“That’s not a question.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m getting to that part.”
Sedarias, speaking through Mandoran, continued before Kaylin could answer. “You don’t weep for dogs or animals in the wild when they die, for instance.”
“They’re not people.”
“No. But you don’t know them. You don’t know the people in this fief anymore, for the most part. Why is it different? Why do you imagine that these people are somehow you, or could somehow become you?”
“Seriously?”
“We understand the grief of loss. We understand that that grief comes out of attachment. We mourn the things we no longer have. But there’s no inherent pain in the loss of strangers.”
“Stop,” Teela said out loud. Clearly, whatever she was saying on the inside of her head wasn’t reaching Sedarias.
“Why? Sedarias doesn’t understand it; she wants to understand. Does Kaylin think thatall lifehas an inherent value? Because there’s a lot of life out there.”
“Kaylin is a Hawk. It’s her vocation, her hobby and her commitment. Hawks—”
“Enforce Imperial Law, yes.”
“Why do you think those laws were created?” Teela continued as Kaylin opened her mouth.
“Does it matter? Sedarias doesn’t understand why the laws are so complicated—”
Kaylin snorted. “That’s rich, coming from a Barrani. You might not know it, but most of the complicated laws are written in High Barrani. The Emperor felt it was the perfect language for them.”
This didn’t slow Sedarias. Which meant Mandoran kept talking. Neither Allaron nor Annarion had anything to add. “Sedarias says the Emperor is a Dragon. He’s powerful enough that he gets to make the laws. We’re weak enough—for the moment—that we have to follow them when he’s looking in our direction. Hawks exist to be the eyes that are looking in all directions when the Emperor can’t. They’re meant to enforce the more powerful person’s will.”
“That’s not the purpose of the law,” Kaylin snapped.
“Then what is?”
“We’re there to enforce the law so that peoplewithoutthe Emperor’s power are safe from people who have attitudes likeyours.”
Mandoran snapped his jaw shut on whatever he’d been about to say.
“Told you,” Teela said quietly.
It was Annarion who caught up with Kaylin. The Barrani and the Dragon weren’t far enough behind that they couldn’t catch up with little effort, and even a hunting pack of Ferals was unlikely to reach Kaylin before her friends could.
“Sedarias doesn’t mean to upset you. She is honestly trying to understand.”
Kaylin said nothing.
“There are so many people who have no power. So many people who would be considered weak. Among our own kin. Among the mortals. Especially among the mortals. If every single person who is weaker than you somehow becomes your personal responsibility, it will kill you. You would never have a moment’s peace, a moment’s rest. Your needs and wants would be subsumed in their entirety by the needs of others.”
“If the world were more just, more fair, they wouldn’t be.”
“Even with the laws you support and uphold, the world’s not a just or fair place.”
“But it could be.”
“Possibly. But in the end, it’s power that decides and power that rules. If you want to make changes, you need to have power. What you do with the power is then up to you, because you’re powerful.” He switched to Elantran, although he was often more comfortable speaking his native tongue. “Sedarias isn’t saying that the powerful should do whatever they feel like at the moment; she is saying that theycan.
“You can’t save everyone. It’s not possible. And there will always be people who need more than you and have less. Always. Even in your perfect world, unless you somehow imagine that everyone in that perfect world will all be the same. We’re immortal. We have time. You don’t. Would you make all mortals immortal? Attempts to do that have never worked well. Would you make all immortals mortal?”
“No.”
