ELRETH

The elders all watched her with a combined sense of anticipation and concern. She knew she'd earned their hesitation. She'd been so emotional for the past few days. This was a chance to show them all that she could address these issues maturely, and without throwing her weight around. But they wanted her to wait on the Flames and Smoke? Because she'd broken too many traditions?

Elreth's chest simmered with resentment that, had she named Dargyn, the elders would not have come at her with this. But she knew she couldn't avoid it. So she swallowed and leaned forward in her seat.

"I know everything has been very different. And I am aware of the affect that has on the people. Routines, traditions, expectations… these all help a people feel confident, and I have broken most of them. Ironically, walking the Flames and Smoke—not taking my mate until I have—was a decision I made to fulfill the traditions. To give the people more confidence. So, tell me, which will have more impact? To hold off and allow the people to relax, or to show them that I don't intend to break the traditions where it can be avoided?"

The elders looked at each other.

"I am of the opinion that, while the announcement will feel shaky for many, because they've all seen the relationship Elreth and Aaryn share the shock will pass quickly. Under other circumstances it would be almost expected. I think you may have judged it correctly, Elreth. Showing them that you will hold to some traditions will help them to feel safer as they walk into this new era. What are your thoughts, brothers and sisters?" Lhern asked them, opening the floor.

Drehye, a gray-haired equine stood and regarded Elreth. "I fear that you are over-simplifying the issue," he said earnestly, looking between Elreth and Lhern. "While I agree that seeing you fulfill some traditions will be regarded positively, you are yet an agent of change. Change that is needed," he hurried to add. "However, change will only be resented when it is forced upon people, especially so many at once. I wonder if your announcement of your True Mate should be taken alone. Rather than indicating that the Flames and Smoke are to come immediately, tell the people you intend to walk them. Allow them to become familiar with the idea before you bring them to the Circle.

"Perhaps they embrace this idea quickly, and so we set the flames. But perhaps they do not. Perhaps you do not split your time and energy between the planning of this event, and the attention and answers your people will need."

Elreth wanted to stamp. He was right. He was absolutely right. There was no harm in making the announcement without setting a date for the Flames and Smoke—except that it may force her and Aaryn to wait longer than they wanted to.

Her mind flashed then on the image of Aaryn in the water, his shoulders bobbing above the surface, rippling as he pulled her into his lap and kissed her. Her stomach trilled and her breath caught.

She blinked. The elders were watching, waiting for her response.

"You're likely right, Drehye," she said reluctantly. "Though I'll admit to a desire to get to the rite as quickly as possible. I can see the wisdom in announcing without setting a date. However, I ask you as elders, at what point do we as leaders take our positions and stand firm? How long is a worthy wait, and how long is only trying to appease a portion of the people that I know are wrong?"

She looked at them all, determined. "I envision a new Anima. Not all at once. I do not wish to forget the role of tradition and history. But I do wish to add to it, so that one hundred years from now our young will be surprised to discover that the disformed were seen differently, were viewed as so inferior. But I need your help to make that happen. And… if I held one criticism of my father on this issue, it was that he moved too slowly. His own attitude to the disformed was to entirely embrace them. He held no prejudice. Yet, while he challenged philosophies of prejudice and led by example allowing his mate to take a disformed Cohort, and holding other disformed in high regard… he allowed those that had concerns to stifle his intentions. He could have brought our people much further on this issue than he did. And in part, it was this kind of delay that slowed his progress.

"So, I ask you, elders: how much of this delay is based in wise caution, and how much in the indulgence to people who we all apparently agree are wrong?"

They shifted in their seats, some murmuring to each other. There was a clear line between those who had no issue with the disformed, and those who saw the beauty of progress, but were tied to the status quo.

Elreth had observed this in many of her father's generation—that their attachment to the way things were sometimes overrode their commitment to appropriate change. That they resisted the discomfort of adjustment, especially where they were not the ones suffering.

Her father had too much empathy to ignore the issues of the disformed—and a truly forward thinking perspective on who and why they were. But in the end, he chose the many over the few. Until the disformed population blossomed in the second half of Elreth's life, he'd mainly focused on bringing disformed into roles near his own power, to attempt to change the people's perspective on what they were capable of.

But Elreth was concerned that he had lost sight of the threat the disformed presented. If they continued to grow as they currently were, they'd be a full half of the population before Elreth's offspring—if she were blessed with them—became fully-fledged adults.

"Well?" she asked when she realized none of them had answered. "Tell me true: Do you caution me against discomforting the people, or do you caution me because you do not want to be discomforted by them? How long will we allow the bigots to change the course of Anima?"