[Silver Sliver] Spy vs. Spy [Cris]

[Hadrian]

"Curious indeed," he agreed as they walked. "As an educated person, I would say that good and evil are nebulous abstractions, and certainly if there is an absolute moral law, I do not know it. I attempt to be honest and fair in my dealings with other people, but that is how I was raised. Were I raised in Ravok by Ravokian parents, my frame of reference might be entirely different. It isn't fair to judge another city's morals based on one's own, really, but even knowing that intellectually, I can't help but have gut-level reactions to things. "You might be lying to me right now and since the moment we met, Atelius," he said with a smile, though it was sad at the very thought that this delightful acquaintance might not be real. But as an academician, he had to acknowledge the possibility. "If that were the case, could I call you a bad man by Ravokian standards? Certainly if we were in Syliras and this were the case, you would be called a bad man. But the prevailing moral code is only what the body politic decides it should be, a social contract one is born into, really. "There are parts that are rotten, but there are also good things in Ravok. You, for instance..." He stumbled over the last, sincere, but aware that he sounded like a love-sick puppy almost, when really it just felt like he had met his best friend and how fortunate that was. Please like me too, his aura begged. When they were seated in the ravosala, an eyebrow rocketed skyward at the destination, and he wondered what Kendall would have to say about all this. Part of him still craved those things Kendall could not give him in the male body her soul was forced to wear now, but that would not excuse cheating. Damn scruples. "The city is certainly built to work within the exigencies of the landscape," he agreed. "I would love to see the blueprints and plans..."

[Crismento Miren]

”Perhaps there is no universal moral law, no code of ethics that could be applied across the different cities with no adjustments, but what about the very basic personal values then? This gut-level reaction to issues and situations that one has regardless of how one was brought up? I think it’s fair to say that most people do not like to be adversely affected by others. If I was lying to you now, Andry, and later found out that you weren’t telling me the truth either, I would still feel hurt and betrayed despite the obvious hypocrisy. I would say it is another oddity in this home of the Lord of Lies: even if lying is accepted to be beyond the constraints of morality, one is still reluctant to gladly accept the unpleasant outcomes when placed on the receiving end.” Crismento’s djed was spinning around the words he was speaking, wrapping them in compelling disguises to make the ideas and questioning more convincing to Andry. In carefully regulated doses magic seeped through his voice trying to guide his new friend into the right mind-set. ”This seem to suggest, at least to me, that there must be something natural and primal that provide us with these simple yet clear reactions, something outside the laws we have been given or the lessons we have been thought. Some certain personal values that should be respected, that should be allowed…” Cris smiled at the slightly awkward compliment partly because he liked how the relationship with the man was developing, but also because for some vaguely familiar reason it genuinely felt nice to hear Andry say that. ”Oh, but I am not part of Ravok, my friend,” for a moment he doubted how true that was. The swindler was still fairly new to the town, but he idea of leaving any time soon had yet to cross his mind, at least until Andry suggested it earlier. ”And I know very well that I wouldn't be the nicest part of it if I was. Although I strive to come close…” He ended with an intentionally mysterious smile. ”Is there no limits to your curiosity, Andry?” he laughed as they were being navigated through the canals of the city. It wasn’t a very long journey and after a while the ravosala was already being docked close to the destination Cris had in mind. He paid the ravosalaman and led Andry to the Plaza that even in such town as Ravok stood out as an especially shady place. Although he usually was the visitor of Immortal Pleasures when in this part of the Docks, today the con artist was going to a place he often tended to avoid. When they could see a stage with a shackled well-built man on it surrounded by a miserable lot fettered to iron poles scattered throughout the pavilion, he stopped his companion. ”Since neither of us is a citizen, I dare not go closer and put as both at risk,” he said turning to Andry for a moment. Cris carefully glanced around to inspect his surrounding before facing the Slave Market again and carrying on in a quieter voice. ”Stripped of the very core personal value they are paraded and inspected like cattle. Here to be purchased, used and disposed of. Is it really not fair to judge morals of another based on your own, my dear friend? Can these people afford such indifference from the outsiders?”

