“I do not like where this looks like it is going.”
“Did you honestly believe that that conversation had anywhere good that it could go? If they weren’t all so stuck on out civiling each other down there, we would have a riot on our hands.”
“They are being deeply unrealistic in their demands.”
“I don’t think that they are much worried about realism at this point. People spent a lot of years being terrified and they want reassurance that that terror is actually over.”
“Even if it means demanding the execution of someone who was as much of a victim as they were - maybe more even?”
“No one has asked for any executions.”
“Yet. No one has asked for any executions yet. We both know that is what they are tip toeing around saying. DG is going to end up diving across the table to throttle that woman. Wait. Cain? Why aren’t you down there to stop DG from doing impolitic things like diving across the table to throttle that woman?”
“Better vantage point up here.”
“That is not . . . she sidelined you, didn’t she? Why would she do that? You don’t believe her. You think she is wrong about what happened.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to - the glares coming your direction across the table this morning make so much more sense now.”
“I’m just being cautious.”
“Let’s set aside what the whole realm saw on that projection for a moment. Let’s even set aside that anyone who manages to spend more than five minutes in a room with Azkadee since this all went down can feel the difference. I sure can. What did I always say when I was mixed up and out of my head - that kind of evil you don’t forget? Believe me when I tell you that it isn’t there any more.”
“You’ve all got blinders on - too close to the situation. Someone needs to be the objective party.”
“And we can’t be objective because we feel guilty?”
“Seems that way.”
“You ever stop to ask yourself why DG would feel guilty if things hadn’t happened the way she said?”
“I never said I didn’t believe her.”
“You just want to keep your cynical options open. Fair enough. You should go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you don’t see how DG can be right because you don’t see how no one could have noticed it before if it was really the truth.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But you were thinking it.”
“What are you - a viewer now?”
“I’ll leave that to Raw. I just had the same thoughts back before they reattached my noggin. I couldn’t make it make sense because I knew it didn’t feel the same being around her. It makes sense now that I have the memories to go with it. If I look back, I can see a hundred little things that should have told all of us that something had gone horribly wrong. I can even remember the things that DG said that we all ignored because she was little and traumatized and did not have the right words to explain to us what it was that she had seen. There’s my reason for the guilt - and it’s a lot better reason than DG has for holding on to hers.”
“Are you sure they got all your glitches worked out during that surgery?”
“They didn’t. You can’t not have repercussions from that kind of trauma. I’m always going to have some glitches, but that’s not what this is. This is just facts. So, if you and the people down there in that audience chamber want to blame someone for what this kingdom has been through, maybe you should start with every adult member of the palace who should have been paying more attention. We didn’t listen. We didn’t see. It took DG dying for anyone to even notice that something was wrong. She was a good kid.”
“DG?”
“DG was a holy terror that ran rampant through the palace halls more or less unchecked. Everyone let her because she was the second child - what did it matter if she did not master her etiquette lessons or took longer to manage her magic or a dozen other ways that she was indulged because she was the baby. Everyone loved DG because she was a bright, happy child that enjoyed having her way and people humored her because she was little and mostly well-intentioned - what was the harm?”
“So the good kid?”
“I meant Azkadee. She was a good kid. Everyone was so used to her being a good kid that no one payed enough attention to notice what she was doing. She was always quiet and always unassuming. She made you forget that she was always under so much pressure to do everything well. She was expected to learn every lesson thrown at her quickly, and she tried so hard to never give anyone a reason to have to reprimand her. We ignored all the off little things and got blindsided when it wasn’t little things anymore. And we still didn’t see - not really. Everyone was ready to believe that we were watching adolescent rebellion breaking out. Then, we were all ready (those of us who knew what the family had been like) to believe that she had grown up resentful enough to use the kingdom as a temper tantrum.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t to you. You never watched that family dynamic up close and personal. You never heard the Queen talking about . . . never mind.”
“What happened to being the Queen’s most trusted, loyal advisor?”
“I was . . . maybe am. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with the manner in which she parented her children.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t make you understand. I’m still glitchy enough that I am not sure how I know what I know myself. I do know that what they are heading toward doing is wrong. I will not let it stand uncontested.”
“I am sure DG is going to make sure it gets resolved in another fashion.”
“You trust DG. You trust me. Why do you not believe us when we tell you that that was not Az running the OZ into the ground?”
“We talked about this already - did your memory glitch again?”
“Fine. There will be I told you sos coming from my direction - and I will be neither subtle nor polite when it comes time for my gloating. By the way, your son is on my side.”
“There isn’t a side! And Jeb never even met the princesses before all this.”
“No, but he is the only person that was both willing and that DG trusted enough to have put in charge of her sister’s guard rotation. He doesn’t have a lot of manpower to work with so he covers a lot of the shifts himself. When was the last time you talked to him?”
“We talk every day.”
“You exchange mundane pleasantries over tea biscuits every afternoon. That is not the same thing as talking. Why don’t you ask him next time what he has seen and heard when he is guarding the princess? Maybe you’ll believe your flesh and blood if you don’t believe the rest of us.”
“I already said . . ..”
“Yeah, got it already. You are pretending to be an unbiased, completely detached party as an excuse for your continued cynicism.”
“That is not what I said.”
“It’s what you meant. Just have an actual conversation with Jeb - and not just about Az. The two of you thought you had lost each other. Don’t lose your second chance together time as well.”