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Author's Note: This next installment focuses on Joachim, the Ishballan leader who Scar met with at the refuge camp before he took off for Lior. Read and Review if you like, but Flames will be ignored. Thanks!
Searching for a Better World
The field of destruction would have been terrible to witness even if you weren't Ishballan but to Joachim the scene was sickening.
This entire war was killing him slowly and he would spend hours in silent prayer to Ishbala, begging him for answers. Why had this war started? What had they done? What sin had they committed that Ishbal deserved to be wiped from the face of the world? What could he do to spare his people?
This war had been started on a lie. He had head the stories that the Armastian government had spun, the tragic tale of a child accidentally being killed by an Armastian solider and the Ishballans violent reaction. Clearly the Ishballans were a cruel and dangerous people and they needed to be eradicated, the same way you would destroy vermin.
As sad as that story was it was a fairy tale compared to the truth.
The truth was even more sickening. He would always recall the day the war had started for it was branded into his mind. The screams of all of the innocent Ishballans as they were struck down by the hard faced soldiers who didn't care that they were murdering harmless people. They desecrated the temple of Ishbala, killed the faithful inside and left. Joachim had been the only survivor and when other Ishballans had heard of the massacre they cried out in anger and took up arms against the military.
A war had started that day and it would only end when Ishbal and her people had ceased to exist.
A hot desert wind sprung up, whipping Joachim's robes around him but he didn't notice. He was too deep in prayer to notice something as simple as the wind.
'Why Ishbala, why? What have we done to deserve this?' he thought, watching as his people searched through the remains of the battle field, looking for the wounded and mourning over the dead.
A woman's piercing shriek rent the evening air and Joachim looked towards her as her tortured sobs reached him, "My son! My son is dead! Oh Ishbala why? Why did you take my son?" she begged.
The boy in the woman's arms was young, barely old enough to hold the gun that was clasped in his cold fingers. Barely two feet away from the body the boy's father spat on the Armastian solider who had killed the boy before dying himself.
The woman's mourning wails brought other women to her and they gathered around her, some comforting her and others taking the body away to prepare it for burial.
Joachim watched the scene through dulled eyes. This scene had been repeating itself every day for far too long now. Every day someone's child or spouse or parent or sibling died and every time someone died the Ishballans would swear revenge on the military and they would attack again and more would die and the cycle would repeat. It was a never ending, self destructive circle.
The Ishballans moved away from the battlefield to tend to the wounded and bury their dead. The Armastian soldiers that had died they left, willing to let nature take its course with the remains.
Slowly Joachim stepped towards the deserted field and stopped near one of the bodies. It was the body of a man, his pale skin paler then normal and his dusty brown hair stiff with blood. Joachim looked into the man's pain filled green eyes for a moment before he leaned over and carefully closed them, bowing his head respectfully and whispering a prayer that Ishbala would forgive this man of his sins.
It was an odd thing to do, after all that man was an enemy. He had killed Ishballans. He was a solider of Armastis. He deserved to die.
Joachim knew that but as he had looked at the body he had realized something else. This man was no different that an Ishballan man. There skin and eyes were different colors but they were still the same. Armastians and Ishballans weren't that different.
They both lived on this world; they both had developed cultures that, though different, were also similar. Both peoples got married, had families. Both sides were fighting for their beliefs and both sides would die before they surrendered.
Joachim pulled away from his train of thought with a surprised hiss. What was he thinking? Ishballans and Armastians couldn't be more different. After all, Armastians believed in that cursed alchemy. That tool of the devil's with which they destroyed the world that Ishbala had created for them.
However, almost against his will his mind trailed back to those thoughts. Both sides weren't that different. They both lived, they both survived and ultimately they both died.
Once they were dead there was nothing between them anymore. Ishbala would judge all of them regardless of their skin color or beliefs. It didn't matter what country they hailed from or what color their eyes were. Once they were dead they were equal and Ishbala would judge the Ishballan child who had died the same as he would judge the solider that had killed him.
The realization struck Joachim like a physical blow and he collapsed to his knees, bowing his head. "Ishbala, I think I see it now, you do not what this war anymore then we do. In your eyes we are all equal and none of us have any right to kill the others. Only you should decided who lives and who dies." He spoke out loud in a halting choking voice, his mind over come with the answer to his prayers.
"You want me to work towards peace, a peaceful resolution with Armastis. You want me to convince your people that you want the bloodshed to stop. Only then will we be spared!"
Peace. The only answer was peace. Joachim got to his feet slowly, a new determination on his face. Slowly he began to walk towards the small Ishballan village, his new knowledge steadying his step.
The Ishballans had lost sight of Ishbala's way. They had buried themselves so deep in the bloodshed that Ishbala had no choice but to punish them. Joachim needed to show people the way back to Ishbala, the way back to where they belonged. Once they were back there Ishbala himself would spare his people, protecting them from their enemies and allowing them to live in peace again.
