Tarot Campaign

Interlude          Tanner & Twins

Rhori & Paris
Paris strove to keep her own devils battened down. It was so hard to endure Rhori's anger and disappointment. It always made her question her own integrity. Yes, Rhori was upset with her -- angry with her. Angry in the controlled way -- almost mild, compared to what he'd been Before he'd had since his own personal change. She had seriously disappointed him again. It was clear that he felt that Justice was the only being who could grant what he wanted for his friend Tanner. How to make him understand?

"Rhori, let me try again to explain why I think I should do what I am doing for Tanner. It might help if you knew a bit more about what he told me. You left. I did not realize until then that you did not know exactly what crimes he had committed in his past. I think you should know more in order to understand Tanner better." She paused for a moment. "Tanner was born on a small island controlled by a ruthless and grasping baron. My guess is that the isles in that area may not be very rich in resources or, perhaps, they are poorly managed. At any rate, the area seems to breed a similar type. One of the neighboring islands was also controlled by a different ruthless and grasping baron." Paris frowned slightly, " I do not know why they could not appeal to the king for help; the Isles must be rather different from Tara. At any rate, Tanner characterizes those barons both as 'pirates.'"

Rhori: "What are you doing for Tanner?"

Paris: "I am doing my job, Rhori. I'll talk more about that later." She continued her explanation. "Tanner's island was raided by the other pirate baron when he was a small child. Those things he said he had done in his life, were first done to him: his father slain, his mother used, himself tossed from the walls to die. Obviously he did not die, but, apparently the only route to survival in those islands was to join with the pirates and practice their ways. A group is often more amoral and less rational than the individual; it takes an incredibly strong personality to act contrary to the ways of the group. In as heartless a society as that Tanner described, I would think that refusing to practice their ways would have resulted in death. Tanner chose to live."

"Tanner's second life started when he, his pirates, failed to kidnap Prince William." Paris' lips folded together tightly for a moment. She continued more softly. "From what he says, it could be assumed that that failure was due entirely to Silverlocke. I do not know why the pirates wanted William. I do not know why Silverlocke chose to let Tanner live. Clearly Tanner holds himself as a different man from that moment on." She bit her lip and frowned again. "So different, in fact, that I can only read in him disgust for his previous life. Not remorse or regret. It is as if it was the life of another man."

"I could get Tanner to tell me almost nothing of his 'good works' in the life he has lived since then. You have spoken of them as though you know what he has done. I am sure that Prince Martin can tell me even more. I fear that Tanner's, um, fervent obedience to Prince Martin's orders borders close on that obedience orcs show to the Pauldrons. Close, but not. The fact that Tanner runs your Order in Prince Martin's absence is evidence enough that he still thinks for himself -- and for others." She looked earnestly at the big ranger. "This is important, Rhori. Sometimes doing Good requires disobeying orders. We learned that from Sir Juda. Tanner must at least be capable of that to survive Justice."

Rhori: "Ummmm, I only disobeyed what I wanted, not any orders..."

Paris assured him, "I only said 'sometimes', Rhori. Sometimes doing Good requires giving up what you want. Sometimes doing Good requires causing pain. Sometimes doing Good costs nothing at all. In Tanner's case, I merely note that what was his first salvation may also be his biggest stumbling block. But I do not know enough about him to say for sure."

"Surviving Justice is not an ordeal to put anyone through lightly, Rhori. I know that better now than I did when I took Pyotr and Alessandro to see Justice. Tanner does not want to go so it would be even worse, I fear, for him. Besides," she looked searchingly again at her friend, "what you've told me you wanted -- some sort of opening by which Tanner could forgive himself, some way to restore his self-esteem -- is not Justice's job. Rhori, forgiveness does not require excuse, does not require rationalization, does not wipe out the evil done. It is simply -- forgiveness. An explicit promise to one's self to move on and do better in the future. To not let the past embitter the future. This is within Tanner's grasp whenever he chooses to take it. No one can force it on him. No one can browbeat him into it. No one can force him even to see it if he will not open his eyes to it himself. A friend might be able to say 'you must forgive yourself', but Justice will not say it. There is, really, no other 'doing' for Tanner to do in order for him to achieve what you want for him."

Rhori: "I know I'm still not very smart. But wouldn't Justice not condemning him, or actually condemning him, be a major event in Tanner's life? Maybe the equal of the Captain saving his life? Certainly it would be the right thing to get him judged, for better or worse. He is in a living hell with no real purpose in life. Even I can see that following Martin blindly is not a life. I won't and can't force him to go, but I think it's the right thing. Of course, I'm practically always wrong in judging what is right, especially when lives are on the line."

Paris: "All the good works in the world to balance the scale will not allow him to achieve what you want. He may have worked and worked and over-balanced the scale in works alone. But it will not, even under a mountain of works, finally, balance until he, himself, makes that one decision for himself."

Rhori: "So your solution is to ignore everything and move on?"

