Kaldalis thought that Garyung was holding it together really well. They got all the way outside of the building without complaint or argument between them. It wasn’t until they were about a block away from the building that he found out why.

Garyung had just not wanted to break down crying in front of all those people.

“What the fuck am I gonna do?” he said. As a Bhogad, his face was a lot more animal-like than the other races - even the Talsar - but Kaldalis could still clearly read the anguish painted on his features. “I’m fucking trapped in this forever, aren’t I?”

Kaldalis gave Garyung a reassuring pat on the back, which the larger man took as an invitation to lean into him. Kaldalis grimaced and continued patting Garyung’s back, letting him cry into his shoulder.

“That’s it, bud,” Kaldalis said, trying to sound reassuring. “Let it all out. It’s all gonna be okay.”

“How?” Garyung wailed. “How is it gonna be okay?”

“Don’t worry about that now,” Kaldalis said. “Just let out the tears. Cry out all the anxiety, and then we can figure this out.”

As Garyung started to sniffle and try to pull himself together, Kaldalis tried to think of what solution he was going to offer. Now that they were out on the street again, though, he found himself remembering Demriv.

Garyung needed to know what had happened. As the leader of Cotanaku, he needed to know that one of the members of the Panbu council had attempted to hunt down one of his citizens - and friends - to murder him in the street. He also needed to know that Demriv had thrown herself off a roof so that some bystander might mistakenly identify Kaldalis as a murderer. He also needed to know that if he saw her again, it meant that Onirioago had somehow given her the same Lataxinan respawn gift. And he definitely deserved to know that she blamed all PCs for… Something. Something so bad she was willing to kill.

Kaldalis knew that there was never going to be a good time to tell that story, but it had to be told. That said, this was absolutely not the time to pile on new problems.

“Take your time,” Kaldalis said as Garyung gathered his wits. “Let’s get back to the inn and we can talk there. Maybe a couple of others will be kicking around and we can pick their brains, too.”

“And if Reno is there, maybe we can find out if we have time to warn people about the Contender,” Garyung said.

“I’d forgotten all about that,” Kaldalis lied. He hadn’t forgotten that asshole for a second. But Garyung needed a win, and even one this small might help. “Good thinking.”

Once Garyung was in a more solid state, they started to move towards the inn. Garyung still seemed emotionally distraught, as evidenced by how little he seemed to be paying attention to their surroundings. It made Kaldalis nervous, as if he was inviting another assassin to attack them. He redoubled his own efforts to keep his head up and keep an eye out for danger.

There was no sign of an observer or tail. Which Kaldalis suspected just meant that whoever was watching them was really good at their job. If the War Council they’d just left wasn’t having them watched, then they were stupider than they looked. And given their ridiculous outfits, they looked pretty stupid.

The sun was setting now, and the shadows were getting long and dark. Even if Kaldalis knew exactly who he was looking for, they would be nearly impossible to actually set eyes on. But he only needed to make sure he was aware enough to dissuade physical attack. Or at least have enough warning to avoid a fatal wound from an unseen blade.

They got back to the inn without incident, though. There were people in the tavern, but none of their group were present. Kaldalis wondered if he was supposed to go and fetch Bangen, and worried about what his other friends were being dragged along to do on their quests. At any rate, the only way to get any privacy and peace was to get Garyung up to his room. While he had managed to physically put on a brave face, he was drained to near-collapse mentally, and Kaldalis could sympathize. He had been working off of a second wind after meeting with Haldir’s sister, and was near to empty himself.

As soon as they got up to Garyung’s room, the man collapsed on the bed with a sigh of raw exhaustion. He lay there for a moment, and Kaldalis wasn’t sure if he should leave the man to rest, or if he should stay to stop him from getting too deep in his own head about the consequences of what just happened.

“What the fuck am I going to do?” Garyung groaned, making the decision. “No matter what way I look at this problem, I’m entirely fucked, right? That’s not just my anxiety talking?”

“It’s absolutely just your anxiety talking,” Kaldalis said. He sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “I’m with you that this was a simple, elegant solution, and it just got slapped out of your hands, but it wasn’t the only way. The idea itself wasn’t even smashed to a million pieces.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about what Yarganbintlehat said,” Kaldalis explained. “He rejected your plan, but he gave you a roadmap to try again.”

“Yeah, he told me I suck, and to send someone else,” Garyung grumbled. “And he told me you suck, too. I’m not sure how that’s helpful.”

“Yeah, alright, he did say that,” Kaldalis said with a nod, “but what else did he say?”

Garyung grimaced with his brow furrowed for a moment. Eventually he grunted and shook his head, wordlessly giving up on figuring it out.

