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| − | [ST] Obligatory's return journey is anything but easy. At first, the streets are open enough, and even as they begin to fill he still manages to swerve around those in his way. Then, he hits a crowded press near a Guild charms merchant, and moves from that to a group gathered around a cock fight, and from that to a group gathered around a duel, and from that... He comes perilously close to
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| − | [ST] using violence as he forces his way through the crowd. Only once he reaches the fringes of the Quiet Ghetto do things become more manageable. Here, with dark fallen, the streets are almost empty. It's not safe for the Quiet to be out after dark, though many do have their jobs and errands.
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| − | [ST] Soon, the familiar house rises ahead of him, the streets on either side quiet. Cozy lights burn at the windows, and within the houses to either side. Every now and then, a dusting of snow falls from above as the summer streets jostle.
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| − | [Obligatory] As he enters the Quiet Ghetto Obligatory begins banging on doors with his fists. Never long enough to wait for anyone to open the door- he knows, he's keenly aware, that Ajax and his thugs will follow him, find him. "Gather! Gather to the Mother!" he shouts.
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| − | [Obligatory] He bangs on the door of Thrice Patient, so named after he was blessed with triplet daughters and has to pause to gasp for breath. His lips are blue with cold, even after all his exertion, and his cuts sting as they freeze.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Gather at the Mother," he says between frantic breaths, as Thrice Patient opens the door and looks at him curiously. He lurches onward.
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| − | [ST] In Obligatory's wake, doors open, and heads peek out, at least among those Quiet who are still at home. Although he cannot see them in his wake, they begin to trail after him, hastening through the streets to the Mother's house with children and old ones in tow.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Gather at the Mother," Obligatory gasps, pressing his palms against the door of the house he grew up in.
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| − | [ST] The door is locked, and does not yield under his pressure. Distantly, behind him, he can hear cries echoing through the night.
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| − | [Obligatory] He pounds frantically on the door.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Mother!" Obligatory calls in a cracked voice. "Sister! It's not safe!"
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| − | [ST] After a moment, Little Solemn Brightness's voice comes from the other side of the door. "Who may I ask is calling?"
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| − | [Obligatory] "It's Obligatory. Open the door."
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| − | [ST] There is a moment's pause, then the grinding sound of a chair moving across the floor. The latch opens, and the door leans inward under his weight, bumping the chair behind it and sending Solemn to the floor with a thud. She looks up at him, angry.
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| − | [ST] "Do not make so much haste, brother."
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| − | [Obligatory] "Forgive me," he says- quickly. "You knew to be alarmed? I must talk to our grandmother. Oak is dead."
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| − | [ST] "W-what?" She doesn't understand death, not really. She can't even accept that she will die. "Is Rain all right? She left for work soon after you..."
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| − | [Obligatory] "What?" No. She wasn't safe there. "Where does she work now? Where?"
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| − | [ST] "Th-the Blue Queen." Solemn looks up at him. She still hasn't risen off the floor. "B-brother, y-you're scaring me."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory squeezes his eyes shut, thinking. He couldn't be in two places. But maybe he didn't have to be. They didn't know where she worked, surely. "Solemn, who is the fastest runner among the children?"
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| − | [ST] "M-me." She hasn't been able to run in over a year. "Well, I should be."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory touches her shoulder gently. "I know sweetling. Who is the next fastest, then, after you?"
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| − | [ST] "Charity Embodied. Sometimes I watch her run. From the window. She lives two streets over. Brother, I don't understand-"
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| − | [Obligatory] "Go to her. Tell her to find our sister at the Blue Queen, and tell her to hide. Compassionate Rain must hide, do you understand?" He's gripping her shoulder a little too tight.
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| − | [ST] "B-brother, you're hurting me." She draws herself up, chin jutting out. "Besides, Grandmother says I am not to be outside in this weather, especially not at night. And it is necessary to obey the words of one's elders. It is a Forthright Act."
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| − | [Obligatory] "Compassionate Rain could die." Obliagory's voice cracks. Of all the time for Solemn to be so rigid. He worried sometimes about her locked in her room, reading the prayer books over and over, and this is why. "There is nothing. More important. Than this. She must be warned!"
