#earthrunes

"I don't want you anywhere near that, but ... but thank you for your understanding. And agreeing to work with us."

"And? August, what does that have to do with fighting him?"

An annoyed, frustrated gesture as she paces a bit away. "You're going about it wrong, you know."

"Going about.. what?"

"Going about capturing a madman. You said it yourself; he's insane. Utterly unpredictable. So what are you doing? You're making plans. Do you not see the foolishness there? Plans depend on their target making one of a few predictable responses. If he's truly mad, your plans have no chance."

"But what's the alternative??"

She ticks off on her fingers, "Engage, Observe, React, Win."

"Simple."

He blinks at her. After a long pause. "Engage?"

"Yes. Attack, or lure, or something. Some kind of interaction. However he responds to that, that's what you have to work with. It makes for a messy battlefield, but it sounds like there's not much else in the way of predictability."

August frowns and paces a few steps away, thinking. "He agrees to meet at Firnost. We can't attack him there. Vice versa, of course."

"He has to get to Firnost somehow."

August frowns, almost a scowl, thinking. "I ... I think I recall he takes the trods. It doesn't seem smart to attack him, a Balor, on the trods."

"No...but maybe he can be traced? Maybe that little spider friend of Zara's? Find out where he goes, and catch him there."

"Maybe...."

"I'd thought, if we could get him onto the streets outside, or even in the Garden... We saw him there once before."

"The garden, or the streets?"

"In the freehold, actually."

"Well, you can't make him follow you anywhere, because there's that unpredictability thing again. For the insane, you have to let him lead the dance, and then just be better at it than he is." Another easy shrug. "I would be."

"How do you -know- that?"

"I know it because you told me so. He's unpredictable. So anything that involves predictable reactions to your actions won't work. You have to react to his actions."

It clearly seems perfectly logical to her.

"Or, do you mean how I know I would be better? I'm just sure of it. I mean, honestly, August...a man who sends severed penises in a box? How clever can he be?"

"Clever enough to avoid detection for two decades? He still looks a wilder, Coradel."

"There are ways to manage that, especially if he spends a lot of time in the Dreaming."

"I don't know." Another hair-rake.

She comes close again, and strokes her own fingers through his hair. "August...here's the other thing...Zara has told me, now. And we know that EarthRunes is a target. Fine. That means we can get others involved on behalf of EarthRunes, and her reputation can stay protected, if that's what she's concerned about. I would love to have Bachdion help with this...and Shalimar has a blade in this fight as well, though he doesn't know it yet."

"And can you imagine what Vince would do? Or Honoria? There are many who would be willing to defeat a Balor threat."

"She... she did tell you. On her own, more or less." He mumbles.

"She did." A nod.

A deep breath. "Thing is.... I think it's still up to her about when, and how, she wants to do anything. If he attacks here, that's one thing but if he stays focused on Zara.... "

"Zara, who has been dealing with this by hiding away on a farm?"

"Yes." Carefully.

"And how is that working for her?"

"It's working. For her."

"That's why she was crying before I came in?"

A long pause, and he doesn't look at her. "She wept because she does not wish to kill him, but suspects that's what it will come to. She wept with compassion and regret."

"She doesn't need to kill him...but that doesn't mean one of us shouldn't."

"I said as much to her."

"It isn't as much that she doesn't want to kill him; she doesn't want him to have to die. That's why she wants him in custody."

"You are sure of that? It's not just that she doesn't want to be the one to kill her own father? I could understand the wish to avoid that Da'an, but...he ought to die, August."

"I'm sure that's part of it, but he's not her father in any meaningful way." Another pause "I don't disagree with you, Cordel. But I respect her wishes. Any gentleman would."

"August...." she says carefully "...are you sure you are hearing her wishes accurately this time?"

A long pause, then he looks at her, confused and with growing concern. "Am... am I?"

"I don't know. But I know that has been an issue before."

He glances at the door and she can -see- the thought....

"...and I don't know if your confusion then was entirely your fault. She is not always direct...like just now, with the three of you not quite telling me the story." An echo of that annoyance. "You might be hearing what she says, but not what she means."

".... Coradel, I'm not sure -she- knows what she wants. I've offered more than once. To address Paler, finish this. She insisted I not."

A wan smile. "Protecting me."

A sigh and an answering grin. "Yes. And you trying to protect me. You're all quite idiotic," she finishes lovingly.