“In the proclamation, he said that he didn’t see a reason for Zara to pick up Cotanaku,” Kaldalis said, carefully emphasizing the word “reason” as he explained. “They already have Panbu for a toehold on the islands, so they don’t need it for its port. And they probably think we’ve been trashing the place because we’re irresponsible PCs, and they don’t want to clean up our mess. Next time we don’t just come explaining how they take Cotanaku efficiently and cheaply. We have to explain why they want it.”

“Fuck,” Garyung groaned, rolling over and staring at the ceiling with a scowl. “You’re right. I didn’t even put that together.”

“You’re doing a bang-up job as leader so far,” Kaldalis continued. “I know it’s stressful, but you just have to keep the place clean, make it turn a profit in taxes and tariffs or whatever, funnel the money into infrastructure… Badda bing, badda boom, the next time we talk to Zara, we just have to give them a smug look and explain that it’s free real estate.”

Garyung snorted out a reflexive laugh at that, but his expression quickly soured. “If I thought I could do a job like that, I’d just stay as leader. I can’t take this, man. I’m literally at my fucking limit. How long would that take? I don’t know if I can stand being in charge for another day, and you’re talking about spending months on the exact hard work I’m just not cut out for.”

“Then forget Zara,” Kaldalis said, trying not to scowl at Garyung’s sad sack attitude. “We put this whole plan behind us, and look elsewhere. What happens if you default on your loan with Cornix? Do they just take the city from us?”

“I don’t know,” Garyung said with a grimace. “But I’m pretty sure the fiance they’re sending would cut my damn head off first, so you can probably cross that plan off the list.”

“Okay, easier plan,” Kaldalis said. “We can just get another leader.”

“Fucking how?” Garyung snapped, putting a hand over his face. “We already shot that plan down on day one. Just quitting after that landslide victory will make people lose faith in the system. Even if they don’t rebel on the spot, they’ll never take the leadership seriously again.”

“So you don’t just quit,” Kaldalis said. He had said it flippantly, but as soon as he heard the words out loud, pieces started to click into place in his mind. “You don’t just quit,” he repeated. “Of course. Why didn’t I think of it before?”

“Okay, so I won't quit,” Garyung said, shooting Kaldalis a glare. “How does that help me to not have this job anymore?”

“You’re not just an expedition leader anymore, Garyung,” Kaldalis said, excitement growing as he tested the plan in his mind and found it more and more solid. “You’re the leader of a nation. A new nation. A new nation that needs something very critical.”

“A real leader?” Garyung asked with a smirk.

“A constitution,” Kaldalis said with a grin.

Kaldalis paused, waiting for Garyung to understand the plan intuitively.

“The fuck does that mean?” Garyung demanded. “I write ‘we the people’ and then peace out? How does that help?”

“You write the rules,” Kaldalis explained. “New rules that serve your needs. The leader is elected. The leader serves a single term, and can’t be re-elected. And then you say that we’re having our first election, and because you’re the leader now, you’re off the list.”

“Would that work?” Garyung asked, the smirk suddenly fading. For the first time since the meeting started, Kaldalis saw hope in his eyes. “Won’t people question it?”

“I mean, why wouldn’t they?” Kaldalis asked. “If anyone asks, you just tell them that you wrote all the rules. It wouldn't be fair if you’re still in charge, because if you were, then you could have just written the rules to make yourself king. The only way your constitution can be trusted is if you’re not the one in charge anymore. Maybe one of the rules in your constitution is that it gets revised by the next leader on their way out before the next election, so they’re held to the same logic. They - like you - have to make the laws fair for everybody, because you’re just going to be some guy bound by those laws after the election.”

“John Rawls,” Garyung said.

Kaldalis had no idea what it meant, but Garyung looked suddenly… Happy? He sat up suddenly, nodding along with his own train of thought as he furrowed his brow. It seemed Kaldalis’s idea was holding up to Garyung’s logic as well.

“Holy hell, Kal, I think you got something there.”

Kaldalis let out a sigh of relief. “It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have to write an actual constitution. And there’s a chance the next guy is a huge gaping asshole, so the rules have to be sound or we’re just fucking ourselves. But at the end of it, we have an election and everything will be fine forever.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Garyung said with a smirk. “I know everything won’t be fine forever. But I won’t have to be in charge anymore. That’s enough for me.”

“A happy ending for everybody,” Kaldalis agreed. “We both should get some rest. First thing in the morning, get everyone together for a quick meeting. We need to debrief them on the meeting, make a plan for dealing with the Contender, and…” Kaldalis grimaced. “And I need to get ready for Oniroago’s trial.”