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| − | [ST] "B-but if Yo Ping punishes m-m-me..." She hesitates on the threshold, tears rolling down her face. A cold wind blows in past her, causing the flames in the stove's belly to flare. "Then I won't get w-well..."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory calms himself. She was only a girl, he reminds himself. He kneels before her, gripping her shoulders. "Sister, Yo-Ping knows. There is nothing beyond compassion. Nothing beyond the will to feel it, and the courage to hold on to it no matter the circumstances." He kisses both her cheeks. "Yo-Ping would never punish you for helping your sister. Now go on. Give Charity the message, eh?" He exudes calm
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| − | [Obligatory] and strength for her, who had never had enough of either.
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| − | [ST] She nods, turning, and races out the door. Outside, a crowd is beginning to gather, talking in low, urgent voices, remaining a respectable distance from the Mother's house.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory runs up the stairs. "Grandmother! Mother!" he calls, not even waiting at her door for her answer as protocol demanded.
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| − | [ST] The old woman is by the fire, studying the book of Devotions, when Obligatory breaks in. Unlike Solemn, she notes his demeanor at once.
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| − | [ST] "My son, what has happened?"
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| − | [Obligatory] "Oak is dead," he says bluntly. She was strong enough for anything. "Ajax killed him- he's a traitor, he was Quiet. I went to try to talk to him-" Obligatory breaks her gaze. "Ajax...wouldn't listen, but Oak refused to leave me. And so..." He breaks off. Tells it in order, swiftly, as he helps her rise from her chair and hurries her down the stairs. "Mother, you must speak to the People. Tell them of the traitor
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| − | [Obligatory] Ajax, and what he has done. And why."
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| − | [Obligatory] He had told it all bleakly, excusing none of his own part of it. He would not accept responsibility for the murder, but it still bit him to the bone. "Mother, the People must be cleansed of this evil. They cannot blind themselves to it. You must lift the veil from their eyes: they will listen to you."
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| − | [ST] The Mother only closes her eyes when she hears of Oak's death. As Obligatory helps her down the stairs, she nods stiffly. Even her resolve has been shaken by this. "An exile..." She does not look at Obligatory at that moment. "This is a great evil. I have prayed that there might be some sign to show us how to proceed. Perhaps your coming, and Oak's death were the omens I requested."
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| − | [ST] "Poor Oak. He was a good man, if a simple one. He deserved better. But many deserve better than Creation gives them, and it is not our place to demand."
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| − | [Obligatory] "That is so." Obligatory bows his head in silent, brief memorial. "I wish you to tell the story of his death, mother.The People must remember to forget their anger. Speak of how in his anger he whispered secrets to the enemy of the one he hated- and how that hatred rebounded on him from the hand of Ajax. Those who know- they will know the secret you speak of. I hope they will feel shame."
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| − | [Obligatory] He coaches her quickly, as his mother ought to have, had his mother been home. Persistent Rose was too often at work, too often silent and exausted when at home.
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| − | [ST] "There is much wisdom in you yet, my son," the woman moves past him to open the door, stepping out into the snow. She draws her shawl about her, her eyes roving over the group of the Quiet gathered there. There must be over fifty people there, at least one representative from every household that could send one. There are men, women, bundled children, all of them looking expectantly to
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| − | [ST] the Mother. When Obligatory emerges behind her, the first few ranks step back.
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| − | [ST] A murmur runs through the group.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory looks at the ground. Perhaps he should have stayed indoors. He steps away from the Mother, not looking at her; it was the humility and the shame expected from an exile.
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| − | [ST] "A sickness has made its way through our community," the Mother begins. "And I know that some of you before me now are a part of it. Actions conceived in fear and in foolish hope, and yes, in hatred, have threatened to poison this entire community. If this poison is not exposed, leeched, then we will find ourselves in a dire position indeed."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory whitens, forgetting himself enough to stare at her. He hadn't intended- he hasn't wanted her to speak it so bluntly. What if the Ears were among them, even now?
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| − | [ST] "I know that many of you have aided the one called Ajax, or his other supporters. This cannot be allowed to continue. It has cost Stout Oak his life."
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| − | [ST] An angry, astonished whisper runs through the crowd. Some kin of Oak's cries out.
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| − | [ST] "I know that many of you have nursed hatred in your hearts against those who have harmed us, but it will turn to poison in your breasts. It will kill us all. You must let it go."
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| − | [ST] She takes a step forward, extending her arms, palms outward, as if she could embrace them all. "You must. It is our way. We have weathered much. Let us weather this, as well."
