Sentencing my Former Friends [18 Lage 4385]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

I have known for over a century that I cannot bear to kill a parent in front of their children, no matter how angry I am with them. I was plenty annoyed with my awful roommate Dubaille for stabbing my roommate and stealing a few things from me, when I learned that. Zascalle’s betrayal was far larger, done over a course of years and far more purposefully. And not just me: I pay the wages and expenses of nearly a hundred wrongfolk in Castle Wrong and Strayways. (Which had included Thiane and Zascalle both.)

Still, Ochirion and Feralan would know what I had done to their parents.

Whatever other moral issues there are, I am responsible for Feralan. My charge Vae kidnapped him and merged his soul with a Locador angel. The main part of my purpose in life is fixing the things that Vae does: rescuing Feralan, and, honestly, the Locador demon as well. [Sythyry uses near-synonyms which I translate as 'angel' (servitor of a god) and 'demon' (malevolent elemental power). There's little difference, especially for Locador. -bb]

And there’s no real chance of doing that if I kill his mothers, I think.

Me: “Saza, shall we do what we discussed?”

Saza: “Nothing would please me more, coz!”

Me: “Zascalle, Thiane. Since you have been forthcoming with information, I will permit you to live. Note please that living is a revocable state, so please continue to cooperate.”

Zascalle: “We will, curse you. Now explain how we will cure Feralan without any money!”

Me: “Saza and I will attempt to cure Feralan.”

Zascalle: “I cannot believe that! You claimed you would do so earlier — but you have done nothing! Nothing! He is still spiky-headed and halfway beyond reality!”

Me: “I will not risk killing him … but we have had this conversation a hundred times already, and you do not believe me. I shall deprive you of the right to object.”

Thiane: “Oh, no! What will you do?” Her tail was tucked tight between her legs.

Me: “You and Zascalle will be held in indenture. By Saza, for I don’t wish to have anything more to do with you, but I wish to keep you close at hand. I gather that zie has suitable tasks for you both … tasks that do not approach accounting in the slightest. Nor, indeed, other positions of responsibility; you have shown just how responsible you are.”

Zascalle: “I had expected you to simply murder us and have done!”

Me: “You may wish that! Being a parent is a position of responsibility.”

Thiane: “You will steal our children? Our Feralan and Ochirion?”

Me: “Saza will find good foster parents for them. Nearby, so they can see you several times a week. I do not wish to devastate them … nor do I wish to have them trained in your particular form of honesty and loyalty.”

Zascalle: “My babies … my babies!”

Me: “Don’t be silly. You’ll see them more often than if you were transformed, imprisoned, or dead… and considerably more often than some of the other alternatives I am considering.”

I thought that sounded splendid and intimidating.

Ochirion: “My mommies! Don’t vanish away my mommies!”

Ouch.

Me: “I’m not stealing them. They stole from me … and all your friends back at Castle Wrong and Strayway, too.”

Feralan: “When you talk like that, it sounds very oblate.”

Also ouch; that’s not a sane sort of response. I need to do something about Feralan as soon as possible.

Me: “Zascalle, Thiane. I need a further guarantee of your good behavior.”

Zascalle: “I will be glad to swear any oath you can imagine …”

Thiane: “You will have taken our children as hostages!”

Me: “I will have taken your children for their own protection. I shan’t be using them as hostages.”

Thiane: “What more do you demand?”

Me: “I demand your ears.”

Thiane: “Our … ears?”

Me: “One ear from each of you for Saza, one ear from each of you for me. They will be forged into unbreakable arcane connections. Your little trick with that Khtsoyis and those There Is None Who Knows Thee cost me six minutes’ work and two cley. Should I need to track you down again, it will not even cost that. And I don’t imagine that anyone in this room, or Vae, say, could distort those connections.”

Thiane: “Our ears … our ears…” She sounded horrified to the point of incomprehension.

Me: “Oh, stop whinging. Did you not consider that I would surely find you, no matter how far you fled or how well you hid? Did you not consider how annoyed I might be with you, on my own behalf and on the behalves of all our friends in Castle Wrong and Strayway? Or that, if I am half the wicked necromancer you are trying to paint me, that my wickedness might fall upon you?”

