With the glare I gave her after the council vote I’m sure she knows that’s coming. Do you remember when I was young and naïve myself and my rivalry with Alistar was kicking off? We were only children. One particular day, there was this leader from another coven visiting. He was talking to our father in the foyer and Alistar and I happened to be coming down the stairs at the same time. Now, for years I kept telling myself that father had only mentioned this man in passing, but I eventually realized that I just wasn’t valuing what he was telling me as much as I should have. The man addressed me first, and all I could remember was his first name, so his first name is all I greeted him with. The stutter in the entire room made me feel so small. The man was clearly offended, my father embarrassed, but lucky for him, his glowing heir stepped up with his first and last name at the ready, inquired about family members, the entire schtick. Father wouldn’t look at me for days. I’ve never made that mistake since, not with a single person… witch or wolf. It may have been hopeless to spend as much time as I did studying and bettering myself for father’s approval in the years following, but he taught me lessons I’ll never forget. That day, I learned that names are everything. They’re who we are, they’re where we’re from, and they’re who we’re with. Some names carry more weight than others. I never even bother with a human’s last name for this reason, amongst one or two others. And if there is power in a name, then there is certainly power with the great covens. Any witch who has studied magic history knows the Black name. That’s no mere fact that deserves blurring into the background. Without our names acting for our covens’ names, we lose power, history, our strongest enemies along with our strongest alliances, and the interests of our own people that make us separate from the others. It’s traditional, and perhaps dated, but that date stretches back thousands of years. And if someone doesn’t see eye-to-eye with that sort of thinking, well, addressing someone by their first and last name certainly commands attention, doesn’t it Vesper Linwood? It’s all power, and we’re going to need it to survive.
Well I find that words often operate better than glares, so if you would like any counsel before or after that conversation, I’m happy to help if you think it would. I... I had never heard that story, Aemilia, but I understand how that has shaped the way you view things. Names are indeed power, I won’t dispute that. I have never suggested that we erase or rewrite history. As a historian, your historian, you should know that I would never let the Black family name be obscured or lost to time. But that cannot be your only legacy. You cannot control what happens past your lifetime, only what happens in this moment. Your father was a great many things, but in this, he and I disagreed. Building a legacy is a powerful and tempting goal, but there are ways to do it without employing brute force and demands. It may take more time, it may be more frustrating, but it will be stronger, harder to take down. A name is only as strong as the person who wields it. Force is swift and punishing, but brittle. Cooperation breeds the sort of alliances that we need.
stormborns
2087
germansingergirl
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
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