The Arrogant Fool

I first met him on a nameless ship. It probably had a name once, but its original owners and crew had all been lost by then. Many things had been lost in those days. Why should a name be any different?

I remember it vividly. The crying. The smoke. The fires. He had an intenseness to his eyes as he looked out to what remained of our settlement. He was hugging his wife and fingering the gems around her neck. I later learned that she had made the necklaces and bracelets she wore herself. She was a jeweler. Was. We were all something before. Most of us are now something else.

Sorry, where was I? Right, his eyes. There was a determination that I did not see in the rest of the survivors. In their eyes was despair. Sadness. Anger. A desperation to survive. The first time we were driven from our homes there has been more determination. But the second time hit even harder. What is he so determined about? I wondered. What is pushing him?

And so I did what people do when they are curious. I spoke to him. Asked questions. Got answers. I learned that he was living in the capital city of Janasaab when the strangers from across the Golden Waste had arrived in our homeland. His family were bankers, and they spent half their fortune securing passage on a private ship to Aino when the invaders closed on the city. Unfortunately for them, their status meant little in Aino. Maybe if they had traveled before and had developed friendships in foreign lands they would have been better off. As it was, they were herded into the camps like everyone else.

The man described their outrage of being treated like common street rats. Apparently, it was one thing to be treated that way by the Ainoens, but it was entirely a different thing to not be recognized by his own people. His parents kept demanding to be part of the highest levels of conversations, but were denied again and again. They could only watch as the relationship with the Agiru Clan deteriorated. If they had only been allowed to participate, his parents could have fixed everything. They’d all still be in their settlement with a mutually beneficial arrangement with the Agiru. The Agiru would be well on their way to increasing their standing with the emperor of Aino.

That was what he described. What I heard was that he was oblivious to reality. He spoke with such conviction that I could not bring myself to correct him. It was refreshing in a way to witness clarity. It reminded me of times of peace. I know now that it was foolish, but I allowed myself a moment of pretending that all was as it was before.

As the days passed, I cherished that moment. We all knew where we were going. Another settlement that had been erected in Shindo. We had known of it before we ever left Vinaya. Everyone wanted to go to the Ainoen settlement, then. Aino was like the older brother of the two realms. It had more people. More history. More opportunity. Shindo was always that place that tried to be as good, but never was. No one had high expectations. At that point, if we were allowed to live in peace, that would be enough.

But this man had more in mind. He kept announcing to anyone who would listen that he would make sure things were better. Even when no one was listening he’d say to no one in particular that they needed to support him with whoever was in charge so that he could speak on their behalf. He did not seem to notice that no one paid him any heed, and secretly they dreaded that he’d make things all the worse for them. Some went so far as to suggest throwing him overboard.

We passed The Havens uneventfully. There had been tall tales in Janasaab of sea monsters that infest the azure waters of those three islands. Some of those on board hoped to catch a glimpse of them in the pristine depths. It was the only time in the journey that there was any amount of interest in the world around us. The elderly told all the old stories of beasts to the young eyed children who bantered at which of them would see one first. Alas, we did not see any monsters, and to this day I can’t say whether they are truly there or not.

The first thing that was noticed were the tents. Then the sand. Then the soldiers. It was a shabby settlement. The man I had seen on the first day on the ship wasted no time in reminding everyone that they needed him in all the conversations. We all needed to tell those in charge that he too should be in charge. We saw what happened last time. No one wanted more deaths. If only we’d let him make decisions everyone would be happy. We’d see.

We did not listen.

We brushed him off as an idiot who did not understand the real world.

We were not wrong.

It was the most surreal event I have ever experienced. More so than fleeing my homeland. More so than seeing our settlement burn. More so than holding my firstborn for the first time. The fool demanded of the first guard to board the ship to see the person in charge. Even a child would have known that the guard would refuse such a request. This one did so with a laugh.

He looked to the rest of us for support. We made faces, chuckled, and went on our way. His wife sneered at us. I thought he would finally understand reality and adjust like the rest of us. He was still young enough to learn from his parents' mistakes and help to rebuild our people in this new land. We needed each and every one of us doing our best if we were to have a future. That included him, even though we had considered throwing him overboard.

I was wrong.

I don’t know if he had it the whole time. I didn’t even see it until it was stained red. It happened so quickly that I don’t think anyone realized it until the scream. I still remember the scream. It was the moment his wife awakened to reality. If only it had happened sooner, he might still be alive. Instead, he lies at the bottom of the ocean.

What? Did the guard stab him, you ask? No, that was not it at all. He was the one who stabbed the guard, the fool. But his fate was sealed the moment it happened. The world came to a stop. All activity on the ship and in the settlement stopped. When they came to take him away, he still lived in his fictional world. He thought they were finally listening and that he’d be brought to their leaders. On the latter point, he was not wrong. He was brought before them to be executed.

What happened next, I did not expect. In the days leading up to the execution, everything changed. He turned from a person that everyone hated to the symbol of the people. He became the face of the Vinayan struggle for decent treatment in Shindo. We started to push back. To demand more. More food. More representation. We forced our hosts to make difficult choices. Would you believe they fought one another over us?

I can’t tell you what exactly happened next, for it is getting late. It is a tale for another time. But we are still here, are we not? It could not have ended too badly. As for this tale, I will end it by saying I no longer pretend to know what will happen in the future. I will participate in discussion and say my part, but if even an arrogant fool could be used to bring great courage and change, who am I to say that I know best?