( the baffled look he turns on Hermione might suggest the extent of how this simply confuses him, though he adds: )
Is saying a young woman's public name too private here?
( the direct address, to some extent, he guesses, but how in the world hasn't someone who actually wants to manipulate her had fun coming along with this? it breaks part of his heart, to think of any young woman so isolated and informed of her own powerlessness except as a sacrifice for her people's prosperity, for her brother's sakes. for parents who must be honoured, after death.
or was he projecting his angers, decades old, that his shijie had faced? she who was brilliant in so many ways, and not appreciated for that brilliance as she should have been all along. as she was, eventually, by the one she'd loved since her youngest years, however poor that boy's regard had been for her. )
I don't know if either brother will decide that call is most politic, or if either have the heart to sacrifice her over themselves. I don't know these people the way I know my own. I was trying to offer her a choice, if she wanted to make one, and to a degree, she has.
( he doesn't look pleased by this. thoughtful, yes. )
Sacrifice as she imagines is often less useful than she imagines. Unless there's a blood link between the ruling clan—family, whatever word is appropriate, and the sealing of the gateway into Hell. Even so, we have one brother flirting with death, the other struggling as a young king, an uncle proclaiming devastation over his son's death to an inhuman murderer, and the surviving Paladins more and more concerned that only a 'sacrifice' can help. Desperate people make poor decisions. Myself, I don't believe in sacrificing children.
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Is saying a young woman's public name too private here?
( the direct address, to some extent, he guesses, but how in the world hasn't someone who actually wants to manipulate her had fun coming along with this? it breaks part of his heart, to think of any young woman so isolated and informed of her own powerlessness except as a sacrifice for her people's prosperity, for her brother's sakes. for parents who must be honoured, after death.
or was he projecting his angers, decades old, that his shijie had faced? she who was brilliant in so many ways, and not appreciated for that brilliance as she should have been all along. as she was, eventually, by the one she'd loved since her youngest years, however poor that boy's regard had been for her. )
I don't know if either brother will decide that call is most politic, or if either have the heart to sacrifice her over themselves. I don't know these people the way I know my own. I was trying to offer her a choice, if she wanted to make one, and to a degree, she has.
( he doesn't look pleased by this. thoughtful, yes. )
Sacrifice as she imagines is often less useful than she imagines. Unless there's a blood link between the ruling clan—family, whatever word is appropriate, and the sealing of the gateway into Hell. Even so, we have one brother flirting with death, the other struggling as a young king, an uncle proclaiming devastation over his son's death to an inhuman murderer, and the surviving Paladins more and more concerned that only a 'sacrifice' can help. Desperate people make poor decisions. Myself, I don't believe in sacrificing children.