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31_days2009-12-21 02:38 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2009-12-21 02:38 pm
[Dec. 21] [Suikoden III] The Watcher
Title: The Watcher
Day/Theme: Dec. 21, 2009 "the world will go on spinning"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai & Nika
Rating: PG
More of my 'bridge burning' story.
"Kiht, if you would," Sasarai waved the chieftain over to his side. That nervous look had come over his face. Nika was the only one who knew it. The "political conspiracy" look she considered it. In response to Sasarai's own tension, she put herself on the alert. Kiht stepped over and Sasarai spoke to him in a significantly hushed tone. Nika watched the exchange surreptitiously, although she didn't hear more than a few fragmentary words. She didn't need to hear to interpret the conversation. Since Azel had climbed onto the mayor's house to raise the yellow flag she had known this time was coming. He was planning a departure. There could be nothing gained by facing the officials who would arrive to see that the island was safe, clear, and pacified. The inquisitors had burned the bridge. The inquisitors could be part of the investigation party. The chances were pretty good.
Kiht nodded several times before stepping away- cautiously, carefully, as if to cover the fact that he had been speaking to Sasarai in the first place. He wasn't as good as playing innocent as Sasarai was. But he wasn't a politician.
"When are we going?" Nika approached her boss. She smiled at his initial puzzlement. Didn't he know her well enough after all these years? She spied on him often- whenever he conducted business in her presence. If anything so secret were occurring, he would do it out of her sight. That was how things went during wartime. If he'd ever kept peacetime secrets from her, he'd done a good job. She didn't know it.
"Uh, right," he collected himself. "Tonight. Midnight. You'll tell Sir Stephen?"
He spoke with a brisk efficiency that countered his usual effusive wordiness. She'd never met anyone who loved to talk as much as Sasarai. Perhaps he was restraining himself to prevent his overflowing feelings from attracting unwanted attention. In any case, she'd do as he said. She knew how to follow directions. "Sure. Anything in particular Stephen needs to know?" She'd prefer to be able to tell him that the instruction to be careful and keep this information to himself came from Sasarai. Stephen was never resentful to her knowledge, but she liked the shield that the chain of command provided.
"Exactly what you'd expect, I suppose. Remind him not to just out and say "good-bye" to anyway by accident. He's too sincere for much duplicity."
"You like that in him," she remarked. There was nothing Sasarai liked so much as sincerity. She had begun to think that his position was hurting him deeply of late. The Second Firebringer Revolt had been more personal than the other conflicts. He was still reeling from it and trying to establish a new equilibrium in light of the things he had learned. He looked down at his hands and seemed to be thinking of saying something regarding the matter, but decided better of it and only nodded. "Anyway, I'll go and let you finish up whatever it is you need to do. I'll find a good opening to talk to Stephen."
"Thanks."
It was one thing to tell his friends to keep quiet, but to hide all evidence of your impeding departure from the place you had spent the last two weeks in a state of intense involvement from all the kind people there was not exactly easy. Sasarai comforted himself with the knowledge that Viela had already proven its ability to rise from the ashes. There were stirrings of life all across the island that had been cloaked in an unearthly silence upon his arrival. And for all the deaths that had been weathered there, ties had been forged that outweighed the strength of cynicism. He had seen things through as far as he could risk doing. As it was, he might still be found out. He could only hope that this would be another of those circumstances where his fellow Counsel members would look the other way. They had granted him that leeway in the past, just as he had done so for some of them. They were all tied together in a mess of knowing certainty. They would all rise together or fall together. It was the only form of unity they possessed.
Day/Theme: Dec. 21, 2009 "the world will go on spinning"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai & Nika
Rating: PG
More of my 'bridge burning' story.
"Kiht, if you would," Sasarai waved the chieftain over to his side. That nervous look had come over his face. Nika was the only one who knew it. The "political conspiracy" look she considered it. In response to Sasarai's own tension, she put herself on the alert. Kiht stepped over and Sasarai spoke to him in a significantly hushed tone. Nika watched the exchange surreptitiously, although she didn't hear more than a few fragmentary words. She didn't need to hear to interpret the conversation. Since Azel had climbed onto the mayor's house to raise the yellow flag she had known this time was coming. He was planning a departure. There could be nothing gained by facing the officials who would arrive to see that the island was safe, clear, and pacified. The inquisitors had burned the bridge. The inquisitors could be part of the investigation party. The chances were pretty good.
Kiht nodded several times before stepping away- cautiously, carefully, as if to cover the fact that he had been speaking to Sasarai in the first place. He wasn't as good as playing innocent as Sasarai was. But he wasn't a politician.
"When are we going?" Nika approached her boss. She smiled at his initial puzzlement. Didn't he know her well enough after all these years? She spied on him often- whenever he conducted business in her presence. If anything so secret were occurring, he would do it out of her sight. That was how things went during wartime. If he'd ever kept peacetime secrets from her, he'd done a good job. She didn't know it.
"Uh, right," he collected himself. "Tonight. Midnight. You'll tell Sir Stephen?"
He spoke with a brisk efficiency that countered his usual effusive wordiness. She'd never met anyone who loved to talk as much as Sasarai. Perhaps he was restraining himself to prevent his overflowing feelings from attracting unwanted attention. In any case, she'd do as he said. She knew how to follow directions. "Sure. Anything in particular Stephen needs to know?" She'd prefer to be able to tell him that the instruction to be careful and keep this information to himself came from Sasarai. Stephen was never resentful to her knowledge, but she liked the shield that the chain of command provided.
"Exactly what you'd expect, I suppose. Remind him not to just out and say "good-bye" to anyway by accident. He's too sincere for much duplicity."
"You like that in him," she remarked. There was nothing Sasarai liked so much as sincerity. She had begun to think that his position was hurting him deeply of late. The Second Firebringer Revolt had been more personal than the other conflicts. He was still reeling from it and trying to establish a new equilibrium in light of the things he had learned. He looked down at his hands and seemed to be thinking of saying something regarding the matter, but decided better of it and only nodded. "Anyway, I'll go and let you finish up whatever it is you need to do. I'll find a good opening to talk to Stephen."
"Thanks."
It was one thing to tell his friends to keep quiet, but to hide all evidence of your impeding departure from the place you had spent the last two weeks in a state of intense involvement from all the kind people there was not exactly easy. Sasarai comforted himself with the knowledge that Viela had already proven its ability to rise from the ashes. There were stirrings of life all across the island that had been cloaked in an unearthly silence upon his arrival. And for all the deaths that had been weathered there, ties had been forged that outweighed the strength of cynicism. He had seen things through as far as he could risk doing. As it was, he might still be found out. He could only hope that this would be another of those circumstances where his fellow Counsel members would look the other way. They had granted him that leeway in the past, just as he had done so for some of them. They were all tied together in a mess of knowing certainty. They would all rise together or fall together. It was the only form of unity they possessed.