[Hadrian]

"I would be happy to know that you were honest as well," Hadrian said, his wish not quite compelling Atelius to fulfill it, but there was the gentlest of nudges fueled by the manipulative powers of his mind. "But then there are the little white lies that are meant to spare a soul from pain. Are those evil? There are lies to put people off, to keep things private. There are many sorts of lies that are not intended to cause harm. Perhaps one should distill ethics down to the harm principle: if nobody is hurt by an action, then the action cannot be called evil. Of course, then one must define hurt for all, in order for this to be a definition of evil. "Humans are herd animals, or pack animals, I suppose, depending on whether they are seeking power or safety. There are natural, unspoken laws within herd and pack, not all of them kind. And there are cruel masters and kind masters, but I do not know if one can escape the duality of master and slave, or dominant and submissive. Within packs and even herbivorous herds, there are power struggles and violence. Thus one might say it is natural. But we have reason, which is natural for us... I am not an apologist for slavery, but I do not know that the institution itself is evil, though slaves are perhaps more likely to be victims of cruelty than not." He tried to quickly put that line of thought behind them, not wanting an argument with Atelius when he was not sure if their tenuous friendship could stand a difference of opinion if one even existed down at the heart of things. "You live in Ravok, so you are a part of it now, if only in some small way. You have been the most entertaining person I have met here in any case. And if there are limits to my curiosity they were few and far between." And even those were mostly just interim bans for safety's sake. But then after the ravosala stopped and they debarked, he directed Hadrian's attention to the slave pens. "Are you asking me as a scholar or as a man?" he asked finally, wanting to be as honest with Atelius as he could be without putting Kendall, Sondra, and Ethan at risk, but unsure whether he could communicate himself in such a way that Atelius might not be offended.

[Crismento Miren]

Cris watched as in the far away corner of the pavilion one young slave was treated to some loud lashes by a jaunty man with a make-shift whip. He didn’t noticed what was the offense, if there was one to begin one, and they were standing too far away to see the fresh bloody stripes on the woman’s pale skin. Even to a very inexperienced entrepreneur that he was, that seemed to be a rather poor business practise if that girl was to be the slaver’s merchandise on display. Then again he wasn’t very well versed in customs of the slave industry. He used to be one of a very different kind. ”I want to know what is Andry thinking,” Crismento turned to his companion. ”Not the shields, towers and defences that you might put the feigned signs on. Not the pure and crystal words and thoughts that were stripped of personal bias and truth. No, my dear friend, I’d like to know what you have told yourself when I asked you the question. I will be satisfied and pleased, however, if you at least shared what you want me know of what your mind and soul had been telling you,” he ended with a small smile and a gentle hypnotic pulse asking Andry for his trust. ”We don’t necessarily have to talk about this while standing here,” the swindler spoke before nonchalantly looking around once again and noticing that for now the gloriously rotten den of slavers had chosen to mostly ignore the two men by its side. ”I would not forgive myself if I got you into trouble the first time we met.”

[Hadrian]

Hadrian found he could not be disingenuous with Atelius, even if that meant the man would turn his face away and not wish to be friends. "I'm not a revolutionary, my friend. There is a goddess of service and slavery, and she is not considered an evil goddess, so I believe that there is something a soul can learn from slavery, on both sides of the transaction. Had I slave myself, I would treat them with all the respect due a sentient person. Had I power and prestige here, I might walk over and purchase that woman, rehabilitate her, and grant her freedom, but I cannot fix everyone's problems, and if I bought her, he would only be cruel to another. It is not my place to execute him either, even if that prevents cruelty to others. Morality becomes a sticky web, and I do the best I can. When it is within my power to help people, I often do. But there are systemic issues that prevent universal peace and justice, one of them being the fact that we are living not far back in the wake of an apocalypse and our race is struggling to survive in a world with wild magic and shattered populations. In the scheme of things, we have not had enough time to recover from that. Perhaps slavery is morally reprehensible, but it is part of the fabric of civilization keeping us alive. Nature is cannibalistic. We are part of nature. Our reason sets us aside, but how much?" Yes, he thought about things, often too much. But as cool and calculated his philosophy might sound, the eyes that looked back to Atelius obviously hoped they would agree.

