Next to the Great Hall was the bathroom where the old governor used to take his footbaths, which Daemon had converted into his office.
There too, everything had been readapted according to the new role that the room had to play: a simple but well-built desk had replaced the pompous seat with stool and armrests, the walls had been repainted, and next to the large window now stood a pole with the flag of the Free State hanging from it.
"Shouldn't you be at the barracks?" Daemon said as he walked in to find Scalia sitting at the guest booth by the fireplace
"I have nothing to do, I'm bored standing there."
"I thought you would be comfortable among so many young recruits to train."
"I have no patience with newbies, you know. I'll let Jack handle it."
"I heard that you often go to the library. I am pleased. It means that in the end I managed to make you love books."
"Actually, as I said, it's mostly because I'm bored. I mean, Grog oversees the mines now, old Passe is on that regency council of yours, Jack trains the recruits, Lori and the others keep the palace in order. In all this, what would my role be? If you let me go back to work..."
"I need you here, Scalia. Indeed, I fear that the time will come when your skill with the sword will be useful to us again."
"Do you think someone will attack us sooner or later?"
"If I told you it wasn't a possibility it would be a lie. Epochal changes are never painless processes. The Revolution brought something never before seen to this world, and many may see our very existence as a threat."
"But aren't all those trade agreements meant to guarantee peace?"
"Those are a bridge. A hand reaching out to demonstrate our goodwill. It's up to our enemies to choose whether or not to tighten it. But we have to be ready for anything, and that's why we're building a regular army."
"Speaking of which, I also came to talk to you about something. There's been some trouble in town."
Daemon sighed, "Xylla, right?"
"Since we freed her she has done nothing but cause problems. Luckily, I happened to be passing that way and I managed to stop her, otherwise that guy would have lost more than an eye. It seems that she attacked them for no reason."
"I can't justify what she does, but I tried to be understanding with her. What she went through would have been terrible for anyone. And where is she now?"
"We locked her in the cell waiting for her to calm down. But now I too think that measures should be taken before something irreparable happens."
"Okay, I'll try to talk to her."
Scalia, however, seemed to have something else bothering her: "Daemon, I was thinking..."
"Yes?"
"Well, I don't like discussing your actions. After all, you are the one who gave us freedom. However, the fact is that some of us have... let's say some doubts about some of your choices."
The young man looked at her as if she were an open book.
"Speak up."
"When you urged us to rebel you said that all those who had harmed us would pay for their crimes. However, many landowners, many slavers... even some militia officers. If we exclude a few, many of those people were never punished."
"You're wrong Scalia. We are punishing them. Severely, too."
"What!?"
"Think of Van Lobre, or Baron Mecht. They no longer have lands, titles or properties. All they can do is watch helplessly as they, as trustees, administer lands that once belonged to them, now owned by the state and entrusted to the same slaves they once mistreated. And what about the militiamen who surrendered? They had to choose between prison or enlisting in the National Guard, and if they want to continue living they will have no choice but to fight, with us and for us. Don't you think that for people like them, who are used to seeing you as nothing more than objects, this is the worst possible punishment?"
Scalia had to admit that there was some logic in Daemon's words, and even if she was not yet completely convinced, she accepted that explanation, promising to spread it even among those who had the same doubts as her.
At that moment three more guests arrived, one of which did not fail to give Scalia an annoying knot in her stomach.
"And what are you doing here, busty?" the girl growled at Isabela. "Know that I haven't missed you."
"The feeling is mutual, you little fire-breather."
"Isabela, that's enough." Sylvie admonished before turning to Daemon. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Messer Haselworth."
«Welcome back, Eminence. You were quick."
She smiled, then had her disciple pass her a small wooden box containing a sealed scroll which she handed to Daemon.
"From this moment, I officially serve as Bishop of this nation, and I entrust myself completely to your care. I hope that our cooperation will be peaceful and lasting, in the best interest of your people and to the everlasting glory of our Mother Gaia."
"I am surprised that the Conclave gave its approval. I thought they were going to excommunicate us without ceremony."
"They did it. I only pointed out that there is no law that prevents a Bishop from being assigned to an excommunicated nation, as long as its inhabitants devoutly obey the law of Gaia."
"Between being a nation born from a slave revolt and the reforms we enacted, I was pretty sure they weren't going to like me. But if you are here to try to change my mind, I warn you that it will be useless. The secular state and religious freedom are two fundamental cornerstones on which I intend to build this nation."
"You can rest assured. Unlike many of my colleagues, I have no interest in meddling in issues relating to politics or the management of power. My goal is only to bring the word of Gaia to all who want to hear it."
"If there were more people like you, perhaps today people would have a completely different opinion of those who govern the Circle."
