Oameni High Council Ch7
Chapter 7
I understand.
After months of delicately chipping away the gold plating of our gilded government, everything makes sense.
I now see the respect, trust, betrayal, love, hate, pain of the council members who I had been taught were ideal citizens, the crème of the crop. But imperfection drips off of them. Many show spite and hatred openly, while others hide it away under the pretence of politeness.
Even Melody, my savior, the woman who came from the mist, isn’t perfect. She is cunning and eloquent, but uses those traits to her advantage. The advisors (I have yet to meet the Emperor’s advisor) use their incomparable power over language to control the monarchs.
The royals do not run this country. The advisors do.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have the upmost respect and reverence for Lady Melody. She may have plunged me into the battle of wits that is the relationship between ruler and consultant, but she is tutoring me on how to manipulate others without them knowing, and has revealed to me my power, my unmatched advantage over all others in this profession. Melody tells me that I will be the best. Even better than she is.
I now know why Tabor becomes nervous at the sight of us, and no one dares disrespect us outright. The monarchs have their own voices, but their minds are so ensnared in these elegant traps of words that any smite against us would be considered a smite against the royal family themselves.
Melody (and by default, I) is immune to this fear of advisors. Even though I have never seen the man (at least I assume it’s a man), I can tell that Melody despises him. Whenever anyone mentions him, she lets a look of disapproval slip through her mask of etiquette and politeness, if only for a moment.
Echo looked at the page for a moment, as if weighing whether she should stop mid-entry or not, before flipping through the journal, searching for some specific page. When she found it, she settled back into her chair and read.
Today, I met Faust. He is the advisor to the emperor. Melody has been keeping me hidden from him, guarding me jealously. Now I understand why.
Something about him terrifies me. He has a kind face, and a delicate mastery of words similar to Melody. But there is something. Something in his eyes. In his soul.
He came out of a room when Melody and I were walking by. I glimpsed the dark room for just a moment before Melody tugged on my arm. I got behind her, one hand clutching my journal to my chest, the other clinging to her skirts. Faust had spotted me, and he maneuvered around Melody o look at me.
“How cute, a lovely little pet for lovely little Melody. Tell me, my dear, why would she scrape you off of what godforsaken street that you came from and take you here? You must be special.” Faust’s eyes were flashing madly behind his smiling visage.
A perfect example of the spite held between the two advisors, and by extension, me.
“Silence, fiend! Do not dare speak to her in such a manner!” Melody’s voice held a tone that I had never heard her use: rage. She was tensed up, moving between us once more. Her fists were clenched, as if ready to attack the man.
The advisors stared at each other for a long while before Faust bowed casually and walked away. As he was leaving he threw me a glance.
What a creep.
Echo shut the book and shuttered. That had been the first of many encounters with the man, and even though he wasn’t as openly rude as that time, she still got that same feeling of dread whenever he came near.
---
Laci mentioned in her dA journal that she might start reading my story tonight and I have a happy now.
Though I still kinda doubt it :I
I understand.
After months of delicately chipping away the gold plating of our gilded government, everything makes sense.
I now see the respect, trust, betrayal, love, hate, pain of the council members who I had been taught were ideal citizens, the crème of the crop. But imperfection drips off of them. Many show spite and hatred openly, while others hide it away under the pretence of politeness.
Even Melody, my savior, the woman who came from the mist, isn’t perfect. She is cunning and eloquent, but uses those traits to her advantage. The advisors (I have yet to meet the Emperor’s advisor) use their incomparable power over language to control the monarchs.
The royals do not run this country. The advisors do.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have the upmost respect and reverence for Lady Melody. She may have plunged me into the battle of wits that is the relationship between ruler and consultant, but she is tutoring me on how to manipulate others without them knowing, and has revealed to me my power, my unmatched advantage over all others in this profession. Melody tells me that I will be the best. Even better than she is.
I now know why Tabor becomes nervous at the sight of us, and no one dares disrespect us outright. The monarchs have their own voices, but their minds are so ensnared in these elegant traps of words that any smite against us would be considered a smite against the royal family themselves.
Melody (and by default, I) is immune to this fear of advisors. Even though I have never seen the man (at least I assume it’s a man), I can tell that Melody despises him. Whenever anyone mentions him, she lets a look of disapproval slip through her mask of etiquette and politeness, if only for a moment.
Echo looked at the page for a moment, as if weighing whether she should stop mid-entry or not, before flipping through the journal, searching for some specific page. When she found it, she settled back into her chair and read.
Today, I met Faust. He is the advisor to the emperor. Melody has been keeping me hidden from him, guarding me jealously. Now I understand why.
Something about him terrifies me. He has a kind face, and a delicate mastery of words similar to Melody. But there is something. Something in his eyes. In his soul.
He came out of a room when Melody and I were walking by. I glimpsed the dark room for just a moment before Melody tugged on my arm. I got behind her, one hand clutching my journal to my chest, the other clinging to her skirts. Faust had spotted me, and he maneuvered around Melody o look at me.
“How cute, a lovely little pet for lovely little Melody. Tell me, my dear, why would she scrape you off of what godforsaken street that you came from and take you here? You must be special.” Faust’s eyes were flashing madly behind his smiling visage.
A perfect example of the spite held between the two advisors, and by extension, me.
“Silence, fiend! Do not dare speak to her in such a manner!” Melody’s voice held a tone that I had never heard her use: rage. She was tensed up, moving between us once more. Her fists were clenched, as if ready to attack the man.
The advisors stared at each other for a long while before Faust bowed casually and walked away. As he was leaving he threw me a glance.
What a creep.
Echo shut the book and shuttered. That had been the first of many encounters with the man, and even though he wasn’t as openly rude as that time, she still got that same feeling of dread whenever he came near.
---
Laci mentioned in her dA journal that she might start reading my story tonight and I have a happy now.
Though I still kinda doubt it :I