and safeguard this reformation. That will be worth it." Much greater things are possible.

Something in me roiled at the thought. Insisted that this couldn't be it.

[Speech: Persuasion: 3 + 4 | Required: 6 | Passed!]

"Captain, that's enough," Theodosia said warningly.

"No it isn't," I said. "How can you be certain that killing yourself will destroy the Star of the City, or disrupt their rituals? How do you know?"

"Captain," he repeated. "That's not something you decide for her."

"No, it's a fair question," Ophleia said, breathing in. "General Theodosia, you will want to hear this as well. When I was understudy to Agueda, understudy of the Finance Ministry, we tracked finances for the Kingdom in our spare time. A star fortress like this, built with six protrusions, four bastions, two gatehouses, and two high inner walls, requires nearly half a year of national income to construct. Construct it over twenty years, and you still need to feed ten percent of the annual budget into its construction. I saw the budget request.

"And I also saw the allocated budget, and I can assure you that between the various kickbacks, the houses cutting corners, and the budget being ransacked to finance a Crusade several weeks of hard fighting into Transulinia to our southeast, there was not nearly the budget for it. Let alone staffing this fortress with thousands of soldiers, which needed to be called away."

"So you're telling me this fortress is badly undermanned, undermined, and unlikely to have its full battery of guns?" Theodosia said, excitement leaking into his voice.

"Almost certainly," Ophelia agreed. "In fact, it's unlikely they have any serious reserves of cannon powder, considering the sheer state of the Army in the previous years. Additionally, any major commitments of force will almost certainly force them to strip the garrisons on every additional point of the wall – "

"Allowing a small detached force to breach the fortress and take down its defenses from inside!" Theodosia shouted.

"Indeed," Ophelia said.

The frown on my face grew worse. She sounded so smart. So in command of the facts. My fists clenched. I wasn't that kind of person, and yet all these people needed me to stand up and fight.

So…

"If you know all that," I said, "If you can figure all that out, why are you in such a hurry to die?"

[Speech: Persuasion: 3 + 4 | Required: 8 | Failed!]

"Because right here, right now, destiny has given me the chance to change the course of the nation. I need to do my very best, even if it's at the cost of my life," Ophelia said. "You haven't known me for very long, but I assure you that I've thought this through. I need to do this."

I opened my mouth, but Theodosia beat me to it.
[Opposed Speech: Intimidation: 4 + 3 + 3 | Required: 2 | Passed]
"Captain," he said one more time, glaring at me so hard I felt as though I could not stand. "I am your general, and you will take my orders. You will relinquish the gem to her, and you will enable her to become the Maiden of Light."

I flinched from the sheer power of his words, but I could not deny them.

"She has made the choice of her own free will," he ruthlessly continued, "and her contributions could save the lives of dozens, if not hundreds. You can't say one moment that lives are too precious to be thrown away, and in the next, refuse to calculate how many you can save.

"If you can't look at the situation from the broader perspective," he said, tone hardening, "you will never be qualified to be even the lowliest officer, am I clear?"

I grit my teeth and looked away, as my stomach clenched.

"Clear, sir."

"Then you know what you must do. Hand over what she needs, and we will take care of the rest."

My stomach roiled, and lightning played in my fingertips. Some part of me wanted to throw up. I cast my gaze everywhere, down at the Star, down where Tara and June were waiting, over to the west bank of the city where Nezhin and Deacon must surely be.

Then I looked back at Theodosia and Ophelia's serious, expectant expressions, and my resistance crumbled.

"Fine. Fine." I said. "But I'm not happy about it."

I cast about for one last lifeline.

"Can we wait until we at least climb down the stairs? Whether we do it up here or down there shouldn't matter, right?"

Ophelia and Theodosia both nodded.

"Once we do, feel free to take the day off. You've done exemplary work today," Theodosia said.

"Thank you," Ophelia simply said.

"Don't thank me," I growled, turning away from them and staring down the door. "Tell me a story about you, instead."

"Me?" Theodosia said.

"No, not you," I spat. "Ophelia. Would you mind?"

"I wouldn't," she said. "What kind of story would you like me to tell?"

---

What is the Legacy you receive from Ophelia?

[] Tell me what we're supposed to do once you go.
Increase Hope by 1.

[] Tell me what brought you here.
Obtain Truths of Power, 1-6.

[] Tell me…what is Oskaria to you, even?
Finish Sense of Oskarian nationalism. Acquire Truths of Oskarian Patriotism.

 

[silentorphan]

[x] Tell me…what is Oskaria to you, even?

 

[Random Member]

[X] Tell me what brought you here.

 

[Parzival95]

[X] Tell me what brought you here.

 

[dreamdweller]

[X] Tell me what brought you here.

