The land development was nowhere near done, of course, but Felicity said that news of my generosity would spread quickly and to expect more volunteers next week. (Of course, if they were coming in an expectation of getting paid, are they really volunteers?) Between that, my success at work, and to a lesser degree Joanna, I was feeling really good about my life!

Then I heard the news on Sunday. Apparently some random older man who just happened to somewhat resemble Gareth Meranas got jumped and beat up by an orcish street gang in Fort Stellan. Poor guy ended up in the hospital. But as shocking as the event was, the response to it over the next few days was significantly worse.

Where you'd expect universal sympathy for the victim and condemnation of the attack, instead the æthernet was filled with bizarre claims that the guy was actually going around dressed as Sir Zephyr in public and so he deserved what had happened to him. Meanwhile, when a few people posted on MySaga the eminently reasonable observation that nobody deserved to be jumped and beaten up by street gangs, they got jumped by virtual gangs of their own, their posts swarmed by replies accusing them of hatred against orcs and using "secret coded language" to incite violence. MySaga ended up caving under all the pressure brought to bear on them and deleting their posts, citing rules against hate speech despite the fact that no one could actually come up with an example of the rules being used in this way in the past.

It felt like Chitothia was going completely mad around me, and the thing no one could figure out — and no one quite seemed to feel safe asking in public — was why in the world were the nobility just sitting by and letting it all happen?

On the third day of this, I got a text from an unknown number.

You see what has been loosed upon

your world. I wish to speak further

about bringing a peaceful end to it.

I'm sorry, who is this?

I felt like I already knew, but the thought of talking with Terenaþ again made me nervous.

Please do not insult me by feigning

ignorance just as we were beginning

to respect one another.

...yeah, it's you.

And you have seen the state of the

kingdom for the past few days?

Yes, I've seen what's going on, but

I don't see how you in particular can

blame it on our mutual friend.

What do you mean?

Seems clear that the fault lies with

the people actually taking these

actions, and with the nobility who

refuse to stop them. Isn't it a

core doctrine of the Path that no

kith may be condemned for sin

committed by another?

This is true, but I have not come

to Mundus to find fault, nor to

condemn sinners, but to correct a

grave imbalance that threatens your

realm. And you know as truly as I

do that that man is no kith.

I truly don't, especially when

you won't tell me what he is

instead. I've spoken with him,

and he says he'd be willing to

meet with you, but not yet. He

has other concerns on his mind

right now.

You are still in touch with him, and

know where to find him?

Not consistently, but yes.

Was it he who taught you the new runes

you are studying?

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How in the world did he learn about that? Was he spying on me at Dyralight? An incongruous mental image flashed through my mind of the old-fashioned angel sitting at a rune tablet, piercing his way into our network, wearing a dark hoodie like piercers always wear in scary videos about them.

He was involved to a certain

extent.

Delve not deeply into that which has

been forgotten. It was buried by the

hands of the Gods, with good reason.

His constant scaremongering was starting to bug me. A verse we'd gone over in eventide school came to my mind.

You keep trying to appeal to my sense

of fear. He's scary, runes are scary,

beware of forgotten knowledge. What

about "fear is not of me, but

preparedness, which is the father of

courage"?

I was present when those words were

given. And I say unto you now, as I

said before, not you nor your world

are prepared for what you now

confront.

Well, I'm kind of caught between two

obligations here. When I mentioned

you to him, I got two very different

responses. He told me he was willing

to meet you, but not now. But he

also gave a Guidance, saying to aid

you. The only other times I've seen

Guidance given before, it's been

aligned with the one who gave it; but

with him they're in conflict. I don't

suppose you know anything about that?

Seriously, what was it going to take to get some information out of him?

If you have witnessed him speak

with the voice of Meþas, you

already know more than I am

permitted to tell you. I suppose

all I can do is to ask, in whom

will you place your faith? The

god or the man?

I'm really not sure. Right now they

both kind of seem like bad options

from where I'm standing. Either

choice has consequences, ones that

might well be irreversible.

This is true. Remember also,

though, that to not choose is also

a choice with irreversible

consequences of its own.

I suppose so. I'll consider things

and get back to you soon. You have

my word on that.

I do hope so.

At least I had a small bit of information now. He wasn't just being cryptic to annoy me; someone had forbidden Terenaþ from talking about Meranas' connection to Meþas. Who? And why? Why could he openly warn me of the truth of Gareth's goals, but the truth of his nature was deemed too dangerous to reveal? What could be worse than his plans to destabilize the Empire?

One more thing to worry about, I guess.

He had also said Gareth was not a kith, and implied that that should have been obvious to me. By all appearances he was human, though. A powerful and very strange human, but human all the same. If not, though... ugh, all this was making my head hurt.

I really wasn't sure what to do, so I tracked down Kayla as she was leaving work in the afternoon. "Hey, can I ask you something? I think I need a bard's advice."

She looked hesitant. "I'm supposed to be meeting my boyfriend in an hour and I need to get home and change. Is it quick?"

Huh, I didn't know she had a boyfriend. "Yeah, should be," I said, walking with her out to her car. "I have this friend who... kind of has two different things that they want both of. But they're kind of in conflict with one another. I'm in a position to help, but I don't know which choice to make, which idea to support, because there are downsides to both of them."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Brad, I swear to you if you do anything to hurt that sweet girl—"

"Wait, what?"

"You're clearly trying to get advice about Joanna without talking about her."

What? "First, no, I promise this is about someone you don't know. Second, why would you even think that in the first place?"

"You're not asking about Joanna?"

"No, twenty times no. Why would you... did she ask you for advice about me or something?"

She looked guilty. "I really shouldn't say," she said. Which was as good as saying yes. "So your friend, when you say downsides, what's the worst outcome? They just don't get what they want, or someone gets hurt?"

"That's the thing. It seems like someone gets hurt either way, including if I do nothing and just stay out of it."

Kayla winced. "Sounds like a mess. I'm not really sure except, I guess look for whichever alternative will do the least harm?"

"Yeah, when you put it that way, I guess that's kinda obvious. Thanks."

She nodded. "I really have to go. But hey, I'm serious about Joanna, OK?

"Hey, I'm not even sure I'm serious about her. But hurting her is never anything I want to do. You have my word on that."

Kayla got in her car and drove off, leaving me to think. What would do the least harm? And to who? To let Gareth's plan play out would be disastrous to an unknown number of people, depending on how big his little alignment war became. But it seemed clear that to hand him over to Terenaþ would create some sort of upheaval that was divine in scope, particularly with a þeomachy going on. That hardly seemed any better!

And then there was Joanna. Kayla was right that things with her were kind of similar to this question. What could I do, or not do, that wouldn't end up hurting her one way or another?

Now that I'd graduated I was supposed to be ready for adulthood and have all sorts of useful knowledge and answers. So then why did my life just keep coming up with more and more worse and worse questions instead?