- Location
- St. Petersburg
Of course. The only thing enforcing the contract is the Fae nature, which is why it was accepted by Tanwen in the first place.
The Academy was mentioned to show what is and isn't considered appropriate here. If Lirra thinks this doesn't suit her high standards, it's not like she is being forcibly held here. But she stays. That would make her a hypocrite if she singles someone out for actions that she finds acceptable from a bigger institution.
The Academy would likely consider additional deaths a waste of resources, and thus punish it. It is only training when it is a part of the curriculum. Just how harsh they would be would probably depend on the circumstances heavily. They are famous for making heroes, not mercenaries, so it is likely that some reputatuional standards are upheld. Not to mention the fact that most applicants willing to risk their lives to become heroes and defend the realm serves as a quality standard in itself, filtering off the more egotistical types. Tanwen is the odd one out here. The Academy probably doesn't have to deal with many criminal cases.
I don't want to revisit the topic now that we've found some measure of understanding, but the argument doesn't work on any level, not even under its own internal logic. If we assume Tanwen is a dragon, then considering someone's blood 'property' leads to some Mengele-level shit. If we don't, and believe she is just in possession of a valuable potion... then it still isn't as simple as taking someone else's property to save a life.
I mean, the premise was that lives are priceless (which makes the suggestion that a monetary debt would be acceptable rather ironic - how do you estimate its worth?). But dragon blood is just a 'life in a bottle', a unique, very hard-to-replace item that can save one's life. And if you save someone with it now, it means that someone else will have to die for lack of it later. What gives you the right to think that you or the person on whose behalf you are acting are more deserving to live than someone else?
It's not just a piece of property to be bought and sold, in a sense that a gas mask, or an oxygen task, or a life jacket, - or anything else that means the difference between life and death - aren't during the emergencies. You can't just take away someone's lifeline for yourself and hide behind a moral imperative because you need it now, and because you can't be bothered to think what happens to the person you took it from in the next ten minutes.
If life has the ultimate value, then so does the item that can save it, and is in a limited supply. That means you can not take the item for yourself and claim any kind of moral high ground just as you can not murder people to get your way. It also means that - much like one's own blood - such item can not be demanded, only given voluntarily.
It follows from the same premise! I may not have studied ethics, but I did study math and logic instead.
That's just the materialistic aspect of the problem, i.e. evaluating the fairness of the bargain. There are quite a few more angles to it: the trust Tanwen has shown us by merely revealing the fact of possession of such item, Tanwen's nature, Lirra's nature, etc.
Was it? Was that assumption mentioned anywhere?
I thought the assumption was that their blood was highly sought after since it can return people from death's door. I mean, when I think about an endangered animal species, my first thought isn't 'they were probably evil and hunted people'.
...I would pay good money for a movie about Passenger Pigeons hunting down people. 'The Avian Menace Strikes Back'!
Well, the Academy's main business is to prepare 'heroes'. They are as good as their graduates are.
Considering the hero reputation was the one thing that made Lirra come here from across the sea, and most of the students being very decent sorts... yeah, I think the Academy does an adequate job, and the world as a whole may be better off for having it.
You just have to remember what kind of place the 'world as a whole' is. Between the plague, the zombie incursions, and whatever the villains may be up to, the heroes are probably viewed as saints.
And if they exterminate a species or two during their adventuring days, well, who is going to complain?
Yeah, I do. The idea is actually very simple. Start with yourself before you try fixing the world.
And I know Lirra isn't a murderer, not even a potential one; the entire passage was a hypothetical that started with 'what would it mean if Lirra were to have that mindset'. The answer I arrived to was 'she'd be a petty, ungrateful hypocrite trying to cheat her way out of a contract she no longer thinks is worth Chloe's life, despite having accepted it as fair just a few days ago'. It is something I find objectionable about the idea being considered by Lirra, rather than the idea itself.
1. Go drinking with Alvi.
2. Drink heavily. Drink some more.
3. ???
4. The entire campus seems to know your name. They also seem to be giving each other significant glances and laughing incessantly.
We'll make Lirra popular yet!
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