No, I'd already been a sword for ages by then. [She smiles crookedly.] I'm very old, girl.
[Need transfers the outer layers she'd had folded over one arm to the other, and indeed, does not take offense.]
If I'd had the right information, I might have been able to step in early and kill him, sure. Hindsight is wonderful. But there's a few points to consider.
Point the first: He had inherent talents and made enough connections such that well before he'd started talking about the "master race" in public he was one of the two most powerful mages in the world. Much more powerful than I am, my skills are - were - in healing and subtlety, not blasting things to pieces, and I hadn't learned a lot of what an assassin needs to know yet. So I would've had to get there early indeed.
Point the second: Getting that right information. I don't have any gift for seeing the future, but those who ''have'' it say that the farther out something is, the less certain they are of it. Seers try not to monitor electoral politics because it's unpredictable and there's all kinds of people who can become the most awful tyrants or slip totally out of the public eye. By the time it was evident just who he was and what he could do, well, remember point one.
Point the third: The dead shouldn't rule the living. We've had our chance. We have to support them and honor their choices and their world. If I'd taken the time to deeply evaluate everyone who sought leadership and assassinated any of them who looked iffy... that's overstepping my remit. Someone would have to stop me.
Melysatra and I joined his opponents in Tantara, organizing with the other most powerful mage in the world. Silence... [She grimaces.] Was a much kinder person to be sure but had his own problems.
no subject
[Need transfers the outer layers she'd had folded over one arm to the other, and indeed, does not take offense.]
If I'd had the right information, I might have been able to step in early and kill him, sure. Hindsight is wonderful. But there's a few points to consider.
Point the first: He had inherent talents and made enough connections such that well before he'd started talking about the "master race" in public he was one of the two most powerful mages in the world. Much more powerful than I am, my skills are - were - in healing and subtlety, not blasting things to pieces, and I hadn't learned a lot of what an assassin needs to know yet. So I would've had to get there early indeed.
Point the second: Getting that right information. I don't have any gift for seeing the future, but those who ''have'' it say that the farther out something is, the less certain they are of it. Seers try not to monitor electoral politics because it's unpredictable and there's all kinds of people who can become the most awful tyrants or slip totally out of the public eye. By the time it was evident just who he was and what he could do, well, remember point one.
Point the third: The dead shouldn't rule the living. We've had our chance. We have to support them and honor their choices and their world. If I'd taken the time to deeply evaluate everyone who sought leadership and assassinated any of them who looked iffy... that's overstepping my remit. Someone would have to stop me.
Melysatra and I joined his opponents in Tantara, organizing with the other most powerful mage in the world. Silence... [She grimaces.] Was a much kinder person to be sure but had his own problems.