Nine dining halls still seemed obscene to me. And each of them were fully stocked with enough dinner ware and furniture to hold a banquet. Further more each seemed to have its own theme, which carried over onto the furniture, crockery, and cutlery.
I had picked this one just because it happened to be closest to the chapel.
The table was obscenely long and made of inlaid varnished wood coloured in bright geometric colours. Outside the room, the same pattern carried over in the not-so-small courtyard and its flowerbeds. Not wanting to be suffocated by the overbearing perfume which seemed to penetrate the entire mansion, I opened all the doors wide letting in a gentle breeze, even though it was perhaps a little too cold to have doors open.
Not that the chilly weather stopped us yesterday or this morning.
I had wanted this to be a boardroom style meeting, but the table was too long to hold one, so we ended up with an arrangement with me and Exalted Pine on one side of the table, our chairs so close we could end up snuggling together, and for that reason we picked armless chairs.
On the other side were the twelve others; the eight soldiers, three elites, and Red Frog; who knew I had taken over Fastidious House. The eight soldiers were sitting in their non-armoured uniform and looking very uncomfortable and unsure why they were here. The three elites looked uncomfortable and lost, but they did their best to hide their misgivings. Lastly, Red Frog did her best to look regal and proud; but the lack of makeup, her wavy brown hair slightly unkempt, and the simple dress she had been forced to wear made her appear slightly uncomfortable.
It also probably didn’t help that in taking the seat directly across from me it forced her to sit between two soldiers.
‘Before we start, I need to let you know that we’ll likely make you feel very uncomfortable.’ I said to them.
‘The way we’re likely to do things will seem strange and at odds with what you’re used to.’ Exalted Pine carried on, leaning against my arm and resting her head against my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her waist.
‘There are many reasons this will be the case, but primarily it is because we’re not really from the Heartlands.’
‘When I was a child, my mother and I fled through a Fissure and ended up here.’
‘And I spent ten years out at Outer Heart. Rather than within the Heartlands learning to do things as everyone else does.‘
This was about as close to the truth as we dared to get, at least right now.
Red Frog looked at the two of us. ‘It seems as if you know what you want to do. Why then have you called the twelve of us to this meeting?’
‘Because though we know what we want, we need your help. As we stated, both of us have odd ways of looking at the world.’ I said, looking directly at Red Frog. ‘As of such, what is common sense to us isn’t common sense to you. So we are asking for your aid to make lots of small changes which will, in the end, turn into revolutionary change.’
‘And when we’re talking about revolutionary change, we’re not just talking about Fastidious House. We’re talking about the Heartlands as a whole.’ Exalted Pine finished.
Red Frog looked past the soldiers at the elites down one end of the table. Then she focused back on us. ‘And just what is your ideal outcome?’
‘Freedom.’ I said.
‘He’s being glib, I’m afraid. Basically, everyone who lives within the Heartlands, over the age of majority, will be considered a citizen. All citizens will be seen as equal under the law. As a citizen, they will be allowed to vote for the rulers of the Heartlands. Those rulers will have mandates that they were voted upon and for. There will be checks and balances to make sure that no one person can rule without oversight. External threats, such as Fissures, will be dealt with via a centralised force. However, tribes will not be seen as threats unless they consist of a clear and present danger. They are our neighbours, and we will welcome them into our fold, if they so desire. We will trade with them, if they so desire. We will leave them alone, as much as possible, if they so desire.’
‘Along with that,‘ I said, taking over the conversation, ’there will be freedom of religious choice. Freedom of education for all citizens and potential citizens. There will be freedom to pick a marriage partner for love. Arranged and forced marriages will be illegal. There will also be freedom in picking and enhancing your own traits and concept. There is likely more, but we hope that you can see the rough ideas of what we’re aiming for.’
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Red Frog was looking at the two of us with a blank expression.
Yeah, I think we had gone too far. But there was something I hadn’t out right stated which I was sure would shock her further. That was that Tier Threes were to be seen as citizens as much as Tier Five and above.
‘That…’ Red Frog managed to get out. ‘Seems like a grand plan. Going against the Temple will cause much friction and they will likely aim to destroy our House.’
It seemed that Red Frog wasn’t against our plans. Whether that was her own personal feelings, her traits, or the fear of seeing me kill my mother without using a weapon, I didn’t know.
‘You are right there, but we are lucky that we live on the Northern shore of the Shield River. That gives us some security. But as we’ll likely be under threat, there’s a few things we need to do before we really start our campaign.’
‘We need to gather all the most outstanding talents we can here. We also need to strip as many Tier Three farmers from our other holdings and bring them here. We also need to gather as many soldiers as possible to help fend off any potential attacks.
‘All of this will to ensure that Fastidious House will be as secure and self-sufficient as it possibly can be right now.’
‘Why, if you want to reform the Heartlands, do you want to cut ourselves off from it?’ Red Frog asked after making sure no one else wanted to speak.
‘Because if we’re a part of the Heartlands, then the goddess and the Temple will do what they can do to retain their power. And even citizens will be scared of change. Because of those fears, then they will do anything they can to hold back the progress which the two of us would love to implement in this world.’
‘How do you know that progress is possible?’ One soldier asked. The way they asked, I wasn’t sure if they were being supportive of me or genuinely curious.
‘Easy, I’ve made change happen in the past. Change which stuck and made life better for those who were impacted by it. People who, in the past, would’ve died, lived. And those who might’ve died lived too. All because of small changes compounding over time.
‘Foremost amongst them was training.’
‘But our traits mean that we know what we have to do.’ The elderly elite said.
‘Have you heard of the promoted Tier Three?’
‘Ah, yes, the soldiers who are helping make the frontier settlements safer.’
‘They have not been unlocked, and are Tier Three, yet some of them can out perform Tier Five soldiers. This is because they use their personal skills and traits in conjunction with each other.’
‘If that was the case, why then would the Temple not allow people to train up their skills?’ The elderly elite said.
‘I guess it is because by making people reliant upon traits, and then limiting traits, the Temple can control people easier and more effectively.’
‘How did you come to learn this?’ Red Frog asked. ‘The Temple forbids all knowledge and learning about traits. It is part of our teaching. And frankly, discussing it with you right now is making me feel uneasy.’ She gave a nervous laugh. ‘The talk about changing the Heartlands was slightly challenging, but teaching us about traits…’
She shuddered. I could tell from the others that they, too, felt uncomfortable.
‘The reason we dare talk about it, and we know about it, is because we are outsiders.’ Exalted Pine took over for me. ‘Before I came to this world I had my own traits, traits which were stollen from me by those within the Temple. My favourite trait, Stronger Than You Appear, was taken from me. When they changed my mother’s traits, they killed her.’
I gave her a slight squeeze of my arm, surrounding her just to let her know I was thinking of her. She lent closer to me in way of reply.
‘Later today, if you’re interested, we’ll take you to the chapel so that you can start to rid yourself of the straightjackets—the restraints that society has put upon you. In time, we’ll allow you full access to changing your traits, but right now, we need some proof of your loyalty and so we’ll be keeping a couple of traits. When we are stronger and in a better position, we’ll allow you full access to your traits.
‘That is a promise, and one I make happily and freely to you in exchange for nothing and expecting nothing in return.’
Red Frog looked up and down the line of stony, pale faces. ‘I will go first.’
I nodded at her, in awe of her bravery.
‘First though,‘ I said, finally broaching the topic which I feared would be the most difficult, ’we need to talk about dealing with the citizens who are most at threat and need the most support, and upon whom we will be relying immensely in our battle for self-sufficiency: our Tier Three.’