La Hish: “I haven’t really noticed the wickedness yet. Have you, Nangbang?”

Nangbang: “It lies in zir sexual tastes, Kzip. An inferior grounding for a classical course of vile warlockery! Still, zie is evilling along in zir little amateurish way. I suppose we must make allowances.”

I had been debating whether I wanted to do this or not. But one of the more annoying points of this whole horrible matter is that I have to make the punishment look punishy — to deter people who might try it again. (There are plenty of worse points, starting with the betrayal. That point manages to be the most annoying. It is somewhat like being pursued by mosquitoes when one is fighting a krango claw-to-claw.)

Too little? Too much? Too oblique? I have no idea. I rather wished I had taken it to a court — any court — so that someone with a bit of a clue about proper degrees of punishment could have worked out something suitable.

I did have one minor point of extra cruelty in reserve, though.

Comments

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

I'd say you're rating at about 3/4ths of a sleeth right now, in measures of cruelty.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Is that about right?

[rowyn]

Eh, I don't think so. Zie's not particularly torturing them, just doing a bit of minor damage. It's not reparable damage, but a little Creoc Illusidor could make it fairly hard to notice. So it's still in the realm of "light punishment" by World Tree standards. Take a look at some of the standard curses Sythyry mentioned back when zie was talking about appropriate punishments for escaped indenturees, and you'll see what I mean.

[bloofox.livejournal.com]

I think it's perfect. You get your money back (mostly, hopefully), you can still try and strip Locador Coonboy of his superpowers before they arrive and you don't have to have vile, vile Zascalle around.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

And I have a good reason to make good with Saza!

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I'm glad of the indenture. That idea had occurred to me, though indenturing them to Saza is a nice touch. Fostering out their children -- also very nice -- as is removing their ability to object to your working on Feralan.

It would be pleasant and satisfying to slap Zascalle silly, though.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

I thought Sythyry was actually going to punish them, not subject them to something easier than the Healoc indenture that people do voluntarily as payment for advanced healing services. I could see the missing ears as harmful to a Cani for social purposes, but what with Healoc and Illusidor magic, it's probably not even a painful or disfiguring injury.

So Sythyry's establishing that if you massively betray and defraud zir, threaten to financially wreck zir friends, tar zir repuation, lie in your defense, turn zir rivals against zir, and use your own children as meatshields, the wizard will... make you do community service in a peaceful farming village! I wouldn't feel any safer as one of Sythyry's clients to hear about this incident.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Is this a permanent indenture, or is the eventual possibility of rehabilitation?

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Temporary! There are some enchanters who make their victims immortal (in one way or another, usually an unkind one), but I am not willing to devote that much effort to viciousness.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

I've got to say that, as a thoroughly spiteful individual (you knew about that aspect of my personality, right? Are you still sure you want to play in my game?) I am enjoying this a great deal.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Stupid Question... are we talking literally about stealing their ears, or enchanting them so that you can always hear out of them... because it seems rather cruel and odd to steal their ears so that they are deaf to all but you and your cousin. I mean, I suppose that is a interesting punishment, but that's all means and kinds of harsh.

I'm also kinda curious how you are going to be able to keep them indentured so that they don't run away... but it is a city of evil, so maybe they have ways I don't wanna think about.

And Yeep! Feralan!

[terrana.livejournal.com]

Literally, I should think. Body parts make very good arcane connections.

[rowyn]

I think zie meant literally, too. And they'd still be able to hear, of course, though not as well. Although it sounds like Sythyry plans on growing their ears back, which is hard but not impossible for a wizard of zir caliber.

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Well, lopping off someone's outer ears doesn't make them deaf. Just makes it a bit harder for them to hear since the outer ear isn't directing sound waves into the ear canal. I'm pretty sure that's what's being talked about, since Sythyry wants them for arcane connections.


-Alexandra

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

A comment elsewhere has said that the damage is reparable(but we'll have to see the next installment to see this ourselves). It's a body part for an arcane connection, one of sufficiently high quality that it cannot be so easily severed as they've already tried to do.

