Cauldron Festival

[Anastasia]

"Adults are boring and can be stupid," Calley says, "Alicia was nice, though. Mom gave me all this power and knowledge, even knowing when I'm not acting like a kid thanks to it." He looks down at that, voice lowering. "No one takes a kid seriously until they do something they're not supposed to."

"Ahem!" Marianne loudly clears her throat, "Regardless, striking back against Shar is something both of us are interested in. How powerful a trial will we face?"

[Corwin]

"Everyone can be stupid, even kids who insult their hosts by calling them dumb, accuse them of seeing mortals as tools or tell them that they need husbands instead," Seira tells Calley with an amused smile. "Rudeness is a valid tactic in combat or hostile negotiations, but not when you want someone decent to take you seriously. You think I'd let it slide if an adult does it to me? It's up to you if you want to keep at it or observe some basic courtesy. So which is it? Do you want me to listen and talk to you, or do you want to be shushed like a kid and get talked at from above?"

Whiny, emotional kids with a chip on their shoulder she can deal with. Same is with exceptionally intelligent ones. Offensive kids who are guests at her home and ignore her rules will just be shown to the door, however. She's sure she knows better than Amaryl in this case, given their respective upbringings.

Nodding at Marianne, Seira says, "One which is within your abilities, since I wouldn't send you on some suicide mission. The difficulty is artificial, for the whole thing is a test arranged by the Overdeity. The God-King of the gnomes, Daavid, fought evenly with multiple divine avatars and even slew a deity wholesale in the past war. Expecting to match that would be folly, so since I have it on good authority success is possible, the wound he had received at the end of the war from Talinn must be keeping him in a weakened state. The aid of the Resorts, artifacts from that era, would further even the odds. When I was roughly in your spot, I believed I could manage this together with Alicia and Demedais. I can and will give you specific advice regarding what we faced there, but the very concept of the ruins means that things might be changed by Ao to adjust for fresh challengers."

[Anastasia]

"Adults don't say things they should say because they're concerned about being polite," Calley counters. "'Like if someone had really talked to my Mom before she left, I might still have a Mom."

"Calley," Marianne glances, a single word full of gentle reproach. "Forgive him, this is the reason why children do not have the range of knowledge of adults. Then in that case, we'll be in contact with Commander Oberuth."

[Corwin]

"Really, I think part of the problem is that because the kid was dealt a bad hand in life people around him make excuses for that," Seira tells Marianne, pursing her lips. "And he does insist on being taken seriously, so I shall do my best." She turns towards the child, addressing him in a neutral tone of voice, "Calley, do tell me something since you appreciate bluntness so much. From all accounts your mom was selfish and it hurt you, but if someone had forced her to ignore what she wanted and had her live her life solely for your sake, would that have been better for the two of you? Would you have been happy, even if she weren't? And does any of that excuse you to come into my house uninvited and talk that way to your hosts? Does that excuse you to ignore my chiding about the very specific points I've made which were offensive to me?"

Seira nods to herself. "My mother died before I had any conscious memories of her, and then my father abandoned me when I was a couple years older than you. I was pretty smart even as a kid, if you'll forgive the boasting, and left in a society that didn't know what to do with me because I was different. Instead of caring adults, I was in the care of a literally evil impostor posing as my aunt who was busy stealing my family's fortune, and in the end I had to leave home altogether to find a place for myself. Does all of that give me leeway to make all those around me walk on eggshells around me while I say whatever pops up into my mind, without care of how it might hurt them? Do educate me with your unique point of view on this matter."

[Anastasia]

Calley frowns and listens, Marianne and Lyris sharing a look.

"Why'd your Dad leave you? Aren't Dads supposed to be the good ones?" Calley asks. Then he adds, "Aren't you also saying exactly what you think right now? It's just..." A frown, a deeper one. "I want people to do better and not be dumb. Being dumb hurts people and makes people lonely. Like people who follow Shar, they're dumb. So are people who follow devils or demons, they're dumb. So are stupid aunts who steal family fortunes, aren't they? None of it's fair, Seira. How come telling people they're being dumb doesn't work? You're good at telling people that, but a lot of them still worship Shar and get killed."

