Victorious advance

[Ebiris]

"Of course Aurora ended up making unnecessary enemies of its own," Alicia points to that particular crusade's own missteps. Understandable but still present. "It's hard not to tread on toes when you make big steps."

[Anastasia]

"Of course. I spent a lot of it keeping the devils and archons from coming to blows," The Red Knight smiles at that, "All the fancy words aside, they argued like fishmongers going for every last coin over each other."

"Yet you won," Antenora speaks up here, "Was it worth dealing with them?"

"I had praise coming from the halls of Celestia and the pits of Baator at once," Is the answer you get. "It did much to establish who I was and the tone I'd take. A few of the archons and devils who served there still serve their side's interests in Warrior's Rest. They've gotten quite good at dealing with their opposites. I can avoid a great deal of ethical drama by working discreetly through them rather than normal channels."

[Ebiris]

"I make it a point of frequently rotating out anyone I have dealing with fiends in peaceful context," Alicia says. "Because while it's true familiarity can help in getting one up on the opposite number, too often it leads to a level of comfort that breeds greater risks."

It was a lesson learned swiftly from those she had guarding G'Renna early on that applies quite well in other diplomatic situations with silver-tongued fiends.

[Anastasia]

"Friendship can be a weapon in the war between right and wrong," Antenora adds, "Like anything else."

Here the Red Knight chuckles, "I find it worth the...extra curricular activities this can provoke," she says. "Sometimes those results are the most rewarding of all."

To that Antenora nods slightly, a silent admission of the point made.

"Do you really see merit in devils and fiends?" Syala inquires, "It never ends well, exceptions aside."

[Ebiris]

"Those exceptions are wondrous," Alicia says. "But the sad fact is traffic goes in the other direction far more readily."

[Anastasia]

"I view that as the weakness of the good," The Red Knight opines, "Yet, I view the ability to forgive and heal the strength of the good."

"Let one forgive readily, so that one will be forgiven in their own time," Antenora muses aloud, "Paraphrased from Cerulean Joy's liturgies, in turn derived from the Words of Sealtiel. The horror is not that even the righteous can fall, the miracle is that even the lowest can be forgiven if they are sincere."

[Ebiris]

"It may be a weakness of an individual, but it has no bearing on the moral concept itself," Alicia returns. "The greatest horror of Evil is that it traps the minds of those mired in it, rendering them incapable of seeing another way. That is what I'd call weakness. That those who profess themselves Good can open their minds to concepts that bring ruin to themselves and others is tragedy, but a price that must be paid if Good is to have any meaning at all."

[Anastasia]

"A question then, one Inevitables in my service favor." The Red Knight says, as Antenora perks up ever so slightly. "Free will leads to evil and even to angels falling. Therefore, is free will evil and is the elimination of free will good?"

Syala merely speaks up here, "Bullshit. A golem has no free will and those can massacre by the thousands and yet be free of moral culpability."

[Ebiris]

"Of course not, I never said Evil lacked free will, I said it lacked imagination," Alicia says after nodding with Syala's answer. "You could as well say breathing air leads to evil and even to angels falling. Free will simply is. It is, much like yourself, morally neutral."

[Anastasia]

"Yet the Inevitable would say it leads to evil," The Red Knight retorts.

Here Antenora exhales, "Then the Inevitable needs to be rebuild and told to cease with idiocy," she declares, "Do you disagree?"

As Syala smiles at that, the Red Knight laughs. Soon Syala is laughing with her as the former adds, "The argument is tedious, even when I understand the point being made."

[Ebiris]

While Alicia enjoys a good moral debate, that didn't really qualify. "It's an argument used to throw the other side off balance rather than to make a serious point," she says, deeming it more than just tedious. "The conversational equivalent of a feint."

[Anastasia]

"I've listened for hours as it is debated," The Red Knight says, "But the Inevitables are so often fond of the argument, no matter how others may dismiss it."

"Then it must be defeated, and we have defeated it," Antenora speaks up, "What do you think of it?"

Here the Red Knight ponders, "Well meaning, but be it a feint, a philosophical provocation or foolishness, it only highlights a point rather than making one. A casting of Faerie Fire in verbal form. It reminds me that order can be taken too far."

[Ebiris]

"I find it hard to believe anyone is sincerely opposed to the concept of free will. Certainly a great many want to reduce the free will of those under them, but they'd never sacrifice their own," Alicia says. "It's no different than Shar espousing the merits of suicide yet changing the subject when asked to go first."

[Anastasia]

That draws out a real smile from the Red Knight, "Do as I say, not as I do." she agrees.

"Hypocrisy is the blade of the smallest bully to the greatest tyrant," Antenora adds in, "The fruit of pride that whispers that we are better, that we deserve more than others. I occasionally ponder such things, I worry that in a palace of opal and on a throne of gold that I will forget that. That I will forget those who suffer with nothing and demand sacrifice merely to help them."

Here it's the Red Knight reaches forward, clasping Antenora's shoulder. "Someone worried of that is not the sort for that failing."

"I pray you are right." Antenora's reply is given.

"Of course she is," Syala's smiling warmly now, "What do you think I'm here for? A few thumps upside the head will drive sense right back in there."

"Then I will be." With a growing smile as well, Antenora returns to her meal.

[Ebiris]

"Much harder to forget them though, when we can hear their prayers is it not?" Alicia asks, looking over at Antenora. "A mortal ruler, even an angelic champion, can all too easily sequester herself from those she is meant to protect. Yet for us even the humblest have a direct line to our ears," she taps one of her own earlobes, sitting back again.