Difference of Culture (4/4)

"Well?" Fina asks after a long pause, "What's your last concern? I still sense something."

Haalfrin shakes his head. "It's fine. I don't feel… upset anymore."

"No!" Fina insists urgently. "I know you don't want to kill yourself anymore, but while we're here, it's best to get things out of the way. What was your other concern?"

Haalfrin scratches his head awkwardly, "Well, I've noticed that all of Lareen's war stories seem awfully fixated on the fact that women weren't allowed on the front lines."

"Was that true?" Fina asks.

"Eh… For the most part…," Haalfrin admits, "But why's that a big deal? I mean, I had Myra and Faylin with me in my troupe, back before I became the general. They were women. I mean, I didn't hate them or anything. At most, I thought they were a little unusual."

Haalfrin frowns, "From what I've seen in that Fam Tablet story, all the women soldiers were kept back from the fighting because everyone hated them. It's like all the men in the universe banded together and decided that women were only weak, pathetic creatures whose only use was giving birth to babies."

"Haalfrin… did men like that exist?"

"Of course they did!" Haalfrin nods assertively. In his mind is flitting memories of his brief time being married to Tanya. She was one of the most respected members of the village. In his mind, he was the man, and he was supposed to keep her safe. (Maybe it's his warrior's Pride?)

Haalfrin takes a deep breath and adds, "Yeah, everyone knows that women become mages just about as often as men do. EVERY mage above 2nd Gates were forced by Brancotte Law to attend the Threshold, and only mages were allowed to be soldiers there."

"Naturally, there were just as many male as female soldiers there," he continues. "So, why is it that most of the soldiers who were eaten by the Ants in the Threshold – and later becoming Arkin – were male?"

Dakka raises his hand, "Isn't it because the old, the women, and the injured were evacuated through the World Gate first?"

Yes, the women were mostly kept off the battlefield, but in Haalfrin's mind, he saw it as protection. The author of that Fam tablet story (and the commoners of Lareen) sees it as oppression.

'How dare those little b#stards sh#t on other people's sacrifice?' were Haalfrin's thoughts when he first saw it. 'All those men DIED! Their flesh was pulled from their bones and their blood sucked dry because they were apparently "being cruel" to the people they were protecting?'

In Haalfrin's mind, he still sees the sight of old Resburn, who died just outside the World Gate. That man never got to see Myra again. He never even got to see his child's face.

More than anything else, seeing his people's sacrifice being openly mocked and turned into something ugly… just broke something inside Haalfrin.

In the end, having the soldier's sacrifice being corroded by this is what tipped Haalfrin off the suicidal edge.

Why bother pledging yourself to protect a World Gate and the people behind it when the very people spit on your sacrifice? Is there anything more hurtful than that?

…

Fina lets these negative emotions wash over Haalfrin. Sure, she thinks he's a little misguided in some areas… but isn't everyone misguided? 'It's best to just let him stew for a second,' she thinks.

After Haalfrin finishes remembering how emotionally destroyed he felt earlier, Fina finally starts to talk again:

"Haalfrin, you saw male treatment towards females in your era as offering them 'security'. The humans of this era see it as offering them tyranny. Yes?"

Haalfrin nods, "More or less."

"Good," she claps her hand, "we're on the same page. Now, there's something very important I want you to remember…."

…She takes a deep breath and says, "Security and Tyranny are the two faces of Power."

She turns to Dakka and rubs his leg again. "My dear's told me all about his Goddess, Drakavar… though he's told me not to spread the word…"

Haalfrin nearly chokes on his own spit when he hears that world. 'What?! My bro worships that crazy dragon? Doesn't his goddess destroy the universe in the future? Why didn't Dakka tell me?'

Dakka coughs uncomfortably, "Ehem… Yeah, I'm not supposed to talk about the Mistress. Drakavar only gave me permission to chat about her with Fina because she's my wife. A-anyway, Fina was pretty on point with describing Drakavar this way…"

Indeed, Drakavar – the Goddess of Power – is both protective for her people and tyrannical. She loves her people, feeds them, and protects them... but she also chains them.

Fina gives a side glance at her husband before continuing, "Well, Tyranny and Security have a very strange relationship with each other.

