Vacant Throne

Alyssa did not know why she had been invited to the evening’s meeting. She felt like she should have something more to offer, but when it came down to it, most of the people at the table were absolutely impossible to talk to. They were too set in their views. Even little disagreements about some inane side note were taken as personal attacks. Arguing anything more had seen two people storm off already.

It wasn’t even her doing the arguments. Aside from her introduction, Alyssa could count the number of times she had said anything on one hand. Poor Fela was here and she hadn’t said anything at all—she wasn’t even calling for more food, instead just sitting still and looking like she would rather not be noticed for the time being. Irulon was barely at the table mentally. She had a notebook out, which she constantly wrote in. Someone else at the table might think that she was taking notes or otherwise paying attention to the current speaker—she even looked at whoever was talking as she wrote—but Alyssa was sitting right next to her. She could see what the notebook was.

It was magic research. Of course.

Irulon’s counterpart was doing enough talking to make up for the silence of Alyssa, Fela, and Irulon, however. Kasita wasn’t far behind. Though Alyssa had no idea what they were really arguing for. Especially Companion, who seemed to take up a devil’s advocate stance based on the last thing anyone said. One moment, she would be agreeing with Kasita on one subject only to disagree with her on the next in order to agree with someone else, even disagreeing with an earlier point that she made on occasion.

Given how many people were here that all had their own ideas on how things should be, Alyssa had to wonder if she wasn’t trying to make a point that everyone could agree with at least once. Some ploy to get on their sides or build a small rapport.

Alyssa didn’t think it was working. People like Martin were… basically just Martin’s group. There were a few others, including a surprising round of support from Decorous’ brother, who were interested in lessening some restrictions. Most of those present did not like the idea of change. They didn’t like the idea of losing their slaves or inviting potentially hostile beings into their territory. That was despite Martin’s testimony of the monsters who stopped by his city and how they interacted with the humans around there, and how the humans interacted with the monsters.

The whole meeting was just… exhausting. Alyssa hadn’t even done much and yet she felt like she had run a marathon. Talking and arguing was not her element. If one of these people pulled out a poisoned knife and tried to assassinate the Pharaoh, things would be different. That was something she felt she could intervene in. She wasn’t quite sure how she got to wishing for something dangerous to happen, but that was where she was at in life, apparently.

It was just so much easier to knock down a brick wall than it was to argue with one.

Alyssa took off her sunglasses and rubbed at her eyes. How long is this meeting going to go on, anyway? They hadn’t even talked about monsters for the first few hours, going over other items on the agenda first. Which was probably the smart thing to do as those topics didn’t have nearly as much arguing going on. But this meeting had been going on for twice as long, no progress was being made, and people were growing more exhausted and more irritated the longer things went. At this point, it would probably be better to simply go to each city, tell all the monsters that wanted to leave that there was a haven for them near Illuna, and completely ignore the leaders of the cities.

That would probably cause all kinds of problems for the Pharaoh, but…

What was he doing during all this? Letting his children handle it, mostly. Not even his children, just the First Prince with a little input from Brakkt. Alyssa couldn’t even remember the last time he spoke.

Though at the moment, no one was speaking.

It took Alyssa a second to realize why they were all staring at her. Taking off her glasses, looking around with brightly glowing eyes… it probably looked like she was about to say something.

She hadn’t been, but… with the opportunity presented to her, it would be a shame to waste it.

“Aren’t you all… ashamed of yourselves? Sitting around, squabbling like children.” Though she was only tangentially paying attention, the last thing they had been discussing—if it could be called a discussion—was on the topic of a war between humans and elves, roughly ten years ago. The same war that Guillem had been captured during. “No one is asking you to not defend yourselves. Or even hand over prisoners of war. The last time the Pharaoh spoke, it was to call to attention the idea that peaceful monsters could benefit from and be a benefit for humanity as a whole. Most monsters have desires other than eating humanity’s face off,” she said with a gesture toward Fela and Kasita.

“A few… well-behaved examples are hardly cause to rewrite the law of the land,” one of the louder lords said, hitting his knuckles against the table as if to punctuate his statement. “Those laws are there for good reason.”

“Times change. People change. Monsters change. Laws should change too. You people are so obsessed with a possible threat just because it looks obvious that you aren’t concerned with the real threats facing the world. How often does this group consider the Juno Federation? They—”

“Juno? A threat?” another of the lords said, earning a small laugh from those around him.

