Chapter Eighty Six

“Well. You don’t do things by half measures, do you, Joe?” Toulnaria, Matriarch of Galgandar spoke lightly with some humor. She still struggled to speak so plainly… so intimately with the eccentric, but the man seemed deeply appreciative of it, so she carefully matched the eccentric’s desires. She was almost entirely certain the man was exactly as he portrayed himself to be. But too perfect to death! She cautiously recited the popular saying, still quite fearful of the normal reactions of typical eccentrics. Explosive, immediate, and unexpected death!

The eccentric stared back at her, smiling softly, “I apologize if what I did was… inappropriate, but I have no desire to cripple a child. It accomplishes… nothing.”

She raised an eyebrow in surprise, unable to keep the subtle surprise from doing so. The eccentric, as always, immediately noticed but thought little of it, “You think Tougallandar a child?”

“He is a child.”

“He received the Coming of Age gift.”

Joe struggled to keep his eyes from rolling, “As arbitrary a measurement as anything. He acts like a child.”

“Ah! Your people do not measure adulthood by a specific event or age?”

“Hmm. They do, but I find it to be a poor measure of adulthood much as this is.”

The Matriarch hummed softly before nodding in agreement, “I believe I would agree. There are those who … struggle to become adults.”

Joe barked a laugh and nodded, “I’ll agree with you on that!”

The Matriarch smiled demurely at her joke before she continued, “Then how do your people measure adulthood?”

Joe glanced at her, curious to see where this was going as he opened the door back into the house proper, holding it open for her and waving her through. She offered a graceful thank you as Gwenvair and Kilniara slipped in after and Joe made sure to hold the door for the two boys as well. Once inside, Joe threaded his way back to the front and to the Matriarch’s side when they made it to the courtyard, the other guests trailing in after.

“Hmm… It depends on the measure. My people can measure things rather strangely, and it depends on the clans. Some measure adulthood at thirteen, some sixteen, others eighteen, and some twenty one. Some clans, mine for instance, measures adulthood at differing ages. Adulthood for war is eighteen. At eighteen, all can be called for war. For alcohol and other addictive drugs, it is twenty one. Most of the meaningful measure of adulthood for my people is at eighteen or twenty one.”

“That seems… remarkably old!”

Joe chuckled, “I might agree with you on that. Many of my peers complain of the struggle to be adults well into their thirties. I find …” Joe sighed and trailed off while the Matriarch seemed shocked.

“Thirties!? They are still children until thirty?”

Joe guffawed, “Yeah, they act like it. They refuse to meaningfully or wisely make decisions in their life to work or create powerful relationships. They often act like fools.”

“How can they survive?”

“They are incredibly blessed and do not even know they are. A simple cleaning job is enough to have a home and all the food they wish to eat, for the most part. They waste their early lives and fail to develop themselves and their relationships. Despite that, they are able to rather easily find a home, food, and entertainment and so live long and well… at least how they wish to. They fail to develop their relationships or themselves, however, and soon find themselves alone and lonely, unable to excel either in a meaningful relationship or in a meaningful way in life,” Joe ended with a morose sigh.

The Matriarch stared at him, searching his eyes, “Life is so easy for you and yours?”

Joe nodded. “For the most part, if they are wise in their educational pursuits, efforts, and relationships. As I said, some choose foolishly, then they grow angry that their folly has left them with little to no options to meaningfully develop and grow. But, even at the simplest, no one starves; very few go without and very few die from exposure… relatively. That said, there are still some living in the streets and in difficult situations. Many are there through no fault of their own, and once there, it is very, very difficult to escape. Even if options to escape exist, many of these people do not know these options or how to escape them. But as many that are stuck, there are many who choose to remain there because it is… easy. It is a difficult conundrum for our people. Who is there because of difficulty and who could escape if given the chance? But, in contrast, who is there and would refuse to escape; too satisfied, too happy, or just too lazy to grasp a chance that would allow them to escape. How do you know what to do? How do you know who to help? How can you create help that cannot be exploited?” Joe ended with a shrug.

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The Matriarch stared at him, a bit confused, “It should be easy. Just watch them. It is easy to see those who put effort into the work and those who are lazy, especially with enough time!”

Joe almost immediately opened his mouth to disabuse her of that thought but then paused and nodded cautiously, “Well, I guess if you were able to watch them regularly and often, then maybe? Yes? But how can you do so with so many people. It is almost impossible to effectively know who is sincere and who is not with only a few hours of effort. And taking weeks or months is not… feasible.”

“Hours?! Weeks? Why… just have someone watching them!”

“One person for everyone who needs help? That is not feasible. The work is not enough for one person, and it would be an incredible waste of money for the govern… clan coffers.”