Paris: "No, Rhori. That is not my solution. I have given Tanner advice. I have just given advice to you as Tanner's friend. And I intend to continue to do my job as it applies to this situation." She paused for a moment, regarding the big youth with something like a stern sadness. "Rhori, if Nature would and could deal with all incursions of men into nature, would there be any need for your Order? No! Nature would take care of it. But men might not learn very much in the process. It is the same with my Order. I understand this far, far better now than I did before Pyotr saw Justice.

It is the job of my Order to administer justice amongst men in all cases where it is possible for a man to render justice. Although I had not thought of it in this way before, you were correct when you told Tanner that I was a hand of Justice. Justice himself should be appealed to in cases where a man can do nothing to make the situation just. Your case was like that. No man could heal you; Justice himself had to arrange such a healing. But there has been nothing brought forth in Tanner's case thus far that could not be dealt with by a member of my Order."

"I know this does not make you happy. The last time I brought a case of mine before Justice, I was left no more happy that you are with this. It was a lesson to me. In 'ordinary justice', we are left unhappy partly because there is no 'magic' solution; all the good solutions possible require work and more work by the people involved. The work for you, should you choose to accept it, is to be a friend to Tanner and find the moment when it is right to tell him to forgive himself. And also to present what you know of his good works so that, when justice has to be administered in his case, there will be evidence to balance the evil. You did not know how much evil there was to be balanced -- did you?" Rhori stood stolidly, not answering.

"Rhori, I've a question for you. Are your feelings about what has gone right and wrong in Tanner's life somehow connected to why you seem so bitter about Silver? It is partly my job as a vassal of Prince William's to pay off the ransom for his regalia. That is my chief concern with Silver. Why -- please tell me -- do you feel so committed to finding him again? To my knowledge, he did nothing that would need the vengeance of a Protector of the Blood. He, in fact, treated us quite well when he could have left us to drown or dropped us into Prince Louis' hands. Yes, he ordered Hobbes kept in the hold. But I think that was more for his men's sakes than intended as punishment for you or Hobbes. A superstitious sailor has no notion, I suspect, of what to make of a lion -- the ferocious man-eating King of Beasts. And they could not take away his claws and teeth the way they could take away my sword. How could Silver know that we wouldn't simply take over his ship and turn him and his men over to the law if we were allowed to be armed. Hobbes is a rather formidable armament, you know." She ended with a small smile and a scritch for the lion. Clearly she considered Hobbes a comrade and friend.

Rhori: "Well, up until a bit ago I didn't even know what a pirate was. If this Silver guy is a pirate leader, then I have no doubt that he deserves to die, and pro'lly a painful death at that. I suppose it really isn't any of my business to see that happen, but the idiot took some stuff which may be very important!" The youth sighed. "I dunno, maybe I should be a bit less forceful on the whole subject, cause if William and Carline aren't twins then this Silver guy is pro'lly William's twin and killing him for being forced into the life he is in may not be very just. But justice is not my area of expertise, is it? Oh, and speaking of vassals and the like, whatever happened with you and Carline, I mean the Princess?"

Paris worked hard to keep her voice quiet, her shock under control. "Rhori," her voice conveyed some of the urgency of the emotions she was trying to control, "what do you mean by 'if William and Carline aren't twins'? Carline is decidedly older than William. They can't possibly be twins. What makes you think that William has a twin? Or that Silver is that twin? Twins would have been a great event in the Royal House, Rhori. What do you know about this?"

"Damn, damn, da...umm sorry, Parris." Rhori apologized, much chagrined. Shortly he continued, "Well, I was really hoping that Prince Martin wasn't one of the twins, SIGH. Obviously Silver was someone's twin. Of course you already must know this; it took me a week or so longer to figure it out, as usual." Grumph. "So this isn't going to help with the whole king thing is it?"

Holding on to her calm by sheer force of will, Paris answered quietly. "No, Rhori. I know nothing about there being Royal twins. I would normally say that it is impossible that there could be such and it not be general knowledge. I also know nothing about Silver being a twin. It is -- none of it -- obvious to me. Please explain. Who told you these things?"

"Well Princess Carline did, you were there...don't you remember? Oh, darn, I bet we're not supposed to talk about it, I'm sorry. I won't say anything else to anyone about it."

"Rhori," Paris said earnestly, "I recall no mention between Princess Carline and myself about twins save that we spoke of Calais and myself. Will you please tell me as closely as you can recall, what was said that led you to believe that there were Royal twins or that Silver was a twin? We did not even see Silver's face. It's not a matter of not talking about it; it's a matter of figuring out what is so. So -- what was it you heard?"

"Well," Rhori answered, "remember when Carline asked the question? I assume it wasn't for no reason and I also assume that she could have asked you anytime before she did. But she waited till she did so...you get it now?"

[M: It is fun to accept eveything that crosses Rhoris mind as absolute fact; hope it's not *TOO* annoying for you all *S*]

"Tanner & Twins" copyright 2000 M.Kennedy & S.Knowles. The contents of this site are copyright 2004 Sheryl A. Knowles unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.