♱ @goldenvelleity, continued from here // janna & previous lord;;
『 JANNA HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS, 』 and she hardly hesitates to ask them. It’s pleasing to the Lord, who is used to people questioning him without wanting true answers. They question because they want to know why he does not think the way that the rest of Lukedonia seems to, and then – when he gives them their answers – they flounder and avoid. New ways of thinking can be quite daunting after all, but the Lord is still glad to see one person who is eager to learn and to accept. Even if he does worry that she is a little too eager to learn all that she can from him… he’s a cool Lord, after all, but Janna seems impressionable to a troublesome level.
He laughs at her next curious inquiry. ❝ Do you like cats, Janna? Do you perhaps feel the need to protect them from the harsh world outside when you see a sweet little kitten meowing at your feet? I’m inclined to think we thought the exact same of humans. Once upon a time, humans were small and grubby little things, capable of next to nothing. They were so adorable! And now they’re all big and grown. Makes me kinda sad to see it… I do miss when they were just a little more pitiful. They came crying to me, too. ❛Help us, Lord!❜ they said. I had to turn so many of them away because it was all things they could manage on their own. ❞
Nobles had sworn to protect these humans, much weaker than themselves, against a cold and brutal world that they could not yet endure. And yet, eventually, it fell to bloodshed and disaster anyway. Because nobles had begun to believe that this adoration was their right. Too concerned were they with the thought of being worshipped that they failed to see that with a single swing of their weapons, they could fell entire armies. And when they did, did they ever regret the bloodshed? Centuries of protecting humans… and now, it seems to the Lord as if it is truly nobility that nobles must protect humans from.
❝ Will humans be any happier over us telling them how they should act? War over Gods is no different than wars that would have been waged over nobles who reign above humans, in the end. That is why nobles need a Lord, my dear… we are great, and powerful, and no doubt we can wreak mass destruction if we so wanted, with just a flick of the wrist. ❞ Just as the Lord had done one time, when he’d merely intended to help Raizel move his tea set... what a fragile thing it was! Surely, that one time was no fault of the Lord’s!
❝ There are so many humans, many more than there will ever be nobles. And they all have such different beliefs, and lead such different lives. That’s what I adore most about humans… I wouldn’t want to force them together like that: under one ruler, who can’t possibly understand all their wishes and their thoughts at once. ❞
And were nobles not capable of being all these things… were they not cruel, irrational, and awful, as well? The Lord has seen such things, many times in the past. This generation has yet to see true war waged among themselves, and much less war waged against them. They are so innocent, and it’s not the Lord’s place to disenchant them – Janna included. Difficult times, surely, will be ahead, but they will not yet come for a while. The Lord will prepare on his own front, along with the older family leaders who have heard and shared these concerns of his already. Yet he does not wish to speak of such things to the young ones, when it will only serve to bring gloom and doom.
Yet… such flattering words! Sometimes it seems as if Janna knows exactly what the Lord wants to hear. ❝ Isn’t she perfect! She will make an excellent Lord, a much better than one than I will have been. and I wish you would tell her so, as well, when she needs to hear it. ❞ Because his daughter will need such words – either very soon, as the burden of the throne nears, or far, far in the future… when the Lord is no longer there to watch over her. The position of Lord is such a very lonely one, after all.
Of course, he does not intend to say such things to Janna. Janna, a young and carefree girl, who does not need to hear of such unpleasant things in this moment.
❝ I believe so as well. I know my daughter, and I do think she is fond of you. ❞ After all, Raskreia is quite blunt, much more than she seems to think at times. His daughter would hardly sit through something she doesn’t deem necessary, unless it is out of pure respect. But still, he thinks she would make her opinion very clear anyway.