LIGHTNOVELONLINE 211 Perception
"Titanyana."
"Trebar."
The two of them greeted each other curtly at the entrance to the Barracks. Their relationship, if it could even be called such, was one of respectful equals. Neither viewed the other as above them, nor did they consider themselves superior. Trebar would almost certainly best Titanyana in a fight, but that mattered little.
"Should we go to the room?"
"I believe that would be for the best."
Both of them were naturally quiet individuals, even if Trebar didn't show it. His outspokenness was almost exclusively a function of his continued role as a leader. Orders and instructions needed to be conveyed loudly, often more than once.
"This door."
Which made Titanyana's curtness and ability to understand his intentions with only a few words quite refreshing. Make no mistake, Titanyana was no Gawan, but she belonged to a relatively exclusive suite of individuals he considered to be 'perceptive' - incredibly competent people whom he could expect to interact with without issue. Most of his squad fell into that bracket, the exceptions being Tabo and Yabo, as did the vast majority of Bishops he had met. Outside of those populations he found that 'perceptive' individuals were few and far between.
He had the pleasure of interacting with a few during the tournaments, usually other nobles placed into leadership positions based on merit, however most of the people he had registered as 'perceptive' outside of the Theocracy belonged to a single organization - the Sanctum. More specifically, every Enforcer he had seen expressed signs of being 'perceptive'. There was undoubtedly a requirement or training program involved with becoming an Enforcer that made the trait so common.
"Where are they?"
"Lady Diana is still taking a bath. Donovan is asleep, I think."
There were those he considered to be more than 'perceptive' as well, people he believed to be dangerous even if they weren't a threat. Gawan, Kayes, and the Montaug were the three individuals he was most familiar with that fit the criteria. They could act and make plans completely independent of his influence, of anyone's influence. Granted, all three of them had been granted some level of freedom with regards to how they might act given their jobs, but he couldn't help but feel that they were given those freedoms out of consideration towards their personalities.
That wasn't to say that they didn't follow the rules. It could be argued that they were better at following them than anybody else he knew. They just acted with the knowledge that the rules they followed were there to ensure the best possible outcome for their organization, the Holifanian Theocracy. Should they ever encounter a situation where acting against those rules presents a greater opportunity, they would not hesitate to disregard them. Their intuition, a mere suspicion, was all they really needed to go against the grain.A choice few besides his friend, his mentor, and his supervisor found themselves in this tier.
The Archbishops, for example, had many of the same attributes. In fact, Trebar was confident that Kayes would be an Archbishop if it weren't for the peculiarities of his position based on the similarities alone.
The Grand Elders of the Sanctum were also in that rank, though he hadn't interacted with them much personally, as did the Captain. The Merchant was probably still working up to that level given his lack of familiarity with the position, but it made sense that he would eventually become just as shrewd as the last one.
Trebar was also quite confident that a few of his rivals fell into this category. Of course, calling them rivals was really just a polite way of saying they had potential. Trebar could handily defeat all of them in a competition of strategy, skill, or strength, but they promised to be influential individuals in their region of the galaxy after graduation.
And then there was Diana. Diana was a little bit strange. While it was true that she fulfilled the conditions, Diana did not 'fit' the role whenever he saw her. She was definitely willing to break a few rules and more than capable of holding her own, it just seemed to fall apart on her sometimes.
"Asleep? At this hour?"
"He was called to court to address the incident at the party."
"Ah. How did it go?"
"Um. I haven't had the chance to speak with him, but he's back, so. . ."
"I'll ask him later then."
The highest tier of individual didn't really have a name, nor did it have a description. It was a select group of people that Trebar just had a feeling about. They all had a certain air or mystique around them that suggested infallibility, an incorruptible persona that could and would do whatever it needed in order to get a job done. They weren't necessarily evil or morally bankrupt, though one individual fit that bill, but they certainly did not value 'life' the same way everyone else did.
The Arboreal Maiden naturally sat on this list. She had been on it even before his first meeting with her based on what she was, the Arboreal Maiden. The preeminent power in the galaxy and purveyor of the Great Csillacra's will. She had overseen a great many years. The life of an individual had, it would seem, lost most of its value in her blindfolded eyes. She wouldn't go out of her way to kill someone, in fact she would be more likely to preserve it, records had simply shown that she had no qualms about ordering the elimination of certain individuals or groups should they pose a veritable threat to the rest of the galaxy.
The Hunter was perhaps her opposite. From what he had heard from the investigative reports, he valued life to an extreme level, beyond what even the most compassionate and empathetic individual might imagine. He could hide next to his 'prey' for years, watching them grow and change, developing in both body and character through the years. He might guide them through their darkest times or push them into the depths of despair, relishing every moment knowing that one moment, the moment of the kill, would result in a most delicious concoction of emotion. Despair and grief seemed to be his preferred aftertaste to a sweet and happy life, content to spend years 'hunting' that rush.
However, the Hunter was not the scariest person Trebar knew. Nor was the Arboreal Maiden for that matter. That honor belonged to Donovan.
See, while the Hunter and the Arboreal Maiden would be able to defeat and dispose of him on an individual basis, he understood their motives. He knew how to avoid them. He knew how to keep himself from becoming a target. So long as he kept his distance and didn't do anything too eye-catching, he was safe. They might not care much about him as an individual, but he was still a person. They would treat him as such even if they didn't like him.
Donovan did not give him that impression.
Trebar didn't mean that Donovan wasn't one to treat him like trash, he was actually quite personable whenever they spoke, he had simply come to the realization that if the situation required it Donovan would not hesitate to kill Trebar. He didn't mean the sort of killing involved with soldiers or murderers, that which involved heated compassion or malice, he expected Donovan to kill him in such a manner that was devoid of emotion.
