faerie rift chronicles 01 - faerie rift Read Free Page A

deep bonds indeed.
    Now that the revolution had been successful, and we had both reached the other side of that conflict, we no longer had that tight social glue that comes about as a result of enduring conflict, and achieving group victory. Our sense of group identity had dissolved into individually focused bureaucratic roles within the glorious new, Non-Violent State.
    My eyes had to roll whenever I thought about it.
    But for now, I was here in Thane’s Office. Watching his lips move while he told me all about how sweet I was, and how he always knew that I was cut out for a role like this, and so on.
    Apparently, for some, “Non-Violent State” meant “Emotionally Manipulative and Politically Coercive State”.
    Poor bastard could have saved so much energy if he had just gone straight to the shoulder massage in the beginning, and skipped all of the ego-affirming verbal nonsense. All it took was a pair of his strong hands to massage the tired muscles on either side of my spine, and I would have committed treason for that man. Not that treason was what was called for here. After all, treason would imply that one was working against the government, and not for them.
    Emotional connections, and a strong physical touch go deeper than any political consulate — at least that’s been my experience.
    "We can't use the regular channels for this mission,” he said. “The entire success of our project depends on the opportunity being presented to the council as serendipity.”
    “Leave it to me to architect serendipity.”
    He smiled.
    “That’s the language of the new world order, but you know how I can’t abide that level of passivity. Those people in office don’t understand the sacrifice and hard work that caused us to arrive in this position in the first place.”
    He paused, meaningfully, and let his hands rest on my shoulders. “I know you understand, because you were there. You gave more than they will ever understand.”
    “Cut to the point, Thane.”
    “It needs to be an opportunity that we happen across. If we brought this up to the council, there would be endless debates over the legitimacy, and the methodology. Not to mention the fact that the whole council strives to embody this new age, “Let it Be” philosophical approach.”
    “As an attitude for de-escalating conflict, that approach has done more for this world than the rule of the previous regime.”
    “The problem is that we are no longer facing a situation of social conflict. The conflict we face is an environmental emergency. I just don't know how they think we are going to make the kind of actions necessary; especially within the timescale that we need in order to survive.”
    I took a deep breath and tried to center myself. The conflict that I was fighting was apparent to my rational mind. The issues that Thane brought up were important, and he was absolutely right. All of the data suggested that our world was in grave danger if we continued to do nothing about the approaching threat. However, there were legitimate reasons that the council was not exploring avenues of radical change like what Thane was suggesting.
    The people had intentionally placed people in power that were not reactionary insurgents. Thane, myself, and a few others had been given decorated positions of ceremonial importance within the new system — but not anything that promised any sort of political power.
    The people wanted to use us as a means of dismantling the previous system, and then replace that system with the equivalent of a doddering, conservative council of mystics. The new leadership of the Fae world was primarily a spiritual one, which was ironic, because the problems that faced the new leadership appeared to be more physical than philosophical.
    The problem here was that my body was reacting to old intimacies between Thane and myself, while my mind was dismissing the sensible, community focused approach of the council.
    I found it difficult to remain