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| − | [ST] Feet shuffle in the crowd. Women, men, even a child or two exchange furtive glances. Someone coughs.
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| − | [ST] Many gaze down at the snow.
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| − | [ST] "Autumn's tits!" a voice roars, male, loud, boisterous. "What're all these kneelers doing on the street at this time of night?"
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| − | [ST] Four figures are moving down the street, tall, blond-haired, muscled. Three men, one woman, all of them wrapped in furs and swinging with tribal totems.
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| − | [ST] An air of menace hangs around them. A chilling breeze knifes down the length of the street. Obligatory can smell the alcohol from where he stands.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory reacts quickly. He does not need to push his way through the crowd; they part before him, as though he were diseased- though they would never treat a true leper so. He walks until he stands before the tallest and drunkest of them. He bows his head. "Forgive us, sirs. We have suffered a loss in our community, and gather to mourn. Please do not let us impede you." Obligatory steps back, and shun him
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| − | [Obligatory] though they might, the Quiet know an easy way to avoid conflict; they hurry from the Haslanti's path, so that they have a clear path onward, whichever way they traveled.
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| − | [ST] "What a sweet little kneeler," the woman slurs. He notices that her fingers are covered in rings, cheap metal things with glassy stones that the four of them must have bought off some scrabbling jeweler or Guilder. The others cast him a suspicious glance, but begin to move through the crowd.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory bows his head, not reacting.
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| − | [ST] "Pass through with our blessing," the Mother says, from what seems a very long distance away. The Quiet shift out of the way. It might have ended there, if Little Solemn Brightness hadn't come running from the mouth of the alley, smashing headlong into one of the men, sending them both sprawling.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Bright!" An old childhood nickname. Obligatory reaches for her, pulls her behind him, and in an instant another Quiet has taken her, and the child has vanished into the crowd of them, passed from hand to hand.
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| − | [ST] "Heyy..." the fallen Haslanti rises unsteadily, swaying back and forth. "Where'd the little brat go? Needs to be taught a lesson."
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| − | [Obligatory] He kneels as soon as Bright leaves his hands, bowing his head. "A thousand apologies, sir, a terrible accident, my apologies, apologies..."
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| − | [ST] "Stupid kneelers," the big man who seems to lead them snaps, turning contemptuously aside from Obligatory's entreaty. His hand reaches down into his belt, impossibly, coming up with a short throwing axe. The ranks of the Quiet take a few steps back, and the Mother says, "Please, sirs, there is no need for this. You must not-" And the axe is spinning through the dark. It lodges in the chest
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| − | [ST] of Sustained Generousity, the old cobbler.
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| − | [ST] He looks down at the terrible thing, grasps it, tries to pull it free, and collapses.
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| − | [ST] Obligatory is close enough, his eyes sharp enough, to see that the man who threw the axe is not drunk at all. Nor are the other two men, already pulling their own weapons, or the woman, who removes a bow from her back and lets an arrow fly into the crowd, catching a Quiet woman in the throat.
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| − | [ST] Screams rise throughout the crowd. Already some are beginning to panic, to run. The Mother is shouting for order. Obligatory seems to be, for the moment, ignored.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Ajax," Obligatory says, clear and cold as he rises. His voice is the voice of the Lineage of the Stone; carrying over the distance of the People. "You work for Ajax, the Exile! More murderers, sowing death and hatred. " He rises, almost spitting his anger. "I know what you are inside, dead things."
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| − | [ST] The men wade into the crowd, slashing, rending, and the Quiet collapse before them. Screams rise as the crowd turns into a panicked mob, scattering this way and that, trampling the slow, the old, the weak. Blood sprays across the snow, steaming.
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| − | [Obligatory] He has taken the woman's arrows from her quiver; she was careless, so careless beside a helpless Quiet, and she does not even notice them missing until she reaches for another arrow and finds it empty. He snaps them before her eyes, his raven's tatoo clear on his breast, then turns and throws himself in the path of the men.
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| − | [ST] The woman staggers, ripping off her quiver and throwing it to the ground. As the crowd continues to flee, the three men continue to lash out at anyone who draws near. In such a state, it is impossible for Obligatory to tell if his words have convinced the People or not. They seem to only want to escape.
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| − | [Obligatory] He lunges forward and catches the axes of two of the men as they ready to fall on an old man. He meets their eyes. "Stop this, please. Don't you see this would damn you forever?"
