Good and Evil
“What does it take to be truly righteous? Or for that matter, truly cruel? Are they really such inseparable things? Surely Dav did cruel, and oft-times evil things for the good of the Kingdom. The Thirty Days War could have been handled diplomatically, with open palms instead of clenched fists. Money could have exchanged hands, and pleasant words dropped from smiling lips. Instead swords clawed into bellies, daughters were raped and slaughtered, and many words filled the House of the Spring, all crying repentance.”
“There were other roads, but our Prophet, in all his wisdom, chose the one cobbled with steel and blood. Why is this?”
“The answer beats in our hearts, Casimir. What do we value? What can we not live without? Dav was a man of action, a man of faith and will. He is… a hard man to understand, Casimir – a man who kept his cards very close to his chest, if you will. Yet, if you weigh the alternatives… thousands of faithful Davites dying at the hands of Tubor guerrilla cavalry next to thousands of ‘savage’ Charali? What is a man in charge of a Kingdom to do?”
“It’s a dangerous game we play, son – ruling peoples’ lives. I have lost myself – what makes me, me – in it more times than I care to remember. Here in Avonna we so rarely see the sun, we sometimes forget it’s out there, somewhere – shining bright and giving people an excuse to smile.”
“When the stress is too much, or when you find yourself stuck doing something horrible – something grotesque for the good of others – I want you to remember that. The sun is out there, just below the horizon. You just have to travel a bit further to see it. I know things might seem desolate now – you may think that you will never be you again, but I promise you will. Once you walk down that main thoroughfare you will see: your soldiers hugging their wives, kissing their babes. Alive, because of you. Our borders protected, because of you – not some Charmaine appointed pretender.”
“It is hard to take pride in cruel things, son…
….
But sometimes, it is the only way to be.”
Mortis ab Azadar, Member of the Avonna Council and head of the Dragon – Year 354