tushanshu | [Radio]

((In response to all this nonsense.))

Yes. Milyn's alive. We faked her death so nobody would get it into their head to try again. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to do, but we didn't have much time to make a decision. I'm sorry we lied to all of you.

And before anyone asks, no, we're not handing her over to anyone for any of her proven or unproven crimes. Keeliai has the right to decide if she's guilty or not and what her punishment should be, but it'll be when there's a real representative government and a real judicial system in place, and when we've figured out what the hell is going on. Not before then. Because right now, the city is basically being run by the guy who probably tried to have her assassinated. I'm not handing her over to anything less than a fair trial. That's not up for negotiation. If you've got a problem with that, you can bring it to me.

[He may not have liked this plan, but he went along with it, and it's his responsibility to own it.]

Also, if anyone's thinking of going after her again...

[There's an odd emphasis on "anyone" - Tony knows the Foreigners probably aren't the only ones listening in.]

Don't bother.

[Cold, hard, final. The message is clear: Milyn is protected.]

[[Private, to Valdis]]

I'm sorry. [His voice is softer now. He sounds genuinely troubled.] I wanted to tell you. I didn't want you to think it was your fault for getting her killed.

I was outside when they were healing her, and everybody had already come up with the plan by the time I went back in - we all promised we wouldn't tell anyone who wasn't there. I... I don't know. I wish I'd handled it better. We should have told you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maybe. [It's a very hesitant 'maybe.'] Yunxu is still one of the family heads, [he points out.]

Do you have contact information for the detectives? Can the rest of us get in touch with them?

Yunxu isn't a fool, either. He's better to have on side than rejected. You want to be able to hold him accountable, not make him an enemy.

I have an address. You'll have to drop by to pick it up, though. I'm not sure how to work the speech-to-text translation for kedanese languages.

[Written down, at least Tony will be able to compare the symbols for the street signs.]

I'll pick it up in an hour or two. [And he can ask Solomon for more details on these detectives in person. But back to Yunxu:]

I get holding him accountable, [Tony says - and Yunxu getting his comeuppance from the other family heads does hold a lot of appeal -] but I don't see how this can end up with him not being our enemy.

He's ruthless, not evil. He wants order and safety for Keeliai; he thinks he's the only suitable candidate to make that happen because no one has proven to him that there are other viable options.

Don't tell him what to do. He'll dig in his heels if he thinks he doesn't have a choice. But show him there are other options and let him decide for himself, and I will lay money on him choosing the pragmatic option. Even if that option means losing a bit of his power in the name of stability. As long as he thinks its his choice, he won't be your enemy.

[Not that Solomon has spoken to Yunxu ... ever. But he's observed. And he knows men like Yunxu. Put an ultimatum before him, and he'd choose himself; put a choice before him, he'd choose his people, even if only for the sake of pride and appearance.]

So you think he's going to be cool with us accusing him of attempted assassination in front of the other family heads? Because that's what we're going to have to do before anything else happens.

[He sounds skeptical, a little incredulous, but not dismissive. He just can't see that going well, but no one else seems to think it's as big a deal as he does. He'd be happy to be proven wrong, but...]

That counts as putting him in a position where he won't feel like he's choosing for himself.

[There's a touch of dryness in Solomon's tone at that.]

Don't humiliate him. Don't put him on the spot. Don't make him think he has to preserve his image, reputation or power at the cost of being on good terms with any coordinated government. He'll give up the latter in a heartbeat--but only if you make him think he has to. Make sure that a coordinated government can give him something he wants more than he wants to keep his standing.

If, for instance, a coordinated government could guarantee that Milyn will be held responsible, he'll be likely to back it. From everything I've heard, she's earned some justice herself.

So... we just let it go? Don't say anything and let him get away with it?

We can't hold Milyn accountable and not Yunxu. That's just... selling Milyn out to keep Yunxu as an ally.

[That may be practical, but it's also wrong. Tony had promised himself that he'd bow to the majority decision, but.. he doesn't know if he can back that.]

You're missing my point. Politics isn't one thing or just one other thing. Not putting him on the spot doesn't equal letting him go. If you have solid proof he tried to kill Milyn, you can use it against him, but until more of his powerbase is eroded, you're going to run into trouble if you try and bulldoze over him. Right now, Keeliai needs Yunxu more than it needs Milyn, in order to maintain stability.

But only right now. He may well accept a court ruling if it means that he gets to see justice done against Milyn too. He never will if you treat him like he has no place in Keeliai's future.

...I hate politics.

[That's not justice, that's... scheming. If this is what their new government is going to look like, Tony's not sure he want to be involved.

Solomon can't see it, but Tony shakes his head.] If everyone else thinks this is the best way to take Yunxu down, I'll help. [He's aware that in this case, 'helping' may just mean staying out of the way.]

But if it comes down to Milyn or Yunxu, or keeping Yunxu on our side instead of getting justice for the people he's hurt, you know where I'm going to stand. We can't hand out justice based on who's useful or not.

What is justice? Is trying to kill a woman who's persistently and recently performed crimes against many others a crime in itself? Or is it defending the city she's preying upon?

[Oddly gentle:]

You can't bring down everyone who hurts someone else, Tony. The best you can do is ensure they'll get along with a minimum of damage to the people around them. Sometimes, that means appealing to their better nature--or manipulating them toward the same.

[There's a long delay before Tony responds.]

I'm not sure. [About any of it.] The right thing isn't always easy to do, but if you always do what's practical over what's right... [Well, then, what's the point? He doesn't think he's going to win an argument about that with Solomon, though.

But maybe that's okay. Maybe there's a middle road between practical and right, and having some people pushing for one and some for the other will keep them on that track.

The whole tangle isn't going to be solved today over the radio, though.]

I guess it's going to take a long time to figure all this out. [He sighs again.] But... thanks, Solomon. For actually being helpful.

[He could have put a passive-aggressive barb into that, but he doesn't. For once, he means it.]

The right thing isn't always clear-cut, either. If you can save people later by killing one person now, where is right?

[It doesn't always exist. Sometimes, it's just what you can live with. Solomon's better at that part than most. His tone turns amused again, though lacking his usual cutting edge.]

Let's not get sentimental, now.

[But there's a beat, just before Solomon signs off:]

Good luck.

[And then he does.]

[Radio]

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