.

[rehandle]

Comments

text (after the moot)

[lambencies]

Stephen, you spoke well at the Moot. I thank you for it. For the risk you took by allowing yourself to be captured.

[rehandle]

[ Ah. It's a surprise - a pleasant one, he thinks. ]

Thank you for being there. We needed all the support we could get.

[lambencies]

It was the brave testimony of the abductees that deserve all the praise, not me. It could not have been easy to come forward.

Are you satisfied with the outcome?

[rehandle]

I'm not dissatisfied, though I don't consider the sentence to be much of a deterrent for accomplished hunters in the summer months. I don't think this was the ideal outcome for anyone.

But time will tell whether there having been a Moot-given sentence at all will dissuade them in future. That's the important part. The sentence extending to anyone discovered to be involved should help with that.

[lambencies]

I would hardly call an 8-day trip to the woods an exile. Or a discouragement to any Zlatniki willing to test what they can get away with.

[ they took Jim. they tried to take him. she's not happy. ]

[rehandle]

I agree. But now they can't claim we're unwilling to respect their ways, and there's no immediate retaliation for them to weaponize against us. We have better established grounds for requesting a more significant consequence or acting against them ourselves in light of a Moot-acknowledged vendetta if they move again in future.

I doubt anyone really considers the matter settled. But we didn't achieve nothing.

[lambencies]

You are right on all accounts, but I think it is a dangerous sign when the verdict is questioned even by us who wish to honor their system.

[ a beat. ]

There was a man who voted for their execution. I have spoken with him once and only very briefly, so I cannot claim I know his character, but I have heard him address our community on this matter before. You have as well.

He will find others likeminded.

[rehandle]

[ Ah. Fifty— Gabe. ]

We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

[ If it's a cagey answer, it might be because he didn't not tell him once that if he didn't like the outcome at the moot he could just go ahead and kill them anyway. ]

[lambencies]

[ STEPHEN. no. ]

You believe we can afford to wait?

I will speak with him.

[rehandle]

I doubt he'll listen now.

[lambencies]

[ -15 respect. ]

Doubt should not keep us from trying.

[rehandle]

I have tried. Hard enough, along with others, that he showed up at the Moot to do things our way only to have all his suspicions confirmed. He won't listen to me again, that much is certain.

He goes by Fifty if you want to try.

[lambencies]

Rest assured, your name won't be mentioned.

[ judging... anyway. ]

Has anyone ever asked your protection for someone else? Someone unaware of it.

[rehandle]

Wise.

Does the precedent matter? Who are you worried about?

[lambencies]

I wish to hear if doing so would be disagreeable to you before making a request.

[ she thinks that if she just asks him, he might agree to do it even if he felt iffy about doing it behind that someone's back. ]

[rehandle]

Not inherently. It depends on who, and on your expectations for my protection.

[lambencies]

[ he's not going to like this and neither does she, but... ]

The Zlatniki in exile. They are a target.

[rehandle]

[ He should've known. She's right, is the thing, and he should've seen it coming, but he didn't because he didn't want to. ]

None may give them shelter or aid.

[lambencies]

Would it be aiding them or making sure that they suffer their intended punishment without interference?

[rehandle]

Their intended punishment is to survive if they can in the wild without shelter or aid for as long as they are sentenced to be there. That's the only thing that makes the exile worth anything.

[lambencies]

Your protection would be against possible vigilantes, not against the wild itself, Stephen. Please do not misunderstand me on purpose.

[rehandle]

I'm not going to sit and watch them for eight days on the possibility they're attacked by something other than an animal. But if you ask Mateus whether he thinks it's acceptable by Moot standards for somebody to aid an exile to prevent a crime, and he both gives permission and guarantees no possibility of repercussions, you can hire me to check in from time to time.

[lambencies]

[ fine. ]

Very well. I will do that.

voice

[lambencies]

[ later: ]

He made no secret of his intention to seek revenge.

[ not Mateus. she didn't reach him yet. Gabe. she sounds exhausted, but she's trying to keep other emotions from her voice. the VT's are fucked, Stephen. ]

[rehandle]

[ In this one instance, he hates to say he told you so. ]

Like I said. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.