Previous Maia, Brennan file

Narrator:
At the end of the conversation with Blackbird, Schol, Jhereg, Hesketh, and Luther, Brennan goes back over to the camp kitchen looking for Maia. She's nowhere in sight, so Brennan heads back out of camp to the sleeping trees, where he finds her grooming the horses. The tension that had been building up in him disappears with a sigh as he joins her and begins working on Erin's tail.

Brennan:
That wasn't at all pleasant! I guess I need to get used to dealing with people again if we're going to be staying here for long.

Narrator:
Maia continues to work silently, so Brennan follows suit. After a few minutes he looks over at Maia and realizes that she's no longer working, but just sitting there thinking. Brennan walks around and kneels behind her and begins massaging her shoulders.

Brennan:
I guess it wasn't much fun for you either... Is there anything I can do to help?

Maia: [to herself, looks a little surprised]
"Fun"?? Why would anyone expect interacting with Others to be *fun*???

Nope. No big deal - just too many Others around.

Narrator:
They sit in silence for a while.

Brennan:
I need to understand some things about what we're doing here too. I'd assumed that the Elder Gallilei and you would be talking about what was to be decided here, and I've seen none of it. He _is_ an Elder of the Elves, after all, and aren't they associated with the Tuath?

Maia:
Yes and no.

Brennan:
And...???

Maia:
Oh. [pauses. Remembers Brennan isn't familiar with the politics of the Enclave.] Some Tuath are human, some are elves. Some humans are Tuath, some are Others. Some elves are Tuath, some are Others. [another pause, then helpfully] Other Others, that is.

Brennan: [thinking]
Wonderful. She's in one of those moods. No straight answers.

And the Elder Gallilei??

Maia:
He's an other Other. I've heard of him before, but he's not Tuath. He's certainly not a Druid.

Narrator:
Brennan continues to wait patiently. It's rather like stalking a wild animal - and he has plenty of experience with that. Finally Maia speaks again, as if she hadn't paused.

Maia:
And not all the Tuath are in agreement. Not all the Druids, even. Some Tuath are rather opinionated, actually.

Narrator:
Brennan rolls his eyes. Maia either misses it or ignores it.

Maia:
Basic philosophy is pretty much the same, of course, but interpretation varies. Not always, but often, philosophy seems to vary along racial lines. I don't know if Gallilei holds the same opinions as the elven Druids on the Council or not.

I don't.

Narrator:
She looks bemused at this last statement. It doesn't seem to be something she's really thought about before, or at least said aloud, even to herself. There's another thoughtful pause, and Brennan begins tracing her arm with his fingertips in an absent-minded way. After a few moments he sits back up with a determined look on his face.

Brennan:
Well, he is an Elder of the Elves, which implies significant knowledge and power. And I'm gathering that he's probably aligned with the elven Druids on the Council... The way I see it, either those who suggested you come here didn't know he was going to be here, so he's a wildcard, or they did, and you're supposed to provide a balancing opinion. In either case, don't you think we should be talking with him? He certainly seems more facile at social interactions than either of us, so his particular bent is going to be over-represented to Jhereg and the others if we just sit here quietly waiting for something to happen.

Maia: [puzzled]
I suppose you mean "opinion" by "bent", but _what_ is a "wildcard"?

Brennan:
Sorry. I'm still talking "Otherish". A wildcard is an unknown element of significant power in a game of chance. Wildcards make the game less predictable. I called the Elder a wildcard because if the Council doesn't know he's here, and therefore didn't take him into consideration in their planning, then they will probably not achieve whatever goals they had in mind when they decided to send you here unless _you_ take him into consideration and adjust the plan on your own.

Besides, we're _not_ gathering any information about the situation here, so how can we hope to preserve any kind of balance? We should be doing _something_, and we can't act wisely without information.