Despite what Donovan might claim, Trebar had a feeling that Donovan did not see people as 'people'. For people like Diana and Titanyana, those he had a relevant emotional attachment to, that probably didn't apply, but everybody else? In all likelihood, they were just numbers. Statistics. They were bodies, tools without purpose beyond what he could get out of them in a wartime environment. A self-replicating resource that needed to be carefully husbanded in order to yield the most optimal results. A currency to be traded for victory.
Trebar couldn't blame Donovan, not when his job involved the continuation of his race. Donovan wasn't allowed to make decisions out of emotion, so he didn't. Trebar just wished that Don would stop subconsciously contemplating how to neutralize him every time he was in a room with Diana.
It was honestly a little bit unnerving, because even though Trebar knew that Donovan would be unable to stop if he decided to act, there was always this little voice in the back of Trebar's head that was afraid that Donovan might have actually found something that works. Trebar knew that there was nothing Donovan could do, and yet he was afraid that there could be, a strange juxtaposition that logically didn't fit. Honestly, that made Trebar that little bit more nervous. His instincts kept telling him that somehow, Donovan was a genuine threat to his life, and yet he couldn't see it.
"So . . . what is it you need to tell me?"
"You recall that a few days ago I told you that Bishop Kayes and Gawan were en route?" Titanyana nodded. "Well, it would appear that they are getting here a little bit earlier than we had been expecting."
"Earlier?" Titanyana's ears twitched in response. "How is that even possible?"
Trebar frowned a little. Perceptive as Titanyana was, everybody had their blind spots. Unfortunately for her, those spots were quite vast.
"Any number of ways, really. More favorable winds and a shorter route are the usual suspects, the latter being the culprit here. It looks like one of them pulled some strings and got approval to use one of our protectorates's nodal connections instead of having to sail all the way to Holifel. If everything goes as reported, they should be here tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight. The Montaug would like you to be there when they arrive."
"I'll go."
"Good. I'll come back when it's time to go, so don't go anywhere. It's not like you'll need to tug any luggage but-"
"I want to see my people." Titanyana didn't need reassurances. "I need to know how everyone is doing."
Trebar watched Titanyana shrink in her seat, feeling guilt as he noticed the growing pain in her eyes. He knew how bad it was, the Montaug had told him. He couldn't bring himself to tell her how bad it really was, he couldn't afford to. She was going to learn that she didn't have the time she thought she did eventually, it was an inevitability of the situation, but it was probably best for her to hear it from someone who had seen it first hand.
Titanyana, perceptive as she was, completely lacked a reference for what 'normal' was. Her home didn't look like it should, and the Great Csillacra was a bit too different from a planet for it to be considered a expected baseline. She would be able to stomach it better from someone who had been there, someone who had been everywhere, someone who was an expert.
"Titanyana, the man who headed the expedition to your home and established contact with your people is a man I respect very much. He was my mentor, and is one of the Bishops of the Theocracy. Unlike the majority of the Bishops, he works almost exclusively outside of the Theocracy's borders, and had been to more planets than I think either of us could imagine."
Titanyana's ears were at attention, her eyes back to making contact with his own.
"I need you to listen to him very carefully. Take his word to be the truth even if you cannot bring yourself to believe it."
"Is something wrong?"
"I would imagine this whole situation counts as 'something wrong' no?" Titanyana nodded, hesitant to show she agreed with him. "While I do not worry for you personally, I want you keep in mind that he will have a better idea of how bad everything is on account of his intimate knowledge on what the base line is. If he needs answers to questions, answer him as honestly as you can. If he requests a demonstration, such as your utilization of split, oblige him. He is the closest thing to an expert we have right now. The more he knows, the better he can prepare us."
"I understand."
"Good." Now was the awkward part, the silence after their business had been conducted.
Two naturally quiet individuals sat across from each other, neither making a noise, neither being able to leave the room. Trebar still had matters to discuss with Diana (he would let Donovan sleep). Titanyana could not allow Trebar (her guest) to be left alone.
"So . . ." Titanyana was the first to break the ice. ". . . you mentioned that this person works outside of the Theocracy."
"Mhm. I followed him during my training."
"I . . . I was under the impression that you all were isolationists."
Trebar nodded. "That is true, but even isolationists need to have some level of contact with our neighbors. Kayes, that's his name if I haven't told you, does a lot of different jobs outside of our borders. Sometimes, as you know, he acts in the capacity of a diplomat. I recall attending more than just a few coronations during goodwill visits. He can also act as a merchant, though that is pretty rare. Merchants and peddlers tend to be pretty good about going through the proper channels to secure or inquire about trade deals."
"You learned to fight from a courier?"
"I wasn't finished." Titanyana recoiled a little. "Kayes' primary role is to track down criminals, traitors, and other undesirable individuals who have fled from the Theocracy or our protectorates. You might think of him as a bounty hunter."
"Oh. That makes sense."
"I recall more than just a few occasions were he had to resort to killing people in order to stop their crimes. I'll tell you right now that I am still not confident in my ability to defeat him."
"Really? But you-"
"Do not base your understanding of the top echelon of swordsmen on the people, the children, that play in the academy. An individual's ability to use split only grows as they age. A mediocre 35 year old veteran is more than a match for a 25 year old genius. Given that he was only slightly below my level at this age and is now closing on 50, I've still got a while to go before I can threaten him in a fight."
"Oh . . . right. Sorry."
"No, don't apologize. As I have said, you have lived a life with a completely different understanding of normality than everybody else. I just hope that you will remember that information moving forwards. Do not underestimate the elderly. It might be the last mistake you ever make. You have to live, don't you?"
Titanyana's eyes widened a little before nodding. She could be taught, always a benefit.
