JUNIPER
you think i'm happy because i'm smiling,
but it's the easiest thing to do
Juniper nodded as Nephele spoke of Stormbreak and their tenuous, presumptive alliance with it. "I'll reach out to them, but cautiously. Honestly, so far I've scarcely managed to track down a name I could even speak to about the Order. Everyone tells me they've only heard rumors."but it's the easiest thing to do
But with the skyport opening in Torchline, Juniper ought to be able to go to Stormbreak herself and ask, right? She should check it out, anyway.
Another nod, at the mention of Sunjata, though Juniper remained deeply troubled by how off her perception of the man seemed to be. Or perhaps Sunjata had been honest with Juniper, but Nate had deceived him. It seemed unlikely that Nate could so wholly trick his husband -- much less likely than the idea that Sunjata had lied to Juniper -- even if the idea salved Juniper's wounded feelings. "We have to be careful," she affirmed. It was so much more difficult to navigate deceit among outsiders, with their ability to outright lie.
"I'm worried that at this point, my trial idea might only inflame feelings," Juniper admitted. She was glad to hear that Nephele approved of her decision to reject Wessex's deal. "Especially given Wessex's opposition. Honestly, even if I had taken her deal, it would have just given her the opportunity to paint us as vengeful savages."
Juniper didn't expect the intensity of Nephele's reaction -- she almost reached across the table to comfort Nephele, then thought better of it -- though she realized in hindsight that it was well-deserved. She'd become accustomed to, immured to, the existence of young Ascended, but it was indeed horrific, that the Voice would transform someone too young to make that choice. Though the main Ascended child in her mind was Azrael, and Azrael had been born that way ...
"As long as there's nominal consent, I don't think the Voice actually cares whether her victims are truly capable of choosing otherwise," Juniper said bitterly. "Wessex told me of a 16-year-old who Ascended to avoid starving -- and another Ascended I spoke to said his parents pressured him to Ascend at the same age." She didn't mention Samuel's name with the second story, deciding to respect his privacy. "And then there's Azrael, a child created as Ascended by the Voice ... I spoke with them. They were very bright, and very caring, and utterly under her sway."
Still worried about Nephele's emotional state, Juniper reached out again, more thoughtfully, to put a hand on her arm. "There has to be some way to stop the Voice without wholesale slaughter of her followers," Juniper reiterated. "If we could only make them see how she's used them ..."
Samuel had rejected the Voice, even if he had gone back to her in the end -- because she held his life and soul hostage. Closing her eyes, Juniper shook her head sadly. "We have to defend ourselves when attacked, but to strike pre-emptively -- to attack someone for what they might do -- it's wrong."
And then there was the matter of the Ascended's souls, not far from Juniper's mind at the moment. "If we knew that killing them would save their souls, that's one thing -- but we don't know that. It might just make them harder to return to Mort, if the Voice secrets them away."
if you looked a little closer,
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
you'd find my eyes aren't smiling too.