 

[Nevill]

Spoiler

He spread open his arms wide

Click to shrink...

Is the grammar correct here?

Tara's eyes moved way from me for just a moment,

Click to shrink...

"away"?

Damn. So close, and yet so far. What would have happened if we failed the first Speech check?

I am of two minds here. On one hand, suicidal people need not be encouraged, and Ophelia's blatant disregard for herself would normally be enough to overlook her decisions. On the other, this kind of determination is required of a soldier and an officer, and done for the sake of others it becomes a sacrifice, an act that is given a special meaning in religion and society both.

I am not upset because we lost Ophelia -- we barely spoke to her, and she didn't have time to grow on me as a character. I am upset because we failed Tara and Nezhin, and because we couldn't defend our reasoning in front of the general.

I had a mind to ask about Oskaria, but I have a suspicion I know the outline of the answer she'd give us. Perhaps a better question would be, how did that answer come to mean so much to Ophelia.

[x] Tell me what brought you here.

 

[hYGP]

Spoiler

Is the grammar correct here?

"away"?

Damn. So close, and yet so far. What would have happened if we failed the first Speech check?

I am of two minds here. On one hand, suicidal people need not be encouraged, and Ophelia's blatant disregard for herself would normally be enough to overlook her decisions. On the other, this kind of determination is required of a soldier and an officer, and done for the sake of others it becomes a sacrifice, an act that is given a special meaning in religion and society both.

I am not upset because we lost Ophelia -- we barely spoke to her, and she didn't have time to grow on me as a character. I am upset because we failed Tara and Nezhin, and because we couldn't defend our reasoning in front of the general.

I had a mind to ask about Oskaria, but I have a suspicion I know the outline of the answer she'd give us. Perhaps a better question would be, how did that answer come to mean so much to Ophelia.

[x] Tell me what brought you here.

Click to shrink...

Will fix typos and potential grammatical errors when I get back to a computer.

If you failed the first Speech check, or more precisely, didn't have the necessary stats and truths, Ophelia would have bowled over you, Theodosia or no. Because you had the necessary stats and truths, you could at least sink your hooks in - that Ophelia could genuinely contribute in a more meaningful way than becoming the Maiden again.
And she can; she would have been the best shot at an economic advisor capable of balancing the needs of the state and popular will. As is…well, to avoid Directory solutions, someone interested in keeping the current government is going to need to max out all of Trade in the very near future.
I wouldn't discount Ophelia's insight into Oskaria too early. She's seen quite a lot of Oskaria in her travels, and is one of the most qualified people to speak in broad strokes about it.

 

[Simon_Jester]

It would have been better if we'd let Tara have it.

And Tara's going to know that.

[X] Tell me what we're supposed to do once you go.

I like Hope, and I think insufficient Hope is one of Axax's weaknesses.

 

[TheShadowOfZama]

[X] Tell me what brought you here.

It's a shame to see her go, but in a way it's a good way for her to close the curtain so to speak.

Shame we couldn't make her as influential of a character as I would have liked, but if there's one thing I like about this quest it's that it gives you both lows and highs by complete surprise. If losing her is a low then I wonder what sort of high we might encounter down the road.

Thank you very much for the update.

Also I loved how she used finances in her arguments. Agueda would be proud of her for that.

 

[Solarstream]

[X] Tell me what brought you here.

 

[Simon_Jester]

It's a shame to see her go, but in a way it's a good way for her to close the curtain so to speak.

Shame we couldn't make her as influential of a character as I would have liked, but if there's one thing I like about this quest it's that it gives you both lows and highs by complete surprise. If losing her is a low then I wonder what sort of high we might encounter down the road.

Click to shrink...

I'm starting to forget the last high.

 

[hYGP]

I walked down. Neither too fast nor too slow.

[Empathy: I Want to Know]

"I want to hear your story. What brought you here?" I finally asked, before I lost too much time.

The three of you walked down five steps, before Ophelia finally sighed.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this story," she began. "Since I became someone worth paying attention to, I've never told this story once. I guess that's why I have to tell it now," she says, wasting another ten steps down the stairs.

"When I was young, maybe five or six summers, my mother gave birth to twins. Both were born sickly, and it wasn't clear whether either would make it. Worse, the harvest was bad that year, so there wasn't enough food to go around. Then came the taxmen, and then came our devastated neighbors begging us to repay them after they had given us food in our lean times.

"Food was tight that year. So my dad prioritized. First servings went to him and my two older brothers. They could work for food, so they had to stay alive. Next servings went to my mother, who was still old enough to bear more children, and who was old and wise in weaving. Next after my mother was the share for the taxmen, and now we were two-thirds out of food. After my mother was the portion for our neighbors, who had saved us all a previous winter, and would surely starve if we did not repay them.

