DARIAN
I was about as done with this council meeting. Like I needed it to have ended three hours ago. But I'm stuck here listening to Theron ramble on about the same thing over and over again when I had it handled.
“Unrest is rot,” Theron says, each syllable clipped. He stands at the map, a charcoal stick stabbing the northern borderlands. “You don’t negotiate with rot. You cut it out before it spreads.”
"We've been over this," I say. I keep my voice even, but the edges want to cut. "We send an emissary. Meet with their elders, hear the grievances, and move provisions if winter shortages are real. We enforce our laws after we try to understand why they resisted in the first place."
“They resisted because they are weak,” Theron answers. “Weakness emboldens. If you show softness, you inv