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| − | [Obligatory] He is in agony, terrified for his people, horrified for the Haslanti.
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| − | [ST] The two men step back, exchanging an uneasy glance. They had not expected one of the Quiet to stand against them in this way, and his passion makes them hesitate for a moment. Before him, the woman throws her bow aside, drawing a short, sharp dagger. Behind him, the third man walks through the ranks of those trampled or wounded in the rush, blade flashing. Obligatory can hear the screams
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| − | [ST] behind him. The Mother is weeping. Little Solemn Brightness is somewhere, calling for him.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Just stop it...."
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| − | [ST] "Can't believe you've survived this long," one of the men says, pushing Obligatory back. The blade of his axe is matted with blood and hair. He is the sort who can hew a man down like others would hew a tree, his eyes flat, dead. Almost, he is like Falloe.
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| − | [ST] "This is him," the woman says. "Has to be."
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| − | [ST] "I saw the raven."
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| − | [ST] "Well, let's kill him and get on with it."
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| − | [Obligatory] "The Quiet endure," Obligatory says, quiet and intense. As he's pushed back, his fingers slide along the hafts of the axe. He startled them; and in their surprise they loosen their grips on their axes. Obligatory's fingers close around the blade of the axes, and he suddenly yanks.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Have to catch me first!" he yells, both axes in his hands. He pitches his voice to carry for the third man, turns, and leaps atop a barrel.
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| − | [ST] The woman cocks her arm, throws, sending the knife in her hand spinning end over end towards Obligatory as he springs atop the barrel.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory sees it coming from the corner of his eye and twists his body to the right, so it just skims his stomach. It is as the Scriptures said, he thinks, thinking of Ragged Red and her endless rough 'teasing' that had made him swift and paranoid. Everyone has gifts to give Creation.
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| − | [Obligatory] He leaps atop the next stacked of barrels onto the roof, scrambling up the slick surface. He glances behind him to see if the four of them followed. "Won't get me from over there!" he calls out contemptuously.
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| − | [ST] The third man, meanwhile, is methodic. His blade flashes again, cutting the throat of old Heartfelt Promise. She falls face down in the snow, blood spraying in a fan from her new mouth, body twitching. The man looks through the crowd for his next victim, and his eyes fall upon Little Solemn Brightness, who stares at him with blank horror. Grandmother is screaming louder now, trying to get
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| − | [ST] his attention.
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| − | [ST] "I'll get these two," the man says, as if he's pulling weeds in a summer garden. "You three, him."
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| − | [ST] "She's just a kid, Vince," the woman says, uneasy for the first time.
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| − | [ST] "She's his sister! I'll make it quick."
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| − | [Obligatory] "No!" Obligatory slides down the roof as though he had skates on his feet, tumbling down in from of the third man. The Once Dead have made him lean and body strong. He prayed it would be enough. "Grandmother, Bright, run." To the man, he adds, "You shame your ancestors."
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| − | [ST] "Don't know my ancestors, boy," the man says, raising his blade before swinging it in a tight, flat arc at Obligatory's neck. "Maybe they can enslave you in the Underworld."
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| − | [Obligatory] He holds the axes in front of him, defensively, as though they were twin staves. "You will not find a Quiet there," he says, as his 'weapons' move to intercept. "I will but live again."
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| − | [Obligatory] He catches the blade on an axe; it slides down the haft of the axe, but then it keeps going, biting deep into Obligatory's arm. Obligatory flinches, blood streaming from a deep cut and staining the snow. But he doesn't scream, and his feet remain planted; behind him, his sister and grandmother scramble away through the snow. His eyes never waver from the killer's face.
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| − | [ST] The others give chase as the old woman and the child flee. The Mother isn't fast enough. Her aged legs betray her, and she trips, landing on her face. Solemn, limping ahead, turns back, and the old woman roars. "Run, child! RUN, OR I WILL MAKE YO PING CURSE YOUR EVERY BREATH!" Obligatory hears the sound of a scuffle behind him, but doesn't know what has happened.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory leaps backward and turns, risking a shot at his back if the man has recovered.
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| − | [ST] The other two men have jumped atop his grandmother's wizened figure, wrestling her to the ground. Solemn races away as fast as she can, the woman trailing after her.
