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31_days2009-01-16 02:16 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2009-01-16 02:16 pm
[Jan. 16][Suikoden III] Preventative Measures
Title: Preventative Measures
Day/Theme: Jan. 16, 2009 "burning bridges"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Wednesday, a variety of my usual Harmonian OCs
Rating: PG-13
The Counsel table was quiet, as Mother Dana, trembling slightly, began to tell her story, the reason she had asked for everyone to be assembled here as quickly as possible, "Three days ago I was in our library, writing a letter to my colleague in Rosary, Katy Orial, when Sister Kahlia rushed in with a message for me from the governor. She was out of breath, but still quite pale, as she gave the letter to me and I immediately had a bad feeling about this bit of news.
"The letter was right to the point. We have a case of Ghausu Fever in our hands in Viela. Mayor Burnell had reported it to Governor Folino, who sent the news straight to me. And I...I summoned all of you," she sighed, "Because I don't know what to do." Dana had dark circles around her eyes and seemed close to tears even as she spoke, emphasizing the strain that this frightening report had put on her.
The reaction around the round table was mixed, but unanimously nervous. Ket turned his attention to Olia, as she became the first to speak up. "Isn't there someone who's supposed to take care of this kind of thing?" she asked, her usual bold manner rather diminished in the face of this somber moment. However, never one to lose her cool in a crisis, she turned swiftly to Hikami, sitting several chairs to her right to inquire, "What's the precedent?"
"I don't know," he pulled his spectacles from their felt case. "I can look it up," he flipped open a small but thick volume on political policy. It was times like this when all his years of study served him well.
"You could get the inquisitor general on the case," Sakurazaki suggested, shifting nervously in his seat, "He'll do anything." Outbreaks of disease always put him more on edge than most. Unsettling memories of plague in his childhood surfaced in the mind of the general. Sasarai winced as the the legs of Sakurazaki's chair scraped noisily on the tile floor as he pushed slowly away from the table. "There's no cure, right?" the southerner continued, standing up and placing a single hand on the back of his carved, wooden chair, "I think we should get him involved," he concluded solidly.
"I don't know, Sakurazaki," Sasarai spoke up cautiously, "Do we want to go to such extreme ends?" Everyone present knew precisely what methods the Inquisitor General favored, as well as the fact that he was something of a loose cannon, interpreting orders as he saw fit... Nothing short of the words of the chief priest could rein him in at his worst.
"Psh," Sakurazaki shook his head, heading for the door, "Has anyone seen Wednesday?" he called into the hall, heading off on his own without waiting for any approval from his colleagues.
Sasarai rubbed his temples as Olia went to follow the long-haired general. Dana took the opportunity to roll a small map of her region out across the table in preparation to explain the particular geographic situation of the affected area.
Though Nika, carrying a laundry basket, was completely useless when it came to ascertaining whether or not the inquisitor general was currently anywhere within the Temple grounds, it was still not difficult to find him. In that mysterious way of his, Wednesday appeared behind the questing man almost out of nowhere (Olia saw that he had come out of a storage closet). "Looking for me?" he piped up, his deep, oddly accented voice cheerful as ever.
"Exactly the man I want," Sakurazaki agreed, turning around in surprise at the familiar voice. How did he do that? Did he just magically know whenever someone wanted to talk to him? Obviously, he had the necessary surveillance skills to do his job better than anyone else.
"Hello, Olia," Wednesday nodded politely at the tall woman's approach.
"Wednesday, we've got a big problem," she cut right to the chase, leading him back down the hall to the Counsel chamber, where Dana had already begun to point out the plague-stricken location to her remaining colleagues.
"...fortunately, it's a remote area. An island, connected to the White Cliffs by the Halkashi Bridge..." she spoke softly, touching her finger to a small island in the northeast, while Heizan and Ket hovered over her shoulders on each side.
Wednesday strode into the room like he owned the place and walked over to look at Dana's map. "Halkashi," he muttered. He knew that bridge. It was quite large, spanning the gap between Viela and the famous Soellan cliffs.
Hikami removed his spectacles and looked up from his book at the fierce inquisitor, "Precedent...And probably your sense of style too, Wednesday, say we should cut them off to prevent the spread of the disease."
