Duty; Responsibility

For the first time since it happened, I left the house. I did not go far, of course, still heavily taped and finding it difficult to breathe or exert myself much. I made it as far as the front stoop, but even that seemed to irk Mathor to no end. Apparently, the fellow feels somewhat responsible for what happened to me in ther Great Square. I told him it was nonsense. He was not even in attendance, nor does he have any explicit duty to guard my person, only my assets. "You are not of the Warriors," he said to me.He did not say much more, nor did I press him. To get more than five words out of his mouth on any given topic, let alone a coherent sentence, is a noteworthy achievement. He was nonplussed when I pointed out that it would be rude to turn Rufus the Player away when the fellow left his usual place in an alley adjacent to Sixth Street just to keep our standing appointment. "This is my street. This is my city. These are my people," I told him. I have said as much to more than one slave girl on my chain in recent days as well. I will not cower indoors. The men of my city are as larls. We are tarns. We are no urts, nor are we helpless verr. I do not wish to be perceived as such, nor do I wish that perception to be applied to my peers of low caste. I would be attacked for standing, rather than mocked for crawling. Yes, you have scratched me. I have bled. I am still here. The Game, of course, took its usual route, with Rufus utterly decimating my attempt at an offense and completely shattering the notion that I could defend against his attack. He plays the Game in such a fluid, eloquent style, progressing with nuance rather than something so clumsy as 'moves.' I will likely never beat Rufus at the Game, but I have learned an incredible amount in a short period of time; little of it having anything to do with a board of red and yellow squares. Kaissa is motive and intent. At times, it is about the imposition of will. It is about defining a goal and drawing a map to reach one's desired conclusion. There are rules, prescribed ways of doing things, but each man's Kaissa is different than that of his peers. Some are blunt. Some are subtle. Some employ Spearmen and the Riders of High Tharlarion. Others employ Assassins. In time, I will know where they have hidden the salt. Regardless, I must stand and finish what I started. Lo Szol, Civititas Aria.