3+
He didn't know: she didn't know. How could she? But she was glad, now. Despite his first impression, he had proven to be no mangy vagrant but a decent guy who had been genuinely hard done by. She dropped her head in a doggish shrug as he apologised, dismissing the sentiment. It was good to talk to someone: make an actual connection, even if it wasn't entirely amicable. Caspa was not so much an island, in general, as an iceberg: not only alone, but also cold, featureless and adrift at sea without so much as a penguin to keep her company. Today, it seemed, at least she had collided with a fellow floe.
Maybe her father had abused his power. But that was what it was for, and if one was strong enough to bow to power because it was for the greater good and the only defence against terror and anarchy, then one could not criticise too strongly. He had done nothing that was actually reprehensible, and all his actions had come from a place of love. Her mother, who had never done anything momentous in her life, was more to blame for the oppressive atmosphere at home than Caspa's father, in her opinion. She let these thoughts fall uselessly back where they came from (and good riddance) as Augustus gave her the run-down of his own ethical inheritance. It sounded basic, with some grey areas - who decided what the consequences were - but she supposed that in this case too the leaders had the final say, which was why the order was so important. Who chose leaders, anyway? Everywhere seemed to have a different method - she still had no idea exactly how Vigilante had claimed the Cour throne, not that he didn't deserve it. "I applaud your pack's understanding of the natural balance," she answered rather slowly. "That is the part that often gets lost." Probably because it meant utterly different things to everybody. To Caspa's people, the natural balance was the word of their God. She could not fathom that another place's natural balance might have been different but equally valid - or more valid, more likely.
"Well, now we've had dinner and discovered the meaning of life," she said finally, "What happens next? If you need a home for the winter, my pack's borders are open." She hadn't quite meant to go so far with her hospitality, but it seemed her good-will and fellow-feeling was at an all time high today.
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