[Crismento Miren]

The enthusiasm in Crismento’s eyes dimmed slightly upon hearing Andry’s thoughts. He didn’t hide that from his companion for it was meant to be noticed. ”I understand what you are saying and greatly appreciate your honesty. Indeed it is my own sad realization that there are great problems in our world that are beyond one man’s ability to solve or make an impact grand enough to influence the way the rest of the society works. That is unfortunate, but your words speak truth. We are but a part of the world that tolerantly accepts cruelty and forced servitude as a necessary component.” The swindler glanced slightly nervously to the sides again as his Atelius persona was getting increasingly nervous around the place. ”Please, would you walk with me, my friend? I still have some things I want to say. You have been honest with me and I think I can trust you. Rather, I feel that it is right to trust you.” His blue hopeful eyes scanned Andry’s face as if searching for clues to confirm these beliefs. The two men turned away leaving the market of desperate souls behind them. Cris waited until they passed a few slavers going to their fair before starting speaking again in a more careful voice. ”I know that good intentions of one or few men is not worth all that much when examining pieces of the world on a large scale from above and afar. If a piece fits well into the puzzle, perhaps it is meant to be there. But perhaps there is a better place for it, maybe there is a piece of a different shape that fills the gap better, that serves healthier and superior function to the one currently in place?” He paused briefly allowing Andry to consider his words for a short moment before continuing. His companion appeared to be very intelligent, making it difficult to impress or sway him with the rather hastily constructed arguments that the man could easily counter or discard with the brilliance of his mind. ”I don’t know how long ago you have arrived to this city, so perhaps you haven’t heard of them, but there is an organisation active here in Ravok that has strong doubts about slavery as an acceptable part of the society. They try to help the slaves in various manners and consider freeing them the least they could do. The most… Well, ideally they hope to triumph over the system they consider to be improper. The conviction to the cause varies in strength and depth among the ranks, but one can feel the common sentiment in their ideals. We’ve-…” Cris interrupted himself with a cough clearing his throat. ”They have caused some turmoil this spring and although silent for now, they are not silenced completely; far from it. Perhaps reason sets us aside as much as we allow it to?”

[Hadrian]

"Of course," he said, rather glumly, walking along with Atelius. Of course he had seen that diminishing regard in those blue eyes, so like his own. If Atelius was an ideal Hadrian, then of course he would have a greater capacity for human kindness than Hadrian's own cool calculation could foster. In effect, it made him regard the man even more highly, and wish that the trials of the slaves could move him. But he sought the advancement of Syliras over Ravok, so in a sense he was doing his part on a grander scale, in a manner to which his skills applied more perfectly, but that he could not tell Atelius, not without putting him at risk, which Hadrian would not abide. If only he dared use his hypnotism to persuade Atelius to leave with him, to a place where slavery was only a bad memory, the better to plot Ravok's downfall. "You can trust me, Atelius," he said quietly with all the conviction of the truth." As he spoke, Hadrian listened, but could not help but recall his experiences in Ravok since his arrival. The dark woman with the darker blade, terrified and angry by her own curse. A Zeltivan scholar come to Ravok seeking the darker edge of magic. A fleeing slave he had aided and abetted, despite her strangeness. The Symnestra preacher and his Rising Sun. The farmer without hope. The scion of Nitrozian. And now Atelius, the diamond in the rough. But was he speaking about the Rising Sun? Did he perhaps know Akahi, the Kelvic runaway? "I have heard as much, friend Atelius," he agreed. "I have great sympathy for them."

