The podium was up on a platform which would require me to climb a couple of steps. I decided not too. I looked at the crowd, did the measured stare while waiting for silence, which I let hang for a couple of seconds before I said what I had to say.
"Thank you for allowing me to stand here before you. You know who I am. You know what I have done. I understand what you want and that is how to preserve your way of life against what you believe is coming."
I paused here and checked for people nodding in agreement and not off to sleep. That was something I was known to do once upon a time. No one here was.
This was when I told them it could be done. It would be hard and they would have to become harder people then their enemies to do it but they were brave and they were motivated. All they needed was training, leadership, and to be pointed in the right direction.
I didn't tell them that. It stuck in my throat. I looked at them and smelled the burning houses, fields, and saw the bodies. They weren't the right people, and to become the right people would destroy them as a nation. I didn't have a problem with that as much as I was tired of being on the losing side and these people would end up losing even if they won.
"I am not the right man for you. Sorry."
I ignored the buzzing of the crowd, the shouted questions, the muttered nasty comment or two. Instead I made my way to Kat and Ty and said, "Get me out of here."
Definately a changed man. You're a wise man, Nova, twenty years and a loss or two will do that to anyone. Nice turn of affairs. None of us are who we once were, but we're smarter.
ReplyDeleteForrest
Great chapter, Nova. I just finished reading the 6 most recent chapters (I like to save the chapters up for so I can read a few at a time), and this one hit like a sledgehammer.
ReplyDeleteHope the earthquake and the hurricane are not getting you down.