Chương 1117: Day One Thousand One Hundred And Fifteen

Dear Diary, So I know I bitch about being bored while I'm watching Saffron go over stuff with the Captains, but I don't think that's really fair or entirely true. Then again, what's far more surprising to me is that I've mentioned that I can't... That I'm not good at that kind of thing. I mean, diplomacy, sure, I can sort of do that, in a 'spout dubious rizz at folks who can make decisions in an effort to get them to follow the path of getting eaten (innuendo) instead of the path of getting eaten (threat).

But when it comes to legalese and coming up with foolproof rules, I've always been of the opinion that I'm way better at finding loopholes than I am at filling them (innuendo).

Yeah, while I still can't talk about the discussions that have been my last week or so of life without making bad sex jokes to preserve my dubious sanity, I have to admit that whether it's Blend translating, my surprisingly high Reason puzzling things out, or my equally surprising Memory letting me recall, like, huge portions of the document all at once, I can understand that shit. Which I only realized today. So I spent most of yesterday listening to Saffron explaining the Alliance to the Captains.

She started with the basics, that each City had a single representative on the Grand Council, which voted on Alliance level laws and policies. The Captains looked a little weirded out by that, but she jumped right into reviewing the document, explaining all the policies and procedures it laid out. She spent like an hour explaining not just why the language was so complex, which boiled down to the no ambiguity thing.

She also pointed out how they'd included provisions for making amendments, which I hadn't known but felt both surprising and very much not. There's also apparently a provision for rewriting the whole fuckin' thing, which did surprise me. No, that's not quite true. Saying 'there's a provision' implies that yeah, it could happen, but it's not real likely.

What's in there is basically a requirement that they review the whole fucking thing every ten years, and on a vote of 'no confidence' in its ability to properly direct the government of the Alliance, the representatives would be required to rewrite the whole fuckin' thing. Which... I can't say I'm entirely against it.

I'm not sure how much of that is me apparently being the literal embodiment of Change, and how much is it just making sense, but the weirdest part of it for me was how the Captains just nodded like that was the sanest part of the whole document. Interesting side note, while the rewrite is allowed to increase or decrease the cycle time of the review, specifically in increments of five years per change, it's not allowed to remove that review.

Something she said then stuck with me, and for bigger reasons than how I'd been staring at her, thinking about her eyes, the entire session. John explained their support of that bit by saying, "our Articles don't last more than one voyage." Redbeard cut in with, "I never change mine." Anne chuckled, said, "that explains some things," but before Red could get all pissy about it she waved him down and said, "but you still have the crew sign them again before each voyage." This story is posted elsewhere by the author.

Help them out by reading the authentic version. He just pursed his lips, nodded, and replied, "of course I do. All kinds of ways to argue it's not binding, otherwise." At that point Saffron nodded and calmly dropped a verbal cluster bomb.

"In any case, in the absence of something like a voyage to delineate the duration of our Constitution, we need some manner of making sure that the so-called 'wisdom of the ancients' isn't just habit borne from those ancients' trauma." That floored everybody until John laughed out loud.

"You say that like you're 'the ancients'." She just smiled at him and said, "everyone is ancient to their distant descendants. We can only hope they remember us, and in ways that do not cause them to curse our names." Yeah, spent a lot of time thinking about that tonight in the Bath. Fell asleep thinking of it, honestly. Dreamt of my ladies doing more Maw time paper pushing. I kinda worried, but they didn't seem super upset about it. Especially when they took turns under the desk.

I tried to help out by providing shoulder rubs, but I think I capsized them more often than I helped. They didn't seem upset about that either, though. When we got up in the morning, as the kids started cycling through the bathroom and heading down to breakfast, Saffron held me back.

"You've seemed pensive since yesterday."

"Yeah. I guess."

"What's on your mind?" For whatever reason I didn't feel too anxious about sharing my thoughts.

"I never thought about how we're gonna wind up the ancestors. The Founding Fathers." Yeah, she snickered at that, sliding her hand down me in a pointed way.

"I would never call us 'fathers', love. Even if your favorite calls you 'Papa'."

"Hey, I don't have a favorite. She and I just vibe well over reading. I love them all." That got a smile and gentle laugh out of her.

"Oh, I know, I know. I just enjoy hearing you say that. But I suppose we are the founders of the Alliance, and I do believe that someday in the future there will be those who both believe they can do better and, additionally, are correct." I blinked.

"Whoa. Is that humility I hear from Imperator Kitten Sexypaws?" She just chuckled more at me.

"No. No, not really. I say this not because I think they will be smarter, more Skilled, or more dedicated than I, but rather because the world we are creating will birth people who are not as traumatized as you and I. People who can stand taller, see further, do better not because they are inherently better, but because we have created a world that does not cripple them before they ever get a chance to make their mark upon it." I smiled.

"Y'know, I read once where getting everything handed to somebody can wind up with them being really amoral. Like, total assholes." She sucked her teeth a moment.

"Well. I'll need your help to scry up those words, not only to determine their veracity and applicability, but to determine the best way to be sure our own children don't become, as you say, amoral assholes. Although..." When she trailed off, looking at me and smiling, I asked, "what?"

"You may have found the solution, my love."

"Whassat?"

"Mothering. Well, parenting, I suppose. By being part of our Children's lives, we can ensure they understand that while they are special to us, and we will do everything to help them succeed, that those advantages given by birth come with the responsibility to, when the opportunity arises, make the world around them better for everyone. Or at the very least not to make it worse for anyone."

"Even the amoral assholes of the world?" She smiled.

"Well, if Larry is any indication, amoral assholes, once convinced not to be, are much happier. So in that light? Not even them." I took a deep breath.

"You know there were points in there where I might have killed him out of hand." She shook her head.

"But you didn't. Because he never crossed the line from 'annoying amoral asshole' into a genuine threat to others." She paused for a bit, then said, "you even Redeemed Diana, and offered the same to Apollo. Yes, you've killed many, but... Nuance, love. There's always nuance." I smiled at her.

"Saffron."

"Yes?"

"Always Saffron."