The inquisitor general nodded in agreement, while Sasarai and several others shook their heads. "It probably blew in from Arradia," Ket scowled, remembering an unpleasant bout of Arradian measles he had come down with after several weeks of duty with the Harmonian navy.
"It's not a port, Ket," his lifelong friend Hazel pointed out quietly. When trade with Arradia was stable, the spread of Arradian diseases into the Harmonian ports could be something of a problem. At the moment, the current queen, Ara, had halted most trade with Harmonia, except through Casimari, and which was regarded as something of a mixed blessing by most prominent Harmonian traders and leaders. Ket did his best to ignore the comment.
"Are you sure?" Gavelle spoke at last, the influential man having reserved his judgment until he had heard a variety of viewpoints on the matter. Ket gave him a sideways look. "...Not about Arradia," he amended, being careful to make sure his meaning came across clearly, "About what to do, I mean..."
"I'm against it!" Teodor jumped to his feet, slamming his palms loudly on the table for extra emphasis. As this sort of outburst was par for the course for the widower, his colleagues took his comments with a grain of salt, Tjasse looking skeptically up at him from the start.
"It's Dana's area," Komatsu tried to calm the agitated man, "Don't you think that she should decide this on her own? Teodor, why don't you sit back down."
"Sit down? At a time like this?" he continued to storm, "I think we have to talk to the people of Viela before we use such drastic measures! The people have a right to know what's going on!"
"Teodor, Teodor, sit down," Hazel tugged on his sleeve, pulling the blond man back down into his chair, where he sulked visibly, crossing his arms and glaring around the room at the other Counsel members.
"There's nothing else we can do in this sort of situation," the little nun sighed once more. Having the weight of such an enormous decision on her shoulders was nearly more than Dana could handle, "...for the greater good of the entire nation," she declared, "I can't lose use any more time by hesitating. General Wednesday," she turned to her unlikely ally, "Please burn the bridges."
Sasarai looked away from her, feeling a shiver run down his spine at the decision, although he had been practically certain that Dana would choose to follow precedent. "Lord Gavelle," he asked his favorite comrade on the Counsel, "...have you heard of this happening often?"
"It's a bit hush-hush, Sasarai," the older man rubbed his head, "But on occasion," he admitted.
The youngest Counsel member's sense of dread was only increased by this comment. "If I'd received the same sort of ill treatment when I was sick, I'd have died long ago," he thought eerily to himself, glancing at Dana's discarded map as the assorted Counsel members mulled about the room or headed back to more important work. Teodor was conspicuous, stomping off immediately, probably to compose an angry editorial for his newspaper. Sasarai left more quietly along with Dana and Wednesday, who proceeded quickly along the outer corridor toward the gates of the Temple.
-----
Night on the the White Cliffs was cold. The window hummed along, curling in and out of the rocks. Tavin felt fortunate that it didn't seem to feel strong enough to threaten to blow off his black beret. His head always felt so bare without a hat. "There's Halkashi," the inquisitor general said. His voice seemed like stone, hard and unwavering in the wind. The group of inquisitors pulled together, and light from the the two torches the group carried washed over their long cloaks, adding eerie shadows to Wednesday's rough face.
The Halkashi Bridge stretched from the edge of the cliff to the small town of Viela. In St. Soel's time, Viela had been connected to the mainland, as his personal writings attested, but storms had worn down the land until the little area had broken away to become a new island. The bridge was as wide as the road and supported by four thick supports that disappeared into the roiling, black ocean.
"If Sakurazaki wouldn't come, he probably could've blasted out the bridge with one blow..." Wednesday muttered. That the famed mage general hadn't come to participate in the demolition was an indication of how much fear the situation aroused in him. "What a shame!" Wednesday decided, taking the first torch from the hands of Rosalie and tossing it onto the bridge, followed by a fistful of flare powder, which caused the flames to jump up into the night sky, orange and red against the blackness that surrounded them.
"As you will," the inquisitor general urged his troop, and the other inquisitors followed his example with flare powder and fire runes, turning the Halkashi into a blazing conflagration, flaring up like a volcanic eruption between Viela and the mainland.
