Is Teren one of them or isn’t he?
CouldIbe one of them, too?
“Yes, and so do our priests and leaders,” Eraya fires back. “And we have worked for generations to create the infrastructure and resources that enable us to help people, and now that Crystal Hollow finally has a chance to partake in that bounty, you would have them isolated from it? For your own benefit?”
That was better, except that she revealed her hand.
By phrasing it so passively, that Crystal Hollow has been given this chance, and not how or, you knowby whom, tells me what she doesn’t want them to know.
And in fact I don’t want them to know either, but not for the same reasons.
I cock my head to the side very casually, not otherwise moving; predatory in my stillness.
“Are you going to tell people then why it is, exactly, that you think I, a person they’ve never heard of, am so dangerous to them?” I ask silkily.
Because the fact that she isn’t means she isn’t sure that the reaction will be in her favor, which is very interesting.
The Order, at least, is not confident that the myth of the Sage of Wrath’s defiance against them is to their benefit.
But Eraya simply smiles sweetly and says, “Oh, I think I’ll let them wonder whyyouwon’t say. For all your accusations, you won’t say that you’re not dangerous to them, will you?”
She takes a step toward me.
I take a step, too—to the side.
Teren, I hope, will stay behind me.
But while movingisto my advantage, always, I don’t think looking like I’m trying to intimidate the incarnation of compassion is what I need. But I also can’t step back.
And if I force her to circle, too, perhaps it will be clearer that she, also, is acting with predatory intent.
“Any person can be dangerous, given the right conditions,” I say. “And people together even more so. Or else why else would you be manipulating their feelings with magic without their consent?”
“Do you mean to say that you arenot?” Eraya fires back, following me; not willing to be seen to not meet me evenly.Got her.“The courtyardisdarker with your presence, Yora.”
Good line and I left her open for that one, but I’m more fixated on her first question.
Seriously, I tell her, “Yes, Iwillsay that clearly: I am not using magic to manipulate anyone’s feelings. And if you honestly thinkthat I am, it’s you who doesn’t understand your own power, and that means I am not the greater danger here. Because I am able to be honest with myself about what my actions are doing. Are you?”
Eraya’s eyes narrow. “And did you tell them what building an ice line would mean for them?”
I continue to circle. “Yes, of course we talked about the fact that it would piss the Order off and that would have consequences. But I didn’t have to point that out, because people aren’t stupid.
“Before you tell anyone what is best for them, consider how much you actually know about their lives, because from your position it’s not as much as you think. You can’t be wise about the world without living in it.”
Eraya’s sage-light flares.
Instinct, but not control.
Because people will see her blazing with light, yes.
But they’ll also see me standing against her without any light of my own.
And they can draw their own conclusions about what that means for them.
Eraya proclaims, “Sages cannot, and should not, live among people. History has shown us that.”
“Has it really?” I ask idly. “And that access to magic, too, must be kept away from people outside the Order?”