Someone on the opposite side of the table, a woman from a house with a banner depicting a perched cat with a thick necklace on, leaned forward. “We defeat the Federation’s pitiful attacks every year. They’ve never made a successful incursion into our lands.”

“Have they not? Can you be so sure?”

“Obviously,” the woman said with a scoff, waving a hand around the room as if that explained everything.

“The Juno Federation attacked twice just a few months ago. They used new tactics.” Tactics that might have worked if not for Alyssa’s presence, though she wasn’t about to toot her own horn right now, feeling that might undermine her point. “They will continue to use new tactics. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that their yearly battle with the Lyrian guard is just there to fuel a sense of complacency while they’re working to infiltrate on a more subtle level. The Juno Federation is made up of humans. You wouldn’t even notice if that friendly merchant you buy trinkets from was actually spying on you for the Juno Federation. You would never know if your trusted adviser was feeding notes to his far-off superiors from every meeting he attended.

“You focus on Fela because she has giant pillars of flames coming from her eyes. It is easy and obvious to say ‘hey, look at that.’ But Fela doesn’t hate this entire kingdom. She doesn’t want to see it ground into dust. It’s the humans across the desert that want to destroy you.”

Alyssa felt a little strange about throwing a whole other human civilization under the bus in effort to… distract from the actual topic, but the Juno Federation was already at war and already hated Tenebrael worshipers. She didn’t see too much harm in it. Aside from possibly getting Lyria to go to war themselves instead of just defending themselves.

The monsters were much closer to home given that they were already here. Probably, anyway. She might not be wrong about the Juno Federation sending spies, but that really wasn’t the point. Alyssa was mostly trying to get people to see that humans were just as much of threats as the monsters were. Technically more of a threat, given that humans tended to exist in far larger numbers than most types of monsters. And yet, they were wasting all their focus on monsters.

Glancing first toward Kasita then to Companion, Alyssa slowly turned her gaze over the entire table. “You people waste too much time on threats that aren’t actually threats while complacently ignoring actual threats. I’ve no problem with you defending yourselves should monsters attack. But hunting down a small, peaceful farming community of monsters for slaughter and enslavement… Your time is better spent elsewhere.”

The woman looked like she might object again, but a look from Decorous’ brother silenced her.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “I do not disagree that monsters can… enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with humanity. Some monsters. However, keeping the monster population low, keeping them manageable, is a necessary if unfortunate task. Take your hellhound, for example. My brother,” he said, waving to Decorous without lifting his elbow, “is quite the accomplished warrior.”

Alyssa suppressed a snort, remembering how he had acted when confronted with a gaunt. Even today, he had been shooting nervous glances to Fela all throughout the meeting. At being called out, those nervous glances only intensified.

“A captain of the guard at his young age,” Valorous continued. “Yet I doubt he would have much success in combat against a hellhound. A monster like that is stronger, faster, more agile than a human. Their sharp claws could casually rend armor and their fur acts as a natural barrier to blades. Yora city guards could fight off a single hellhound with few casualties. But if we allowed a community to form on our borders, how could we deal with ten, fifty, or a hundred of them?”

“Why would you think they would attack?”

Valorous blinked, visible confusion on his face for a moment. It was as if he had never even considered the possibility that a group of monsters wouldn’t attack. They were monsters, after all. It was what they did. They attacked humans. The confusion only lasted a moment before he seemed to get what Alyssa was getting at, but she didn’t let him speak.

“Fela, what do you want right now more than anything?”

“To go back to my room and go to sleep.”

“And after that?”

“Food.”

“And after that?”

“Umm… to… not be invited to any more of these meetings?”

“Yeah. Me too,” Alyssa said softly. A little louder, she said, “There is a hierarchy of needs that all thinking beings have. At the most important, you have things like food, water, space to live, warmth, and rest. Then there is security and safety. Above that, psychological needs such as feelings of belonging and accomplishment. Satisfying these needs significantly lessens the need or desire to… rebel.

“If a family of hellhounds does make their way to Yora’s territory, simply telling them that you are not going to hunt them down and kill them for sleeping out in a nearby forest is probably more than sufficient for them to leave you alone. Illuna went a step further, offering nearby land and implicit protection because of their proximity. Martin and the rest of the humans living in Illuna don’t need to fulfill every need that I listed. The monsters are constructing their own homes and cultivating their own crops. Really, it is just the territory that was important. Any sufficiently large group of monsters can be entirely self sufficient beyond having a place to live where they won’t be murdered.”

