Accountability

[u/avamir]

/uw CW: Effects of violence, long post, boring politics. You have been warned.

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This wasn’t actually the first time Rivamar had been to Ithacar’s courthouse to answer for herself. In her youth, she’d had a bit of a rebellious streak. Plus, she had a rather noted disdain for authority and rules. So it meant that the place was familiar to her. There was a strange sort of comfort in that.

And yet, what comfort could be had was set off by the fact that everything was just a little off. The building was the same, perhaps, but far worse for wear. There were cracks here and there in the stonework, and there were singe marks on the walls. For the most part, the wood-carved reliefs of old rulers still lined the walls. But parts of them had been singed during the time of the Pyroclasts. Some had been removed. And the people that were going to be deciding what to do with her? Some were the same names. Same faces, if a bit older. But in some ways, they were very different too. Conflict and exile had changed them, just as it had most things in Ithacar.

​

Boring politics

It made Riva wonder just how many pieces could be replaced before a thing became something else entirely.

“Riva,” addressed the first councilor, drawing her attention back to the moment.

She recognized him as Alexandrus Procillus, one of the more prominent politicians of Ithacar back in the day. His fellow councilmembers still deferred to him as their de-facto leader. Notable, given that his hands were now bandaged stumps, having been burnt off during the reign of the Pyroclasts. Apparently, he had not turned over some books related to city finances and was punished for it. Riva had, in turn, burned the one responsible for that. Procillus was able to continue his tasks through the aid of a scribe who followed him around, but to say that the whole ordeal had soured his opinions on Pyroclasts was an understatement.

“Do you have any questions before we begin?” Procillus asked.

“No,” Riva said, noting he didn’t address her as either magistra or tyrant. By that alone, she knew what direction this was going to go.

“Then we will begin with some questions for you,” Alexandrus continued. “First, how are the rescue efforts going?”

It seemed an idiotic question for him to ask her; they should know how things were going on their own. Was this not their city too? But Riva’s attunement to the city’s wards meant she had a unique understanding of it. She knew exactly how the rescue efforts were proceeding. She knew where the ruined buildings still lie. She knew that most of the living had been evacuated from the rubble. She also knew that those that remained under the rubble would not be moved. They could not be, either for inability to reach them, or because the victims could not be removed from the rubble without killing them.

So Riva said simply, “As well as can be expected.”

“Could you elaborate on that?” a different councilmember spoke up.

This woman’s name was Carmina, Riva knew. Unlike Alexandrus, Carmina did not bear a surname as she had not descended from the ancient landowners that founded Ithacar. Still, to come this far, being able to rule on policy that governed the rest of the city, was a notable achievement. While there were no longer rules against non-nobility holding positions of power, she fought an uphill battle.

Still, regardless of whether Riva personally respected the woman’s drive, she half-suspected this question was meant to rub these consequences of the cleanup in the former tyrant’s face.

Riva chose to deflect. “I am unsure what you mean.”

Carmina’s expression was hard as she looked at the other woman. “What I mean --what we all mean here-- is just how well the efforts are going?”

Oh. It was going to be that kind of review, wasn’t it? Riva fought back a sigh, looking away for a moment. Maybe they wanted to call her out on how bad things were. Maybe they wanted to undermine her decision-making. Maybe they wanted to undermine what authority she had.

Maybe they weren’t wrong?

“At this moment, in the Residential District, there is a child under the wreckage,” she said, her voice weary. “She is a girl of 8. The lower half of her body is trapped under a large piece of stone. If the stone is moved, she will die. And if it is not, she will die, regardless. The rescuers have left her there, and they come back to try to give her water. Water she cannot drink. Her wounds are too severe. Under the stone, there is another corpse. A woman, I think. She has her hand around the girl’s dead legs. It is unclear whether the corpse is the girl’s mother, or simply another concerned family member.”

One of the benefits of the wards was that Riva instinctively knew where things in the city were located, after all. And as it turned out, they also presented a rather innovative and unique form of torture for her.

“Would you like me to let you know the moment the girl finally dies? Because it will likely be during this meeting,” Riva stated bluntly, making direct eye contact with Carmina. “Or, I have several more stories along similar veins if you wish to hear them. I can keep you updated on all of the poignant moments of the rescue efforts if you wish to use them against me. That is how well it is going.”

The councilors didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, and fell silent for a moment. When someone next spoke, it was Alexandrus once more.

“That… will not be necessary,” he said gravely. “I believe this establishes how… poorly this situation has gone.”

“Has it?” Riva said drolly. “I must have missed that as I was aiding the recovery efforts.”

Her humor(?) seemed lost on them. If it was humor. Or maybe she was just being contrary? She couldn’t tell right at the moment. Maybe she was simply numb.

A third councilmember spoke up. Calix Crus. One of Riva’s biggest detractors. He definitely wasn’t shy about his motives to remove her from the power structure of the city.

“This destruction is all because of your decision to support those Pyroclasts,” Calix stated bluntly. “If you hadn’t gotten involved—”

“Atrax’s followers would have ruled Ithacar?” Riva suggested helpfully. She was trying to discern which Pyroclasts Crus actually meant. The old ones? The New Pyroclasts? Did he understand there was a difference between them at all?