Looking down at his feet, "Sorry. I was being like Mom there, wasn't I? I try not to be."

[Corwin]

"I'm trying to give you a taste of bluntness that offends the person I'm addressing so that you'll understand why people have a filter between their brains and their mouths," Seira responds. "I'm not normally this blunt, but I believe this is something you need to understand early on. The other reason is to show you that when you drive people into an adversarial position in a conversation, they often get defensive and respond in kind. That makes it harder to find common ground, and thus harder for you to actually achieve your goals. From an objective standpoint, it means that adversarial conversation outside of adversarial situations, in other words situations when you seek to hurt others for an advantage, leads to negative gains and so is pointless. I believe this is where the 'If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all' proverb comes from."

She shrugs. "Of course it's a gross oversimplification. Sometimes you need to give constructive criticism, and that might be hard for people to hear. Sometimes people really are idiots and you may want to tell it to them to their face. But you would usually do that intentionally, thus when I informed you of the problem, continuing in the same vein means embracing that offense on your part. Do you understand it, put this way?" She pauses, adding then, "Now I can also apologize for it, since I believe the point took."

Taking a breath and letting it out in a sigh, Seira shrugs. "Why did dad leave? He was on a journey to advance magical theory, and to give him credit for that, he succeeded in advancement unseen on our Prime for millennia. Magic thought lost was brought back through his intervention. I do believe he loves me, but he simply wanted this more. It's fairly likely your mother was in the same situation, although the scale is obviously different given she is the host for 21. He made his share of bad decisions, and so did she. But does it make them dumb? I think selfish is a better term. It's because they fully understand that what they are choosing is wrong, but do it anyway because they want to."

As she mulls over his next question, Seira finds herself cracking a grin. "I'll agree with you that people falling to Evil are dumb. I've been saying it since I was a kid myself! Objectively speaking, your mortal life is finite and nothing in it is worth an eternity of suffering. Subjectively speaking, people form cooperative societies for a reason, and by turning their backs on that people literally harm themselves for what is often immediate gratification. And they often say kids are the ones who have that problem, but really it's the adults who have it far worse!"

Her amusement fades away as she shakes her head. "See, this ties the first and last points I've made here together. The amount of people simply born wrong is really small, roughly similar to the amount of born champions and saints, I suspect artificially so. That means the vast majority of people are neither. I try to educate people where I can, but I can't reach everyone, and the Heavens don't share my belief that this sort of education is paramount. I can't really oppose all on the side of Evil that send agents to seduce and subvert mortals with my efforts alone, and I don't think our side does enough to counter theirs. But even with that out of the way, a lot of people seek instant gratification. They can't grasp the concept of eternity, or they think themselves exceptional enough to beat the odds, even though there are no odds to beat here. And finally, there are the people who instantly get defensive when you're blunt or offensive with them, in word or tone, and as they grow defensive they find reasons to counter yours. That leads to them being entrenched in these opinions. It's unfortunate, but another proverb goes 'You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar'. Metaphorically, it refers to how engaging people in conversation and forming bonds with them is the superior method of conversation to shouting or arguing past each other."

Suddenly having an idea, Seira adds, "Let's walk you through a tangible example, shall we? Recently, a powerful Sharran lead an invading force against Sylica. Alicia managed to talk her down, defeating the invasion with kindness. I suspect that in that situation, I would have dealt with things more violently, but that wouldn't have lead me to learn that the woman was groomed by Shar. Shar's priests found her at a low point of her life and slowly filled her head with lies, while Shar herself manufactured the low point in the first place by working her power behind the scenes. The forces of Evil try to bring us down indirectly, by arranging for situations where we are at our weakest, emotionally and mentally. They send their agents to try and form bonds with these victims, and sink their hooks into them. That's often why bluntness will fail, because people will only listen if they believe you can understand them and their troubles. So who would they listen to, someone that shows up and calls them dumb, or someone who pretends to be their friend and tells them that their troubles will lessen if only they do something bad? And then these bad things pile up and escalate, and they are truly caught."