Crossing her arms and leaning back, Alyssa kept talking. “I understand that powerful lords and territory owners such as yourselves might view your land as far too precious to part with. But I have ridden through half this country. There are swathes of empty land. Huge areas where nothing lives save perhaps bandits and highwaymen. There is more than enough space on this world for humans and monsters to cohabit. You don’t need to do as Illuna did and offer them a plot of land on your doorstep, though doing so would facilitate trade and any alchemist can tell you that some fingernail shavings from the right monster are worth a roomful of gold. And as for brewing animosity… Martin,” Alyssa said, looking toward the older man. “You’ve walked among the monsters. You visited their town just a few days ago, didn’t you?”

“That’s correct.”

“Did you feel any hostility? Did you ever get the sense that you might be in danger?”

“Can’t say that I did. Everyone was friendly, even happy to see me.”

“And your own people, the humans of Illuna, do they have complaints?”

He didn’t answer quite as fast this time, nodding slowly. “There are a few petitioners. Far fewer than there were weeks ago when the monsters were still living in their camp. Already, it is dying down. The few monsters who chose to stay behind haven’t caused problems one way or another either.”

Nodding, Alyssa looked back to Valorous, point made.

“And when a few dissidents with old grudges start to rally others in an insurrection?”

“Then you will defend yourself with the aid of other monsters. Ones who want to preserve their new way of living. Which, I imagine, will far out number those with grudges.”

“You think monsters will side with humans over other monsters?”

Alyssa simply gestured toward both Kasita and Fela, both of whom had stood by Alyssa’s side in the face of monsters. In Kasita’s case, she had mostly negotiated, but Fela had definitely been ready to attack the oasis monsters should they have proved themselves hostile toward Alyssa. And, of course, nobody liked fairies.

“Well,” Valorous said slowly after looking between the two monsters, “there is certainly much more to consider regarding this topic than can be properly examined without further research. Given that the night has gone on quite long as it is, I request an adjournment for us to gather more information, discuss problems in a less formal environment, and allow the… poor monster its rest.” He nodded toward Fela.

That was, possibly, the most wonderful suggestion that Alyssa had heard all evening. Most others at the table seemed to agree, given the murmurs of agreement that went around.

The Pharaoh nodded. After waiting a brief moment, presumably for anyone to object, he said, “Very well. We shall reconvene at a later date. My son shall get everything ready and alert you all in advance.”

“Thank you all for coming,” the First Prince said, standing. “And for remaining… cordial during this topic of discussion.”

Alyssa had to suppress another scoff. Then again, she didn’t know what other trying topics they usually discussed. For all she knew, this was cordial in a relative manner of speaking. But pleasant company or not, it didn’t matter. I’m finally free.

She was definitely going to talk to the First Prince about not attending any future meetings. Kasita could go in her place and speak for her, if necessary, though she didn’t know why it would be. If one of the great houses was planning on attacking another, or groups of monsters, or even the Pharaoh, then she could step in and blast them down with angelic laser beams. The same was true in reverse, should monsters decide to do something nefarious. With all her power, and with the staff to protect against esoteric things like the Pharaoh’s time magic, it would be easy to simply proclaim herself the living embodiment of Tenebrael. She could easily turn into a tyrannical ruler of the entire world, crushing all dissidence in an attempt to get everyone to cooperate. She could easily just glare at Valorous, tell him to fall in line or be replaced, and have that be that.

But would that be the right thing to do?

It was a philosophical debate. She always hated the two philosophy classes she had taken. They seemed like a bunch of self-important people sitting around discussing concepts without actually doing anything about them. But here and now, Alyssa could theoretically do something about them. A new world order at her fingertips. A few Annihilators here and there would keep people in line.

But even if it was the right thing to do in the short term, if only to keep people from harming each other, Alyssa was still not going to be around forever.

So she didn’t think it was a good idea. Or the right thing to do.

People needed to learn for themselves. Society needed to change on its own. She would certainly step in to stop atrocities from happening in the moment, but real change needed to come from the people.

Probably, anyway. She wasn’t a philosopher.