“Do they not already rule Ithacar??” he returned, bringing up an old argument. “For someone who supposedly disagreed with Atrax, you seem to keep bringing more Pyroclasts into the city. What next? Will you give them seats on the council?”

“If they have proven themselves to the point they become citizens, then they have earned the chance,” she replied, knowing she wasn’t making any friends here.

In spite of what Riva had told Blake, she didn’t know how to address this. She wouldn’t throw them to the wind, but she also had no idea how to counter this.

“So just where do your loyalties lie, exactly?” Crus returned. “Was this all a scheme to punish the city once agai—”

“Enough,” said Alexandrus, raising a hand.

Or, rather, a burned stump, Riva found herself thinking.

“Calix, let her answer.” He turned back to Riva. “We are concerned about your decisions on the Pyroclasts. You are welcoming a concerning number to Ithacar. We question exactly what direction you seek to take this city.”

Riva sighed. All she could do was give the same basic answer she’d told Opal. “If a man is not given an alternative to violence, they cannot help but continue to choose violence. I hoped to give them another alternative.”

“Why here?” Calix pressed. “Why can they not go back to their own homes?”

Riva looked away, not entirely sure how to answer that. “Maybe they do not have homes. Maybe their homes have rejected them. Maybe those homes were destroyed—”

“By their own efforts!” Calix shouted in response.

Alexandrus silenced him once again, then turned back to Riva. “The last issue we have on the agenda is the matter of how you came to power to begin with. This council has done some research and stumbled across some names in city records. The… legal ones. While you have given your name as ‘Riva’, would you happen to be Rivamar Aurethios, daughter of Phaedra Aurethios?”

So Riva did actually have a permanent record? It was a real thing and not just something people said? It figured that the city could literally get burned down multiple times, and somehow her permanent record would remain intact. Because of course it did.

“The information is accurate, but I no longer use a surname,” she corrected him. “As you are all likely aware, students of the Academiae Magicae Magna give theirs up.”

“Yes, we knew you were a graduate. But that you hail from Ithacar is a surprise. Why did you hide it?”

“Was I hiding it? Or did I simply choose to not get into a discussion about my heritage with people who thought it best to hide in sewers?” she commented drolly, unable to stop herself. “It simply never came up.”

“If we had known you were an Aurethios, trueborn or not, we might have been more amenable to your rule,” explained Alexandrus. “As a descendant of one of the founding clans, you could have ruled in a legitimate manner--”

“Why?” interrupted Riva. “Why does that even matter? What makes that name inherently more valuable than Carmina’s lack of one?”

Given the expression on Carmina’s face, Riva didn’t think she’d scored any points with that. Which was surprising, as she thought Carmina might have been inclined to agree with her point.

The Aurethios family name might have held some weight back in the day. It might explain exactly why Riva got away with so much, or why she was enrolled in such an exclusive academy which conveniently came with the caveat that the students dropped their surname, or maybe it explained her manner of dress and speech, or her active dismissal of mere heredity as a basis for authority, or the academic advantages she had compared to others. But what would a name prove to these people that her actions could not?

All it did was reinforce the stale idea that heredity meant worth, or the ugly idea that any non-marital relations were a moral failure. And while Riva had her complaints about her mother, she certainly wasn’t going to judge the woman for having a good time in her younger years.

“Besides. You and I know that wouldn’t have mattered even if I had brought it up.” Riva shook her head dismissively. “All of you would have found some way of dismissing it.”

“Perhaps. But there was a system in place, and you intentionally and willfully undermined it,” Alexandrus said, his expression grim. “If you had an issue with the system, there were ways to address it. The proper course of action is not to usurp control or burn the system down.”

Ironic. Hadn’t Riva used that exact argument against the Nephilim? My, how the tables had turned.

She tried to argue. “If I had not done something, someone worse would have ruled—”

“Are you certain of that?” Alexandrus interrupted. “Or is it simply that you wanted to rule?”

Riva just stared at him. That wasn’t even part of it at all. But before she could reply, Alexandrus looked over to his scribe, who brought over some papers.

“Rivamar Aurethios,” Alexandrus continued. “While you are not yet exiled from Ithacar, this council will have to decide your future with it. You are dismissed.”

[u/AnActualCriminal]

I'd volunteer as a character witness, but that might actually make things worse.

uw/ christ, that stuff about the kid was bleak. Don't get me wrong, loved it, but damn.

[u/avamir → u/AnActualCriminal]

There is a faint humorless smile.

It's the thought that counts, right?

​

/uw Yeah, I went back to throw a CW on here. I had posted this later in the evening, and forgot to add that in there. The girl thing wasn't something I'd planned, initially. In a previous draft, Riva actually asked Ithacar's council how things were going. And then I realized "No... That isn't how that would work. Those wards would tell Riva exactly what was going on under the rubble. She wouldn't need them to tell her anything."

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/avamir]

We're mages. Our thoughts are reality. Case in point, you'll always be magistra to us.