[Anastasia]

Calley takes that all in, "Because they can't stop and realize they're taking a lot of little steps to doing something dumb? So when you call them on it, they're too far gone on it?"

[Corwin]

"Your mistake is looking at a single factor," Seira responds, shaking her head. "Small steps that are difficult to see as dumb but add up is one aspect, but it often joins with how they're goaded by enablers or actual agents of Evil who pretend to identify with them. And finally, there is the problem that calling someone dumb sets you in an adversarial relationship with them, and people have an aversion to not just that, but also to you and to anything you say. They can often take opposite positions or double down on dumb things just from that, which means you gain the opposite result from the intended one. After all, what you want to achieve is helping people see they've made a mistake. That's far more important than calling them stupid to their face, whether they are being stupid or not."

[Anastasia]

"Ooooh..." Calley murmurs, rather thoughtfully. "Mom would just beat them up to solve them being adversarial, wouldn't she?"

"If she needed to," Lyris says, "The problem is that a lot of people need to be beaten up."

[Corwin]

"I'm sorry, while I looked in on the premier players in Balmuria from time to time to make sure there was no excessive foul play, I don't know your mother personally," Seira tells Calley. "In any case, you probably need to think about our conversation some, first. I don't expect you to agree with everything, so if you think of more questions or counter arguments, I'll be here to discuss those."

She cracks a grin again. "There are indeed a great many people who need to be beaten up. I'm afraid that doesn't change, regardless of the circles you travel in."

[Anastasia]

"The Incarnations made it that way," Calley grumbles, "It's not fair at times, is it? They use us like I said - of course it's mortals seeking answers, to the God-King or to their questions of ethos and ethics. Why can't someone just give them an answer already?"

At this Marianne clears her throat. "Ahem. Before we go - and we really should be going - is there anything else we need to know, Seira?"

[Corwin]

"I'm working on the answer," Seira speaks for Calley's ears alone. "I'm not restricted from action on that front nor am I alone, so the mortals aren't left abandoned in the trenches."

"Talk to Oberuth about the Resorts and about gnomish society," Seira instructs Marianne. "Those are the most important things. Read our old reports and try to go into some of the auxiliary ruins. Be wary of other mortal players that move on behalf of Shar, Bane and the rest. We've tried to keep those at bay during my time, but it's an ongoing issue. Above all else, don't compromise with them on this, because it decides not only the Prime's fate, but also affects Creation itself. It might chaff us to play by these imposed rules, but the result of breaking them or letting someone vile win are nothing short of apocalyptic. Finally, a word of advice on the ruins themselves. They hold within them untold riches, unique magical knowledge and the opportunity to find your limits. Much of that changes with you, so always trust that if a challenge feels dangerous, it really might be. You could be putting your life on the line with every trap, with every obstacle, with every opportunity for improvement. Treat them all seriously and don't let up, and you will be victorious."

[Anastasia]

"At least the job's gonna pay well," Lyris says, "The bad guys snuck anyone in to try the ruins themselves?"

"That is a concern, I presume Oberuth watches for that?" Marianne adds, taking her tea and having another sip. "Mmm. The man's competent from all I've seen. I can't imagine he wouldn't guard it properly."

[Corwin]

"He does, and they try. Since there are other ruins around the world, they even succeed at times, but not with the all-important Balmuria ruin," Seira responds. "Also, don't hesitate to talk to me if you need to learn something about our past efforts." Snapping her fingers, she adds, "Oh, and to make it easier for you to commute I'll put in a portal to the Cauldron's entrance in Balmuria. Ask Josa if he'd want it placed at the Whimsical Sweets property, and whether he's confident of keeping it protected on his end?"

[Anastasia]

"We'll let you know," Marianne smiles and rises, "It's good to work with you, Seira. I understand last time it was far less fun for all of us."

Lyris snorts at that. "Honestly!"