The Last Red Shoulder
Final Chapter: The End of a Tale
It had been early in the afternoon when Elphin began. The sun had nearly set when he fell silent. But Roy had been so engrossed in his story that it seemed no time had passed at all.
"Incredible," Roy whispered, barely loud enough for Elphin to hear. "How…how could all of that really happen?"
"I can understand if you don't believe everything you've heard, master Roy. But it is the unvarnished truth, as much as any of us know. Should you ever return to Etruria one day, I can take you down to the hidden room of the great library and show you myself."
"No, it's not that, Elphin. I trust you. But…" Roy looked crestfallen. "That's one of the most horrible stories I've heard. Everything about it…the way Khyron was deceived, how Kain was betrayed, and then how the Church covered everything up…it's almost as bad as what Bern did in the war. The Church of Elimine was—is supposed to be better than that, isn't it? Yes, it has some bad apples, like the Bishop we fought on the Western Isles, but I thought the leadership itself, like Yodel, could be trusted. After hearing this, though, I can't have much faith in the Church. And to think the Church got away with it, too…is there no justice in the world?"
"I think there is some justice, Roy. Kassa, Oldnar, and Gosterro all died, and they were the ones most responsible for the tragedy. Even if it was hushed up, it's not as if the guilty escaped scot-free. Even Gosterro was punished after his death. He's the only Archbishop who wasn't interred in the Saint's Mausoleum. As far as anyone knows he was given an unmarked commoner's grave. I never knew why until I read his journal."
"Even so, the Church itself never made any reckoning, and neither did the Etrurian government or anyone else. Keeping all of it under wraps for all this time…doesn't it insult everyone—the Etrurians, the Bernese, the natives, and even the Red Shoulders—who died because of it?"
"I think it did. At the same time, I can't deny what Khyron said he heard from the Archbishops. For everyone's sake—to keep the fragile peace from falling apart—some secrets had to be kept. An even graver insult to the dead would have been for their deaths to lead to more death."
"Then what can we learn from all this, Elphin?"
"You must draw your own lessons from the story, Roy. Cecilia is more of a teacher than I am. But if I wanted to teach something…" He paused, considering his words. "It would be this:
"Justice is a complex thing. The needs of many different groups must be balanced against each other in matters of state. This was true three hundred years ago, when Etruria, Bern, and the people of the Isles nearly went to war over the resources there. And it remains true today. As difficult as it may seem, though, I think it is possible to create a settlement that will treat all parties involved equitably.
"That, if anything, is what I'd like you to take away from this secret history.
Together, the two of them returned to Castle Pherae. Both of them were determined to make use of the lessons they'd learned in building a better world.
And though they both knew they would make mistakes, at least those wouldn't be the same mistakes made three hundred years ago.
The Last Red Shoulder
::Fin::