“As much as visionaries and revolutionaries hate them, with their many attempts to get rid of them once and for all, class divide remains a problem in society nowadays. In general, the issue was that the attempts to eradicate the difference between classes would just lead to a different sort of class divide after some time, different from the old one in form, but the same in principle.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy for the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 419 FP.
Two weeks passed uneventfully since Aideen and Lucea had their private talk about Kino’s future. In that time, Aideen had first spent a week bringing Celia and Kino around the Imperial Capital, to see various sights – like the grand park in the middle of the city – as well as to enjoy the various local delicacies. Needless to say, the two younger women very much enjoyed that week of relaxation.
After the week was up, the three of them left Sabaya and headed eastwards, on a route that would take them back to the Lichdom. This time around however, Aideen had not chosen to take the main roads, and instead brought the group through smaller roads. The route she took had many detours, and would take longer to reach their destination, but for Aideen, it was the journey itself that she wanted.
While the main roads passed through the major cities and larger towns of the Elmaiya Empire, the smaller roads connected the smaller towns and many villages that dotted the nation’s landscape. Some of those villages thrived and grew until they became towns, typically the ones closer to the larger cities, while others eked out a more marginal existence where they often survived harvest to harvest.
It was in one of the latter villages that Aideen, Celia, and Kino spent the previous night. The village mostly reminded Aideen of the ones she saw in the Jarldom, a place full of folks that had been hardened by their rather difficult life, yet ones who carried on instead of complaining and waiting to die. The way they treated the trio hospitably despite them being complete strangers was a rather heartwarming thing.
Of course, Aideen did not let their hospitality go unrewarded, as she took her time healing the whole village. People who were injured while hunting were hale and hearty once more. Old illnesses simply vanished, and even the elderly ones looked like they had suddenly grown younger by a decade after her ministrations.
To nobody’s surprise, the villagers threw an impromptu feast and celebration in their honor that very night, even slaughtering some of their livestock and bringing out the good ale typically saved up for the yearly festivals. One of the local men played the drums skillfully while another accompanied it with tunes from a flute, as the villagers – both youth and elderly – danced energetically around the bonfire.
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It was only after they left that Kino asked a question she was clearly itching to ask. The girl might be naive, but she was tactful and knew when to ask and when not to ask questions.
“Why do these people live so differently?” she asked to Aideen with clear curiosity in her eyes. “I mean… they have so little, their houses are so small… People’s houses were so much bigger back in the big city, and even the place I used to be… locked up in was also much larger. The big sister with the pretty white feathers had the biggest house, though.”
“Of course she does,” said Aideen with a chuckle. The only “big sister with pretty white feathers” Kino met of late was Lucea, so she was referring to the imperial palace. “It’s just how it is, Kino. People live their lives according to what they have and what they can afford. Some people might have next to nothing and made do with it regardless, while others might be born on the lap of luxury and never want for anything in their lives.”
“Are people’s lives just decided like that by their birth?” asked Kino somewhat apprehensively. Perhaps it was due to her lacking education in the latter half of her life where she was just locked up and treated as a sample, but the girl was particularly curious and inquisitive about things around her. “I think I remember the old man speaking about something similar.”
“Yes, and no,” replied Aideen to her question. “While someone’s birth might indeed give someone a head start in life, it would not amount to anything unless the person in question actually made use of it,” she added. “There have been many cases where people were born with everything they could want, yet squandered it one way or another. I believe what matters more is what you do with your life rather than what your birth gave to you.”
“I mean, I have to admit that it does play a role. Nobody can really say that their birth has nothing to do with what they eventually achieved. People who were born with nothing might have gotten their drive and ambition from their poor childhood, while others who were born more fortunate naturally had other benefits and opportunities provided by the circumstances of their birth.”
“So those who have less… would want more, while those who already start with more would already have more from the start,” noted Kino as she nodded, as if she understood some things from what Aideen had said.
“In a way. Make no mistake, though. That would not always be the case. There are many who have less but are perfectly happy and content with their lives, and others who have everything they could want yet remain unsatisfied,” said Aideen. “It all depends a lot on how you live your life, really. All too often, people get drunk on their own ambitions or greed and forget that there are other things in life.”
“That’s why sometimes a humble farmer who tends their field alongside their family for a living would be happier than some nobles who could have everything they want by simply asking for it. Some people know how to find happiness in the here and now, while others would fall into a never-ending cycle of wanting more and more.”