"By this point, a scarce fifth of our food remained. One tenth went to my elder sister. Approximately one sixteenth went to me, a healthy girl who might someday fetch a useful bride price. The remainder was still available for the babies. Can you picture that fraction at all?"

The last time I had gone hungry must have been before I left the tribe at all.

"I honestly cannot," I answered, halfway down to the next floor.

"Circle your thumb and your first index finger. That is how much grain we had left for the babies, on a good day."

Ah.

"Keep walking," she said, voice taking a dangerous edge, even as the slightest wobble entered. "Only those of us still alive have the privilege of choosing."

I swallowed my indecision and kept going, at exactly the same pace. I couldn't see Ophelia – wouldn't let her see my face – but I knew.

"I'm sorry – " Theodosia began.

"Shut up," I spat. "We don't have enough staircase to tell the story if we cry over everything that's happened."

"It's fine," Ophelia huffed. "Although she is right. It's been many years. I've made my peace with it."

We crossed the first floor down in silence.

"There obviously wasn't enough for two babies," Ophelia finally said. "We had to pick one. One of them sneezed the wrong way, and after much weeping, the decision was made. The one that was slightly less sickly would get enough food to survive. The other…well, we tried to make it quick."

The sun's rays filtered in through the haze and the stained window of a weeping mother as a blood red light, splaying over the stone staircase.

"I think about her a lot. The sister I never had. She died so young we hadn't even named her, and her grave is unmarked, now," Ophelia continued. "Every so often, I ask myself who had the power to save her."

She breathed in, long, hard, and calming.

"My father was the first choice. If he chose to save her instead of her twin, that would have been that, and I would be standing here wondering 'what if my father saved my brother?'" She sighed. "How powerful can you call a man, really, if all he can choose is which child dies so the other might have a chance at living?"

"But if my father doesn't have the power to save his children, who does? The grain merchants? Our neighbors? The taxman? The King? Anyone could have done it, I suppose, but for the possibilities that they didn't know, or that it might have been too hard, or that someone else might have died if they had chosen to save my still sickly, still unnamed sister."

She sighed again, and we descended another floor in a contemplative silence.

"But until I became the Maiden of Light, the only power I saw was the awesome powers of greed, or of sovereignty, used against me and used against my family and friends. It wasn't until I became the Maiden that I could see it from the other perspective. When I was the one wielding that awesome power.

"I've seen so much of that power. I've seen the power of my fellow villagers. I've seen the power of merchants. I've seen the power of generals. I've seen the power of shamans and mages. I've even seen the power of kings, and I've seen the power of the spirits, low and high, in this short life of mine."

We went down flight of stairs. We must have been halfway down, by now.

"It's a funny thing, this 'power'. It's not just the ability to kill people – because otherwise the Dragons would rule Oskaria too, as they rule the Kataltins. I can't believe that the power to kill people is the only kind of power that exists. A sword alone could not have fed my sister.

"But we can't deny that the person who swings a sword has power. Same as the person who can swing a scythe, or a person who can swing a hammer. Power is all of these things, and yet it is more than all of these things. It's been a long span of years since I first began asking 'who could save my sister?' but I think I'm finally ready to answer."

She breathes in, even though the noises of the crowd are growing louder, I can still hear her.

"Power is the potential to change the world. If you can swing a sword, you can change the world. If you can swing a scythe, you can change the world. If you're in such a position that a stroke of your pen will change the world, then you are in a position where the stroke of your pen can change the world.

"This power isn't just something people have. A landslide can kill a thousand people who would have never had the chance to escape, and a disease can take the lives of the greatest among us without warning. This Calamity a thousand years ago maintains a death grip on our imaginations, and a glittering roof above our heads.

"Nor is it distributed equally. As a peasant girl, I had no power compared to the tax man, let alone the lord over him, or the King over him. I had little money, little schooling, and little might besides that. I met people who had all of those along my journey, and yet they kneeled because in that moment I wielded more power than they did, simply because I had the fortune to find a spirit of Oskaria first."

She chuckles, and we can start to hear individual shouts and hews from the crowd. The fighting hasn't started yet, but both sides are jeering at each other.

"But potential is just potential. Potential would not have saved my sister. Only the use. Power doesn't mean anything until it's used. Until that potential is realized, and the world is changed."

For the only time the entire procession, Ophelia stops. She looks out of the fourth-floor window, and looks at the image of a sun, rising over the world. The horizon in the window aligning with the horizon looking out of it.

If I stopped for even a second more, I might have gotten second thoughts. But she turned and continued, and that forced to me to keep going down the stairs.

