WESSEX
Wessex listens, but ultimately ends up shaking her head in quiet dismay. They don’t get it. This isn’t a popularity contest; this is a meeting that is effectively declaring war on a family with powerful magic who has managed to seize control with the help of some impressionable, desperate people. They’re going about finding leaders the wrong way.
She looks to Rory, who felt the strain of leading their people to the Spire through every fiber of his body. She saw the weariness in him before they opened the Spire. She saw how he hated the conflict. Had it gone on long enough, he might have crumbled beneath the emotional and physical weight of it all. She then looks sideways, to Ronin, a man who has surpassed them all. A man she begrudgingly respects and would probably do quite well as a leader for their group - but do the very same qualities that make him an obvious choice paint a massive target on his back? That’s just poor strategizing.
And as the support for Amalia’s choices go round the room, Wessex finds it is too quick, too agreeable. They haven’t really considered their options and what’s in motion in the world above them.
“I don’t,” she says, moments after Jigano voices support for his boyfriend. And before they can try to kill her with their eyes, or kick her out, or try to drown her quite logical argument, she launches into her thoughts, trying to lay them out as succinctly as possible. “They are good options in terms of taking care of people, but this is going to be a long fight against someone who now calls herself The Merciless. Some things to consider: One - do you two want these responsibilities? Rory? You haven’t said a word and I’ve barely seen you since Fiat Lux. Two - If I were Zariah, I would immediately recognize Ronin as a threat. Have him watched, followed, whatever.” Wessex looks again at the not-man beside her. “You’re loved. Charismatic. More than human. We need to keep you safe for awhile longer. And Three - If she does follow through with her threat of consequences for the men who don’t sign up for her Army, what are we going to do if these two are taken? Or if they do sign up and are consequently too exhausted and busy to do anything?”
She keeps her tone cool and quiet, counting out her points on her fingers and directing her questions to the group, trying to make it quite clear that this isn’t a personal attack; she cares as much about their home as Amalia does, which means that she’ll say the things that need to be said, take the heat and the ire, and give another perspective, even if it’s difficult to hear.
Wessex has spent years supporting herself and her sister by sneaking around and being violent. This is the way she thinks.
No, I’ll be the stone
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
I’ll be the hunter, a tower that casts the shade
I lie awake and watch it all
