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[ Making a fuller apology, one that clearly need not be made, given Bastien's cheerful engagement with the question: ]
I know, I know. This is like talking to - Do you recall Rafael, that student who'd hang around with us? Always questions like this. Insufferable.
[ Then: ]
It's hard to say, at times. It's like you said, isn't it - We might make decisions, but the world around us will compensate. Things will happen even if we step back from them.
I know, I know. This is like talking to - Do you recall Rafael, that student who'd hang around with us? Always questions like this. Insufferable.
[ Then: ]
It's hard to say, at times. It's like you said, isn't it - We might make decisions, but the world around us will compensate. Things will happen even if we step back from them.
[ Bastien hums and stretches out on the floor, head resting on Byerly's shin, half-fencing Whiskey in with the rest of him. ]
Well, that's—
[ Depressing. ]
I don't think that is true for everyone and everything. It's about how much power we have, isn't it? The Empress can make decisions the world won't undo. I could have, [ with some reluctance, because he doesn't enjoy marinating in guilt the way some people might, ] saved one of them. Really saved them. But it would have been the last contract I ever had. Someone else would have been hired for the rest of them.
Well, that's—
[ Depressing. ]
I don't think that is true for everyone and everything. It's about how much power we have, isn't it? The Empress can make decisions the world won't undo. I could have, [ with some reluctance, because he doesn't enjoy marinating in guilt the way some people might, ] saved one of them. Really saved them. But it would have been the last contract I ever had. Someone else would have been hired for the rest of them.
[ Byerly nods, his brow furrowing just a little bit. ]
But in the long term, the next Blight will still come. In time, the Maker will return. In time, everyone will die.
[ Not something he necessarily believes - that anything doesn't matter, just because there are some inevitabilities. But for argument's sake. ]
But in the long term, the next Blight will still come. In time, the Maker will return. In time, everyone will die.
[ Not something he necessarily believes - that anything doesn't matter, just because there are some inevitabilities. But for argument's sake. ]
Maybe.
[ Not everyone dies; Bastien has an open mind about the existence of the Maker, in the sense that it hardly seems relevant to him either way. Maybe the Wardens will end the Blights after all at some point, or they'll run out of Archdemons.
But that isn't the point. ]
It still matters, what happens in the meantime. [ He says it with some reluctance, looking at Whiskey's dewclaw. They agreed on as much, when they were drunk in the rain, and it was about Byerly's good deeds being important even if they didn't fix the world for good. But it's different, when it's about whether Bastien's bad ones meant anything, because—
Because it makes him feel shitty. That's why. ]
[ Not everyone dies; Bastien has an open mind about the existence of the Maker, in the sense that it hardly seems relevant to him either way. Maybe the Wardens will end the Blights after all at some point, or they'll run out of Archdemons.
But that isn't the point. ]
It still matters, what happens in the meantime. [ He says it with some reluctance, looking at Whiskey's dewclaw. They agreed on as much, when they were drunk in the rain, and it was about Byerly's good deeds being important even if they didn't fix the world for good. But it's different, when it's about whether Bastien's bad ones meant anything, because—
Because it makes him feel shitty. That's why. ]
Mm. I have never been to Antiva, so I can only trust the opinions of others when it comes to what is passable. But Bindo Fiorensi told me that Chola Arcimboldo at the Twin Bears makes gnocchi and a fish chowder that tastes exactly like his grandmother's.
You think so? [ A considering hum. ] You could do it in one of the nice rooms at the tops of the towers. The ones for the fancy guests we never get. That would be out of the way without you having to bring a stranger into places that have her things or anything important in them.
[ Bastien hums and nods agreeably. His mouth isn't full, but it is occupied by a crispy bit of crust he's holding there while the jam dissolves. Because it's By, he only moves the food into the pocket of his cheek before he talks, rather than swallowing it. ]
Would Fereldans pour milk into the sea if it cost too much for too long? [ And then he answers himself: ] Of course they would. Dramatically unyielding in the face of oppression, those Fereldans.
Would Fereldans pour milk into the sea if it cost too much for too long? [ And then he answers himself: ] Of course they would. Dramatically unyielding in the face of oppression, those Fereldans.
[ An appreciative laugh. Disgusting! Ingenious!
Bastien swallows his bite of bread after all. ]
I spent an hour this morning— [ after this or that bit of news about the unrest in Val Royeaux arrived ] —thinking this might finally be when something changes. But I thought that before, with the civil war, and when the city was burning—and then there were the Freemen of the Dales.
[ The biggest push in several ages for a new way of doing things, and in the end they were twisted around into Corypheus' pawns. That one still stings. ]
And it is such a bad time for that kind of chaos.
Bastien swallows his bite of bread after all. ]
I spent an hour this morning— [ after this or that bit of news about the unrest in Val Royeaux arrived ] —thinking this might finally be when something changes. But I thought that before, with the civil war, and when the city was burning—and then there were the Freemen of the Dales.
[ The biggest push in several ages for a new way of doing things, and in the end they were twisted around into Corypheus' pawns. That one still stings. ]
And it is such a bad time for that kind of chaos.
[ Byerly doesn't know why he's never asked this question before. He doesn't know why the question hasn't ever really occurred to him before. It's - Well, Bastien seems so apolitical. And he rubs shoulders with nobility so gracefully. Still, that's not exactly an excuse for his lack of curiosity, and By knows that Bastien dislikes all the trappings of elitism...But there's a difference between that and a desire for revolution.
His voice is light. He sounds idle in his interest. ]
Would you want something to change?
His voice is light. He sounds idle in his interest. ]
Would you want something to change?
Yes.
[ The answer comes easily; he accepts that light idleness as genuine without thinking, and without noticing that he’s not thinking. ]
Probably five things. Ten? I have not made a list. No more invading places that don’t belong to us—I will put that one on it for you.
[ The answer comes easily; he accepts that light idleness as genuine without thinking, and without noticing that he’s not thinking. ]
Probably five things. Ten? I have not made a list. No more invading places that don’t belong to us—I will put that one on it for you.
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