fandomhigh | Library, Sunday

Entry tags:

library

Library, Sunday

Even though it had been one of his last chances to break out the shirtlessness and body glitter, Face had given the Welcome Picnic a miss yesterday, but he'd come in to the library bright and early to get the usual 'Newbie Survival Guide' display set up.

Because no doubt someone would need it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Cass, they need to trust people aren't going to start disappearing because you decided there was dangerous magic about." Kark it, Face was starting to wonder, and he was on her side. "They won't be able to do that unless they understand why you took Anders this time, and it's no good saying it's duty or rights."

He pointed to his scar. "I didn't get this because of people who were scared, or desperate, or grieving, I got it because of people who knew they were in the right and that the other guy could wear the consequences."

"Anders is a Thedosian mage, Garik," Cassandra said slowly. "Here, many of you seem to be able to wield magic without consequence. It is not the same for my world. And as I was trained to deal with - as I have dealt with - blood mages and demons, I believe I am far better equipped to judge whether Anders should have been removed from the island or not. It has little to do with anyone else here. He was my responsibility."

It was like she was trying to misunderstand him.

"It's not me you have to convince," Face said, suddenly tired. "It's Principal Winchester, it's Professor Skywalker. He was their responsibility too, and you want them to abandon that responsibility and trust in your judgement, without even being willing to entertain the idea of trusting theirs."

She wasn't. It was just that the questions he was asking had very specific answers and she had already dismissed the notion of any of it being on anyone but her.

"Why should I?" Cassandra said. "They allowed a fugitive mage to seek refugee in this school for several years. Without special precautions."

Face rubbed his hand over his eyes.

"Cass, is it really that hard to acknowledge the possibility you might be wrong?" Not even that she was, just the possibility.

"I did," Cassandra said. "Until I found him standing in the preserve with a knife to his palm."

Face bit down on his immediate reply, because there were some things you couldn't come back from.

"Cass, this isn't just about Anders," he said instead. "It's that if you keep setting yourself as this sole, infallible authority, the you're going to get someone killed, and it's not going to be some evil mage, or some guy who screwed up because he wasn't thinking straight, it'll be the people you're supposed to protect."

Cassandra looked away from him, letting out a loud sigh. "What do you want me to do, Garik?" she said. "Stand there and-- and waffle while a man - a boy! - summons demons to the island? I saw what had to be done, and I did it."

She looked back at him. "One does not always have the luxury to stand around and debate what may or may not be right."

Face had already pointed out the difference between 'stopping' and 'sending to their potential death'.

"Then why even call yourselves 'Seekers of Truth'?"

As far as Cassandra was concerned, sending Anders to his potential death was a mercy she could easily come to regret. A mild physician left a putrid wound. And she had been mild, albeit not as mild as the administration would have likely been.

"Because we are," she said. "Have you ever seen what a single demon can do to a village, Garik?"

And a decent doctor applied bacta instead of chopping off limbs.

"No. But I've seen what the Empire has done to entire planets," said the boy from a post-Death Star galaxy. "People don't need magic to destroy worlds, Cass."

Which would be sensible if the limb in question hadn't quite possibly been gangrenous. There was no way to be sure until the Circle and the Templars got a look at him.

Anders hadn't even been through his Harrowing yet, for Andraste's sake.

"No," Cassandra said. "But it makes it far easier to do so. Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him. The Chant is quite clear."

The Canticle of Shartan would like to have a word about the clarity of the Chant.

Face sighed. Force save hm from people using religion to back up their arguments. "And what does it say about respecting the authorities of the place you're living in?"

"Nothing specific," Cassandra said, after a pause. "Well, I suppose there is Andraste's war against the occupying Tevinters, but I hardly see how that fits in here."

Edited 2016-05-09 08:10 (UTC)

It fit because Face had given up on logic as an argumentative tool.

"I was wondering which part of the Chant gets quoted when the people in charge of place wake up and find those they're responsible for missing without an explanation."

Because his logic made no sense at worst and was naive at best.

"I can provide the principal with an explanation," she said.

'Because Andraste said so' was not actually a better argument.

"And one for why you didn't give her this explanation before taking him?" Which had been the point Face had been trying to make for most of this conversation. "If you were so sure it was the only way, then shouldn't she have agreed?"

Garik should take a trip to Kirkwall for a fortnight and see how much he disagreed with Andraste's assessment afterward.

"People on this island do not always see the danger these things pose," Cassandra said, after a pause.

And maybe a significant look.

"But I suppose, yes."

Well, he'd probably come away with some choice opinions on self-perpetuating downward spirals.

"And you can see that she might want to be part of the loop if it happens again?"

"I doubt that it will, unless another mage finds their way here before I leave," Cassandra said. "But I suppose, again. If she is reasonable."

Frankly, Zoe was lucky Cassandra had never decided to call an Exalted March down on this place.

Face was willing to call it a partial victory.

"Yes. Reasonable." That was the most amazingly bland and non-committal tone in the history of bland and non-committal tones.

Cassandra sighed. And yet, she reminded herself, this conversation would likely have been worse if she had hid it from him for some time. "My people did not simply wake up one day and decide to imprison the mages," she said. "Garik."

"People never do, Cass." You needed time to normalise systems like that.

"And you can only speak for your universe," Cassandra said. "Not mine."

Some few days in Orlais hardly showed the scope of the problem.

Now was probably not the time to get into a conversation about the pros and cons of cultural relativism.

"If you say so," he said, neutrally.

Library, Sunday

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB

Re: Talk to Face -- NFB