eswareinmal | ♔SECOND

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♔SECOND

[ today daenerys appears on the orb. what could be noted is that on her shoulder is the black dragon with the hot coal eyes. he seems a bit larger. while he is not the size of a horse, his tail is long enough to coil around her hip. for a minute he simply stares shrewdly at the screen before flapping off dany's shoulder, where she continues to read a large tome in her lap. she turns a page, pauses and glances up at the screen. ]

A strange place this is. In exchange for our freedom it grants us powers we would not know in our own realms. We would be marked as people we are not and told to fight great battles simply because it is the way of it.

[ her tone is slightly wry ]
I know true knights, and I know that some of you aren't, as much as I am no maegi.

[ drogon sniffs her book, as dany lightly strokes the top of his back, the ridges of his spine. ]

What of your homes? I would ask of your lands, if you wished to speak of them.

[ there is a pause ]

I would ask one more.

What do you believe makes a good King? If such people exist where you were before, what made them good?

{ PRIVATE; TO THE LADY ALAYNE }

[ in a gentler voice ]

My lady. You have suffered an ordeal here. Are you well?

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[Home. Ah. It's a tricky question for a person without a home, not a true one, not for a long time. There was the world she came from, details still fresh in her mind, though where Ginia would begin she wasn't even sure.

Then there was a world that had become her home, even as unnatural as the situation was. Yet the details were faded and blurry and holding on was an effort at times.

So Ginia falls to the second question.]

A good king, or queen, or any sort of ruler or president, is someone that listens to their people and maintains a balance between what is best for the land and what is best for the people. Sometimes the two will come into conflict, so a ruler must be able to keep a steady and clear mind. They should be kind, fair, just, and strong. Even if the title and power is theirs by birthright, though must prove they are worthy of the responsibility and burden they hold.

[ daenerys listens to this. she knows that she must be many things. wise, clear and honest. listening to her people. yet on the way of slavery i will not bend no matter how much they wish for their old ways. ]

And what if they do not know a good thing from a bad? The people of such Kings or Queens?

That is why no one rules alone. There are always advisors or a council or someone to confer with. A fool thinks he knows everything, a wise man knows he doesn't.

A ruler is not always surrounded with wise people, certainly not trustworthy ones. It is no small thing to place their trust in another.

This is true. Some might have good intentions, others might seek to rule themselves. While it's somewhat easier when one can choose the people surrounding them, even then it doesn't mean everyone around them can be trustworthy.

I have known both kinds of people. More bad than good, yet there are good.

[It was never home. Not really.]

There are five major countries and a number of minor ones. The countries are ruled by Daimyo, lazy lords who giggle into their sleeves and eat too much. The larger countries are protected by a hidden village, which is a militaristic hub of ninja. The hidden village is its own entity, but it reports to and takes orders from the Daimyo. For a ninja in my birthplace, Fire Country and the Village Hidden in Leaves, loyalty to the village is everything. Breaking loyalty is worse than murder.

The Leaf is run by three elders and a Kage, an elite commander of troops. They are violent in their loyalty. The slaughter of my clan by command of the elders, hundreds of ninja, civilians, men, women, the elderly, children, and infants, was and is seen as necessary collateral damage for the sake of keeping peace.

[His teeth grit.]

They forced my older brother to perform the executions. I'm alive because his love for me was stronger than the village's brainwashing.

[A pause. He sees Itachi's back, running, faster than he can keep up with. Always out of reach.]

I am currently an international S-rank criminal. All ninja in all of the five major countries are ordered to kill me on sight. This is because I left the Leaf, breaking their precious loyalty, and want revenge for the suffering they caused my family.

For what reason was it done to begin with?
[ if hard judgements are given it is because it is justice. or so she tells herself when she thinks of mereen. ]
Justice should be centered entirely on the ones responsible, not the innocent. Your leaders seem blinded.

Generations ago, there was a man, the first shinobi. The Sage of Six Paths is what they called him. He had two sons. The older inherited his eyes and believed that power was the true key to peace. The younger inherited his body and believed that love was the true key to peace. In his final moments, the sage chose his younger son as his successor. The older flew into a rage and attacked the younger. The war continues to wage.

The Senju clan are the descendants of the younger, and the Uchiha clan were the descendants of the older. My ancestor Madara, along with Hashirama Senju, formed the Leaf together, but Hashirama took the title of Hokage and village leader. Madara fought back, but Hashirama beat him down, and he was presumed dead. The remaining Uchiha were silently exiled to the outskirts of the village, and we were given the false privilege of controlling and operating Leaf's police force.

My father was the chief of police and the head of the clan. He spearheaded a plan to rise up against the generations of oppression by the hands of the Senju. My brother, thirteen at the time, was a member of the ANBU black ops, an elite corps of assassins who report directly to the Hokage. The elders manipulated him and made him act as a double agent, fed him lies about how an Uchiha uprising would trigger another war, and used him as a puppet to try to convince the Uchiha to remain under the Senju's thumb. When that was unsuccessful, he was ordered to take the Uchiha out. All of us.

He was supposed to kill me, but he couldn't, so he lied to me instead. He made it look as though he had done it out of his own cruelty, and instructed me to fill myself with hatred, become strong, and kill him to avenge our clan. I would return to the village a hero, and the Uchiha family name would be redeemed in the eyes of the Senju, and I would go back to being in ignorant subservience.

And I did it. I became strong, I became hateful, and I killed him. It was afterwards that I learned he had never been the one deserving of revenge.

