fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, December 10, 1st period]

Yes, Anakin had tried to get in some lightsaber practice before class.

Yes, it had turned into a candy cane.

No, he wasn't very happy about that.

So a very cranky Anakin stalked into the classroom and began speaking. "There's a very famous story on this world, of the lady or the tiger. For those of you not from here, the short version is that there was a fictional king with his own sense of justice: instead of a court system, he had an arena with two doors. Behind one door was a beautiful woman, handpicked by the king. Behind the other was a tiger. If you chose the tiger, you were eaten and declared guilty. If you chose the lady, you were considered innocent and married the lady. The king didn't care about your previous marital status or sexual orientation, apparently."

He began pacing. "One day the king discovered that his daughter had been having an affair with someone far below her station, so the man was arrested and tossed into the arena. Now the princess knew which door has what behind it, and her lover looked up to her for advice. She had two choices: watch her love die, or marry another woman. The story ends with the princess telling him which door to open, but leaves us hanging as to what waited behind it."

Anakin smiled. "Your task today is two-fold. First, pair up with a classmate and decide what the princess did. Then tell me what you would have done in the princess's place."

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"At least she can save him," Elena mused. "His life, I mean. But knowing that the only way to save his life is to have him marry another ... that's cruel. She can't win. Either door leads to pain."

"Parents have an amazing capacity to do that to their children," he said quietly. "It's kind of frightening."

"Isn't it, though?" Elena laughed, and there was a bitter tinge to it. "Perhaps that's why some people bother having children. To fuel their own social experiments."

"It wouldn't surprise me," he said, shaking his head. "Children become more of a symbol of something instead of their children."

"Parents wanting to re-live their own glory days," she sniffed. "Father was interested in jewelry-making, so therefore, all his children need to study it. They can't have their own minds."

"I guess I should be appreciative that there's an interest at all?" Jonas asked, looking unsure. "Some children don't even get that."

"No," she said. "And it's a damn sight better than putting your daughter into some bizarre ethical dilemma, just to torment her."

"I don't know which I'd choose but I suppose him being alive would mean...there's still hope for the two of them," Jonas said after a moment. "That the future could bring happiness."

Elena shook her head. "I'd choose the woman. It's ... it'd tear your heart out, but if you could watch him die, then ... then what are you?"

"An unforgivable monster," he said even if the question was rhetorical. Jonas wondered if that's what his father was, watching those infants die at his hand.

She shivered. "Sorry," she said. "I don't mean to ... I guess there are people who could. Maybe it'd hurt less than seeing him happy, with someone else. But I can't believe that."

If she could wave her hand and bring Aerith back -- even if it might mean Tseng would be hers, and not Elena's -- she would do it. Better that than him being lonely.

"You didn't do anything," he said, waving that off, "so there's no need to apologize. The subject of family isn't the easiest one for me even if my memories of my family are hazy. I find myself wondering what they would and the answer I come to isn't nice."

"If you only have hazy memories," she said, carefully, "maybe you're misunderstanding them. Either way, I'm sorry."

After a moment's consideration, she added, "My family ... they weren't what I would have wanted, either."

If that was any consolation. It probably wasn't.

"I'm not misunderstanding," he said assuredly. He wished he was misunderstanding them but he knew he wasn't. "And I am sorry about your family. Hopefully others are luckier than you and I."

Ethics [Thursday, December 10, 1st period]

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