3. Dangers Of A Good Heart #2
“Aquilan, your good heart gives you strength, but others would… Well, what seems apparent to you as truth, others see only lies,” Helgrom advised.
“And here you do not want to counsel me!” Aquilan shook his head.
“I said not openly. Name Ornaren Deepbranch. He’s a good fellow. And a friend. He’ll listen to you and speak for me. And he’s an Ironen. No one will have a problem with him,” Helgrom said.
Vesslan’s annoyed snort brought him back to the present as he asked, “Yes, well, who was the second Councilor?”
“Shonda Baston,” Aquilan answered and tensed, knowing what was coming.
Where you see truth, others see lies.
Vesslan sighed. “Oh, the human Councilor. Well, that hardly counts!” Helgrom lifted a shaggy eyebrow, but said nothing as he continued to chew bacon aggressively.
Before Aquilan could respond, Vesslan continued, “The large Houses have been asking me about the territories that they are to be rewarded for their participation in the war. With the war all but done, they are anxious to begin sculpting their new homes from this world.”
“Yes, I imagine they are, which is why I am glad I spoke to Shonda last evening,” Aquilan said as he carefully dipped his bread into the golden yellow yolk.
He had been thinking deeply about what she and Michael had said.
It had never set right with him the deal he’d made.
His parents had colonized many lands without much thought, but this had never set right with him either.
They hadn’t come here for gain. To take the best land from the humans would stain their good intentions.
Vesslan’s eyes narrowed. “Why does what your human Councilor have to say have any impact on the awarding of land? Unless it was for her to wish her thanks to be sent onto the Houses for fighting this war and saving them?”
Helgrom’s knife scraped loudly across the plate, making a screeching noise, as he sliced his eggs in two.
“We did not come here for land, Vesslan. We can here to stop evil and address the incursion of creatures from the Under Dark into another plane,” Aquilan retorted, his hands tightening around his knife and fork. “So, of course, I’m going to consult with Shonda before any land is gifted.”
Vesslan actually smiled for the first time that morning. It almost looked genuine. “No, dearest Aquilan, you came here for that. The Houses came here for land. Land which you promised them. Remember?”
Aquilan stared down at his plate. That was true.
He was surprised when Vesslan clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“You saved the humans, Aquilan. And, quite frankly, saved this land from the humans’ polluting, wasteful ways.
You have no idea the filth that I have had to dispose of.
Most of the water was contaminated by human-made chemicals.
It was deadly to drink for anyone! The land was poisoned by pesticides so that the food was tainted and caused disease and death.
Countless animal species went extinct because of humanity’s insatiable desire to spread their asphalt jungles.
” Vesslan shook his head in disgust and dismay.
“Truly, things are better for humanity overall now.”
“They are a young species,” Aquilan admitted slowly. “They would have learned in time–”
“Well, they will learn faster now,” Vesslan pointed out.
“Their own bodies were polluted with micro plastics. There were chemicals in their blood causing their cells to twist and cut short their already pitifully short lives even shorter. From the water they drank to the food they ate, it was all contaminated by their own hands. In a way, if the Leviathan didn’t kill them, they would have killed themselves before long. ”
Aquilan knew that his brother was not altogether wrong.
There had been many humans–children especially–whom he had healed in many lands as the war had progressed.
Children with cancers that ate through their bones.
People in the prime of life whose own bodies were attacking themselves and stealing their mobility and strength.
The elderly were unable to breathe as their lungs filled with fluid that their muscles could not pump out so they drowned in their own liquids.
It was not the simple turn of the years, but as Vesslan had said, ecological poisons were destroying these bodies at every stage of their lives.
How many places had he and Rhalyf found on this planet where the waters were filled with sludge and the land was barren because it was stripped of nutrients to support life?
Too many to count. There were even places where human power plants had irradiated the land.
So much foulness. Humanity had lost its way.
“Even if that is true, this is their planet and I wish to first give the humans their choice of it and some to be set aside in perpetuity for them as they restore their numbers,” Aquilan said.
“I assume you mean for them to live upon, but they would have to follow our rules,” Vesslan said with a sniff.