Now I'm here. My vengeance and my strength taken from me. Trapped.

[ dany can clearly hear the bias she's heard from the times she's listened to sasuke before. which is what makes her try to glean from it as best she can. it's familiar to her because the targaryens were slaughtered as well and yet she had already assumed there was injustice from previous words given. ]

To go against an entire kingdom, or village, as you would call it, on your own is folly. You would need men, armies to fight with you. And there is the matter of innocents, those who never knew of that strife to begin with. If you were to rebuild a better village you would have none left if your revenge took them all.

My people have never been so very reliant on single points of leadership. Matriarchs, Asari who are often closer to a thousand years of age than not, are seen as guides, and advisors, but the old states were representative, or even fully democratic, for generations, and we've maintained a true electronic democracy since before we discovered the mass relays.

The collective voice of our people sets laws, policies, even regulates trade and relations with other races in council space. When we select asari for positions of prominace, such as the council, we chose individuals who are known for patience and wisdom, who are willing to consider the consequences of their choices and actions over centuries, and who promote peace and comprimise between races over violent altercations and arrogant demands.

At least, that is the theory.

So it is age and experience that best suits a leader in your people's eyes? Not only this, but you choose them?
[ her world certainly sounds unified in a sense. yet what of the young who must rule? who have the shoulders of dynasties? ]

Not at all. Many whom we elect are not Matriarchs at all, and many who come to power out of necessity are far younger. However, only a fool would dismiss a thousand years if experience out of hand.

But yes, we vote for leaders, when we require them. Far more often, we simply vote on the issues directly. In effect, every Asari citizen is a leader of our people, if she choses to be.

For the most part, it seems as if you are a peaceful people.
[ grim ]
I do not think my people as such. They have need of leaders, of someone to guide them. Across the sea my kingdoms are scattered in war over a seat that is not theirs.

It is true that we prefer to reach peaceful accords. Other races have other solutions. Humans tend to elect representatives, who then make laws and govern them. Krogan have leaders who rise through strength, though a clever mind usually helps. It certainly has seen Wrex unite them formthe first time in more than a thousand years. Turians rise through based upon ability. A people must find a method of governance that beat suits them.

Sometimes, even my people need to be lead with a firm hand. Often, it is a Matriarch who does this, because she is less frightened of offending people she'll live with for the next thousand years. It depends upon what the circumstances are.

You know much, my lady. I have seen other sorts of leaders, those who are representatives as well, others who have risen to power through strength. My husband was such a leader of his people. They measured them through power, who could remain undefeated would lead them.

I do not disagree that a firm hand will be needed, yet I would have a kind one, as well. When the battles are over that hand must be one they can trust.

I have spent decades studying many races, though my focus was the Protheans. We knew very little about their governance, and so I studied many systems, so that I might recognize clues to that of the Protheans if I ever found any.

If it is your place to lead your people, I believe you must do so as you consider best. Remember, however, that you do not own your people, you protect them.

...I think, um, I have a question for you in turn. If you don't, um, don't mind elaborating.

[It's been a long time since Giles has thought of home very much. Maybe he's deflecting, just a bit, but he is exceptionally curious about Daeny, despite or perhaps because she seems reasonably sane.]

I would try to answer it, if possible.
[ she does wonder what exactly he has to ask. ]

Um...w-what do you believe a, um, a "true knight" to be? What sort of purpose did they fulfill, in your world?

We have knights in mine. Or, um, had. I suppose I'm curious how our definitions might differ.

Loyalty to their Kings, Queens--who serve and protect the innocent. They consider it their sworn duty.

What of your home?

Serving their lords, um, that's much the same. Not always the King, or the Queen. Barons, Counts, whoever held domain over a large enough area.

...as far as, um, protecting the people on their lord's lands protected their interest, I suppose that was much the same as well. They were political pieces, really. Expected to adhere to, um, a certain code of chivalry, but that code largely applied only in their interactions with one another, and with their "betters".

[The disdainful quotation marks drop into place like a respectable lady covering up a dead spider with a paper towel.]

So they were not so much concerned with their people as they were for their own lands? How highly that speaks of their 'betters'. Their Kings and their Queens.

[ at any rate, it's hardly something daenerys approves of. when i come to westeros i will choose those loyal to me, loyal to my people. there will be such men and women in my small council.]

I am, my lady, thank you.

[ I have endured worse. ]

[ a pause ]
Lady Alayne, if ever there were a thing I could do for you, you need only ask.
[ this girl was one of her people. she wanted to do something for her. ]

Edited 2012-10-21 00:32 (UTC)

You are so good to me, and I thank you. Rest has done me much good.

I do not think I am good enough. I have done very little for you, and you come from my own home.
[ she furrows her brows ]
I am still looking for a way to return us to our world.

Would not resolving this land's troubles see us returned?

[ a bit dryly ]
I do not think even this world's king knows of how to solve his own troubles. Yet there is truth in that. My dragon's flames have tried to pierce these thorns yet they continue to grow.

There are no kings where I'm from... But a leader needs to have compassion. They can't be selfish or cruel or ruthless.

I think the same. I believe a good leader should have a firm but gentle hand.

[ you have been robbed of such a leader, katniss everdeen, she wants to say, but she would not direct the girl's thoughts towards a subject clearly unpleasant. ]

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♔SECOND

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Biased? Sasuke? Noooo. Wordy, on the other hand...

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