The horrified citizens of Viela could do nothing but watch as the night was consumed in fire.
(to be continued.)
Day/Theme: Jan. 16, 2009 "burning bridges"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Wednesday, a variety of my usual Harmonian OCs
Rating: PG-13
The Counsel table was quiet, as Mother Dana, trembling slightly, began to tell her story, the reason she had asked for everyone to be assembled here as quickly as possible, "Three days ago I was in our library, writing a letter to my colleague in Rosary, Katy Orial, when Sister Kahlia rushed in with a message for me from the governor. She was out of breath, but still quite pale, as she gave the letter to me and I immediately had a bad feeling about this bit of news.
"The letter was right to the point. We have a case of Ghausu Fever in our hands in Viela. Mayor Burnell had reported it to Governor Folino, who sent the news straight to me. And I...I summoned all of you," she sighed, "Because I don't know what to do." Dana had dark circles around her eyes and seemed close to tears even as she spoke, emphasizing the strain that this frightening report had put on her.
The reaction around the round table was mixed, but unanimously nervous. Ket turned his attention to Olia, as she became the first to speak up. "Isn't there someone who's supposed to take care of this kind of thing?" she asked, her usual bold manner rather diminished in the face of this somber moment. However, never one to lose her cool in a crisis, she turned swiftly to Hikami, sitting several chairs to her right to inquire, "What's the precedent?"
"I don't know," he pulled his spectacles from their felt case. "I can look it up," he flipped open a small but thick volume on political policy. It was times like this when all his years of study served him well.
"You could get the inquisitor general on the case," Sakurazaki suggested, shifting nervously in his seat, "He'll do anything." Outbreaks of disease always put him more on edge than most. Unsettling memories of plague in his childhood surfaced in the mind of the general. Sasarai winced as the the legs of Sakurazaki's chair scraped noisily on the tile floor as he pushed slowly away from the table. "There's no cure, right?" the southerner continued, standing up and placing a single hand on the back of his carved, wooden chair, "I think we should get him involved," he concluded solidly.
"I don't know, Sakurazaki," Sasarai spoke up cautiously, "Do we want to go to such extreme ends?" Everyone present knew precisely what methods the Inquisitor General favored, as well as the fact that he was something of a loose cannon, interpreting orders as he saw fit... Nothing short of the words of the chief priest could rein him in at his worst.
"Psh," Sakurazaki shook his head, heading for the door, "Has anyone seen Wednesday?" he called into the hall, heading off on his own without waiting for any approval from his colleagues.
Sasarai rubbed his temples as Olia went to follow the long-haired general. Dana took the opportunity to roll a small map of her region out across the table in preparation to explain the particular geographic situation of the affected area.
Though Nika, carrying a laundry basket, was completely useless when it came to ascertaining whether or not the inquisitor general was currently anywhere within the Temple grounds, it was still not difficult to find him. In that mysterious way of his, Wednesday appeared behind the questing man almost out of nowhere (Olia saw that he had come out of a storage closet). "Looking for me?" he piped up, his deep, oddly accented voice cheerful as ever.
"Exactly the man I want," Sakurazaki agreed, turning around in surprise at the familiar voice. How did he do that? Did he just magically know whenever someone wanted to talk to him? Obviously, he had the necessary surveillance skills to do his job better than anyone else.
"Hello, Olia," Wednesday nodded politely at the tall woman's approach.
"Wednesday, we've got a big problem," she cut right to the chase, leading him back down the hall to the Counsel chamber, where Dana had already begun to point out the plague-stricken location to her remaining colleagues.
"...fortunately, it's a remote area. An island, connected to the White Cliffs by the Halkashi Bridge..." she spoke softly, touching her finger to a small island in the northeast, while Heizan and Ket hovered over her shoulders on each side.
Wednesday strode into the room like he owned the place and walked over to look at Dana's map. "Halkashi," he muttered. He knew that bridge. It was quite large, spanning the gap between Viela and the famous Soellan cliffs.
Hikami removed his spectacles and looked up from his book at the fierce inquisitor, "Precedent...And probably your sense of style too, Wednesday, say we should cut them off to prevent the spread of the disease."