The Matriarch actually huffed, anger coming through, “That is not what I meant. And your clan pays for the workers to make sure the poor are working?”

Joe looked at her, confused, “Yes?”

“Why!? It is easy! Sell them as slaves! The slave master will know immediately and quickly who is sincere and who is lazy, and the lazy will quickly learn what hunger and cold truly is!”

Joe blinked, horrified and flabbergasted. He wasn’t sure what was more horrifying, the Matriarch’s advocating for slavery or his logical mind agreeing with the Matriarch’s assessment. It would… work… it really would, but… no!! His mind instantly rejected the argument, but found almost all his thoughts to be an emotional rejection, not one that was logically meaningful. He calmed himself with a bit of effort and took a deep breath. Don’t need to defend anything right now.

“My people have abolished slavery. We found it abhorrent. We believe that all people have the right to free choice, to an extent.”

“Your people are allowed to do as they wish?”

Joe nodded, “To an extent. There are some limitations, but they are specific. We cannot cause harm to another. We cannot speak about planning or advising others to cause harm to another. And we must follow through with any agreements or promises we have made. But other than that, our people’s will is relatively free.”

“Kukurnal told me of you and your people’s squeamishness on slavery. I cannot understand how your people can be so weak.”

Joe sighed, “It is not weakness to care for the weak.”

“But by your own words you are not caring for the weak!”

Joe cocked his head at that, “How do you mean?”

“You just complained quite vehemently of the folly of your younger people and those lazily refusing to better themselves or even those who struggle to escape but do not know how to do so. And yet, you leave them there. It is easy enough to give them to people who do know how to live and have them simply tell and teach them how to do so. Then, they will learn and soon be able to care for themselves. In the meantime, they are cared for by their masters while their masters teach them. If you truly cared for them, you wouldn’t leave them dying on the street!”

Joe found himself reeling, quite taken aback. That’s… a hell of an argument! But… “First, there are many ways for them to receive help and that help is regularly shared in many ways. Second, it is their choice. Last, the practice of slavery too easily leads to corruption and evil, even if it is expected to be… done without abuse.”

The Matriarch shook her head, “You complained that they were children. They were still acting as children. Then treat them as children, give them masters as parents.”

Joe chuckled, “And if you acted like a child one day, can another come and command you to not do so?”

The Matriarch opened her mouth, on the verge of a vehement rebuttal but slowly closed her mouth with a sigh, “If they regularly make mistakes?”

Joe shrugged, “And if you regularly make mistakes?”

“I lose my position.”

“But you do not lose your personal autonomy.”

She paused at that, thoughtful, before shaking her head, “But they are a disease to a clan.”

Joe nodded, “Maybe. Maybe they are a disease, at the very least, they are a drain, true. But if you have an open sore on your hand, do you cut it off because it is a drain on your body?”

“My body is a single entity. I may choose to do with it as I will.”

Joe conceded the point with a bowed head, “True, but your body recovers because you care for it and help it heal. The greatest growth any people or clan can have, from what our studies have shown, are the societies who are compassionate to the weak, poor, and lame. Those who are not… fail slowly, sometimes spectacularly. If they cannot find compassion for those in need, they will likely not have compassion for any other. Without compassion, very few succeed as those that fail find themselves unable to recover… because their clan lacks compassion for them. Some of the most intelligent are… very strange. Some of the most creative commonly and regularly reject norms. Just these two often come from some of the weakest or oddest people but are also the people that can often make the greatest and most powerful changes for a clan. But without compassion, they will not be nurtured nor allowed to develop enough to bring these great futures to light. Yes, they may be a drain, but the benefits they bring often far outweigh any loss.”

The Matriarch considered, listening but then sighed, “But we will not know until we do so.”

“No, you will not.”

“Even until long after my life.”

“Yes,” Joe replied, commiserating.

“A choice made in faith.”

“Yup.”

She shook her head and sighed once again, “I cannot trust fair words.”

Joe shrugged, “Hopefully one day you will see my people. Then you will know they are not simply fair words.”

“Your people are so great?”

Joe chortled, “Oh, no. We have thieves, liars, adulterers, abusers, murderers, and arrogant jerks; and those are only the leadership of my clan.”

The Matriarch stared at Joe with wide eyes which grew quite shocked with the last statement, “You so freely speak thus?”

Joe shrugged, “Sure. That is another guarantee for my people in my clan. We can say as we wish and none can harm or stop us.”

“You can speak so ill of others? Even your leaders?”

“Yeah.”

The Matriarch stared at him for a bit before replying softly, “I would recommend you… wisely… consider this freedom while on our plane.”