In other settings, a volume of freshly-drawn blood would probably serve for such an intimate tie. Perhaps that doesn't work so well on the World Tree because blood is an Aquador substance as well as Corpador, and something closer to pure Corpador may work better for this purpose.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I am literally going to have their earlobes cut off. They can keep the inner parts. They'll be able to hear, not quite as well as before, but well enough.

And I'm cutting off their ears so they can't run away. Saza and I will each keep one ear of each, giving an excellent arcane connection. They should be easy enough to find agian if they do, most likely.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

One other thought: does Thiane deserve to be as harshly punished at Zascalle? We've seen no evidence that Thiane was actively involved in the theft (as opposed to merely failing to prevent it). This is certainly a far lesser crime (if it is a crime, Monster law generally does not expect people to turn in their spouses).

And that's before you even consider the mitigating factor of Thiane's loyalty instinct. You've forgiven Vae of far worse crimes out of recognition that it is her nature that compels her to do the things she does. Does Thiane not deserve the same consideration for her compulsions?

[rowyn]

Monster law doesn't? O.o I know that you can invoke the 5th amendment to avoid testifying about your spouse as well as yourself. But I'm pretty sure that if you aid and abet your wife when you know she's embezzling from her employer, you are considered an accessory.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Thiane has said "we" about the crimes going on. She is complicit at least that far. Some of the destination accounts were in her name(and she's more likely to know everything that implies than the children). Odds are good that she provided sorcerous consultation - she most definitely talked about the limits of arcane connections with Zascalle.

And Cani are [i]expert[/i] at choosing which loyalty to give weight to. That is the complete opposite of Vae's inability to control [i]her[/i] compulsions.

The only thing Thiane has going for her at this point is that, when Sythyry caught up with them, she was more cooperative.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Depriving them of their children(or responsibility for them, at least) is fitting. For Thiane, that's about the extent of it.

Zascalle honestly has even less right to complain. She was ready to throw away Ochirion's life to save her own hide already, and to divest herself of all resources she might have used to help Feralan for the same purpose. Any protests she makes now about her "babies" are vacuous and insipid.

I think it will be a most fitting and terrible punishment if those children come to love their foster parents.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

We -- which is to say, Saza -- are going to pick the best foster parents possible in the circumstances. Not for the sake of punishment, of course, but because we -- which is to say, both of us -- want to do the best we can manage for everyone but the actual criminals.

[mazlynn.livejournal.com]

I think the only one it may be needlessly cruel to is Ochirion, because he will miss his mommies, and isn't old enough to really understand what is going on. It will be the best for him in the long run, and as long as you select suitably awesome new parents for him he will probably adjust quickly and grow to tolerate, if not like, the situation. But it will be a harsh few days for him.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Cruel? Perhaps.

Needlessly? I'm less confident of that. You yourself say it will be best in the long run - and as Sythyry rightly points out, part of the reason for that is that he(and Feralan) do not need to be taught Thiane and Zascalle's notions of honesty and loyalty and proper behaviour. Best to find him another role model.

There being a benefit to doing things this way, "needlessly" is an unfair label.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Taken in context, I think the punishment is reasonable. It fits at least part of the crime, there is a practical reason behind it, and it's miserable without threatening life or health. If I recall correctly, Cani body language makes much use of ear position, so there will be an added burden on socializing and communication (which are likely to be curtailed by the indenture anyhow).

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

It is eminently fair - more fair one might suspect, than they deserve! Hopefully the minor point will be sufficient to cover the rest, otherwise you might have to say something like 'In addition, I require your life... At a future point in time, when I shall have need of it, if you have not already perished by then.'

Postponed Doom!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I'd rather be done with the matter, and with the adults, entirely.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

“When you talk like that, it sounds very oblate.”

Now is that an aesthetic observation, a moral judgement, or is he just perceiving whatever's coming out of your mouth as having pronounced angular eccentricity, I wonder.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Well, you know what they say: better oblate than prolate.