fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 3, 1st period]

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Ethics [Thursday, September 3, 1st period]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance as the door clicked shut behind him. If you were late, you weren't getting in. "I'm Master Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry, "this is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are--and move straight to our first discussion."

He paced around the room, cloak flaring out behind him, as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said, pointing to the top of the page. "Self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they all blither on about how they would set the world on fire, lie, cheat, steal, kill, die, et cetera, et cetera. I've been at this school too long to believe that half of you haven't already been put into this situation and I'm in no mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be. Instead I want you to give me a concrete example of a time you admitted to yourself that a problem cannot be solved, and that to sacrificing yourself wasn't a statement, but merely pointless?" His gaze swept the room. "How long does it take for you to realize you can't fix everything by yourself?"

He would hear the replies and choose his TAs from there.

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"When I left home for here," Karla answered softly. "And I'm still working on that lesson. It isn't easy, being a Queen and leaving your people behind."

"Especially if you still believe that you are the only one who can do what you do," he added. "We take on far too much responsibility by believing we are completely irreplaceable."

"What if you are the only person who can do what you do?" she countered. "What if it isn't belief, but fact? Or even if you're not the only one who can, but you're the only one who will?"

"Then you are generally doomed to a stressful, violent and short life," Anakin said quietly.

She gave hima wry smile. "And now we've come to why I'm here. So I can survive till I'm strong enough to return. Hopefully then it'll be all rainbows and unicorns."

After that first messy civil war thing.

"But exile's a bitter choice when you know what you're leaving behind," Karla said, sighing.

Anakin nodded. "Especially when you feel you have a responsibility to set things right."

"Of course I do!" Karla said, with a bit of vehemence. "They're my people and my responsibility. I can't stop everything that's happening to them right now, but I will fix whatever I can once I am strong enough."

Then she slumped back. "Though I already know there are going to be things beyond my power to heal. Which is another answer, I supose. It doesn't matter how strong you are, you can't fix everything. Figuring out what is possible and focusing on that is tough but necessary."

Anakin nodded. "We get to that a bit later."

Hayley gasped. "You're a queen?"

Karla looked over at the girl and nodded. "Yes, it's one of my castes. When I return home, make my Offering, and form my Court, I will be the Territory Queen of Glacia."

There was another small step in there involving deposing her uncle and whatall, but details.

"Wow," Hayley said. "That's amazing."

Karla laughed a bit. "I think it's a lot less glamorous than whatever you're imagining. It's a lot of hard work and responsibility. I have an entire Territory of people counting on me to care for them and protect them. Which is impossible for me to do here."

And even more impossible for her to do there, which was why she was here. That knowledge didn't do much to allieviate the bitterness of abandoning them.

"I'm Karla, by the way," she said, extending her hand. "Not from this world, as I'm sure you've guessed."

"Hayley," she introduced. "I never met a queen before. Even if it's from a different world."

She paused.

"Do you have a unicorn?"

That earned a much bigger smile. "I don't own one," Karla said. "They're people, too, and you don't own friends. But I do know one and he lets me ride him when I'm home. His name is Kaetien. At the last multicultural fair, I spun a web to let people experience my very first unicorn ride for themselves. It was a lot of fun."

"Wow," Hayley said. "That sounds beautiful."

"They are," Karla agreed, eyes a little dreamy. "They have their own Territory, called Sceval. It's just rolling plains and wooded dells for almost as far as you can see, with herds of unicorns everywhere. They're the color of mist, or starlight, or cream. And their Queen, Starcloud, she's the most beautiful, most graceful creature I have ever seen."

"We got nothing like that in Gotham," Hayley said. "But wow, I sure love the sound of it."

"Gotham?" Karla asked, coming back from daydreaming about Sceval. "I was just there! My friend Dinah's from Gotham, actually."

Well, New Gotham, technically, but Karla didn't really think much of that.

Luckily, Hayley already new about New Gotham. "Really? Not the one in New Jersey?"

Karla frowned. "No, I think it was in New Jersey," she said, trying to remember.

Like she knew earth geography. "I'm pretty sure it was."

"Shucks," Hayley said. "That's not my Gotham." She pouted a little.

"There are two Gothams?" Karla asked, blinking.

Don't ask her why she's confused. There were two Dhemlans and Askavis and the SaDiablo Halls at home.

"Apparently," Hayley said. "Somebody told me there's a New Gotham in Jersey. But my Gotham's in Illinois."

"Yes, Dinah's is New Gotham," Karla said. "I didn't mean to have gotten you excited for the wrong place."

"It's okay," Hayley said. "I'm gettin' used to the idea that no one's ever heard of it."

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