Importance

Sirona wasn’t sure how she was going to accomplish her goals, but the thought gave her chills. It would be bloody and angry. A lot of people would be trying to stop her, but she found that she didn’t care. Most of the people who would defend the crown of Conna or the Herald of Anu were just as corrupt and probably partially responsible for all the misfortune carried out on the common people.
Arawn was right. She couldn’t weep for people who meant her harm and there was no one in the capital who she wanted to kill that meant her any goodwill. She thought of a few nobles that she wasn’t sure about, but she had no way of knowing if they would be an issue until the time came to attack Conna.
“Have you heard anything about my mother?” She asked, suddenly.
Arawn smiled down at her, “Not as of yet.”
She nodded as Arawn turned over the problem in his mind. Finding out that the woman she knew to be her mother was a part of the reason that her father was dead would throw Sirona off course. Lying to her would be easiest if the time came, or simply letting her find out in due time. Sirona had no idea how he was getting his information so he would use that to his advantage.
As for the shape of her revenge, he hoped she was as committed to killing Haron and Anu as she seemed.
“A hefty endeavor requires some advice,” Arawn said, swaying with her to the slowed music. “People of such importance, a king, a queen, a leader of a cult or even the face of one, benefit, a bit, from the belief and fear that people associate with them in that they require a little bit more power to kill.”
Sirona frowned, “How so?”
“Well, there are the obvious factors like people willing to die for them, but there is also the sense of fear that keeps the populace under control. From what I hear of Conna, it is very much controlled by fear.”
Sirona nodded, leaning into his arms with a shiver as she thought back to the people the temple had put on a pyre in the last month before she escaped, let alone over the years.
“There will be a lot of people invested in keeping things the way they are and unwilling to support you charging up to a palace and murdering the heads of state,” Arawn said. “There’s also the matter of what to do with the populace after you’ve destroyed the people that they’ve relied on to lead them, good or bad.”
She hated the logic of that, but she understood it. Her father would say something a bit similar as a strategy of war. If the heads of state, the commanders on a battlefield, or anyone in power who ran their subordinates like a tyrant were to die or be dethroned suddenly, the entire system would collapse.
Sometimes there would be in-fighting about who would take over next. Sometimes the people would simply revolt and refused to be ruled again. Lawlessness would run rampant.
It wouldn’t be that much different than if the temple and the monarchs continued to rule except peasants would be doling out their own brands of justice.
She could see blood running through the streets as the nobles and anyone else who opposed the mass of people were murdered.
“What do you suggest?”
Arawn smirked, “Undo the foundations of their power first. Then cut off their heads.”
Arawn pulled her closer. Haron was a mortal man. Aside from his personal guard, no one would really get in the way of her. She’d storm the castle and murder him easily. Anu being a deity meant she needed to level the playing field first.
“Undo the belief system.”
Sirona shook her head, “Unveiling the hypocrisy of the temple and getting people to safety should be enough, right?”
Arawn chuckled, “Do you think the people under the cult of Anu don’t already know the way out?”
Sirona frowned looking up at him, “What do you mean?”
“How hard would it be to pick up your family and move to another country?”
“Hard,” she said, “You’re talking about uprooting someone’s entire life to go somewhere else.”
“Harder than living in terror?”
“If there isn’t money enough to go, probably.”
Arawn shook his head, “Walking out of a little town in Conna? Are there people watching every gate? Every road out? Every inch of forest? How much harder?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you do,” he said smoothly. “How hard was it for you to leave your home?”
She froze and looked up at him, “It was just… me. Bringing my mom wasn’t an option.”
“You could have stayed.”
“They killed my father.” She shook her head. “No matter what they said. They were going to either disgrace me and kill me or just kill me.”
“You think every person in Conna is in a different situation than you were? Dead father. Dead mother. Dead loved one? Disgrace and death or just death? A slow death chained to a religion that is slowly choking you?”
Sirona swallowed looking up at him, “It’s not that simple.”
Arawn shrugged, “Maybe it is. Maybe it’s not, but no cult starts with a massive following. It’s one person, then ten, then ten thousand. Every person who decided to stay put, who decided that it was harder to leave than to endure, is what you’ll be up against before you even get to Haron or Blodeu.”
Arawn watched her eyes and sighed, “I am not saying that circumstances don’t vary. I’m pointing to the fact that fear is what people have grown comfortable with within Conna. Fear is what has kept their heads bowed and their mouths shut for years. You take the thing the fear away, they don’t know what to do with themselves.”
“I get that but to dismantle the cult of Anu when it’s the only thing anyone’s ever known can’t be much better.”
“It’s a cult of fear, Sirona. You can’t think that’s a good thing.”
“I don’t, I just—” She huffed, “You’re making my plan more complicated than I want it to be.”
He chuckled, “Perhaps, but I have seen you and the way you do things. Killing Haron and Blodeu and the Herald without dismantling the thing that makes them the heads of the state would be like subduing the bandits.”
He looked into her eyes, “You made their crops grow because you know that there’s more to living and surviving than not having to worry about another attack.”
Sirona nodded, “That’s… fair.”
“So, either you alleviate the fear or you give them something else to fear.” Arawn shook his head, “The cult of Anu is like a weed. You have to uproot it or it’s just going to come back.”
“Fine, the temple, but… you’re talking about dismantling Conna all together.”
Arawn laughed, “What do you think killing the king and queen is going to do to Conna?”
She nodded. That was fair.
“Maybe it would be… better not to then.”
“Then what of your father?” Arawn asked.
Sirona didn’t know. It seemed so simple to say that she wanted Haron and Blodeu dead, but the consequences of that seemed more far-reaching than not.
“I’m not asking you to figure this out now,” Arawn said. “I’m just trying to get you to see the path ahead.”
Sirona nodded, “Right… about my training.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to… lose myself to the power again like what happened with the bandits. I could have hurt someone.”
“Do you think I would have let you do that?” Sirona blinked as if she had never considered it. “Don’t you trust me?”
Sirona nodded, “That’s… fair.”
“You’ll need better control, I agree. You’ll also need to be able to do more with your power if you’re planning to storm the castle.”
She sighed, “Fine. I… I agree it would be useful to be able to control my power more and do more with it, but… I still think there’s a better way to deal with the cult than all-out war.”
Arawn shrugged, “I look forward to hearing the solution you come up with.”
Sirona nodded, “Can we talk about something less… depressing?”
Arawn chuckled, “Well, how about your next flying lesson?”
“I said less depressing not terrifying!”

In the morning, they traveled to the nearest town with the group and bade them goodbye at the edge of the town before Arawn led them back into the forest away from the towns. Sirona was surprised she didn’t feel as hungry as she should after walking for hours through the forest to reach a clearing. Arawn gestured to a small boulder near a stream and looked around.
“What are you looking for?”
“A target.”
“What sort of target?” She asked. “A target for what?”
He smirked, “Well, how else are you going to learn to kill without practice?”