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[cozen]

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[bouchonne]

[ By grins lazily in agreement. ]

I think the move would be, more likely, to let it spoil and then hide it in the shoes of those perceived to be responsible. But a similar spirit.

[cozen]

[ 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.

[bouchonne]

[ 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?

[cozen]

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.

[bouchonne]

You're too kind.

[ By reaches out to caress Bastien's cheek - and then to squish the little chipmunk pocket of bread tucked in there. ]

And do away with masks, perhaps? They're stupid.

[cozen]

[ His noses wrinkles, and he quickly chews and swallows his cheek-wad of bread while he decides: ]

Masks and paint for special occasions. When they are fun.

No Chevaliers, [ more seriously. ] No serfs. How do they worship the leader of a slave rebellion while they have serfs?

[bouchonne]

[ Ah. There's something of rather more substance. ]

Maybe by pretending that part doesn't exist. They tell the story like she was motivated by anger towards Tevinter, or love of the Maker, rather than by a desire for freedom.

[cozen]

Yeah.

[ He doesn't sound pleased about it. ]

And make it all about magic, like that is the only power someone can abuse.

[bouchonne]

Mm.

[ But that's them getting distracted. ]

Would you want an end to the monarchy?

[cozen]

If I could think what to replace it with.

[ A sideways glance, a smile. ]

And if it would not make stopping Corypheus more difficult.

[ No need to worry about him misusing his post. Maybe it's a subconscious need to balance out that sense of obedient duty that makes him stick his finger directly in the jam pot to pull out a glob. ]

[bouchonne]

[ A wave of his hand dismisses that last part. It can go unsaid; By knows that Bastien has his priorities sorted. Survival first; reform later. ]

The Landsmeet isn't the worst system. Though it's corrupt, and dominated by those of certain bloodlines.

[cozen]

Bloodlines.

[ A teasing, snobby sniff of derision, before he sticks his jammy finger in his mouth. He’s so interested in the conversation that he doesn’t try to make sucking it clean even a little alluring. ]

It does seem better. But Ferelden has had the Landsmeet for longer than it’s been a country, hasn’t it? [ Facts from listening to 2 a.m. political arguments in various taverns. That one might even have come from Byerly. ] How do you convince someone who already has unchecked power that they need it checked after all? Pamphlets?

[bouchonne]

Maker, no. Too many of them can't read.

[ Not a joke at their expense, or elitism, or anything of the sort - a simple statement of fact. In some parts of the South, the peasantry is more literate than the nobles with their hired scribes and footmen. ]

I don't know there is a way to convince them. Sometimes I wonder if Nikos Averesch might know the only real path to reform. [ Then - ] Or was it Kostos? I can never remember which one's the mage and which one's the rebel.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[cozen]

The rebel is the one with the handsome lover—so Nikos, because Kostos and Caspar would have sounded too precious, [ says Bastien, to Byerly, ] and we would have had to kill one of them to make it stop. That is how I remember.

[bouchonne]

Ha!

[ He taps his nose in a cleverly done gesture. ]

Now I'll never confuse them again. Unless, of course, I see them in person, in which case I shall be utterly confounded by their identical scowls.

[cozen]

[ Bastien laughs, then shakes his head. ]

Maker. Having a twin would be terrible.

[ —is a topic for later. For the present: ]

I don't know if he was right. Maybe he is now— [ with his mysterious shady revolutionary activities; who knows ] —but before, I mean. In Nevarra. You kill a king, you get another. It is like clipping the highest leaf off of a weed.

[bouchonne]

Mmhm.

[ Byerly leans forward to nibble gently on one jammy fingertip. Partly because it's delicious, and partly just to give himself a bit of time to think. Bastien has thought about this. ]

And kings don't deserve to die just for being kings, either. Many of them are just people of ordinary talent trying their best.

[cozen]

[ Bastien smiles wide at the nibbling, and keeps smiling because he’s having fun; this isn’t a debate that makes his blood run hot. Not so far, anyway. ]

Mmhm. So are many men across from you on the battlefield.

[bouchonne]

Yes. But those men are trying to kill me.

[ His gaze on Bastien is curious. Monitoring him to see if that smile is hiding hurt. ]

[cozen]

[ The curiosity makes his smile smaller, but only out of shyness—a tiny little dab of it—in the face of scrutiny. No sadness. ]

If we all laid down our swords and accepted their rule, [ pause for sucking another finger swiftly clean, ] I’m sure they would stop.

[bouchonne]

[ He tips his head slightly to the side. ]

Not Corypheus. Or any other true tyrants.

[cozen]

I don’t know.

[ More direct than the hedging question he might have posed to someone he was inclined to hide his own opinions with. He shifts and stretches to put his legs in Byerly’s lap. ]

Tyrants are not all sadists. I think most of them would settle down if everyone was obedient and never threatened them.

[bouchonne]

Hmm.

[ By accepts those legs and rubs them gently, massaging all the sources of tension he might find there. ]

I think part of what makes a tyrant is always needing to see a threat.

[cozen]

[ Bastien nods in a wobbly, considering way, and for a few seconds he's quiet. Some of those seconds are to think about what By's said. The others are to bask in being cared for, and in being so utterly certain that he'll still be cared for just as much even if they have found something they might not agree on. ]

You know I would still love you if you became the Empress' own bodyguard, [ he says, in case that certainty isn't mutual, as he nudges one of his slightly-achy knees into the path of By's hands. ] And I think you are probably right about tyrants.

But the king who has sent the men to kill you—maybe he is not a tyrant. Maybe he’s good to his own people and thinks yours are barbarians who need to be rescued from their backwards ways through his fatherly subjugation. [ A little eyebrow raise says he knows that's a low blow argument to make at a Fereldan, and he is sorry but not very sorry. ] Maybe he has an earnest disagreement with someone about whether or not their land is his. Whether they owe him taxes.

If all the harm in the world was only done through sadism or paranoia, there would be much less of it.

[bouchonne]

[ By flutters his eyelashes at Bastien in confirmation that he has no great fear about this conversation, and that Bastien could say just about anything without causing By the least bit of hurt. Byerly has always, after all, had the privilege of not really needing to worry about politics - has always been one of the few who would not really be affected by any decision in the Landsmeet, as neither a recipient of or a provider of tax income, as someone neither possessed of or desirous of power. He listened for the moments when malcontentment became danger; he tried to keep the queen alive; that was about the extent of his political leanings. ]

All that is true enough. [ He agrees easily. The low blow, it seems, landed soundly. ] But none of those sound like sins great enough that a man ought to lose his life. And even if they were, why does a sour-faced Nevarran lush get to appoint himself judge and executioner?