It should put me in a position to help the people of this city, but increasingly, I feel as though I'm not doing enough that makes their lives better.I'm just having arguments in the Senate that don't do anything.I'm worried that the system within Aetheria has absorbed me as thoroughly as it has absorbed Rowan.
A knock comes at my door, and a second later, Marcus enters.I smile at him, happy to see him after such a troubling day.I stand and go to him, and he takes me in his arms, looking at me with concern.
“Are you all right, Lyra?”he says, looking me over.“You’ve been out in the city, I guess.”
I wonder how much I should tell him.Rowan was troubled enough by my involvement in the raid out in the slums.I don’t know how Marcus will react, when he’s always been one of the games’ biggest supporters.
“I heard there was some trouble in the slums,” I say.That much is true.After all, Alaric sent me a message telling me as much.
“I heard that too,” Marcus says.“There was a raid on some people who were looking to cause trouble.You weren’t caught up in all that, were you?”
I hesitate.My first instinct is to tell him everything.But I know I can't.Marcus is a senator, and he might not look kindly on me being involved in something like this.I need to hold back the full extent of my involvement if I can.
“I saw some of it,” I say.“I wanted to know what was going on.Rowan says that he didn’t order the raid.Doyouknow who sent the guards?”
“In theory, any magistrate could do it,” Marcus says.“Or just the guard captains if they heard there was going to be some kind of trouble.”
“And who would have told them about it?”I ask.
Marcus shrugs.“They have their informants, and sometimes more important people give them information if it comes to them through other channels.You know most of the noble houses have their own guards, and most of the senators have people who act on their behalf.”
“I don’t,” I point out.
Marcus sighs and leads me back to the couch.“That’s because you’re still not fully playing the game of politics, Lyra.You don’t see that it isn’t enough to justspeakin the chamber of the senate.You need to exert influence in other ways through the city.”
“Is that what you do?”I ask.
“Of course,” Marcus says.He looks at me carefully.“You know I do, Lyra.I have plenty of contacts among sailors and other merchants.I talk to other senators, and I try to influence nobles.That way, when I make a proposal in the chamber, I already know that it will be accepted throughout the city.”
He makes it sound so simple and reasonable.
“And do you have spies and other agents?”I ask.
He laughs.“You make me sound like some spider sitting in the middle of a web.I don’t have spies.Idohave friends and constituents who are prepared to tell me things.Whowantto tell me things because they know I'm in a position to act for them.I'm sure you must get the same."
“Some people come to me,” I admit, “but I was appointed to a district of the slums.When I visit there, it seems all I find is trouble.”
"It will get better," Marcus assures me."Aetheria is slowly growing stronger and more prosperous.That prosperity will spread through it and make life better for everyone, including the people of the slums."
“I didn’t see many signs of that prosperity spreading to the slums,” I say.“They’re still run down, still run as much by the gangs as the guards.”
“That won’t last forever,” Marcus says.“The games are helping to improve things.I heard these troublemakers were against them.I hope they won’t cause too much disruption.”
It sounds as though he’s heard more details of the raid than I’d imagined.
"You know a lot about the meeting and the raid," I say.
“I make it my business to know as much as possible,” Marcus replies.“Especially when it comes to people who are only out to disrupt the city.”
He says it in a dismissive tone.It’s a reminder that we still differ on important issues.Marcus sees the games as vital to the economic life of the city.Not just that, but also to its sense of itself and how it fits into the world.He seems less troubled than I am by the ways the games have been slowly shifting.
"All of this makes me afraid," I say."Things are changing in the city, and not for the better.The games are back and becoming more violent with every event.Domitian and the others like him are gaining more power, so that my attempts to help the city fall on deaf ears.Now, the guards are charging into the slums to break up meetings?All while we sit in a palace, eating fine food and drinking good wine."
"I'll agree with you.Domitian shouldn't havetoomuch power,” Marcus says.He puts an arm around me, his strength as he does so safe and reassuring.Somehow, his presence is always comforting.“As for the rest of it, I’m not sure that we’re exactly the empire yet, Lyra.Thanks to you, the games remain safer than they ever were under the emperor.And if you want to be heard more, I can help you with that.As for breaking up meetings…shouldn’tthe Republic defend itself from threats?”
“You really think these people were a threat to Aetheria?”I say.“And not just people worried about the way their lives are going?”
“I don’t know,” Marcus replies.“But I think the city needs to be cautious.The Republic has existed for less than two years.It’s still a fragile thing, a dream built in the ruins of the empire.It could fade so easily.We must be strong with those who would tear it down.”
