“It’s all true!” Raining day explains to the children, “I was an enemy to the Tris. I held on to the old ways. But my friends, our true allies of Lauresia, took me back in time when the Empire of the Tris once stood. And there I learnt a painful lesson – they had once saved our people, saved them all! And we were in debt to them, a debt which must not be forgotten!
The children cheer. He continues:
“However, they had forgotten. And they took us for granted. They treated us like slaves. This broke our people and theirs apart. This is what created the debt which cannot be forgiven.”
The children gasp. He continues:
“I went back, to destroy them. But I stopped once I learnt that what I thought could not be forgiven must not be forgotten!”
Silence. Oblivious to their confusion, he continues.
“But we made a mistake. Going back in time, we moved a noble cat. Time divided against itself, and a boy who was not hurt did not prevent his mother from speaking against a cruel law. Then, when the war that approaches overtook them, we fought by their side to our deaths! It was the death of our people. We returned to the present only to find there were no Beastmen, no Sultancy, no Light in Lauresia. Their city was dark, held prisoner by an almost irresistible force of evil, compelling all to join in the battle in the war that comes. We had to go back in time and make an enemy of an ally or all our people would perish!”
One child, overtaxed by the cognitive demands, bursts into tears. He continues:
“So we went back, back to the Tris I now love. And with all the respect and gratitude I could muster, laid the smack down on that helpful Tris senator. They voted down a kind law, and now I am confident that after the war that comes our people of the past will survive! And with the mightly Empire of the Tris as our allies in the war that comes, our people of the present will survive!!”
“But sir!” A child asks.
“Yes?” Raining day replies.
“What’s a Tris…?”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Gerry:
ReplyDelete*thinks ' I'm with you kid.'
Not that I don't know who the Tris are, but that I don't really know what Raining Day is talking about. If if wasn't for the fact that various moments in his story hit me like De ja vu and I realise that I was actually there, I'd be tempted to think it was just a good story with a happy ending.
Happy endings - that's what we're aiming for, right? There seems to be just as many tragic endings as happy endings, but perhaps it balances out. When we succeed, it is at the expense of others. When we fail, sometimes I am dead. Hmmm. There is balance in this though. We're not aiming for a happy ending.... we're aiming for balance!
That seems more attainable.
During our last voyage, I found the uneasy fear that seems to grip me when we are beset by monsters changed into something else. My stomach used to seize up, and I would find that first leap into battle and first sword thrust at each abberration would happen in slow motion as I faced another unknown. That anger I have felt, that fear at their approach.... has become a strength to me. I believe I can sense them somewhat. That I seem to move just a little quicker, and with a little more insight when we come across these monsters.
I will talk to Blue Cat about these strange feelings. Methos is intelligent, yes, but entirely insufferable sometimes.