"Tyrants will often rise to power by promising a fearful population Security. A nation's Security will often be destroyed by revolutionaries promising to abolish Tyranny, yet destroying order and law in the process.

"You cannot have one without the other – security and tyranny. The more a person's capacity to secure your safety, the more is their capacity to tyrannize you."

She points at Haalfrin and says slowly, "Men of your era were expected to protect women – to give them security. At the same time, their capacity to tyrannize them was also exaggerated. That's just how Power works."

Fina then takes a deep breath. "I'm not saying that the people of your era were wrong, but I also want you to understand that the humans of this era aren't wrong either.

"In the end, life and nature is only concerned with prolonging itself. The ultimate game of life is procreation."

She puts a hand over her belly. "A woman's role in procreation takes a lot more out of her. She gets pregnant for months at a time, she has to nurse the baby with her milk afterwards, and she's more exposed to diseases and harm because of this. Her role in the cycle of life takes a lot longer, and it's more precarious."

She then puts a hand on Dakka. "Men, on the other hand, have very little to do with the cycle of life. All they technically have to do is have a night of fun and be done with it… at the bare minimum."

She then points at Haalfrin again. "This makes men more expendable in nature's eyes. If someone HAS to get killed, it's better for it to be a man."

"Yeah…," Haalfrin nods, "When you put it that way, it makes sense. In a society where you might die to a plague, get run down by bandits, or get slaughtered in a genocide by some conqueror… Well… If a society that's under threat were to sacrifice their women's lives, then that society would die out after one generation."

"Yes…," Fina concedes, "and under that logic… Well, Lareen hasn't been under any kind of threat for a long time. Frankly, the need for men to protect women is quite pointless in their eyes."

Looking down, Fina sees the city beneath the Valor Hall. "If they can't understand the need for male provided Security, then they'll only see Tyranny…"

She frowns upon sensing Haalfrin's thoughts, then she bursts in a raised voice, "And I'm NOT saying that they're blind to how good the girls had it.

"I'm saying that Security and Tyranny BOTH existed in abundance, and they will ALWAYS exist together. Men shielded women from a lot of danger AND they tyrannized them. The humans of this era ARE NOT wrong to notice the evils of the past.

"However, it's inevitable that they'll never be able to see the full picture. Nobody can see the entire truth. Everyone is like a blind person groping around in the dark – feeling and experiencing the truth of their environment, but never seeing the entirety of it. Please, be understanding of that."

---------------------

Seeing that Haalfrin is lost in thought, Fina smiles before standing up. "Just remember," she says in a slow voice…

"People often feel lonely because they hate others, and others hate them. It's hatred. The cure to hatred is compassion. So… Please be more compassionate towards other cultures. Even for the villains and criminals, you should still try to be compassionate first."

Haalfrin stands up as well. Surprisingly, he steps forward and pulls Fina and Dakka in for a hug. "Thank you. Both of you."

Fina's eyes go wide, and she nearly chokes in surprise. Eh… She just really thought that he's not the touchy-feely type of guy. He usually keeps his distance and keeps quiet about his inner thoughts.

Dakka, however, isn't having any complicated thoughts about his friend's strange behavior. Instead, he just grins and hugs him back (nearly breaking the human's spine in the process).

Once Haalfrin is released from his friend's (death) grip, Haalfrin nods at the dragon. "Thank you for being here." He turns to Fina and bows with a clasped fist, "Thank you for your time and words. Your wisdom has reached higher than the heavens."

"I'm a goddess…," Fina rolls her eyes. "Besides, I'm quite old."

---------------------

For the rest of the day, Haalfrin spends time with Dakka and Fina – reading books, talking, and walking around. Given how emotionally distraught he was earlier in the day, his friends can't just leave him so quickly.

Still, when the sun sets, they wave their good byes, and they go their separate ways.

Even with them gone, Haalfrin can't get Fina's final words out of his head.

'That's right,' he thinks, 'If I want to be more compassionate towards the Lareen way of seeing things, then I should actually try to learn their history and understand their story…'

So, later that night, he posts a written order at a delivery office in the city below – requesting several dozen history books to be sent to him for a modest fee.