How can I offer her peace when the world is filled with death?
- King Richard
As the crowd starts to disperse out onto the branch, those of us onstage head through the door leading further into the castle. We will leave via a quieter exit, then head up to the aviary to fly to the next town.
“Well done!” Arienna says as she looks first at me, then at Petre. “I think you both brought up some great points.”
“Her points are ridiculous,” I say tightly. “The idiots she speaks of will still have to prove they understand what they are voting on.”
“No, they only have to prove they know the answers to the questions,” Petre says sharply as she walks on the other side of my queen. “And those questions will be very basic, not proving any understanding at all.”
“As a collective, people are smarter.” The morons at the bottom will be evened out by those at the top.
“As a collective,” Tanya sneers from behind me, “people follow whoever is the loudest.”
“This is why everyone should have a voice.”
“They have a voice,” Coo says as we take a corner and head for the double doors opening out onto the west side of our tree. “You hear them every morning.”
“And when they write to us about their grievances,” her twin sister, Chi, adds.
My jaw tightens in irritation. That is not enough. I only hear a fraction of them, and what do I really know of their troubles when I live in an entirely different world? I do not know how hard it is to farm or what it is like to go hungry. I make my decisions with zero empathy – sending a wave of soldiers in to die so we can hold a strategic point elsewhere; massacring the children of the Alzans so we can scare them into running rather than fighting, thus saving more of our own; committing war crimes and framing the Jokeni so I can drum up more support when it wanes; slaughtering an entire town to stop the zombie fungus from spreading rather than using the resources it’d take to cure our people; and killing my own sister.
She chose me to take her place because I was better suited to war. I am heartless and cold and do what needs to be done. But a tyrant does not have a place in this new world. It needs someone who will listen to the people they don’t like or agree with, and considering no one like that exists, it needs a collective of voices.
“Well,” Arienna says cheerfully, “I think you both did a fantastic job of educating your people. Although, I have to say, I don’t quite understand why people are against taxes.”
We step outside, and I pick her up in my arms. She gulps as I spread my wings, but I don’t take off yet.
“What is your question?” I ask her, knowing she will be scared to mention it while we fly.
“If no one wishes for things to be free here – like food and housing. Then how come they’re against paying for the services the monarchy provides them?” She glances around at all the stern members of the Court before looking at me. Staring into my eyes, she finds her strength to continue. “When you buy an apple, you’re not just paying for the apple, right? You’re paying for the labour to pick it and the costs of the business to keep it fresh. So I’m a bit confused about how taxes differ to any other bill?”
None of us say anything.
“Because it’s stealing,” Coo finally answers.
“How?”
“Well, because not everyone wants all the services the money is used on.”
“But if I don’t care if my apple has a bug in it, I still have to pay for someone to quality check all of them because it’s part of the business, don’t I? Or if I don’t think the CEO needs a new wardrobe this year, but she increases the price anyway, then I still have to pay the difference? And if they then use their profits to lobotomise –”
“Lobby,” I correct.
“To lobby for war and other unhelpful things, then is that all stealing too?” she asks, genuinely confused.
“Well,” Coo says, then looks to her sister.
Chi shrugs.
“It’s not literal stealing,” I say slowly even though I’m not entirely sure how to explain this in a way a brownie will understand either. “But it’s harder… for people to see the return… of what they’ve... purchased when they don’t see the labour.”
“So why not just show them the labour? You do a lot of work for this kingdom.” She looks around at the others. “You all do.”
“Of course we do,” Tanya says. “And yet, your husband is still trying to kill us for it.”
“I could change that law if you’d let me.” I would prefer to retire them with my sword, but if that’s all it takes for them to get on board with this, then fuck it. I’m tired of fighting. All I want is to spend a life with my queen. I want to see her pregnant and laughing andsafe.
