All That Glitters...51

Chapter Fifty-One

Some time, much later, Nalia returned to where the party was waiting. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she was clearly composed, summoning remarkable strength of will to do so.

"Nalia...I just wanted to let you know...I know what it's like. My...my father - the man I considered my father - was killed two years ago," Kal said quietly.

Nalia nodded slowly. "I...it's hard to believe that he's really gone. Still...the path before me is clear."

"What is that you intend to do?" Keldorn asked.

"Overall? I intend to find the bastards behind this...and tear them apart," Nalia replied, her voice at once calm and savage. Everyone in the room suppressed a wince at the memory of what she'd done to TorGal. "But at the moment," she continued in a forced casual tone, "I need to make arrangements for Daddy's funeral. He'll be buried in the family crypt in Athkatla. I'm sure some of the guards will be willing to take him." She took a breath. "I also have to deal with some other issues. Legal ones."

"What legal issues could possibly be giving you trouble?" Viconia asked.

"I am...betrothed to a...foul example of humanity, named Isaea Roenal. He will no doubt try to press that agreement as a claim to the land, and likely succeed."

"Do you not matter?" Keldorn asked.

"He is not interested in me - or, at least, not as interested in me as he is in the gold and the territory. And even then, his interest in me is...less than romantic. Isaea is not a nice man. He would see me only as the key to his estate and as the bearer of his children, and that is not a life I care to live." She sighed. "I will leave. He will not be a responsible administrator of these lands, but if I was to be married to him, administrator he would be, anyway. All I can do is make sure that he can do as little damage as possible."

Yoshimo nodded. "How do you propose to accomplish that?"

"He wants the gold and the land. Well, I'll make sure he doesn't get the gold, at least. Kal, we'll take whatever's easily carried with us. The rest - mostly gold coins, and too bulky for us to take - I'll hand out to the farmers and the guards, as well as releasing them from their contracts of service. Isaea will have to pay dearly if he wants to keep these lands."

"I think I see a problem," Cel said. "What's to keep him from just demanding all the gold back?"

Nalia smiled bitterly. "We'll say the trolls carted it all off before we got here. He'll never know."

Kal nodded. "Sounds good. Yoshimo, I'm sure you're the best among us at figuring out what's both portable and valuable - let's go."

Yoshimo bowed. "At your service."

"The rest of us," Kal said, "will be helping Nalia move the coin out. Let's get to it."

Lady Delcia insisted on heading straight back to Athkatla, leaving immediately, being unable to stand the presence of so many "commoners" as she put it. As she'd oppose the distribution of gold to the same "commoners", they were only too happy to see her off. Four guards and Lord Arnise's body went with her.

The next three days were spent handing out the gold. The party members stood guard while the region's peasants filtered into the keep's courtyard one by one to convey condolences to Nalia, and receive a heaping package of gold coin. Kal had thought that the coin had been the greater incentive, but had been pleasantly surprised. Many of the people of the De'Arnise lands had had real tears in their eyes. Even Nalia seemed taken slightly aback. Lord Arnise had been better loved than even she had guessed.

During one of these sessions, Kal pulled Anomen aside.

"You seem...troubled, Anomen. Is something bothering you?"

Anomen sighed. "Somewhat. Although I cannot say that I share Lady Delcia's views, the thought of giving all the gold to peasants is...disturbing. Not that I find them inferior - I know many valiant knights who were lowborn - but it is my experience that most will not know how to use the money correctly. It will be spent on alcohol, or it will be wasted in gambling. I will not be one to claim that nobles are immune - my own father is testament enough to that - but I feel that the wealth is better in the hands of someone responsible."

"Who would you nominate for the position of ‘responsible', then?"

Anomen shrugged. "The Order, perhaps. While the Council of Six is the government, it is full of corruption. I often wonder why the Order does not simply take over the government. It would certainly exercise power in a more fair and equitable manner, do you not agree?"

"Anomen." Keldorn said, cutting in. "Simply having power would open the Order to all sorts of corruptions. Knights would be bribed, blackmailed, or their families taken hostage, in order to influence them. Binding ourselves up with the government would unavoidably lead to corruption."

Anomen visibly stiffened. "I do not recall asking for your opinion, Sir Keldorn. I am past the stage where I need a knight of the Order to answer my every thought."

"You will see," Keldorn replied. "The Order has its place - and governing is not it."

"I have heard the arguments, before, Sir Keldorn, and I am not convinced. What do you think, Kal? Should not the power be placed in the hands of those who can use it best to fight chaos?"

"Well...I don't think the question's that simple, Anomen," Kal said, making a frantic and obvious "go-away" signal to Keldorn behind his back. Keldorn took the hint and returned to his place beside Nalia.

