Chapter 411: Chapter 411 - Relevant Information For Relative Relations
"Your recent achievements have provided some... balance to the situation. Recognition of a Hero into the lineage carries significant weight. Some might say those responsible for your development deserve a measure of credit for that success. Despite the mistakes they’ve made."
A sound from the group of conspirators made everyone turn. Anper er Yecine was laughing - and not with any humor. Instead, it held the poisonously bitter edge of a man who had watched his plans turn into a firestorm burning at what he valued as the foundations of the Yecine.
’Mistake, mistake, the only mistake I ever made was agreeing to go through with the first absolute farce.’
"Yes. We were indeed responsible for our ’heir’s’ development. Very... directly responsible. There are a lot of people here you should probably be praising for what they’ve become."
The way he emphasized ’heir’ sent a chill through some in the room. A feeling that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with understanding where this was going. They had gotten off light because no harm had ultimately been done, yet.
But the same could not be said for their more direct lies to so many Yecine this whole time... and the ones who didn’t know about any of that could only react with what they did know.
"Anper. You are not to speak until recognized by this council during your probationary period. So it says in the code of ethics established by the first generations of our lineage."
The Yecine leader gripped his sword tighter as he studied the man who had brought such trouble onto their family. Once, there had been a time where he thought this particular heir - the youthful Anper er Yecine - would be too hotheaded for the council. But others had convinced him that some slight variety in personalities would keep their decisions as refined as possible.
’Some of the very same that ended up getting in trouble this time with him. I should be less surprised.’
While the older man couldn’t help but feel taken advantage of, Qatrand was feeling a familiar stab of cold settle in her chest. The look on her father’s face was not really the same sort as it always was - not quite the dismissive and disgusted expression. It was instead his other terrible look... of a man who felt cornered and was reaching for what ’weapons’ he still had available.
But this time, his daughter had no intention of letting it slide quietly. If he wanted to insinuate aloud about all of the issues still under the rug, she could wield that same weapon. And if he wanted to play ’chicken’ by swinging truths as blades? Qat was sure that hers were heavier - and made of much less hot Smoke than his.
"Perhaps we should discuss that. Exactly what form this ’responsibility’ of yours took."
"We acted in what we believed were the family’s best interests."
Another elder that had been of the faction offered, but the response was weak. Done while looking beside and past the teenager instead of into their eyes. Notably, it was one of the younger ones... the one who had somehow gotten ahold of one of her wife’s black leather armbands.
"Acting in their interest in such a way that telling them about it was never an option? Am I supposed to still believe that excuse?"
The question pierced through that justification, just like a Gravity assisted sword tip stabbing into a Voidling’s core... though the shriek seemed a bit more silent than on the battlefield. It was still there, however. She could see it and feel it in the way some of them realized that letting this conversation continue was not going to proceed as they’d hoped.
Without fail, the spiritual Primalist could feel when each one lost their shame and let it mold into seeing her as a problem. Both in their Intent and in a couple’s actual spike of bloodlust against her Cynosure Physique. Staring one of them down directly, her stance shifted into receiving whatever first strike they may unleash... including if they were words.
"You wouldn’t understand the complexities of real family leadership."
"And yet you want them to believe you deserve credit for how I turned out. You want an ignorant tool to be manipulated and discarded to absolve you of your crimes the same way that my father now takes the brunt of the blame."
"If I ever once expected anything from you, I can assure you that I want nothing from you now. Do not seek to pretend to be filial. Both of us know you are not grateful."
Anper finally spoke again. It seemed to him like the other elders were not going to be stopped speaking, so why should he remain quiet when spoken of? What’s more, his formerly useless daughter seemed willing to engage in yet another farce... and he was not going to have it.
"Tell me again why I should be appreciative of the way you’ve acted around me for years? Explain to me clearly in front of everyone here exactly whose interests were being served by that?"
"You want explanations? Fine."
The words came out sharp and angry, directed as much at his co-conspirators as at his daughter. Months of frustration and failure had worn away whatever restraint he might once have possessed. But more importantly, it was how much he knew he had been privately thrown under the carriage to be trampled by the proceedings so far.
"None of the people in this room would have agreed to wed the firstborns as had been actually arranged with Ondua er Goltbred. As much as I agree with that detail, it is also fact. A son was needed for that to happen - not... you."
Many shoulders had been clasped in the room as elders held back others from moving. A number of the faction members had made attempts to shut down this discussion, but even more had wanted it to continue. They wanted to know where this was going.
They wanted to know what else had been going on in the shadows cast backward by their new bit of family torchlight, now that it marched so firmly out in the open. Now that it was their hope to return to status quo or greater.
"A male ’heir’ needed to be created where none had existed. Because they had *also* ended up with a daughter."
Even the slowest of the old heavy blade wielders were no longer unsure what the assertion between the parent and child was. With their direct talk out in the open for all of the council to hear, Qatrand and Anper continued letting more of the truth slip out... for their own reasons.
"So you decided to ignore what I was born as and make me into one for all intents and purposes. However, that wasn’t my question - whose interests were being served?"
"We gave you opportunities you never would have had otherwise. Training, respect, a position of authority-"
"What you gave me was a surgical implant that can no longer be removed through any known ways. What was expected of me went beyond anything applied to the other members of our family. Did a single elder in this room ever have to pretend and lie about something so natural to their existence as their own gender?"
The flat statements and exact question made so many men there uncomfortable. Those who knew nothing and were now understanding for the first time what was being discussed. Even those who had agreed to the plan but perhaps, after all this time, had never deeply considered its implications for the child.
’If El was only right about one thing in her life, it would be that the path of a spiritualist should never be neglected.’
So many there were more than three times her age... and so many of them were still stuck as Enchanters because they never expand their thoughts out to how their selves fit with the world around them properly.
Qat had dreamed that she would have made it her big push as an elder to reform their training to include more of it. To teach where she could the ways she had found to incorporate meditation into other tasks and other trainings.
"The masking tool you speak of was necessary for the deception to work during the planned first meeting."
"I was six years old. You and the others had a supposed professional from outside of our family carve into my spine with Negavigor tools. To place an artifact that would make me more useful to your schemes. Do not pretend that-"
"And it worked, didn’t it? You became exactly what we needed you to be at that time. What’s more, you agreed to everything. Everything."
There was something in his tone that made her study his face more carefully. This wasn’t coming out as just defensive anger - there was something else underneath it. Something that felt like a ’scheme’ to her sense... something she didn’t want to consider even for a minute.