The inquisitor general nodded in agreement, while Sasarai and several others shook their heads. "It probably blew in from Arradia," Ket scowled, remembering an unpleasant bout of Arradian measles he had come down with after several weeks of duty with the Harmonian navy.
"It's not a port, Ket," his lifelong friend Hazel pointed out quietly. When trade with Arradia was stable, the spread of Arradian diseases into the Harmonian ports could be something of a problem. At the moment, the current queen, Ara, had halted most trade with Harmonia, except through Casimari, and which was regarded as something of a mixed blessing by most prominent Harmonian traders and leaders. Ket did his best to ignore the comment.
"Are you sure?" Gavelle spoke at last, the influential man having reserved his judgment until he had heard a variety of viewpoints on the matter. Ket gave him a sideways look. "...Not about Arradia," he amended, being careful to make sure his meaning came across clearly, "About what to do, I mean..."
"I'm against it!" Teodor jumped to his feet, slamming his palms loudly on the table for extra emphasis. As this sort of outburst was par for the course for the widower, his colleagues took his comments with a grain of salt, Tjasse looking skeptically up at him from the start.
"It's Dana's area," Komatsu tried to calm the agitated man, "Don't you think that she should decide this on her own? Teodor, why don't you sit back down."
"Sit down? At a time like this?" he continued to storm, "I think we have to talk to the people of Viela before we use such drastic measures! The people have a right to know what's going on!"
"Teodor, Teodor, sit down," Hazel tugged on his sleeve, pulling the blond man back down into his chair, where he sulked visibly, crossing his arms and glaring around the room at the other Counsel members.
"There's nothing else we can do in this sort of situation," the little nun sighed once more. Having the weight of such an enormous decision on her shoulders was nearly more than Dana could handle, "...for the greater good of the entire nation," she declared, "I can't lose use any more time by hesitating. General Wednesday," she turned to her unlikely ally, "Please burn the bridges."
Sasarai looked away from her, feeling a shiver run down his spine at the decision, although he had been practically certain that Dana would choose to follow precedent. "Lord Gavelle," he asked his favorite comrade on the Counsel, "...have you heard of this happening often?"
"It's a bit hush-hush, Sasarai," the older man rubbed his head, "But on occasion," he admitted.
The youngest Counsel member's sense of dread was only increased by this comment. "If I'd received the same sort of ill treatment when I was sick, I'd have died long ago," he thought eerily to himself, glancing at Dana's discarded map as the assorted Counsel members mulled about the room or headed back to more important work. Teodor was conspicuous, stomping off immediately, probably to compose an angry editorial for his newspaper. Sasarai left more quietly along with Dana and Wednesday, who proceeded quickly along the outer corridor toward the gates of the Temple.
-----
Night on the the White Cliffs was cold. The window hummed along, curling in and out of the rocks. Tavin felt fortunate that it didn't seem to feel strong enough to threaten to blow off his black beret. His head always felt so bare without a hat. "There's Halkashi," the inquisitor general said. His voice seemed like stone, hard and unwavering in the wind. The group of inquisitors pulled together, and light from the the two torches the group carried washed over their long cloaks, adding eerie shadows to Wednesday's rough face.
The Halkashi Bridge stretched from the edge of the cliff to the small town of Viela. In St. Soel's time, Viela had been connected to the mainland, as his personal writings attested, but storms had worn down the land until the little area had broken away to become a new island. The bridge was as wide as the road and supported by four thick supports that disappeared into the roiling, black ocean.
"If Sakurazaki wouldn't come, he probably could've blasted out the bridge with one blow..." Wednesday muttered. That the famed mage general hadn't come to participate in the demolition was an indication of how much fear the situation aroused in him. "What a shame!" Wednesday decided, taking the first torch from the hands of Rosalie and tossing it onto the bridge, followed by a fistful of flare powder, which caused the flames to jump up into the night sky, orange and red against the blackness that surrounded them.
"As you will," the inquisitor general urged his troop, and the other inquisitors followed his example with flare powder and fire runes, turning the Halkashi into a blazing conflagration, flaring up like a volcanic eruption between Viela and the mainland.
The horrified citizens of Viela could do nothing but watch as the night was consumed in fire.
(to be continued.)