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| − | [Obligatory] He sees the others luging for the Mother and leaps forward, sliding through the snow and sticking out his leg to trip him. It was useless, Obligatory knows, with a cold dread in his heart. The mother was dead; he could not keep himself between her and all of them.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory lowers the axes. "Let her go. Let her free, and I won't resist. She's an old woman. She can't harm you or your master." He knows it's useless even as he says it. They would kill them both. He meets his grandmother's eyes.
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| − | [ST] "She can tell, Obligatory. So can the child. Your offers mean nothing." Ajax's face is covered by a scarf, but his voice is unmistakable as he steps from a nearby alley. "Do you really want to save the People?"
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| − | [ST] Ajax's appearance startles the others. Knives pause at the Mother's throat. The man who was ready to hew Obligatory down only moments before steps back, uncertain.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Of course," Obligatory says. He meets Ajax's eyes. "But not at the cost of losing ourselves."
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| − | [ST] "These people," he gestures at the dead carpeting the street. There must be a score of them. "Would still be alive if not for you. Your actions led to their demise. You knew it must end this way."
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| − | [ST] The wound on Obligatory's arm throbs and pours blood. It's very deep. Blood loss alone might kill him if something isn't done soon.
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| − | [Obligatory] "I didn't think you could be so ruthless and evil." He meets Ajax's eyes. "Truly, do you wish to save them? I do not think you do. think you must hate them. For not being like you. And that is why we are standing in the blood of the People."
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| − | [Obligatory] He clasps a hand automatically to the wound.
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| − | [ST] "So proud of your purity, aren't you? You, who wear the mark of the Haslanti. It is no shame to sleep with the outsiders. But you, you are truly their whore." He moves closer, the wind lashing at his scarf. With a gesture, he has his two men haul the Mother onto her feet. She looks at him, her brow furrowed.
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| − | [ST] "You have done a great evil here. Do not think to lecture my grandson on proper behavior."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory just looks at Ajax, as though completely unconcerned with bite of his words.
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| − | [ST] "I do wish to save the People. I do not wish to corrupt them. But we cannot stay like this and survive. It is not possible. Some of us must be willing to sacrifice our purity."
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| − | [Obligatory] "No," Obligatory says, very gently. It was no sacrifice. Only greed for revenge. Useless to remonstrate with him further. "I think you will realize, in time, that what you have done here is wrong. Very wrong. These people you have murdered will soon breath their First Breath again. You- I fear for you."
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| − | [ST] Ajax shakes his head, standing before Obligatory, his eyes somehow at once sad and alight with manic intensity. "You fear for me? No... you should save your fear for yourself. You will kill the People. I am their protector, you are their death."
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| − | [ST] "You are no weakling. You have the strength to fight for those who cannot. Yet you do not. You are a coward. You are a killer. Your stiff-necked pride has done more harm than my honesty ever could. I can prove it to you now."
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory shakes his head. "Even if you kill me, I will only live again among the Quiet. It is promised us." Ajax was truly exiled. It did not need saying.
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| − | [ST] "Geff," Ajax nods sharply, holding out a hand. "Your knife." The man who sliced Obligatory's arm to the bone reaches for his belt, holds his knife out handle first. Ajax takes it, then whirls, pressing it into Obligatory's own palm, folding his fingers around it, pulling Obligatory's hand up to rest the blade's edge against his own throat.
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| − | [ST] "I'm ordering my men now. They can all hear me. If you kill me, they will leave." His eyes bore into Obligatory's own. "Simple as that."
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| − | [ST] "If you don't, they will kill the Mother. Her throat or mine. Your choice."
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| − | [ST] He seems unafraid, strangely calm. As if he believes Obligatory will never do it, or hopes he will.
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| − | [ST] "Do not, my son," the Mother says, her voice taut. "You will be no better than he. Do not-"
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| − | [Obligatory] But perhaps it did. "You speak Haslanti words, with a Haslanti throat." He doesn't glance down at the knife. "This is your choice."
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| − | [ST] "No. It is your choice, too. But you let others make it for you, out of weakness. They may choose poorly." He nods at the others, not pulling the knife away from his throat. "Kill her."
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| − | [Obligatory] He yanks his hand away, forcing the knife back away from Ajax's throat. "But it is not mine. Death is not something to be feared, Ajax. Only hatred is. Only anger is." Obligatory looks at him with deep pity.
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| − | [ST] Obligatory cannot see it, but he hears the sound of whispering steel, a loud, gurgling moan, a thrashing behind him.
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| − | [Obligatory] He had steeled himself. He does not even flinch.