I can tell you what _I_'m curious about...[ticks off on his fingers]

1. The obvious question -- why is the Elder here? Did the council send him?

2. Did the Druids set up the effect we saw near the castle or did some other agency like the elves?

3. Regardless of who set it up, who can remove or restore it? Does the council expect you to do either?

4. What is Jhereg waiting on? What does he expect to happen? Maybe he's waiting on you! Which brings me to:

5. Should you be up-front about who you are and what you're doing here? This could become very easy if you just introduced yourself to Jhereg as a representative of the Druidic Council and were then always included in the discussions that _must_ be going on even as we speak.

I think that at the very least we should be gathering all the information we can about the players involved in this game. We should make ourselves aware of _everything_ that goes on in and around this camp, particularly if it involves Jhereg or the Elder.

Maia:
My goodness. What a lot of questions! I don't know why the Elder is here. I imagine it's to talk about lifting the curse. I'm just here to observe and pass the information back to the Council (which I'll do *if* I decide to do it.) I doubt that the Council sent him since he's not a Druid.

You keep separating the Druids and the elves. [peevishly] I *told* you. Some Druids are elves, some are humans. Some elves are Tuath, some aren't. You can't *say* Druids OR elves - they aren't exclusive. The curse could be from human Druids or eleven Druids or both. Or it could be elves who aren't Druids or.. maybe even humans who aren't Druids, though that's not likely. All I ever heard was that the most powerful Druids were involved with a curse somehow. It's most likely that it's the elves, since they've been around the longest.

The Council doesn't *expect* me to do anything but observe the negotiations. And that's up to me. Haven't you learned yet? We make our own decisions! The Council can suggest, but it can't "expect"!

I don't know who can remove or restore the effect, or whether it *should* be removed or restored in the first place. That's why I want to study it.

How should I know what Jhereg is waiting on? I've never even met him before!

I'm NOT a representative of the Council. I keep telling you that. No one is a representative of the Council, even those on the Council. Each of us represents only himself or herself. The Council makes decisions as a group sometimes, but rarely is there a unanimous decision. One might speak, several might speak, several might agree to let one speak for them, but not to Represent the Council.

Besides. In general, I don't agree with the Council on a lot of things. And I bet this is one of them. Remember when I was teaching you about Balance, and we played with a dancing clown toy? The best way I can explain this is that I believe the clown will right himself eventually without much, if any, intervention. At the most, I give one side a tiny nudge to get the movement going again if it is tipped to far to one side. Most of the Council is of the opinion that the best way to balance the clown is to remove the unbalanced parts.

Maybe it's because they are elves and have a longer view of the world. I don't know.

It's like gardening to them. Have you ever planted carrots? You start out with lots of little carrots, but you pull most of them out and thin the plot by throwing them away. Then the other carrots grow better, stronger, bigger... Some of the Council believes that is the Proper Way to Manage all of Nature. Thin the crop and it grows better, whether it is carrots, trees, rabbits, deer, or humans.

I may be shortsighted, but I don't think that is the Right Way to Achieve Balance. I also think there is *some* potential in Others to make almost reasonable decisions if they are given the right information. Just because someone is Ignorant, doesn't mean he's Stupid.

If Gallilei *is* talking to the Council and taking advice from them, his point of view will not likely be favorable to any humans. If he *isn't*, who knows what he wants? The elves have always been happy to be separate from humans.

---next file

Bill: [thinking out loud]
The shapeshifting at nighttime won't be a problem, but the day plan's a different matter. Beast possession is of course quite expensive (6 cast, 2 maintain), so the only such pokings around during the day will be a few minutes in duration with long breaks in between to recover. The _most_ Brennan can do w/o powerstones is a 4 minute foray. I guess mostly he'll just hang about (in person) and listen to what he can with IQ 13 + Acute Hearing 5 (no, I didn't say a cute earring!) while keeping an eye on our two friends. Another possibility is to have one of the dogs hang about, and then do Rider Within, which Brennan can maintain for free. Yeah. That's not a bad idea. Perhaps if Brennan walked over with two dogs (so as to introduce them to J+G) and then departed when it seemed appropriate while the dogs stayed there. There might even be a good reason for the dogs to attach themselves to one or both of J+G... Ok. We'll see what Maia thinks and then go do it!

Next Maia, Brennan file.