[Crismento Miren]

”Sympathy is all that one can feel for them, I suppose,” a pained smile scarred his lips. ”For it is tragic when blind idealism triumphs over reason. A cursed motivating mantra that keeps them going… Believe in a cause, fight for it, ignore the price, sacrifice…” Cris let his voice fade for a while as they walked beside the canal. ”Fools rushing through the wall head first just because that head is filled with bright thoughts and good intentions. But the rotten customs and foul discipline hold that wall of corruption well together. If only the eyes were open…” Crismento searched his mind for memories, images, sounds… There were a lot of pain in there, but none of the kind he needed. His little sister giving him her golden pendant to remind him of their family, sobbing Marinella trying to convince him of the lies about her child… Cris turned everybody away without regret, just like his mentor wanted him to. And now that he exhausted his recollections for a true and deep emotion he had to turn to imagination. ”We’ve lost so many, Andry,” the swindler whispered as he turned his head to his companion, his blue watery eyes struggling to shed a tear. ”Young brave men and women captured, tortured and executed, because they had dreams of a different world. But it is not their suffering and death that upsets me so. It’s the pain and demise of those that are to follow in their footsteps. We need to be careful, we need to be cautious, we need to stop and look at what we have and what we need to do. And yet we refuse to descend from the skies of idealism to look at reality. After all, prayers will only gain us so much. Those in hiding need food, those hurt and harmed need medicine, we need weapons to hunt and armour to protect us during the clashes, clothes and quilts to keep us warm in the wilderness, things that we do not get just because we are the good guys. There are some objectives that sometimes should be prioritized over the main goal, and yet…” He stopped to dry his eyes even though he didn’t actually need to. ”What is the point of carrying on in a way that does not lead to success? What is the purpose of sacrifice in a society that scoffs at our goals and calls us traitors?”

[Hadrian]

Atelius knew that Andry was not from Ravok, and so he could not be expected to toe the party line where Rhysol and the Black Sun were concerned. He was not a traitor, but there on business. All the same, it was still dangerous talk. When he put his hand on Atelius' shoulder, the connection strengthened the nudge of his hypnotic influence, but he was beginning to feel the strain of all this hypnotic work. Normally he tried to use the least amount of effort at just the right point, and while he was doing that with Atelius in order to keep Ethan, Sondra, Kendall, and the both of them safe, he was having to do it over and over again, which was not something to which he was accustomed. He poured everything into his request. "Come away with me when I leave Ravok, Atelius. My colleagues and I are not from Ravok and we cannot stay. You need to get away, find some perspective. The society here is bolstered by the will of an active god. You cannot fight effectively from here. Change will be slow from within. I have seen the seeds of rebellion here, but they are mere seeds. While it's Summer here, take your people out, whoever you can. Get them away. It is a start."

[Crismento Miren]

Cris struggled to keep his mask of regret when Andry put his hand on the shoulder and spoke. Confusion had no place on his face, there was no need for the visible reflection of the strange chaos in his mind. Somehow it suddenly became a challenge to understand own feelings and thoughts. The man’s words had no reason to sound convincing and appealing and yet it felt so right to agree with him. To set off with Andry and his companions, escape Ravok and forget the troubles he was having. Was supposed to be having… It was wrong. Crismento knew better than be convinced by his own story. ”I can’t, my friend,” he shook his head at the offer for the second time that day. ”I wish I could, but alas… If I left, none would leave with me, for I am not the one they look up to the most. I cannot ask them to betray their cause and ideals, since that is what they would think of my idea. They do not think the way we do, Andry, they do not see the way we see. And I can’t abandon my brothers, because then there would be nobody to hold them back, to constantly promote reason within their pure courage. I’m afraid if I left with you, they would rise to start a spark that would die before lighting the flame and then… And then there would just be darkness left with any hints of last light crushed under its weight.” Crismento stopped and turned to his companion, shaking his head as if physically trying to throw away the thoughts out of it. ”I’m very sorry, Andry, I should not have troubled you with such matters and, most of all, put you and even your friends at risk,” his soft and seemingly tired voice was laced with hypnotic callings for Andry’s guilt and compassion to wake and entangle with his thoughts and emotions. ”It was not right for me to exploit your kindness and goodwill, just to unload my own worries and concerns. I hope you will forgive me, my friend. It has been very long since I felt I could share with someone with what is weighting so heavily on my soul and I succumbed to the first opportunity at the moment of weakness.”