He listened as he swam, learning more of the man who served on Torchline's council, stood beside its Queen, and defended it from War. An Outlander, and one with an unexpectedly tragic past behind his bright, hopeful smile.
"Mm." Hadama's wordless answer acknowledged Harper's words and his question while he considered how to answer. He swam steadily for a ways further down the canal before he spoke again.
"I am sorry for your losses," he said at last, voice low. "We do not war beneath the water in the way of humans. The sea is too large, and our numbers are too few." Individuals fought, certainly; there were violent individuals, even bands of robbers and marauders, no different than among humans. But there was only one City beneath the waves, and it had long held itself in peace apart from the squabbles of the land.
This had been his first - and hopefully only - War. Even so... "I... regret the lives we could not save. But I did all that I could. That, I do not regret." A pragmatic man, was Hadama. He wasn't ashamed of his actions during the War, and he didn't hold himself to an impossible standard. He knew his abilities as well as his limits, and it wasn't his way to punish himself for failing to do the impossible. "Your own actions saved many." The Kingmaker would have wreaked terrible havoc if it had gotten into Haulani.
"Mm." Hadama's wordless answer acknowledged Harper's words and his question while he considered how to answer. He swam steadily for a ways further down the canal before he spoke again.
"I am sorry for your losses," he said at last, voice low. "We do not war beneath the water in the way of humans. The sea is too large, and our numbers are too few." Individuals fought, certainly; there were violent individuals, even bands of robbers and marauders, no different than among humans. But there was only one City beneath the waves, and it had long held itself in peace apart from the squabbles of the land.
This had been his first - and hopefully only - War. Even so... "I... regret the lives we could not save. But I did all that I could. That, I do not regret." A pragmatic man, was Hadama. He wasn't ashamed of his actions during the War, and he didn't hold himself to an impossible standard. He knew his abilities as well as his limits, and it wasn't his way to punish himself for failing to do the impossible. "Your own actions saved many." The Kingmaker would have wreaked terrible havoc if it had gotten into Haulani.
