Soleil dropped a set of thought filters onto her perception, engaging her applicable knowledge to sift what was being told to her. She allowed Raev to continue without being interrupted.

“Also for the denial of the presence of Vedani sentience. The Kao-Sidhe cover-up and displacement was an old matter continually carried over, though who is really responsible for that, if anyone? The next to do so, it may be presumed. So far, that isn’t you. It seems you pioneered a different way. They actually… hang out with you.

“Overlooking the Aureny I see as pure human error. It definitely wasn’t Aquarii, or Dragons who wanted all their gems at the cost of their lives without recognizing them as people. Though, the Aquarii may have enjoyed benefits and advances with the unexplained influx of new materials… at least until they were removed of an intrinsic link to their ancestral history.

“The continued exile of the Red Nexus Dragons had coincidentally reached its time. They’d figured out their own situation, achieving contact with the Kao-Sidhe and Vedani as they were doing so.”

Raev let his head nod humbly with just a touch of self-aware sardonic mockery. “I was able to figure out how all their emerging grievances fit with the Hirylien Remainder as they reached a tipping point. There were ways we could create the changes we sought in a threatening and hostile society.”

The street changed once they’d made their way beyond the first horizon. Their total walking distance wasn’t measurably huge, but they had certainly covered a lot of ground in barely any time at all. The sun was dipping, though not yet sinking fast.

Here the commercial buildings thinned into some undeveloped tree space. Through this micro-savannah, they approached some curved streets. Two semicircles met against the straight road they walked, forming a bisected loop. Raev paused for a long while upon the sight of this junction. Soleil took the opportunity to encapsulate the scene around them, and note its effect on him.  He continued again in the same relaxed and almost quiet tone. “Only one person remains with direct decision-making culpability in the Slaughter of Hirylien… your father.”

The two progressed along this business thoroughfare with residential side streets. The hills were on the side of the reservoir where they came from. “I suppose I hadn’t reached an active enough role to be given the confidential information regarding these issues,” mused Soleil. At six, there was no way she could have been relevant, and at twenty-four they’d hoped it was long buried.

“They were wise enough not to include additional people in the decisions of wrongdoing. It’s part of why I was willing to give you half a chance.” Raev glanced to his side, regarding Soleil. “You’ve thus far shown yourself to be decent, and honest. If you were hiding something nefarious, like what we’re discussing now, the Aureny would have tossed you over the edge when you were matching forces.”

She recalled clarifying her intentions before walking into the chamber. “You’d have been just as happy if they did away with me in the case of my having compromised integrity.”

“You are right about that.” Sturlusson’s voice was steely and ruthless, though not cruel. “But they didn’t. You also made no misstep throughout the Tempering, which means you were able to respect them as well. So, I’m giving you that much.”