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| − | [ST] "You are a fool, Obligatory Sunshine." Ajax shakes his head. "The girl will die too. And if your beliefs are true, if I am truly the villain you think me, then all the People as well. Is your honor truly worth that?"
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| − | [ST] "Do you not possess the strength to give up the thing you love in order to save it? I pity you."
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| − | [Obligatory] " 'There is no peace but with a compassionate heart.' This is not about honor or any other League notion. The only way to keep the Path of the Quiet alive is to live it." Obligatory smiles, a bit wry. "I do not think you do."
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| − | [Obligatory] "I think you envy me."
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| − | [ST] The scarf shifts. Behind it, Ajax is smiling. But the smile doesn't reach his eyes. He gestures, and the same men to held and killed the Mother move behind Obligatory, grabbing his arms, holding him tight.
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| − | [ST] "Envy you? Yes, I do." He shakes his head. "I envy your ignorance, your security, your complacency. I was not so different from you, once, before I decided to save the People. You and your kind will be the death of them."
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| − | [Obligatory] "We have always survived before," Obligatory says, serenely. It's as though his death doesn't matter at all to him, though his pulse beats like a rabbit beneath the gloves of his captors. "You will not turn from this course." Obligatory sounds saddened. "But the Quiet will turn from you."
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| − | [ST] "The Quiet will turn to me, or I will cull them. And you will know that for all you valued them, you lacked the strength to stop it."
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| − | [Obligatory] "One man does not turn an ocean." Obligatory's mouth hangs open. He is not the one who has spoken. A soft pwfft, and a dart flies out and buries itself in the neck of one behind him. The fingers around his neck loosen.
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| − | [ST] "What the hell?"
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| − | [Obligatory] A handful of Quiet ring the street from the rooftops, crouched there. Quiet in grey leggings and wearing hoods that hang down over their faces. The man who had been holding Obligatory slides quietly to the ground. Breath still mists from his mouth.
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| − | | |
| − | [Obligatory] "Heard of a massacre," says the same voice from a different direction. "Came to see."
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| − | [ST] "The Doves," Ajax says, looking at them. "I didn't think they had the stones. We'd best be away... after I'm done." He lunges at Obligatory, dagger swiping at his midsection.
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| − | [Obligatory] Obligatory throws himself backwards.
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| − | [ST] Ajax snarls, losing his composure for once, and barks an order to his subordinates. They follow him, pelting off into the night.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Follow." Most of the thieves melt away after him across the rooftops, but it's even money whether they'll catch them. They were good with their crossbows- but thieves only, not murderers.
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| − | [ST] A strange silence returns to the street. Only minutes have passed, impossibly, since Obligatory and the others emerged from the house. The snow of the streets is red with blood. Some score of the People lie slain, men, women, children, young and old alike.
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| − | [ST] Not once during the screams did any of the city watch come, or even look twice.
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| − | [Obligatory] A light snow falls. Obligatory goes to the Mother, straightens her limbs and closes her eyes. His mouth is tight with grief. He goes to the others then; some names he knows, some he does not. But all had family and loved ones: for their grief, he grieves. The Doves stand quiet on their roofs; and the silent dead surround them all. m.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Tell the story," Obligatory says, staring into the face of a dead child. He had given her rice. He looks up. "Tell them--"
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| − | [Obligatory] But the Doves are gone.
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| − | [Obligatory] So alone, Obligatory begins to sing high, quavering words of the Hymn for the Dead.
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| − | [Obligatory] --
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| − | [Obligatory] "So I am the Mother now." The woman turns away from the grey-robed woman kneeling by the open window, hiding her face. A cold wind blows in from outside, making the candles gutter. The woman closes the heavy lid frames absently. Her long brown hair is just beginning to be threaded with grey, and her age shows only at the corners of her eyes and mouth. She is still beautiful.
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| − | [Obligatory] "Oh, my son," she says quietly. Then, sad but oddly detached, "I suppose it was her time." She looks sharply at the Dove. "How stands the treasury?"
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| − | [Obligatory] "It increases," the Dove says hesitantly. "But-"
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| − | [Obligatory] "Not enough," she murmurs. "It will need to be enough. Soon." The sound of drunken laughter outside the room, and squeals of delight. Persistent Rose pays it no mind. She clasps her hands behind her back and looks at the Dove with mild interest.
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| − | [Obligatory] "How would you like to join the Once Dead?"
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