A Brief Interrogation

Polite dinner time chat. Caerus is sitting off on his own, seeming simultaneously starving and uninterested. Balaban drops his tray on the table. Two weeks since their fight. Ban has sparred with Caerus but not talked with him.

“You said ‘Dorian swore to uphold oaths’, but those oaths had interpretable meanings.”
“And here I thought the meal could not be less appetizing.” He sighs and glances up. “Interpretable meanings? Pray tell.”
“Take the definition of innocent for example. There’s no official definition of it. So there’s no way to determine if a Nightblade has killed an innocent, as you accused us of, when everyone could very well be defined as guilty of something.”
“Traditionally, Nightblades are forbidden to kill outside the boundaries set forth by their superiors in their contracts. To kill outside of these boundaries is to kill an innocent. This is because the foundation of our organization was as a check in the balance of power - a way to eliminate those who abuse power and to level the playing field. Only those who have been defined in contract have been singled out as a guilty party. Our concern is not with others.” He says calmly, picking up a cup and sipping.
“What if the Nightblades are contracted to eliminate themselves because they’ve abused their power?”
“An interesting question. Who proposed the contract? There exist...or existed mechanisms to ensure that our members would abide by our tenets. Those who failed to comply would have a contract written for them to be upheld by ranks you have not yet obtained. A contract written by a member outside of the nightblade - someone of the general population - would need to provide evidence as to how the Nightblades have abused their power. It would be investigated. If it proved true, then we should, by all rights, eliminate the offenders.”
“Yet we have attained such ranks, being the only members left, we must be all the ranks. So you hold to the traditional definition of an innocent?”
“Such arrogance. You have barely earned the right to your cloak and dagger. There are things you lack that are necessary if we are to rebuild our family.” He looks pensive on the second question. “I do now. I believe it is more applicable with the final tenet. To take a life is not something that should be done lightly - the repercussions of the act must be considered, and reverence properly accorded.”
“I am aware of our youth, but there isn’t much that can be done about that. What qualities do we lack? You do now? You once believed otherwise?”
“It is not your youth that I bemoan. You are too proud to recognize faults - you can never reach your full potential simply because you see nothing to improve. You seek to overturn a system - a way of life - without understanding the full concepts of its foundation. You seek to be all ranks while failing to master the basics. You are not ready. None of you are.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I was once erroneous.”
“Maybe that’s true, but it’s the reality of the situation. We’re not ready but we’re pushed into it by circumstances. You sure aren’t doing a lot to help us be ready or to know the full concepts of the foundation. Anyway, we should optimize on this chance to try out a new way of running things.”
“I cannot help those who do not wish to learn. You want a new Nightblades - have it.” He says sourly. “It’s not my place to teach you.”
He leans back in the chair, arms crossed at the comment about a new Nightblades. “How is it not your place, oh one who knows so much and says he’ll do anything for the Nightblades?”
“I have another task that needs attending to or else all your work will be for nothing. If you demand I teach you, then - fine. I will do anything for my family.” He frowns, glancing at Balaban, interlacing his fingers. “I lost the right to teach years ago as I am sure you can deduce. I try to avoid hypocrisy.”
“So you believe you lost the right. You believe you were a traitor to the ‘blades.”
“Are we finished? Or is there another dead horse you would care to flog?” He studies him coldly, but there’s a haunted look to his eyes.
“No, just curious.”
“And do you believe in the traditional ‘innocence’? Or are you a proponent of flexibility in regards to the tenets?”
“I am not. I am a proponent of changing the tenets entirely. People didn’t hold to them, and those that did got slaughtered.”
Caerus half chokes on the tea he sips. “What changes…?” He splutters out in between coughing.
“Perhaps stating that we kill only those we were contracted to. Something to express the check in the balance of power, perhaps. The lines about life don’t seem to be valued by anyone, and I’m not sure they’re necessary. But the tenets are not very important, and are not really the issue with the Nightblades. We need more autonomy for the members and more secrecy. Redundancies in the organization, so we cannot be taken down in a single night.” He speaks seriously, an excited light in his eyes.