In my previous life, I had always been adamant about maintaining order both in the army and in civil society.
I had a guillotine built in every major city in the Empire, and I was in the habit of severely punishing every little mistake committed by my men both in war and in times of peace.
I had often been told that perhaps sometimes I tended to overreach, but regardless of my past as a soldier, I had always been educated to consider respect for the rules a virtue that did not allow exceptions, to be imposed even by force if necessary.
Following this reasoning, Xylla should have ended up on the gallows some time ago, but I had decided to be patient.
A harpy, however plucked, was a resource I did not intend to give up.
I had given her a bit of time in the hope that like her companions she would be able to make peace with the past and start over, but by now it was clear that it would be impossible for her to free herself from that aggressive fury she carried inside.
And if I couldn't control her, I might as well unleash her, hopefully in the right direction.
"I'm starting to think you like this place." I said as I entered her cell. "I mean, isn't this the third time in a few weeks you've ended up in here?"
It was incredible how such bright eyes, truly worthy of a princess of noble blood, could express such hatred towards everything and everyone.
"I've tried to be understanding with you, but you make things difficult for me. Unlike the trouble you've caused so far, this isn't something that can be solved with money alone. That soldier was an important element of our army, and he fought alongside me since the Battle of the Hill."
She turned to look at me; since the days of the Arcole Bridge, I hadn't felt my wrists tremble just by making eye contact with someone.
"What do you want from me?" she screamed, so loud they probably heard her all the way up in the towers
"Look around. You see it? You were left alone. Even your companions turned their backs on you. They were just as traumatized as you by what you went through, yet they were able to move on. Why is it so difficult for you?"
"They're just silly traitors! I will never mix with humans! Never!"
"But you have no other choice, and you know it. There is nothing for you outside this nation. What I am building here will serve to give you all a world in which to be free. No more slavery. No more cages. No more human beasts using you as a breeding animal. Your friends understood this, and now they are trying to help us. You, who could contribute more than all of them, instead waste your strength and talent starting brawls in taverns and causing disorder. But one day you might meet someone stronger than you, and then there won't be anyone ready to get you out of trouble."
"So much the better! At least this will be over!"
A harpy was on average two to four times stronger than a human being, and one of their claws was capable of splitting you open. However, there was a point, at the base of the neck, which if tightened with even minimal force left them defenseless, preventing them from moving and almost completely cutting off their breathing.
For a moment I saw myself in her that day in the cave, in front of Borg; a small, fragile insect at the mercy of an animal bigger and nastier than him.
And probably the expression with which Xylla looked at me in what for her were interminable moments was the same with which I had stared at that pig at the time.
"What's the problem? Didn't you just say that you don't mind the idea of dying? But if you really think so, how do you explain the fear I see in your eyes now?"
I waited until she started drooling, then released my hold on her, allowing her to breathe again.
I didn't bother moving away to escape her fury; she would have killed me immediately if she could, but she was so weak that she could barely stay awake.
"You think you're tough and pretend that what you've been through hasn't broken you. But I see just a little girl too much coward to have the guts to die and too proud to admit it."
Then I uncovered my neck, revealing the mark Borg had left on me that day; the same one I had just left on her.
"I too have seen hell. But unlike you, I chose to fight."
"What should I do?" she asked me, in tears and through gritted teeth
It was time to strike.
"The hatred you carry inside you is an evil that is devouring you. And if you can't put it behind you, then use it. Don't allow it to dominate you. And if blood is what you need, I can give you as much as you want. I'll put so many assholes in your path who just deserve to die that you'll end up losing count of how many you kill. And when one day, perhaps, you have made peace with your demons, then you can start doing something good with your life."
Life had taught me that a person who allows anger and fury to guide him is doomed to self-destruction.
Sometimes, however, some people need to look at hell to understand what they want to be, and whether they prefer to drown in it or leave it behind before it's too late.
If anger was the only thing that gave Xylla and others like her purpose, I told myself, we might as well use it.
And if in the end she hadn't managed to understand that the path of hatred only leads to ruin, that's her business; for the moment it was enough for me that she used her abilities for something useful.
"If I fight for you, will you promise me that no one else will have to go through what we went through?"
"You have my word. This small country is just the first step, very soon our ideals will be law throughout this world. And then no one but you will have the right to decide about your life anymore."
"But you said you would never attack anyone."
"I only said that I wouldn't strike first. But from experience I can tell you that Revolutions like ours, once begun, do not stop until everything that existed before them has been swept away. It's only a matter of time, but sooner or later someone wise enough to understand it and stupid enough to think they can stop it will try to stop us. And then the guns will have the last word again."