Muscles in Lan Zhan's neck jump tight, as he struggles for a moment with what he means, what he wants, what he fears. It's all so tangled now, with so many lives.
"I let him go," he says. "At Qiongqi Path. They were grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles. Two teenage girl younger than I. A child no more than four. Where is the justice in hunting them down? In making them targets? How many articles of the Gusu Lan does that violate? The right thing was to let them go. But it breaks the rules of inter-clan conduct! When they are in conflict, what then?"
Lan Zhan's voice has risen -- not to a shout, that'd be yet another rule -- but enough that the tension makes it crack. He has no good answers for this.
"Article 476: Preserve the wisdom and lives of the elderly. Article 906: Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Article 1439: Honor your promises, keep your oaths," Lan Zhan says, and the bunnies scatter from his feet as he rises. "What rule do I break to obey uncle? What rule must be laid aside when the Jin come to the Burial Mounds? I swore with him-- we would protect the weak without regret. How can I do that now?"
no subject
"I let him go," he says. "At Qiongqi Path. They were grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles. Two teenage girl younger than I. A child no more than four. Where is the justice in hunting them down? In making them targets? How many articles of the Gusu Lan does that violate? The right thing was to let them go. But it breaks the rules of inter-clan conduct! When they are in conflict, what then?"
Lan Zhan's voice has risen -- not to a shout, that'd be yet another rule -- but enough that the tension makes it crack. He has no good answers for this.
"Article 476: Preserve the wisdom and lives of the elderly. Article 906: Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Article 1439: Honor your promises, keep your oaths," Lan Zhan says, and the bunnies scatter from his feet as he rises. "What rule do I break to obey uncle? What rule must be laid aside when the Jin come to the Burial Mounds? I swore with him-- we would protect the weak without regret. How can I do that now?"