"The world is changed when we choose a world of tomorrow. That's what makes us different from the rivers, the beasts, and the ghosts. The river follows the course of geography, the beasts follow the course of their own nature, and the ghosts the remnants of their grudges, but we, we choose which path we go down. This world is made up of a billion billion little decisions, that add up to our world. Tomorrow, the same will be true."

She trailed off, as we passed the third-floor landing. I could have turned right here, and maybe that would have held us up. But I kept going, just because I had chosen to go to the ground floor and hand over the gem, and I was just following the plan.

"We are always choosing," Ophelia said quietly, and in the corner of my eye I saw her look to the right as the third-floor landing passed her by.

"Little by little, our actions and our inactions create the world. Of today, and of tomorrow. Nobody can be blamed for my unnamed sister's death, but that's because everyone made a series of choices that led to her death. So maybe everyone's to blame."

She paused a moment, to catch her breath. The mob that I had practically led here, and the paladins who had chosen to give themselves to order were practically shouting loud enough to shake the glass windows.

"Does that terrify you? Or does that liberate you? I can't say. Not for you at least. But it's made my own path clear. If we want to create a better world, we must take control of the world back from the dead spirits who rule it.

"I speak, of course, of the Compact."

Both you and Theodosia sharply inhale.

"You can't blame them too much. A spirit can only do what it has always done, ever since it has become a ghost. The Compact's been an amalgamation of spirits and ghosts since the Calamity, and their sole purpose was to prevent calamity from befalling the world once more. I can sympathize. But still.

"Someone has to stand up, and someone has to choose again. Power is the ability to change the world, and to change what tomorrow is. For too many years now, we have allowed the past to calcify the future.

"The future was supposed to be a time of hope, a time that was better than the eternal 'now' we've been stuck in the past thousand years, where all we can do is hope that things don't get worse. Because we've left it to the Compact, it's none of those things."

"Someone has to restore the future we were supposed to have."

"That's why I'm here today," Ophelia said, as we finally ran out of stair. I gulped, wiped my face, and turned around. Ophelia and Theodosia slowly descended into the landing beside me. "Thank you for letting me to tell this story. I…I'm glad at least someone heard it. But it's time for me to choose, Aisha. Please."

I clenched my free hand into a fist and looked away. But my cowardly hands had already promised, and it gave her the gem.

I thought it would be hard. I thought my hands would be sweaty, or reluctant to let go. I thought I'd change my mind in the last second and choose to go my own way. Anything to justify giving it up and letting her go. To make it a real choice.

It was easy.

---

Truths of Power, 1-6.

1: There are powerful, and there are weak. There are mighty, and there are feeble. Power is everywhere, and everywhere it is unequal.

2. Dead people, dead history, and dead things have power. But only living people have the ability to wield power.

3. Anybody who can choose has power.

4. Power is the potential to change the world.

5. Power is only meaningful when it is used.

6. The potential to change the world is the ability to choose a different world of tomorrow. We are always choosing.

---

I've got the update after next largely prewritten, so it'll be up to figuring out, then writing, the upcoming fight. Expect at least two days, if you have any expectations for this thing at all. If you have edits or comments, just post something, it keeps me going and I can answer them.

 

[Parzival95]

Damn, that was pretty good. I hope our young not!Napoleon took something away from that.

 

[Nevill]

"But potential is just potential. Potential would not have saved my sister. Only the use. Power doesn't mean anything until it's used. Until that potential is realized, and the world is changed."

Click to shrink...

Arguable. There is power in potential as well. Some things hold power through existing. There is power in sheer reputation. Sometimes the mere possibility of power being used is enough to enact a change, or to suppress it.

2. Dead people, dead history, and dead things have power. But only living people have the ability to wield power.

Click to shrink...

If power only had meaning when used, then dead things could not have held any.

Power is finite. It's a balance between how much you use, and how much you hold back. By using up her potential now, Ophelia forfeits anything she could have done with it in the future, and her ability to direct change.

What kind of change is she planning, anyway? Knocking Order down a peg? Upsetting the Compact? What's going to replace it? For that matter, what does it do, in this day and age?

By the way, what do we know about the Calamity? I can only recall vague references to it.

 

[Simon_Jester]

The Calamity was an apocalyptic conflict of some kind; phrases like "tore apart the sky" seem to get thrown around a lot. High technology seems to have been involved.

The (known) weapons with which the Calamity conflict was fought, "Calamity Frames," as I recall, are extraordinarily powerful engines of war. Having access to the means to activate one of the surviving Calamity Frames is the sort of thing that causes all factions to set aside what they're doing and dogpile you.

 

[TheShadowOfZama]

It's a very good update.

Only thing I might request since Ophelia might not be long for the world is maybe have her bring Agueda up.

Would be nice if we got to hear about him a bit from her. She was one of his companions all that time ago after all.

Anyway, thank you very much for the update.