"How is it more complicated? Money and power are resources which the forces of order could use to suppress chaos. Or they can be used by the masses to perpetuate it."

"I think that's quite a one-dimensional view," Kal said. "Anomen, let me ask you something. Why order? I mean, why do we strive for order?"

"Order is a worthwhile goal," Anomen replied.

"Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. Order is a worthwhile goal, absolutely, but I wonder if you can tell me...why?"

Anomen paused for a while to think of it. He eventually settled on, "Chaos is destructive."

"Not true," Kal replied immediately, expecting that answer. "Chaos certainly isn't inherently destructive. Something existed before the order of civilization, and if it was intrinsically destructive we'd never have gotten anywhere. Chaos can be destructive, but order can be equally if not more destructive; after all, the forces of law execute many people every day, to give just one example. Destructive isn't a good enough reason, if it is a reason at all. Try again."

This time, Anomen took a longer time to think about it, pacing in a circle for a while. Kal could see his lips muttering abstracts like "Order is strength, order is important," but he kept running up against the "why" wall and having to think about it some more.

"Anomen," Kal said, cutting into Anomen's train of thought. "Let's try starting small and then extending it to a larger scope. What's a basic mechanism by which order is maintained?"

"City laws," Anomen answered.

"Sure. And what do city laws do?"

"They prevent crimes...such as thefts, or murder."

"Not quite, but let's get to that later. You're right in that the idea behind laws is to keep down the number of thefts, murders and so forth. Some things are forbidden by law, others allowed. What makes the difference?"

"Things are...forbidden, because...because they are harmful!" Anomen said. "Order is...order is important because it prevents...harm!"

"Ah, a connection," Kal said. "Warmer. Yes, order is important because of something it does, not for itself...but prevention of harm isn't exactly it."

"Why should it not be?" Anomen asked, confrontational again. In his mind, he had passed Kal's little test.

"Harmful encompasses a number of things, Anomen. Murder, definitely, and a good case can be made for theft. But then again, people harm themselves daily in a way untouched by the law. People gamble their savings away, get themselves into drunken bar brawls...even fall down the stairs and break their limbs. Law certainly can't be a solution to all of this."

"When someone falls down stairs," Anomen said, "it is an accident. Certainly law cannot guard against that! But the other things, certainly, law can and should stop them."

As outrageous as his argument was, Kal was almost pleased. At least Anomen was thinking, now, and not spitting out his prejudged conclusions. "You mean to say, Anomen, that laws should be enacted banning drunkenness? Gambling? Perhaps laws should be written to ensure that everyone is watched at all times so that they have no contact with thieves' guilds and the like?"

"Yes! People should be made to live their lives in an orderly fashion. If they will not do so themselves, then the right people should make them do so."

"The right people being...?"

"Why, the knights and priests of the Order, of course."

Kal smiled at Anomen, but not in agreement. "You know, I'm finding it difficult - in light of what you've been telling me since you joined up, and what you just said now - to understand the role of a knight of the Order."

"What is it you wish to know?" Anomen inquired.

"Well, my question's sort of twofold. Anomen, is humility generally considered a virtue? As in, the ability to not get caught up in pride, and to not believe yourself superior to others?"

"Most certainly."

"And what about compassion? The ability to sympathize with others, to forgive, to care. Is that a virtue as well?"

"Absolutely."

"And understanding? The ability to, free of prejudice, understand another's hopes, pains, reasons for actions, and so forth. To see things from another's perspective. Is that also a virtue?"

"Definitely."

"Now, knights are supposed to be shining examples of virtue, correct?"

"Correct."

"Yet you've been telling me all these stories about what it's going to be like once you're a knight. That you'll be above common concerns, that you won't have to bother caring about ordinary people, that the Order should take control of the Council and Athkatla and make all of the citizens act according to the way you think they should, no matter what. So - humility, compassion, understanding - why do they stop being virtues when you become a knight?"

"I...they...." Anomen's face turned red, but he didn't seem to be able to get a word out.

"Just wondering, Anomen, because those knightly virtues you keep preaching to me about sound a lot like callousness, intolerance, and repressiveness. I can't seem to see the difference, and I don't think that would change if I were a member of the Order. Not that I would want to be if this is what you think they should be like."

"Knights are...that is not what a knight is like!" Anomen blurted out.

"Exactly! Which makes me wonder as to what, precisely, you're trying to be." Kal fixed Anomen with a steely gaze. "Think on what a knight is, Anomen, because it's evident that you haven't really done that yet. Because if there's one thing you haven't been describing, it's a true knight."