“Well, they would–”
“Or would you have them poison things again? Like those Separatists do in–in Hope?” Vesslan’s lips flattened again. “You have no idea the noxious fumes that leave that relatively small settlement. The wind comes from their direction and you can smell them. Diesel and chemicals!”
“There would be rules, but they have their own culture and way of doing things.”
“Oh, yes! Culture !” Vesslan shook his head. “Made of plastic and fumes!”
“Vesslan, you sound like a snob at best and, at worst–”
“I’ll say nothing more against them, little brother.” Vesslan lifted a hand. “I can see that you are fond of them for some reason. I’ll leave you to see what the humans truly are, which they will reveal in time.”
“ What they are?” Helgrom chuckled darkly. “They are good and bad in equal measure. Just like the rest of us. We forget that at our peril.”
Vesslan shrugged. “Some of them, I suppose, have a certain amount of merit.”
“My experiences have been very different from yours, Vesslan,” Aquilan said firmly. “I hope that you will open your heart more to humanity. If we cannot give them grace, how will the rest of our people treat them?”
“My brother! Always the goodhearted one!” Vesslan smiled, but thinly.
“That’s not a weakness,” Helgrom said. “To be goodhearted. It was said to be Ailduin’s greatest strength and he towered among the Sun Kings of old.”
“I was not suggesting it was! You speak too freely even for an unofficial counselor, Helgrom,” Vesslan said with a repressive look.
Helgrom shrugged. “I am a long time from any court, Emissary. I speak plainly.”
“And I appreciate that, Helgrom. It is what I come to you for,” Aquilan assured the dwarf. “Now, as I said, Vesslan, my plan is to work with humanity to assign territories to them and their descendants. After that is decided then I will reward the Houses for their efforts.”
Vesslan’s expression darkened. “Aquilan, I do not think that wise–”
“It is just ,” Aquilan interrupted. “Vesslan, sit down. Your king commands you. And have some breakfast.”
Vesslan hesitated a moment, but then he swept over to the nearest chair and sat down.
There was a plate in front of him. He looked hungrily at the eggs, bacon and toast. He loaded up his plate and took a tentative bite, but upon tasting Helgrom’s excellent cooking, he was shoveling food in his mouth as if he had not eaten in days.
Aquilan frowned. Did his brother look thinner than he had?
What if he had been worried instead of offended by Aquilan’s failure to come to the palace?
He had likely been working himself to the bone as Elasha had indicated to make things right for him.
“You have not been taking care of yourself, elder brother,” Aquilan said softly, affection tinting his voice for the first time that morning. “You are working too hard.”
Vesslan paused, egg yolk dripping from his chin. “I…”
Aquilan used a napkin to mop it up and Vesslan actually blinked and then smiled shyly at the tender brotherly act.
“Elasha told me that you, Darcassan and her have been preparing for my return tirelessly,” Aquilan murmured.
“And yet you did not come to the palace last night to see what we have been working on!” Vesslan’s voice was tart, but there was hurt there rather than arrogance. “You did not come to see me . We have been apart for a full cycle and you… you did not come.”
Aquilan winced. He hadn’t gone to the Aryas Palace for good reason, but, if he were honest with himself, it was not altogether fair to his elder brother to have stayed away as he had.
Vesslan had been doing what he thought was best. All their lives, his elder brother had looked out for him.
Vesslan had always been the more dutiful between them.
He had always taken every position seriously.
If Vesslan was prejudiced against other races, he was also assiduous to protect all of them equally.
When their parents had died–the Sun Stone turning from a glowing gold to a cold blue, reflecting their loss–all had expected Vesslan to succeed them as Sun King just like he’d said to Helgrom.
His brother had trained all his life to become their leader.
Yet the Sun had chosen Aquilan instead. He could still remember the frozen look on Vesslan’s face when the golden light had poured down upon him instead.
It was as if Vesslan had been cut off from the light of life altogether.
Their eyes had met. And, for a moment, for a very long moment, he’d thought that Vesslan hated him. It had been madness.
But if Vesslan had believed that the choosing of the Sun King was rigged, then perhaps he had thought that Aquilan had bribed or gamed his way into it.
Of course, Aquilan had done no such thing.
He’d been in deep mourning after their parents’ deaths.
The last thing he’d wanted was responsibility for others when he could hardly take care of himself.