"War is the only option."
It's the first suggestion that actually holds some weight.
Historia is almost surprised.
She presses her folded hands against her lips, rests her elbows on the polished tabletop, and regards the council stonily.
The capture of a Marleyan transport on their shores, it seems, has stirred them from stagnation.
Finally, they have something tangible to work with, something beyond shadowy memories she and Eren can conjure together with her blood and his titan.
So far, she's refrained from providing her own input, willing to hear each of them out.
It's been a very tedious process.
Most of them have no idea what they're talking about. This becomes more painfully obvious as time drags on.
Their political careers have consisted of lining their own pockets and maintaining their power.
They've spent their lives pretending to lead, asking others to sacrifice themselves to fight an evil they never had to face.
None of them know what it means to face a titan, none of them know what it means to watch a friend die.
None of them know what it means to truly sacrifice anything.
They were more than willing to ask the Survey Corps to die for the so-called good of humanity, but they're incapable of doing anything other than sit on their own asses.
"We don't know what their capabilities are," someone else throws out. "We don't know what their retaliation might be… What's stopping them from wiping us out completely? For gods' sake, they've been responsible for the titans all along. What else might they be hiding?"
Cowards…
With exception, most of them are cowards.
The thought of war- real war- is so foreign to them.
Her hand settles directly over her womb as she thinks of the life growing there. She has a responsibility, both to her people and to her unborn child.
She has to see this through to the end.
She has to get them through it.
No matter who stands against her.
"I think…" Historia speaks for the first time. "I think that if they had the means to eliminate us, they would have done so already."
With the Founder's memories, they only have bits and pieces of the sordid history between Marley and Eldians, but the hatred runs deep.
If they had the means to wipe them out, wouldn't they have already?
Historia takes a deep breath.
She needs to keep her uncertainty at bay. These people are vultures and they will take every inch she gives them.
Right now, she must look every bit the inexperienced girl queen they think her to be.
At the same time, she prays she doesn't make the wrong decision.
Leadership is a heavy responsibility.
Still, Historia clears her throat. She won't give them any more reason to doubt her leadership.
Levi is watching her through partially narrowed eyes. She can't tell if that means he approves or not and that causes a sudden quell of anxiety.
He's waiting, she realizes after a moment. Waiting for her to make a decision, to wield her authority and reign them in.
She stands.
For months, she's faced their doubt and their scorn. She's fought for their respect and acknowledgement with every inch of her being, weeding out those she can trust and those she can't.
It's been a long and difficult process.
"This is my decision," she speaks with steel-edged authority."We get the information we can from our prisoners and, in the meantime, we expand Paradis' defenses." She looks at each of them in turn, eyes blazing. "We strengthen ourselves."
And then we make war.
"I stand with the queen." Levi surprises her by speaking up. He meets each of their gazes levelly in turn- for a moment, she sees what each of them must be seeing in this legendary titan killer, humanity's strongest.
Daring them to challenge him.
No one raises their voice in protest.