* * *
As the council chamber doors closed, Velion turned to look at Aeria. He had a disapproving expression on his face as he commanded her to sit down. Standing before her he shook his head and began, “I have tolerated your distaste for the lesser ones for too long. Perhaps it was out of love that I allowed it, or maybe foolishness, but either way, it’s time to put it to rest, Aeria.”
“I don’t understand,” she replied, frowning up at him.
“Yes, you do. You’ve always looked down on them, and believed yourself to be better than they were, and although I can’t deny that we rule over them, it is unacceptable to treat them as you do. I watched my father give in to his power over them, as his compassion was replaced with tyranny, but I will not watch you take his path!” Velion glared at his daughter.
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe he was right?!” Aeria protested, which only seemed to infuriate Velion more.
“Maybe he was right? Do you have any idea the atrocities your grandfather committed? You were just a child, but I had to watch him murder countless innocents, just to satisfy his hunger for power! And what did it profit him? He nearly destroyed the kingdom he built, all because he wanted complete control over his subjects. Subjects that he looked down on, in exactly the same way you do,” Velion scolded.
Aeria looked away, and in a curt tone asked, “Can I leave now?”
Velion fumed, the anger in his voice evident as he said, “You were given Hadius’s seat on the council because you showed you could handle yourself when the situation required it, but if you wish to continue to rule in his stead then I suggest you learn to treat those below you with some dignity! A cruel ruler may motivate with fear, but they always breed resentment and rebellion at the same time. You cannot control your subjects with force alone; you must also inspire them to follow your command!”
“Wise words coming from the man who just instructed me to crush a rebellion!” Aeria spat back.
Wide eyed and furious, Velion reach out his hand to strike Aeria, but stopped himself. Lowering his hand with a deep breath he said, “Sometimes there is no other option, but it should always be a last resort. I expect this mission to be clean and precise. We can’t afford any mistakes. Now go, before you anger me further.” Velion pointed at the door.
Aeria stood to leave and made her way out of the chamber without another word, although there was plenty more that she wanted to say. How could be such a hypocrite? She wondered to herself as she made her way towards the hangar. He is the one who acts all high and mighty, the way he puts on such a show in front of them! And I’m the one without dignity?! She scoffed and shook her head.
When she arrived at the hangar, her brother Deimos was waiting next to her ship. The last thing Aeria wanted to do right now was spend a few hours in a confined space with her irritating brother but there was no choice. In a gruff tone she commanded, “Get in the ship. Let’s get this over with!”
Deimos grinned broadly and in a smug voice asked, “So did big sister get chewed out then?”
“Shut it!” Aeria snapped.
Deimos laughed and with a giant smile replied, “Ooooh… looks like Daddy’s favorite got in trouble! Are you going to be this crabby the entire trip?” but Aeria didn’t respond. She ignored him as they climbed into her ship and continued to avoid his attempts to pry until they were past Tython’s atmosphere.
“Fine, I’ll stop teasing, but seriously, what did he want?” Deimos tried to conceal his elation that she’d been reprimanded, but was doing a poor job of it.
Sighing, Aeria gave in and let go of her frustration. “He thinks that I need to change the way I treat the lesser ones.”
Deimos laughed again, but cut it short once he noticed the glare Aeria gave him. “Well, he always was a softie when it came to them. I think he feels bad for them, even if he doesn’t say it.”
Aeria rolled her eyes as she punched in the navigation coordinates. It would take a few hours to get to the outer systems, so manual navigation was out of the question. “Not as much as Pisus does,” she scoffed.
Deimos nodded in agreement, “You won’t hear me argue with that. Honestly I think his sympathy towards them makes him weak. He never fights anymore, not since the last war. I wonder if he even remembers how to?”
Aeria shrugged, “It’s hard to say, but if you listen to the historians, they say he was just as strong, if not stronger, than father was.”
Deimos laughed, “I doubt it! We’ve both seen father fight. I doubt anyone could take him on alone.”
Aeria snorted and smugly said, “I could.”
Deimos looked shocked. “Oh come off it! There is no way you could take Dad on! Even together, I think we might have a hard time.”
Aeria shrugged but secretly disagreed. She’d spent the last six months training harder than ever and knew her skills would outmatch Velion’s, but there was no use arguing with Deimos.
“So what do you think about the humans?” Deimos asked, searching her expression.
“Which ones? The ones on Earth or the two pretending to be gods like the rest of us?” Aeria replied derisively.
“I take it you don’t like the two girls then?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about them.” Aeria shrugged again.
“Well you’ve known them the longest, haven’t you? Speaking of, you never did tell me how you found them,” Deimos pressed.
Sighing, Aeria sat back in her chair as the ship’s autopilot made the jump into subspace. “I found them by tracking down the holodisk they had on them. Supposedly they’d just found it when we arrived.”
“You don’t believe them then?”
“I don’t know, it seems… odd that the only two humans that could use the device, would just happen across it a few hours before we arrived. I mean what are the chances?”
“Unheard of, I’m sure, but if they had the device for longer, then the log would have indicated that,” Deimos surmised.
“That’s the logical conclusion, but it just doesn’t feel right.” Aeria shrugged, getting bored with the conversation.
“So what were they doing when you found them?”
“Oddly enough, the older one was fighting a beast similar to a pervian angmar.”
“Seriously? Hand to hand?” Deimos asked in disbelief.
Aeria nodded, “I think she had some sort of spear at first, but by the time I arrived she had dropped it.”
“Was she able to kill it?”
“No, it was about to overtake her when I intervened,” Aeria replied bashfully, not wanting Deimos to tease her again.
“Intervened?” Deimos seemed confused.
“I didn’t want her to die before I figured out why she had a holodisk. She was pinned against a tree and only had a small knife,” Aeria said, defensively. “I’m fairly certain she’d come to terms with her death and was trying to take the cat with her. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Well why was she fighting the beast to begin with?” he inquired.
Aeria shrugged. “I don’t know. I think she was trying to protect her sister.”
Deimos seemed impressed as he said, “There is great honor in such a death. Perhaps father is right to have put her on the council after all.”
Aeria scoffed, “Honor? More like stupidity! Why would you sacrifice yourself? It seems foolish to me.”
Deimos frowned, “What would you have done then? Just let the sister die?”
Aeria shook her head, “No… but self-sacrifice wouldn’t have been my first choice.”
“Perhaps there wasn’t another choice. I still call it honor, even if you don’t agree,” Deimos concluded. Aeria didn’t respond. The two of them sat in silence for a long time before Deimos fell asleep.
He’d always been like that, Aeria recalled fondly. As much as she couldn’t stand her baby brother sometimes, he was a good man. He was as tough as nails and was a great warrior, if not a little too single-minded. After centuries of figh
ting side by side she discovered that it was his only downfall in battle; his inability to see beyond the fight at hand. He was unmatched in brutality but he was a terrible tactician, always opting to go with the head on approach instead of thinking things through. He lacked the subtlety and foresight that winning a war required, but she didn’t hold it against him. It was in his nature and, if anything, it had opened the door for her to show her strengths in warfare.