Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

‘Who, might I ask, have you slaughtered who didn’t deserve it?’

‘That rather depends upon your viewpoint, doesn’t it? Isn’t there some famous saying about no one ever thinking of themselves as evil?’

‘I think those terrorists at the conference were evil,’ Melissa said.

‘Subjectively, they were,’ Nava replied. ‘Their methods were certainly unacceptable. However, they all felt justified in their actions because those actions were in pursuit of a “noble” goal. One man’s terrorist is someone else’s freedom fighter. I didn’t care about their goal. I cared about the fact that they were enemies. I terminated them based on my personal threat assessment.’

‘Crap,’ Courtney said flatly.

‘Excuse me?’

‘That’s crap and I think you might even know it. You’ve convinced yourself that you’re an emotionless killing machine. Faced with a threat, you kill it.’

‘It’s not a matter of belief. Faced with a threat, I will kill it.’

‘But your view of threats is coloured by more than your assessment of how a threat affects you, Nava. Those terrorists, Maya excepted, were no kind of threat to you. You eliminated them because they were a threat to us and the other delegates. You protected a society you purport to hold in a degree of contempt from those who would seek its destruction. That could be considered more high-minded than pretty much anyone in the Clan Worlds.’

‘Very convincing. Yet I am unconvinced.’

‘You’re impossible.’

‘In many ways,’ Nava said before falling silent.

~~~

Melissa was finding the situation just a little uncomfortable. She was up to her neck in the family sento and there was a slight flush to her cheeks which was not due to the heat of the water. Everyone, even Michiko, was staying silent on this because commenting would just make it worse. The situation she was finding uncomfortable: a whole family sento session, which obviously included Zackery. To his credit, he was clearly used to handling this kind of thing with decorum since he had managed to enter the bath without revealing anything too personal. Still, Melissa was naked in a big tub of water with Mitsuko’s father and, if one were being truly honest, she was handling it rather well.

Nava was unconcerned about it: bodies were bodies. Everyone had one and Zackery had kept his rather well, even if he was only forty-seven. Or forty-eight; his birthday was fairly close. A definite plus was that, if Mitsuko followed the path her parents had taken, she was not going to lose her figure any time soon. Yuzuki was nearing forty-six and was showing no signs of aging at all. No, Nava was feeling a little uncomfortable, but her discomfort stemmed from the topic of conversation, not the family nudity.

‘I’m not entirely clear on why you don’t wish to take over from Courtney,’ Zackery said, his steady gaze on Nava. The topic had come up over dinner, in a roundabout manner which Nava suspected was the result of Mitsuko asking her parents to intervene.

‘You know my history,’ Nava replied. She was aware that both Zackery and Yuzuki did know much of the details of Nava’s past, but Michiko did not and, by preference, should not. ‘You’re aware of my training. It’s not suitable for police work.’

‘I think you may be overselling the negatives, Nava. I think you’re better able to categorise your enemies than you think you are.’

‘The girl you captured last winter,’ Yuzuki said. ‘The one who was attempting to sabotage that play. You took her alive despite her attempts to resist, did you not?’ As usual, Yuzuki spoke in a soft tone, very precisely, as though she were speaking a second language, which she was not.

‘She was not a serious threat.’

‘Is anyone a serious threat to you, Nava?’

‘Yes. Obviously.’

‘Anyone who is also a student at SAS-squared?’ Zackery countered.

That was harder to answer. Or maybe it was not. ‘Yes, though I admit the numbers are more limited. Taryn Borchardt Firmin is likely to be such a threat in the future, for example. Some of the fifth and sixth years probably have the skill to cause me difficulties and the fourth years are getting close. The number is not zero.’

‘It would seem to me,’ Yuzuki said, ‘that this is more a question of whether you believe you will hurt another student rather than whether you will. If you choose to define other students as only minor threats, you may deal with them in a suitable manner.’

‘And your original argument is likely invalid now anyway,’ Zackery added. ‘As I recollect, you believed that other students would test you with increasing threat levels until you eventually reacted. I believe you were justified in that theory at the time, don’t get me wrong. However, you’re now a Greyling and most of the school knows that you can and will take on anything they can throw at you with little trouble. Your reputation precedes you, Nava.’

‘Hm.’ Nava’s response was short and meant to indicate she would consider their words. She was going to consider their words because they had made valid points worth considering. It was also meant to suggest they should end the conversation.

Michiko had other plans. ‘I don’t think you’d hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, Nava.’

Nava always took Michiko seriously because she did not know of another way to behave around children, even ones as mature as the eleven-year-old before her. ‘And what do you base that conclusion on, Michiko?’

‘You’ve saved Onee-chan’s life more than once. That makes you a good person.’

‘I’m not sure–’

‘And Onee-chan would never take a special friend who was bad.’

‘Hm. You may have a point, Michiko. However, the situation is complicated and requires more thought.’ Pause. ‘So, I’m your sister’s “special friend,” am I?’

Michiko nodded, all seriousness. Then her expression shifted to something a bit more furtive. ‘I do know some other words for it, but I get told off when I use them because I’m too young to know them. I think that’s strange, because I know them, so I can’t be too young to know them.’ Yuzuki