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remedial goodness for Chelish archdukes
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"That is unfortunate but it is not very surprising. So the answer is, if there's any prospects of peace one ought to be trying for it, but there aren't always any such prospects, and if someone meets you with war you've every right to fight back. It's not Good to permit the butchery of your people. If they raid you, it is not Evil to kill them. It is Evil to make their deaths particularly slow and painful, but not to kill them. If you go ride deep into the mountains just killing orcs you run across who had nothing to do with the people of Menador, that'd be Evil. But not the ones who fight you, not if you would like peace and can't have it."

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Pretty sure there aren't any orcs in the Menador Mountains who have nothing to do with the people of Menador.

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Younger girl, this time. "Why does it matter how people feel?"

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"Do you mean, why is it good if people are happy, or bad if they suffer, that sort of thing?"

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"Yeah. You said it's good to make people feel happy and evil to terrorize them, but how people feel about things doesn't change anything, so why does it matter?"

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"Well, do you care if you yourself are happy, even if it doesn't change anything? Say you could have a lovely dream in which you are a hero and save the kingdom and fly a pegasus, or a terrifying nightmare in which you are chased by horrible shadow things, and you'll get up in the morning either way, do you still prefer one or the other?"

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"Huh. I think if I asked that of my little sister at home she would say that she would rather have the happy dream, because it would be more fun, because she likes feeling happy more than feeling scared. I like feeling happy more than feeling scared. Arn, do you -"

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"I haven't given it a whole lot of thought but I would've expected it to be pretty much everyone who likes being happy. If people didn't like being happy I can't think why they'd do things like ...eat maple candy and do silly dances and sing to the river when no one will hear them."

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"Candy tastes good, but the other things don't do anything."

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"Well, if candy tastes good we'll go with that. You'd rather taste candy than some other flavor, even if they're neither of them going to poison you and it doesn't matter to anyone but you?"

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"So lots of people care about being happy or being scared the way you care if you're eating candy or bread, even if it doesn't matter."

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She doesn't look very satisfied, but she doesn't seem to have a follow-up question, either.

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"You might think that people shouldn't care about that. Iomedae spent a long time when she was young trying not to need anything or want anything, because her country was at war and if she needed or wanted anything then she would be spending less time saving the world. But when she got older she realized that had been a mistake, because - the world is mostly saved by doing more, not by wanting less."

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Still disgruntled, but still not able to put a question into words.

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Eleven-year old, one of the girls who was practicing archery. "Why didn't they teach girls to fight, when Iomedae was young?"

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"Well, they didn't know that girls could be brave and strong like boys. They thought that when they went to war they would be too scared, or would panic and be foolish, and that everyone would wish they had stayed home. Iomedae is the person who proved that some girls are suited to be warriors and generals and leaders."

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That is VERY stupid of people in the past, but it's pretty cool of Iomedae.

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The older adults continue to seem kind of unwilling to ask questions, and the bravest children are out of them, now. The servants and slaves have been sitting in the back in complete silence, and seem extremely unlikely to volunteer anything any time soon.

 

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"Thank you all. I think I'll try to do these every evening for now, and we'll start repairing the church in the main square so we can do them for the public also. I will need your help to do this well, and am very grateful for it."

 

 

 

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"I think they're scared of us," he says when they get back to their rooms.

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"I think so. I don't know what to do about that."

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"Maybe one of us can promise not to report home beyond confirming the other's report and then take confidential questions."

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"That might be a good idea. Depending what exactly they're afraid of."

 


 

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