“We can eliminate the few who disagree.” He muses after a long pause in thought. “There are bound to be a few in your group who will oppose such changes - Laskaris for instance. Tychon will as well. He’s part of the old council anyways - he will inevitably resist. It how we were taught. More autonomy would be excellent - an assassin who is tied down to begging for permission cannot act on the job - during unpredictable circumstances. What else?”
“Exactly! And Lask, I can talk him out of it, he is a stickler but even he knows the traditions were new ways once. Tychon only ever states the way he has always done things, without reasoning why we should bother sticking to it, nor realizing that we cannot do as we always have without the same people we always had. Where was I? What else? Training practices can be improved. As they were, they were excellent, however a bit too controlling. I mean, wouldn’t it be better if our apprentices were kept secret from each other? We shouldn’t have to get approval from some guy who doesn’t know our apprentices or why we chose them. And keeping them secret will protect them if someone is treacherous.”
“They are not kept secret so if the mentor dies, the student is not alone.” He says quietly, frowning when he realizes his glass is empty. “But perhaps secrecy would be more ideal. Will one individual be in charge or will all of you be? And once again - what of Tychon…? He cannot be talked around. I know the man well.”
“Either everyone is, or there could be one central person in charge, who knows all but whose secrecy is utterly complete to all members and the world. Tychon is old… also, if the majority of us agree to a particular plan, and we act on it, he cannot resist it.”
“A secret boss?” His eyes get a strange gleam. “What an innovative proposition. Perhaps you could fill the role adequately with your disguises? And take care - Tychon can and will resist. He follows his heart more than his head, the damned fool.”
“I could craft the disguises and send them without knowing who I’m sending to. I guess I don’t know how the secrecy would work at first. We six would have to know who it was, but it would become a secret to our apprentices.”
“And a secret to all those who follow. A legend in time. I like this plan. And again - Tychon?”
“I’m not sure what Tychon could say if all the members of his organization wish to change it.”
“True. Do you know I heard a similar plan once?”
“Oh?”
“From Dorion.” He stands, chair screeching as he grabs his empty tea cup. “You think yourself so bloody clever. The suggestions you just made - are you out of your goddamned mind? The tenets are left vague under the assumption that individuals have enough autonomy and mental capacity to interpret right from wrong! Not important? Without a code there is no order - people like Galyn will go about asserting all sorts of dominance and slaughtering whomever they feel like it because it’s a fucking high for them. More autonomy - how the hell will you maintain order? A semblance of a fraternity when there will be infighting and secrets kept from brothers? Oh! But when someone disagrees we can talk them out of it? We can eliminate them? Where is the line drawn, Balaban? These ideas foster haughty bastards such as yourself thinking that their will is all that matters! The Nightblades is not a function of autonomy of the individual but of unity of the whole - the pulse of an ideal that unites us all.”

He lets out a slow breath, his expression neutral but his eyes rage.
“One man in charge shrouded in secrecy. A marvelous idea - but like all great ideas it is stolen. You’re a clever lad, Balaban - do you really think Dorion was able to find every apprentice, every hideout, and every master? I am sure he knew many and scrounged up information over years of patience and frustration - but nay - I do not think he did it alone. There was an inner fucking sanctum like you described. A legend instilled generations ago that was even lost to my masters and their masters before them...I am all but certain there was one who knew all as you described. What little it all matters now. You and your comrades are the lifeblood from which a new Nightblades is expected to rise? Forgive me - but I do not see it. You’ll eat each other alive.”

He turns to leave, radiating silent fury before he pauses and glances over his shoulder.
“The lines about life...the fact you cannot see their value.” He shakes his head. “It’s a dangerous path, Balaban. You will lose everything you have ever loved - everything you could ever love. You will lose yourself.”
Ban looks impressed.. He hasn’t touched any of his food, and decides it would be better spent if Lask or one of the sailors eats it. Head resting in hands, he sits and contemplates, occasionally frowning.